Chapter Five

Things You Should Know

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There wasn't much to the Essyl Village square, only the government house on one end with a few small shops and one public house along its sides. The other end opened onto a meadow that served as the fairgrounds.

In the center of the square stood three looming statues; one commemorating an army captain from Essyl who had been killed in the Great War, one for all the casualties of the Five Nations, and one for the losses of the Derician people.

Here, all the people of Essyl gathered on the morning of Unity Day.

The squadron of soldiers who had come with Mistress Amelys gave a parade around the square, joined by some retired soldiers of the village who donned their uniforms again for the occasion.

The village officials laid wreaths at the statues and ceremonial anthems were sung.

Prayers were offered to the gods for the souls of the fallen, and for future prosperity.

Many speeches were made in reaffirmation of the Union and of Caedra's commitments to Derician reconstruction and to the refugees who had sheltered here after the war. Two generations had passed since that war, though, and most of the descendants of those refugees only tenuously considered themselves Derician anymore, so thorough had Caedra's welcome been.

Things were different in Valesk.

Kazia's home country had also taken in large numbers of refugees, but while most Valeskans welcomed them, a few of the six noble houses were decidedly opposed, and had been working since to eject the Dericians.

One of those houses now had a king on the throne.

His inclinations were still limited by majority vote of the Noble Council, but Halany found his ways to squeeze the Dericians of Valesk, ways that became increasingly disturbing.

Tensions were rising between Valesk and the other four nations of the Union.

Kazia wondered if Valesk even celebrated Unity Day anymore. What sort of speech would a man like Halany Goskatha give if he were even to put on a pretense?

Kazia and Amelys stood together at the back of the crowd under the spreading branches of an ancient maple tree. Amelys had come alone to collect her, and upon reaching the square again they found that it would take some doing to navigate the crowd to reach the public house, where Amelys and her entourage had taken rooms. They would have to meet up with the others later.

As the ceremonies neared their close, the people sang a slow, haunting elegy, and many wept openly.

Despite some hesitance given her ordeal the night before, Kazia had taken an extra dose of her usual tincture, so the passions of the crowd weren't too overwhelming. Her greatest discomfort at the moment was her clothing.

She had dressed properly for the occasion and found that in five years of farm life, in a warmer climate than she'd come from, she'd become disused to a high collar, corset, and heavy skirt with all its ruffles down the back, all in the black favored by the Alchemists. Her heeled boots were a bit tight as well.

Perhaps Madame Brandra had been right about country food.

As the song ended, the Mayor took to the platform before the statues. At the last fading notes, he raised both arms and clasped his hands together over his head.

“All together!” he cried out.

“All together!” the crowd responded in unison, then broke into a joyful military marching song as they dispersed toward the fairground.

“Shall we to the fair, or to the inn?” Amelys asked.

“Perhaps they will find us in the fairground?” Kazia suggested. “I'll admit I am in no hurry to see Lord Meratha again so soon. What must he think of me after yesterday?”

“I wouldn't worry on that,” Amelys said as they turned away from the square to follow the crowd and Kazia raised her taffeta parasol to shade them both as they strolled out into the sun. “I have explained to him that you suffer a condition and that such moments are to be expected.”

“What condition did you say?” Kazia asked, somewhat alarmed.

“I didn't,” Amelys said. “I explained to him that it's none of his business. And don't let him put you off coming to the castle either. There may be a few unpleasant characters about but as I promised, you will have your space.”

“Lord Meratha doesn't want me there,” Kazia told her. “He doesn't trust me, but there's more to it than just that.”

“He is young and doesn't know what he doesn't know, but listen... there are things that you should know.”

Amelys began to steer Kazia to an open space without many people around. Her mood became ponderous and she looked away from Kazia with misting eyes.

“You know I hated to leave you back then,” she said, her voice tinged with seldom-revealed emotion. Your father was unhappy with me for taking Kel under my wing. Even if he hadn't dismissed me... I don't what I could have worked out but I'd have tried. I know you needed me. At the time I thought Kel needed me more. Kazia, his disposition... he had seen his family burned alive. He saw that with his own eyes. Can you imagine what that must do to a person?”

Kazia gasped and looked away into the distance, the memory of that overwhelming grief she had felt from him creeping into her heart again.

“Suspicions of plots were running rampant among the noble families, and Halany was already indicating that he would jealously guard his new power,” Amelys continued. “I took a position at Azeva Academy and took Kel with me. We had to make clear that he and I both were withdrawn from politics altogether. It was, at the time, the only way to keep him safe. I would have taken him home to Loranar, but I stayed close to keep eyes on you.” Amelys took Kazia's hand and sighed, her heart aching. “If I had known how bad things would get for you...”

“I know,” Kazia said as she quickly withdrew her hand from Amelys.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Amelys said. “Am I too sad? My regrets are long today.”

“It's alright.”

Kazia mulled all that Amelys had told her and decided that it was good to finally have answers to some long-held questions, although now something was nagging at the back of her mind, a half-memory attempting to surface.

She really did try not to think about her childhood.

“I do wish that you could have taken me to the Academy as well,” she said.

“As do I, believe me,” said Amelys. “That certainly would have made extracting you much easier.”

"Mistress, I remember something, vaguely though, just before you left. Gorvan was angry. Yes, he was always angry, but this was different. There was a night... there were people at the manor, and I remember hearing him say, 'The boy survived.' And then someone else said, 'The boy is of no consequence.'"

“I wouldn't mention that to Kelvaran,” Amelys said quietly, “but I would urge you to come and tell the Queen of it, and anything else that you remember.”

“Mistress,” Kazia said, stricken, “my father is in Halany Goskatha's inner circle. Could he have had something to do with that fire?”

“I don't know,” Amelys said evenly, though Kazia could feel a tension rising in her, “but of what wouldn't Prince Gorvan Devratha be capable?”

“I think Lord Meratha knows,” Kazia said.

“He may have speculated,” Amelys agreed.

“Is that why he hates me?”

“He doesn't know you, Kazia, and he is... ill-disposed toward most. Does that sound familiar? I do hope that in time the two of you might find some common ground. You are both very special to me.”

Amelys raised her face then to peer past Kazia's shoulder, and Kazia felt that unmistakable cloud of misery approaching.

“I don't hate people I don't even know,” Kazia mumbled.

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