The butterfly with deep red wings and a black outline fluttered in from the courtyard, perhaps looking to escape the sun, or perhaps it smelled the orchids from inside the palace. Or perhaps it was drawn to the raised voice of the king, who was arguing with his daughter.
The butterfly bobbed through the open door and into the hall, past the servants and maids, shuffling by with trays of wine and fruit. It turned a corner toward the raised voices, and settled itself on a white orchid on a small golden ornate table beside a similarly decorated chaise lounge, where the hefty King Burulgi of Neredun was arguing with his daughter. The butterfly launched from the orchid as the king bellowed, and fluttered toward him. With a swift flicker of his large hand, the king smacked the butterfly away from his face.
“Do not speak to me about war in the West," King Burulgi barked. “They are a world away and would never pass into the Marches. Especially do not mention your so-called husband.”
"He has a duty to Neredun, yes, but he also has a duty to the world," Perenenda said.
“He has a duty to you! His recklessness will make you a widow and mock my family line. Did you see him? He chose a tiger pelt as his title-fur!" Burulgi touched the old scars along his black beard. "A tiger maimed my face when I was young and I fought for the hand of your mother. I trusted him. I made him my general.”
"And he is still your general. The men love him and follow him."
Burulgi shook his head. "They follow him as long as he is under the banner of the greatest Tree the world has ever seen. Over six hundred years the Burul Blood-Tree has held its roots. If your mother had not died so young, perhaps I would have had a son."
"Do you blame me then?" she asked. “Am I at fault for ending the Burul Blood-Tree?”
"Of course not," he said. "The Field God chooses what he chooses. Oh, daughter. Your husband is away for some purpose apart from his duties here to his own people. And now you ask for military help to aid your husband but I cannot give it. I don’t even know what he’s fighting for. It will make me look weak. Any weakness I show will give courage to the other Tree Lords. Laninilor is probably watching all of this from his Blood Perch, waiting to march into Burul and take my title-fur. There is nothing I can do."
"So we just lay on our plush furs then," she said. "Eat our grapes, drink our honey wine, and watch the sun fall over those mountains that divide us from those who are fighting evil to the West. We enjoy the view of the sunrise but ignore the plight of those who fall in the sunset.”
"Mind your tongue, girl," the king warned. "You've never been outside of Nathamaket. You don't even know the terrors within our own country, and you speak of aiding foreigners."
"Papa," she pleaded. "What can you do? As you say, I do not wish to be a widow."
"The laws are what they are, child," he said. "I am the Sword of the Sunrise. Your husband makes a mockery of me and your tears for him will do nothing but bring rust upon the Sword. The Rootless will receive no help from me."
Perenenda kissed her father on the cheek and took her leave. As she left the Title Hall, she looked back at her fat, bearded father. "One day Sarengerel will sit on his own title fur and all will kneel before him. He will be the first of his name and lord over all who pray to the three gods. Everything you hold dear, including those that once loved you, will belong to him."
"Unless he dies first and I find another heir."
Perenenda went to her room and stepped out to the balcony. The morning sun had not crested yet, and she squinted as she looked over the endless shimmering sea. The gentle green waters of the Morrow Sea lapped against the base of the cliff. Her father's palace was the highest point of all of Neredun, untouched by the summer floods. She often stood at the top of the palace looking at the steppes and valleys below and felt separated from the rest of the world, but she had never felt as isolated as she did now.
Her handmaiden entered the room and removed her cream colored silk scarf from her face. "My lady," she greeted Perenenda. She had jet black hair and even darker eyes. She set a bowl of dried figs on the balcony table.
Perenenda was excited to see her handmaiden and held her hands as they sat on a bench. "Natida, what news do you bring today?"
"Nothing different since two days ago, my lady. The prince Sarengerel arrived at Kienne with twenty of his Field Riders for a council at their capital, and then I’m told he departed with the king’s herald. That’s the same news.”
"Is there nothing you can do to gain more information?" Perenenda asked.
The handmaiden looked at the princess' hands. "It's just that--"
"What is it, Natida?"
"It's just that my cousin Kerati pays workers for this information, and giving this information is expensive," she replied. “I’ll press him for more, but he says he needs more coin to offer the men that feed him the information."
"Of course," Perenenda said, walking to her polished ironwood dresser and retrieving her coin purse from a drawer. She emptied the gold and silver pieces into Natida's hands. "Here's what I have for coin, I hope this eases your cousin's burden."
"This is far too much," Natida said.
"It is not, for I ask too much of you," Perenenda replied. She took a small precious stone from a box on her dresser. “Take this too. I hope it is worth something, I am not sure. Your cousin can use this to buy information from those men.”
Natida put the coins and stone back into the purse and held it in her hands, weighing it. "My lady...there is enough here for more information. But you need not buy information from these men. You could hire your own men."
"Why would I hire men?"
"You are the daughter of the mighty Burul clan, fated to be queen of the Twelve Trees. You grew up with the prince. Everything Lord Sarengerel’s mother, the Lady Namsuren, taught him, she also taught you. Why should you sit in your father’s castle in Salvasing and not in the Kienne king’s castle in Lanfrydhall representing Neredun?"
"You think I should leave home...with my own men? My father will not allow a single man from his army to accompany me."
Natida held up the coin purse. "This is a start. My cousin Kerati knows people who could find such men. There are a lot of drifters, soldiers who look to serve but have no Tree of their own. If you have more coin and stones, you could hire them."
"Silly girl, why would I need soldiers?” Perenenda asked. “Why would I want an army?”
"Not an army; a company of sellswords to accompany you to Kienne to reunite with your beloved," Natida said.
"Sellswords!" she exclaimed. "My father has outlawed sellswords in his territory."
"Such men can be found. Many look for work as honest laborers," Natida explained. "It breaks my heart to see you stare out into the sea. There are no answers out there. The answers are the other direction."
"I do miss him so," Perenenda said. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself beyond the castle. Beyond the city of Salvasing. Beyond her father’s ancestral territory of Nathamaket. Beyond the entire kingdom of Neredun. She laughed. “Queen Perenenda and her army of brave Neredunian riders."
"My princess, by birth you are aligned with the Field God, yes?" Natida asked. "I was aligned to the Foam God, so service is my station. But for you, the princess of the greatest Field Riders the world has ever seen...the Field God never intends for his subjects to be caged in a palace."
"It is a silly notion," Perenenda said, turning away toward the sea again. She felt her heart pound at the idea. Without her father's help she knew all she could do would be to sit in the palace and wait. She had waited all her life. She was her father's daughter after all. She was not ignorant in how to deal with soldiers. She had seen Sarengerel with his men.
The handmaiden was right. Her aunt Namsuren had spent all those years teaching them both about the insights and history of the world. The lady taught Sarengerel how to lead with tactics on the field, and taught her how to lead people with her heart. With her own company of men, with Natida, and with her cousin Kerati, who seemed to understand the outside world...
"Of course it is a silly notion, my lady, forgive me," the handmaiden bowed. "I brought some dried figs for you from the pantries."
"Natida," Perenenda said, turning to face the handmaiden. The morning sun cast a shadow on her face. "Everything I have is in this room. There are some family heirlooms that are worth more than a few gold or silver coins. Find out how many men I could hire with the things I have here."
“Don’t let me put such thought in your head, my lady. I will do so, but only if this is what you want.”
Perenenda saw a vision of seeing her beloved, embracing out in the open field surrounded by deep green grass and banners waving in the wind. She looked at her room and knew she would never find him while she remained in her father’s castle.
“Do this for me,” Perenenda said. “I will dip into father’s treasury and get you more. It is what I want.”
