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Days. Nights. It didn’t matter. They all were about the same.
There was now a routine to the time at the Palace. Laun woke early in the morning, usually with bodies around her in the bed. She would go relieve herself and then do her morning katas. She was usually naked and usually alone. Her girl and Hazalam sometimes would join her, if they were awake. She would greet the sun with her stretches and be ready for the day before it was fully up over the horizon.
She would write the messages responding to those that had been sent to her. She had a small pile of boxes with various gifts in them, many just looked at but not touched. She would have the messages taken by one of the household servants without being sealed.
She was enjoying the written conversations with Liam, the man with the boat who had traveled with such amazing adventures. Most of the other messages were from those she saw while on the green, but Liam was one she looked forward to reading, and sending messages back. It was odd, in a way. He had invited her to his boat many times, but when she invited him to meet with her in the Palace, he graciously declined.
If there weren’t too many missives to sort through, she would read one of the books she had. A few different ones came to her, gifts and ones Falmir dropped off with her, usually having to do with a conversation they had the day before. She was learning more than she thought there was to learn.
Some sort of food would be brought up to her. Sometimes, Falmir would be there to help her take first meal. He was not as subtle as he would have liked to think he was. He usually seemed frustrated with something as he entered, and left frustrated with her, but with a smile on his face. He sounded her out about a few things and she normally told him exactly what she thought. She didn’t bother to filter things or gild things. He had stopped asking if she was going to pledge to him.
There was a logistics problem that had been worrying him and he mentioned parts of it over a few days’ time. Laun finally had to ask him outright about it and he gave her a rough idea of what was worrying him. One of the main suppliers of cattle for the Palace had stopped sending the supplies. In fact, the owner of the farmstead wasn’t responding to messages from the Palace. Klemner had started to ask for help and Falmir did not know what to do.
Laun simply said, “Go and see for yourself.” Falmir did just that and had found that the supplier had been embarrassed to tell the Palace that the cattle had been exposed to something which killed most of his herd.
Falmir told Laun that when he returned a few days later and she smiled. “It is always best to go to the source of information, not try to filter out what might be the real information from what you are given.” Falmir smiled, and then swore at her for knowing much more than she should, but still smiled when he left that morning.
Laun had been given permission to go to the greens outside the Palace when the weather was good. She did so as often as possible. The tent was permanently set up and there was a standing order for cold water and fruit to be ready if the Lady Laun decided to make the trek downstairs.
Often, Laun would be joined by a noble or two who had just been passing by. Laun knew some of them had been hanging around waiting for her, but she did not want to slice open their reality. She was careful to not mention politics, though it invariably came up. She tried to not say anything bad about Falmir. She did not hold too much back when asked about Rosemond. When possible, Laun liked to talk about planting and harvests and dancing and household matters. It seemed a safe set of subjects, though it was interesting the information she gathered with even those conversations.
She found that she was building a knowledge of the workings of the court of the Midlands. The nobles who lived in the Palace were mostly in positions of responsibility, though some were invited guests. The nobles who lived in the City had more of a stake in keeping things stable and had much more interesting information about the kingdom outside. Laun took and sorted all the information she was able to gather, no matter how small it seemed. From the number of Strawberries a noble said they were able to purchase to known troop movements, Midlands and Rosemond, it all told her something.
She let a few of the nobles think that they were seducing her. Many afternoons, after word play and innuendo back and forth, she would ask to be escorted back to her room by the noble. Not all of them were male.
Laun would have fun with whomever she had been with, usually having interesting pillowtalk afterwards. It was amazing how open people were when they thought they had just been conquering you sexually and were obviously the best lovers in the world. Laun learned things about people she had no idea who were, or really cared about. When Laun told people she did not care about it, they would usually tell her more.
If she was not playing with the nobles, there were two of the officers who readily would step forward. They didn’t even really hide that they were military, not part of the servants, any more. Falmir had planted them, hoping they would keep an eye on her for him. They kept eyes and hands and lips on her. And those lips were easily opened for other things, too. Information slid out of them easier than any of her bed partners.
Then evening meal. If she was not invited to eat with Falmir, she tried to sup in the room. The chilly evening she had in her excellency’s rooms was unpleasant, but no one died, so Laun was happy.
The one thing that Laun was able to glean from the evening was that Grier house had been raided, some of the captives held there released, some killed. The Council General had been swirling innuendo in the conversation about taking those who do not learn away, but slipped as Laun would not rise to the obvious threat to her. “I would not place her in a noble residence, I would kill her to make sure she didn’t get away. Unlike your bastard father and Grie-” Engrid stopped herself, but Laun could put things together. Engrid was furious with herself and ended the evening by having Laun escorted out. Laun had just sat, listening and watching, her head tilted as the grand Lady had let her own tongue slip. It was almost perfect.
Laun had treated the girl well and had started to call her Gem. Laun had found out that she was still a virgin and Laun told Gem that she had the right to keep it or give it away. Even though Laun was her Mistress, Gem was to decide. The girl had been thankful and had been willing to try just about everything in bed, except what would actually deflower her. She had no skills when she started, but Laun made sure that she had practice in what she could do. Hazalam was usually too tired to be an attentive servant because of the lessons.
A small request had been sent down to the wardrobe for appropriate clothing. Not for Laun. She was starting to receive gifts that included things for her own wardrobe. The request was for her two servants. They no longer wore the blue and grey or the red and black. They now wore black with dark green tabards. Falmir said nothing. Ithian commented, and then went back down on her.
Ithian did spend many evenings with Laun. There was still passion in the lovemaking, but they had started to just lay in each other’s arms, holding one another without speaking about much of anything. They were becoming comfortable around each other, Laun enjoying the times when Ithian was not so bed-oriented. There was an evening of Sticks which became heated when Ithian thought she had cheated, leading to him picking up his clothes and storming out before dressing. He came back the next day with the playing piece in hand that he thought she had moved. It was found in his boot on the way back to the embassy. He had apologized, and then apologized.
Then, the end of the day, before she went to sleep, she would ask Gem one question about the day. If she answered to Laun’s satisfaction, she was taken to bed and Laun brought the girl to a screaming climax. If the answer was not what Laun was looking for, she slept on the rug under a horse blanket. Laun usually rigged the question to the girl’s favor.
All through this time, close to a month, Laun was getting bigger. Her stomach was larger than she remembered Nan’s at seven months and she was only approaching six. There were times when she was sure she was going to give birth to a steer, horns and all. She was starting to see shapes being pressed into her from inside. That was very odd, but Ithian was in awe whenever he saw it.
It was her life for a month.
Onto Chapter 25
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