the Leathermines

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The glow of the sun on the horizon was all the real light there was on the road.  The way to the tavern was easy to follow with the grasses and shrubs cleared to several leagues from the edge of the gravel road.  Laun had been riding for an hour outside of the walls of the Capitol City, each moment making her just a little more tense.

The Charger under Laun was a good horse.  He was not Thunder, but he followed the motions of Laun’s knees and hands without hesitation.  She was nervous, watchful of the surrounding dark growing around her.  It seemed to be clear, but if she was holding a meeting such as this, she would not have open roads unwatched.

The tavern was huge.  It was several stories, larger on it’s base than the entire inn and greens of Markle and Marie’s place.  There was a large separate structure for the stables, the sound of horses and dogs plain to hear.  Laun directed the charger to the stables and had a flush of fear go through her.

Several large men were standing around the entrance to the stable.  Laun could see glints of brass on some of them, their bells open for those to see who needed to.  Laun moved the charger to one of the step-downs that was there, carefully keeping her dark green hooded cape around her as she dismounted the horse.

“Private gathering.  Fuck off.”

Laun actually liked that.  Direct, to the point.  She knew this was the right place.

A smooth, calm tone came from the shade of the hood.  “I have been asked to attend a gentle here.  My time has been reconciled and I seek Flint.”  Laun stepped forward, glint of a high-rank red scarf around her hips from the split of the cape before she became still again.

Little dogs came out of the stable, sniffing and barking at Laun’s feet.  One of the brass bells grabbed the collars of the dogs and dragged them back into the stable, cursing Flint’s name for bringing them.  Laun stayed still, kept her calm, even though she had a flash of them jumping at her, attacking her.

One of the brass bells stepped towards Laun.  He tried to look at her under her hood, but shrugged.  “The Master doesn’t have rooms here.”

“Not my concern.  I will be happy to go back to my House without performing for him.  I am expected, though.”  Laun kept her voice low and silky, as if she had little concern for her time.

There was a look between two of the bells, hand signs that they thought only the information gatherers knew and used.  Laun could not suppress a smile, but it was hard for them to see under the hood.

“I’ll take you to him and he can do with you as he will.”

Laun made a small curtsey, the cape billowing out around her.  “Thank you, Brother.”

Laun saw the little shock that went through the man, the use of Brother a symbol of respect, and a warning not to touch her.  One of the other men went to the Charger, admiring the horse without seeing the military beast for what he was.  Laun followed the brass bell into the building through a side door, past several other bells of various ranks.  As she walked, the cape stayed around her, but her hands untied the red scarf from around her hips and pushed it into a pouch hanging from her belt.

The room beyond quieted when the man scratched a certain number of times on the door.  There was a call to enter and the brass bell opened the door, going in before Laun.

“Master, you have a gift sent to you.”

Flint turned from the fireplace in the room and stared at the lower ranked clapperless bell.  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

The brass bell moved and Laun stepped in.  She stepped to the side, keeping herself inside the cape, keeping the shadows of the hood on her face.  She glanced around the room, seeing eight or nine people near the center of the room, more along the edges.  One who she was glad to see.

Pebble was there, her face away from the man at the fireplace, but she dare not turn her back completely to him.  Purcy was there, close to Flint and with a sour look on his face as he stared at Verat.  Verat had gone ahead by ten minutes, enough time to give him entry, and to have his declaration of taking the Sand Master title be interrupted, and pushing acceptance because of her arrival.  The other Masters in the room were watching, some with amusement, some with concern.  The lower ranked bells in the room were all looking frightened.

“She said that her time was paid for, that you expected her.”  Uncertainty creeped into his voice towards the end.

Flint moved away from the fireplace and held himself haughtily.  Laun saw his riding attire, full leathers, soft gloves pushed through his belt.  The belt held thongs of various lengths, just that alone calling out to Laun that he was a seasoned horseman.  His boots were immaculate, but there was a fine layer on him of shed fur.  His dogs.

“Show yourself.”

Laun moved slowly, letting each part of her self that she revealed have effect before she moved to the next part.  Her hand with her Rosemond Duchess signet ring came out from the slit in the cape, a small sound coming from one of the lesser bells in the room.  Laun brought her other hand out from under the cape, the red and black of the dress showing as she parted the cape.

One of the silver bells did not stop himself from starting to say, “Blue-?”  Laun took note of who it was and pushed back her hood.

There was a smile on Pebbles’ face before she laughed.  Flint stared at the silver three pointed crown on Laun’s head nestled in the brown braids.  Laun’s hands continued to reveal herself, the clasp at her throat undone to let the heavy cape fall and show the rest of her.

Crown on her head, bright green baldric going from one shoulder to the other hip with the Prince Commander pin on it, weapons’ belt with short sword and pouches, the red and black dress covering her armored undergarments and harnesses, the riding boots showing their toes beneath. She had various pouches on her weapons belt, including one with an embroidered Salam-Dir badge on it, the one that held the red scarf, and a few other things.  The things they could not see were the more deadly.  The jeweled crow and sword carved knife in her boot, the peridot tipped blades on the insides of her thighs.  And herself.

Pebbles’ laughter was covered by her hand, but she looked openly at Flint and continued to laugh.  “Must be one of your brasses, Wife.  Mine wouldn’t have let her in like that.”

There was silence.  A deadly silence that might have caught Laun off-guard if Verat had not been thorough with is briefing, as he was being thorough with her body.  Laun smiled at the thought, letting her amusement come out and confusing some of those around her.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”  Flint seemed deadly, but Laun saw his slight favoring of one leg, the position he held his arm showing an old break not healed quite right.

Laun stepped away from the cape on the floor and stilled herself again.  “You asked for me to come, Flint.  At least twice.”

Flint blinked.  Purcy turned and there were low words and hand signs for his Master.  Flint was on edge and unbalanced.  He had never seen Laun and had not expected her to actually show, even though the merc who had come back from the second mission had said she would.  Before the merc tossed the bag of Rosemond coins at Flint and turned without saying anything else.  Now the upstart noble bitch was standing there in the private meeting of the Clapperless Bell Masters, calm as if she were greeting guests at the Palace.

Verat started to move towards Laun, to stand next to her.  Laun made a minuscule shake of her head and signed ‘not wise’.  She kept her hand moving and smoothed out the front of her dress and then brought one hand up to pat at her braids. 

One of the other Masters stood from the barely leather covered chair he was sitting in and said. “Is this the woman you needed to discus?  If it is, she should be searched.”

  Motions towards some of the brass bells standing around the edges of the room had Laun surrounded.  Laun held her arms out, a gentle curve to her elbow and a smile on her face.  The men did not know what to do with a willing subject, looking at each other for the next move.  Laun giggled lightly and pulled back the sleeve of one arm, the harness there plain for anyone to see.  The scars under the harness were made obvious when it was unstrapped from her, several of the Masters seeing, two of them turning to each other and exchanging words about the Myrned Secret Keepers.

The brass bells motioned to beside a table in the room.  Laun smiled and nodded.  The first harness was on the table as the other arm was being unstrapped.  Laun raised her arms to let the men stroke own her body to find other weapons, several being pulled from her belt, but the ones under the dress being missed for the gentleness the men were treating her.

Pebble moved to near where the lower bells were searching Laun and waived them away.  “You had the chance to bloody the evening.  I will assume you still have blades on you and that you do not intend to use them-other than in defense.”

Laun bowed her head slightly and then made a shallow curtsey.  “Thank you, Pebble Master.”

The smile on the woman’s lips became toothy, the tip of her tongue showing between the rows of slightly yellowed teeth before catching herself and returning to a bland smile.  Flint stepped forward and had nothing of a smile on him as he approached, Pebble backing away.  Verat stepped to be close to Pebble, not exchanging words, but backing her with his presence.

Flint looked at the several weapons on the table next to Laun.  His eye flicked to the short sword still on her belt and back to the crown on the top of her head.  “You are here.  It is not custom for the accused to be at the council against them.”

Laun let her head tip to the side slightly as she looked at Flint.  He was taller than she, but she would not let him intimidate her.  “How is the accused to know what they are defending themselves against if they are not present, Flint Master?”

There was a sneer on his face.  He pointed at the weapons on the table and said, “She may trust that you will not pull anything, but I don’t.”

One of the others took the idea and said, “She should be bound until we can deal with her.”

Laun brought up her arms, her palms up and hands relaxed as she put her wrists together.  She presented them to Flint who moved his body away from her.  Laun turned to one of the silver bells near them, her eyes flicking to her Master at the other side of the room.  Laun waited, her head still slightly tipped to the side for several breaths.

“Someone that willing to be bound has little to hide, Flint.”  The man stood and straightened his long tunic as he looked like he wanted to take one of Laun’s hands to kiss.  He had been at the reception for Lady Engrid, one of the nobles that had come to talk with her.  Laun remembered the layers of silks and embroidery as he leaned one foot on the raised stage she had been on.

Pebble could not be the one to come to Laun’s defense, but she could second the action.  “Stone is right.  She has come to us and willingly entered into our midsts.  She should hear the charges and we shall hear what she says about them.”  Pebble sat in one of the chairs and looked at Flint.

There was a divide.  Flint was on one side, Laun the other.  Sides were being chosen, even before Flint had a chance to officially say what the charges against this woman were.  He backed up from her and went to the fireplace again.

One of the other Masters turned in his chair and looked at Flint.  “Since it looks like we have as many of us here as we will, what are these supposed charges against her Highness?”

Flint’s eye went to the crown again and then to the man who had spoken.  “Simple enough.  She claims to be of the brotherhood without having gone through any of the training.”  He stood with his arms across his chest and smiled.  “But that is just the first.”

Laun saw Lucas for the first time in the crowd.  He stepped close to Pebble and spoke in low tones.  There was a raised eyebrow and Pebble looked at Purcy, a smile growing on her face.  Verat was close enough to hear what was being said and smiled, too.

Pebble stood.  “It has been brought to my attention that your man there went to confront her about such a thing last year, and was sent away with his tail between his legs.”

There were chortles through the group.  Flint flushed in anger, but it did not come out in his voice as he said, “That was unfortunate, but I still say that having her claim to be one of us...  To be a clapperless bell while in her position is dangerous to us all.  She did not have the training, did not raise in ranks as the rest of us did.  Even you, Wife.”

Pebble flinched but did not turn away.  “Perhaps you are blinded by what could have been and you are seeing it in her?”

Flint shook his head.  “We all know that I sh...”  He looked around the room.  “Not the point of the evening, Jessi.”

Pebble flinched again.  She waived her hand towards Laun who still stood, her hands folded in front of her and quietly watching what was going on around her.  “Her Highness has rank and stature in the Kingdom.  Could it be that you have misheard about her and that you have been,” she smiled at Purcy, “misinformed?”

That brought out more chuckles from the assembled Masters and a few of the Gold and Silver bells.  Laun carefully reached for her pouch and pulled it open.  She felt the cord inside and pulled.  The humor in the room changed as Laun held out the solid silver bell and then put it on the table next to her harnesses.

“See, she admits that she calls herself of us.”  Flint motioned towards Laun and dipped his head down as if he were going to charge like a bull.

There were a few words exchanged in low tones around the room.  Stone looked at the bell from his distance and then up to Laun’s face.  “How long have you had the silver?”

Laun tried to remember the first time she had the little silver bell on the grey ribbon.  “I put on the silver...  A year and a half.”

Flint stepped forward.  “If so, you have to have been taught something to have earned it.  Though I hear that you use your body more than your mind.”

Laun had a twin flash of rage and embarrassment go through her.  “Flint, ask the trial questions and see if the flow goes as you wish.”

There were a few murmurs.  “As you wish, Highness.”  Flint stepped a little closer and pulled his head up to look down at her.  “I will make it simple for you since you could not have had training.  Something that a brass should know.”  He smiled and Laun did not like the smile.  “Flows from the headwaters and silts from the top, the light shines on the wave.”

Laun smiled.  “Beneath the clear shall the eddy gather as the twilight darkens the gathered pebbles.”

There were nods.  Flint blew a breath through his nose.  “Too easy.  The first of the brotherhood was pressed into duty by the needs of his house.  What house-”

Laun shook her head.  “That is a two headed snake, Flint.  You know that he claimed the Young household when his older brother was thought lost.  History may tell us that Hrag known as the Grey was the first, but he was taught by another so that-”

Stone laughed.  “She sounds like a councilor.  Highness.  The brothers-”

Laun smiled and he stopped.  “I love the story.  I would not have thought that they had taken such divergent paths to come to the same place to avenge the death of their sister.”

Stone nodded.  Other questions were asked, code phrases given and answered.  Flint was in a foul mood as Laun stood up to the testing, even with a few minor slips that she was able to talk her way out of.  But he heard something in how she talked that he grabbed onto.

“Name the grey.”

Laun blinked.  “I am not sure I understand.”

Flint pressed his advantage and stepped forward, his head down again.  “The guilds and brotherhoods that are part of the greyworld.  Name them.”

Laun tried to not look flustered.  She tried to not look at Verat, but he caught her eye and looked panicked.  She brought her hand up to her chin and rubbed it, trying to think.  “Information gatherers, Red scarves, Lost nails, Sword and crow...”  Laun did not know any more.  She had not needed to.  She tried to cover by saying, “You do mean in this kingdom, not the others on the continent, or on the other continent?”

Flint was smiling, his canines flashing in the firelight.  “You don’t know them.  It is part of the copper initiation.  You have no idea.  You are a fraud.”

Laun stood tall and started to say, “There are so many and the changes-”

Flint held up his hands and was loud.  “I call sanction on you.  You are a fraud and have never been part of the bells.”

Laun moved quickly and had a dagger from her boot on the table.  All could see the jewels on the haft, the onyx on the pommel.  “I know what sanction means, Flint. What assassin would knowingly take a contract against a royal warranted assassin?”

The room seemed to swell with noise.  All the Masters tried to talk at once.  There was enough noise that it hurt Laun’s head after only a moment.  She waited, still and calm as she watched the attitudes of the people around her.  Laun stepped towards Flint and said in a rumble that hurt her throat but caught the attention of those around her, “Would hiring assassins work any better than your kidnapping ploy?”

Several of the closer Masters quieted.  “What are you saying, Highness?”

Laun kept her eyes on Flint but nodded towards Sand Master.  “It is common knowledge that I was attacked, captured as I traveled down the Midlands River this Spring.”  Laun had a small leather pouch on the back of her belt that she undid without taking her eyes off of Flint.  She pulled it open and let the metal object inside fall to the floor in front of her.  “I believe that is yours, Flint.”

Several people came forward to see what had fallen.  It was a completion marker to be given to the one who had ordered the action against Laun.  Flint’s household symbol was on it.

He could not deny it.  It was the same as on his signet ring on his hand.

“Flint, you are the one who sent the bandits after her Highness?”  Slate Master had a look on his face as if something had just been torn from him and smashed to the floor.

Flint would not pick up the marker, even though his eyes could not leave it.  “I had nothing to do with the Mercs.”

Laun smiled.  She knew that things had turned against him, but she was not sure if they had turned towards her.  “The men that were used were Rosemond Regulars caught here after the cease.  Expendable.  But that is how She wanted it, isn’t it?”

Flint’s eyes shot up to Laun.  She had guessed and was right.

Pebble quieted the room by saying, “I heard that you spent time in Hamlis, in the military Academy compound.”

Laun nodded.  “Master, I prefer the company of the military men to the nobles when I travel.  They understand how rank and privilege are not the same.”

Pebble smiled.  “I hear the storms sometimes bring more than just wind.”

Laun pointed at the marker still on the ground between Flint and she.  “Such as half a squad of Rosemond Regulars.  Sent to take me, or at least my head, back to Flint Master.”

There was more mumbling between people in the room.  “You were attacked multiple times?”  Slate looked from Laun to Flint, seeming to look for an easy answer.

Laun looked down and clasped her hands together.  Her shoulders were not bowed, but it was obvious that she was uncomfortable.  “Yes, Master.”

Flint had backed up again and turned away from Laun.  “It does not look like you believe what you are saying.  I don’t think you were attacked at all.”

Laun looked up.  “I am ashamed that I had to take lives to defend myself.  And my children.”

That caused yet another round of discussion among the bells in the room.  Verat leaned to Lucas who then leaned to Jessi.  Pebble nodded and looked at Flint.  She stood and said, “Flint, did you know she had her children with her when you sent the bandits after her?”

Flint looked cornered.  He still was being haughty in how he was standing, but when he faced Pebble, there was something in him that did not want to say what he did.  “Yes.”

Laun stepped back as the room filled with noise.  It had hit a nerve in many of them.  Going after the Princess of the Midlands was bad enough.  Many of the Masters had issue with it, but understood Flint doing it.  Going after the children, that was beyond most of their ethics.

“You could just sleep with the King again and beget more.”

The room fell silent.  Laun had not thought anyone would know anything about Falmir and she being together.  Her hand went to her chest, seemingly to her heart, to the bodice dagger hidden along one of the stays in her undergarment.  Her voice was hurt and soft as she said, “What are you talking about?”

“The timing is right.  Your children were from your own Father.  You have slept with him.”  Flint enjoyed the look on Laun’s face, and the attention the information gave him.

Verat stood.  “Proof.”

Flint motioned to one of his silver bells and stepped back.  “I have it directly from... Her Highness...  That she has been in the King’s bed.”

Laun did not know the man, had not ever seen him.  Never.  But, he had hesitated.  He was uncertain of his information.  She took a breath and slowly let it come out before she started talking in low tones.  “When did we meet?”

He looked at Flint and then back at Laun.  “Two weeks ago.  At your House...”  He looked over to Verat and scrunched his eyebrows together.

Laun held her hands together in front of her.  She stepped closer to the man.  He looked like he wanted to step back, but did not.  “Two weeks.”  He nodded.  “And what did we do?”

“I paid you to have sex.”

Laun smiled and heard the small snort from Verat.  “So, two weeks ago, you and I had sex and you heard from me that I had been in the Kings bed.”

He did back up.  “Y-yes.”  He looked at her chest and back up to her eyes.  “B-but...”

Laun tilted her head to the side.  She waited.  She was calm, quiet, and waited.  The silver bell was sweating, the glow of it in the firelight on his forehead.  And she waited.

He found his voice again and said, “You don’t look like you did.  You look... pardon me.  You look older.  Darker.  And I don’t remember the scar...”

Laun smiled.  She turned to Flint past the man’s shoulder and said, “Either I was very good in distracting him from my deformities or he is not as observant as he should be for a silver.  One of yours, Flint?”

Pebble snorted and covered her mouth with her hand.  Many of the others chuckled.  Flint took the shoulder of the man and pulled him out of the way.

“You have slept with the King and that is-”

“When?”

Flint stumbled on his tongue.  “You heard him...”

Laun pointed at the marker on the ground.  “I was not in the Capitol City two weeks ago.”  She held her hands out to Flint, one palm up, one palm down as she said, “You can have me in Hamlis recovering from the attack on the ship or you can have me in the Capitol City under your man.  You cannot have both.  I am good, but I am not that good.”

There was laughter.

Laun closed and dropped the hand that was palm down.  “I don’t doubt that he was in...my home in the King’s City.  But I know he was not with me.  He was with one of my girls.  And, yes, she has been with the King, as a present.”  Laun closed her hand, leaving one finger out pointing at Flint, and it was not her index finger, before dropping it to clasp the other hand in front of her.

There was more laughter.  Stone stepped forward.  He held his hand up and there was quiet, if not silence.  “You hold red scarves in your House?”

Laun pulled the embellished red scarf out of her pouch and placed it on top of her warranted dagger.  “I have paid my dues to the guild.”

There were more murmurs.  Laun undid the weapons belt and placed it on the table as the discussion swirled around her in whispers.  She pulled the crown from it’s place, the thong holding to keep it there pulling out of her braid and making her braids fall down her back.  She reached for the top of the thong that held her front lacings in, but did not pull on it.

“I know I am of different disciplines.  I have been taught by many, learned much from the different Masters and Sires of the Grey.  I am Rogue, and I know it.”

That quieted the room.  

“You still have to say anything in your defense about claiming to be of the information gatherers.”

Laun turned to Pebble and replied, “Master, others assumed I was of the guild before I ever called myself a bell.  I never sought to use the talents I have to bring dishonor to the brotherhood.  From the flow of my short life, I found that the mix of silt and clear was what I had to live in.  I accept that I used the silt and mud to my advantage.  I accept that you, Flint, do not like it.”  Laun turned back and looked at Flint, still and waiting as she did so.

There was a shift of bodies in the room.  Flint felt the change, the physical posturing away from him.  “You have claimed something you are not.  Many things you are not.  You shall be taken down!”  He stepped forward and drew a dagger from his belt as he went.

Laun stepped back as she pulled the thong from the looped lacing.  The red and black dress fell around her showing her armored undergarments, the thigh harnesses with the peridot at the pommels, and all the scars that the small bits of weapons and armor did not cover.  Her hands went to the thin blades, releasing the hilts without drawing them.

Flint stopped, dagger in hand.  He looked at the two long, thin blades and then at the short thing in his hand.  There was silence around them and he knew he had spilt all the water in his tankard with the move.

Stone stepped between them.  He put a hand on Flint’s shoulder and said, “Back away, Baron.  She could gut you without thinking.”

Flint’s jaw clenched.  He stepped back, the pressure from Stone’s hand as much of a deterrent as the calm woman almost naked in front of him, waiting for him to make his next move.  Laun did not relax until Flint was more than three paces away and had another man’s hand on the other shoulder.

There was a slight rumble through those assembled.  Laun peace-bonded the blades again and stepped into her dress, pulling it up and looking at Flint as she put the thong through the lacing loops.  There were loud whispers, many of the Masters not caring if the others heard them.

Pebble watched.  She saw how Flint fumed.  She saw how Laun stood, her calm stillness back as if she were a rock in the stream around her.  She saw how her Husband, the man who had brought her into the clapperless bells when she started to confront him about things twenty years before, was on the edge of loosing every shred of composure, and of credibility.  Pebble smiled.

“I call for a vote.”  Pebble had to say it twice over the din of the bells in the room.

Flint smiled.  “I know one line of assassins that will be glad to take you down.”

Laun staid still, but her voice was pointed and sharp.  “Her bitches have tried before and I am still here.”

Pebble stepped closer to the center of the room.  “I call a vote,” she turned and pointed at Flint, “on you.”

There was a combination of gasped silence and laughter in the room.  “What?  What the fuck are you up to, Jessi?”

Pebble stood between Laun and Flint, looking at her husband.  “I call into question your methods, and if you have comported yourself as a Master of the information gatherers and of the grey should.”

“Fuck you!” Flint yelled at the top of his lungs.

Pebble did not waiver.  “After hiring mercs to take the life of the woman behind me, which could have been kept at a personal level without repercussions, you called this meeting.  You have accused this woman of not being trained in the ways of the brotherhood as your main charge.”

One of the gold bells talked a little louder than he meant to the man next to him, saying, “Fuck, it’s been so long, I’m not sure I went through that training for copper. I don’t remember the answer...”  He looked up and flushed, but many in the room nodded.

“From what she has answered to all of our questions, starting with yours and ending with yours, she knows more about us than many of our silver levels do.  And I think she knows even more than that.”  There were more murmurs, many of the Masters standing and starting to move closer to Laun.

Pebble pointed at Flint who was again being restrained, but by a gold and a brass bell.  “I believe that you have not brought a real charge against her.  Because of your own spurious words and actions, I believe that you have not comported your self as a Clapperless Bell Master should.  I call for a vote of confidence, and of sanction.”

Lucas brought her two tankards.  Pebble went around the room, the Masters that were there dropping little items into either the left or right tankard.  All but one put their object into the left tankard.  Flint could not vote as he was the one now charged, and had lost.

“Bitch!  You will never take me down!  I am your husband and I-”

Laun stepped forward, but before she could say anything, Pebble said, “We will meet at a later time to discuss this, and to see if you will have the sanction lifted.  Husband.”

Three people left, Flint between two other bells.  Laun felt shaky from all the adrenaline running through her and propped herself up against the table to keep standing.  She could not suppress the shallow breathing that had taken her, the calm she had been projecting slipping.

Pebble put the tankards on the table and turned to Laun.  She had a kind look in her eye and Laun smiled slightly through her remaining nervousness.

“You have been accused of claiming to be a member of the Information Gatherers.”

Laun tried to stand as straight as she could. “Yes, Master Pebble.”

“I have to say that it seems the charges have to be true, Laun.  Up until now.”  Pebble turned to the rest of the Council.  “I wish to ask if there are any among us who would sponsor this woman for entry into our guild?”  Some fists went up, including Verats.

Laun shook her head at Verat.  “You know me, but we are too close.  I thank you, but I cannot ask for you to stand for me here, Sand Master.”

Many heads nodded in the room and a few more fists went up.  Pebble smiled.  “That shows an integrity that is rare, Lady.”  Pebble also raised her hand.

Laun felt a tear in her eye.  Her nose became wet and she pressed her sleeve into her face.  Her knees became weak and she had to lean heavily on the table.  She moved the table slightly, the tankard full of things tipping and spilling onto the table.  She saw bells made of many things.  Glass, rough rock, even a small river pebble.  Laun remembered Verat telling her about the Masters having slightly different bells.  She had wondered before about having one carved from a peach pit, but right then, she was just happy to be alive.

Stone came forward and offered his hand.  Laun took it and he kissed hers before leading her to the closest chair.  He stood as she sat, saying, “Highness, may I welcome you to the guild?  I would be honored to teach you more of our ways.”

Laun nodded and smiled.  “I would be honored, Master.”

Verat stepped forward before more of the Masters could come forward and welcome Laun. “This brings up the point, now that our sister has been recognized, that a new name has been heard in the Greyworld.”  Laun shot Verat a withering look.  “Laun is past apprentice, though she did not go through the traditional lessons.  She has shown to have skills of any Journeyman I have worked with, more than some.”  Sand Master turned to Flint’s man still in the room.  “As our sister has been among us tonight, have any of you seen her flinch?  Or raise her voice?  Brothers and sisters...”

Slate stepped forward and said, “She didn’t even defend herself as she could have when Flint started for her.”

Pebble saw where Verat might be going.  “Brother, I think I have heard the name you have not said.  Is our sister the one who claims this title and name?”

Sand Master stepped to Laun, took her hand and then knelt.  Several of the Masters watched as Verat kissed her hand, and then put her knuckles to his forehead.  Laun blushed, but opened her hand, placing it at the crown of his head and nodding at him.  “Mistress, these are the people who should know.”

There was a different rumble that went through the Masters and the lower ranked bells.  Laun looked around the room, seeing the eyes that were on her.  She was tired, but she stood again.  She motioned to the things of hers on the table.  “I feel I need to tell you some information about myself.”  She felt slightly light headed and signed for water, Verat standing and going to a sideboard without any other prompting.

Many of the Masters found places to sit as Laun sipped on the tankard of water.  She looked around the room again, as if it were morning meeting and began speaking again.  “Years ago, I was given a name.  It was to be my name for almost a decade.  To me, it was the color I wore, the position in the dancers I was with.  After I became my own woman, after I became leader of my people, I took the name my Mother gave me and used that.  But the name I had been given to use by my Lady and Mistress came to me again.”

Pebble had a twitch on her face, but calmly said, “What is your point, Laun?”

Laun nodded to the woman and motioned her hands apart to show acquiescence.  “I am Rogue.  And I thank you all here for your... Kindness in allowing me to call you brother and sister.”  She put the tankard down and motioned to the things on the table again. “Because of my training, because of circumstances, I claimed the name I was given by my Mistress again.  Not as a name to designate a dancer among many by the color I wore, but as my place, my role in the Greyworld I have been cast into.

“I have been given rank in the nobles, recognized by my Father’s family and allowed to be at his side as an heir.  I have a household that I lead, and protect.  But I am more.”  There was a smile on Laun’s lips as the thong holding the loops of the lacings on the dress were yet again pulled.  Her hand went to the breast with the flower scarring and pulled it out enough for people to see without exposing her completely.

“I am Mistress Peach.”

Eyes went to the scaring.  There were a few wetted lips.  There were some nods.

Pebble spoke from where she sat, saying, “A rogue of high rank and talent is not unknown, sister.  I know of none who had a speakable name within the grey.”  She stood and took the silver bell on the cord from the table.  She looked at it and then over to her apprentice, Lucas.  She motioned to him and he stepped to her side.

“Master?”  Lucas saw that she was planning something.  He saw her hand go to one of the knives on the table and tried not to step back as it came at his throat.

“I’ll replace this.”  She cut the gold bell from his collar.  Pebble smiled at the relief of her gold bell and gave the bell to Laun.  “I give this to you because you obviously lost yours when you were taken from the ship.  Welcome, Sister, Mistress Peach.”

Laun took the hand that held the gold bell and brought it to her mouth, kissing the knuckles with slightly trembling lips.  “Thank you, Pebble Master.”

Laun had to sit again, not bothering to replace the thong in her dress.  She was overwhelmed.  She was tired.  She was happy.

Welcomes and congratulations were given, Laun taking the time to say a few words with each of the people who approached her, and not just accept blindly what was offered.  It made an impression, even though it took far longer than the lower ranked bells thought it should.

Lucas approached Laun after the other gold bells in the room had, taking her hand and kissing it before holding her arm in a warriors grip of the wrestlers style, palm to forearm.  “Welcome, sister.  Welcome Mistress.”

Laun smiled.  “Thank you, brother.  I also welcome you into my house, whenever you wish.”

There was a slight confusion in his eye, but he smiled.  “I hope that you can stay out of trouble, Laun.  Now that Flint is under sanction-”  He leaned closer, “I never liked him, and he was a pain in the Kingdom’s side for a decade.”

Laun tilted her head and whispered, “It should not be hard to track the path back to Her for his vehemence for my blood.  I hear there is something in the bells about the ethics of openly consorting with traitors.  Of any kingdom.”

Lucas pulled back and looked into Laun’s eyes.  He saw hardness and some of her bloodglint under the exhaustion that was going through her.  He nodded.  “Yes, Mistress.”

Laun smiled and let Lucas go to take the hand of the silver waiting to welcome her.  She paused and turned to Lucas before he had completely stepped away.  “Lucas, I would like to meet with you in a few days about a draw.  I think I need a few things that you may be able to help me procure.”

Lucas bowed to his Princess and went to the side of his Master to tell her of Laun’s suspicions.  Pebble smiled, her lips showing the tongue flicking in back of her teeth as the nature of the information pleased her.  A tankard was raised towards Laun and Laun raised her own, an understanding between the women.

 

Onto Chapter 23 Where Laun has a visitor and accepts a delicate offer