The Adventure continues...
Jul. 1st, 2009 02:44 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mistresshuette.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomaniaPlease click and view our eggs and hatchlings. I do the same for you. Thanks!
Our eggs:
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Our hatchlings:
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One week later, I found it hard to believe that Izshaq hadn’t lived with us for years. His transition proved seamless. The children and I grew to love him because he was such a loving and unassuming person. He told such wonderful stories which, when they ended, illustrated perfectly the points and ideas that he was teaching the children. They learned from him without realizing that they were being taught.
He also started teaching the older children the art of unarmed defense. He told me that this was best started at the age of five, but that despite some of them being well over that age, they responded very well to his teachings. Although I didn’t say so, I felt that this was one of the few good things that they inherited from their biological father. They had the grace, desire and talent to be proficient in the military arts. They were soon clamoring to start weapons training, but Izshaq put them off by saying that they had to finish learning unarmed defense first before learning other forms. However, I had the feeling that Izshaq was inwardly scandalized by the thought of females learning offensive weaponry. Learning to defend themselves and their honor was one thing. Learning to kill or wage war was something he found unacceptable. Besides the girls already had full schedules with their riding lessons and their horse care duties.
Interestingly enough, Captain Quinton started observing the class, became greatly enthused and wanted to learn the techniques for himself. Within days thereafter, I arranged for Izshaq to start an adult class in the evenings, after the children had gone to bed.
As I began to recover, my days started filling up with my duties once more. It helped me keep from fretting so much over Donal and his whereabouts. He should have been home days ago.
One day, Uncle Haral came to visit. It was a surprise to me, as he usually wrote first informing me of his arrival. I met him in the family room.
Haral breezed into the room. “I am sorry, Patra, dear child, for just dropping in on you like this, but this is just a brief visit that I was able to squeeze in between several meetings of importance. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be time for this, but I have managed to make some. I didn’t want to keep you waiting and waiting for me if I couldn’t make it.
“Anyway, I have some bad news that I had to tell you about in person. Laela has surfaced and in very, very bad company.”
I felt a sense of relief when he said this, because, for a brief moment, I was afraid he had news of Donal.
“Oh! This is about Laela! Yes, I know about her. I have unfortunately seen her in the red light district. She was doing some unspeakable acts in front of an audience. I don’t know why she has become so depraved. She seems to have been given all of our father’s bad proclivities.”
“When did you go to the red light district? That place is much too dangerous for a woman like you.”
“Yes, I know. I went weeks ago, when an old servant of my father’s came and begged me to rescue her. I only went out of a sense of duty. I didn’t go alone. I brought Captain Quinton and two guards along also. But my efforts proved useless as she wasn’t interested in being rescued.”
“I am not surprised.” Haral replied. “Laela has been seen in the entourage of Count Torfen and his crew of perverted debauchers. I am sure that what you saw was her initiation into the group. Torfen was probably testing her limits of depravity and she must have passed with flying colors. She is no longer in that brothel. She has been seen at all of his orgies, entertaining his people with her acts of bestiality and her willingness to be tortured sexually and gang raped.”
I was starting to feel dizzy and it must have shown.
“Oh, dear!” Haral continued. “I have distressed you too much! Let me get you a glass of water.” He left the room briefly and returned with a pitcher of water and a glass. He made me drink a whole glass and waited a few minutes to see my reaction before he continued on.
“I am sorry for this. But you had to know. I know that you have a kind heart and a need to help. I had to warn you about this because you must not, absolutely must not, attempt to see or go near Laela. The people that she is with are so morally corrupt that they could easily capture you and force you to participate in their debaucheries. You must not try to rescue her again, even with guards. Laela has chosen this life. She will not give it up until she is ready to do so, if that moment ever comes at all. Many are the innocent girls that they have lured to join them. Many of them have been found dead weeks, months and even years later and their deaths were not pretty.”
I began to weep for my sister. “How is it that this man and his followers are allowed to do such things? Why haven’t the authorities done something about them?”
Haral sighed. “They want to, but Torfen is King Torval’s bastard son by his favorite mistress. The king refuses to see what a monster his son is and he turns a blind eye to all the reports of his son’s misdeeds. Consequently, nothing is done and nothing probably will be done until the king is made to recognize the evil that his son does.
“In the meantime, I have already talked to Captain Quinton about this and he assures me that there will be no further rescue attempts. When Donal and Piatrus return from their trips, I will inform them of the situation also.”
Just hearing Donal’s name mentioned made me cry even more. Haral looked at me with great concern.
“Donal should have returned last week. I am so worried about him. What if he doesn’t return? What if something has happened to him? I don’t know what I would do without him!”
“There, there, dear girl. I am sure that Donal is fine. He has Eoin and his cousins with him. I am sure they are just delayed a bit. Have faith and have patience. I am sure they will be home soon.”
“Do you know where Piatrus is?” I inquired.
“Now that I do know. Stevar sent Ferrell and me notes saying that Piatrus has gone further south, to Shiangkau. I know that he has had many business dealings with Emperor Honghui and has helped him by keeping him supplied with weapons during a recent insurrection attempt. He said something to Stevar about ‘retrieving a gift’, whatever that means. Piatrus will be back when he feels like it.”
“Shiangkau? I have never heard of that country.”
”Shiangkau is about as far south as you can go and still remain in the Northern Hemisphere. It used to be believed that beyond Shiangkau was the End-of-the-World. But explorers have proven that wrong.
“Shiangkau is an ancient civilization that still speaks its own language, worships their own ghods and follows their own moral code. They have refused to accept Common Tongue as their main language as other countries have. Up until fifty years ago, they isolated themselves from the rest of the world and refused to allow anyone to enter their country. When Emperor Honghui came into power, he changed that policy. House conDylar was one of the first merchant families to trade with Shiangkau. From things that Piatrus has told me, he believes that Honghui uses outsiders to keep his own people off-balance and loyal to himself only. Exclusive contracts with Shiangkau are one of the reasons that Piatrus is so rich.”
Haral noticed the time. He grimaced and then apologized. “I am sorry, dear girl. I have another meeting to go to and if I don’t leave now, I will be late. I am glad to see you up and about. Don’t despair. Donal will be home soon.” He smiled and then leaned down and kissed my cheek. He then turned and left.
Despite all assurances to the contrary, I was despairing. My first period after the miscarriage came and Donal still hadn’t returned. I started to believe that something had happened and that Donal was never coming back. Every time someone rode into the compound, I would rush outside, only to discover that it was someone else for entirely different reasons. And I despaired even more.
Ten days later, I heard horses entering again. I was giving Eryssa her afternoon bath. I didn’t even look out the windows because I was afraid of being disappointed once more. When she was finished, I gave her to a nursery maid and then went to the front door to see who had arrived. As I walked outside, I realized that the mounted men were Uncle Eoin and Willie and the others, but I didn’t see Donal. I wailed loudly in despair thinking he was dead, but then, already dismounted, Donal walked forward from between the horses; a very tired and dirty Donal, but still very much alive. I ran forward as fast as I could and I threw myself into his arms and I rained kisses and tears on him. Donal was alive and he was home.
Our eggs:
§ § § § § Our hatchlings:
§ § § One week later, I found it hard to believe that Izshaq hadn’t lived with us for years. His transition proved seamless. The children and I grew to love him because he was such a loving and unassuming person. He told such wonderful stories which, when they ended, illustrated perfectly the points and ideas that he was teaching the children. They learned from him without realizing that they were being taught.
He also started teaching the older children the art of unarmed defense. He told me that this was best started at the age of five, but that despite some of them being well over that age, they responded very well to his teachings. Although I didn’t say so, I felt that this was one of the few good things that they inherited from their biological father. They had the grace, desire and talent to be proficient in the military arts. They were soon clamoring to start weapons training, but Izshaq put them off by saying that they had to finish learning unarmed defense first before learning other forms. However, I had the feeling that Izshaq was inwardly scandalized by the thought of females learning offensive weaponry. Learning to defend themselves and their honor was one thing. Learning to kill or wage war was something he found unacceptable. Besides the girls already had full schedules with their riding lessons and their horse care duties.
Interestingly enough, Captain Quinton started observing the class, became greatly enthused and wanted to learn the techniques for himself. Within days thereafter, I arranged for Izshaq to start an adult class in the evenings, after the children had gone to bed.
As I began to recover, my days started filling up with my duties once more. It helped me keep from fretting so much over Donal and his whereabouts. He should have been home days ago.
One day, Uncle Haral came to visit. It was a surprise to me, as he usually wrote first informing me of his arrival. I met him in the family room.
Haral breezed into the room. “I am sorry, Patra, dear child, for just dropping in on you like this, but this is just a brief visit that I was able to squeeze in between several meetings of importance. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be time for this, but I have managed to make some. I didn’t want to keep you waiting and waiting for me if I couldn’t make it.
“Anyway, I have some bad news that I had to tell you about in person. Laela has surfaced and in very, very bad company.”
I felt a sense of relief when he said this, because, for a brief moment, I was afraid he had news of Donal.
“Oh! This is about Laela! Yes, I know about her. I have unfortunately seen her in the red light district. She was doing some unspeakable acts in front of an audience. I don’t know why she has become so depraved. She seems to have been given all of our father’s bad proclivities.”
“When did you go to the red light district? That place is much too dangerous for a woman like you.”
“Yes, I know. I went weeks ago, when an old servant of my father’s came and begged me to rescue her. I only went out of a sense of duty. I didn’t go alone. I brought Captain Quinton and two guards along also. But my efforts proved useless as she wasn’t interested in being rescued.”
“I am not surprised.” Haral replied. “Laela has been seen in the entourage of Count Torfen and his crew of perverted debauchers. I am sure that what you saw was her initiation into the group. Torfen was probably testing her limits of depravity and she must have passed with flying colors. She is no longer in that brothel. She has been seen at all of his orgies, entertaining his people with her acts of bestiality and her willingness to be tortured sexually and gang raped.”
I was starting to feel dizzy and it must have shown.
“Oh, dear!” Haral continued. “I have distressed you too much! Let me get you a glass of water.” He left the room briefly and returned with a pitcher of water and a glass. He made me drink a whole glass and waited a few minutes to see my reaction before he continued on.
“I am sorry for this. But you had to know. I know that you have a kind heart and a need to help. I had to warn you about this because you must not, absolutely must not, attempt to see or go near Laela. The people that she is with are so morally corrupt that they could easily capture you and force you to participate in their debaucheries. You must not try to rescue her again, even with guards. Laela has chosen this life. She will not give it up until she is ready to do so, if that moment ever comes at all. Many are the innocent girls that they have lured to join them. Many of them have been found dead weeks, months and even years later and their deaths were not pretty.”
I began to weep for my sister. “How is it that this man and his followers are allowed to do such things? Why haven’t the authorities done something about them?”
Haral sighed. “They want to, but Torfen is King Torval’s bastard son by his favorite mistress. The king refuses to see what a monster his son is and he turns a blind eye to all the reports of his son’s misdeeds. Consequently, nothing is done and nothing probably will be done until the king is made to recognize the evil that his son does.
“In the meantime, I have already talked to Captain Quinton about this and he assures me that there will be no further rescue attempts. When Donal and Piatrus return from their trips, I will inform them of the situation also.”
Just hearing Donal’s name mentioned made me cry even more. Haral looked at me with great concern.
“Donal should have returned last week. I am so worried about him. What if he doesn’t return? What if something has happened to him? I don’t know what I would do without him!”
“There, there, dear girl. I am sure that Donal is fine. He has Eoin and his cousins with him. I am sure they are just delayed a bit. Have faith and have patience. I am sure they will be home soon.”
“Do you know where Piatrus is?” I inquired.
“Now that I do know. Stevar sent Ferrell and me notes saying that Piatrus has gone further south, to Shiangkau. I know that he has had many business dealings with Emperor Honghui and has helped him by keeping him supplied with weapons during a recent insurrection attempt. He said something to Stevar about ‘retrieving a gift’, whatever that means. Piatrus will be back when he feels like it.”
“Shiangkau? I have never heard of that country.”
”Shiangkau is about as far south as you can go and still remain in the Northern Hemisphere. It used to be believed that beyond Shiangkau was the End-of-the-World. But explorers have proven that wrong.
“Shiangkau is an ancient civilization that still speaks its own language, worships their own ghods and follows their own moral code. They have refused to accept Common Tongue as their main language as other countries have. Up until fifty years ago, they isolated themselves from the rest of the world and refused to allow anyone to enter their country. When Emperor Honghui came into power, he changed that policy. House conDylar was one of the first merchant families to trade with Shiangkau. From things that Piatrus has told me, he believes that Honghui uses outsiders to keep his own people off-balance and loyal to himself only. Exclusive contracts with Shiangkau are one of the reasons that Piatrus is so rich.”
Haral noticed the time. He grimaced and then apologized. “I am sorry, dear girl. I have another meeting to go to and if I don’t leave now, I will be late. I am glad to see you up and about. Don’t despair. Donal will be home soon.” He smiled and then leaned down and kissed my cheek. He then turned and left.
Despite all assurances to the contrary, I was despairing. My first period after the miscarriage came and Donal still hadn’t returned. I started to believe that something had happened and that Donal was never coming back. Every time someone rode into the compound, I would rush outside, only to discover that it was someone else for entirely different reasons. And I despaired even more.
Ten days later, I heard horses entering again. I was giving Eryssa her afternoon bath. I didn’t even look out the windows because I was afraid of being disappointed once more. When she was finished, I gave her to a nursery maid and then went to the front door to see who had arrived. As I walked outside, I realized that the mounted men were Uncle Eoin and Willie and the others, but I didn’t see Donal. I wailed loudly in despair thinking he was dead, but then, already dismounted, Donal walked forward from between the horses; a very tired and dirty Donal, but still very much alive. I ran forward as fast as I could and I threw myself into his arms and I rained kisses and tears on him. Donal was alive and he was home.
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