Bliss! (And Theatre)

baby runners, selday

Well… If this isn’t bliss, then I don’t know what bliss is! I woke up this morning with not just one, but two handsome young men in bed with me, and with me in the middle! Not that we had done anything but sleep, you know, but it was still a pleasant surprise! (Besides, I don’t think that making love with two men at the same time can, you know, actually work, because everyone has got only one mouth to kiss with.) It was a bit of a pity that Ram was already too late for work, so he had to run. And we’d only slept, because the other man was Aldan, and besides, I was so sleepy after the theatre night! But I should start earlier. Of course, we were a bit bored, because while our house was being almost rebuilt, we had almost nothing to do. One night, Aldan was working in the Red Cockerel, and I was so bored with hanging around in an inn among drunk or almost-drunk people that I went to visit our backyard neighbour, the doctor. I asked him, did he have any books for me to study, and I spend a couple […]

Real Estate Magnates

baby runners, selday

Selday is fun! I’ve met this half-Iss-Peranian-half-Valdyan boy. But that comes later. Let me marshall my thoughts. So, we were waking up in the hay loft of the farm up the mountain, and I went into the kitchen after having washed (they have two sources of water here: one pumped up from underneath the mountain, and that water is brackish, and one brought down from the river in a pipe, which is sweet; washing is done with the brackish water) to help prepare breakfast for Aldan. (Too much text inside brackets again, dash it.) I got to chat with Aine about herbs and stuff, and she showed me her garden, which is gorgeous! It’s so big, and so well-organized, with vegetables, fruit, medicinal herbs and kitchen herbs each in their own place, placed to catch the right amount of sun and shade, watered with the sweet water from the river. I not only hired one of her sons to help me prepare my garden, but also made a deal with her to supply us with what we would need until my garden, next year, was up to scratch. After breakfast, which was very good and pleased Aldan, we were shown […]

Obnoxious men

nalenay

After the Ishey and the neighbours showed the Síthi men that they weren’t welcome in our house, they didn’t come to our part of town any more. Sometimes a few of them followed me at a distance when I went to work, but they never got close. On the Day of Anshen all of us went to the temple, even Khushi’s mother Pahiz and her sisters Baran and Bachche. We had them in the middle of our family, and I walked at the back and made myself wide. The Síthi men were behind us, and one of them prodded me, but I didn’t hit him, only pushed him back a couple of feet when he did it again. At the school gate there was a girl who raised her eyebrows, “trouble? Need help?” “Yes, please,” I said, “those men shouldn’t come in here.” She went to get her sword and we stood in the gate together. She was called Halla astin Hayan but one of her parents was Síthi, they’d met when the king’s army was in Solay for the first time. “Do those men follow you around all the time?” Halla asked. “That’s no good. You should tell the […]

First night in Selday

baby runners, selday

Written in a little farmer’s village on top of the white cliffs of Idanyas. It was quite a pleasant voyage, as far as we could tell. Of course, neither of us had ever been out to sea, but Cook and I were a good team, and he even asked me whether I didn’t want to stay around for the whole trip. It wasn’t going to be too long, Captain Sinaya didn’t intend to make a full eight — whatever that might mean. Aldan had nothing more to do than holystone the deck, but I had lots of fun. I felt a bit guilty about that, but on the other hand, Cook also had lots of fun. The white cliffs, well, they are white. And when they came into ken, as I believe the expression is, after the days and days of marshland, we knew we had almost arrived at our destination. Selday! Selday turned out to be a smallish town, stuck to a soup bowl like cut into those cliffs like porridge to a toddler’s face. Mostly wood, a castle on top of the cliff, a white villa half-way the  cliff, shipyards to the south, and quays in the middle. […]

On the ship

baby runners, selday

It is very hard to write when swaying in a hammock, a hammock which now and then bumps into the next hammock, or into the partition wall. There are two hammocks in what is a little room without a door in the belly of the ship, one is mine, one is Aldan’s. We’re finally on our way to Selday. And I haven’t managed to kiss commander Moyri again! The morning I woke up in Moyri’s bed, we woke up much too early! There was no time for a reprise, because she had to do commander stuff, and Aldan and I had to go to Maile’s island. It had been a pretty grand night, and I for sure hope that Moyri’s subordinates will be in a forgiving mood today, because their commander certainly isn’t going to be at her sharpest. In the boat to Maile’s island I mostly slept — since I hadn’t slept much, if at all, that night. So I missed most of Essle’s scenery — celebrated or notorious, I’m not sure of the right adjective. When we were close to arriving at our destination, Aldan woke me up. I had fallen asleep in his lap. The island is […]

On watch

nalenay

The Ishey royalty came in at some point but I don’t remember when, so let’s just go with the royalty we’ve got. When I came back to work I got up the courage to tell Master Mernath that I’d like to learn from a smith who wasn’t a weaponsmith, and that I really wanted to learn locksmithing because once I was a master using my own forge I’d probably get to make lots of locks. And then he arranged with Master Geran the locksmith to lend me to him for half the week! This was one of the two masters who’d come on the Feast of Mizran to light the fire, so we’d seen each other already. It was really spring now, it already felt like summer to us northerners, and all the nobles were leaving, but the town was busy enough without them. When I came home one day there were visitors, as noble as it got: the queen! And the king! Sitting on stools in the yard, talking to Ashti, and drinking Raisse’s latest brew. And their children were playing in the river with ours. “I wasn’t home to welcome you,” I said, “but welcome!” They were going […]

Letter to the school

baby runners, selday

Dear Headmistress Rava, I write to you to share a concern. Traveling with Khushi I have come to understand a little about how things were for her at home. And by extension perhaps in some part of Síthi culture. She seems to think that because I am a man and she is a woman she needs to do all the work and that I will beat her if I get upset with her. I would never do that. I hope that as we travel she will come to see that things are not like that. At least here. The school and our journey have been her escape, but now that she is not there to work at home things will be harder on her sister. And, I think, her mother. I am concerned for her sister and I think the sister would do well at school if she were allowed to go. If you could keep an eye on the situation I would be grateful. I believe that their family is putting on the airs of a Síthi form of Duyin, that they are not entitled to, which makes things worse. Makes them cling too hard to old ways. Sometimes […]

Travel Diary of Khushi Cheraim, 4

baby runners, selday

Written in the bed of Commander Moyri of the Order of the Sworn in Essle, with as little light as I can possibly make to write by And I’m not alone in this bed. She is here, too, Moyri, I mean. Only now she’s fallen asleep I begin to realize how crazy it was of me to try to seduce the Commander of the Order of the Sworn — during a fencing match, too! Still, I succeeded, didn’t I? Directly after the fencing match was over, I’d won, and she’d ticked me off for trying to make love to her in her mind during the fighting… We went to bed, and then we went to take a bath in the nearest Síthi bath house, some food and then back to bed. It was rather terrifying, to see the appetite for sex someone who usually doesn’t have it can have, when they finally can have sex. It was lots of fun, too. Still, the little mind-kisses I sent her during fencing must’ve been welcome, right — otherwise she should should have been able to kick me out of her mind like snapping her fingers. But I’m wondering why I’m doing these […]

A party!

nalenay

In the morning I told Ashti what the neighbours had said but she said it was nonsense. “They were born on the Feast of Timoine, we’ll name them on the day of Anshen!” So I went into town with Lady Rava’s purse. First to the Apple, where the landlord was just opening shutters and putting stools upright that had been on the tables. “Hey, you’re early!” he said, then recognised me. “You’re the painted woman’s man, right? How is she?” “Splendid, and so are the twins! We’re having the name-giving tomorrow. I’d like a barrel of apple wine, and a barrel of beer. Our eldest kid brews these days, but not nearly enough!” He laughed. “And pie?” He started writing on a slate. “And pie! There are a lot more people coming than we’d thought. Dozens.” I rattled the purse. “I can pay, no problem.” “Oh, we’ll send you a bill. If it isn’t what you expect –” “I’ll pipe up,” I said. “No, you won’t,” he said with a grin that made it clear that the bill would probably be too low rather than too high. “Do I get sweets in the Síthi quarter?” I asked. “Yes, the best […]

Travel Diary of Khushi Cheraim, 3

baby runners, selday

Written in the house of Hylti and Arni, in broad daylight Well, I’ve found a way to give Aldan the bread he wants instead of pancakes. One night, after he had gone to sleep, I’ve made a sourdough starter with flour, water and spittle, and cradled it between my breasts to keep it warm. The next morning, before he woke up, I divided it in two, and used half to mix with more flour and water, and made lumps and put them in the fire. When Aldan woke up, they had become quite edible buns, so with a little fried salted bacon and pease, it was a good breakfast. I’ve kept the starter between my tits ever since until we arrived in Three Hills, when I could put it in Hylti’s kitchen and care for it. It’s warm and bubbly, so I don’t mind much. But I wish Aldan would make up his mind, because after a couple of days he was asking for pancakes again! In any case, we arrived safely in Three Hills after about a week of travel, and there we had a surprise! We were right in time for the Festival of Dayati! In fact, this […]