The Way of Things

Writers: Avery, Miriah
Date Posted: 16th January 2015

Characters: Zelah, Humari
Description: Xeladrie meets her new lady in waiting and also gets advice
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 10, day 2 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Bryvin, Taril, Yriadha

Zelah

Humari

Xeladrie sat in the lady's lounge and sighed. She wanted to be
anywhere but here, talking to people. Maybe outside, learning the lay
of this land. Or maybe at a potter's wheel making a useful pot. But
sewing anything - be it repairing clothes, embroidering this
handkerchief, or anything else - wasn't on her list of "things she
wanted to do".

She looked around, hoping maybe one of the other women would want to
talk. But most seemed engrossed in their own work.

One was not. Humari sat by the window, her embroidery laid in her lap
as she looked outside. The stitches appeared neatly done, but there
was little interest on the young woman's face. Instead there was a
wistfulness as she stared out of the window. Feeling someone's eyes on
her, she turned and met the gaze of the new Lady Holder. And she was
_lovely_. Humari pushed that thought away and gave an understanding
half-smile at the expression on Lady Xeladrie's face. She knew that
look; the look of wanting to be anywhere but there.

Xeladrie saw the responding smile and decided, on a whim, that she was
going to talk to the other person. She picked up the handkerchief and
the supplies basket and headed over. "May I sit?"

Humari immediately cleared a seat. "Of course, Lady." She didn't mind
the proximity at all; she could smell the faint scent of the woman's
perfume. She forcibly smothered the thoughts. She was _wed_ and with
child. She couldn't even think those thoughts. "My name is Humari,
Lady."

"Please call me Xeladrie, Humari," the new Lady said, sitting down
beside her. "What are you working on today?"

Humari held up a pillowcase with delicate stitching she had done in
the corners. "I've made several of these." She gave a rueful smile and
spoke softly. "You would think that they would have had enough of them
already."

Xeladrie chuckled. "Indeed, I don't know why so many are needed."
She'd never really thought about where items came from until she had
to start making them.

"Mind telling me a little more about yourself and what you do here?
I'm trying to get to know the people I'll be spending a lot of time
with," the blonde added.

Humari gave a little wider smile and settled the embroidery on her
lap, but felt more than saw the eyes of the other women in the room on
them. "There isn't much to tell, really. My husband is a merchant and
my mother is the Headwoman." She tried to keep her smile as she spoke
of her mother, but her youthful expression faded into one of
acceptance rather than affection. "I was selected to be one of your
ladies in waiting should it please you." She then laid a hand on her
abdomen. "I'm also with child; it was confirmed only a few sevendays
ago." Humari gave a brighter smile at that. "How are you finding your
new home?"

So she was married, just like Xeladrie now was. She wondered if it had
been a choice, or a forced marriage.

"Ladies in waiting..." she'd half-forgotten that she got those. But Humari
seemed very nice, at least so far. "Congratulations on your pregnancy, by
the way."

Humari smiled and dipped her head. "Thank you. My husband is very
pleased." Eager to do anything besides embroider and noting that
Xeladrie wasn't touching her needle either, she put it aside. "Is
Sunstone very different from your home? I've never been anywhere else
but here."

There was a bruise on her cheek and Xeladrie wondered who had done it.
Her husband? Hopefully before she got pregnant... "It's somewhat
different. The Hold here isn't as advanced. I'm given to understand
that was only because it was recognized as a major Hold very recently.
I do wish there was electricity here," she admitted.

"I'd like to see that as well. I've heard about the electricity in the
larger Holds. My mother often talked of it and how it would make her life
easier." Humari's lips pursed and then she shrugged. "Its hard to miss
something I've never had, though I am curious about how it would change
everything."

"Maybe one day you'll get to travel somewhere and see it to know what it
is like. There wouldn't be the worries about changing glows, and it would
be easier to keep things cold that need to stay cold. Especially in a
climate like this! Some holds don't need to stock the fires for the warmth
as much, though people might do it because they enjoy the fire. Though
with it being reasonably warm here maybe that's less of a concern."

Humari sighed. She'd never traveled outside of the Hold and doubted
that she ever would. Despite her husband's shipping concerns, she
doubted that he would allow her on a boat. But she did enjoy the
thought that Xeladrie offered. She glanced out of the window and then
back at the women who were watching them closely. She lowered her
voice. "Would you care to take a walk, Lady?"

"I think I would. And if anyone asks, I'm getting to know a lady
applicant. No one can be offended by that," she said with a toss of
her head. She was going to push for any freedom and authority she
could grasp.

Humari happily laid down her embroidery and rose. Knowing her mother,
within moments of them leaving the room, one of these ladies would be
off to tell her. "I don't think many will question you. You're the
Lady of the Hold." Humari waited for Xeladrie to rise to follow her.
She was eager to remove herself from the confines of the room and be
out in the fresh air.

"Then let's take that walk. You can tell me some more about the hold and I
can get to know you better, especially if you're going to be one of my
ladies." An idea she thought she could get used to.

"I can tell you all you need to know." And away from prying ears.
Taril had wanted her to gain Xeladrie's trust and befriend her and the
Lady seemed to be a person she would want to know, the intoxicating
scent and beauty of her notwithstanding. She fought against the
immediate attraction, pushing it to the back of her mind. **Friends.
Only friends. You and she are both wed and she isn't the perversion
you are.** The easiest way to help her, she reasoned, would be to warn
her about her mother.

Xeladrie kept up inane chatter as they went through the halls, asking
questions here and there about the purposes of areas, commenting on
and other trivialities. To all observers, she would hopefully look
like a frippery young woman. But when they reached the outside and the
gardens, her demeanor changed and her vapid smile dropped.

"It's frustrating to be in the solar, isn't it."

Humari gave a rueful nod. "It is. You can't say anything in there
without it being weighed and measured. All of those women speak to my
mother." Her nose wrinkled, relieved to be away from the prying ears.
She lowered her voice. "I would take care with that, Lady."

"I don't much like the idea of all my words being spied on, but I
suppose that's the price of the position," Xeladrie said ruefully.

She considered Humari's words, wondering. "Does your mother see me as
a challenge to her authority within the hold?"

She exhaled, trying to put the words right. "There's never been a Lady
Holder here. My mother has taken on the duties of that role since she
began here with Lord Morin. My mother..." Humari frowned. "...I do not
know what she thinks right now. She doesn't discuss those things with
me. But to be honest, she isn't a...kind person, Lady. " Humari's lips
tightened. "She is used to getting her way in things."

"She's older, and she's had the effective height of female power here for
Turns. And here I am, challenging that." That was Xeladrie's
interpretations of Humari's words, anyway.

"I assume she won't want me to take any major role."

Humari nodded in agreement. "I doubt she will. She won't say anything
to you at first; she'll be polite. She'll always be polite to you, but
Lady..." Her voice lowered. "Don't trust my mother. Not for an
instant."

"Thank you for the warning." It was nice to know she had an ally
here...though why Yriadha's daughter would take to her so, she wondered.
"Between my husband and your mother, it'll be quite the pocked field to
tread whenever I speak."

"You're welcome." Humari gave a little smile. "I don't know Bryvin
well, so I can't say much about that. I have no idea what he is truly
like." Her brow furrowed a bit. "But I hope things will settle
eventually. You _are_ the Lady Holder, after all."

"I don't know any good of him," Xeladrie said sharply, before elaborating.
"I don't know him directly but through my family I knew _of_ him long
before I knew him. Now I have to live with it."

Humari nodded, completely empathizing. Wedding Taril had not been her
choice either, but they were finding their balance, or so she hoped.
"It's often the way of things." She agreed. "I did not know my husband
at all either." She offered Xeladrie understanding smile. "But we must
adapt to it, it seems."

"So we must. At least our husbands will allow us to have friends of
our own, and hobbies." At least her own would and she hoped, if Humari
was a choice for a lady-in-waiting, that the other lady would have
such freedom.

"Yes." Taril had never said otherwise and she doubted he would. Half
the time they really didn't know what to do with each other.

Last updated on the January 20th 2015

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The Way of Things