Maker of Fire

Emily, Building Shrine, Omexkel, Cold Season, 5th rot., afternoon and night of the 3rd day

I was a bit shocked that the Convocation, plus High Priestesses Mieth and Losnana, and all the Lord Holders, showed up at the Building Shrine. Many of the Lord Holders brought family members. Raoleer said that finding a place to sleep in Omexkel was impossible right now. She had trainees sharing rooms so visitors could have a bed for the night. I overheard one trainee at the compounding building grumbling, saying she hoped the demonstration was worth sharing her room with a first year.

Usruldes showed up dressed as a royal courier. He brought Oyyuth and Troyeepay. Kamagishi brought Garki and Master Aduda, who had returned to Is'syal. He went back to the capital after the Coldtide Festival because he was teaching math at the Fated Shrine for Prince Heldfirk and Garki. Imstay King came and brought Heldfirk. Lisaykos came with Princess Opo'aba and grandaughter Fedso'as in tow. Twessera, Wolkayrs and Thuorfosi also came. Roaleer gave Wolkayrs and Thuorfosi a room in her own residence. Cosm are very protective of their pregnant mages.

The best visitor was Kayseo. She brought a young priest of Mueb with her. They walked into the compounding room while Tom, Aylem, Huhoti, Lisaykos, and I were discussing the production of potassium chlorate with the electrolysis cell, how big a cut the Building Shrine should get, and how much I could soak Imstay for selling him matches.

I heard Kayseo's knock pattern, which confused me since I didn't know she was coming to the demonstration later that evening. Huhoti opened the door with her mind's hand, and Kayseo entered, followed by her young man. He wore the sap-green and tan flying clothes of the Bountiful Shrine of Meub. His silver-white hair was in a braid down his back, and he sported the neatly-trimmed ring beard style popularized by Imstay King. I guessed he was in his late twenties.

He helped Kayseo get on her knees and then joined her. "May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great and Revered Ones," they said perfectly in unison.

"And also upon you," I replied. "Please rise, and get over here, you overgrown slug, and give me a hug, Kayseo." I missed Kayseo since she was up at Pinisla most of the time these days. After I got my hug, Lisaykos gave Kayseo her own hug, which surprised the youngster. It surprised me too. Lisaykos is usually so reserved and stand-offish, but I knew she was more than just fond of Kayseo.

I snagged Kayseo's sleeve and dragged her, crutches and all, over to the platform side of the working table, where Huhoti, Aylem, and I had made potassium perchlorate before mid repast. Matches and the ingredients to make them were spread all over the table.

"Kayseo, I want you to meet Tom. Tom, this is my friend Kayseo."

Kayseo's eyes popped. "I know you," she poked him gently in the chest.

"Well, phooey," he smiled a grimace and slumped his head, "I recognized you and hoped you had forgotten."

"Py'aosk, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yep, that's right," he shrugged. "You have a good memory."

"Meeting you was memorable," she smiled.

"You've met?" I looked between the two of them. "What happened?"

"I can tell you later." Tom declared in a solemn voice.

"It was a year before you showed up, Em," Kayseo's smile faded. "I was strolling along the river on the tow path, looking for gammon bush sap for a potions project. The Revered One was fishing, with his pony hobbled and grazing. We chatted for a while, and then he had to leave to meet one of his wagon crews. He kept talking to me as he put away his fishing pole and resaddled his pony. He was so involved with talking that he forgot to do the girth strap on the saddle. Then he tried to mount, fell backward with the saddle on top of him, and hit his head on a rock." She wasn't smiling anymore.

Tom heaved a huge sigh and blushed. He glanced at me and was immediately mortified at my amusement.

"I guess some things never change," I couldn't stop smiling. Tom was so absentminded about the rest of the world when he got talking.

"That was the first time I tried stasis because he needed it," Kayseo continued. "I was glad it worked because he might not be here with us today if it hadn't."

"It was Tom's accident that brought Kayseo to my attention," Lisaylos interjected. "She cast stasis under duress at 15, which is unheard of. Not even I could do that at 15. I had no idea it was Tom who was the one injured."

"It's amazing how small the world can be," I remarked. "And who might you be?" I looked up at Kayseo's young man, though I already guessed this was Kamagishi's younger son. I could tell he was tall for a Cosm man, though he was at least a half head shorter than most of the women silverhairs in the room. "Tell me what the locale was where we may have met. Be sure to make it exotic and mysterious." I winked at him since he was looking a little nervous.

He bowed with his hand over his heart, "Great One, I am Otsoymos haup Truvos, an earth mage from the Bountiful Shrine of Mueb. I first saw you in Is'sayl, to be truthful, but we have never been introduced."

"Is'syal?" I was surprised by his reply.

"I was in front of the House of Mounts when you flew in with the two children you found in the flood waters. I wasn't important enough to speak with you, though I was fascinated that you were flying a griffin by yourself. I won't ever forget that."

Kayseo laughed at me, "Good fish face, dear heart."

"Well, then," I recovered my composure, "I take it you're the young man marrying my Kayseo. Let's hear your pedigree and lineage, age, education, standing at your shrine, any specialty magics you might know, a rundown of assets and investments, and a complete list of landed property."

Otsoymos' fish face was most gratifying.

Kayseo busted up laughing, "Otty, she's teasing you."

"Oh," he blinked. "Sorry, I have a hard time dealing with the godmarks. I'm finding it hard to speak."

"Aura sensitive?" Aylem asked.

"Yes, Great One," he bobbed a bow to Aylem, "more than most. It's a trait that runs in the Esso bloodline. I inherited it from my haup Esso grandmother."

"When we're done here, I can show you a trick that can help with that, Otsoymos," Aylem offered. "For now, it will help if you don't stand so close to Emily. A little distance will help mute the effect." She motioned him to come around to the Cosm side of the work table. "I assure you, standing on this side of the table is safe. We don't usually devour young mages."

Huhoti grinned, giving in to her tendency to tease anything that moves, "Usually."

Otsoymos joined the other silverhairs. Kayseo followed at a slightly slower pace on her crutches.

"Are these the makings of instant fire?" Otsoymos surveyed the table, looking a little more comfortable.

"Yes, these are all the pieces for making instant fire," I replied.

"Can I see, please?" Otsoymos brightened. "I've heard so much about this."

I signed in resignation, picked up a newly-made match, and struck it against the striking stone. The flame burst into life. I let it burn until the match stem became too hot to hold. Then I blew it out.

"Wow," Otsoymos' eyes were wide. "That's really something else. Making instant fire without magic: who would have thought it possible?"

Tom and I made several hundred matches that afternoon because we wanted to use them for the demonstration. We both thought it would be cool to use matches to light all the fireworks fuses, especially since the Convocation and Lord Holders would be seated closest to the five mortars we made.

We each had thirty fireworks shells. Aylem made the extra ingredients with creation magic, and Huhoti had spent every evening for the previous five days assembling the fireworks for us. Both of them were impatient for evening to come.

Raoleer cleared the snow off the lawn around the shrine building with magic. Trainees spent the afternoon setting up chairs for Cosm facing the mortars. They set up low benches on the sides for the shrine's Coyn.

Our mortar crew was Tom, Master Boi, Master Koifu, Master Aduda, and me. We each had a box of fifty matches. The four guys had newly-made striking stones. We started as soon as it was dark, taking turns to fire off one casing at a time until we each had three shells left. We tried to fire the last fireworks together as quickly as we could. We didn't have any noise makers or whistlers, but the finale wasn't bad for the first fireworks display on Erdos.

The looks on the High Priestesses' and Lord Holders' faces were worth all the work to make matches that afternoon.

I swear Imstay King was drooling.

Danasma of House Urssi, Aybhas, Growing Season, 7th rot. to Cold Season, 5th rot., 4th day.

It was a unique experience for me, walking down the long hallway at the chapel shrine where I stayed while recuperating from my injuries from Uldlip. The healers sat on the floor to cheer me on as I used a thing called a walker to make my walk down the hall and back. Priestess Arma said it was a tradition for patients to make a celebratory walk like this before going home.

It was strange to see all these huge silverhair healers in their grey robes smiling and encouraging me. As I neared the end of my return trip back up the hallway, they started chanting my name. It was rather exhilarating to tell the truth. I was exhausted by the time I collapsed into Arma's arms, my walk done. I found that I was laughing and crying at the same time. If you had asked me a half year ago if I'd ever walk again, I would have said no.

After the attack, I was one of four Inkalemi sent to Aybhas for more intensive care. I was the last one left at the chapel shrine in Aybhas. All the others had returned to the village Lord Black had built for us at Black Falls. I expected that I would be joining them soon.

Garkosh Tulkin came at the beginning of every other rotation to report on how the rest of the survivors were doing in Black Falls. He stepped up to fill the deputy camp master position left open by the death of his mother.

Those of us who lived fared better than I expected. The Foskans treated us with tact, generosity, and genuine care. The attack on Uldlip violated some religious tenet of Cosm worship, and the Foskans were enraged and appalled by the incident. They flew our survivors, who they could heal quickly, to Tuleen. The rest of us were housed at the healers' tent hospital in the tent city for the displaced residents of Black Falls and then in the new chapel shrine of Mugash, the first completed building of the rebuilt city of Black Falls.

After the passes closed halfway through Harvest Season, the Foskans moved those of us still here into the little village on the edge of the rebuilt city. Lord Black assigned Coyn from his household and his garrison guards to help my people while they lived in a Foskan city until the passes opened back up. I found myself at odds with all I had learned growing up about the cruelty and oppression of the Foskan Cosm. The more I learned, the more I realized that not all Cosm were bad people.

I also learned that not all Foskan Coyn were abused. One of the first Coyn I met was a man called Oytwee. When he first visited me, he told me he was the head of all the Coyn owned by the Shrine of Sassoo, which was burned to the ground when the Impotuans destroyed Black Falls. When I quizzed him about his life and the life of his colleagues, I was shocked to discover how well the shrine took care of its slaves.

The slaves of the shrine were all selected based on musical talent. When the shrine acquired them, they were trained in musical performance and theory. They performed professionally for the shrine. Sometimes they were contracted to perform for other shrines or for wealthy Cosm. Some of them were also instructors at the Shrine of Sassoo, teaching both Coyn and Cosm students.

The shrine slaves received a monetary allowance, good food, shelter, clothing, two days off every rotation, and two rotations off every year. They had families which were not broken up and sold. When they became too old to work, they either stayed with their family or were sent to a care home funded by the shrine, where they lived the rest of their lives in peace.

In our conversations, Oytwee clarified that the Shrine of Sassoo slaves were the best cared-for slaves in Foskos. He was pretty honest that there were slaves whose lives were miserable. Most of the slaves in Foskos were owned by the Shrine of Vassu or owned by holdings and used as farm labor. The Shrine of Vassu slaves were known as spoot slaves. Until recently, they collected all the night soil and brought it to facilities owned by the shrine, where it was broken down into liquids sold to dyers and tanners and solids used in compost and fertilizer.

The spoot slaves had a life filled with smelly, unpleasant work, but their shrine did not starve them or keep them in conditions where they suffered. They didn't get the time off or the generous allowance of the Sassoo slaves, but they did have evenings free and were allowed to socialize at music and dance halls maintained by the Shrine of Surd.

A fraction of slaves were skilled craft workers, and their lives were at the mercy and temperament of their owners. Some owners were famous for treating their Coyn well, like the Queen, who had her own holding and brewery, Lords Ark'kos and Gunndit, the Shrine of Giltak, the weaving guild of Kesmat, and the Armory of Zanz in Kas.

Others were infamous for how badly their Coyn were treated. Lord Blockit was executed last year for abusing Coyn, which shocked me. I had no idea Foskos would hold nobility accountable for crimes against Coyn. Oytwee assured me the abuse was beyond belief, and most Coyn were disgusted that thousands of Coyn children had to die before anything was done about Blockit's murders.

Foskos was a country in the middle of upheaval, while I recuperated in the chapel shrine. I was unconscious for three entire rotations after the attack. While my eyes were closed, four Lord Holders rebelled against the Foskan King. Some were in collusion with the Impotuans, who staged further attacks against shrines in Foskos, including the Healing Shrine of Mugash, walking distance from where I slept in the chapel shrine. Princess Lisaykos, the High Priestess of Mugash, almost died in that attack. More recently, I heard the news of slave riots in the cities of Kas and Surdos, and another Lord Holder was executed for abuse of his Coyn slaves.

I know that if I had not been rescued by Foskan Cosm, I would have died. The first person I saw when I opened my eyes was a Cosm healer called Oyersevoy. She was the person I saw the most, as she supervised a steady stream of healer trainees who fed me, read to me, and helped me begin to move again. Oyersevoy worked almost all the time at the chapel shrine because she was good at handling Coyn. Apparently, not all healers have that knack.

As Oyersavoy summed up my condition, it was easier to list the bones that weren't broken than the ones that were. The worst of my injuries were my back and my skull. While I was unconscious, the Mad Queen of Foskos healed my bones and back, and Usruldes Udkin and the Queen healed my nerves and brain. The worst damage was to the part of me that handled moving my legs and lower torso. It was embarrassing, but it took a season and a half before I could control my own bowels and bladder again.

The first visitor who answered my substantial questions about affairs outside the chapel shrine was Usruldes Udkin, who appeared in my room at the end of Growing Season in the black mask and mantle for which he is famous. I didn't know he never unmasked while in Foskos. He closed the door to my room and sat on the chair next to the elevated bed I was on. He pulled down his face mask and blotted his tears. He took a moment before he spoke as he fought to keep control of himself.

With his cheeks wet, he told me of the death of our mutual friend, Ulamis Tuleen. Then he held me and comforted me as I shed my own tears. He refused to tell me how she died for an entire season, even though he visited me every rotation. When he finally told me how Ulamis died, I understood why he waited. I could feel his quiet rage when he told me how he found what was left of her body after the Impotuans had ripped her apart into six pieces. I would have had a difficult time knowing how she died earlier in my recovery.

Healer Oyersavoy told me after that visit that Usruldes eliminated an entire Impotuan garrison during the first attacks when he found a young healer mutilated by Impotuan soldiers. It made me glad he considered me a friend. I had difficulty imagining the polite but affable Usruldes killing 300 soldiers by himself. All the Cosm I met believed it happened, so maybe it did.

The Mad Queen of Foskos also visited me in her role as one of my healers. I didn't find her to be insane, though she had changed from what I remembered. In her visits to the Uldlip trade fair in past years, she had been frightening, cold, and haughty, though she traded honorably and dealt honestly.

Now her demeanor had changed. She was gentle, friendly, and soft-spoken. She made the patches of numb and tingling skin go away and persisted in her healing until I could feel my legs and my remaining foot again.

The person whose visit shocked me was Imstay, King of Foskos. He came to see me halfway through Harvest Season. He was a giant for a Cosm male, almost as tall as a priestess mage. He wore his silver hair in a braid down his back and sported a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He was loud and boisterous but smiled often and had a friendly demeanor. He wasn't what I expected for a Cosm ruler. He reminded me more of an owner-manager at a large trading house than the ruler of a Cosm kingdom. I suspected he was a brilliant haggler when he engaged in trade.

He discussed renegotiating the treaty, given his certainty that slavery would be outlawed in Foskos within two to three years. He spoke about giving Inkalemi the freedom to travel and trade in Foskos. He also related the messages from the gods that the revelators and prophet had delivered.

In light of what the gods desired, he wanted to know what it would take to establish chapel shrines of Cosm healers and Shrine of Surd-run schools and orphanages in Inkalem. He discussed how the shrines worked in Foskos and that the gods wanted the services of the shrines spread to all six races. It was a disturbing message that the gods wanted the incursion of Cosm into Coyn lives.

As I got better, a refugee healer from Impotu, Priestess Arma, would come and talk with me. She was often the supervisor of the chapel shrine, usually working a half day at a time. She told me about her adventures with the missing Emily, who I knew as the Miner of the North. The strange girl I had seen a handful of times at the trade fair was now acknowledged throughout Foskos as a prophet. All the Cosm healers and Coyn patients believed the gods actually talked to Emily. I had difficulty thinking of that slip of a girl as anything but a trader in crystals.

Arma tried to convince me that Emily was touched by the gods and explained something called godmarks. I heard even more about Emily from a young healer named Kayseo, who arrived one day to fit me for a fake leg and to teach me how to walk again. Foskan Cosm mages are serious about their religious beliefs, so I had to consider that these mages were telling me the truth about Emily.

The day after I took my walk up and down the long hallway of the chapel shrine, Arma and Oyersevoy ushered an aged healer mage into my room. She was tall, even taller than Arma. She sat in the chair next to my bed while Oyersevoy and Arma stood quietly behind her. I wondered if her nose was the famous beaky nose of the Foskan royal house, which would mean she was the Princess who was the high priestess here in Aybhas.

She surprised me when she placed a clear container of what I assumed was water on my side table. She added two transparent beakers, one of which was sized for my smaller hands.

"I come with the words of my lips to greet you in friendship and with my water to share with the stranger," the old silverhair touched her fingers to her lips and then held her hand out, making the traditional Inkalemi gesture of welcome. Her voice was pleasant though she spoke with the most aristocratic of Foskan accents. "I am Lisaykos haup Foskos, High Priestess of Mugash. Please share my water with me, Honored Danasma of Urssi. Allow me to pour for you since I believe it would be difficult for you right now."

She picked up the strange clear container and poured water into both beakers. She handed me the smaller one and took the larger one. We both downed our water at the same time.

"I greet you, Lisaykos, Princess of Foskos," I turned the clear beaker in my hand, studying it. "What is the strange substance that this beaker is made of? It doesn't look or feel like crystal."

"Manufactured glass," the old Foskan Princess replied. "The Builder Shrine of Giltak has been experimenting with this substance. I expect it will be a new trade good sometime soon. You may keep that if you like. I have many more."

"I believe I will," I placed it carefully on my side table. "Thank you."

"I am remiss for not visiting with you before now," the old silverhair said. "I seldom make it down to this part of the city, but given your position and house, I should have met with you before now. Please accept my apologies for having neglected you."

"You are a busy person, and I am not offended, Princess," I tried to assure her. "I have not been well enough to entertain company."

"I have some things to discuss with your today, Honored Danasma. First, we are moving you today into the main shrine. You will be my guest in my quarters for a few days while the Queen and Lord Usruldes prepare to take you home to Gangkego."

Both of those were surprises for me. How can I return to my home with the passes closed over the Parpeld Mountains?

"The Queen and Lord Ursuldes will take the Copper River route to the Fenlands, where you will likely stay one or two evenings with the spider mage Ud. The Queen and Lord Usruldes will then fly down the coast to Gangkego. Once there, they will leave you, the Blessed Emily, the Blessed Twee, and the Revered Tom in Inkalem. The Blessed Twee is a Chem shaman. Emily and Tom will travel with him on his way home. The Queen and Usruldes will return to Foskos. The other three will spend a few days in Inkalem before moving on. The Blessed Emily will want to buy some bricks for making kilns while in Gangkego. She will also hire some ships to take those bricks to Sussbesschem."

I think my jaw came undone because I was speechless. It was too much to take in at once.

"If I had my way, you would stay here longer," the Princess said in a thoughtful voice. "It was Vassu who conveyed in a dream command that it is time to take you home. Usually, traveling across the wilderness northwest of the Great Cracks is not something I would allow for someone still recuperating from injuries.

"We will take you to the main shrine in a little while. We have set up a room for you just across the hall from Emily's bedroom. There will be three healers who will look after you while you stay with us. For the most part, they will help you navigate the furniture and hallways in the shrine, which are not Coyn-friendly. You will eat in my private dining with my other guests, who currently include two Coyn, one Chem, three other high priestesses, and the Queen. The Blessed Asgotl, who is a griffin, also spends time visiting my private quarters. He doesn't eat with us, thank the gods, but he frequently sleeps in the hallway next to Emily's bedroom door or in my study near her favorite lounge. He likes to stay close to Emily."

"I have met Asgotl," I managed to say around my amazement. "He's the only griffin who has ever spoken to me. Can you tell me how I will get to the main shrine? I don't think I can walk any further today."

"We will carry you. It's not that far to walk," the Princess said. "We have a housecoat for you, stockings, warm boots, and a hooded cloak. Trust me that we won't let you feel any cold."

I said my goodbyes to Oyersevoy. Arma bundled me up. She put on her own coat, hat, and mittens. Then she picked me up.

"Comfortable, Little Danasma?" she asked in her unusual Impotuan accent.

"Yes, thank you."

The Princess had put on her own cloak and added a hooded mantle. She put the hood up. I had learned that a raised hood was the signal that the wearer wished to be incognito. It was an interesting and convenient convention for people like the Princess, who would otherwise be subject to reverences from commoners everywhere she went.

The walk paralleled the city wall a short way until we reached the lower end of the road from the north gate to the main shrine. The road went through the middle of a busy market. At the top of the market, the road turned to climb the last height before it ended in an open square in front of the shrine. The Princess pointed out different interesting shops and features of the city as we climbed toward the shrine, which topped the highest hill in the city. Immediately east of the shrine was the first ridge of the mountains. Expensive-looking homes covered the west-facing side of the ridge. The highest ones looked to be level with the roof of the shrine. The Princess called the neighborhood of fancy houses on that ridge "Snob Hill." The name made me laugh.

The shrine itself was immense. The massive four-story building was capped with a dome sheathed in untarnished copper sheeting. Four wings radiated out from the dome. The building was faced with an off-white building stone. The Princess opened a side door to the left of the ceremonial entrance into the shrine. Arma carried me in.

Everything inside the shrine was on a scale that could only be comfortable for mages, who are substantially bigger than non-magical Cosm. Unlike the chapel shrine, which was designed for the comfort of Coyn, the main shrine left me feeling very small and helpless.

We walked into the space under the dome, which was open to the roof. Railed walkways circled the atrium wall on the three upper stories. In the middle of the floor was a round roofed structure made of stone with windows of diamond-shaped panes of clearspar.

"This is the Well of Mugash, where the great crystal of the shrine is housed," the Princess said. "I'll open it up for you if you'd like a tour of the shrine, which I wouldn't recommend today. Getting you settled in and introduced to my staff is the first order of business."

We walked through the atrium to a stair. I did notice that Coyn-scaled steps were installed against the outside wall of the stairwell. We climbed all the way up. On the landing for the third floor, a sentry wearing the light blue coat common to Foskan city guards opened a barred gate allowing us to proceed to the fourth floor.

"Now we are in the south wing of the fourth floor, which is where I have my quarters and the guest quarters. And down this hallway is where you will be staying," the Princess turned a sharp left and opened the first door on the left. "This first room will be yours. The bed is not sized for Coyn, but I had a bed ramp installed like those in the chapel shrine. It's one continuous ramp with no steps, which I thought best given that you only recently started walking again."

The bedroom was the size of a small house. None of the furniture was a comfortable size, but several chairs had Coyn-scaled steps so someone of smaller stature could climb into one. The bedroom and closet doors had foot latches that looked new.

"I have installed a bathing chamber," the Princess continued, "with an appropriately-sized necessary and shower. You will need to ask one of the healers assigned to you to heat your hot water tank if you want to shower or bathe. You'll need help if you want to use the tub. At night, one of your healers will sleep in the room next to you. If you need anything at night, just pull the bell rope, just like in the chapel shrine, and the healer on duty will be there for you."

Arma put me on the bed and hung up the cloak. The boots disappeared into a closet.

"Would you like to rest, or do you want to meet my other guests?"

"I think I would like to nap for a bit if that is not too rude," I said, finding that the trip from the chapel shrine had tired me out. I had lost all of my endurance since the attack.

Arma turned down the bed covers and then tucked me.

"I have sent for Kibbilpos," the Princess said to Arma.

"That is good since I need to return to the chapel shrine," Arma replied. She looked at me, "Are you warm enough, Danasma? I've noticed these ancient windows inside this shrine are a bit drafty."

"I am feeling a little chilled," I admitted.

I was shocked when the Princess walked to the closet, reached up, and took out a quilt. Arma took one end, and they both spread it on top of me. When they were done, a new healer stood in the doorway. She was of middling height for a silverhair and appeared to be in her thirties. She had a pleasant round face and lovely sky-blue eyes.

"Kibbilpos," the Princess waved her over to the bed, "this is Danasma Urssi, camp master of Uldlip. Danasma, this is Healer Kibbilpos. She is one of the three healers who will be looking after you while you are here."

The healer bowed her head with her hand over her heart, "May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Honored One."

"What? Priestess, my name is Danasma," I was gobsmacked. Where did that Foskan title come from?

Healer Kibbilpos tilted her head and frowned, "Are you not the Heir of House Urssi? Is there some other title I should use?"

"Danasma is not accustomed to Foskan honorifics," Arma buttoned up her coat and put on her hat. "They use names and occupation titles in Inkalem, Kib. Danasma, the usual response to the greeting Kibbilpos gave you is 'and also with you.'"

"Oh," I was still confused.

"You are the heir of House Urssi," Arma smiled as she explained, "so Kib used what any Foskan would use for the heir of a great house. You might want to ask for a refresher on honorifics before dinner from Kibbilpos since one of your fellow diners is a stickler for proper address."

"Will you come and have dinner with us, Arma?" the Princess asked.

"That would be delightful," Arma looked pleased. "I don't get off until exactly the seventh bell, so could you please wait while I walk up the hill? Warn her about my mother, please."

"Of course, child," the Princess nodded.

Arma disappeared out the door. I looked up at the Princess, "Her mother?"

"Her mother is the Holy Mieth, High Priestess of Mugash from Impotu. Both Arma and Mieth are refugees. Mieth is very rigid about using proper titles and honorifics. Prepare yourself for a dinner full of being called Honored One. Now I must return to my work. I will see you at dinner. She's all yours, Kibbilpos."