abportier

A magic far greater than anything in the...

{ 04:28, 2010-Feb-15 } { Link }

A magic far greater than anything in the Peninsula of the Palm and equal to the sorcery of Ygrath Brandin had taken one city and established a tenuous control over some lands that lay on the fringes of the great desert stretching northThere had been losses though, serious losses she gatheredThe Khardhu had long been celebrated for their skill in battle, nor was this unknown in the Palm: many of them had served as well-paid mercenaries in the warring provinces before the Tyrants had come and made all such feuding irrelevant Vencel had been a herald captured late in the campaign, Brandin told herHe'd already been unmanned: a thing they did to messengers in the north, for no reason Brandin had understoodIt had been manifestly evident where the castrate belonged when brought back to YgrathHe had already, Brandin confirmed, been enormous Dianora straightened as Vencel withdrew his finger from the red gleam of the vairstone "Will you escort us down?" she asked "I think not," he said judiciously, as if actually giving chloe bag thought to the matter"Perhaps Scelto and Hala can manage that office between themI have some matters that need my attention here this afternoon, you see Dianora glanced over at Solores and each of them raised a spread palm in respectful saluteIn fact, Vencel hadn't left the saishan wing in at least five yearsEven when he toured the rooms on this floor it was on a cleverly contrived rolling platform of cushionsDianora could not remember the last time she'd actually seen him stand uprightScelto and Solores's Hala attended to virtually all the formal out-of-saishan dutiesVencel believed in delegating They went down the stairway that led out from the saishan to the worldOne flight below they accepted the scrutiny, respectful but careful, of the two guards posted outside the heavy bronze doors that barred access to and from the level where the women wereDianora responded to their cautious glances with a smileOne of them returned it shylyThe guards were changed often; she didn't know either of these two, but a smile was a women rolex watches start at bonding and a friend never hurt Scelto and Hala, dressed unobtrusively in brown, led the four women out of the saishan wing along the main corridor of the palace to the Grand Staircase in the centerThere the two castrates paused to let the women precede themWith some pride but not with hauteur, they were the captives and concubines of a conqueror, Dianora and Solores led the way down the sweeping stair They were noticed of courseThe women of the saishan were always noticed when they came outThere were a number of people milling about in the marbled vestibule waiting to enter the Audience Chamber; they made way for the four of themSome of the newer men smiled in a manner that had taken Dianora some time to accept Others knew her better and their expressions were rather differentIn the arched doorway to the largest of the formal reception rooms she and Solores paused again side by side, this time entirely for effect, the blood-red gown beside the green, and then walked together into the crowded room of chanel cambon handbags state As she did so, every single time she did so, Dianora offered an inward voicing of gratitude for the impulse that had led Brandin to change the rules for his saishan here in the colony he now ruled In Ygrath, she knew, this would never have been allowedFor a man other than the King or one of the castrates to see, let alone hold converse with a saishan woman was death for both of themAnd, Vencel had told her once, for the head of the saishan wing as well Things had been different here in Chiara almost from the startOver the years Dianora had learned enough to know that some of her gratitude should go to Dorotea, Queen of Ygrath, and her decision to remain there with Girald, her elder son, and not accompany her husband into his self-imposed exile abroadDorotea's choice, or, depending on to whom one listened, Brandin's decision not to demand the company of his Queen Somewhat instinctively Dianora always preferred the latter version of the story, but she was wise enough to know why that was so, and this was one of the louis vuitton gold handbag things she never spoke about with BrandinNot that the matter was taboo; he wasn't that kind of manIt was simply that she wasn't sure if or how she could deal with whatever answer he gave her if the question was ever asked In any case, with Dorotea remaining in Ygrath there were few high-born court ladies willing to risk the seas and the Queen's displeasure in journeying to the colony in the PalmWhich meant an extreme scarcity of women at Brandin's new court in Chiara, and this, in turn, led to a change in the role of the saishanThe more so since, especially in the early years, Brandin had deliberately ordered the Tribute Ships to search out daughters of distinguished houses in Corte or AsoliOn Chiara he made the choices himselfFrom Lower Corte, which had once borne a different name, he took no women at all, as a matter of absolute policyThe hatred there ran both ways and too deep, and the saishan was not a place to let it fester He'd sent for only a few of the women from his saishan in Ygrath, leaving it largely rolex oyster int

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