“Yep, it’s pretty wonderful,” I replied.
She jumped and cried, “Oh my goodness! What am I thinking?
Come in, come in. I’ll ask one of my… erm, people to get us some refreshments. Let’s get out of this sun.”
I smiled at Diandra as Narinda hustled us in her cham thinking the change was remarkable. That night that seemed years ago, Narinda might not have been cool but she was collected. Now she was acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush.
My savior my first night in this world was in a good place and I was glad of it. It felt nice to have one worry off my mind.
We went into her cham and I saw immediately that it wasn’t like mine. It wasn’t as big, for one. And there weren’t as many trunks.
Nor chests. Nor candlesticks. The furniture was nice but not heavily carved. The sheet over the hides of the bed (which was smaller) was gauze, a pretty gauze but not silk. And there weren’t as many pillows and only a few of these were covered with silk or brocade, the rest were covered in cotton.
Though, I had to say, her outfit was kickass but it wasn’t shot with silver or gold. The sarong was red, her belt was braided red, purple and blue and her halter top was purple. She had earrings on, some bangles but nowhere near my finery.
Okay, maybe it was good being queen.
We settled lounging on her bed, her girl brought us fruit juice and a platter with slices of cheese and grapes and we chattered away.
She told us she had picked up some Korwahk words while being transported and held prior to the Hunt but she wasn’t even close to fluent and obviously hadn’t lucked out and had an interpreter almost from the beginning like I did. And it was clear Feetak wasn’t doing his talking with words. Nevertheless, it was also clear what he was saying was stuff Narinda liked.
After I ascertained she was settling, she took over the conversation, her eyes coming to me. “I’ve been so worried about you. I tried to ask my girls and Feetak about you but they don’t
know what I’m saying or, when they answer, I don’t know what they’re saying. The king,” she shook her head and shivered, “he was frightening. How are you handling everything?”
“It’s taken a bit of time and I was lucky to have Diandra’s help but I’m adjusting.”
She leaned into me and whispered, “It’s all very strange, don’t you think?”
I smiled at her. “You can say that again.”
She returned my smile and leaned back. “But, I’m thinking, not a bad strange, just a strange. Though, I’m also thinking it’ll take awhile to get used to it.”
And I was thinking she was not wrong about that.
She turned to Diandra. “How long did it take you?”
“I, like you and our queen, was lucky to be claimed by a warrior who grew to care for me very deeply, very quickly. So, I’m happy to say, it did not take long at all.”
Narinda’s eyes came to me and they were wide. “That large, fearsome man cares about you already?”
“Uh –” I started.
“Deeply,” Diandra said firmly, Narinda looked at her and then at me.
The she cried, “Isn’t that lovely! Oh, Circe, maybe this won’t be all that bad.” I bit my lip but she missed it when her head snapped to Diandra and she asked, “How long did it take you to learn their language?”
Thus commenced Narinda asking Diandra approximately one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three questions about all things Korwahk, Diandra answering these questions in great detail and then Diandra offering up juicy snippets of my life for the past week.
“Oh my,” Narinda breathed, “how wonderful he was so worried for you when you were ill. It’s almost, I can’t believe I’m going to say this but… romantic. ”
Diandra beamed.
“The brute did leave me out in the sun for nine hours,” I grumbled, the light shining from Diandra’s face extinguished and she gave me a narrow-eyed look.
“Oh, I saw you,” Narinda said. “I tried to catch your eye but you didn’t see me and I couldn’t get Feetak to understand me when I said I wanted to go see you. Night had fallen and for some reason he didn’t want me close to the dais.”
Feetak was sounding better and better by the moment.
Narinda went on. “You looked kind of bored but very beautiful.
All that gold. Your clothing was amazing. And your jewelry! Feetak has given me a chest full of it but you were wearing more just during that celebration than I have in my entire chest.”
Yep, there it was. Proof it was good being queen.
“Our Dax showers great bounty on his golden queen,” Diandra announced.
“I can see!” Narinda exclaimed, her eyes scanning my clothing and my jewelry which was again, I had to admit, a pretty spectacular show then she reached out and grabbed my hand. “But I’m sorry you were ill, Circe. I’m glad you’re better now.”
“Thanks, Narinda,” I said softly.
“The golden queen,” Narinda replied just as softly.
“That’s what they say,” I returned noncommittally.
She smiled a smile I remembered in a way I knew I would remember it until my dying day. It was small, it was weird, it was attached to not-so-good memories but it still was a treasure.
“It was awful,” she whispered her understatement. “But maybe we didn’t do all that badly.”
