Journey of the Messenger Cycle 2 Part 3b
The guests started arriving the following day, a few late that morning increasing to a fair number throughout the afternoon and into the early evening. Many of them were Lord Jostan’s banner lords, they came with their ladies, some with other family members or key people within their courts. The majority of them were placed in a wing of the palace specifically intended for guests, only a couple of them ended up in the same wing as Ijah. The addition of a hundred people to the population of the palace was hardly noticeable.
Ijah spent most of that day rehearsing with Thandi and the minstrels. She had been surprised by Thandi’s knowledge of Kereshi music, even more surprised by the fusion of her people’s music with the classical and folk music of Maldorn. Together they selected nine pieces of music, three traditional, of which Ijah was well acquainted and for which she intended to use the standard dance forms. Three more of the fusion with the local folk music, which were fairly simple, usually up-tempo and short, for these she would use quick travelling movements with some acrobatics. The fusion with Maldorn classical music was more difficult, she found the blending of the old elvish inspired pieces combined with the sonorous notes of her people’s music jarring at times. These last three selections were long pieces, well outside of traditional progressions and she had initially been at a loss as to how she should dance to them at all.
Thankfully one of the minstrels working with Thandi had been trained in classical and Elquinian forms and the bard had encouraged the two of them to work together to see what they could come up with. Thandi had gone off to attend the lord’s supper, to entertain his guests, leaving her and Elli Eln’Laeth to figure it out.
With the name of Eln’Laeth, Ijah had initially assumed Elli was originally from Elquin. That was not the case. She was in fact from the Duchy Els’Roxx, along the east coast of Maldorn, south of Elquin. Certainly her heritage was Elquinian, as was the case with many of the older families from that region, but she very much was a modern Maldorn woman. Well educated, broadly travelled within Maldorn and strongly independent, Ijah was drawn to the woman.
After a short break to eat a light meal, during which they chatted a bit about their backgrounds, they were quick to get back to dancing. Elli showed her some of the classical moves that typically went along with the more formal music. Ijah was not overly impressed with what she was seeing. Not that Elli was a poor dancer, but the traditional dances were very conservative in movement and contact, almost rigid. The juxtaposition between what she was seeing and what she had grown up with were as night and day. For that matter, so was the aesthetic between their appearances. Of a similar height, she was just a bit shorter than Ijah, Elli was fair and very blond with pale icy blue eyes, the woman was fit with good muscle definition though she was no warrior.
After her demonstration Ijah asked, “What am I supposed to do with that? The moves seem simple enough, but…”
Elli gave a dry chuckle, “The dance is typically performed in pairs. Let’s go through it again, this time together.”
They did so. Ijah had no issues remembering the steps and after having gone through the dances a few times with a partner she saw how it could be interesting. Most of what would make it interesting was the alchemy between the two dancers with some help from long flowing skirts or veils. Contact between the dancers was typically restricted to the hands and sometimes the entire forearm. Either a two-step or three-step was used, the dancers mostly circled each other, sometimes moving closer or further apart.
After it was clear Ijah understood the basic classic forms Elli continued along their exploration. She suggested, “So the transition between the two styles of music could easily be punctuated with stillness or a pause. Then a slow flow into the Kereshi forms you were demonstrating earlier. As the tempo increases we could move around each other, a mimic of the classic dance, but as we hit the transition back the other way we could put in a lift or some simple tumbling. Shall we experiment?”
It was getting late, the last of their musicians called it a night, leaving the two of them to the deepening silence of the palace. Ijah was feeling good and agreed to continue. They counted out the timing for each other, hummed or clapped as needed and mostly experimented.
Some of the candles that had been lit near sunset burned low and a couple of the lamps had gone out, their fuel consumed. Still they continued dancing, gradually building a routine together. At one point a servant came by, either to attend to the cleaning of the room or perhaps just to check in on them. They waved off his offer to light more candles or refill the lamps, Elli assured him they would be done soon.
With only three flickering lights still burning the two of them had danced through everything they had put together a couple of times, from start to finish. Ijah was pleased with what they had come up with, as well the physical vocabulary the two of them now shared. They were spent, Ijah could feel a slight tremor of exhaustion throughout her body, she imagined the other woman had likewise taxed herself. They settled on to the floor, did some gentle stretching then lay still for a while.
“Thank you for your help.”
“It was fun. I have not danced that much for far too long.”
“Likewise.”
“I’m famished, though. You must be as well. We should raid the kitchen.”
“I think I’ll stick to water, sleep, then eat a huge breakfast. What time does Thandi typically start his day?”
“Depends on how late he’s up entertaining. Often enough he’s ready for his day by mid morning, certainly by late morning, he usually does most of his work after the midday meal.”
“Well that’s good. I’ll likely sleep in a while.”
“Did you need help getting to your room?”
“Thank you, I can manage.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Elli rose to her feet and took one of the sputtering candles.
“Sleep well.”
“You too.”
Ijah did a few more stretches, enjoying the tired ache of her body. She made sure the remaining candles were not in danger of burning anything then headed off to her suite. This time of night there were few people up and about, and there was usually only one candle or lamp burning in a given passageway.
She was ascending a stairwell when she heard someone rapidly, though fairly quietly, descending towards her. There was a small amount of light from the hall above, Ijah discerned a feminine form, perhaps glancing over their shoulder. There was a faint glint of metal. A weapon in hand? The shorter woman would have collided with her if Ijah had not caught hold of her. With one hand she grabbed the other woman’s forearm and was surprised the lurker suppressed a startled shriek. Ijah pushed her against the wall when she started to struggle and squeezed the wrist until she dropped the knife, which clattered down a step or two. Despite a pained expression the woman did not cry out.
Ijah leaned into her, pinning her against the wall, “What are you doing skulking around in the dark?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” She kept her voice low, continued to resist, trying to escape.
“I’m not the one slinking through the halls with a naked blade. Explain yourself.”
The woman stopped resisting, spoke in low tones with an edge of desperation, “I had gone to use the facilities, I took a wrong turn heading back to my room. I’m sorry if I startled you, mistress.”
“The blade?”
She gave a sigh, somewhere between frustration and desperation, “I have not your strength, mistress. When I became lost and knew not where I was, I feared some man would mistreat me.”
“Is that something that happens here?”
“It could happen anywhere, mistress. As I said I do not have your strength and am just a servant. If a man decides he’s going to take me, there is little I can do about it.”
Ijah stopped pinning her, thinking of the woman in chains, “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“It’s just a bruised wrist, mistress, nothing really.”
Ijah retrieved the knife and passed it to her, hilt first, “Perhaps next time you are in an unfamiliar place, use a bed pan.”
“Yes mistress, of course. How silly of me.”
Ijah let her go, the woman seemed young, maybe with light brown hair, it was hard to tell in the dim lighting. She gave a curtsy and then continued down the stairs.
Ijah carried on to her rooms, wondering again about these Maldorn and their system of indentured servitude. She was too tired to dwell on the encounter or the politics. She stripped and crawled into bed, cuddling up to Roddarra who sighed and put an arm around her, muttering, “You’re so warm.”
Ijah thought of a witty retort, but was unsure if she made a vocal reply or only dreamed she did.
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