Kiri leaned on a gold-tipped cane, watching Mala flit around the antechamber to Lord Westfall’s study. Gilliam had brought the cane to the Leaning Pillar that morning along with the message that while Lord Westfall had not extended a dinner invitation to Mala yet, he was interested to meet her.
“So you surely will be invited to dinner, Mala,” he’d said. “No one can meet you and not be charmed.”
So here they were in Lord Westfall’s manor, with Mala so excited she wouldn’t stop touching and admiring everything despite Squire Yarin directing increasingly desperate disapproving stares and coughs at her. Judging by his reactions the knick knacks Mala was picking up and investigating were both breakable and valuable. Yarin gave a particularly loud cough as Mala picked up a delicately beautiful crystal tree. She finally acknowledged the noise, turning to him and setting the tree back down without looking. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
“Oh my, are you all right? she asked. “My cousin had pneumonia recently. You have to be careful about things like that.”
Yarin humphed, sticking his nose well in the air. “I’m quite all right.”
The false door opened, and a woman stepped backward into the room, talking to someone who was still on the other side. They only heard the last few words. “...care of this quick.” Mala abruptly dropped into a curtsy. The woman, who was tall and slim, with tightly bound black hair and a tighter expression, looked down her sharp nose at Mala.
“In here,” she said, stepping back into the room without looking to see if they were following.
The room was crowded with people, and most of them seemed to be talking to one another and uninterested in Kiri and her friends. The woman set a brisk pace to Lord Westfall’s desk, which Kiri struggled to match hobbling on her hurt leg. The cane might have been more use if she was accustomed to it, but as it was she kept nearly getting tangled with it.
Lord Westfall sat with his booted feet propped on top of his desk, talking to a man standing behind him bent low to whisper in the lord’s ear. When he saw the ladies approach he dropped his feet back to the floor and brushed aside the other man mid-sentence
“Ah ha,” he said. “Here she is.” He looked Mala up and down, sizing her up while she dropped an elegant curtsy. He flicked a finger at her and nodded to their escort. “She’ll do.” It was at that point that he turned to Kiri, who gave an awkward, belated bow. “Good to see you on your feet, my girl,” he said. “It doesn’t do to stay in bed. Bad for the constitution. I’ll be seeing you at dinner.”
“Of course, my lord,” Kiri said.
“Better make them presentable, Lady Violet,” he said, then turned back to the man he had brushed away earlier. They were dismissed.
Violet turned out to be kinder than her harsh looks suggested. She took both of them under her wing. With the help of the ladies’ maids, she had them bathed, dressed, and made up with an hour to spare before dinner. They spent the last hour getting their hair put up in the most elaborate bejeweled styles Kiri had ever seen in her life.
“There you are,” Violet said, bringing Kiri and Mala to look in the mirror when they were finally ready. “Lady Westfall loves hair. She is looking to expand her court, you know. That’s likely why Lord Westfall invited you. If we’re lucky, she’ll pick one of you. You are both so delightful.”
At dinner, Mala was seated with the handmaidens at one of the lower tables, but Kiri was surprised to find she had a place at the head table between Gilliam and an intimidatingly large man named Lord Useph. Gilliam whispered in her ear that he was a desert lord visiting for a few days with a small entourage.
“I notice you are injured, Lady Kiri,” Lord Useph said to her in a deep, serious tone. “I trust it is not too serious.”
“Oh, no,” Kiri stammered. “It’ll be better soon. I only twisted my ankle in a fall down the stairs.”
“Then you are fortunate not to be injured more seriously,” Lord Useph said.
“Yes, I guess so,” Kiri’s voice trailed off, and she stared down at her plate, feeling awkward. She was very frustrated with herself. Here she was, meeting a foreign lord, and she could barely get out a coherent sentence. She was thrilled to be here, but at the same time wished she was at Mala’s table, where she could watch without embarrassing herself. Lord Westfall had been wrong to think she would be an interesting addition to his dinner party.
Kiri was grateful when the food arrived. For a while, she made sure her mouth was always full, listening to the others chit chat.
Lady Westfall was talking to a blond woman who was wearing so much makeup she looked constantly surprised. Kiri supposed she was probably Lord Useph’s wife. Most of the conversation seemed to be about people Kiri had never heard of, but she’d heard that brand of conversation before. It was gossip of the kind that was only interesting when you knew the people involved.
Gilliam was engaged in conversation with a light-haired young man, a boy really, younger than Kiri herself, who resembled the woman talking to Lady Westfall. Kiri guessed he must be her son. Their heads were close together, and even though Kiri was sitting right next to Gilliam, she could only catch the occasional word. It was too bad, too, because it was bound to be more interesting than Lady Westfall’s gossip.
Lord Westfall and Lord Useph were talking about the recent upswing in crime. Kiri would much rather have joined that conversation but it was not the sort of thing that young ladies were supposed to be interested in. She kept her eyes, and half an ear, on the two women so that she could nod at appropriate moments in their conversation, while trying to hear as much as she could of what Lord Useph and Lord Westfall were saying.
“No, it is truly only your valley,” Lord Useph said. “I should perhaps not tell you, but this is half the reason for my visit. Some of the merchants have asked for help. The king grows concerned by these happenings.”
“Those merchants are a bunch of cry babies,” Lord Westfall grumbled. “It’s all solved. I tripled the watch on the docks. No trouble since.”
“His majesty is concerned about the threat to trade on the river, of course,” Lord Useph said. “But any danger to the law-abiding citizens of Laedinland weighs heavy on his heart. The roads and farms, I understand, have also experienced trouble.”
“Hmph,” Lord Westfall said. “There’s always some bandits, of course.”
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“More than usual, the reports say,” Lord Useph said. “And there is another matter of concern. At the same time as the king began to hear of these bandit troubles, another sort of story reached the capital. About a sorceress, or an elf.”
Kiri forgot to pay attention to Lady Westfall, and stared straight at Lord Useph.
“The Firebrand!?” Lord Westfall scoffed. “Completely ridiculous. Some woman in strange get-up scaring off bandits? I say she’s provoking them, if not on their side. Mighty suspicious that things have got so much worse since she showed up.”
“Precisely my thoughts,” Lord Useph said. “It is partly to ascertain the identity of the Firebrand that I am here.”
“You should talk to Gilliam then,” Kiri was surprised to hear herself say. Her stomach tightened with anxiety when Lord Useph stared right at her. What a stupid moment to draw attention to herself. Kiri escaped his gaze by turning to gesture at Gilliam. “She saved him on the highway.”
“Is that so?” Lord Useph asked coldly. “Master Gilliam,” he called, drawing Gilliam out of his conversation.
Gilliam shot a very quick glare at Kiri even as he turned a winning smile to Lord Useph. “Yes, my lord?”
“This lady says you have met the one called the Firebrand.”
So Gilliam launched animatedly into the story of his encounter on the road. Everyone else broke off their conversations to listen to him. The story had grown only a little in the telling, both he and the Firebrand coming off somewhat better, and the thief somewhat worse, than Kiri remembered.
“Makes a good story,” Lord Westfall said. “Too good, I say. Staged.”
“It didn’t seem so to me,” said Gilliam.
“Youth,” Lord Westfall said, shaking his head. “So sure of yourself. You must learn to question your assumptions!”
Late that night they walked back to The Leaning Pillar, accompanied by Gilliam. Mala swirled her purse on the end of her finger, babbling on and on about how wonderful the party was, how extravagant the clothes, beautiful the music, delicious the food, and elegant the dancing. Eventually she noticed she was the only one talking.
“But you sat at the high table, Kiri,” she leaned close to her friend with shining eyes. “That must have been...just fantastic! Tell me all about it! What is Lady Westfall like?”
“As far as I can tell,” Kiri broadened the distance between herself and Mala’s intense gaze. “She’s a gossip.”
“Well, of course!” Mala said. “She’s a noble woman. It’s her job to keep up with everyone.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” Kiri said.
They had nearly reached the inn. All the other buildings were dark, but the light from The Leaning Pillar’s windows still bathed the street. “I almost forgot!” Mala said. “Garon said that if you like going to parties so much you should come to ‘a real one’--that’s his words, not mine--and come with us to Hesta’s presentation party tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t he come and invite me himself?” Kiri asked. The anger and hurt that she felt because Garon had not come to visit her since she had been injured snuck into her tone.
“Oops,” Mala said. “Oh, I feel awful. I was supposed to tell you that, too. Father got fed up with him coming to town all the time. He’s kept him working at the mill all hours. He says they have to make up for that lost shipment, but you know he just didn’t want Garon spending all that idle time.”
“Oh,” Kiri looked down her feet. They had moved into circle of the inn’s light. She could make out each stone in the pavement.
Gilliam cleared his throat. “Ladies, I must take my leave.”
“I’m so rude!” Mala said. “Of course you must come to Hesta’s party, too.”
Gilliam just smiled and bowed as he retreated back into the darkness. Mala stared after him, looking thoughtful.
~
They had planned in advance for Mala to stay for the night at The Leaning Pillar. Kiri had been looking forward to it, but now she couldn’t wait for Mala to leave the room so she could change the bandage on her leg and get ready for bed. Unlike the ladies’ maid who had helped Kiri get into this dress, Mala was sure to ask questions.
Preoccupied with her eye on the drawer with fresh bandages, Kiri was annoyed when Mala scooted close to her and took her hand.
“Kiri,” she said. “You know you are my dearest friend.”
“Oh,” Kiri pulled her attention to Mala’s face, trying to put her burning leg out of mind. “You are dear to me, too, Mala.”
“As your dearest friend.” Mala patted her hand twice. “You know I tell you everything. Everything that’s on my mind.”
“Uh huh,” Kiri said hesitantly. What was this leading up to?
“I feel like you are my confidant, and I am yours, or, at least, I used to. Lately I’ve felt, well,” Mala sighed. “I’ve felt I am not the same to you as you are to me. Do you know what I mean.”
“Um.” Best to play dumb in case Mala didn’t really know anything. “No?”
“I mean you haven’t been sharing your thoughts,” Mala said. “Your struggles, your dreams, they are closed to me. You are keeping a secret from me.”
Kiri did not like where this was going. Even though it might be too late for it, she kept playing dumb. “I am?”
“I’m not a fool,” Mala said, scoldingly.
“Right.”
“So tell me!”
“Ah...”
“How do you feel about my brother?”
“Oh!” Kiri breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn’t about the Firebrand after all. And then she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. “Um, I don’t know. He’s...you know, I just...”
“Yes,” Mala said eagerly, eyes sparkling.
“I guess,” Kiri said. “I’m not sure. But I think there might be something there.”
“Well you need to puzzle it out,” Mala said. “That Gilliam is bound to make a move soon.”
“What?” Kiri wasn’t playing dumb at all anymore. She felt like an idiot, with all the moments falling together in her mind to form an unfortunately clear picture.
“Oh, come on,” Mala said. “He’s clearly interested. You can’t keep stringing them both along.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” Kiri felt sheepish now, knowing Mala was surely correct. “I hope not. I don’t mean to.”
“Well, just make up your mind,” Mala said with a firm pat to Kiri’s hand. “I think you should choose Garon. It would be much tidier. For one, I could console Gilliam. He’s not a Lord, but he might be as close as I can get.”
Kiri ground her teeth together. She had known about Gilliam, really, on some level, but she hadn’t been allowing herself to think about it. He came from such a different social class that she had chalked up all his behavior to courtesy and fine manners. In her heart, she knew Mala was right. Gentlemanly manners did not explain the frequency of his visits to The Leaning Pillar. Which was just…too much. She was confused about Garon already and it was overwhelming to allow Gilliam to add to the mess.
“You don’t have to decide tonight,” Mala looked sympathetic now to the distress that must be showing on Kiri’s face. “But you need to decide soon. It's going to hurt Garon if you don’t choose him, but better sooner than later.”
And then she finally did leave Kiri alone in the room to go to the privy. Kiri might be distracted by the conversation, but she still lunged for the drawer with bandages and Gilliam’s blessedly soothing salve.