Emily, royal pavilion, Foskan Army Camp

At first, it was just someone calling my name and tapping my shoulder to wake me up. "Go 'w...w...way," I snagged the blanket and rolled the other way, covering my head.

"I'm told by the three healers assigned to keep track of her that she's usually like this when waking up," an amused woman's voice said softly.

"We were letting her sleep as much as she wanted in Yant," said a voice that my half-asleep self knew was Fassex. Her voice was both lovely to listen to and distinctive. She added: "She typically woke up between the second and third bell, which was impressive considering that she went to bed half before the quarter-night bell. That's probably a measure of how much she tired herself out every day without someone chasing after her."

"Emily," the first voice said, "Usruldes has liver paté but only if you get up and eat with the rest of us." Now I knew the voice. It was Aylem but with the volume set to soft, which wasn't the way I remember her ever speaking. A softspoken Aylem just wasn't something I was ready to deal with.

"Hmmm," liver paté was tempting, very tempting, but I felt so lifeless and flat.

The King's voice floated through the cloth tent flap between the sleeping and inner chambers: "Doesn't sound like Emily is waking up at all. What were you going to do with the liver paté? I wouldn't mind some if it's going to go to waste. Hey, Garki! Have you ever had liver paté?"

This was cruelty, I decided. I tried talking myself into moving and managed to roll over onto my back, but that was about as far as I got. With my eyes open, the light in the pavilion hurt my eyes, so I closed them for just a moment.

"Emily, wake up," someone was tapping on my shoulder. Ah, it was Aylem in soft mode again.

"B...but I'm a...w...wake," I said and rolled over. No wait, that was wrong. I sat up, confused. It was dark out and I was in just an undertunic and stockings.

Aylem laughed, "well, you are now, but you slept all day."

"I d...did?" I guess I was worse off than I thought I was. This wasn't good, especially under the noses of Aylem and Usruldes, both of whom would tell Lisaykos all the details. I sighed as I contemplated the Gang of Three chasing me around for the next half year. Then I remembered about poor Kayseo. Damn.

"Now that's a fearsome face? Dare I ask?" this alien soft-spoken and gentle Aylem inquired.

"Can I get a hand d...down, please? I n...need to visit the necessary. W...Why am I on the King's bed?"

"Because that's where the King and Usruldes put you this morning," she smiled sympathetically. "Do you remember waking up for mid repast? You said 'go away,'" she imitated my soprano. "Then you fell back asleep and we couldn't wake you. Now, do you think you can get to the necessary on your own feet or should I carry you?"

"I d...do not need to b...be carried to the necessary," I grumbled. "D...down please?"

Aylem picked me up like I was glass and set me down as if I would break. She removed her hands and I had to grab at her skirts to keep myself from falling down. I had no strength at all in my legs. I was pathetically weak and in front of Aylem, which made it tens times more humiliating. I think she was waiting for me to fall over because she picked me up with hardly any pause.

"You badly overdid things this morning," she scolded me very gently. "Did you know that the stutter is always a lot worse when you're overly tired?"

"Em...pirical evidence seems to favor your c...current theory," I replied somewhat sourly. I found the excursion to the King's private necessary facility a bit nippy and I started to shiver before we got back.

"Are you cold?" Aylem asked, looking surprised.

"Yes," I admitted. Suddenly, it was warm and I relaxed into the sudden heat with a smile.

"How's that?"

"W...warm," I leaned into her arm and closed my eyes, feeling quite relaxed and a little drowsy. I think I nodded off because I was surprised when Aylem put me in a chair piled with cushions topped with a blanket. She wrapped the blanket around me before I had a chance to realize what she was doing.

"You, Emily dear, must eat something," she said with her queenly voice that would not allow for any argument. "Part of that weakness just now is because you've had hardly anything to eat for almost a whole day." I lacked the energy to argue with her, even if she was right.

Usruldes with his black face cloth and black headscarf came and sat next to me, bearing a tray filled with all the things I like to eat which were high in caloric content. Someone had been planning ahead. The only question was how many of them were in on it. I knew the King had a playful and teasing streak, as did "little brother" Usruldes. Garki, who I could tell adored the King, would follow Imstay's lead. I did not know where the new, soft-spoken Aylem would fall but I was sure Fassex was above such childish antics.

The King with a smile wandered over and handed me a Coyn-scaled eating prong. I wondered what poor soul in the camp got delegated to find or make this thing in less than a day. He certainly was trying to butter me up so I would agree to make the things he wanted, like instant fire, formerly known as matches. I planned to kick back, relax, and enjoy his futile efforts. Aylem walked back over and handed me a beaker of hot sweet tea. I took a sip since I was thirsty and discovered it was incredibly sweet tea, with emphasis on sweet. How much sugar did she dump into this beaker? It was more like sugar syrup with a little tea for seasoning.

It was obvious this clump of silverhairs had already eaten and had nothing better to do than sit around and watch me try to eat. Even Fassex, who was sitting sedately across the table from me with a mildly interested expression over this tableau. The only one who was innocent of lurking was Garki, who was cleaning and picking up around the pavilion.

I turned my head to glower at Usruldes.

"It's liver paté from that little shop down by the third ring on the Eastway," he said helpfully, “plus the cheesy egg rolls that Head Baker Emoskos made you this morning.”

"It's rather d...difficult to feel any sort of desire for f...food w...when there are f...four big l...looming silverhairs all w...w...watching me to see if I b...bite at the bait." Why could I not talk properly this evening?

Imstay looked surprised at my statement and then ran to the chair to the left of Fassex, sat down, planted his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands. Then he started a bug-eyed stare at me. I guess he could act like a rowdy schoolboy as much as he wanted since he was the King.

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Fassex took a look at the King, thought for a second, and then imitated him. My vision of the always proper Fassex died at that moment. In the back of my head, I could see Gene Kelly at the microphone in Singing in the Rain saying solemnly, “dignity, always dignity.”

Aylem plunked down in the chair on the other side of me from Usruldes, leaned over, and did a bug-eyed stare at me. Usruldes put the tray on the table, picked up a piece of sourdough with paté, held it a hand length away from my nose, and adopted the contagious bug-eyed stare, which was freaky looking with his face mask and headscarf on.

Garki stopped his chores, put down his dusting cloth, "Wait, wait, wait!" He ran over to the chair on the other side of Fassex, and completed the threesome, down to the elbows and bug-eyes. I closed my eyes and shook my head, thinking to myself that this was a representative slice of the magical ruling class of this kingdom, and the kingdom was doomed.

I must have thought that thought loudly and clearly because both Fassex and Aylem started laughing, and the rest followed. I didn't think it was that funny.

"Oh yes, it is," said Usruldes, gasping for breath he was laughing so hard. I grabbed the paté from him and enjoyed it while the ruling class of the kingdom was trying to recover from an inexplicable bout of hysteria. The bacon and cheese-wrapped sausage bites were good too and I still had room for the cheesy egg rolls.

While the adults in the room were trying to recover, Garki asked if I like smoked fish.

"Very much so, especially on top of a f...farm cheese, preferably tangy," I replied, thinking of Philadelphia cream cheese, lox, red onions, and bagels.

"Emoskos was wondering about that," Garki explained. "He was also wondering if you liked spicy food."

"I don't do w...well with the really hot peppers but I do like the spicy varieties of radish, especially pickled or as a sauce," I remarked. "The sharp members of the mint family are fun t...too, like inside of a gyoza."

"A what?" Aylem asked, still a bit out of breath from laughing.

"You know, a gyoza, a p...potsticker."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," she frowned.

"Oh dear," I shook my head at my stupidity. The great explosion of Asian food in North America and much of Europe didn't happen until the 1980s after the wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the opening of mainland China. Good thing I didn't mention dim sum or tapas.

"I am gaining an appreciation for why Lisaykos' kitchen staff has been making such progress as a center for cooking innovation," Fassex had a satisfied smile on her face. I knew she was looking forward to visiting the Shrine of Mugash because she liked the food.

"Gyoza, Emily?" Aylem smiled sweetly.

"You make a wrapper out of wh...wheat flour, preferably from hard wheat planted in the planting season, boiling w...water and salt. Roll it out thin and cut out circles about this big," I formed a circle with my thumbs and middle fingers. You put down a whole mint leaf, ground pork, and w...whatever other ground meat suits your fancy, mixed w...with finely chopped cabbage, and chopped garlic. Fold it up to make a three-sided shape."

"Not two-sided?" Aylem asked. I guessed she was thinking of pasties.

"No, three-sided. So you put it in a cast-iron pan or a w...wok and fry the bottom side in something like sesame oil."

"What is sesame oil, Emily?" Fassex asked.

I braced my eyes in my hand and shook my head.

"I'll have to investigate cooking oils more than I have," I sighed. "Anyway, o...once the bottoms of the gyozas have gotten some crunch fried into them, y...you add hot w...water to the bottom of the pan in a thin layer and then cover the pan w...with a glass lid to steam the top t...t...two sides. If you have a w...wok, then you just put the gyoza on the steaming rack and dump in a cup of hot water and slam the lid on until done. It only takes a moment."

Aylem leaned toward me with a wry look: "Wok?"

"Glass lid?" Fassex inquired, looking fascinated, though I had no idea by what.

Imstay got up, walked over to a chest, opened, and pulled out what I would have called a two-liter beer mug in a previous lifetime. He returned to his chair and handed it to Fassex.

"What is this?" She was gobsmacked, which I thought was a good look on her.

"That's glass," Imstay said. "It's a Blessed Emily thing. She taught the Holy Raoleer how to make it."

Aylem had gone bug-eyed. "Raoleer is making glass mugs. Oh Emily, can you get me some? Please?"

"I'm sure something sufficient to assuage your av...av...avarice for glass can be arranged," I sighed.

"Woks? Cast iron pans?" Fassex circled back around to iron.

"As soon as the folks at the Shrine of Giltak get their iron...w...works built, I suspect that cast iron w...will become available for very reasonable prices. There's nothing as good for temperature control and ease of cooking as cast iron. You can even make a cast iron portable oven that can d...double as a big pot or pan w...with the lid off."

"Say what?" Imstay was instantly interested. "How big and how portable?"

"It w...would take a little research to find the right thickness for one that would w...work for someone on a Cosm scale, but it should be d...doable. Now, I have remembered that the Blessed Lisakos has cautioned me not to be so free with my ideas since she manages my accounts and contracts, so I will stop for now lest she nags me some more." I flashed Imstay a fake innocent look.

He sighed and shook his head, knowing how deep the hole was between him and me. I could see the wheels turning in the back of Imstay's eyes. I knew he was thinking of his army while I thought about my lost home.

"That little pan the scouts found isn't this portable oven thing, is it?" he asked.

"No, that w...was just my frying pan. That w...was the first piece of cast iron I made. Roaleer was beginning to make cast iron tools when I left Omexkel. Tools are the first best use for cast iron, like axles and plows, and axes that really bite into trees - all that and ovens of various designs and c...cookware. Horseshoes t...too."

Imstay sat up. "Iron horseshoes? What about mules?"

"Mules have sturdier hooves so they only n...need shoes for heavy loads or rough, rocky terrain, like lava flows and roads that g...go over a lot of rocks," I explained.

"How do you put a metal shoe on a horse?" Usruldes asked, perplexed.

"W...wait," I looked at him, "you're n...n...not using metal shoes out of bronze? W...what are you d...doing to protect horse hooves?" I didn't even bother to look at the hooves of the pony the Py'oask was riding. I just assumed she had metal shoes.

"No, we use leather shoes with reeds inside for padding," he explained. "Emily, that's a great face you're making," the crow's feet crinkled next to Usruldes' eyes. I made an effort to stop gaping.

I was getting tired from talking so much, so I stopped. It was more difficult once the stutter started too. There were days when I found myself wishing I could go back to the wax tablet just to give my poor tongue and jaw a break. I wondered about the ergot-contaminated wheat and the phenolphthalein as I slumped in the blanket and cushions on this chair that was too tall to get out of.

Garki appeared next to my chair, bending over. "Your beaker is empty, Great One. Would you like more tea?" His voice was at an intimate volume.

"Yes," I nodded. "Sweet but not t...too sweet."

"Are you cold?" he asked, frowning.

"W...When I'm tired, I d...do feel cold. I get run d...down a lot."

"I heard you were ill. Are you still recovering?"

"Yes, I've been told it w...will take a half a year or more to get completely better."

"What a stinky possum!" He made a face. "Hey, Great One, you like ginger?"

"W...wh...what? Y...you have ginger? I love ginger, the hotter and fresher, the better."

"In your tea?"

"Garki, y...you put ginger in my tea and I will take you home and marry y...you."

He chuckled and took my beaker with him to make more tea, presumably with ginger in it.

Usruldes leaned over and said softly, "not bad, you ate everything.”