Thus Far A Single Society Free Of This Wasteful Practice Has Not Been Discovered
Aside from their handheld protection, the ladies of Drastlif shielded their faces further with veils suspended from their hats. Those defended more against insects than gazes from undesirable men on account of their translucence. Perhaps the sheer material diffused the sun's rays, though the effect must necessarily be difficult to discern in the case of Drastlifars.
“Can you believe that Adabans used to, wait, have you heard about this?” Takki stumbled over her banter when she remembered her audience.
Somehow Onerid understood what she meant. “That is a charming tale, but the modern academic consensus holds that even in Egille's time people knew of the Geft continent, which of course makes it impossible for our ancestors to have believed for centuries the Drastlinez to be tanned Adabans until an envoy permitted to be present at a royal birth realized the truth of the matter.”
“That's too bad,” Takki lamented, causing Onerid to giggle.
Speaking of headwear, the foreigners perceived a social significance to the crowns of those hats which had assortments of bows, flowers, lace, fuzzy balls, and more piled on them, since the humbler sort of person made do with something plucked off dinner to go with their shorter gloves and longer sleeves. All levels of society preferred their dresses belted high up, just under the bust, and long enough to touch the ground if the wearer succumbed to improper posture. The women competed with their men in the radius of their hair, though they compromised its fullest potential to wrest more length from it.
Beyond fashion, though the existence of such a realm had not been proved, what separated the south from the north was all that Drastlimez. Certainly one expected every country to have its own language or three (how lamentable a condition it was for Beriskirofen and Egilof to be stuck with Adaban), but somehow Drastlif's most-used tongue stood out more than usual. The reason was not mysterious to people caught up with their scholarly periodicals. Historians and linguists, despite their growing enmity over the scope of the Pan-Egillen language family, agreed Drastlimez did not belong to it. Elsewhere the traveler might imagine he understood the occasional phrase, but all there was unintelligible. Except to Onerid, of course.
“Or to me. Did I not mention it?” Stansolt Gaomat had in fact not previously mentioned his Intermediate proficiency in the local language, not to his colleagues and perhaps not to his employer either, though certainly to his true employer (supposed).
Their search for a watchmaker wound up as Onkallant predicted. The customer searching for plates covered in decoration so ornate that dinner would become a race to get that unsightly food out of the way or for figurines of insects calculated to convince the real thing a house was all booked up for the season met with instant and overwhelming success, but anything in the broad category of items with moving parts lacked a presence in Vigit's shops.
It was outside one establishment dealing with charms presumed to attract fortune, fame, and fertility that some lady of upper society, to judge by the quality of her apparel and the evident occupation of her companion, a woman armed with a mace and buckler, approached. A Drastlifar here and there had patted the northern gentlemen on the shoulder as they passed in the street, a common practice, but never had a woman come straight at the group as this one did. The foreigners aside from Onerid tried to move aside, suspecting the lady to be the sort willing to charge directly at strangers if only to make a point about who must yield to whom. Such was not the case. She drew up in front of Onerid specifically and waited.
Behind her fan, Onerid said sideways, “Does anyone know how to introduce? Mr. Stansolt perhaps? Please hurry if so.”
The indicated man stepped forward and spoke something even Dirant was able to understand, since it consisted almost entirely of names. “Eizesl Delaosant Paspaklest's daughter, Seifis Onerid Paspaklest, is here.” The word for “daughter” came up quickly in any course of study, and Adabans who read serials set in Drastlif had some idea of the local honorifics. “Eizesl” meant “good, respectable,” and had broad use, since few aside from the oligarchs themselves would be insulted by it. “Seifis” referred to girls and “Barais” to married women, whatever the dictionary meaning of the words. That was the end of common knowledge aside from hearing there were dozens of such terms from a friend who wished to sound cosmopolitan. Everybody had at least one of those or else was himself the friend. Whichever of those Stansolt was, the most that could be hoped was the avoidance of an unfortunate incident.
“Gurun!” The plonk of the racket, the bounce of the ball, the squeals of one half of each pair while the other half ran around to do all the playing. Doubles tennis was the same everywhere, except for that “gurun” part.
“The points here are Black, Star, Moon, Sun, World, and Home, or in Drastlimez, Ketan, Gurun, Gurasin, Railis, Stievif, and Kwuvein,” Onerid explained. The lesson ended and her precision of speech and manner ceased along with it. She slumped in her low, angled chair, threw her arms back, and said, “I can't believe Barais Gren-Sofops remembered me, and an invitation as well! But, Takki, you don't mind being my bodyguard for the day?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The emphasis she put on “believe” by itself showed a transformation from the Onerid of just an hour previous, whose sentences always went downhill without any fun little bumps. The author who proposed every person belonged at birth to a certain country by nature and had only to find it would have been happy to have had Onerid as an example to hold up against all the ridicule he suffered.
All around the Gren-Sofops family's private courts lounged ladies in similar attitudes to hers, chattering with similar intonations. When Aigwif Gren-Sofops suggested Onerid come relax in private with a few other guests, the foreigners had not yet comprehended how far from relaxed the public deportment of Drastlifan ladies was. All that fan-work and never directly addressing anyone outside one's circle seemed so natural when they did it.
Beyond that, the travelers questioned the event's privacy. The designer of the fence around the two courts carried out his instructions when it came to minimizing ball loss, granted. Curtains hung from rods which ran between supports about three Adabans high, or three Drastlifars for that matter given the similar heights of those two tribes, and they deflected balls inward with unimpeachable ease. They did nothing however to hinder passersby from looking in, being translucent. Furthermore, if Aigwif Gren-Sofops, Aigwif being her name and not an honorific as the Grenlofers had to be informed, allowed Dirant, Stansolt, and Banfol to enter the venue, at what would she balk, they wondered. Nothing, apparently. Many gentlemen watched the proceedings, from relatives of the competitors to visiting Dvanjchtlivs.
While the three northern gentlemen held a hushed conference concerning the possibility that a translation issue had occurred so that what was meant by “private” was more in the vicinity of “amateur,” Takki answered Onerid. “I would defend you against an attacker without demanding an extra fee, so I think it's fine. And we're headed for the quarterfinals already!”
Considered as a tournament, the event barely qualified. There was no prize, and everyone would forget who won sometime between dinner and breakfast. Sport had an incidental place there. Lady-and-companion doubles competitions had become a regular device for passing time and socializing as a result of the trend among wealthy women to hire bodyguards for public appearances rather than waiting for a convenient male relative.
The first such resulted in a great deal of entertainment. Since the bodyguards typically belonged to elite combat classes and necessarily possessed high Muscle and Coordination without any tennis-relevant class abilities such as what Sportsmen and Acrobats might gain, they matched up well against others of their profession. That, combined with the flailing of their charges, created a charming spectacle. Then there was the occasional non-bodyguard who displayed some athletic prowess and became immediately a star of the super-amateur tennis world for that reason.
Onerid threatened to become one such, if only because of her height and corresponding arm length. She may have been the tallest woman there, though all that lounging made measurement difficult. Takki warned the gentlemen with them not to praise their companion on that basis, as she likely would not take it in the intended spirit.
“Thank you for that admonition, and I must remember it,” Dirant responded. “A constant source of small pleasure is when another person finds it necessary to look up simply to address me.”
“It is the same for me,” agreed both Stansolt and Banfol, men scarcely inferior in stature.
“And so it is entirely plausible I might have, for example, attempted to console her upon her defeat in this tournament by reminding her how short the victor persists in being.”
Takki nodded and patted his head with her racket. “Good, but we're going to win.” Her height offered nothing to recommend her to the tennis gambler, but unlike the practice to which both Adabans and Drastlifars adhered of keeping their numbers to themselves whenever possible, the Jalpi Peffu flashed their status without hesitation. That made it less surprising to her shipmates when she managed to out-tennis more athletic-appearing bodyguards.
> Battler
>
> Priestess of Akam
>
> LV 9 680/1000
>
>
>
> HP 329
>
> Muscle 76 (+4)
>
> Coordination 52 (+4)
>
> Verve 51 (+9)
>
> Sticktoitiveness 71 (+7)
>
> Discernment 58 (+4)
>
> Gumption 50 (+6)
>
> Tit-for-Tat 50 (+2)
>
> Receptivity 21
>
> Panache 40 (+1)
>
>
>
> Class Abilities
>
> Battle Perception
>
> Battle Formula
>
> Battle Projection
>
> Certain Opening
>
> Pierce Through Feints
>
> Weapon Familiarization
>
> Monster Battle
>
>
>
> General Abilities
>
> Usse (Fluent)
>
> Adaban (Fluent)
>
> Obaluon (Intermediate)
>
> Yumin (Basic)
>
> Halberd (Peerless)
>
> Sling (Peerless)
>
> Spear (Advanced)
>
> Spear, Cavalry (Advanced)
>
> Sword, Straight (Advanced)
>
> Sword, Curved (Advanced)
>
> Bow, Composite (Advanced)
>
> Sword, Cavalry (Advanced)
>
> Dagger (Advanced)
>
> Mace (Advanced)
>
> Boxing (Advanced)
>
> Needle (Advanced)
>
> Three-Section-Staff (Advanced)
>
> Ax (Advanced)
>
> Throwing Dagger (Advanced)
>
> Bottle (Advanced)
>
> Pot (Basic)
>
> Table (Basic)
>
> Rug (Basic)
>
> Wheel, Steering (Basic)
>
> Wheel, Wagon (Basic)
>
> Wheel, Pottery (Basic)
>
> Bill (Basic)
>
> Glaive (Basic)
>
> Staff (Basic)
>
> Laundry Pole (Basic)
>
> Crossbow (Basic)
>
> Horse Riding (Intermediate)
>
> Adroit Display
>
> History Fundamentals
>
> Door Smasher
>
> Clock Smasher
The wide and well-peopled world assuredly contained fighters more impressive in their stats, somewhere, but heroes like that could find better employment than to escort some shield-bearing lady of Drastlif. Or perhaps not. Phrased that way, it sounded like a comfortable career for the champion unafraid of assassins, street mobs, or polite society but unenthusiastic about testing herself in endless battle or frequent moves.