Dark Armor: A Place At The Table

Pallian found his place at the high table and waited. Ravaj stood beside him, and the Wizard-King stood at his customary place at the center of the table. To the Wizard-King's left stood the High Magister of Edrias, with her daughters standing to her left. The favorites who had attended the royal party in the antechamber had taken places along the lower tables, but also remained standing. The other courtiers, who would have arrived for the meal alone and entered through the doors at the sides of the hall, stood to join them. 

The Wizard-King paused for a long moment; then his voice, enhanced by a minor enchantment, rolled through the room: "Nobles of Teregor, my friends and relatives, we feast tonight in honor of the royalty of Edrias. Be merry, and make welcome our guests. Let there be good food, good music, and good company."

The servant rang the bell again, and Pallian had a moment of confusion before he remembered what came next. He managed to seat himself smoothly as the row of servants pushed the High Chairs into place behind them, then glanced to his left to see that the royalty of Edrias had managed the trick as well. Either Vathira had prepared them, or they were all three quick to react. Good. After his earlier display of ill-temper, the Wizard-King seemed to have remembered his manners, at least. Pallian shouldn't have been relieved by that -- it wasn't a properly filial sort of reaction -- but he couldn't help being pleased that no insult had been done to Ashmiren or her family. 

The servants were already approaching with the first plates of food, and Pallian found himself suddenly ravenous as the scent reached him. He waited, though, until the High Magister had taken her first bite and his father had followed suit. Then, when the two princesses had sampled the fare as well, he allowed himself to take a bite as well. 

The meat was some sort of fowl, lightly touched with a dark sauce that was both sweet and spicy; it shared the plate with a pile of roast vegetables, tartroot and honeyleaf and sapbulb and others, all selected to complement and enhance the taste of the bird. The bread was a light pastry, shaped to resemble a lotus flower, barely enough to take the bite from the sauce. 

Ravaj was watching him with narrowed eyes, but put away several mouthfuls before he asked softly: "What were you discussing with the princess? Second-Princess Arwidden and I could hear some of it, but not enough to follow."

Pallian held a finger up as he finished chewing and finally swallowed. No, his time in the Tomb of the Living hadn't done him any favors at all. And adapting to his newest initiation wasn't doing his appetite any favors, either; at this rate his plate would be empty before the rest of the table had half-cleared theirs. "Humorous nonsense," he admitted, when he could finally speak. "What else would I say to a foreign princess? Especially to one who's promised to my brother?"

"Wise," observed Ravaj. "I think you may have provided her better company than I did for her sister, but then it was Arwidden's suggestion that we try to listen rather than converse with each other."

Pallian shrugged. "Arwidden has the look of a soldier about her," he observed quietly, "or perhaps a general. A courteous and dignified silence might well have been the best approach you could have taken."

Ravaj sat back, mollified, and took another bite. Pallian took the opportunity to finish two more; he was trying to savor the flavors, which certainly deserved his appreciation, but he was almost too hungry to give the food that much of his attention.

Then their father nudged Ravaj's elbow and directed his attention to something at the leftern low table, and by the time Ravaj's attention returned to him, his plate was empty.

"So what do you think of my fiancée?" he asked, even more quietly than before.

Pallian glanced past him at Ashmiren, who was engaged in an equally soft conversation with her sister. Then he leaned back and said, "I think this is neither the time nor the place."

Ravaj considered that, then nodded. "Later, then. How much do you remember of the courtly factions?"

"I never knew enough to be worth remembering," Pallian admitted. 

Ravaj raised his eyebrows, but Pallian just shrugged. After a moment his brother sighed and said, "Well, if you're going to be here then somebody had better educate you."

There was more food on the way, at least. Pallian consoled himself with that thought as his brother began to outline the shape of the court, its agreements and its divisions, its friendships and its rivalries. This is going to be a very long night...