David Weber - [Hrandani 03] - Wind Rider's Oath by Weber David

Author:Weber, David [Weber, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Lanitha had been almost correct. In fact, her estimate of the time required had been only about an hour short. By the end of her examination, Leeana had felt as exhausted mentally as she’d already been physically, but at least this time she’d felt reasonably confident that she’d acquitted herself well. Her father might not have seen any reason to teach her to lop the heads off of enemies, but he and her mother had both actively aided and abetted her in the pursuit of an intellectual curiosity other nobles might have found most unbecoming in a mere daughter. Leeana spoke six languages—four of them fluently—and could read and write in two more. She had a formidable education in geography, history, and literature, and a practical knowledge of politics—at least as practiced at the highest level of the Kingdom—which was quite astounding in anyone her age, and especially in a daughter.

In fact, the main reason Lanitha’s original time estimate had proved overly optimistic was that the archivist/teacher had become too interested in discussing things with the subject of her examination. In the end, she’d sent Leeana back off to the dining hall with Garlahna with the warning that she intended to request at least an hour or two of Leeana’s time each afternoon as an assistant instructor.

Any temptation towards a swelled head which Leeana might have taken away with her had evaporated like snow in summer when she and Garlahna arrived almost twenty minutes late for her shift in the kitchen. The excuse that Lanitha had kept her longer than anticipated had done remarkably little to placate the head cook’s ire, and neither had the fact that Leeana had effectively no kitchen skills at all. It wasn’t exactly Leeana’s fault, but she hadn’t felt like explaining that she hadn’t acquired those skills because her parents had employed others to perform those menial tasks. Partly because she’d had a shrewd suspicion that the cook would not have responded well to the suggestion that her own skills were

“menial” ones. But even more because Leeana had agreed that it was time she acquired them.

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That willingness to dig right in—enthusiastically, however ineptly—had turned the trick. She’d wondered if perhaps part of the cook’s prickliness had resulted from an expectation that someone who’d been so nobly born would have dismissed her assigned duties as beneath her. It had seemed as if some of the other war maids assigned to Leeana’s work crew had cherished some of the same suspicions, but if they had, their reservations had thawed quickly as her willingness sank in. She’d been restricted by her ignorance to more or less unskilled labor, but most of her fellow workers had paused in passing at least once to drop some little hint or encouragement upon her.

That had helped, but by the time supper was finished, the tables were cleared and scrubbed, the pots and pans and dishes were washed, and the cooking utensils had been laid out in preparation for the breakfast crews, she’d been literally stumbling with exhaustion.

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