Finding Destiny by Johnson Jean

Author:Johnson, Jean
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

TWO

Accepting the cup, Gabria eyed the milky white contents filling half of the heavy vessel. It smelled like bitter garden weeds and looked like thick, syrupy milk. The taste, when she took an experimental sip, was even worse. Bitter, sour, spicy, and ever so slightly soapy. Grimacing, she knocked it back quickly, then returned the metal cup. One of the servants handed her a crystal goblet filled with more of the sweet-tasting local water, which she used to swish around her mouth until the horrid, nasty, bitter residue was gone.

Lady Lianna, her task finished, took herself and her goblet back out without another word.

“Can you understand me now?” the lady in pink asked, her words lilting with the Aurulan accent, but seemingly spoken in Guildaran.

“Yes, I can,” Gabria confirmed. She rubbed at her ears; the other woman’s voice had made them twitch rather oddly.

“Good. I am Milady Geno, Mistress of the Bath. We are preparing you to be brought before His Majesty in the Vaulted Chapel for the Acceptance Ceremony,” she stated, as if her words would explain all of these elaborate preparations. Which they didn’t.

“Acceptance Ceremony?” Gabria asked. She knew a milady was one step lower on the social ladder than a lady, sort of a demi-noble to a full noble, but she didn’t know what this ceremony thing was about, nor why she had to be cleaned and dressed so specifically for it.

“Yes, the ceremony where Ruul, praise His Eyes, will accept you. We haven’t a lot of time left,” the Mistress of the Bath continued briskly. “His Majesty wishes the ceremony completed as swiftly as possible, yet Master Souder decreed you had to be made ... more presentable, at least to Aurulan preferences,” she stated tactfully. “Your hair has been properly dressed, which, aside from the bathing, is one of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks. Now we will layer you in the garments of an Aurulan courtier as befits your impending station. As soon as you are dressed and shod, we will journey to the Vaulted Chapel. Please stand so that the maids may assist you into your clothes.”

Lost, but mindful of the need to comply and be a good and friendly representative of her people, Gabria stood and allowed them to clothe her in fine, white silk underdrawers, a pale pink chemise fitted well enough to support her breasts once it was laced, pale pink gathered trousers embroidered with white orchids, and not one, but two layers of jacket-like robes. The inner one was the same blush pink as the trousers, while the outer one was a shimmering white scattered with embroidered miniature roses of nearly the same hue as the ones woven into her hair.

The sleeves on the outer robe were extra-long rectangles which dangled almost to her knees; the sleeves on the inner robe were more squarish, suitable for use as pockets. So suitable, one of the maidservants tucked a white linen kerchief into one, and a clever folding fan made from thin sticks of delicately carved wood into the other.

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