The three women Mydea had spotted earlier by the fountains joined them at the table, filling up the seats next to Vivyan. Counting the princess, that was half the table accounted for.
“A good evening to you, my ladies,” Mydea began as she introduced herself to the Marcherwomen, and they...
2022-04-04 03:37:27 +0000 UTC View PostBrightened by the Starlight Tower, the garden was a sea of scents and shades. Bees and butterflies flitted from tri-colored petals and clusters of reddish-pink sedums to the marigolds. Great coneflowers of orange petals radiating from dark centers mingled among velvety blue salvias, tall spikes o...
2022-04-02 05:39:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe maids—though she would not call them her maids—returned upon the hour, thankfully with the item requested instead of excuses. Troia huffed at them and practically ripped the soundproof curtain from their hands. “I’ll take care of this myself,” she said. Which was just as well; they ...
2022-04-02 05:36:46 +0000 UTC View PostA pair of maids were waiting inside, and they curtseyed to her, not Lara.
“These maids will be assigned to you while you’re a guest here,” Lara said, sliding her finger across a nearby surface to inspect it for dust. “If you have any further questions, Ida and Khloe can answer them....
2022-04-02 05:35:48 +0000 UTC View PostLike Tomas predicted, cloud docked upon cloud at the Golden Gateway. They entered Aelisium without any trouble, and the gatekeepers did not even dare to bar their way with Lady Lara leading them. Mydea stayed a whole step behind her the whole time until they reached a waiting horseless carriage.<...
2022-04-02 05:35:30 +0000 UTC View PostFollowing the light of the sun, they left her old world behind.
A storm of sorcery propelled them across the Deeplands for only a storm could catch the clouds. Aelisium had just become visible to a backdrop of an orange-fingered sky caressing the peaks of the Anarev Range, which cut straigh...
2022-04-02 05:34:15 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ll go with you,” Aspyr said. “You know, Chalsi will be most wroth when she learns of this.”
Something tugged at the corners of her lips. “I can already hear our sister’s whining,” Mydea said.
Aspyr laughed like their Mother would—loudly and with his thick, dark ha...
2022-04-02 05:32:53 +0000 UTC View PostTheir grandmother had her back to them, looking out a window slightly ajar from her chair. A gust of wind caressed them. “So my grandson has returned. Who was that woman with you?”
“Lady Lara, a distant cousin to the main line of Lady Eminent Alexa Luxuria,” Aspyr said. “She is al...
2022-04-02 05:32:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn the days following the feast, the assembly of aristocrats slowly, but surely, filtered out of Aigis and back to their homes for winter. Some of their noble kin were left behind, either to speak with her brother upon his return, or to serve as guests over winter due to poor harvests from their ...
2022-04-02 05:31:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe Great Hall of Aigis was heady with the scent of high spirits. Their servants had had to crack open yet another oaken barrel as the proud people of the peaks sought to drink each other under the table. Even as the first hour of the feast ended, the kitchens were still hard at work sending them...
2022-04-02 05:30:43 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next few days, the landscape shifted from the flat plains and farmlands near Phaleinas to dense forests of pine and rolling hills closer to the Aigean Range. The side of the mountains had been flattened into a series of rectangular plots, like a staircase for giants, where farmers could ...
2022-04-02 05:28:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe morning found them sequestered within the town hall. It was a spacious room with carpeted floors and some foreign art hanging from the hardwood walls. A series of empty pews were available to the public, facing two lecterns from which speakers would debate and three rows of chairs seating the...
2022-04-02 05:28:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe ride to Phaleinas took up the rest of their day. Marshal Perdiccas cursed loudly when the warded, wooden palisades of the town came into view. The charter her mother had granted them did not include the right to ward and wall, and if they were so blatantly flouting such physical limitations, ...
2022-04-02 05:24:11 +0000 UTC View PostAt every village they stopped at, Mydea spent the night speaking with the easily impressed headsmen, while her father threw himself into his work, scribbling furiously in his leather-bound journal. What exactly he’d spent years of his life working on he still refused to say even now, and every ...
2022-04-02 05:20:01 +0000 UTC View PostA steady southern breeze began to blow as the iron portcullis was raised, and the vanguard spilled down the hill like a stream. Marshal Perdiccas was riding up and down the column to keep it snaking forward.
Beside her was Tomas the Tall, a fair-skinned blond who was a half a head shorter t...
2022-04-02 05:19:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt would take Marshal Perdiccas some time to muster the knights, squires, and mages-at-arms sworn directly to House Kolchis for the trip north. Some of those already resided in the castle as part of its permanent garrison, but many more were scattered across the countryside, tending to their mano...
2022-04-02 05:14:54 +0000 UTC View Post“You shouldn’t agitate her so much,” Mydea said.
Father sighed. “That’s unavoidable whenever I’m in her presence,” he said. “Ephyra never liked me, not from the first moment your mother took a liking to me at the athenaeum. It does not help that her sons died in duels agains...
2022-03-01 16:36:50 +0000 UTC View PostHer grandmother sat on her favorite chair, brown skin warmed by the nearby fire and several layers of woolen blankets while a servant fed her spoonfuls of a fragrant, steaming soup.
Chicken, Mydea recognized, though she could not place the mix of herbs. Garlic for sure, thyme, pars...
2022-03-01 16:35:09 +0000 UTC View PostAccompanying her return to the earth below was her handservant Troia and Captain Alexios. Their retinue, resting in a quaint village, was taken by surprise at her early return. Still, none of them gainsaid her when she informed them they would be returning to Kolchis without her brother, not with...
2022-03-01 16:31:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe Imperial City came like a storm: winds to herald its approach, shadows to darken the land, and clouds to carry it onward.
On the grassy knoll below rode two dozen servants, soldiers, and scribes in the green and silver of Mydea’s house. We must look like ants to them, if they care...
2022-03-01 16:13:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe marble hall was heedy with the scent of high spirits. They were already on their third round of oaken barrels by Daphne’s count, and Prince Hadrian only served the finest vintages for his masquerade ball—Ambrosia, Grandgrove Gold, Darkland Red, and even strange concoctions of fruits and s...
2021-05-05 06:17:46 +0000 UTC View PostShe’s getting smarter, Blaise thought as mist exploded outwards from Daphne, rolling off the makeshift arena. Dame Marian, a veteran of eight battles and a knight of eighteen years, peered at the fog with fear’s better respected cousin: caution. It was the first time he’d ever seen...
2021-05-05 06:17:19 +0000 UTC View PostCousin Blaise was waiting in her room when she returned, his nose buried in some history textbook about a battle. Was there really so much to write about? All that changed was the when, where, who, why, how, and how many—all trivial details when the outcome was the same!
Ants get squashed...
2021-05-05 06:16:47 +0000 UTC View PostDaphne arrived at the gates of the Middle School, where Genevieve’s servant had told her they would be assembling. The midday sun was warm against her fair skin, but not scalding, so she waved away Maid when she brought out a parasol of swan feathers to shade her with. Summer was truly well and...
2021-05-05 06:15:42 +0000 UTC View Post“You can’t seriously be thinking of entering the tournament,” Blaise said in an exasperated tone as they walked out of the arena at the end of class.
Daphne frowned at him. “Of course I’m joining,” she said. Not only had the heavens presented her with another encounter to triump...
2021-05-05 06:14:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe first day of classes found Daphne among the tiered seats, looking down into an open air arena. Their instructor was a man in his forties with a great beard and a cape that kept billowing despite the lack of breeze. Ten paces from him were several straw dummies dressed in farmer hats and tatte...
2021-04-27 13:55:50 +0000 UTC View PostThe ordinary woman is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. This was wei wu wei, the dao of doing non-doing.
There was no need for Daphne to scheme out how to better the foundations of her lessers, it would simply ...
2021-04-27 13:55:23 +0000 UTC View PostDaphne’s new serving girl was a natural jade beauty—raw, rough, and unrefined, but brimming with potential.
Maybe with a nicer dress, Daphne thought. Cobalt or emerald would compliment her rich, dark skin and brown eyes nicely. A few hours each morning meditating on the dao of ...
2021-04-27 13:54:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe academy commanded many li of land beyond the walls which surrounded the school proper. It held dominion too over a small forest and many villages and farms which provided for its upkeep. It was easy to tell when they had crossed into these lands as even the simplest villages flew the hexagram...
2021-04-27 13:54:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe world was a kaleidoscope of fractals in D Minor. Here, with the margins of the soul ripped open, time was without form or function. Daphne was without form or function. She simply was, both within her body, observing it from afar, and observing that observe...
2021-04-27 13:53:30 +0000 UTC View Post