"... bullying my Pricel."

Shit. Of course Pricel and Delthimay's mother had to come to rat out to mother everything that happened earlier.

I was surprised to see that Bera vis Lord Phrans was dressed in the simple style of dress that Lady Marian had said was the Keiranian style. The Phranses were not included in any of the circles of the contending successors, so it was odd for her to have known to wear that.

"Oh look, there he is," she alerted mother to my return.

"Lady vis Phrans, cousin, Miss Dilthimay, mother," I greeted the four of them.

"Tilly, good, you came to join us for dinner." Mother said with a pat on my head. That hadn't actually been my intention when I was disrupted in my reading and then dismissed, but it was good timing. The army of servers seemed to have just started filtering through the tables, bringing platters and bowls to the guests. Many of them had that same icon painted on their cheeks as the one from before. It looked like a rune, but without any tethers. "Did you know about what happened to Pricel? Bera was just telling me the Clous boy was threatening him and Dilthimay."

"Actually, Tilly-"

"Cousin," I interrupted Pricel who had begun to say unnecessary things. "It looks like you were able to stand up to them. That's really impressive!"

He didn't look all that worse for wear. Clous and the other boys don't seem to have actually done anything to him in the end, other than give him a few shoves and threatening words.

If I play up to his ego then maybe he'll let this go. It's not as if anything happened in the end. Fortunately, I saw him blink a couple times and his scowl softened into a puzzled frown, probably trying to figure out if I was serious or mocking him.

But Dilthimay wasn't appeased so easily, "you liar! You abandoned broth-"

I winced as Dilthimay ruined my plan but then I was saved just in time by father who returned with a couple.

"My wife, Cianna and son, Tilvrade," father interrupted the girl, "Lady Bera, I apologize, did I interrupt?"

"No, not at all," she said, giving a look at Dilthimay who seemed to be insistent on saying something, "we were just about to go to our own table. It was wonderful to meet young Tilvrade."

"Dilthimay," I turned to the girl to whisper as our parents made their greetings and farewells, "I don't know why you think I would lie to you. It's like I said, right? Your brother is stronger than you think and got out of there alright. You don't need to worry so much, right Pricel?"

I didn't exactly say that back then, but I did tell her something about Pricel going to be fine. I looked at Pricel hoping he would help me out.

"Uh, right, yes, I told them what for."

Dilthimay's face was sprouting question marks as she looked between us, but Pricel took the grace I offered him on account of his pride as an older brother. I hoped it was enough to sway Dilthimay.

"Look, I want to help too," I told her, "but there's something odd going on. It's more than just Geran. Let's talk about it again sometime."

I should try to meet with them. They could help me figure out how to deal with them.

Fortunately, Lady Phrans excused herself and the three of them left to their own table. Seating for the dinner was all arranged by our hosts, it seemed.

This was a very unusual event, being a combination of a cond's informal family party and a gathering of all the duchy's aristocrats. Some of it, like bringing children and arranging a room for the younger ones to play was something only done in small family gatherings, but then there was a level of formality that was like a court ball around the dinner.

We and the three other couples who were seated at our table sat down, and I was between mother and another lady, the one father walked to the table with but who I didn't recognise. There was only one other boy, more Pricel's age than mine. He sat opposite me, but seemed as little interested in me as I was in him.

My parents and the others didn't make any introductions, since, I suppose, they all knew one another, but it was most inconvenient for me.

I stayed quiet and just followed the conversation, eagerly accepting the dishes of food that the servants placed in front of us.

There were whole legs of roasted lamb, savoury puddings and a long grilled white fish, maybe from the port of Labrine, not far West of the capital.

"So you are Tilvrade?"

I turned around to the lady who was speaking to me. I nodded quietly in response.

I didn't really want to talk to her. I didn't know: was she talking to me to find out my family's weaknesses? Was she judging me for my participation at the tables instead of being in the children's gathering or standing around the hall as a page?

"I have heard from your mother that you are a great swordsman. Your father must be proud of you."

I looked up.

"Well, I have great teachers... My brother is quickly getting better too. It's not just me."

Maybe she was just trying to be nice after all? And mother told her about me, so she must be a friend of my parents. Still, better to be humble. Should I have mentioned my brother though...? I felt a bit bad talking about him to someone neither of us knew.

I turned towards mother, hoping that maybe she would join the conversation.

"Oh? Your brother as well? I'm sure you will both be noble knights one day." the lady continued. Mother seemed to be whispering something to father, her head turned the other way. "My daughter, Sedrina is your age. Maybe I could introduce you to her after dinner."

Eh? Maybe she was some lesser noble hunting for a son-in-law from the Feles family. That seemed even worse than her other possible intentions.

"I would be enchanted," I responded dully then leaned forward to draw my knife across the lamb.

She tried a few more times throughout the meal to engage me in conversation. I think I handled myself fine, smiling politely and making platitudes in response.

The meal was partly ruined by the stomachache from my nerves, or perhaps from trying to look proper and noble as I sat with my back straight and head held proudly.

I would have asked to be excused and go read my book again. It's not that I lied to the Klisimian envoy before. I didn't doubt his words about the Church of the Sun, seeing as Sam had passed on his contempt for superstitions to me. I certainly didn't have any intention of following their faith. Still, I wanted to continue reading the texts that seemed to hint at explanations for some of my existential worries.

But since I accepted the treatment of an adult at the dinner table, it would be awkward and embarrassing to leave, so I would have to save my reading for when we got back home.

The adults around me slowly moved from foods to drinks and then a servant was beside me holding up a bottle of a sweet wine for me to see.

I nodded, excited to have a sip and he started pouring me a glass.

I hesitated a moment when he made to give it to me. I had seen a few times now how the servers would drink of the wine or eat the food themselves to prove its purity in front of the guests. I wouldn't have taken notice of it so much if not for Sam, but it was an odd custom to a Lucian, and one I immediately appreciated. I had heard before of the poisons that the lords of the capital used against each other. But at a large banquet like this, it seems the hosts demonstrated the purity of the food and wine.

"Won't you-?" I was going to ask if he would take a sip first, and hesitated to accept the glass...

Splish clinkinkink

The glass fell over and rolled on the tiled ground.

"Please forgive me, my lord. I was careless and spilled your glass," the server got down on his hands and knees and apologised for dropping the glass.

My eyes swam a bit as I wondered if he had just tried to kill me or if I was being paranoid.

"What is this mess?" Mother had looked over and was telling off the man. "You will go and tell someone to clean this up immediately." Mother hadn't looked over until the glass had fallen to the ground, so she probably hadn't noticed how he had not sipped of it before handing it to me.

The server left and mother turned on me.

"Tilvrade, I told you already that you weren't to drink any spirits," mother then turned on me, "they are a bad influence on your soul."

I looked up at mother. A bad influence on my soul? She hadn't said that part before.

"Please excuse me for a moment," mother then got up and left the table before I could tell her about what happened.

"Oh?" The lady beside me raised her own glass, filled with the same amber liquid that was now a puddle on the floor. "That's a shame. There are no ambers better than the Osbecs'."

I nodded sadly, already missing my chance at having a sip.

"Would you like to try it still?" She asked. I looked up, and back at the puddle on the ground. I did want to try it, but I was terrified it might be poisoned. The lady put it to her own lips though, perhaps sensing my hesitation and had a sip of the wine before giving me another chance.

I felt both guilty and pleased as I put the rim to my mouth.

To be honest, it was bitter and stronger than Sam's memories thought it would be, but as I savoured itthe heat and sweetness grew on me. It tasted fiery, but smooth as well, sweet and sour, both as thick as oil and thin as water at the same time.

"I am afraid I don't know about Osbecs," I admitted, hoping to learn more.

"Oh?" She accepted the glass back and winked at me conspiratorially, making me lean in a bit closer to listen. "Osbec is not a wine, but a place, a desert to the south-west of Keiran. It is also the name of the river that flows through it to the sea, the banks a lush paradise that produce wines like these."

I imagined the far off places of the south and the sea. I had never seen the sea, and neither had Sam, but that didn't mean I couldn't imagine the great Helioscan caravels that brought trade and soldiers between the kingdoms of Nura and the colonies of Zalaam. I wondered if Osbec was like Heliosca, a city of trade and merchants selling these wines across the seas.

"But the other thing Osbec is known for is its army of bones beneath the sands," the woman continued, in a little more than a whisper, "They say that there are thousands and thousands of skeletons of the king's ancient foes all waiting to fight for him should Keiran ever try to conquer."

It was not the same then, a kingdom like Farand and not a republic like Heliosca, but whether it was real or not, I was held by each word of her story, thoughts of skeleton animation confusing and awing my mind.

"The fork too, actually," she pointed at the thin skewer like fork with two prongs I was about to put in my mouth with a cube of rabbit terrine wrapped in a javali bacon, one of the smaller cousins of the lesser behemoths of the north. "Hard to think of now, but there weren't any forks in Farand or Keiran just two centuries ago and it took a long time to become accepted in Farand after Keiran. Even my grandmother refused to use one all her life, thinking it was barbaric and morbid to skewer bites of food instead of just eating properly with a knife and hand."

"No way," I told her. Wasn't her grandmother a noble? Would people have been eating with their hands at a feast like this just a couple decades ago?

"No way?" The woman asked me and held a hand in front of her mouth perhaps to daintily hide a smile. "I never heard that before."

Even now, there were times I would use an expression from Sam and draw a questioning gaze.