Emily, at the palace in Is’syal

I opened my eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling and Thuorfosi sitting on the floor next to the Coyn-scale bed where I was sleeping. The scene was disorienting. I had no idea of where I was or what had happened. I was in a fresh nightgown and my left hand was bandaged and splinted.

I sat up and became lightheaded for a moment. Thuorfosi stopped me from falling back onto the pillow. "Feeling a bit weak?" She smiled, "you were injured and you haven't eaten anything for almost two days. You'll feel better after some food. I can point you to the necessary for now."

I nodded yes but I was full of questions. First things first though: the call of the full bladder was insistent.

The room where I woke was strange. I admit I experienced some schadenfreude watching Thuorfosi duck under the low ceiling and squeeze herself on her knees to get through the Coyn-sized door. Then she spoke to someone on the other side of the door: "Veflia, she's awake. Could you show her to the necessary and help her washing up?"

"Of course, my lady."

A middle-aged blond Coyn entered the room. She knelt gracefully in a front-lacing gown, hand over her heart. "May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great One."

I groaned inwardly, thinking I needed to get out of Foskos just to escape all this bowing and scraping. I waved that she should get up. I guess the look on my face spoke volumes since she chuckled. "You just need to get used to it, Great One, because everyone will greet you this way."

"Veflia, I took care of the hot water for you," Thuorfosi said from outside the doorway.

"Thank you, my lady," she replied while giving me a hand getting out of bed. The splint didn't allow me to use my left hand. It threw my balance off while getting up.

Veflia was at least a head taller than me and displayed some strength in helping me get up. "Tell me if you feel dizzy at all," she walked me down a Cosm-scaled hallway with several Coyn-scaled doors. There was a mezzanine above with more coyn-scaled doors. Whoever built this place stacked Coyn-scale rooms inside a Cosm-height ceiling, so every room was accessible to both Coyn and Cosm, though it would be a tight fit for the latter.

The Coyn-scale bathroom was at the end of the hallway. It had several necessary stalls along the wall and four tubs with curtains for privacy. The wall opposite the door had a long table with washbasins.

Veflia spotted my eager look at the tubs. "We got you cleaned up last night. The Queen doesn't want you to get the bandage wet. Any washing today will be with a washing cloth."

Though it infringed on my sense of modesty, Veflia helped with the necessary and with washing my face and unbandaged hand.

"We have some clothes for you, though given how thin you are, they will be a bit baggy on you," Veflia walked me back to the room where I woke up. "If you can wait a moment, I'll be right back with them."

She returned with underclothes, a linen kirtle, and a deep-blue gown to go over it. The gown had poofy sleeves that would be at home at any given renfair. Veflia laughed at the face I made: "The Queen warned us you probably wouldn't like long skirts, but you will have visitors later today. You must be appropriately attired. I wish we had something better for you than this; however, there's no help for it on such short notice."

I was ready to disappear down the next available rabbit hole but had to endure someone dressing me. Veflia was amused by my blushing cheeks but appalled by how thin I was. "Lady Thuorfosi was telling me earlier that you had actually filled out some since arriving at the Healing Shrine of Mugash. I can barely imagine that, child, since I can see all your ribs. But don't worry, Zdatel and I will fatten you up in no time. There's plenty to eat so don't hold back."

Zdatel? Who was Zdatel? Veflia had a co-consprirator named Zdatel? There were two of them? Things were not looking good.

"That should do it," Veflia tied off the front laces. "I'm afraid we don't have any shoes small enough for your feet, but since you won't be going anywhere today, your stocking feet will be fine for now. And now, let's do something about that hair of yours."

I changed my mind about things not looking good. They just got a lot worse. My hair had grown out a bit since landing at the shrine. Other than trimming the uneven ends, nothing had been done since. I liked simple, low-maintenance hair, having spent a previous lifetime stuffing a hard hat on it.

Veflia steered me down the hallway in the opposite direction from the communal bathroom. She took me to what looked like a common room with assorted comfortable chairs and many small tables, all on Coyn-scale. An even taller lady with Maureen O'Hara looks was waiting with comb, brush, snips, and a towel. She got on her knees with her hand over her heart and greeted me. I inwardly groaned once more and motioned for her to get up. This was getting unbearable.

"I'm so pleased to get to meet you, Great One," she gushed. "Everyone's been talking about you. I think every Coyn is thrilled that Tiki chose to bless one of us. Now, if you sit here, I can get that uneven hair trimmed up."

While they tortured my hair, they revealed that they were the Queen's hairdressers and fashion consultants, serving the Queen ever since she first came to the palace. That finally answered my biggest question about where I was. These Coyn-sized rooms were part of the servants' quarters for the Queen. Apparently, most of the Queen's cleaning staff were Coyn.

Veflia and Zdatel were chatterboxes but that was okay since their babbling contained a great deal of information. Both myself and my ninja rescuer were taken in by the Queen last night. The Queen reattached my amputated pinky. The rest of the healing was taken care of by Thuorfosi, which gave the Queen and Lisaykos the chance to have a few hours of sleep before they left. The execution of Lord Kushamar was this morning and they both had to attend, thus explaining their absence.

My rescuer was still sleeping in the Cosm-sized end of the Queen's quarters. I got the impression that he was in much worse shape than I was. That made sense since he looked like a human pin cushion last night. I also found out that he was some kind of legendary secret agent called Usruldes the Wraith. He was the King's chief spy. No one ever saw his face because it was always hidden by a hood and a facemask.

I was able to eat after Veflia and Zdatel finally finished my hair. They brought me a tray filled with all sorts of stuff including a lovely liver pate. The pate was wonderful on top of some sourdough bread. I ate until I was stuffed. Afterward, I found Thuorfosi in the drawing room reading. She had come prepared with a wax tablet. She lifted me onto the oversized, overstuffed sofa and I finally was able to get some answers about the events of the last two days.

I was more than pleased to hear that Kayseo was alive and on the mend. People guessed that Usruldes was the magic user who mindcasted the shrine two nights ago, enabling the timely healing of Kayseo. No one would know for sure until he woke up.

Lisaykos' deputies chose Thuorfosi to bring the news of the attack to Lisaykos here in Is'syal.

Lisaykos then volunteered Thuorfosi to keep me from misbehaving---her words, not mine---while the Queen and Lisaykos witnessed the execution.

I did protest my innocence. Thuorfosi did not believe me.

"So you and Asgotl didn't go fishing the day you went to Black Canyon?" she countered. She also nailed me with arguing with the Queen and getting her so angry that she hauled me off to the Tiki shrine. It turns out arguing with the Queen is a big no-no and it shocked the gang of three and Wolkayrs. The only person who can get away with arguing with the Queen is Lisaykos, and even she has limits to how far she can push the Queen. I had no idea.

I killed some time with Veflia and Zdatel playing old maid, though the playing cards were hand-painted on vellum and sized for Cosm. I also had no idea why they called the card game scabby queen. That was weird.

I excused myself to visit the necessary. While there, I pondered how nice it would be to have modern toilets and a real shower. That would require making and fitting pipes and valves. I don't know how serious I was about plumbing a whole castle but it was a problem to keep me from getting too bored.

I started looking around at the piping for the tubs. The feed pipes to the tubs from the wooden water tanks overhead were fired clay, which was a clumsy system but it worked for these folks. The only valves were on the water tanks and those looked like simple drum valves so the hydraulic head had to be fairly low.

The drain pipes to empty the tubs were lead. That blew me away. I had heard of lead pipes but had never actually seen any. The lead drains appeared to go down through the floor, which was tile over a wood subfloor. I know because I found a loose tile and lifted it up to inspect the subfloor. The bathroom was next to the outer wall. I wondered whether all the bathrooms in the palace were placed next to the outside walls and what that meant for the drains.

What I couldn't figure out was how the water got into the water tanks. I got up on the lip of one of the tubs to see better. I wanted to see if there was an inlet pipe and where it came from. The possibility of a gravity-fed system like in Aybhas was tantalizing. I couldn't climb around looking at piping in what I was wearing. I would have to ask the Queen's hairdressers for some work clothes.

Just then, while I balanced on the tub edge, Veflia walked into the bathroom. "Surd save us," she squawked rather loudly. "What are you doing? You'll hurt yourself!" She was loud enough that she was heard in the drawing room. It was quite annoying. There was nothing wrong with my balance and I was just looking. It's not as if I had taken any pipes or valves apart, at least not yet.

The thumping sound of someone Cosm-sized came down the hallway and Thuorfosi got down on one knee to look in the door. "What are you up to this time, Emily?" I made the motion for writing on a wax tablet since there was no way to explain otherwise.

"We don't have time for that, troublemaker," she shook her head at me with an expression of patience well worn out. "Do you need a hand down?" I gathered my skirts and jumped lightly to the floor in answer.

"You have company, Emily," Thuorfosi gave me a chiding look. "Please try to be not too outrageous."

Veflia was standing inside the door the whole time with her hand over her gaping mouth. "I'm sorry, Veflia," Thuorfosi apologized, "I forgot to warn you that Emily is just a little bit on the feral side."

I picked up the wax tablet from where I put it on the washbasin table, straightened my skirts, and made sure there was no accidental dirt on the gown. Then I walked down the hall to the drawing room and the Cosm side of the Queen's suite.

I did not expect what greeted me. Seated on the chairs and sofas of the drawing room were all eleven high priestesses in their brightly-colored robes and goofy hats that resembled the hats the vestal virgins wore in the BBC production of I, Claudius. The Queen was there too, sitting next to a big silverhaired man who I thought might be the King. She gave me an apologetic glance. Lisaykos' expression was carefully neutral. Foyuna looked worried.

The oldest of them was seated in the center dressed in robes of purple and black. She had pale blue eyes, that same blue you see in thick ice on a frozen lake.

I didn't know what sort of protocol might apply here. Some time ago, Lisaykos told me that a blessed revelator had a higher standing than a high priestess. If that was the case, was this some kind of set-up to judge me and put me in my place? My annoyance at what I took as discourtesy overcame the knot in my stomach. I returned that old lady's stare with one of my own.

Thuorfosi carried a chair over for me, "would you like help to sit, Great One?" I nodded yes. I noted that she stood a step back to the side.

"I am told that your name is Emily," the old bird began. Her voice was quite pleasant to listen to, good enough to do voice-overs on radio. "I am Fassex of Landa. You do know of the Shrine of Landa, yes?"

I shook my head truthfully no. That caused some murmuring. Fassex looked a bit put out. What did this collection of old bats want with me?

"Do you not respect the gods?" she demanded. "You should know and revere them."

Okay, I admit it: I was intimidated. They were power personified, both by physical presence and by magic force. I had no weapons except what was in my head. No matter what I did, this looked like a judgment to me.

I wrote: "What are your gods to me? I was never taught their names and roles. I was never told that I should worship them and why. Can you tell me why I should respect them when they have no relevance to my life? I had no business with your gods before your queen forced me to go to the Shrine of Tiki with her. There, a prankster god forced his revelation on me for a cure to constipation, of all the absurd things, with ingredients that may be impossible to make with the technology of this realm. True respect is not given. It must be earned. I acknowledge that Tiki has the power to use me as his plaything since he has already done so. I can respect that power and my own powerlessness against it. I have now fulfilled the obligation of writing down the useless revelation he put into my brain and hope to be quit of any more of this blessed revelator business."

Above what I had written, I wrote "please read this out loud," and handed the tablet to Thuorfosi, who looked a bit frightened, to tell the truth. It could not be helped. This wasn't the time to meek.

I looked right at that old bird Fassex with all the annoyance I felt as Thuorfosi read what I had written.

Fassex looked at the queen, "you forced this Coyn to the Crystal Shrine of Tiki?"

I was floored by the regal dignity the Queen employed in her reply: "I admit that I indeed gave Emily no choice but to go with me to the shrine. She had angered me greatly by holding up a mirror to my own cowardice and moral failing, and I did not like what I saw looking back at me. So yes, in my anger at her and myself, I physically picked her, put her on my griffin, and took her to the shrine. The rest you already know."

Fassex digested that answer and turned back to me, looking a bit disturbed. "Emily, you do not want the blessing of Tiki and the benefits that go with it?"

That was a doozy of a question. I wrote: "You can call it a blessing if you like but for me, it was an imposition to do something I had no desire to do. Anyone who eats a balanced diet will never need Tiki's revelation to Emily for a laxative anyway. Do I want all these supposed benefits of Tiki's blessing? I find being reverenced and called a great one embarrassing. I am the same person now as I was before Tiki showed up, so what is so different about me now that I should suddenly deserve all of this kneeling and bowing? As for other blessings, where are they? I have been abducted because I was known to be blessed by Tiki. I just had my finger chopped off. My home was destroyed by those in the employ of the king and all my works with it. Now I must live dependent on the charity of others to my great shame. My pride has always been my ability to live the life I chose without being dependent on others and that has been taken from me. Now I am questioned as to why I don't think these are benefits. I would give away every so-called blessing if I could have my home back. Nothing is a blessing if you do not value it as such."

"Imstay King, about this one's home?" Fassex asked.

"My agent and Emily have been negotiating, Holy One, to see if her loss can be amicably settled since, without a settlement, I will not be able to acquire her invention of instant fire which could greatly benefit those in my troops who have little magic."

"So you are culpable for the destruction of her home?"

"My men indeed caused the explosion that ruined her home, but it was an accident."

"We have heard some of this matter," Fassex remarked. "Emily, what is it that the King's men disturbed that caused this explosion. The fire that followed it was seen on this side of the lava plains."

"It is called gunpowder," I wrote. "I used small amounts to shatter rocks in the places that I mined minerals. It will not explode unless it is exposed to a flame. It was in a sealed container placed in a safe and isolated location, far from any flame sources in my workshop. It would not explode on its own."

"You made and stored such a dangerous thing?"

"Gunpowder is not dangerous to store and it is not a strong explosive. I can make explosives that are ten times more powerful but have never seen the need to do so." After Thuorfosi read that out loud, I did get a little kick out of seeing several jaws drop. An errant thought ran through my head that without magic, this bunch of old bats had nothing, but I had the knowledge to blow up every shrine and fort in this kingdom.

Fassex was looking a bit less fierce and a lot more thoughtful but her next question revealed something fundamental about what people might be talking about in the communities of the kingdom. "Emily, it is said that Cosm have magic because they are the blessed of the gods. No Coyn has ever been blessed before now, therefore the Coyn were never favored by the gods."

I was surprised that this was the first time anyone had the gumption to mention this to my face, but I already knew my answer. I wrote: "I have read every revelation of Tiki since residing at the Shrine of Mugash. Where in any of them do they refer to Cosm as the only race the gods love? Where do they say that Coyn, griffins, eagles, winged horses, or whales are not loved by the gods? I have seen only where the scriptures refer to those who know good from evil, love from hate, generosity from avarice, and kindness from malice, and that the gods love those who choose correctly from among those things. The scriptures did not say the Gods bless just the Cosm. They bless only those who can choose appropriately, which implies that race is irrelevant in the eyes of the gods and that how one chooses to act is what is important."

Fassex nodded at my answer when Thuorfosi read it. "Sisters, have I left out any of the questions you wanted asked of this child?" The room was silent. "Sisters, are you satisfied with the answers this child has provided?" Several scattered affirmative replies were voiced. "I too am satisfied."

She stood up and the other ten high priestesses stood with her. They all removed their vestal virgin hats, knelt on one knee, and placed their right hands over their hearts, "may the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great One." I don't know if it was the stress of the unannounced interrogation, the sight of all eleven of them making obeisance to me, or just the events of the last two days, but I was unnerved enough that my hands were shaking and I dropped the tablet and stylus. The Queen picked up on my losing it and crossed the room in a few long strides.

"You just reached your limit, didn't you?" she picked up the tablet and stylus and handed them to Thuorfosi, who was looking worried. "I'm going to get you out of here, alright?" She scooped me up out of the chair and carried me somewhere. I had my eyes closed so I'm not sure where. She put me down on a Cosm-scaled bed, which I guessed was her own, and placed her hand on my head. "You're too strong-willed for charms of peace to work. The only practical alternative is putting you to sleep. We'll wake you for the evening meal, okay?" I nodded. It was embarrassing falling apart like this but I couldn't help it.

Lisaykos let herself into the room, "how is she?"

"Well, the last time she was scared this badly, she fainted."

Lisaykos knelt next to the bed and brushed some hair out of my eyes, "you look quite lovely today, Emily. Your hair is especially nice. I tried to talk my sisters out of doing this, by the way, but I was overruled. We can talk after you've had a nap."

I'm not sure which one cast the charm but I slept until I woke until late afternoon after strange dreams of bismuth and zucchini.

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