This time, the guards wouldn’t let her walk next to the litter. She stuck her head out the side to see where they were headed, and that was right up to Redforest Castle’s front gate, the grated wood work much like prison bars from the dungeons back home.

But I guess this is home now....

A guard on the other side of the litter yelled something at the gate guards, and the gate shuddered, trundled up, opened to a bailey on the other side. They entered and past wooden huts with straw roofs, some plastered white on the outside while others just regular wood. There was a blacksmith, covered in soot, hammering away at some metal that looked red hot. There was a man and his son shoveling hay with a pitchfork, taking it out of a wagon cart and pitching it under a lean-to roof. The man’s wife appeared to be supervising this activity, her hands on her hips, an apron tightly around her waist. And above, circling them all, cawing black birds--ravens, maybe. Hopefully. Not a good omen, should they be buzzards or some other such creature, instead.

The litter passed through another gatehouse and into a main bailey. Here the stone buildings grew large, most attached to the battlements in some way, but a few independent of that, and more than a few several stories tall. She saw what looked like a temple to the fates, with stained glass windows on its side reaching up to the sky like fingers steepled together in prayer.

Another building might have been an armory, or a barracks--guards hung about. They were cared for men, by the look of their hygiene. Shiny armor, bright red cloth, unsoiled boots. Though the men didn't seem to care for her. They gave her grave eyes; she shuddered and looked away.

She was brought to the main keep. A woman awaited her, dressed in the garments of the faith, though hers were red. Each wore the colors of the Houses they served--those Houses who believed in the Fates, anyway. Not all of them did.

Only the woman's face and hands were visible. Everything else was hidden away beneath robes.

When the litter stopped, the woman reached out a hand, nodded at Lilian to take it. She did. The woman helped her out of the litter and looked her up and down. “Don’t know what I expected,” she said curtly, “but you’re a lot better than I deserve.”

She didn’t quite understand what that meant; she wanted to believe it was a compliment, but the woman’s face was stern. Perhaps it wasn’t.

“Walk with me,” the woman said. Lilian nodded. The two walked towards an ornate set of double doors. The entrance, it appeared, to the keep. “My name is Telli. I’m charged with waiting on you hand and foot while you’re here, and you’re going to be here for some time, I’m told, as you’re marrying the Lord.”

“But you’re a Sister of the Fates...”

“True. But the Sisterhood does more than serve the Fates. We help raise noble women, watch out for them, intervene should they be treated...ill. And those of us given the Lords ear often also help the peasants when we can. The women I mean. But sometimes men, too, young boys, orphans. You know.”

She nodded. She’d heard of the Sisterhood’s generosity; it was good to see the Jorberts at least allowed them to work out of their castle. “It’s good of you to do. A noble and worthy cause.”

“You’d think so.” Telli shook her head. “Regardless, I’m to get you settled in and then I’m to get you ready to leave, apparently. Lord Jorbert wants this wedding to happen tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Lilian shook her head. “It can’t happen tomorrow. I need...time.”

“That’s exactly what you’re not going to get.” She raised her eyebrows. “Don’t look at me. I don’t plan things out, believe me. If I did, things would be much more efficient around here. I only follow my Lord’s orders and right now they’re quite clear. Besides, we’re fitting this into the King’s schedule, too. Not that he has anything much going on, I suppose, sitting up there on the King’s hoverstone. Eating and drinking and getting fat, letting his son do whatever he wants, letting the Queen--oh, but never mind. That’s enough out of me. Here, this way--your room.”

They walked into a bedchamber that was twice the size of hers, back home. There were red silks on the bed, hanging from the ceiling, and a fresco along the wall of a pleasant forest--though she recognized it as the blood forest, which was a little unsettling. There was a desk off to the right filled with things to do--write, read, draw. Another desk against another wall, filled with things that the handmaiden would use when attending to her. And there was a balcony out a set of doors. She opened them and looked out into the blood forest, its red trees waving in the breeze as though saying hello. Or goodbye.

Not a pleasant thought.

“Are these adequate chambers? We can give you a bigger room, if you like, but I put this together just for you--”

“There are bigger rooms?” Lilian was amazed.

“Bigger rooms, and a room you will share with the Lord, when you’re married and--well, you know the way of the world, I’m sure. You don’t have to share that room with him all the time. In fact, I’m not sure he’d want you to; he...likes his space.”

“I’ve heard.” She was relieved she’d have a place to retire to that was all her own. “So I get to look around and then I’ll be herded off to the King’s hoverstone, is that right? To Castle Strongwind?”

The Sister nodded. Lilian thought she detected some sorrow in the older woman’s face, but she didn’t know her well enough to be able to tell. Plus, though perhaps unfortunate, the match could have been a lot worse. She could have been much younger. Gern Jorbert could have been much older. Her house could have been wealthy and his poor. She walked out onto the balcony. She supposed House Jorbert would do well enough; she wondered what kind of power she’d find herself able to wield.