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rix_scaeduThis part runs to 3,769 words and I hope that you enjoy them.
Ghairniksday, 19 Deichen, 1893 C.E.
Asnan, 9 Kaalen, 2157 T.M.L.
4 Mikistli, 24 Coatl, 6.11.2.1.8.4.5
Dear Journal,
Here it is! The day on which we leave for home. Nais brought me my warm water, helped me dress in my green visiting gown with the red sash (the one I wore yesterday, but it did simplify packing), and packed away my nightwear, toiletries, and hairbrushes in my luggage. We then descended the stairs to our breakfasts.
Most of my cousins were in the breakfast room this morning when I entered the room, including Miztli who has been told firmly by his brothers and superiors that he should actually honour the day of rest. [Or so he says.] Great-aunt beckoned for me to take one of the seats beside her to eat my meal and I was able to slip in a few pertinent questions about vails for the servants, both amount and delivery, into the conversation - just to ensure that I didn't accidentally insult anyone. Her advice was pertinent and very helpful. Cousin Teicuih sat on my other side and our conversation was about what I expected when I reached home. I agreed with her suggestion that one of my difficulties might be that I am no longer quite the person I was when I left home. Another point is, of course, that I am not returning to my mother's household but to my brother's. Added to which, of course, I will be on the verge of marrying and setting up a joint household with Lord Elnaith.
I will miss Cook's rest day porridge, and I am glad that I got the recipe from her.
After breakfast I went back up to my room and tidied myself, and packed away my toothbrush and toothpowder. That should have been everything packed into my luggage, including hat boxes, but I stripped off the bed and put the folded coverlet and sheets in the middle of it and then checked around and under the bed for any small items that might have dropped down its sides or rolled under it. Then I double checked all the drawers, and the wardrobe, and the space under the drawers for anything that might have fallen down or been left in a back corner. I did find two buttons I've never seen before at the very bottom of the dresser, and I left those on the top of the dresser where they would be easily found.
That all done, I took the money set aside for staff vails and went downstairs to knock on the kitchen door for admittance so that I could distribute those vails. (Normally, I would not be so formal about approaching the staff, but it is the day of rest and no-one deserves to have someone outside their close circle just burst into their shared living space where they might be informally or incompletely dressed.) Matlal admitted me, and I explained why I was there. He and the housekeeper facilitated my quiet little interactions with the rest of the staff as well as receiving their own vails. There was something for all the staff who directly assisted me during my stay - the footmen, the maids (specifically including the girl who looks after the fireplace in my room, not that I used it), Cook, the boot boy, and the coachmen. Plus a small amount to be distributed among the rest of the staff.
That done, I took myself up to the nursery to bid farewell to the infantry contingent. Still all absolutely gorgeous.
Then back to my room, where I found Nais checking to make sure that we hadn't missed anything in our packing. When I asked her, she assured me that she had already done the same thing with her own room and had her roommates double check it for her. She also assured me that the footmen would be upstairs momentarily to take my luggage downstairs, despite it being a day of rest. She may have commented that although the footmen may not have confidence in my male cousins' ability to safely carry out this task, my distribution of vails had not hurt their desire to complete this task. She sent me downstairs to say goodbye to my relatives and promised to ensure my luggage was brought downstairs intact by the footmen.
Downstairs the family had assembled to bid me farewell. I think that their farewells to Axolin were more heartfelt, which is natural as he is their close relative and he is going off into a strange place, but my farewells were still much warmer than those I received from my close relatives when I left home. I may have cried a very little. Miztli told us that he was coming to the port to see us off, and to keep an eye on the luggage to make sure that everything got loaded with us. I was just finishing going around the room saying goodbye to everyone and wishing them a safe journey home where applicable [I have never had so many hugs in my life] when Lord Elnaith arrived.
Lord Elnaith made his own farewells to my relatives while Nais, his manservant, and Axolin's manservant (Chictawaonkisalistli who was with him when he met me on my arrival and who's shortened name foe everyday use is Tawaonk) supervised the transfer of all the luggage from the foyer to the carriages, and the precise loading of the various items into those conveyances. I noted that part of Miztli's (self-appointed?) duties involved separating us from our well-wishers and getting us into the carriages.
It being a day of rest, there was very little traffic on the roads until we got to the airship port. The Pearlish Lady is not the only ship arriving and/or departing today, although I was told that ships with Tlemutsiko as a terminus on their regular route or who were signing a new contract here would spend the day in rest with the city. Our coachmen followed the directions to the gate where boarding passengers for the Pearlish Lady were to deposit their luggage, and we showed our tickets to the attendants who then took charge of our luggage. Nais and the manservants ensured that everything was transferred from the coaches, and that the receipt we received covered everything that we handed over. Lord Elnaith then dismissed the consul's coachmen and carriages, with vails to the coachmen and footmen, and we made our way to the passenger gate. There were a few other first class passengers, none of whom I recognised at that point, but rather more second and third class passengers - or at least more people gathered in those boarding areas. Despite it being a day of rest, there seemed to be a great many hawkers trying to sell things to the departing passengers, but Miztli demonstrated some impressive path clearing skills without resorting to any physical action - perhaps it was the Jaguar Knight badge on his lapel? We said goodbye to him at the gate when our tickets were checked and boarding began. I will miss him and hope to see him again someday. (Which seems a pathetic hope, given the closeness of our blood tie, but distance and politics meant that it took me almost 25 years to meet him, his parents, and siblings, and it could be that at least the same amount of time will pass before I have the chance to see them again.)
My cabin on the Pearlish Lady is not the one I had the Pearlish Dawn, I am in fact three doors forward of the same cabin on this ship. Axolin and Lord Elnaith have the cabins on either side of me, and I noted that there is no connecting door from my cabin to either of theirs. Nais wanted to begin unpacking for me at once but, mindful that the safety briefing, followed by lunch would occur shortly, I bade her freshen herself up and attend both of these events before seeing to my luggage. I then followed my own advice and made my way to the safety briefing.
I entered the dining room to find the central long table occupied by a religious group, whose clerical regalia I did not recognise, but their apparent leader was an older woman adorned with marks of religious rank (which I have learned to recognise) and the manner of a powerful dowager. She gave me a look when I entered the room that was clearly meant to both survey me and put me in my place, and I responded by curtseying as I would to a bishop. That got me a thin lipped smile, and I made my way to three empty seats on the far side of the room. It seems I was the of the just embarked first class passengers to reach the room - I was followed by two military looking Confederation gentlemen of (probably) early middle years, a wealthy looking Confederation couple who appeared to be of the merchant classes, Axolin and Lord Elnaith together, and finally a Confederation noblewoman of indeterminant age and a young woman who was either a junior relation or a paid companion. These last two were escorted in by a stewardess, with the older lady complaining that they did not need lunch and that their cabin needed to be put in order. I was pleased to see that Axolin and Lord Elnaith gave the religious dowager courtesies of the same depth as my own, and I was oddly warmed by the expressions of others in the company when my cousin and betrothed took the seats on either side of me.
Seating at our table was actually quite sparse - I had sat in the middle of a block of three seats, but the rest of the table was spaced out with an occupant in every second seat. After the safety briefing, which was identical (to my recollection) to the ones given on the Pearlish Dawn, we were served a three course lunch: the starter was grilled seasoned fish pieces in a seaweed salad; our main was a mix poultry stew or casserole with wilted greens (I suspect that one of the poultry types was seagull, simply because I don't know what else it could have been); and a dessert of jellied fresh fruit and what I believe was a sweetened local yoghurt that is not made with cow's, sheep's, or goat's milk. While we ate, we introduced ourselves to our tablemates, and it soon became clear that we had settled ourselves at a table of individuals who were doing their best to avoid other passengers. Axolin was seated on my right with Chicmacmikistli, a priest of the Flayed One, who he was quite pleased to explain to me across Axolin (well it was a relatively informal lunch) is one of the Confederation's most gruesome war gods. When I asked what the correct form of address for one of His Divinity's mortal servants is, he replied with a broad grin that revealed several missing teeth that he preferred Father Tenthdeath for himself when dealing with Imperials. I had just finished thanking him for that information when the man directly across from me introduced himself, in Coac-htl, as Xipalliume Suchitl, which naturally led me to enquire if he knew or knew of Cousin Huitzitl. That attracted Axolin's attention from his conversation with Father Tenthdeath, and it was quickly established that Mr Xipalliume and Cousin Huitzitl are part of the same extended family, and that Axolin and Mr Xipalliume both knew vaguely of the other's branch of the family. Axolin is part of the 'do-good Imperial immigrant' connection while Mr Xipalliume's parent have been paid to stay away from the rest of the family - not all family connections are comfortable or convenient. Mr Xipalliume complimented me on my Coac-htl, and offered to show me around the ship after lunch, to which I responded with an introduction to Lord Elnaith as my betrothed. Both gentlemen said that they were pleased to make the other's acquaintance but in such a manner and with such expressions that made me think that they understand each other in ways that I do not understand.
The gentleman on the other side of Lord Elnaith from me was a retired senior civil servant on his way to visit his married daughter and asked to be addressed as Mr Sulca in Imperial. Opposite Mr Sulca sat a retired Confederation military gentleman who I judged to be older than Cousin Ghrus but younger than Great-aunt. He introduced himself to Lord Elnaith in a tone that made me think that, but for discipline, he would pick a fight with my betrothed. In Imperial he introduced himself as Colonel Thirteenmirror Falcon (which means that his name is probably Chicmacyeiteskatl while his family name probably means 'falcon') formerly of the Ixtayatl Pioneers, to which Lord Elnaith commented, "Heavy assault infantry, aren't they? I was ordinary infantry myself - 3rd Imperial Foot Guards. Lord Elnaith bh'Sedloit, at your service, sir." There then followed a brisk conversation between the two in which Colonel Thirteenmirror commented adversely on the Imperial administration of the then south-west provinces, and Lord Elnaith agreed that anyone who considered the matter thought that many matters had been handled badly or even bungled. The Colonel pointed out he had fought Imperial troops in the War of Secession and asked what action Lord Elnaith had seen. Lord Elnaith replied that he expected nothing less of a soldier of the Colonel's nationality and generation, and that his only action had been against iceworms and disaffected cultists who wanted the freedom to kill anyone they didn't like. Mr Xipalliume looked increasingly amused as the conversation continued, and the conversation ended with the Colonel saying that he looked forward to an improved level of after dinner conversation with Lord Elnaith's arrival.
After lunch, Nais and I unpacked what we expected I would need for the journey, and then took part in the safety drill. After that I took my embroidery to the balcony parlor.
As with the other ships I have travelled on, the balcony parlor after lunch is the province of the ladies. All three of the other ladies who boarded the ship with us today were already present. The merchant's good lady, Cexiuhtontli, was engaged in mending socks, while Lady Smokeamongclouds and her third daughter, Tlahco, were doing featherwork with the small breast and belly feathers of several different types of birds. Shortly after my arrival we were joined by three ladies from the religious party. These were the wife of the bishop's chaplain, and the wives of two of the bishop's secretaries. The bishop herself is apparently in the habit of napping after the safety drill, or simply after lunch when not travelling on an airship, and her staff and their spouses take that period as their free time. If I understood these ladies correctly, their husbands were indulging in a game of billiards (or possibly just a similar game) while the ladies themselves gossiped, did mending, and in the case of the youngest lady, read a novel. All the ladies were very kind about my relatively limited Coac-htl and my accent in that language.
There is no denying that we did gossip. Cexiuhtontli's husband is a spice merchant, and they have visited a number of Kerajaan towns and cities, but weren't obliged to stay in government hostels. Lady Smokeamongclouds and Tlahco are travelling on family business, but made some careful enquiries about Axolin - they had noticed his Obsidian Knight insignia which makes him a potentially suitable gentleman in their eyes, and I believe that they were pleased to hear that he is my cousin. A fact that did me no harm, I believe, in the other ladies' regard. The ladies from the bishop's household did not say so but I gathered that when the bishop is in the room, she likes to have her household's attention on her, even that of those who are not actually her employees or staff. (I know a number of ladies like that at home.) The novel reading lady is only recently wed and seems to be chafing a little under the bishop's restraint. All the ladies said kind things about my engagement when I said that I am travelling home from visiting my cousins in Tlemutsiko with the escort of both my betrothed, Lord Elnaith, and my cousin, Axolin.
The dark, bitter drink beloved of many Confederation residents was served in late afternoon along with sweet cakes. Its arrival was preceded by the entrance of the bishop, another (older) secretary's wife, and two younger ladies who were some sort of attendants/companions/young relations to the bishop. Lady Smokeamongclouds and her daughter, as well as all the other ladies. rose and bowed in the Confederation fashion when the bishop entered, so I followed suite and curtsied in the appropriate fashion. I believe we were served our beverage and offered the cakes in order of precedence, so it was interesting to see where I fit into the social hierarchy according to the Chief Purser and stewardesses - in the middle of the secretary's wives, well after the bishop and Lady Smokeamongclouds but before Cexiuhtontli. Apparently, the bishop's idea of conversation is that she interrogates you on the subjects about you that she is interested in, and everyone in the room listens. I tried asking the older secretary's wife about which of their gods the bishop's household serves, and the bishop stopped me with a brisk, "Excuse me, I am talking to Tlahco!" [She was questioning her about her marital prospects.]
Lady Smokeamongclouds and Cexiuhtontli looked as unimpressed with this behaviour as I felt. I also noticed that the two ladies I had seen at the lunch table nearest the door had not made an appearance in the balcony parlor all afternoon.
At dinner Lord Elnaith and Axolin were seated at the Captain's table, next to Lady Smokeamongclouds and the bishop respectively, with those ladies flanking the Captain. I did not envy them the bishop's dinner table conversation, which I avoided by reason of being seated at the First Officer's table (and at his right). The First Officer did apologise to me that I was not seated at the same table as either my cousin or my betrothed, to which I responded that in many situations the constraints present prevented the design of the perfect dinner seating arrangement. My other dining companion was one of the two military gentlemen who joined the ship with us today. He introduced himself as Major Huitl, and told me that he and his companion, Major Raincloak, were in procurement and visiting various food contractors (preserved fish suppliers) along the coast. I agreed that the armed forces needed good food supplies both to do their jobs and as a matter of common decency. The Major will be leaving us tomorrow in Cihuatita, to speak to someone about salted fish. We spent the rest of our conversation swapping the names of the fellow passengers we have become acquainted with. so far.
It being a formal dinner, I did not speak to her, but the oldest of the secretaries' wives was seated opposite me, on the First Officer's left.
After dinner, the ladies, including myself, repaired to the balcony parlor where we were served kasoohlt. The bishop was the last of us to reach the parlor - presumably after needing to use the retiring room longer than any of the rest of us. She was not pleased that the rest of us had already been served when she arrived and a vigorous conversation among all of us was underway under the guidance of Lady Smokeamongclouds. The bishop attempted to seize control of the gathering under her terms, but her ladyship wasn't having that.
The matter was semi-settled when the gentleman joined us, and Lord Elnaith and Axolin asked me to join them in a game of maistoto with all three of the military gentlemen and Father Tenthdeath. Mr Xipalliume set himself at another table with Tlahco, the bishop's two younger relatives, and several other passengers, but I don't know what game they played. The rest of the passengers divided into the remainder of the bishop's household, clustered around the bishop, and the rest of the passengers who were in general conversation around Lady Smokeamongclouds.
I do not know how long either senior lady will be aboard, but it seems that we may be in a state of social tension for the time both of them are with us.
I thoroughly enjoyed our game of maistoto. All of the other players at our table were good players but I felt that the Colonel and Father Tenthdeath were exceptional. Particularly as they, the two Majors, and my travel companions discussed several military-related issues (in Imperial) while dividing the honours for those hands between the two of them. I did not fare too badly, in that I did not have a final score on the level of the Colonel and Father Tenthdeath, but mine was about two thirds of the difference between the lowest and highest scores at the table above the lowest score. Both the Colonel and Father Tenthdeath said kind things about my card play, Major Huitl was almost admiring, and Axolin described me as the family's secret weapon. Major Raincloak, who did not do as well as I expected after the first few hands of play, said that he’d had many evenings in officers' common rooms when he would have been happy to have our company. Lord Elnaith was generally benevolent, but kissed my hand after we all rose from the table and thanked me for an enjoyable evening.
Axolin and Lord Elnaith escorted me to my cabin's door, and I found Nais waiting for me when I entered. She helped me prepare for bed, and I checked with her that she had suitable accommodations with a locking door. She assured me that although her door had a simpler lock than the one on the first class cabins, she had a door wedge that she would use when she retired to bed. In return, she reminded me to lock the door behind her when she left.
I did so, of course, and took a quick glance out of the window to see a cloudless night before sitting down to finish this account. In two days I will be back inside the Empire and my sojourn in foreign parts will over, although I will be nowhere near home and my adventures are nowhere near done.
Anadrasata Nearabhigan