Free Land of Night by Kirby Crow Page B

will forgive me for leaving so quickly. The future of a kingdom is important."
    Liall strode past him to the door. Scarlet had half a mind to go after him, but wisdom prevailed. If Scarlet had not known better, he would have said that Liall really was afraid.
    With Liall gone, Nenos tried to deck Scarlet out in much the same way as Liall had dressed. Scarlet objected to the long, green velvet virca shot with red beads that Nenos tried to stuff him in. Nenos kept insisting, an opinion seconded by Jochi when he arrived.
    "Many of the barons are at court now,” Jochi said gravely, “And Prince Nazheradei would have his affection and respect for you be noticed. One way, ser Scarlet, is in your style of dress."
    "And just when would they see me?"
    "Today, when I give you a tour of the Nauhinir."
    "Oh.” A tour! Even through his excitement at the prospect of getting to see the palace at last, Scarlet felt misgiving. “Why can't I just wear a hapcoat over a shirt and breeches?” The long coats were much less fancy and, he thought, looked more suited to a man.
    "Hapcoats are less formal, ser. Vircas are more appropriate for audiences."
    "My sister has a dress like this, did I tell you that? For that's what it is, you know, a dress! I feel like a mummer in this get-up. Or worse."
    Jochi's eyebrows went up, as if to ask what could be worse than a mummer.
    Scarlet jerked the hem of the green virca on the bed. “I'd look like I was selling in this!"
    "Selling what, ser?"
    Scarlet began to think Jochi might be making fun of him. Jochi grinned and bowed from the waist, his right arm folded over his midsection in the Rshani gesture of politeness Scarlet was beginning to recognize.
    "Forgive me,” he said. “I was only teasing you. You have a very open smile, did you know?"
    Scarlet wouldn't answer him, feeling very misused by his mocking, and Jochi tried to paste on a sympathetic expression.
    "There's no hope for it, ser. This is what stands for formal male garb in Rshan. Shall we begin?"
    Scarlet cursed in gutter Falx, which he knew Jochi would not understand: “I'll look like a poxed bhoros whore, but I'll wear it!"
    So he submitted to the ridiculous green virca, red beads and all. Later on, in the corridors, Scarlet found he was glad of all the layers. Gilded cage or not, they were only a few feet away from their apartments before he realized how much warmer Liall kept his quarters than other Rshani. Scarlet suspected it was on his account. The air in the corridors was cool enough to turn the tip of his nose pink, and before long he was glad he had eaten a large breakfast, for Jochi kept him moving for hours, taking him into room after room full of the tall, pale-haired, glittering folk who nodded and bowed and called him Keriss in their soft voices.
    The Nauhinir would be difficult for even a poet to describe. There were walls and floors and ceilings, like any dwellings, but of such strange design and such unusual materials and colors that they scarcely appeared to be real. A wall was not a wall here, not simply a brace to hold the roof up, but a chance to illustrate and dazzle, to make one stare in dumbstruck awe.
    Of all the things Scarlet saw that day, one stood out sharply in his mind: the midnight-blue floor of the entrance to the Inner Court, which was made entirely of small, painted tiles, each tile different and distinct, and together they made a vast mural of the floor. It was a rendering of the night sky of Rshan, with each star a painted bit of gold or silver, and through it all threaded a web of cloudy blue and pink and luminescent green strands. He asked Jochi what they were.
    "That is the ostre sul, the light in the darkness."
    "We traveled here on a ship by that same name."
    Jochi nodded. “Many ships bear a variant of that title. It's considered lucky. As for what it is, it is a celestial phenomenon that occurs often, though it is only visible when the sky is clear."
    It had been overcast and snowing almost