Free Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) by Sharon Shinn Page B

me.”
     
     
    “I don’t understand what that means,” Ellynor said.
     
     
    “There are twelve great Houses in Gillengaria,” Astira said patiently. She had explained this more than once before. “The owners—the marlords—possess most of the property that’s worth having, and when they die, they pass it on to their sons and daughters. The serramar and the serramarra. But they own so much land that they can’t really control or cultivate it all, so they each have vassals—highborn lords and ladies who hold properties in trust for the marlords. Many of them are second cousins of the marlords, or seventh sons of sixth sons—nobles, with noble blood, just not the highest connections. They’re referred to as the Thirteenth House, no matter which of the Twelve Houses they hold allegiance to. It doesn’t tell you where they’re from, it just tells you their status.” She shrugged. “They’re good, but not good enough. Or I guess I should say we’re not good enough.”
     
     
    “And Gisseltess? That’s the name of one of these Twelve Houses?”
     
     
    Astira giggled. “Yes, silly! One of the most powerful.”
     
     
    “And the Lestra? She’s from Gisseltess?”
     
     
    “Yes. If she was not the Lestra, you would properly call her serra Coralinda. Her brother is marlord Halchon.” Astira gave an exaggerated shiver. “Have you ever met him? He’s a little frightening. Very intense. The way the Lestra is, only—only— with him you think it could turn to violence. I don’t like him much. Fortunately, he doesn’t come to the convent often.”
     
     
    “It’s all very confusing. We don’t have titles and nobles among the Lirrens.”
     
     
    “No, you just have these complex arrangements of kin! No one could keep track of such things!”
     
     
    Ellynor was surprised. “It’s very easy. There are individual families, and they band together to make up a sebahta , or a clan, and a number of clans make up the sebahta-ris —”
     
     
    Astira flung up a hand. “No, please, I won’t be able to keep it straight. Everyone was so astonished when you and Rosurie came to live at the convent. I don’t believe any of us had ever met a Lirren girl before.”
     
     
    “I never thought to travel across the Lireth Mountains,” Ellynor said.
     
     
    Astira unwound her hands and stretched out on the bed, yawning a little. “And why did you? Because Rosurie fell in love with some boy, is that it?”
     
     
    Ellynor laughed and lay down beside her, though she wasn’t at all sleepy. “A boy from the Bramlis sebahta , yes.”
     
     
    “Is it true that Rosurie’s father would have killed him if he’d caught them together?”
     
     
    “No, but it might have started a clan war.”
     
     
    “What’s that?”
     
     
    It was difficult to explain. “It’s when—when all the families of the sebahta-ris declare hostility on the families of another sebahta-ris , and if members of one family see members of another somewhere, they’ll start fighting. Brutal fights, bloody—a lot of people die. You never want to be the clan that’s overmatched, so if anyone in your family needs to travel, he takes five or ten brothers or cousins with him to defend him on the road. It’s stupid and it’s pointless and it can go on for years,” Ellynor added bitterly. “All the young men dying, all their friends swearing revenge. Rosurie’s father wanted to do anything to prevent another clan war. That’s why he agreed to send her away.”
     
     
    Astira had lifted her head and was now supporting it with her hand, clearly fascinated. “But that’s so—so exotic!” she exclaimed. “People taking up arms against each other and, what, dueling in the streets if they happen to encounter each other in the town square?”
     
     
    “There are no town squares. There are no towns. But there is a great deal of travel on a few essential roads, and the battles are most likely to occur on one of these journeys.”