The name Saka sounded nice. Perhaps she’d try it and a tatty dress on for size.
Once settled, Hevva and Kas sat down for a rest in their small sitting area at the maid’s behest, and Aylin began to unpack. The rising din of conversation outside signified the arrival of more and more symposium attendees. The event was so popular it tripled the town’s population, making it a city for those three days of the year, or so she’d heard. The air was charged with anticipation: the socializing, the sightseeing, the scholars, the discussions. Hevva was in it for the first two, her brother for academics.
“Hevva, this is going to be incredible! Did you see the list of speakers on the firebearing panel?” Kas exclaimed, his pale eyes frantic with excitement. He leaned forward, waving a packet of paper in his sister’s face. “I think I’ll have to go to this. Forget about windshifting!”
She nodded absently, more interested in her surroundings as she peeredout the window and watched yet another set of fine horses be led into the stables. “It’s impressive, Kas. Just ensure you make the most of it.”
“Why don’t you two go find something to do before the address this evening?” Aylin suggested as she hung the last of Hevva’s gowns and used her watercoursing to push the empty chest out of the way up against a free wall.
“We could walk around town,” Hevva offered.
“I’m hungry,” Kas whined, the superb event program forgotten.
“Well then, let’s go find something to eat.” She beamed at her brother. Their interests may diverge on most things, but food would always be their great equalizer. “Would you like us to bring anything back for you?” she asked Aylin over her shoulder as they neared the door.
“Oh, no, thank you, my dear. I think I’ll take a short nap and mosey around town later on this evening while you’re all listening to the king’s speech. I promised Thera I’d purchase her new ribbons.”
“You take such good care of your wife.”
“It’s what I do, my lady. I take care of those I love.”
Didn’t she know it. Hevva grinned at her maid, and with that, she and Kas, the young-ish lady and the very young lord, made their way downstairs to dine on the Elk & Heron’s lavish ground floor.
Kas picked a tucked away high-backed booth that offered an excellent view of the long room running the length of the establishment. They savored a light meal of crumpets and iced glasses of Selwas’s signature spiced tea while observing the influx of guests. Wealthy merchants and nobles alike joined them at the Elk & Heron, which was evidently the place to be.
As they ate, Kas engaged her in a mature conversation about the symposium’s highlights, most of which she tuned out. Eventually, he turned the topic to gossip, which caught her depthless attention.
“I heard”—he sipped from his glass—“that both King Hethtar and the prince will be at the opening address this evening.”
“What is the significance of that, do you think?”
He shrugged. “Mom believes it’s a show of strength, telling the country they are not divided in the wake of their father’s passing.”
“Are they not just two siblings traveling together, like us?”
Kas looked at her pointedly, far too astute for someone his age. “Would you travel with Prince Nekash of your own volition?”
She snorted. “Kas! Shhh. Be careful what you say in public.”
He shrugged. “What are they going to do? Shout at me? He has a reputation.”
“And what doyouknow of reputations?”
He popped a tea cake in his mouth and settled in to peer at the newest party arriving through the front door. “It’s strange here, don’t you think?”
“How so?” she inquired, watching as the innkeeper’s wife served two glasses of wine to an older couple who shuffled up to the bar. At least, she assumed it was the innkeeper’s wife based on the way the portly man planted a kiss on the woman’s crooked mouth.
“It's as though the rules don’t really apply the way they do at home, or in Serkath, or anywhere else.”
She cocked her head at Kas, asking for more, though she thought she knew what he was getting at. This event seemed to exist outside of their wonderful kingdom’s sometimes dull-as-rocks social strata and rule-bound gatherings.
“Look, there’s Baron Turkhane, and I donotbelieve that’s his wife. Or there, that’s the Lady of Napivol, who is definitely married to alordand not the Lady of Rohapavol.”
Hevva followed Kas’s gaze out the back window of the inn to where the two ladies, both of whom she recognized from court, were snogging openly by the stables. “Oh, my! All right Kas, let’s go upstairs.”
He laughed.
“Genuinely, brother, this is a grand opportunity. I hope youlearnand enjoy every moment of it.” Then, because his gaze drifted back to the women, she added, “Just...don’t take part in any of the extracurricular activities. Sanctioned events only. All right?”
