Day 412
After spending hours with Anna talking through magic theories we end up staying for dinner with this remarkably large family. Van, Anna, Tili, and Shara collectively have six children between the ages of 7 and 14, all of whom seem delighted with Kaide. We eat in their back yard in the blue-shifted shade with each woman presiding over a particular course and all the others moving about to chat and get food. It has almost an underwater feel in the shade of their blue house and Kaide seems happy.
I find myself at a table with Tili, who eagerly asks me about elvish relationships. She herself is from a place across the ocean where it's common for a wealthy man to have multiple wives but it isn't practiced here as much. In their family the matches are all borne of love but this would not always be the case back in her home. Van and Anna's families are more traditional and certainly didn't appreciate Anna's independence and skill with magic, particularly when it meant she was the one rescuing Van from duels over her honour. Fae are more fluid and open in their relationships while dwarves are rigidly monogamous - she hasn't met enough elves to understand our structure yet. She herself is a romance author and enjoys writing interracial relationships, so this is research as much as it is personal interest.
I tell her first that elves don't expect romance to adhere to the lines of gender that humans seem to. This is so fundamental that I was shocked to find that it is actually an issue amongst humans. Then I tell her about Tira, Alder, and Knotrael, about myself and Mistress and Doraal, about Lyssa. I explain the unfolding flowers that make up elvish families and about the elf-human children I've met and how the Empress looks kindly on humans now that she knows of them.
As a predicate for telling her more of my own romances and of the romance story that began the New Empire, I make her promise not to publish these stories. As inspiration, fine, but these are elvish stories. And of course I am tired of my own romantic life being published as though my Mistress and I were not real people with a very real relationship that involves none of the breathless confessions and tension that authors like to inject. I suppose it doesn't make good reading to have your protagonists retire from a war room and simply collapse together in silence for several hours.
Days 413-417
In the morning when I descend from my tent room I find Alec waiting with a bag slung over his shoulder. He had intended to travel with us for longer but has instead decided to return home even though he doesn't feel ready. If there is one thing I have learned it is that you are never ready for the hard things that need doing - you won't be ready until after you've done them and realize you've had the strength for much longer than you thought. When I hug him tightly before he departs we exchange promises that we will be in each other's songs.
You were a happy encounter.
The rest of the week passes in shopping, acquiring tools, and generally equipping ourselves for the next leg of the journey. Eldrick gives us broth discs and even some candied citrus in exchange for my advice on elvish food. I visit Tor and find his son working away at metal roses as a gift for his fae girlfriend when she sleeps in the summer. I spend long hours with Tili and Anna teaching elvish and working on magic.
I take the opportunity to fire off many letters before setting off again:
- To Andstella, telling her of Shaelie and the attitudes I've seen from fae of all ages. The elder ones are cautious and seem to think that my size is from the influence of other races and that I'm the next form of the Raaita they fear.
- To Camellia: Teasing her about the attitudes of the older fae and telling her all about Shaelie and the Northern Grove. I ask her to help Castevi make arrangements to meet up with Ameni when it's possible.
- To Amytri, asking for updates on the inland sea and telling him about the magic Anna and I worked on. As soon as possible I want them to meet and be able to collaborate.
- To Hella, reminding her that if she and Kadia are by the inland sea and have Haze around, it might be a good idea to go visit her parents and check on Whitewater.
- And of course to Lyssa, with all my love.
Days later, laden with clothes, supplies, and a beautiful tent that shifts colour to complement the seasons, we leave Shaelie.
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