The sanctum

The following week passed by quickly. Mary spent most of her time with Bettina, with Kopa ever present. After a couple of days Kopa needed to go back to work. Mary missed him but she enjoyed the evenings when he would come home.

They would eat dinner as a family and then Kopa and Mary usually played Kai while Bettina did needlework. Or Kopa would sit and read important papers from work and Bettina and Mary would sit and talk or Bettina would teach Mary needlework.

Even though Mary knew how to read, she had never read a book except for the little book with love poems that the castellan had given his wife. Reading had been part of work, to keep inventory, to read signs and to be able to send notes and letters.

But one evening Kopa showed her his workroom. He had two bookcases full of books. Most of them in Salamis, but some in common. Bettina selected one of the books she had bought from the bookcase and gave it to Mary to read. It was a novel about adventure and love. Mary loved it.

As Cheara had promised, the week after they had been to the tailors two dresses and a cloak arrived together with some undergarments and accessories. As Bettina helped her dress in one of the dresses and showed her how to wear it, Mary was over the moon. The dress was beautiful and comfortable.

The dresses from Domne required a stiff undergarment that restricted the chest and pulled the shoulders back. Then the dresses also were reinforced in the waist which made them uncomfortable to wear and work in.

Her new dresses had undergarments that gave her bosom support without restricting her. Mary couldn’t remember when she last could breathe as easy in a dress.

The dress had a wide boat neck that left her shoulders almost bare but covered both her back and front. The sleaves were vide and ended just below her elbow. It was made in a mustard yellow fabric with woven ribbons in green and yellow as decorations along the neck and the end of the sleeves. Around her waist a broad leather band was tied.

“You look like you have lived here all your life” Bettina said, guiding Mary to a mirror to have a look.

Mary couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Looking back from the mirror was a Salmis woman, not one from Domne. If Mary were to step out on the streets of the city, she would blend in.

They went downstairs and started dinner to wait for Kopa to come home. As Mary heard the front door open, she felt nervous. What would Kopa think about her new dress?

“Mary, I have something…” Kopa didn’t finish the sentence as he walked into the kitchen and got a look at Mary. For a while he just looked at her, then he smiled and walked up to her.

“You look beautiful” he said kissing the top of her head.

“Thank you” Mary said blushing. “What were you about to say?” sha asked.

“Oh, I have a letter from Tariana” he said handing her a letter.

“Thank you” Mary said.

“You can read it now, I can handle the rest” Bettina said. Marry nodded and sat by the table to read.

“She has invited me for tea tomorrow afternoon” Mary said when she was done.

“Bettina will bring you down to the docks and I will bring you the rest of the way” Kopa said still smiling. Mary nodded even though she didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You can wear the green dress I think, how exciting. Your first time to the sanctuary” Bettina said while putting dinner on the table.

“The sanctuary?” Mary asked.

“The big building in the middle of the river” Kopa explained.

Mary got excited, she really wanted to meet Tariana again, and get a closer look at this sanctuary building. But she got a bit nervous as well.

The next day was just a blur of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation for Mary. After lunch Bettina helped her dress in the other dress, she had received the previous day. It had the same cut but was forest green.

“It brings out your eyes dear” Bettina told her as she helped Mary to braid her hair. Mary chose to only have her small rose pendent as decoration, it was more than enough. The two women went downstairs and took their cloaks.

Mary now had a pale green cloak that flowed around her. Bettina showed the way through the city streets and Mary soon found herself in the river field. The open space in the middle of the city always caught her by surprise. On the small dock by the river Kopa stood waiting.

“Hello ladies are you ready Mary?” he asked holding out a hand. Mary was nervous but nodded. She had realised that they were going to go in one of the small boats.

Mary had never ben on a boat before, in fact, before the journey to Salmisara, the biggest body of water she had been close to where the big tubs of water in the castle kitchen.

Kopa took her hand and helped her into a boat. He made sure she was sitting secure before he got in.

“I will take her home at the same time as me” Kopa said to Bettina. She nodded and waved to Mary as Kopa pushed the boat away from the dock and grabbed the oars.

Mary waved back, hoping this wasn’t the last time she saw Bettina. If the boat sank, or if she ended up in the water somehow, Mary knew she would drown. She forced herself to focus on the building that were their destination.

The building was bigger than it seemed from the shore. Mary counted the windows, eight stories. It looked completely round, and the walls were smooth and cream white. Mary could at firs not see how they would enter the building.

There were no docks or doors that she could see. Surely, they didn’t have to climb to the top? But she didn’t see any stairs eighter. As they got a bit closer, she realized that there was a small opening in the wall at water level.

The closer they got the more Mary could se that it was a tunnel. As Kopa steered the boat with ease into the tunnel, Mary noticed that Kopa’s head almost scraped the ceiling. Then they came out on the other side and Mary realised that the sanctuary was hollow.

On the inside there was a round opening, filled with water and a system of docks where small boats were tied. Kopa steered them into an empty spot and tied the boat down before helping Mary off.

“Welcome to the sanctuary” he said

“Thank you. What is this place?” Mary asked in wonder.

“This is the home of the aari and the place where people come to study the teachings of the aari” he told her as he guided her along the docks and in through double doors, into the building.

The hallway looked like the outside with it’s smooth white surface. The floor was made of big stone slabs with carpets on top of them. There were people moving around inside. Some, like Kopa, were grey riders and wore grey clothes, other wore black clothes with a white armband, but most wore white.

Kopa lead her through several corridors, upstairs and through some presentation rooms. Every now and then he would stop to speak briefly to someone. Finally, they walked up a stair, ending on a landing with two riders guarding a big double door. The riders saluted Kopa and knocked on the doors.

“Yes?” Mary heard Tariana from behind the doors.

“Sir Teeran with a visitor, my Lady” one of the riders said.

“Let them in please”