A new friend

Mary and Firlea stood by and watched the exchange between Tenac and Limia. Mary had stopped worrying and actually found it entertaining. She refused to look at Firlea, knowing that if she did, they would both be unable to keep from laughing.

“Couldn’t you take me?” Limia asked.

“No, I have promised Mary to walk her home” Tenac lied, looking pleading at Mary.

“Yes, my father is a bit overprotective, and he knows Tenac” Mary agreed, proud of herself that she kept a straight face.

“Oh, if you think that she, a simpleton, is more important than me, the granddaughter of a councilman, then I guess that will do” Limia sounded close to tears.

“Don’t you know who Mary is?” Tenac asked irritated.

“Tenac, don’t” Mary told him.

This caused Limia, Firlea and Limia’s friend to look at Mary. Mary could see Limia assessing her, wondering what she had missed.

“Firlea, will you be okay on your own?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll see you in the morning in our usual spot” she told Mary, making it sound as if they had known each other for years, then waved goodbye.

Tenac arranged for a female rider to walk Limia home and then he and Mary started walking. They walked in silence until they had left the river field behind them.

“Why didn’t you want me to tell her who you are?” Tenac asked her.

“Do you tell everyone that you are the Lady’s son?” Mary answered with her own question.

“No, I usually don’t tell anyone” he admitted. Mary looked at him in a way that said, ‘that’s why’.

“Okay, I get it” he smiled. “Did you have a good first day?”

Mary told him about her day.

“There you go. I told you this would be easy for you” he smiled.

“It’s the first day, and I got to do things I know how to do. There are nine more days and now I have exhausted the only subject I know anything about. Unless they ask us to cook a meal” she said, making Tenac laugh.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they did” he chuckled. “You will do fine Mary. As usual you are underestimating yourself. I think you will surprise yourself.”

Then Mary asked about his day, which had been less eventful than hers. They took the long way home, which gave them time to talk. But eventually they stood outside Mary’s house.

“I’m going out of town for a couple of days. But I’ll see you in Sunday Mary” Tenac said.

“Stay safe Tenac and I’ll see you soon” she said before heading inside.

Mary got a warm hug from Bettina as she stepped into the kitchen and Mary set the table while Bettina finished cooking. Kopa was home about half an hour after Mary. Bettina had patiently been waiting to ask Mary about her day until he came home, sparing Mary to tell them everything twice. But Mary had passed along the greeting from the aari.

As they ate dinner Mary told them everything about her day. When she got to the things that Limia had been telling everyone, both Kopa and Bettina shook their heads and looked upset.

“That’s not how it works, Tariana would never allow that” Bettina said.

“I know her grandfather, he’s a great aari and has done good work as a councilman. He would be appalled if he knew what his granddaughter was saying” Kopa said looking disgusted.

“I figured as much” Mary nodded. There was a pause in the conversation as they all were caught up in their own thoughts.

“I was wondering if I could ask Firlea over for dinner on Saturday?” Mary then asked. She had never done something like that before. Bettina looked at her.

“You want to ask a friend over for dinner? I think that is a great idea” Bettina gave Mary one of her biggest smiles. “We could cook something special” she continued, and Mary could tell she was starting to plan a five-course meal.

“Just something simple, a family dinner” Mary told her. She remembered how nice it had been to be invited over to Zerden’s and Erik’s homes and just having a regular dinner with their families.

“I think that is a good idea, little one” Kopa said. “It would be nice to meet your new friend” he added.

“Yes, we don’t have to do anything big, dear” Bettina agreed.

“Thank you, I will ask her tomorrow and let you know”

The following day Mary met with Firlea at the same place as they had met the day before. Together they took a boat over to the sanctum and waited in the same hall as yesterday for the day to begin.

Mary asked Firlea if she wanted to come over for dinner on Saturday and Firlea told her that she would love to, she just needed to ask her fathers cousin if it was okay.

The morning assessment was spent with first reading a long text that described several customs and etiquettes of a small tribe living in the mountain area in the north. Mary found it fascinating. After everyone had read it, they were given questions to answer about what they had read.

After lunch they were escorted to the library. Mary was amazed by the large room filled with books and scrolls. There were desks placed throughout the library for studying. The only windows in the library were small ones, placed just below the ceiling several stories up. Most of the light came from holders filled with strange looking black rocks that had bright flames dancing over them.

They were told that the flames were magic. The rocks were imported from another kingdom and the flames could only be fuelled by the stones. That was for the protection of the vast knowledge that was stored here.

Mary thought she easily could spend her lifetime in that room and be completely happy. It itched in her to roam and to get to read the books.

This afternoon, however, they were thought the system the library used to organize the books and then were set to help put books back in their place. It was a more physical work than Bella first thought it would be. But carrying books around the enormous space, climbing ladders and stairs took its toll.

When they finally were dismissed for the day, both Mary and Firlea were exhausted and covered in a fine coating of dust. They both looked forward to going home, take a bath and get something to eat.

“See you at the same place tomorrow?” Mary asked as they parted ways.

“Yes, I’ll see you then” Firlea smiled.

When Mary got home, she had to postpone the bath as dinner was almost done, she had to make do with a wash up. As the previous day, both Bettina and Kopa asked her questions and listened to her talk about her day. It had overall been less eventful than the day before. Mary still thought she had done reasonably good. At least she knew she didn’t do terrible.

The week moved on in a blur, each day felt both like a copy of the days before and full of new things. The same pattern repeated every day. Firlea and Mary meet up at the river field and took the boat over to the sanctum, they spent the morning, together with everyone else, in the hall doing the written parts of their assessment.

After eating lunch, they would spend the afternoon doing the practical part and then take a boat back to the river field and go their separate ways. Just to repeat the routine the next day.

But everyday held a new topic to try. Mary loved it, she got a crash course in so many different things. They had covered things like using wind and water to drive machines, irrigation, 4and the reproduction of humans.

Firlea had told Mary that she could come over for dinner on Saturday and they had decided they would meet at the river field so that Mary could walk with her to her house. Firlea had only been in the city for just under a week and was still disoriented by the streets. Mary knew the feeling well and wanted her friend to feel comfortable.

Bettina was almost as excited as Mary for Firlea to come for dinner. Kopa seemed pleased that Mary would bring a female friend home. But being Kopa, he didn’t say much about it. Bettina on the other hand had questioned Mary at length about Firlea’s likes and dislikes.

As Firlea and Mary said goodbye on Friday afternoon they decided to meat back at the river field the next day and Mary was looking forward of being able to spend half a day at home with Bettina. They were planning on spending the morning in the garden.