The Bounty Hunter

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

Their days continued in much the same fashion; Nell would head off to the city to work and Safita would either curl up in the library and read voraciously or explore the streets. A couple of days later the seamstress appeared on their doorstep alongside a platoon of men who were laden with dresses and gowns, shoes and coats, even rich tunics and camers which she had finally persuaded the woman to make for her. As the maids unpacked them they let out involuntary cries of delight and sounds of awe, running their fingers surreptitiously over the fine evening gowns which had been delivered and the soft woollen undergarments which the weavers had made.

That afternoon Safita received a visitor, the promised wife of Frent. She was petite, shorter than Safita and almost as slim, and clearly not used to being larger than anyone she met – when her curious grey eyes fell upon Safita they widened in surprise; in a world where nobody went hungry and malnutrition stunted no development she had always been the smallest but years of never having quite as much food as she wanted and constantly running had roped Safita’s body with lean muscles and kept her slim. “Good afternoon,” she said as she walked into the library, a tiny smile playing about her lips, “I believe you were expecting me? I’m Mrs Lalia Anders, Frent Anders’ wife. It’s Safita, isn’t it?”

“Of course, please sit down,” Safita said, gesturing towards one of the chairs which loitered in the library. “Ah, actually perhaps we ought to move to the parlour,” she amended, standing up and leading the way down the corridor. As Lalia seated herself in one of the high-backed chairs, the sun streamed through a window and turned her blonde hair into a golden tiara, crowning her with celestial light. “Well Frent told me that Nell suggested I help you… fit in and learn the ways of Coraina,” she started sweetly. “He said that you’d… been away for a while but you’d finally come back home.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Safita replied.

“Well I’ve never done this before,” she said, a slight quiver in her voice suggesting to Safita that she was nervous, “but I don’t see why we can’t be friends. I mean… most etiquette is fairly self explanatory and if one is polite then that is generally not far from how you ought to behave but there are some things I suppose,” she said, trailing off. “Dancing, for one I think. I’m not sure I’m the one to teach you that though.”

Politeness was key, Safita reminded herself; just as the Outlands had had their own kind of diplomacy so that of Coraina and the palace was politeness. With that in mind she smiled, shoving her dismissal of Lalia and her obvious timidity and weakness to the back of her thoughts – it wouldn’t do to alienate the woman Nell had asked to help her, however sceptical she may be of her abilities. “I suppose that we could just talk for the moment,” Safita suggested as Lalia visibly relaxed.

“Oh of course, that’s a wonderful idea,” she said as she cast about for a topic. “And, once Nell has introduced you to some of his friends, I’m sure you will be invited out and perhaps then we might find ourselves at the same events and find things with which I can help you.” Every word she said was meant good-naturedly but they stung Safita, giving her the impression that Lalia needed to remind herself constantly that she knew more than her protégée about life in Coraina.

It was an hour or more before Safita managed to convince Lalia that she ought to leave, during which time, without Lalia even seeming to say much, Safita had learnt more than she cared to about the circumstances of Lalia’s marriage to Frent – they had met at a ball and instantly been taken with each other, her family – she had a sister a couple of years younger than her but no brothers and her life – she lived in a house on the first tier which they bought with her dowry and Frent’s enormous fortune among other things. As she left she turned to Safita with a childlike smile and said meekly, “I have been thinking of having a small group of people over to have dinner soon and, if you don’t mind, I would like very much for you to accompany your brother.”