First Impressions
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 59086
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The meal was not served in a grand banquet hall, rather, in a modest room
fit
only for a few dozen persons. The Governor sat to the right of the head
of the table while the primary position was held by Fred, Astra was to the
left. There were others present as well, the Governor's first and second
sons, a daughter, a scribe, and the various servants needed to serve the
meal. The meal itself consisted of eight courses, most were light dishes
of vegetables, some fruits, few meats. Wine and water were the available
beverages, five kinds of wine and three kinds of water to be exact. The
whole affair was taking hours and by its end all were sure to be
pleasantly full.
During the meal talk ranged from the innoccuous to the ribald. The Governor and the Princess were like sparring partners; Hespan and Aqualaria were not at war, but neither were the nations allies nor friendly. The Governor wanted to know what a Princess of that land was doing in Hespan, but Astra never waivered from the fact that she was whisked away from her own lands by magic, an act of kidnapping engineered by the Allarian noble. Fred, for his part, was mostly quiet. He had begun with a lie, he had furthered his cause with a truth, but how would this strange encounter end? He dared not speak the full truth, he must never again say that he ran away from his mission to slay the Dragon of the Shreken. He must not bring any dishonor upon the House of Duke Dred D'Honaire. Not knowing what to say, fearing that tears would again flow from his eyes, he kept his mouth shut. The Lady Therezita Gilder, daughter of the Governor, ate her salad gingerly. She liked these intitmate dinners with her father and his guests. Therezita was amazed by the gold-skinned Aqualarian, she had heard so many tales of their fierceness in battle that she had somehow developed a mental picture of the Aqualarians as ugly brutes, women made of stone like some kind of troll. It had been one of Therezita's maids who had helped the Princess choose clothing more practical than the dancing dress which she had been wearing, and Therezita was pleased to see how Hespan fashion fit the Aqualarian so well. Marin, second son of the Governor, had been watching the Allarian the whole meal. He wanted to know who this man was, why he was here, what he did back home. All he did know was that this 'Lord Fred' was a guest. The Allarian had refused to change dress and ate still in his armor. Marin wondered about the armor, about how it felt to fight while wearing it... was there padding under the pit of the arms, did the midsection twist separately from the central trunk... Marin always wondered about war, the implements of war, and the men who fought in them. He had already built up a picture of Lord Fred as the silent berzerker, calm in the midst of death, calm as the enemy comes down upon him, calm until the very last moment when all his energy explodes, when all his instinct takes command and his training becomes as fluid as the pumping of his heart. Marin smiled, he liked his father's meals very much. Hosuay Gilder was not happy. He didn't want to be here, not at all. He was only here because his father ordered it, and his father was the Governor, after all. Hosuay had not the heart for the tit-for-tat between his father and the foreign woman, and the foreign man was nothing but boring. He only wanted to get back to the shipyards, to Master Savadori, and to the men of the shipmen's guild who were teaching him so much of the world, of the wood, of the rope, and of the sea.
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YY
6/1/2006 6:06:55 AM
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