TheLongRoadKenning: The Long Road(Continued from The City and the City II) He opens the door, revealing an cavernous interior of a forechamber. The walls are covered in scroll paintings, depicting facets of a beautiful city on a hill, all rendered in simple but effective style. A few functionaries move about, some (with better clothes and possibly higher rank) giving frank looks at the newcomers, others keeping their head down. The Vice-Minister’s office is helpfully labeled both in a letter alphabet as well as a more pictoglyphic system that must be endemic to Wuyve. The Minister herself is a middle aged woman with black hair that has not yet been overcome by grey, at least not openly. “We are pleased that a noble of your rank and family.” she says, having a servant silently offer tea. “Of course, you will understand that with recent troubles in region, there is a four Moon wait to process applications to travel into Wuyve. It takes some effort and doing from Kenning and his companions to get the official to move away from his position, but some well placed suggestion, bribery and persuasion do the trick.. She remits the travel papers to Kenning, Dejah and Richten, and the trio can get going on the road. The Porcelain Highway proves to be just that, a well paved and maintained road with rest stops stationed at one day intervals, both for riders and walkers. Each of these, as Kenning and his companions learn, are full fledged compounds, with guards, facilities and defenses. The need for these defenses only comes clear about two thirds of the way up to Wuyve, just past the River Winding, when a group of raiders disembark from a longboat and march on the Inn compound. The walls prove to be enough of a speed bump that the guards, with the help of the guests (including Kenning and company) can turn back the attack. Kenning's been happy to train with Richten and Dejah and while not a martial man, with Curtana's help, feels capable enough. He's been irritated by his hair growing out, so has taken to shaving his whole head just as he previously kept just his tonsure. With the City of Jade standing on a rise in a distance, Dejah stops and points at it. "We've been on the road for two weeks, but now we are going to cross the shadow boundary, at the foot of the hills. Your first." Dejah smiles. "travel into another world, Kenning." "One thinks that there should be some ceremony or the other," the former archivist chuckles. "Deep was the bath, to wash away all ill; Notched was the razor—of bitter taste the pill. Most ruffianly the barber looked—his comb was trebly nailed— And water, dashed from every side, the neophyte assailed," he quotes. "In Oceanus there are numerous Rites for crossing such invisible barriers, the Orders of the Golden Dragon, of the Pillars, the Diamond Shellback, even one for transitting all the greater lakes of one of the northern continents." Dejah nods. "I have heard of such things. Such rituals." "That makes one of you. *She* never made a big deal of it" Richten puts in. He continues down the hill with a little more solemnity. When he reaches the foot, he extends his Sight looking... no... kenning... the difference veiled just before him. "Some day I will take this step of my own making, not on any path laid before me, but only the journey I pattern of my own will." With that he steps into the next Shadow, suitably chagrined if he misjudged the border. -- The fateful step that Kenning makes is the right one. The change in terrain is subtle. The hill is verdant. Th ere is a caravan stop in view, now, halfway up the hill to the Jade walled city. Closer, a few hundred feet up the road is what appears to be a checkpoint or guard post on the road. The road itself is now a red brick color. Behind him, the hills and the long Celadon Highway stretch off in the color of red brick and the more verdant terrain. "Shadows like these show what is on the other side, and not, at the same time." Dejah says. Its a view in line with the rules and expectations of the shadow, an illusion that is only pierced by certain spells, or stepping across." "I prefer the ones that end in a wall of mist" Richten says. "More honest that way" Kenning nods, agreeing in principle. "That is common" Dejah says. "Differing shadows cause climate changes, leading to mists and fog. Any road, we can certainly make that stop before nightfall, even if we don't make the city. Assuming we are not held up too long by the border guards." She indicates the guard shack. "The Wuyve must strictly forbid a wallport here,or else we'd get one just beyond it for certain." "Then we should not tarry, as I wonder daily on my Family and on an eventual meeting with my mother's intent if not She, herself," Kenning adds. "One supposes the graft of the Bank extends to their borders as well, but let us try not to completely deplete our treasury, yes Richten?" He waves the man forward, following his "servant", obviously bored with the travel, and beckons his bodyguard. "We will negotiate the best we can, milord" Eichten says, and moves forward to the border outpost. Several guards, looking less bored than they ought to be given the quietness on the road, accost and speak to Eichten. He takes the tack of keeping Kenning as far away from the conversation as possible, as if the mere discussion of bribery and tolls was not fit for his "master's" ears. After about ten minutes of questioning, he walks back to Kenning, and the pike over the road is lifted. "They're worried" Eichten says. "I'll explain out of earshot." The guards do watch as the party progresses past the shut and onto the road fully, heading up the hill. "They have seen banditry, a lack of respect for central authority and other problems. We are not obviously a mercenary group or else we would have had real trouble. They were tempted to shake us down even more, though." Eichten says, giving a nervous glance backward at the guard station. "A loss of the mandate of heaven would be a bad thing" Dejah says. "I agree with you, Kenning, the sooner we are out of here, the better. I'd not want to be caught in a civil war" Kenning nods, "Agreed. And we should watch for other travellers in similar circumstances. Perhaps a burden shared would be less weighty." "Of course, we will need be of a more careful of ourselves and our interactions." "My former, ah, employer, could not possibly watch every road." Eichten says with a nod at Kenning's words. "And she would consider us walking all the way down that highway to here to be unlikely. I think trouble will come from other quarters, if it does come." "My expectation as well," the archivist nods, his hand straying to Curtana's hilt for an unspoken sense of security as much as the actual presence there. "That's trading a known threat for possible unknown ones." Dejah says. "We can get news at the caravan stop." She suggests. "The tongue of the innkeeper might be looser than the guards. Unless you wanted to bypass it entirely?" She looks at Kenning inquisitively. "We stop, because Lord Rodd, his bodyguard and servant would, and once better informed, we make the decision on how to travel this final part of the journey." "Well, final part of this leg of the journey," he rephrases on consideration. "Indeed. A step on the journey." Dejah says. Leading his companions, he toys with a knotted bracelet on his wrist, almost lost in thought as he envisions the threads as runes, the over under and what he might be able to do with wards and and expanding circlet should they be caught sleeping out at other points on the journey. In a short time, unless interrupted, they've made the stop and are looking to refill water or wineskins. The caravan stop is similar to ones previously seen on the highway. Walled, guarded, with a central inn, stables, a well and the other basic accouterments. The water in the well, at least is decent and fresh smelling and tasting. Inside of the wooden inn, there are a number of other travelers. All of them, Kenning notes, have at least one visibly armed guard with them, mainly armed in bronze. The bartender gives Kenning and his companions a hard and calculating look. The rest of the couple of dozen patrons all watch Kenning as well. "Rooms, or just food and drink?" he asks Eichten says. Eichten turns to look at Kenning with a gesture and tone long practiced on the march to here. "My lord, do we press on?" "Food and drink before we press on," Kenning's Lord Rodd answers with some bored detatchment. "I'm keen to have the dust of the road off my boots for more than just one night," he adds. He leaves Richard/Eichten to tend to it as he indicates a table to the right of the door with a nod of his head to Dejah. "Sir" Eichten says, heading directly over to the bartender and speaking with him. As he negotiates, Dejah takes a seat next to Kenning. "Everybody is visibly guarded here." Dejah says. "Wuyve style arms and armor. We may be approached by some of the patrons here since we aren't so visibly armed, to find out what we know, or to see if we are vulnerable." "Or" Dejah adds. "We might steal a march and approach one of the travelers ourselves. The Princess there, for example." she indicates one of the tables where a dark haired woman, with two elegant hairpins of ivory and a gown of red and gold silk, has two servants and two guards. "You could speak as one noble to another." Kenning nods, "One supposes that you were just telling me how dangerous it would be to do exactly that." "Quite" Dejah says. "You learn quickly. He smiles, sets his satchel beside Dejah and crosses to meet the aforementioned Princess. Kenning gets a shake of the head from Dejah, as if in disagreement with speaking to the Princess. He stops well outside the range of threatening, yet near enough that his greeting might be heard easily enough. "Might I introduce myself? Lord Rodd Emmett of Emberly." "Emberly is a barbarian realm, lady." one of the servants, a short elderly man with a wizened beard, says to the Princess. "He styles himself as the feudal holder of that realm. He is Outlander and did not understand to bring a servant to speak to me, first, but he has some bearing and rank. It may be worth speaking to him." The other servant, a woman around the Princess' age, dressed in less finer cloth and hair of brown rather than black, gives a nod of agreement. "Thank you." the Princess says. "Proceed, Pusateri" she says to the old man. Pusateri nods, turns, and speaks to Kenning. "This is the Lady Bayne of Dalian, Princess of the Pearl Province. You may speak to her directly, Lord Emmett of Emberly. Might you join us for tea? If protocols of Emberly mandate that your servants accompany you and drink the tea, first, that would be acceptable." Kenning wracks his brain for anything he might've heard of the Pearl Province, but keeps such from his face. A knowing smile appears as he turns and beckons Dejah with a simple practiced gesture. (Well, not practiced from years of experience, but literally practiced along the way here as part of their cover.) Dejah nods, and heads over. Returning his attentions to the Princess, he offers, "My humble apologies for any discourtesies that I may have made. While I would not style myself or my homeland 'barbarians', our customs and protocols are at the same time less and more stringent, and I am new to meeting beautiful women travelling the roads without family." "Let alone a Princess," he adds as Dejah arrives. She makes a genuflection that looks halfway between a bow and a courtesy. This appears to mollify the Princess, who gives Kenning a nod to continue. "I've been invited to tea, and Her Royal Highness' staff has indicated that there will be no offense to you tasting." He waves a hand toward the tea set. "I think it is likely expected." Dejah says. "The food first appreciated by lessers, and found thus wholesome, is thus more pleasing to the palate." she says. "Just so" Pusateri says, who starts to pour cups of tea. It appears to be a mild green tea. Letting the servant to the serving, he turns the conversation back to Bayne. "I'd never think to bore you with such trivialities as rumors of the road, were it not for any reason but concern for all our safety. My man Richard suggested that the guards at the border seemed on edge. Have your travels revealed the same?" "As you say in your harsh and direct barbarian manner." the Princess says. "I am traveling alone, without Family. My interests are guarded by those who have served my family since the time of the Fallen Dynasty, however, and they hold me in good stead." Dejah takes a sip of the tea, and then again. She gives a nod of the head for Kenning to try it himself. "We have noticed." Bayne continues. "that there are many those who have gone armed on the Road, and not those seeking the peace and prosperity of the realm. The Emperor is given to ill counsel, and the Dukes of the realm act without restraint, striving against one another." "I have heard that many lands outside Wuyve suffer similarly." she continues. "For all the realms about Wuyve reflect and refract its highs and weaknesses. Is this true, Lord of Emberly?" Kenning sips at the tea, thoughtful for a moment. "I have heard that many countries reflect their capital." He sets his tea cup down and dips a finger in it, just enough to get a drop of tea. This he shakes back into the center once the beverage settles. "Waves spread from any disturbance, bountiful or baleful, out among the surrounding countryside. If the Emperor is weak, the ripples will be to the detriment of the realm and those surrounding." He seems almost ashamed when he admits, "My people in Emberly had not heard of the treachery of these Dukes. Perhaps the discord of Wuyve spreads to even my own, and I've been sent into danger for some other's purpose." "And why indeed *have* you come to Wuyve, then?" Bayne replies, taking a sip of tea. "You did not come with a caravan, or a trading mission. Even if you were coming with something small and portable, you would have more than a servant and a batman accompany you, especially given your noble rank." "It may be polite for me to ask this question when you are prepared to dissemble." Bayne says. "However, I would hear you answer all the same. A spoken lie is stronger than a silent truth, for the spoken lie strengthens the Word." Kenning hesitates, letting a thoughtful smile creep on his lips. "Her Royal Highness is an astute conversationalist and I think I might fear to face her across other arenas, if she wields any othe weapons as deftly and piercingly as the Word." "You are too effusive in your praise for my contribution to the Page." she replies. He answers without guile, "I've spent years in schooling, but have little experience beyond my home. My mother has directed my upon this journey. While I am accorded the title of Lord, I do not figure in the succession of my mother's realm, not in any way that seems pertinent." He sips at the tea, considering how much more to share. "I worry that I will make myself less attractive a companion for refreshments and your company, should I admit that I travel to the city of Umber almost as a pilgrim. While those of the Bank were answered with the idea that I'm 'looking for myself', the truth is more that I'm looking for how to be of service to my family, most importantly, my mother." "Somewhat less romantic than, I'm off to make my fortune, or whatever the author of my tale might've intended," he chuckles softly. "A much more quotidian tale than I was expecting." Bayne replies after a few moments of carefully circumscribed thought, and tea. "I was expecting some sort of grand tale, perhaps a minor son of the House, fleeing an unwanted match or position within your Clan or House, perhaps seeking a lost love in the City of Walls. Or perhaps you were going to claim that you were an actor, playing at this role, for dark purposes unknown." "However, what you have said has the ring of truth, and would not be blotted out by the Writer." she says. "I can sometimes feel such things." she admits. "Your tale and mine, I fear, will diverge rapidly, as I return to my estates, and you head toward the City of the Bronze canal upon your Mother's will. It is good to be obedient to the customs of Family, and to follow Xian's Analects in this matter. You might." she smiles slightly. "Even have made a good denizen of Wuyve." Backlinks |
