“Yes, he’s… well, he lives in the palace sometimes.When he wants to.He was in the raiding party that brought you north.The one with the smile.You know which one.”
I did, but I shook my head, pretending I didn’t.
“He’s the one who made you that.”She pointed to the dried grass bracelet on a ledge I assumed was part of a shut window.I remembered setting it there carefully only after she’d drawn my attention to it.
Pinkbeard.“His name is Fell?”
“Yes… or… FellSulertag.Most northerners don’t have two names, but he does.It means FellHeartsong, but it’s more like—” she raised her hands in a sweeping arch.“With song in heart.Because he’s always singing and humming.Ever since he was a child, I’ve heard.”
I kept my face entirely neutral, my every limb and muscle still.
“Now, you can’t see yourself, but I can.I’m embarrassed for you.Sit, and I’ll fix your hair and answer your questions.”
“Is there not a window that could be opened—” I moved toward the closed shutters above the ledge where Pinkbeard’s bracelet sat.
“Not until The Bard King says so.He wants to see you recovered.Truly, he won’t even be pleased you’ve taken your socks off.”
I wanted to say,those aren’t my socks, but I didn’t want someone telling the king I was disagreeable.“The Bard King?”
“Sit,” she said firmly.
I sat on the edge of the bed, overcome again by the sweltering heat, and she came to sit by my side but a little behind me, pulling a wooden comb from her pocket.“I am Dania,” she said.“Your name?”
I thought for a moment about lying, but there seemed no point, and perhaps the king already knew my name.“Mira.”
She began with the very end of my tangled hair, the comb moving slowly and gently.“You were a gentlewoman back home?A goldkeeper?”
My back straightened.“I still am a gentlewoman.”
“Maybe to me,Gentlewoman—” I didn’t miss the mock in her tone.“But the Norsern have no such thing in their country.They won’t understand it if you explain it to them.High births, low births—nothing like this.They have only auspicious births and unlucky births.To them, you will besoten.”
“Yes,” I said, turning to her.“What’ssoten?”
“It’s…” she smirked.“You won’t like it.It’s a foreigner, but more than that… aclaimedor no,vouched for?Owned personmaybe is the way to say it?Owned woman from the south?”
“A slave?”I choked.
“Calm yourself!No.It’s complicated… in the Land of the Northernmost Star, where you are right now—” She pointed to the floor.“Norsenlæd, it’s called—the rules are hard for foreigners to understand.Disagreements are solved however is fair—an argument, a slap, a broken wrist—there are rules about what is fair, but foreigners make too many mistakes when they first arrive.If they were left on their own, they would be beaten blue daily.And when you first come, many Norsern tricks and jokes seem cruel, so you can feel attacked which also makes it hard.Beingsotenmeans you have a guardian.When you annoy people, they punch the guardian instead of you.This is a very good thing.Especially for someone…” She paused, moving her lips around with an air of superiority.“Who has grown up in a gilded kepen, who’s never had to work or earn her way?—”
“I’ve worked,” I said.
She giggled.“We shan’t meddle with that idea today.Your guardian will have reign over you until the day you’re deemed—by this same guardian—capable of managing yourself.Sometimes it’s two years, sometimes twelve… depends on many factors.But you must listen to your guardian.That is important, delicate Gentlewoman, because your guardianisallowed to hit you.In truth, they’re allowed to kill you?—”
My mouth hung open.I was too distraught to latch onto her use ofdelicate.
“There is a hearing before The Bard King this evening.Many have wagered he will take the role of guardian himself, but he will hear other suggestions based on the stars and?—”
“It must be you,” I said, quite pathetically, grabbing onto her arm.
She laughed in my face and pried my fingers off her.“No, no, no.I have two boys of my own and a man who’s beautiful but mostly useless.I don’t need another person to care for?—”
“Please, Dania.I’m alone in a strange place.If it’s you, you can simply not stop me from leaving; I must go home.I have a wedding—or maybe I’ve missed it already.Dania, why are you looking at me like that?”
Her eyes glowed with somewhat unkind pleasure.“Like what?”
“Like you’re enjoying my suffering and confusion.”
“I am a little.”
