Torgan Wine Ch. 26

As always many thanks to Todger65 for his help in editing!

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Despite the promising start, getting settled into the routines of Draeseth's house over the next month was as easy as it was cheerless. Draeseth barely had time to see her. He walked her to the winter garden in the mornings after breakfast tucked under his cloak and left her there to go attend his business. Occasionally he would stay to sit with her briefly but that did little to ease her loneliness, he seemed more interested in her silk covered toes than in conversation. Krouth always brought her midday meal out to her before the gardeners came, and Draeseth fetched her before dinner.

The hopes she'd had for spending time with Lislora had been dashed quickly as well. The woman couldn't bear to sleep in her warm room, nor could she bear Isonei's company for more than short periods. Isonei wasn't sure if it was because Lislora disliked her or if it was because she was required to take on the tasks Isonei was meant to be performing as Duchess. The Torgan woman ran the house with Krouth's assistance and consulted with Draeseth on matters Isonei lacked the language or the appropriate manners for, which seemed to be all of them.

In the boredom and loneliness, even writing letters grew to be more than she could bear. She received no responses. If her father was still so angry he wasn't writing to her, and it was almost foreseen that Draeseth might refuse to allow letters from Andnaeuth to reach her, he might have chosen not to try; perhaps no one in Ara was even expecting to hear from her until her return. And from the deafening silence she guessed no one in Leria wished to hear from her.

She tried to stave off the desire to spend the rest of her time in Torga sleeping and began to try to learn from the gardeners how to care for some of the flowers. A difficult task, as they didn't speak Aran and Draeseth seemed to lack the time to teach her Torgan.

The priest that replaced Brothers Jannun and Brenough, Brother Odgar, spoke Aran well but he insisted on steering conversations to 'reclamation' and Isonei had no intention of giving up her Gods especially since she had no intention of staying at the end of the year.

It was from Odgar that she learned that Draeseth and Lislora prayed together often and had been walking along the parapets together. He encouraged her to join them. The way he studied her face she thought he expected jealousy. When she offered a wan smile instead and explained Draeseth refused to get her a cloak of her own preferring to deposit her where he intended for her to stay, he seemed deeply displeased.

Two days later Brother Odgar joined her in the winter garden with a gift. A heavy grey cloak that would keep off the rain and the pale silvery fur lining the inside was thick. He looked startled when she squealed and embraced him.

"Lady! Please!" He glanced to the windows as if she had just thrown herself at him in a fit of desire and Isonei began to laugh shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I know Torgans don't like to be touched but I couldn't help myself. I'm just so happy to be able to leave this place. I'm not sealed in by the cold anymore. Thank you Brother Odgar. I can't thank you enough for this!"

He inclined his head with a wry smile. "If you wish to thank me, you should come to the sacellum and offer your prayers."

"I don't think my Gods would mind if I thanked yours for your kindness." Isonei beamed at him.

"It will be a start, my Lady. They are walking the parapets now if you wished to join them." His tone suggested she should make haste and she wanted to see what had him so concerned.

Putting the cloak over her shoulders and fastening it securely, she ventured out into the cold air, pulling up the hood for good measure. Walking in the snow that had fallen was more difficult than she expected. Odgar had to hold her arm to keep her from slipping in places. When he stopped she looked up from her feet and saw him scowling.

Isonei followed his gaze, Draeseth and Lislora appeared to be embracing with her partly under his cloak. He leaned to kiss her and Isonei wasn't sure if she felt hurt or relieved. Releasing Odgar's arm, she carefully made her way closer and the pair looked up guiltily as her unsteady footfalls crunched through the snow.

She kept her face composed until she was very close and then offered a small smile. "I will not hold you to the year if you do not wish to be held. I do ask that you return me to Ara as you promised. If you fear to cross Lothlaerith's Gate, send to King Tamnaeuth to have me fetched."

He looked stricken, "Wife, no. Do not ask-"

Narrowing her eyes and offering him a bitter smile she interrupted by loudly sucking her lips against her teeth in imitation of Daga Liadith. "Your father's wife may tolerate him giving his desire to other women while she is bound to him exclusively, I will never do that. You've given her your desire; you can no longer call me 'wife.' Our year is not done, I will be bound to you until the end of it, but you are only bound to see to my care and return me. I ask you to do so."

The two of them began to speak hurriedly at once. "I did not give her my desire! My desire is for you alone!" "Lady Isonei it was a mistake, I slipped and he caught me, there is no desire!"

Turning to Lislora with a frown she felt baffled, "The two of you kissed. You spend far more time with him than I do while I've been locked away like a new flower in the winter garden. If you want him, I'm not angry. Take him. He's skilled in bed and undeniably beautiful. I wish the two of you-"

Draeseth's furious stream of Torgan words cut her off. The priest had followed behind her and the large Torgan directed a terrifying tirade at the man. Brother Odgar stepped forward replying with his own fury and Draeseth grabbed him by the front of his cloak jerking him off balance and toward the edge of the parapet.

Both she and Lislora immediately tried to intervene. Lislora grabbed the priest and tried to plead with Draeseth in Torgan while Isonei slipped between the two men and pressed her hands to Draeseth's chest.

"Stop! You have to stop! Calm yourself, please be calm, Draeseth!"

He released the priest with a snarl and swept Isonei up, slinging her over his shoulder and stalking back to the house. Trying to brace herself against his back she thought he must be taking her to her rooms, to her surprise he moved past them and took her into his, putting her on her feet in a room that had heavy, darkly upholstered furnishings and a much larger window.

"I did not-I did not wish to leave you alone for so much of the day. I was persuaded that if I left you alone you would yearn for me. You would need me to marry you-to be with you." His dark eyes looked wild as he pulled the cloak's fasteners open. "Why would you ask to leave me when the end to our misery is so simple?"

"It isn't Draeseth." Isonei stilled his hands and looked up at him earnestly. "That you would think being cold to me was the way to persuade me into marriage proves-"

"I was persuaded to it!" He shouted at her clenching his fists before he drew a breath and stepped away, facing the window.

She took a seat on the sofa silently, letting him calm. After a long silence she asked quietly, "Who persuaded you?"

"Krouth and the priest." Draeseth didn't turn toward her but his low voice carried.

"The priest didn't know better. I think he gave me the cloak and insisted I come out to meet you and Lislora on the parapet to prevent the two of you from becoming closer." Isonei paused and waited until Draeseth look sullenly in her direction. "Krouth is a better friend than you deserve, he must have seen that you and she are well suited and attempted to make the match. He knows me well enough to know I'm not a jealous woman and that I care for you enough to want what's best for you even if it isn't me."

"I should have sent him with the letters as you asked. I could have had you happy in my home if he had not betrayed me."

"Draeseth, if you had sent him with the letters I would not have lived to make it to your home. He did not betray you; he only wants you well matched."

"Do you have no desire for me?" He stepped toward her and gripped the carved wooden back of the sofa. "Will you no longer give me your desire?"

"At this moment?" She rubbed her face and looked up at him with a tired frown, "I have no desire in me for anyone. I feel utterly alone and wretched. Each time you came to me to have your needs met without thinking of mine, to have me please you, hardly bothering to speak to me, my desire faded. All I want is to go home."

"I will not send you until you have allowed me to try to make you happy in my home." The hard, determined look on his face suggested that arguing would be futile. He had promised to send her home when she asked, but he clearly needed to be appeased before he would keep his word allowing him to improve her situation while she appeased him cost her nothing.

"Very well. Krouth will attend me so that I know you haven't taken your temper out on him." Isonei saw him narrow his eyes and open his mouth to argue, "If you don't, you may as well send me home now. That man kept me alive and tended to me like family when I was ill. He is loyal to you, and I am loyal to those who have done me great kindnesses." She fixed him with a flat stare and a scowl.

"As you wish, my Duchess."

The door opened abruptly and the nervous looking priest entered backed by several frightened looking armed guards. They conversed briefly with Draeseth and then Odgar addressed her, "Have you been harmed or ravished Lady Isonei?"

She very nearly answered, 'Not today, no.' But Krouth stepped out from one of the other rooms of the suite and replied for her. "Out of concern, I entered through the Duke's door. They have been chastely apart from one another and discussing the situation."

"Thank you, Krouth. If you would be so kind as to escort me back to my room while his Highness speaks to these gentlemen." Turning to glance at Draeseth as she rose, she admonished him with only a hint of teasing, "Try not to throw anyone out of the window or over any parapets?"

His eyes glittered but his scowl didn't waver, "I make no promises."

Krouth gathered her cloak and escorted her past the armed men into the hall. The short walk to her room was silent, but once inside the slim Torgan began to apologize. "It was not my intent to make you miserable, Lady Isonei. You are cheerful by nature, I thought once you settled into a routine you would be content enough to last the year."

"I can't bear the loneliness Krouth. I'm accustomed to having people to talk to; to be so isolated is unbearable."

"Lady Lislora has spent most of her time with Prince Draeseth. I should have made certain she spent some time with you as well." He bowed.

"Lady Lislora doesn't like me. I wasn't certain if I was imagining it or not, but now that I know she wants Draeseth I understand. Torgans seem to be a very jealous people. I need to be able to speak to people and have at least some freedoms."

"The King's Court would be a more suitable place for you, I think. But the weather will not be suitable for travel until the end of the month. Even then it will be difficult for you, it is not as far as the Great Gate but the cold will be worse in the carriage."

"What month is it? It should be the month of Tyhnoth, I think?"

"Torgans have a different calendar, my Lady. Yours follows the moon ours the work of Ganas. He labored for nine days to create the world and all within it. Our week has nine days; our year is four months of ten to eleven weeks each. It cannot be easily aligned with the Aran calendar. That you named them for your Gods makes it nearly immoral to attempt it."

"As if acknowledging them would offend your God or lead to your conversion." She gave him a wry smile. "Perhaps Torgans are so jealous because their God is?"

"Perhaps, my Lady." Krouth gave her a look of amused annoyance. "I will make inquiries as to the Aran date."

"Thank you. I know I've missed some of the celebrations at home, and I know I can't celebrate many of them here, but there is one in the month of Tyhnoth I don't want to miss."

His expression faded to disapproval.

"At the end of the month of Tyhnoth, we spend a day remembering our lost loved ones. My father always told stories about my mother and his parents, he would tell some stories that had been handed down for generations. I won't be home, but I want to be remembering the stories the same day my father is telling them to my brothers." Her throat tightened and she rubbed at her eyes to keep the suddenly threatening tears from falling.

"A much more solemn holiday than I was aware Arans celebrated." He bowed again.

"The stories are told with love and little sadness." Isonei tried to give him a smile. "The first day of the month of Iloduin we show love and appreciation of those who are alive. If it won't offend you, you can expect a small gift."

Krouth let out a long exhale and donned a put upon expression. "I would prefer you refrained."

"I will respect your wishes." She inclined her head. "Krouth? Wh-"

A knocking on the door interrupted her and the slim Torgan moved to answer it immediately. Lislora stood meekly on the other side keeping her eyes trained on the floor as if she expected to be chastised.

"Lady Lislora," Krouth glanced to Isonei and gestured for her to enter and she nodded. "Please come in."

The woman entered hesitantly and murmured something in Torgan to Krouth.

"I would prefer it if you would speak Aran. I have grown to hate the way people switch to the Torgan tongue to exclude me from conversations." Isonei settled onto the dainty sofa. "Please have a seat. I think we need to have a discussion."

"The Lady Isonei is a very gentle and forgiving woman, Lady Lislora; you will find her to be very kind."

The look she gave Krouth was dubious but the Torgan woman took a seat in one of the chairs. "Forgive me, Lady Isonei."

"We can drop some of the formality I think," she smiled hopefully, "Call me Isonei. Please. I didn't understand why you disliked me until today. It must have been unbearable for you to care for someone and have him care for someone else. Draeseth is a very jealous man and I think you have that in common."

"I-no I..." Lislora flushed and looked at Krouth nervously.

"I'm not angry with you for it." Isonei tilted her head. "I adore the man and I want him to be happy. If the two of you make each other happy I will be happy for you both, if however," she adjusted herself on the sofa into a position mimicking the aggressively casual lounging position she had seen Draeseth use once in Leria, "if you're seducing him for your own ambitions I will take issue with it."

"I am not seducing him, La-Isonei."

"She is not an ambitious woman, my Lady. Lady Lislora spends much of her time in prayer and in benevolent pursuits. One of her houses was given to the priesthood to be used as a convent and orphanage."

"That's very noble." Isonei gave her a warm smile and relaxed back onto the sofa. "I am no longer going to be confined to the winter garden. I hope you won't be upset at my presence in the house. Being so alone is unbearable for me. I will be spending some time with Draeseth at his request, as far as I'm concerned you are welcome to be there. Feeling as you do, I don't expect you to be my friend, Lislora, but I do expect you to be civil."

"Of-of course." Lislora fidgeted for a moment, "I do like you. It makes it worse. I have cared for him for him since we were children but I did not mean to take him from you. I did not-do not want another husband."

"Affection can't be taken or stolen, it can only be given, Lislora. For Arans more love is better than less, I would have been glad to give you half of the year with him."

The Torgan woman's face flushed and she looked to Krouth helplessly before asking a hushed question in Torgan. Draeseth's bark of laughter startled all three of them.

"She thinks she must have misunderstood you. You cannot mean you would have shared your husband willingly and openly while claiming to love me."

"How is that so strange? The two of you are very fond of each other and it would make you happier to have each other, you rely on her. Why would that upset me?"

"Because you love me."

"Because I love you I want what's best for you. My love is not jealous."

He made an amused sound in his throat. "You will give me an Arrangement if she will take the other half of my year?"

"No. Draeseth, I am miserable here." Isonei watched his face sour. "As much as I love and adore you, we aren't well suited and I don't-"

He raised his hand stopping her, "I will not press. If you can be made happy here I would have you consider it. Lady Lislora will consider it as well."

"You should be asking her to consider marriage to you; you need someone to give you all of their heart." She tilted her chin up as he scowled at her. "You do."

"I will turn you over my knees in punishment if you continue trying to wed me to another woman. You are the one I want."

"What you want and what you need are two separate things, but I'll allow you to come to that conclusion on your own if you need to." She tried to hide her amusement as he straightened and rolled his shoulders back with a grunt. "You're not fighting fair."

"I do not." He smirked slightly. "What can I do to make my home more pleasant for you?"

"Allowing me to bathe more than once a week might be a nice start. Even if it isn't a hot soak, soap and warm water once a day so that I can at least feel clean would be a relief."

"Done. Krouth will help you arrange whatever you require with the servants."

"Perhaps allowing her to venture into the market? She seemed delighted by it when we arrived." Krouth offered the suggestion thoughtfully and Isonei beamed at him.

"Could I?"

"I could go with her." Lislora nodded slowly. "I wanted to go look for a few things and most of the merchants know me on sight. They will be respectful."

"I will come as well. An outing would do me some good." Draeseth glanced around the room looking more content. "I intended to find something lovely for your room, I have a glassmith..."

"The one who made the lovely gift for my Daga?"

"Yes. Have you tired of flowers? He can make them from glass."

"No, but I've tired of being kept like one in the winter garden." Isonei came to her feet with a smile, "Can we go now?"

"Lunch first my impulsive jewel."

"The gardeners are going to wonder where I am, they usually come in while I'm eating."

"I think everyone in the Keep is aware that you were carried into the house by his Highness in a rage. They may wonder over your safety, but not your absence." Krouth coolly corrected her. "Something else that the venture into the markets will remedy."

"Why would they expect him to harm me? His Highness has a temper but he would never do that."

"You are not-his temper does not..." Lislora looked at her as if she'd said something entirely unexpected.

"Her father is a difficult man. Our temperaments are similar." Draeseth gave her what was probably meant to be a subtle look of warning.

"My father is more patient than you are in some things, but he is older and he does keep bees. You should consider it, they would love your flowers and keeping a hive would be good for you. It requires calmness."

"My mother was afraid of them; she did not want them in her gardens." The large Torgan looked at her with a faint smile and offered his arm. "To lunch."

"I love bees; I helped my father keep his personal hive. He always said that bees are one of the best reasons to have flowers." Taking his arm and letting him lead her out of the bedroom into the hall she continued, "When I was a child there were little bees stitched onto almost everything I wore."