Chapter 29 - A Chat in the Garden

It felt like I had closed my eyes for seconds only when I heard a sound inside my room. Now I used to be impossible to wake ... before I was locked away for years. Now even asleep I wake up way to easily from someone entering my room. When I moved up I noticed a worried Ina standing in the middle of the room looking at me with scared eyes. I most likely had scared her by sitting up so quickly ready to defend myself. I shook my head awake then focused on her. "What's wrong?" She hesitated for a moment before answering with a slight bow. "Pardon for waking you milady, but the Royal Bodyguard has returned with some guests, the teachers the royal palace had promised apparently, and Madam Suha thought that you might wanted to know about it. At least one of those present is of the rank of a count madam. So currently Madam Suha and Madam Gabrielle are keeping them company in the Garden pavilion."

I closed my eyes and went through everything the nervous girl had said then nodded. "Thank you ... can you please help me to prepare a decent outfit while I ..." Behind her came in Eva carrying a fresh set clothing neatly folded and ready to be worn, making me chuckle. "Or that thank you two." It was so odd to have someone chose your cloth for you especially after having to only wear cast off's from Johanna for a long time. I gently took the cloth from her and went to try and get myself at least a bit more awake. After splashing some cold water on my face and scrubbing myself clean just to wake up more I got dressed. It was a beautiful white blouse with a long gently flowing skirt. Both where nicely ornamented with gold coloured strings and decorative stitching at the edges. I inspected my tired self  in the Mirror before returning to my finding my bed already made again and Ina patiently waiting to guide me.

She didn't spoke much while guiding me, maybe because I was struggling to keep my yawning under control ... the cold water did only help so much. And when we stepped outside into the bright sun, it made squirm and shield myself with my arm for a moment. "Where did you say they are receiving these guest of ours?" I asked when we walked through a green park like area. There were a few trees around as well as small hills with well maintained grass. The path we were on was warm yellow/orange colour and consisted out of small sand like gravel that was extremely comfortable to walk on, but did not cause clouds of dust to form. "Madam decided to receive them in the Garden pavilion milady." I pondered about that for a moment. "Any idea why?" Ina took a moment to answered while we walked towards an area that was separated from the park with a large hedge.

"She didn't tell me milady, but I assume it was because of the beautiful weather and the rather private location of the garden. The garden are prepared to be used to hosts guest of standing if they come for a surprise visit simply because they require only little preparation to be made presentable ... or better said they require constant work of that and as such hosting a small group requires little additional work at least that is what madam Lafferin told me once." I smiled and nodded to her. Our way guided us towards an archway in the hedge and once past that it was like we had steeped into a completely different world.

When she had mentioned the garden, I had in my mind something like a simple flower garden around a pavilion but this was so much more. The pathway was surrounded by fields of all kinds of flowers each one seemed to try and blossom in a more vibrant colour. To the right I could see a house that seemed to be made entirely out of glass frames. To my knowledge glass panels could only be made to a certain size and nobody had jet found a way to make large glass sheets. Even those small glass panels required a lot of work and a such were quite costly. The secrete how to make clear glass on top of that was something only masters of their craft knew and was a well-guarded secret. So seeing a whole house framed with them did made me stop in my track and just shake my head.

Ina spoke up after a moment. "The glasshouse was a present to the late dukes wife, the mother of the fomer duke. Since her death it had been left without used but I was told it allowed to grow crops that required a different weather then present. The house can be kept at a constant temperature by the small river over there and the use of firestones." I shook my head then let me eye wander over the garden. There were a few trees in a far corner and fields of flowers everywhere. Pathways did sneak themself around the fields and the small hills that shaped this part of the Garden.

The whole place looked like a painter who had dreamed about flowers and soft rolling hills had gotten the budget and skill to plant all of those. The soft red brick road did meander through the raise and hills and at the center of it was yet another pavilion. This one however was more like small round house wit only hip high half walls it was large enough that the 10 or so people that were sitting and chatting had all the space they needed and some more. I carefully walked closer with Ina at my side.

It was clear now what she meant with privacy, the pavilion was free standing surrounded by a large pond on the one side and a field of flower to the other. There was an second smaller pavilion in the center of the lake connected with a long bridge that connected it towards the large pavilion so the only way to reach it beside swimming was to go through the large pavilion. You would need to be an excellent swimmer or able to sneak through a field of flowers to be privy to anything that was said in either of them. There seem to be some trickery with the acoustics too because you had to be quite close to actually hear the people talking.

It was Johanna who noticed us approaching, she gently whispered something to Suha who stood with a soft smile before approaching me. "I am sorry for waking you but I was certain the discussions here should include you." She mustered me and nodded then with a soft charming smile before releasing Ina with a short "Thank you." She offered me her arm like before and guiding me back to the others. At the table were the royal bodyguard as well as Johanna, Marie, Gabrielle and three woman I hadn't seen so far.

The first was older than anybody else present by quite a wide margin. Her gray hair shaped in a respectable dutt, while her strict dress and posture told of a life of matriculate planning and behaviour. The second was clearly in her mid-twenties her colourful dress spoke of wealth and her happy wide grin of a relaxed personality. The third one was in every aspect a woman who clearly was more focused on her work then socializing. She was noting down something in a small book while only looking at me fort a short moment. "Dear Duke I present to you the teachers the crown is suggesting." They all had risen to greet us and now sat down again once Suha and I were seated next to Gabrielle.

She slightly bowed towards the woman with her notebook  "The Countess Jamilla de Tisram. You wont find anybody more versed in the laws and relevant history of this country and as such it was decided that she would be the ideal candidate to bring you up to speed with those. The countess is filling in an advisor role in the royal court as well and as such is a busy person of course so the amount of lessons will most likely be limited but we already agreed that Gabrielle and I will fill in he remaining gaps of knowledge. And she will mainly advise on the selection of books and topics." The countess looked up for a brief moments from her work and gave me a microscopic small smile and nod before continuing her note taking. It was clear that her mind was occupied with something different, but I could just only smile and nod in return.

She didn't appear to be someone of ill intent, so I didn't mind her little quirk. "Next we have the Baroness Waldtraut Iselberg von Bluchingen." She motioned towards the old woman with a gentle nod. A mother of 7 and grandparent of many. Her topics are the heraldic and quirks of the royal and local courts since she has been a close observer to both since an early age and was still verry active in both until recently." The baroness rose gracefully and smoothly for her old age and bowed towards me. "I is a honour to meet you your grace." She said with an elegance that could only come from countless hours of training and repetition. "I hope I will be of use in my old age through I feel I will be only able to compliment the knowledge of the ladies of the house." She bowed towards Suha who shook her head with a smile.

I nodded towards her. "A pleasure madam. I am looking forward to learning from you. I am certain there are many questions you might be able to answer for me." Suha turned us towards the last member of the trio. The young woman in colourful clothing had listen with amusement. "And lastly I present you the madam Ike Borison, an odd choice for a teacher of Etiquette since she offers ... services ... for the high society for money ... and would normally not be welcomed at an table like this, but I am certain the royal house has their reasons for this suggestion." The young woman just chuckled at the jab and smiled warmly towards Suha. "The reason oh lady of the house is simple. I was thought from a young age how to please those of noble standing and because of that training was selected many times to teach those that had chosen my profession at a far later time in life."

Suddenly Lady Tersou, the Royal Bodyguard, spoke up from the side. "She was introduced to the court as a fake baroness by a, now former, count who wanted to use her to cover up the murder of the true baroness. Not only was she able to expose his wrongdoings without causing mayor problems in court, she has since then proven multiple times the uncanny ability to understand the motives of the members of high nobility and help to educate the royal guards to reduce the friction between them and those of that standing. I know that one would have expected someone from the grace of the baroness but the training that they usually employ requires a way younger person and more time. But she will still be only assisting you milady Suha after all like you declared earlier it would look badly for the Dukes house if to many external teachers would be required."

I chuckled and nodded towards the high class escort. I had the feeling she would be useful for more then just etiquette teachings and maybe she would even have some suggestions for my current situation. The warrior continued. "The dear baroness and the madam will nominally join your entourage and household. It is up to you to welcome them of course." Even through she said that I knew that declining an offer of the royal house would be seen as an insult. Still with basically being set in my position by them I didn't mind being seen close to them, so i just nodded in agreement. "The royal house will free them of their obligations for the next year and after that are willing to negotiate if they wish to continue their service in your court or return for their service towards the royal court. Furthermore, they had offered to carry the costs of their employment, but the dear Lady has made it clear that the house Laris has no trouble to pay the members of their own entourage."

I could see the glint in Suha's eyes and the short smirk on Gabrielle's lips to know that this was an opinion I should not disagree with and nodded my head. "The dear countess will come every week at least once to visit to assist and guide your progress. She will remain in employment of the royal family of course but you should feel free to ask her any question about the law and history of this country that may come up. Be aware that her presence will guide other members of nobility to declare you as a royal puppet but ... well ... they will do that anyway so." She shrugged slightly with a smile. I nodded to her. "It will take a while for them to accept this house under me as its own. Even through it will be true that we will do our best to help the royal family of course."

She smiled to me when the countess suddenly spoke up. "I require a room here that will require a royal guard to be stationed before. On days that I will teach I will come here early even if the lessons are in the evening and work in said room. Until then. The room will be part of the royal court not yours so only approved maids will have access towards it. I will leave the security details with Madan Tersou. I heard that you have a daughter of teachable age?" Her voice was clear and to the point but when she asked her question she did not sound impatient. Nor did she showed any when I took a moment to think what she just had asked. "I think you mean Lizbeth yes. She is 14 and deeply involved in her books." She nodded. "Good. If she wishes to join she is more then welcome. Such subjects are easier to learn when there two or more students present. Know that I don't accept tardiness, but I know that a duke has obligations that make an exact timetable impossible. Which is the other reason why I ask for that room. If it turns out that the day will be impossible to meet up the time will not be wasted for me. All I ask is that an attempt will be made to keep the weekly meeting." I smiled and to her to which she nodded back briefly and returned to her notebook. After a short moment she took out one of the pages she had written on and gave it to Marie.

"Those are the books required for my lessons." She pointed towards the top. "Those are books that would be helpful in self study but if they can't be found we will find a way around. "These are books that I would suggest for the madams subject but that is for her to decide." The madam took a peek and chuckled loudly. "I am certain they should be already present and they don't hurt to be read even through they require funder mental knowledge of the courts behaviour to be present to be understood." The countess just nodded. Suha opened her hand silently asking Marie to pass it along.

She looked it over then nodded. "I think we have most of those already in house and the rest shouldn't be a problem to get within the next week." She said with a soft smile. "Is there anything else either of you need?" She looked towards our guests and two of them shook their head while the Baroness hesitated a moment before speaking up. "Well I will require a few books as well but I would be extremely surprised if they wouldn't be present in this house already." She asked silently for the list of books and added her own. Seeing these two lady's writing styles next to each other was an interesting contrast.

The countess letter where all tight and precise not a single dot was out of place nor any line present that didn't fill any function. The baronesses writing in contrast was full of additional elegant lines and soft and flowing but almost as precise as others woman in execution and repletion. Once she was finished, she spoke up again. "Sadly I do have one obligation of note that I would need to bother you with. I am currently the guardian of my 6 year old Granddaughter and as such she would require to stay with me." I looked to Suha with a smile and nodded to her to which she answered with a similar smile before turning towards the baroness. "You both are more then welcome in our home i am certain we will be able to arrange for adequate accommodations."

The madam meanwhile had gently taken possession of the book list herself and added two of her own to the List. "These two are written by far less prestigious writers then the other books but they do tell understandably for normal people how to behave. Sadly they have one or two errors in their writing or better said errors for the current court so they will require someone with knowledge like me to help to prevent misinterpretations but they are a good source of the tiny bits that so matter so much at the royal court." I sighed. "You mean the spoon stuff and such?" That made Gabrielle laugh out loudly and for a moment I was worried that she had played a prank on me.

"Or was that not real?" To my amazement all of my guests including the bodyguard shook their head. It was the countess who answered my question. "The spoon messaging is the newest trend in a long list of courtly behaviour and one that I hope will die out soon. It was introduced around 15 years ago by the social cycle around countess Albanese and has carried on ever since. Thankfully It is has remained in the realm of harmless fun and has yet to cause any mayor incidence beyond some misinterpreted flirting. Thankfully nobody will expect you to be able to understand it so knowing about it may be beneficial" I just shook my head slightly and took a sip of the hot liquid one of the servants had presented to me. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that there would be many more things that would make me question if the other side was pulling a prank on me.

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OMG finally finished. This one was a bit of a drag ... hint to oneself never ever mention that something is going to wake up the character at the end of a chapter before you actually know what it is going to be. I had written half a chapter before axing it because it was utter nonsenses ^^.

I will upload a second book with just descriptions and people names soon (TM) we will see when xD it will be just for those that wonder: who the heck was that person. And me to remember haircolors of important people xD

The amount of readers this book has gathered is amazing and i thank you all for reading. Currently i am getting my ass up out to the park every day to write a little so, fingers crossed, i will not take ages to upload.

Stay strong and have fun ^^ Till next time.