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rainbowfic2025-09-22 08:14 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2025-09-22 08:14 pm
Entry tags:
Vert #4; Warm Heart #3 [Starfall]
Name: Calla Island
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #4 (Waypower); Warm Heart #3 (Jealousy)
Supplies and Styles: Portrait
Word Count: 5053
Rating: PG
Warnings:
Notes: 1313, Calla Island; Viyony Eseray, Vollo Hyan, Lynah Allin, Eollan Barra, Tess Hyan. The first part of a continuous sequence. (It's divided into 5 sections at the moment, but it might wind up at 6).
Summary: Viyony visits Calla Island, the ancestral seat of the Allin family.
A fresh breeze blew in from the Korphilian Sea, in marked contrast to the constant heat that had oppressed Portcallan over the preceding week. Viyony raised her head and followed Eollan Barra down the jetty, away from the ship that had carried them over the Calla Strait. This was the very furthest west she had ever been. Somewhere, out there, several thousandlengths away, lay West Korphil, Varravil and the Western Isles, and beyond that, the Barrier; the vast great rocky circle that encircled all the known lands. Viyony breathed in salt-tanged air and an odd, melancholy thrill passed through her at finding herself standing on what was, for her, the edge of the world.
Calla Island, only a few hundredlengths off Portcallan's coast, was its own tiny kingdom with archaic legal rights and a complicated history. It was comprised of three villages, a few isolated holdings, beacon sites, and a former naval base somewhere on the opposite side of the island, but the whole island belonged to the Allins and their estate made up by far the largest part of it. Allin House had been their home for centuries, and the original settlement there was probably older than Portcallan. Viyony still wasn't sure accepting Lynah Allin's invitation to visit had been wise, but she had been curious to see the island for herself, and this was the only opportunity she was ever likely to have.
Velin Ienkallis, a shipowner from Tamah, walked alongside her as they made their way up the winding footpath through the trees that led from the cove where the boat was moored to the Allin estate. He had been kind to her during the voyage over. It had been a short one—only a few hours—and the crossing had been fairly calm, but even so Viyony had spent most of it feeling sick. Much as she was growing to love Portcallan, saltwater would never be her element.
Velin bent down towards her and touched her arm lightly as they rounded the corner. "Look."
Allin House came into view through a gap in the trees. It had a long pale coloured frontage with dark grey stone at the corners and light green window shutters. It had clearly been remodelled and rebuilt over the years, this incarnation owning a distinctively tenth century brand of restrained elegance. The original fort was now part of the north wing, Velin told her, pointing out more of the darker grey stone visible there.
A walled garden sheltered the house from sea winds and, entering it, they made their way up a neatly kept path ending in a low series of pale steps up to the raised area where the house stood. To the east, Viyony could see a small lake and a footpath winding away through a copse of twisted trees towards the sea.
Lynah Allin was waiting for them at the door, in a fawn summer dress, where she greeted them with a smile. "You're the first boatload," she told them, moving aside for three of the staff who were wheeling in the luggage. "I'll take you to your rooms."
Viyony had been allocated a small room in the western wing, with white painted walls and silver-patterned tiles of slate-grey covering the floor. The carved window lattice let in soft jasmine-scented air from a courtyard outside. She perched on the edge of the bed and stroked the covers, raising her eyebrows in recognition of its quality. It was dark grey and edged with silver, like the tiles, while lilac gauzy drapes trimmed with silver edgings and dark grey embroidery at the corners hung around it.
Lynah Allin knocked on the door a few minutes later, and stepped inside, her arms full of lilac-coloured towels. "I hope you like your room," she said, depositing an extra towel onto the chair. "The washroom is through there—did you see it? I realise it looks like a closet."
"I did, thank you," said Viyony. She smiled. "Everything's perfect, honestly."
Lynah gave a grave nod of acknowledgement. She was as perfectly turned out as the room, and moved with calm elegance as she crossed to touch the edge of the bed-hangings. "I meant what I said earlier. You're more than welcome to come down to the main hall and see what people are doing, but if you'd rather have a rest after the voyage, you won't be the only one by any means. Tess was telling me you suffered quite badly."
"I'm much better already now I'm on land again," said Viyony. "But thank you. I was very surprised and grateful for the invitation."
Lynah smiled, slowly. There was something a little hard to read about her, and Viyony had a thought then, despite the sunshine, of a blossom preserved by frost. She leaned over and pressed Viyony's hand. "Leion Valerno said you might be worth cultivating—as did a few others. I hope you have a lovely time. Now, do excuse me—I like to say a proper hello to everyone, and it won't be long until the next lot arrives."
Viyony watched her leave before heading into the tiny washroom. There was a stone basin inside with an archaic water fount that operated when she stood on the white tile beneath it by means that she couldn't fathom—its inner workings were hidden behind the wall or under the floor. She washed her face and grumbled under her breath about Leion interfering as usual, and then leant against the side of the basin with a sigh. If Leion had recommended her to Lynah, why hadn't he said so? If he never came to Calla Island, how did he seem to know her so well? It was best that he didn't go there any more, that was what he'd said, with a guarded assurance that she could trust Lynah.
Some remaining bile from the sea journey seemed to be lurking in the pit of her stomach. Viyony rubbed her face fiercely with a damp cloth, and smothered any foolish, wild speculation, like maybe Lynah was another former lover of Leion's. Maybe that was why he didn't come here any more, but his recommendation was still taken seriously.
"Nonsense," she said aloud, firmly, and eyed herself severely in the mirror. "You're being ridiculous. What would it matter even if it was true?"
She had promised herself she wasn't going to think about Leion. He wasn't here and she should concentrate on cultivating the acquaintance of influential business people like Velin Ienkallis and enjoy this rare privilege to see Calla Island in the most enjoyable way possible.
She lay down on the bed until she felt steadier, cooler, and much less washed out, after which she got up and set about making herself presentable. She straightened her shirt and trousers, refastened her wayward hair in a plait, and finally donned a long, light jacket before she set off down the corridor towards the central area of the house.
The way had seemed straight-forward when Lynah had led them in, but Viyony nevertheless managed to take a wrong turning. She halted in confusion, knowing only that she must be somewhere in the main block at the front of the building—the corridor in which she was standing was windowless and lit by lightstone lamps and the ceilings higher, but the great entrance hall eluded her. She pushed cautiously at the nearest door. It swung open to reveal a gallery with arched windows that opened into a shaded inner courtyard.
Viyony stepped inside, hopeful that she could at least see where she was from the gallery, but the view of another wall opposite offered few clues as to precisely which part of the house she had ended up in. She had passed a delicate statuette in deep red starstone on a plinth as she crossed to look out the window—she'd moved close enough to feel the faint but distinctive vibration that meant it couldn't be any other substance—but it was only when she turned around to head back out again that she realised she was standing in a room full of such treasures. She halted with a short gasp. It didn't look like anywhere she should wander into uninvited.
"Admiring my collection?"
A tall man moved out of the shadows at the far end of the gallery. He had neatly trimmed dark hair and beard, light brown skin and was wearing a primrose yellow shirt with an expensive sheen to it and grey trousers. He was a stranger to Viyony, but she knew who he must be.
"Imor Hyan, is it?" She wasn't quite sure which term of address was correct for Lynah's spouse, but the more flattering honorific seemed safer. Lynah might be the Allin and carried that weight of inheritance, but Vollo was the one with the money and real power in the match. His branch of the Hyan family had produced several senior High Council officials over the past half century, and they had been rich enough to buy out the Allins.
Vollo gave a fractional nod in response.
Viyony in return offered her most respectful lowering of her head before straightening to meet his gaze. "I'm Viyony Eseray. I apologise for intruding—I was looking for the main hall and I got lost."
"And found a whole host of treasures instead," he said. His voice was unexpectedly melodic, at odds with a certain severity in his person. He held out his hand and smiled—and when Viyony took it, he gripped hers in return, and drew her over to look at a large bone laid out carefully on a cushioned table. "See this, for instance. It belonged to one of the untransformed creatures that once lived deep in the heart of the Koresorn. Long since died out, of course, and a rarity. The bones have strange properties, so they were heavily sought after for medicinal use and a complete example like this is almost unknown these days."
Viyony looked, but fascinating as it sounded, all she could see in it was merely an old bone. Her gaze strayed beyond it to a case of starstone ore on the top of a row of shelves, just below a faded portrait of a woman who was presumably an Allin from centuries ago. She had never even heard of such unusual varieties of starstone before—mottled purple and brown, and silver and orange, as well as ore with deep blue glints visible, even prior to cutting and refining. "I thought these sorts of things were all in Starfall or museums these days."
"By no means," said Vollo. "Quite a few remain in their original shrines and I'm hardly the only collector with an interest."
Viyony's heart beat harder. People kept warning her about people like Vollo, with money and privilege and an unhealthy interest in affinity and starstone. Was she about to finally receive a dangerous invitation? Tana Veldiner had wanted to use her as bait for that kind of thing from the start. If so, it was going to happen here, well out of reach of Leion and Tana on the mainland. Her mouth dried.
"Do you mean in starstone, or the Olderay—the Untransformed, I mean?" she asked, stumbling over the question, and falling back on the more familiar Eisterlandish term.
Vollo ran a finger along the shelf beside a box of seeds from Varravil. "Both. They are, I feel, such equal opposites that the nature of one must surely hold a key to the other. But I do, I confess, have a particular interest in the oldest items. If we are to believe the tales, our ancestors fell into a world with a very long history of which we know almost nothing. And much as I love Portcallan, its chief contribution to the debate over that matter is whether or not we should eat such creatures."
"I have noticed," Viyony said.
Vollo replaced a tiny, elderly volume in another case, locked it and stepped back while Viyony watched, both curious and wary. Other than worrying rumours about his illegal interests, the main thing she knew about him was that he was going to bring Kadia Barra into his marriage with Lynah. Looking at him here—apparently so uninterested in anything that wasn't an artefact—she couldn't imagine how that would play out. He and Lynah at least matched each other in distance and dignity, and neither of them had tried to stab Viyony or give her vinegar to drink, which was more than she could say for Kadia—but then, the house party had barely begun.
"You will forgive me," said Vollo. "I really must take my leave. The tide won't wait, and neither will the ship's captain."
Viyony shook her self. "Yes, of course. If you will point me in the right direction, I shall be out of your way at once."
"Oh, don't apologise. I'm happy to have made your acquaintance. I hope you enjoy the rest of your visit." He brushed his hands down and gestured towards the door. "Turn left and follow the corridor along to the end and you'll find yourself at the front entrance."
Viyony thanked him, and left, grateful to be out of his way. She was glad to have met someone she had heard talked about so often, but she couldn't feel sorry that business was taking him back to the mainland during the party.
Viyony arrived at the great chamber off the main entrance hall with a sense of having made her way out of a maze, but she found very few of her fellow guests assembled there. Tess Hyan was one of them, and she immediately jumped up and caught Viyony's arm on seeing her tentative entry. Some of the others had gone down to the beach, Tess said, and most of the rest were keeping to their rooms until the worst of the day's heat had passed over. Viyony couldn't blame them. She was beginning to think perhaps she should have done the same.
She and Tess debated whether or not to join the group at the beach—Tess had not dressed for it, and wasn't in the mood to dirty her admittedly pretty green dress with sand and dirt. Halfway through their discussion, Lynah arrived and saved them the trouble of deciding by offering to take the handful of guests gathered there on a tour of the house. Viyony accepted gladly, hoping it would help her familiarise herself with the rambling manor house and Tess was keen to see some changes that they had apparently made to the east wing since her last visit. By the time they had finished, it wasn't worth doing anything more than returning to their rooms in order to dress for dinner.
Viyony examined herself in the long, narrow mirror beside the closet door, turning to an angle, and then gave a quick nod of satisfaction. Hueva, a member of staff here, had looked in earlier to see if she wanted help with anything. Viyony had taken her up on the offer, and Hueva had fixed her hair for her; now tied back with small silver-threaded braids plaited back over a loose tail and decorated with tiny silver and mulberry flower-shaped pins.
She had picked out a grey underdress and a vivid, deep pink overdress, split up the sides and middle, the edges embroidered in silver by her sister Lisiyan, and fastened at the waist with a material belt, also sporting more of her sister's work.
Viyony straightened her outfit and raised her head. It wasn't only doom-laden dreams that had brought her here. She must make her impending marriage work and Eseray thrive, so that Niyno, Liss and Reah would be able to make good use of their talents, to study and to work at the things they wanted to. Some of the contacts she would make here tonight might help her achieve that, so it was about time she went and meant the full assembly of guests.
Dinner was about to be served.
Tess waved Viyony over as soon as she stepped outside onto the paved area of the garden where the guests were gathering.
"That's another of your special Eseray dresses, isn't it?" she said breathlessly. "Gorgeous! I like that colour. You're so clever."
Viyony pressed her arm in return, and laughed. "Thank you. I hope everyone else will be as impressed."
Eollan joined them. "Well, I certainly am. You look lovely."
As their small talk continued, Viyony's gaze drifted past Eollan, over the assembled guests, unconscious of what she was searching for until her eye lighted on someone tall with dark hair, standing with his back to her in a thin dark blue jacket. Her heart instantly lifted, only to sink again as she realised that of course it was not Leion. This man was broader, stockier, and as he turned partway towards her, he looked nothing like him, with a much more angular face. Viyony shook herself, glad that no one could read her mind, and headed over to greet Lynah Allin.
"Imai Eseray." Lynah took her hand. "Just the person I was looking for. This is Aunra Nowin Cavalia, the Ambassador for Low Eisterland. Aunra Cavalia, Imai Eseray is part of the family that runs Eseray Dyes, and she is affianced to Imoren Fioris—I believe you know him?"
Nowin nodded politely. She was an older woman, comfortably broad and of a darker colouring than Viyony. Her hair, pulled back from her face in tiny plaits, had gold and red dyed strands threaded through them. "I've heard good things about him. Rebuilt the family fortunes from the ground up, I understand. Does this mean you've been to our city?"
Viyony answered her questions, and then when she moved on, she bumped into Velin Ienkallis, the Tamarian shipowner who had helped her on the boat over. He was taller than Nowin Cavalia, and light skinned with gleaming silver hair. "Feeling a little better now, I see," he remarked with a brief grin.
"As soon as I was safely on land! Thank you for being so kind earlier. I'm always like that on a boat—I'll never be a good sailor."
Velin shook his head. "A great shame indeed. All my affairs are so bound up with the sea—I would never stand a chance with you, would I?"
"If I were not already engaged, I would brave even seasickness for the honour," she told him. "As it is..." She gave an expressive shrug.
Velin laughed. "Nonsense for nonsense, yes, quite right. Lynah tells me you're looking into exporting to Korphil—dyes, is it?"
"Yes, partly," Viyony said, and set about explaining that they chiefly intended to import some of the raw materials and fabric directly from West Korphil as well as looking into exporting the results. "It does depend on how things develop—my impending marriage is also something of a business arrangement, and once Imoren is fully in partnership with us, we should be able to get to work on expanding our activities."
There was no time for more talk, as Lynah rang the bell for dinner. Viyony, after duly trailing back inside with everyone else, found herself seated between a naval captain, Poll Wyense, and a seed merchant from Southall in South Eastern called Dutez Owayan. It turned out that he also traded heavily with Low Eisterland, and so knew Lialia well, and had some connections with Imoren. The meal was impeccable, but Viyony picked her way first through a light dish of sea darter with rice and Portcallan Bounty, and then chicken with a spicy sauce that reminded her of the meal she had shared with Leion at the Pollens's eatery, mindful of her still unsettled stomach. Dutez asked her about Imoren's business, their engagement—neither of which improved her appetite—although he eventually diverted into discussing the plants the Eserays tended to use in dyeing and which of those he might be able to supply. Captain Wyense was much quieter and talked mainly to the woman sitting on the other side of her, although from time to time she turned and made brief observations about the weather, or how different this coastal area must seem from Viyony's home in the mountains.
Viyony decided she must still be tired from her sickness on the voyage over—as the meal progressed, she developed a growing low headache, and barely touched her dessert, despite its tempting mix of oranges, cream, a light biscuit base and a sauce flavoured with a liqueur. Viyony thought she had encountered that in Lialia, too.
After dinner, everyone returned to the garden, where musicians from the High Emoyran Orchestra played under strings of lightstone lamps, and they were treated to solos by Teo Dilance. He was famous enough that Viyony had heard of him long before she had come to Portcallan. He had been trained at the renowned Pollean Academy in Eisterway, and she had seen him once before at a concert during her visit to Lialia. She wasn't sure of the exact cost of the tickets on that occasion—it had been Imoren's treat—but they could not have been cheap. There was an unsettling unreality to finding him here, casually serenading Lynah's house guests, few of whom were even paying him much attention.
Every other person she talked to also seemed to be someone famous—a playwright or High Councillor or scholar of repute. When she headed over to speak to Tess again, she found her being sketched by an artist, if not very seriously—Tess was not sitting anything like as still as she should.
"Having a good time?" Eollan said, coming to rest beside Viyony.
She slowly drew her gaze from the musicians to face him, and fought to stifle a yawn. It must be later than she had realised. She shook herself and gave Eollan a brief smile. "I am, thank you."
Beyond her, under the lights, Dilance launched into a different song; one that she recognised immediately. Viyony shivered. The Heyal Song. The breeze ruffling her hair and light clothing seemed suddenly colder and less friendly as it carried the strains of the melancholy tune through the evening air.
"From the grey mountainside I plucked the true blue star,
I rested my head and I dreamed of my dear..."
She turned her head to search Eollan's face. "Did you ask for this?"
"Weren't they singing it the night we first met?"
Viyony caught her breath and stiffened. "Eollan," she said. "I don't like it. The song, that is. I'm not sure I like the gesture, either. You know what my situation is."
"Don't be so serious," he told her with a light laugh. "All right. I apologise, but I didn't know. It was supposed to be a traditional song from your region. A little taste of home for you."
Viyony stared ahead. "It's too close to home, unfortunately. I realise you couldn't be expected to know that—but why did you think I'd want reminding of Eseray tonight, anyway?"
"I don't know. An emotive song, in an old and sacred place, perhaps. You never know what a mix of the two might accomplish."
Viyony took a moment to make sense of that. "You thought it might encourage me to dream?"
"Not very likely, I grant you, but I would love to see it happen, if that's the right way of putting it."
She looked past him at the other guests. They were too near to allow for her making a scene, so she drew in a careful breath before she said anything else. "Believe me, you wouldn't. I've told you—it doesn't work like that. And I know I've told you that I don't appreciate you pestering me about it, either."
"I know, I know, I should go jump in the sea and all that. I am sorry. Should I ask Lynah if she can arrange something other than the visit to the starstone grotto for tomorrow?"
Viyony began to head back towards the house. "I'm sure I shall be very interested to see it. It's not that I hate all mention of the Powers, you know. Just that you don't have the right to ask me about my dreams."
"You'd tell them to Valerno, though, wouldn't you?"
Viyony halted sharply. "That's none of your business, either!" she said, lowering her voice. "And if I do sometimes—well, Leion doesn't raise a great song and dance about it. It's not something I'm supposed to talk about in front of strangers—you seem to be forgetting that too."
"True," he said. "Sorry. I'll behave better in the morning. But -" He broke off with a shrug. "Never mind."
"Are you going to warn me not to trust Leion again?" Viyony battled to keep a lid on her temper.
Eollan shook his head. "Pointless. But he's not the serious sort either. I think you know that."
"He wouldn't be any use to me if he were," said Viyony, her voice sounding unsteady in her ears. She marched away from Eollan, arms folded in against herself. It was past time for bed. She was worn out from the voyage over and she still felt hollow, her stomach grumbling over her cautiousness at dinner.
She kept going as fast as she could without attracting notice, past the musicians and guests, skirting around Dutez Owayan, who was in the middle of an intense argument in lowered tones with the dark-haired man she had nearly taken for Leion earlier. Huick Ghalle, Tess had said his name was; a writer for one of Portcallan's most popular newsletters. He looked even less like Leion from this angle.
Owayan caught sight of her and abruptly abandoned his fraught conversation to scurry after her. "Imai Eseray," he called breathlessly and cornered her to talk about whether or not he had good a chance of striking a deal with Imoren over a bulk delivery of jiefra tubers. She discussed the advantages and disadvantages of his proposal as patiently as she could, despite the way her aching head was beginning to throb. People kept reminding her that Imoren was a reality this evening, and she didn't like it.
Viyony stared unseeing at the looking glass as she stood in her cream nightgown, brushing and brushing her hair until it shone with a jetty gloss. She put the brush down on the top of the cabinet with a sigh and tried to rub her headache away from her temples. It didn't work. The wedding was getting closer, and she didn't want to think about it. Best not to borrow trouble. It was going to happen; she had no choice but to go through with it. It didn't help to worry about it now—to let the misery settle inside like lead, so heavy she would never rise again.
Her mouth tightened into a set line. She rose in one brisk movement, and climbed into bed. Mild, sweet scented air wafted in lazily through the wooden lattice. She turned over first one way and then the other, stubbornly wakeful. The bed might well be the most comfortable she'd ever slept in, but she was overtired and longed for something more familiar.
And you wish Leion was here, don't you? she accused herself. She twisted onto her back and stared upwards at the fabric covering over the bed as her hair spread out, vivid black against the pale pillow. She breathed in and out. The net bed hangings billowed gently back and forth as if mimicking her. A sliver of moonlight stole into the room, lighting beside her on the pillow.
She sighed heavily, lines of the Heyal song still circling in her head, the same old words she had heard sung so often in Mirambridge as a mockery by pointing children:
When I came to be wed I was all decked in flowers,
My belt was of ivy to tear down strong walls,
Golden suns and silver thorns made my bower,
At my feast, I drank of rue and betrayal.
"Enough," she said under her breath.
She closed her eyes, and finally silenced her thoughts sufficiently to escape into confused but mercifully normal dreams—of shipwrecks and songs that never ended, and walking and walking with Imoren towards a wedding table they couldn't reach. Then, suddenly, she found herself instead sitting beside the pool in the Allin House garden in an atmosphere of moonlit calm. Leion was beside her. He cast a stone into the lake and they watched the ripples spread out until the water finally stilled again. Viyony was sitting at once on both the soft bedding from her room in Allin House and a rock, while the stark height of Eseray's ravine loomed opposite, casting a dark shadow over that side of the pool. She could see the Moon Gallery right at the top, far away. Fern the cat lazed about nearby on the paving stones.
"Well, this is odd," said Leion eventually, taking her hand. They both gazed at the moon's reflection in the water. Viyony tried to raise her head to see it in the sky, but she couldn't. There was no sky. Dizzy, she gripped Leion's fingers tightly until the scene steadied back into its previous placidity. They were even closer now, Viyony pressed up against his side. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, all of it had evaporated—moon, water, rocks, Eseray, cat, and Leion. She walked instead through a whole chain of empty rooms, pale curtains waving in an unfelt breeze as something unseen trailed behind her. She woke with a start in the darkness of a strange bedchamber, her heart thudding.
The encounter with Leion at the pool seemed so much more vivid than the rest; enough so that she turned, sleepily expecting him to be near. "Leion?" she murmured, and sat up. She pressed a hand to her face, as if to hide her folly from the night.
The room and the bed were both hers alone. She forced a laugh, and lay back down, finally sinking into a far more restful slumber. She didn't wake again until it was nearly the ninth hour of the morning.
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #4 (Waypower); Warm Heart #3 (Jealousy)
Supplies and Styles: Portrait
Word Count: 5053
Rating: PG
Warnings:
Notes: 1313, Calla Island; Viyony Eseray, Vollo Hyan, Lynah Allin, Eollan Barra, Tess Hyan. The first part of a continuous sequence. (It's divided into 5 sections at the moment, but it might wind up at 6).
Summary: Viyony visits Calla Island, the ancestral seat of the Allin family.
A fresh breeze blew in from the Korphilian Sea, in marked contrast to the constant heat that had oppressed Portcallan over the preceding week. Viyony raised her head and followed Eollan Barra down the jetty, away from the ship that had carried them over the Calla Strait. This was the very furthest west she had ever been. Somewhere, out there, several thousandlengths away, lay West Korphil, Varravil and the Western Isles, and beyond that, the Barrier; the vast great rocky circle that encircled all the known lands. Viyony breathed in salt-tanged air and an odd, melancholy thrill passed through her at finding herself standing on what was, for her, the edge of the world.
Calla Island, only a few hundredlengths off Portcallan's coast, was its own tiny kingdom with archaic legal rights and a complicated history. It was comprised of three villages, a few isolated holdings, beacon sites, and a former naval base somewhere on the opposite side of the island, but the whole island belonged to the Allins and their estate made up by far the largest part of it. Allin House had been their home for centuries, and the original settlement there was probably older than Portcallan. Viyony still wasn't sure accepting Lynah Allin's invitation to visit had been wise, but she had been curious to see the island for herself, and this was the only opportunity she was ever likely to have.
Velin Ienkallis, a shipowner from Tamah, walked alongside her as they made their way up the winding footpath through the trees that led from the cove where the boat was moored to the Allin estate. He had been kind to her during the voyage over. It had been a short one—only a few hours—and the crossing had been fairly calm, but even so Viyony had spent most of it feeling sick. Much as she was growing to love Portcallan, saltwater would never be her element.
Velin bent down towards her and touched her arm lightly as they rounded the corner. "Look."
Allin House came into view through a gap in the trees. It had a long pale coloured frontage with dark grey stone at the corners and light green window shutters. It had clearly been remodelled and rebuilt over the years, this incarnation owning a distinctively tenth century brand of restrained elegance. The original fort was now part of the north wing, Velin told her, pointing out more of the darker grey stone visible there.
A walled garden sheltered the house from sea winds and, entering it, they made their way up a neatly kept path ending in a low series of pale steps up to the raised area where the house stood. To the east, Viyony could see a small lake and a footpath winding away through a copse of twisted trees towards the sea.
Lynah Allin was waiting for them at the door, in a fawn summer dress, where she greeted them with a smile. "You're the first boatload," she told them, moving aside for three of the staff who were wheeling in the luggage. "I'll take you to your rooms."
Viyony had been allocated a small room in the western wing, with white painted walls and silver-patterned tiles of slate-grey covering the floor. The carved window lattice let in soft jasmine-scented air from a courtyard outside. She perched on the edge of the bed and stroked the covers, raising her eyebrows in recognition of its quality. It was dark grey and edged with silver, like the tiles, while lilac gauzy drapes trimmed with silver edgings and dark grey embroidery at the corners hung around it.
Lynah Allin knocked on the door a few minutes later, and stepped inside, her arms full of lilac-coloured towels. "I hope you like your room," she said, depositing an extra towel onto the chair. "The washroom is through there—did you see it? I realise it looks like a closet."
"I did, thank you," said Viyony. She smiled. "Everything's perfect, honestly."
Lynah gave a grave nod of acknowledgement. She was as perfectly turned out as the room, and moved with calm elegance as she crossed to touch the edge of the bed-hangings. "I meant what I said earlier. You're more than welcome to come down to the main hall and see what people are doing, but if you'd rather have a rest after the voyage, you won't be the only one by any means. Tess was telling me you suffered quite badly."
"I'm much better already now I'm on land again," said Viyony. "But thank you. I was very surprised and grateful for the invitation."
Lynah smiled, slowly. There was something a little hard to read about her, and Viyony had a thought then, despite the sunshine, of a blossom preserved by frost. She leaned over and pressed Viyony's hand. "Leion Valerno said you might be worth cultivating—as did a few others. I hope you have a lovely time. Now, do excuse me—I like to say a proper hello to everyone, and it won't be long until the next lot arrives."
Viyony watched her leave before heading into the tiny washroom. There was a stone basin inside with an archaic water fount that operated when she stood on the white tile beneath it by means that she couldn't fathom—its inner workings were hidden behind the wall or under the floor. She washed her face and grumbled under her breath about Leion interfering as usual, and then leant against the side of the basin with a sigh. If Leion had recommended her to Lynah, why hadn't he said so? If he never came to Calla Island, how did he seem to know her so well? It was best that he didn't go there any more, that was what he'd said, with a guarded assurance that she could trust Lynah.
Some remaining bile from the sea journey seemed to be lurking in the pit of her stomach. Viyony rubbed her face fiercely with a damp cloth, and smothered any foolish, wild speculation, like maybe Lynah was another former lover of Leion's. Maybe that was why he didn't come here any more, but his recommendation was still taken seriously.
"Nonsense," she said aloud, firmly, and eyed herself severely in the mirror. "You're being ridiculous. What would it matter even if it was true?"
She had promised herself she wasn't going to think about Leion. He wasn't here and she should concentrate on cultivating the acquaintance of influential business people like Velin Ienkallis and enjoy this rare privilege to see Calla Island in the most enjoyable way possible.
She lay down on the bed until she felt steadier, cooler, and much less washed out, after which she got up and set about making herself presentable. She straightened her shirt and trousers, refastened her wayward hair in a plait, and finally donned a long, light jacket before she set off down the corridor towards the central area of the house.
The way had seemed straight-forward when Lynah had led them in, but Viyony nevertheless managed to take a wrong turning. She halted in confusion, knowing only that she must be somewhere in the main block at the front of the building—the corridor in which she was standing was windowless and lit by lightstone lamps and the ceilings higher, but the great entrance hall eluded her. She pushed cautiously at the nearest door. It swung open to reveal a gallery with arched windows that opened into a shaded inner courtyard.
Viyony stepped inside, hopeful that she could at least see where she was from the gallery, but the view of another wall opposite offered few clues as to precisely which part of the house she had ended up in. She had passed a delicate statuette in deep red starstone on a plinth as she crossed to look out the window—she'd moved close enough to feel the faint but distinctive vibration that meant it couldn't be any other substance—but it was only when she turned around to head back out again that she realised she was standing in a room full of such treasures. She halted with a short gasp. It didn't look like anywhere she should wander into uninvited.
"Admiring my collection?"
A tall man moved out of the shadows at the far end of the gallery. He had neatly trimmed dark hair and beard, light brown skin and was wearing a primrose yellow shirt with an expensive sheen to it and grey trousers. He was a stranger to Viyony, but she knew who he must be.
"Imor Hyan, is it?" She wasn't quite sure which term of address was correct for Lynah's spouse, but the more flattering honorific seemed safer. Lynah might be the Allin and carried that weight of inheritance, but Vollo was the one with the money and real power in the match. His branch of the Hyan family had produced several senior High Council officials over the past half century, and they had been rich enough to buy out the Allins.
Vollo gave a fractional nod in response.
Viyony in return offered her most respectful lowering of her head before straightening to meet his gaze. "I'm Viyony Eseray. I apologise for intruding—I was looking for the main hall and I got lost."
"And found a whole host of treasures instead," he said. His voice was unexpectedly melodic, at odds with a certain severity in his person. He held out his hand and smiled—and when Viyony took it, he gripped hers in return, and drew her over to look at a large bone laid out carefully on a cushioned table. "See this, for instance. It belonged to one of the untransformed creatures that once lived deep in the heart of the Koresorn. Long since died out, of course, and a rarity. The bones have strange properties, so they were heavily sought after for medicinal use and a complete example like this is almost unknown these days."
Viyony looked, but fascinating as it sounded, all she could see in it was merely an old bone. Her gaze strayed beyond it to a case of starstone ore on the top of a row of shelves, just below a faded portrait of a woman who was presumably an Allin from centuries ago. She had never even heard of such unusual varieties of starstone before—mottled purple and brown, and silver and orange, as well as ore with deep blue glints visible, even prior to cutting and refining. "I thought these sorts of things were all in Starfall or museums these days."
"By no means," said Vollo. "Quite a few remain in their original shrines and I'm hardly the only collector with an interest."
Viyony's heart beat harder. People kept warning her about people like Vollo, with money and privilege and an unhealthy interest in affinity and starstone. Was she about to finally receive a dangerous invitation? Tana Veldiner had wanted to use her as bait for that kind of thing from the start. If so, it was going to happen here, well out of reach of Leion and Tana on the mainland. Her mouth dried.
"Do you mean in starstone, or the Olderay—the Untransformed, I mean?" she asked, stumbling over the question, and falling back on the more familiar Eisterlandish term.
Vollo ran a finger along the shelf beside a box of seeds from Varravil. "Both. They are, I feel, such equal opposites that the nature of one must surely hold a key to the other. But I do, I confess, have a particular interest in the oldest items. If we are to believe the tales, our ancestors fell into a world with a very long history of which we know almost nothing. And much as I love Portcallan, its chief contribution to the debate over that matter is whether or not we should eat such creatures."
"I have noticed," Viyony said.
Vollo replaced a tiny, elderly volume in another case, locked it and stepped back while Viyony watched, both curious and wary. Other than worrying rumours about his illegal interests, the main thing she knew about him was that he was going to bring Kadia Barra into his marriage with Lynah. Looking at him here—apparently so uninterested in anything that wasn't an artefact—she couldn't imagine how that would play out. He and Lynah at least matched each other in distance and dignity, and neither of them had tried to stab Viyony or give her vinegar to drink, which was more than she could say for Kadia—but then, the house party had barely begun.
"You will forgive me," said Vollo. "I really must take my leave. The tide won't wait, and neither will the ship's captain."
Viyony shook her self. "Yes, of course. If you will point me in the right direction, I shall be out of your way at once."
"Oh, don't apologise. I'm happy to have made your acquaintance. I hope you enjoy the rest of your visit." He brushed his hands down and gestured towards the door. "Turn left and follow the corridor along to the end and you'll find yourself at the front entrance."
Viyony thanked him, and left, grateful to be out of his way. She was glad to have met someone she had heard talked about so often, but she couldn't feel sorry that business was taking him back to the mainland during the party.
Viyony arrived at the great chamber off the main entrance hall with a sense of having made her way out of a maze, but she found very few of her fellow guests assembled there. Tess Hyan was one of them, and she immediately jumped up and caught Viyony's arm on seeing her tentative entry. Some of the others had gone down to the beach, Tess said, and most of the rest were keeping to their rooms until the worst of the day's heat had passed over. Viyony couldn't blame them. She was beginning to think perhaps she should have done the same.
She and Tess debated whether or not to join the group at the beach—Tess had not dressed for it, and wasn't in the mood to dirty her admittedly pretty green dress with sand and dirt. Halfway through their discussion, Lynah arrived and saved them the trouble of deciding by offering to take the handful of guests gathered there on a tour of the house. Viyony accepted gladly, hoping it would help her familiarise herself with the rambling manor house and Tess was keen to see some changes that they had apparently made to the east wing since her last visit. By the time they had finished, it wasn't worth doing anything more than returning to their rooms in order to dress for dinner.
Viyony examined herself in the long, narrow mirror beside the closet door, turning to an angle, and then gave a quick nod of satisfaction. Hueva, a member of staff here, had looked in earlier to see if she wanted help with anything. Viyony had taken her up on the offer, and Hueva had fixed her hair for her; now tied back with small silver-threaded braids plaited back over a loose tail and decorated with tiny silver and mulberry flower-shaped pins.
She had picked out a grey underdress and a vivid, deep pink overdress, split up the sides and middle, the edges embroidered in silver by her sister Lisiyan, and fastened at the waist with a material belt, also sporting more of her sister's work.
Viyony straightened her outfit and raised her head. It wasn't only doom-laden dreams that had brought her here. She must make her impending marriage work and Eseray thrive, so that Niyno, Liss and Reah would be able to make good use of their talents, to study and to work at the things they wanted to. Some of the contacts she would make here tonight might help her achieve that, so it was about time she went and meant the full assembly of guests.
Dinner was about to be served.
Tess waved Viyony over as soon as she stepped outside onto the paved area of the garden where the guests were gathering.
"That's another of your special Eseray dresses, isn't it?" she said breathlessly. "Gorgeous! I like that colour. You're so clever."
Viyony pressed her arm in return, and laughed. "Thank you. I hope everyone else will be as impressed."
Eollan joined them. "Well, I certainly am. You look lovely."
As their small talk continued, Viyony's gaze drifted past Eollan, over the assembled guests, unconscious of what she was searching for until her eye lighted on someone tall with dark hair, standing with his back to her in a thin dark blue jacket. Her heart instantly lifted, only to sink again as she realised that of course it was not Leion. This man was broader, stockier, and as he turned partway towards her, he looked nothing like him, with a much more angular face. Viyony shook herself, glad that no one could read her mind, and headed over to greet Lynah Allin.
"Imai Eseray." Lynah took her hand. "Just the person I was looking for. This is Aunra Nowin Cavalia, the Ambassador for Low Eisterland. Aunra Cavalia, Imai Eseray is part of the family that runs Eseray Dyes, and she is affianced to Imoren Fioris—I believe you know him?"
Nowin nodded politely. She was an older woman, comfortably broad and of a darker colouring than Viyony. Her hair, pulled back from her face in tiny plaits, had gold and red dyed strands threaded through them. "I've heard good things about him. Rebuilt the family fortunes from the ground up, I understand. Does this mean you've been to our city?"
Viyony answered her questions, and then when she moved on, she bumped into Velin Ienkallis, the Tamarian shipowner who had helped her on the boat over. He was taller than Nowin Cavalia, and light skinned with gleaming silver hair. "Feeling a little better now, I see," he remarked with a brief grin.
"As soon as I was safely on land! Thank you for being so kind earlier. I'm always like that on a boat—I'll never be a good sailor."
Velin shook his head. "A great shame indeed. All my affairs are so bound up with the sea—I would never stand a chance with you, would I?"
"If I were not already engaged, I would brave even seasickness for the honour," she told him. "As it is..." She gave an expressive shrug.
Velin laughed. "Nonsense for nonsense, yes, quite right. Lynah tells me you're looking into exporting to Korphil—dyes, is it?"
"Yes, partly," Viyony said, and set about explaining that they chiefly intended to import some of the raw materials and fabric directly from West Korphil as well as looking into exporting the results. "It does depend on how things develop—my impending marriage is also something of a business arrangement, and once Imoren is fully in partnership with us, we should be able to get to work on expanding our activities."
There was no time for more talk, as Lynah rang the bell for dinner. Viyony, after duly trailing back inside with everyone else, found herself seated between a naval captain, Poll Wyense, and a seed merchant from Southall in South Eastern called Dutez Owayan. It turned out that he also traded heavily with Low Eisterland, and so knew Lialia well, and had some connections with Imoren. The meal was impeccable, but Viyony picked her way first through a light dish of sea darter with rice and Portcallan Bounty, and then chicken with a spicy sauce that reminded her of the meal she had shared with Leion at the Pollens's eatery, mindful of her still unsettled stomach. Dutez asked her about Imoren's business, their engagement—neither of which improved her appetite—although he eventually diverted into discussing the plants the Eserays tended to use in dyeing and which of those he might be able to supply. Captain Wyense was much quieter and talked mainly to the woman sitting on the other side of her, although from time to time she turned and made brief observations about the weather, or how different this coastal area must seem from Viyony's home in the mountains.
Viyony decided she must still be tired from her sickness on the voyage over—as the meal progressed, she developed a growing low headache, and barely touched her dessert, despite its tempting mix of oranges, cream, a light biscuit base and a sauce flavoured with a liqueur. Viyony thought she had encountered that in Lialia, too.
After dinner, everyone returned to the garden, where musicians from the High Emoyran Orchestra played under strings of lightstone lamps, and they were treated to solos by Teo Dilance. He was famous enough that Viyony had heard of him long before she had come to Portcallan. He had been trained at the renowned Pollean Academy in Eisterway, and she had seen him once before at a concert during her visit to Lialia. She wasn't sure of the exact cost of the tickets on that occasion—it had been Imoren's treat—but they could not have been cheap. There was an unsettling unreality to finding him here, casually serenading Lynah's house guests, few of whom were even paying him much attention.
Every other person she talked to also seemed to be someone famous—a playwright or High Councillor or scholar of repute. When she headed over to speak to Tess again, she found her being sketched by an artist, if not very seriously—Tess was not sitting anything like as still as she should.
"Having a good time?" Eollan said, coming to rest beside Viyony.
She slowly drew her gaze from the musicians to face him, and fought to stifle a yawn. It must be later than she had realised. She shook herself and gave Eollan a brief smile. "I am, thank you."
Beyond her, under the lights, Dilance launched into a different song; one that she recognised immediately. Viyony shivered. The Heyal Song. The breeze ruffling her hair and light clothing seemed suddenly colder and less friendly as it carried the strains of the melancholy tune through the evening air.
"From the grey mountainside I plucked the true blue star,
I rested my head and I dreamed of my dear..."
She turned her head to search Eollan's face. "Did you ask for this?"
"Weren't they singing it the night we first met?"
Viyony caught her breath and stiffened. "Eollan," she said. "I don't like it. The song, that is. I'm not sure I like the gesture, either. You know what my situation is."
"Don't be so serious," he told her with a light laugh. "All right. I apologise, but I didn't know. It was supposed to be a traditional song from your region. A little taste of home for you."
Viyony stared ahead. "It's too close to home, unfortunately. I realise you couldn't be expected to know that—but why did you think I'd want reminding of Eseray tonight, anyway?"
"I don't know. An emotive song, in an old and sacred place, perhaps. You never know what a mix of the two might accomplish."
Viyony took a moment to make sense of that. "You thought it might encourage me to dream?"
"Not very likely, I grant you, but I would love to see it happen, if that's the right way of putting it."
She looked past him at the other guests. They were too near to allow for her making a scene, so she drew in a careful breath before she said anything else. "Believe me, you wouldn't. I've told you—it doesn't work like that. And I know I've told you that I don't appreciate you pestering me about it, either."
"I know, I know, I should go jump in the sea and all that. I am sorry. Should I ask Lynah if she can arrange something other than the visit to the starstone grotto for tomorrow?"
Viyony began to head back towards the house. "I'm sure I shall be very interested to see it. It's not that I hate all mention of the Powers, you know. Just that you don't have the right to ask me about my dreams."
"You'd tell them to Valerno, though, wouldn't you?"
Viyony halted sharply. "That's none of your business, either!" she said, lowering her voice. "And if I do sometimes—well, Leion doesn't raise a great song and dance about it. It's not something I'm supposed to talk about in front of strangers—you seem to be forgetting that too."
"True," he said. "Sorry. I'll behave better in the morning. But -" He broke off with a shrug. "Never mind."
"Are you going to warn me not to trust Leion again?" Viyony battled to keep a lid on her temper.
Eollan shook his head. "Pointless. But he's not the serious sort either. I think you know that."
"He wouldn't be any use to me if he were," said Viyony, her voice sounding unsteady in her ears. She marched away from Eollan, arms folded in against herself. It was past time for bed. She was worn out from the voyage over and she still felt hollow, her stomach grumbling over her cautiousness at dinner.
She kept going as fast as she could without attracting notice, past the musicians and guests, skirting around Dutez Owayan, who was in the middle of an intense argument in lowered tones with the dark-haired man she had nearly taken for Leion earlier. Huick Ghalle, Tess had said his name was; a writer for one of Portcallan's most popular newsletters. He looked even less like Leion from this angle.
Owayan caught sight of her and abruptly abandoned his fraught conversation to scurry after her. "Imai Eseray," he called breathlessly and cornered her to talk about whether or not he had good a chance of striking a deal with Imoren over a bulk delivery of jiefra tubers. She discussed the advantages and disadvantages of his proposal as patiently as she could, despite the way her aching head was beginning to throb. People kept reminding her that Imoren was a reality this evening, and she didn't like it.
Viyony stared unseeing at the looking glass as she stood in her cream nightgown, brushing and brushing her hair until it shone with a jetty gloss. She put the brush down on the top of the cabinet with a sigh and tried to rub her headache away from her temples. It didn't work. The wedding was getting closer, and she didn't want to think about it. Best not to borrow trouble. It was going to happen; she had no choice but to go through with it. It didn't help to worry about it now—to let the misery settle inside like lead, so heavy she would never rise again.
Her mouth tightened into a set line. She rose in one brisk movement, and climbed into bed. Mild, sweet scented air wafted in lazily through the wooden lattice. She turned over first one way and then the other, stubbornly wakeful. The bed might well be the most comfortable she'd ever slept in, but she was overtired and longed for something more familiar.
And you wish Leion was here, don't you? she accused herself. She twisted onto her back and stared upwards at the fabric covering over the bed as her hair spread out, vivid black against the pale pillow. She breathed in and out. The net bed hangings billowed gently back and forth as if mimicking her. A sliver of moonlight stole into the room, lighting beside her on the pillow.
She sighed heavily, lines of the Heyal song still circling in her head, the same old words she had heard sung so often in Mirambridge as a mockery by pointing children:
When I came to be wed I was all decked in flowers,
My belt was of ivy to tear down strong walls,
Golden suns and silver thorns made my bower,
At my feast, I drank of rue and betrayal.
"Enough," she said under her breath.
She closed her eyes, and finally silenced her thoughts sufficiently to escape into confused but mercifully normal dreams—of shipwrecks and songs that never ended, and walking and walking with Imoren towards a wedding table they couldn't reach. Then, suddenly, she found herself instead sitting beside the pool in the Allin House garden in an atmosphere of moonlit calm. Leion was beside her. He cast a stone into the lake and they watched the ripples spread out until the water finally stilled again. Viyony was sitting at once on both the soft bedding from her room in Allin House and a rock, while the stark height of Eseray's ravine loomed opposite, casting a dark shadow over that side of the pool. She could see the Moon Gallery right at the top, far away. Fern the cat lazed about nearby on the paving stones.
"Well, this is odd," said Leion eventually, taking her hand. They both gazed at the moon's reflection in the water. Viyony tried to raise her head to see it in the sky, but she couldn't. There was no sky. Dizzy, she gripped Leion's fingers tightly until the scene steadied back into its previous placidity. They were even closer now, Viyony pressed up against his side. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, all of it had evaporated—moon, water, rocks, Eseray, cat, and Leion. She walked instead through a whole chain of empty rooms, pale curtains waving in an unfelt breeze as something unseen trailed behind her. She woke with a start in the darkness of a strange bedchamber, her heart thudding.
The encounter with Leion at the pool seemed so much more vivid than the rest; enough so that she turned, sleepily expecting him to be near. "Leion?" she murmured, and sat up. She pressed a hand to her face, as if to hide her folly from the night.
The room and the bed were both hers alone. She forced a laugh, and lay back down, finally sinking into a far more restful slumber. She didn't wake again until it was nearly the ninth hour of the morning.
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I just like this entire conversation.
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Now I am kind of wondering why Leion doesn't go there anymore, although I guess it could just be as simple as "pissed off the wrong rich person".
When she talks about Vollo bringing Kadia into his marriage, she just means as a mistress or something, right? I'd imagine that if three-person marriages were a thing, she'd be less unhappy about her own upcoming marriage.
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It's always an option! XD
When she talks about Vollo bringing Kadia into his marriage, she just means as a mistress or something, right? I'd imagine that if three-person marriages were a thing, she'd be less unhappy about her own upcoming marriage.
No, 3+ person marriages are definitely a thing! As Viyony's marriage comes up, I'll probably go into that a bit and not just in passing, but we have seen briefly that her Aunt Diyela has 2 spouses. Marriage is actually quite complicated in Emoyra, and comes in three forms, the main two being avowed and legal. Viyony is just digging a gigantic hole for herself, which is why she keeps meeting with judgement on the subject - she's setting up a (legal, but not avowed) marriage that is a binding business agreement with a lot of restrictions to protect the business that wouldn't usually be the case & will also prevent any early divorce. Plus, which is something she mentioned a few times in very early pieces, she has dream warnings about it not going well. (She used to dream of disaster overtaking & destroying Eseray until she arranged the marriage; now she just dreams of being personally very unhappy, which is fine obv).
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Ahh, that's right, I had forgotten about that, it was a while ago. Interesting that there are different kinds of marriage.
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Oooooh, are we sharing dreams?
I wondered if anyone would notice that! XD