THE NEXT DAY, with a clear head, Issa could see the advantages of the betrothal. It would end the threats of war with Rurik and the constant fear of spies from King Haikor. The stress in her people’s hearts would be decreased, and the neweyr would benefit, as well, since it could unfold more freely in the south, without the threat of invasion.
And even if the two islands were not magically combined as the prophecy promised, they would still be politically united. Weirland had suffered for years from the tariffs that the Rurese charged when goods were transported north. Because ships from the continent could more easily cross the ocean to the southern island of Rurik, the Rurese had almost complete control of continental trade that was shipped north over the land bridge. But all that would be ended if the two kingdoms were one.
Telling herself that she had not yet given up her place in Weirland, Issa went out to the tangled Queen’s Garden, which lay in a far and private courtyard of the palace. She could always feel the neweyr strongest here, since both she and her mother had left paths of it in past years. This was where she had gone the day her mother had died, just before she had come into her own neweyr, when only the earth itself seemed able to comfort her.
Issa fingered a wilting pansy. She could withdraw the neweyr from it, letting it wither quickly and sink back into the earth, but she felt that it had beauty even at the end of its life, and so she let it be. She noticed the ivy growing near her window, and with a wave of her hand, directed it to remain at a height that would keep it from pulling down the white stones of the castle.
Putting a hand on the ground, she let her sense of neweyr sink down into the lower level of the dirt, beneath the upper layer of soil, below the bedrock on which the castle’s foundation had been built. Each part had its own distinct taste of neweyr, the oldest parts darker and colder, the newer parts richer and fuller. Guiding the neweyr, Issa brought water up from an underground stream to saturate the dirt. Coming from this depth, the water was cold, which would stimulate the plants to prepare for winter. She enjoyed the smell of the decaying leaves, the neweyr floating off of them into the air to share with all the surrounding life.
When she looked up into the sky again, she realized she had spent too long in the garden. She had to prepare for her meeting with Duke Kellin. She hurried inside to dress.
Issa’s maid used neweyr to coax her thick, curly dark hair into a single plait that sat low on her back. The braid was traditional in Weirland, the sign that a woman had come fully into her neweyr. Only a girl without neweyr wore her hair unbraided. But there were some women who wore many bunches of small braids, who looped their braids into elaborate coifs to mimic the court style of Rurik. For today, Issa would wear the simple style to show Duke Kellin that whatever happened with the betrothal, she would always be a princess of Weirland.
She wore her best short-sleeved damask gown, but added a shawl over it, for the castle could be cool even in late summer. The shawl had been knitted with neweyr in an elaborate pattern that echoed the braids the women wore. Issa had designed it herself, and she was proud of her work.
She went downstairs and found her father on his throne. It was made from a single piece of white sea-stone, shot through with threads of black and silver. They formed patterns that Issa had once believed would show her the answer to the prophecy, if only she looked hard enough.
Duke Kellin and her father were already there, waiting for her. Their silence was not a comfortable one.
“I am sorry to be late, Father,” said Issa, head bowed.
“I shall explain any necessary details to you later, Issa, when Duke Kellin has gone,” said King Jaap. “There is no need for him to waste his time with repeating what he has already said.”
“My time is not wasted when I am serving you in any capacity, Your Majesty,” said Kellin. “Though perhaps your daughter does not know how valuable the time of her father the king is.”
“She is my only child, and the image of her dead mother. I have indulged her too much,” said King Jaap.
Issa flushed, embarrassed that her father was forced to lower himself in the eyes of another kingdom’s emissary. “I apologize to you, as well, Duke Kellin,” she said.
“Clearly. I should ask King Haikor to send someone else to speak to you on this matter, someone whose company you would find less loathsome,” said Kellin. “It would take some weeks for the journey back to Rurik and here again, but it could be done. King Haikor would want to ensure that you had no grudge against the man with whom you will hold such a deep obligation.”
“No! I did not mean that at all,” said Issa. “It was nothing personal. I was late because I was distracted with the neweyr in the Queen’s Garden.” She hated to admit a true weakness, but she had no choice.
“Yes? And does this happen often?” asked Kellin.
“I shall work hard to ensure that it does not happen when I am in Rurik,” said Issa. To herself she wondered if there was enough neweyr there for anyone to be distracted by it, either in King Haikor’s court or out.
“You will work hard?” said Kellin.
“She will make sure of it,” King Jaap said.
“My own subjects appreciate my abilities with the neweyr,” Issa said stiffly. How dare this duke of Rurik come here, demand she marry the puny prince of his kingdom, and then tell her that she was not good enough as a princess?
“But Rurik is different than Weirland, as perhaps you might have heard if you had been here while I spoke to your father.”
“I have said I am sorry and I have promised it will not happen again,” said Issa.
Kellin took a deep breath. “Quite right,” he said, and the tension seemed to melt out of him.
There was a silence and Issa knew that it was her place to break it.
“I shall agree to the betrothal,” she said, and found herself looking for her father’s smile and slight nod of approval.
“That is good to hear,” said Kellin. “Well, then the official ceremony will be scheduled for the first day of autumn in the new year. I shall remain for a few days here in Weirland until I know all your father’s needs with regard to the official documents,” said Kellin. “King Haikor instructed me to tell you to bring a retinue of up to twenty women to the palace, as well as twice that many guards.”
“I do not know how many guards my father will wish to accompany me.” Twenty guards was more than he had for himself, even when he left the castle. But Weirland was not Rurik. “I shall not need so many women, however. Perhaps five.” It would be difficult for her to find that many, in fact.
Kellin’s eyebrows rose. “Five for the princess of Weirland and the future queen of Rurik? Well, it is to be your choice.”
The future queen of Rurik and Weirland, Issa thought to herself.
Kellin turned to her father. “Then we are finished, King Jaap.”
“Wait,” said Issa. “I had a question to ask you regarding Prince Edik. What does he love best? If I were to bring a gift for him, what should I bring?”
“I am sure that he would like anything that you would like to bring him, in honor of your own kingdom and yourself,” said Kellin.
But she did not mean that kind of gift. Of course, she would bring official gifts from her kingdom. She meant a personal gift. “A metal soldier?” she hazarded.
There was a momentary twitch in Kellin’s face. “He has a fondness for metal soldiers,” he admitted, but it seemed it was with reluctance. He had brought a metal figure as a gift for Issa to Weirland. In Rurik, however, her presentation of Edik’s gift would be public. It would be very different and the boy would not wish to be seen as a child.
“I might bring instead something that he will remember me by. A book of poems that I loved as a child?” said Issa.
“Yes,” said Kellin politely. “I’m sure that he would like that.” His eyes seemed distant.
Not a book of poems, then. “Or a hound that I have raised myself?” Issa asked. Must she continue to guess at what the prince would like?
“You raise hounds?” asked Kellin with surprise.
“With the help of my servants,” said Issa.
“Well, then, a hound would be a perfect gift. Edik loves the king’s hounds. I am sure he would like to have one of his own,” said Kellin.
“Ah,” said Issa. “Thank you!” Some truly personal information about the young prince at last.
Duke Kellin bowed and excused himself, leaving Issa once more alone with her father.
“I am sorry,” she said again. All this time, her father had put up with her. She had not seen herself as petted and spoiled until now. “I did not mean to embarrass you in front of that man.” She shivered, though she knew she would have to get used to him, and more than that, to King Haikor himself.
Her father put a hand on her shoulder. “You are doing well, Issa. You have always made me proud of you, and I expect no less this time. You may even enjoy the court of Rurik. You have a bright mind. There will be so many things for you to learn there that I could never offer you here.”
“I’d rather not learn them, then,” said Issa. It was true, even if it was petulant.
“King Haikor is not the only man in his court,” said her father. “There will be others who are as interesting as Duke Kellin is.”
Issa did not like Kellin at all. He was arrogant, presumptuous, and he could only see the bad in things. Or at least the bad in her. “If by interesting you mean disagreeable,” she said.
Her father laughed. “My only worry is that Duke Kellin is too honest and faithful a man to last long with King Haikor.”
“He seems intelligent,” Issa allowed. “But that does not excuse his arrogance.”
“And so you would not mind seeing him die at King Haikor’s hands, his heart stopped with taweyr on the Tower Green?” asked her father.
The thought made Issa feel ill. “Of course, I would mind that,” she said. “I would not wish to see anyone face that fate, especially undeserving.”
“Well, Issa, try your best to see that he is not deserving of it. He may be your one ally when you arrive there.”
Issa did not understand what her father meant. If she was sure of one thing, it was that Kellin was not to be her ally, here or in Rurik.