Read Online Thendara House by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marion Zimmer Bradley
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was a greenhouse - the inevitable feature of most homes in Thendara - with solar collectors, and a woman wearing a huge overall wrap, kneeling in the dirt and patting soil around the roots of some plant Magda did not recognize. She was a big woman, with curly, almost frizzy straw-colored hair, her fingers grubby with soil.
“Rezi, this is Margali n’ha Ysabet, Jaelle’s oath-daughter. Irmelin asked me if there was any fresh fruit for tonight.”
“Not tonight or tomorrow,” said Rezi, “but perhaps after that; I have a few berries for Byrna - “
“Why should Byrna have them when there are not enough for us all?” demanded Doria, and Rezi chuckled. Her accent was coarse and country; she looked like one of the peasant women Magda had seen in the Kilghard hills, working in field or byre.
“Marisela ordered it; when you’re pregnant you’ll get the first berries too,” Rezi said, laughing.
Doria giggled and said, “I’ll make do with stewed fruit!”
They went on through the greenhouse, into the stable where half a dozen horses were kept with several empty stalls; a barn behind, clean and whitewashed with a pleasant smell of hay, held about half a dozen milk animals, and a small dairy where, Doria informed her, they made all their own butter and cheese. Shining wooden molds, well-scrubbed, hung on the wall, but again, the place was deserted. A winter garden, with scattered straw banking some buried root vegetables, looked bleak and chilly. Magda was shivering; Doria said, surprised, “Are you cold?” She herself had not even bothered to pull her shawl about her shoulders. “I thought you were from Caer Donn; it doesn’t seem cold at all, not to me. But we can go inside,” she agreed, and led the way through a huge room which she called the armory - there were weapons hanging on the walls - but which looked to Magda more like a gymnasium, with mats on the floors and a sign reading, in very evenly printed casta: Leave your shoes neatly at the side; someone could fall over them . There was a small changing room at the side, with towels and odd garments hanging on hooks, which reminded Magda of the Recreation Building in Unmarried Women’s Headquarters. Behind it was a larger room filled, to Magda’s amazement, with steam, and hidden in the steam, a pool of apparently hot water. She had heard that there were many private houses in Thendara located over hot springs, but this was the first time she had seen it. Another sign read Please be courteous to other women; wash your feet before entering pool .
“This was built only four or five years ago,” said Doria. “One of our rich patrons had it built in the house; before that, we had only the tubs on the dormitory floors! It’s very good after unarmed-combat lessons, to soak out the bruises! Rafi and Camilla are wonderful teachers, but they are rough on anyone they suspect of slacking! I’ve had lessons since I was eight years old, but Rafi is my oath-mother and my foster-mother, and she doesn’t like to teach me. Come, let’s go upstairs,” she added, and they went along another corridor to the stairs. “Here is the nursery at the top of the landing - there is no one in it now except Felicia’s little boy, and he will leave us in another moon; no male child over five may live in the Guild House. But Byrna will have a baby in another month,” she said, opening the door to the room, where a small boy was playing with some toy horses on a rug before the fire, and a young woman, sewing on something, sat in an armchair.
“How are you today, Byrna? This is Margali n’ha Ysabet, she is new - “
“I saw her last night at supper,” Byrna said, while Magda wondered if every woman in the house had noticed her. She rose restlessly, pacing the room. “I’m tired of dragging around like this, but Mansela said it would be at least another tenday, perhaps a whole moon. Where is Jaelle? I had hardly a minute to speak with her last night!”
Magda realized again how
“Rezi, this is Margali n’ha Ysabet, Jaelle’s oath-daughter. Irmelin asked me if there was any fresh fruit for tonight.”
“Not tonight or tomorrow,” said Rezi, “but perhaps after that; I have a few berries for Byrna - “
“Why should Byrna have them when there are not enough for us all?” demanded Doria, and Rezi chuckled. Her accent was coarse and country; she looked like one of the peasant women Magda had seen in the Kilghard hills, working in field or byre.
“Marisela ordered it; when you’re pregnant you’ll get the first berries too,” Rezi said, laughing.
Doria giggled and said, “I’ll make do with stewed fruit!”
They went on through the greenhouse, into the stable where half a dozen horses were kept with several empty stalls; a barn behind, clean and whitewashed with a pleasant smell of hay, held about half a dozen milk animals, and a small dairy where, Doria informed her, they made all their own butter and cheese. Shining wooden molds, well-scrubbed, hung on the wall, but again, the place was deserted. A winter garden, with scattered straw banking some buried root vegetables, looked bleak and chilly. Magda was shivering; Doria said, surprised, “Are you cold?” She herself had not even bothered to pull her shawl about her shoulders. “I thought you were from Caer Donn; it doesn’t seem cold at all, not to me. But we can go inside,” she agreed, and led the way through a huge room which she called the armory - there were weapons hanging on the walls - but which looked to Magda more like a gymnasium, with mats on the floors and a sign reading, in very evenly printed casta: Leave your shoes neatly at the side; someone could fall over them . There was a small changing room at the side, with towels and odd garments hanging on hooks, which reminded Magda of the Recreation Building in Unmarried Women’s Headquarters. Behind it was a larger room filled, to Magda’s amazement, with steam, and hidden in the steam, a pool of apparently hot water. She had heard that there were many private houses in Thendara located over hot springs, but this was the first time she had seen it. Another sign read Please be courteous to other women; wash your feet before entering pool .
“This was built only four or five years ago,” said Doria. “One of our rich patrons had it built in the house; before that, we had only the tubs on the dormitory floors! It’s very good after unarmed-combat lessons, to soak out the bruises! Rafi and Camilla are wonderful teachers, but they are rough on anyone they suspect of slacking! I’ve had lessons since I was eight years old, but Rafi is my oath-mother and my foster-mother, and she doesn’t like to teach me. Come, let’s go upstairs,” she added, and they went along another corridor to the stairs. “Here is the nursery at the top of the landing - there is no one in it now except Felicia’s little boy, and he will leave us in another moon; no male child over five may live in the Guild House. But Byrna will have a baby in another month,” she said, opening the door to the room, where a small boy was playing with some toy horses on a rug before the fire, and a young woman, sewing on something, sat in an armchair.
“How are you today, Byrna? This is Margali n’ha Ysabet, she is new - “
“I saw her last night at supper,” Byrna said, while Magda wondered if every woman in the house had noticed her. She rose restlessly, pacing the room. “I’m tired of dragging around like this, but Mansela said it would be at least another tenday, perhaps a whole moon. Where is Jaelle? I had hardly a minute to speak with her last night!”
Magda realized again how
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