DragonKnight - Donita K. Paul [66]
She’ll need to go shopping as well. And Granny Kye will want new things for the children. Our purse is going to be depleted before we even set foot in the Northern Reach.
They arrived at the magistrate’s office at four and, therefore, had to sit politely through the afternoon ritual of umbering. Umbering was practiced all over Amara in different styles. In Wittoom, the small repast included fancy treats of small number. In Ordray, the break for nourishment looked more like a full meal. Here in Ianna, the slow, ceremonial serving emphasized the importance of relaxing rather than the food.
They drank heated juices and ate small daggarts and crisp, fresh vegetables cut and layered with a creamed cheese. Bardon’s appetite reflected a skipped noonmeal. The delicacies impressed N’Rae, and she asked many questions about the types of vegetables and the different ways they could be prepared.
“Goodness, girl,” said the magistrate with a laugh. “Where have you lived all your life?”
Bardon moved his foot under the table and managed to connect with her shin before she proclaimed she had lived with ropma. He was proud of her when she smoothly answered, “We lived deep in the country where there wasn’t a great variety of food, but still plenty to keep us healthy.”
Finally, they made their way through the busy streets to the jail. The office shone from its recent scrubbing. A new desk and chair replaced the battered table and stool. A decent young o’rant stood to give them assistance when they came through the door.
“Quite,” he answered stiffly when the magistrate asked him if he was aware of the mess of misunderstanding that the former jailers had managed to tangle around a simple matter.
“Good, then,” said Inkleen. “We will release the emerlindian woman and the children. She now understands the customs of our people and will not repeat her mistake.”
The young jailer didn’t know to whom he should offer the lone seat, the lady or the magistrate. Bardon saw the confusion on his face as he fingered the back of the chair. He caught the man’s eye and looked pointedly from the chair to N’Rae. The jailer’s face relaxed, and he nodded.
“Miss, would you like to sit while I go fetch your grandmother?”
Again, Bardon witnessed the training her mother must have given N’Rae even as they lived among the primitives.
N’Rae curtsied and turned to the elderly magistrate. “I do not wish to be seated. Magistrate Inkleen, would you like the chair?”
He nodded and sat in the humble wooden chair as if it were his elaborately carved seat behind his judge’s bench.
Bardon noted the jailer only had to go directly to the small room off to the side of the office to retrieve the key. After all the events of the day, the quiet interlude while they waited seemed too quiet and too long.
He heard laughing and giggling and the soft tread of bare feet. The six children seemed to be in high spirits. They made plenty of noise in the underground corridor. The jailer came first through the doorway from the stairs. The children poured in after him, and Granny Kye brought up the rear. In her arms, she held a baby. The children hushed and stared at the men.
“I thought you said six,” Holt said under his breath.
“I did,” answered Bardon.
“There are more than six.”
The squire nodded. “I counted. There are fifteen, not including the baby.”
“I can explain,” said Granny Kye.
“I’m sure you can.”
“Please do,” encouraged the magistrate, not bothering to keep the amused smile from his face.
“The six children had brothers, sisters, and friends.”
“I’m a cousin,” piped up a curly-headed moptop.
“And cousins,” added Granny Kye.
The same child tugged on the granny’s sleeve. “I think I am the only cousin.”
“And one cousin,” the old emerlindian corrected.
“And,” said the magistrate, “when torrents of rain made the day uncomfortable on the streets, they broke into jail.”
“You are so right.” Granny Kye beamed. “You must be the magistrate, since you are the one with such a clear way of thinking.”
Inkleen nodded his head wisely. “And the other