Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon [32]
“What other arts do you have?”
“Knightly only, or—”
“All of them. And do not fear to bore me—if your secret passion is embroidery, tell me.”
Her family all laughed at that; so did the girl. “The only way to make Gwenno embroider is to tie her to a chair,” her mother said. “She’s passable with weaving—sashes at least—but that’s all.”
“Well, then, my lord,” the girl said, “I ride well enough, my father says, and I can drive a pair. As you know, we are horse-breeders, and I trained my own mount. My teachers taught me reading, writing, and ciphering, enough to provision a troop or a household. I know the use of court-sword fairly well, but the battle sword I have only begun in the past year. I have done some archery.”
“Tactics?” Dorrin said.
“No, my lord, not beyond what my brothers have told me. If I were admitted to the Bells for training or Fin Panir, I would learn, but—”
“It’s not necessary,” Dorrin said. “If you have the interest, I can teach you tactics.” She liked the look of the girl—a little younger than the recruits the Company accepted, but the same kind of energy and will.
Through dinner, Aris and Gwennothlin served, Aris with more polish than his sister; Juris, the eldest son, sat at the foot of the table.
The entire family, down to children seated on pillows, ate together. Dorrin realized she had never seen a family dinner in a noble or even wealthy merchant house. Gwennothlin and Aris both wiped up the spills of younger children, straightened their pillows, cut and served their food, with the same aplomb as they served the elders, and the conversation at table included all. The youngsters finished first and left the table.
“Come, sit with us, Gwenno,” Marrakai said. “Aris, when you’ve cleared up the children’s things, come join us.” He turned to Dorrin. “Many lords do not let children eat with adults, but our tradition is that once a day at least, the generations meet. It keeps us all alert.”
“I never thought of that,” Dorrin said. She could not imagine such a dinner as this in her childhood, nor had she thought of having the Verrakai children eat with her. She had left their care to those she thought appropriate, but what training did the nursery staff have?
For that matter, she needed a new steward at the steading and a watchman or someone to stay in the house in Vérella as well as someone—but what and who?—to help with the children. She asked.
Both Duke Marrakai and his lady were glad to help. “Of course you need a steward, and you also need a housekeeper,” Lady Marrakai said. “If those children have been left in the care of nursery-maids all this time, they surely need a tutor—at least one. What staff do you have now? Are you pleased with them?”
Dorrin explained. “Some were Liartians—well, most had been threatened into saying they were, but only a few wore the horned chain. The kitchen staff—I’ve got a very capable head cook, and the one I brought with me is competent with the basics. Housekeeper—I’m not even sure what a housekeeper does; we never had one at Kieri’s stronghold.”
“Ah,” Lady Marrakai said. “Then you need help, my dear—I hope you don’t mind my saying that—”
“Not at all,” Dorrin said.
“The proper organization of a ducal household will reassure your people as well as make your life much easier. To start with, you need experienced senior staff. Since you already have a cook, you’re in luck—good head cooks are the hardest to find. How is her bread?”
“Very good,” Dorrin said.
“Excellent. Now, I presume there’s a garden and a fruit orchard.”
“Yes,” Dorrin said.
“How many gardeners?”
Dorrin was ashamed to admit that even after a quarter-year she was not sure, nor did she know anything about the training of the dairy staff, the brewing staff, or even—as Marrakai chimed in—the stable staff.
“Not to worry,” Lady Marrakai said, more cheerfully than Dorrin expected. “If you have to start from the bottom, you’ll know more when you’re done. Gwenno, go fetch my domestic journal.”
This philosophy was so alien to the Verrakai way of doing things that Dorrin felt once more how