in a sconce next to the window.
'Do you think we might eat soon?' Sela said, breaking the silence between them that had lasted almost the entire trip.
'What?' Everess said, starting. 'Oh, yes. My apologies. I myself never eat more than one meal a day-I find eating to be a singular waste of time and do it as seldom as possible.'
Looking at Everess's round belly, Sela imagined that his single meal must be quite something to behold.
'We'll be at my city home shortly, and I'll have the chef prepare a little something for us.'
A little something turned out to be a feast the likes of which Sela had never seen: roasted grouse, a ham, a side of beef, with turnips, squash, pumpkin, potatoes, and beets. Bowls of rose petals and chrysanthemums were constantly refilled by servants-Sela stuck mostly to these, having never developed a taste for meat.
Everess's city home was at least the size of Copperine House, and in the middle of the city-on the Boulevard Laurwelana which, Everess had pointed out, was the most exclusive street in the city. All Sela knew was that she felt comfortable here.
The street outside was loud and confusing. Strangers were everywhere. She would have to get used to strangers. She'd known everyone at Copperine House, understood how they fit. Even when new residents or staff arrived, she had a context in which to place them. But here in the city, everyone was new all the time. They came and went. She barely had time to get a sense of one before that one was gone and another came along. It made her head hurt.
'Are you well?' said Everess, pausing over a bite of ham.
'Yes,' she said. She touched her forehead and it felt clammy. 'I'd like to see my room, please.'
The bedroom was papered in dark damask, and the bedclothes were a deep burgundy. Everess had remembered, at least, how she preferred her surroundings. Her clothes had already been unpacked and put away. Her few personal items were on a table by the bed.
She lied down, fully clothed, fingering the Accursed Object on her upper arm, wondering whether they were going to take it off of her. The thought both frightened and excited her.
But mostly frightened.
The Promenade extends from the southern (and always open) drawbridge of the Great Seelie Keep to the Houses of Corpus, where lords and guildsmen argue and maneuver and, from time to time, legislate the workings of Seelie government. Though Titania's rule is absolute, the complexities of day-to-day affairs she leaves to those who are affected by them more than she. The Seelie queen presides primarily over matters of state and, to a lesser extent, the management of the social aspect of Seelie life, which is, to the Fae mind, at least as important as the affairs of state, if not more so.
The drawbridge passes over the Grand Moat, which is more impressive for its beauty than for its defensive capabilities, especially considering that the Great Seelie Keep has never in recorded history been the target of an attack.The moat is home to a hundred species of fish and frog, and other creatures that are unseen, but whose song emanates in a hush from the water, a sonorous plea that induces poets to weep.
The Promenade is the home to the many offices of Seelie government.The Foreign Ministry and the Secretariat of State reside in a stately, if dull, pile of stones on the Left Walk, and the Barrack, which houses the high command of the Seelie Army, sits opposite. The fact that these two buildings sit opposing one another is metaphorical fodder for political wags who frequently point out that the government and the army have been known to work at cross purposes more often than not.
The Barrack is a recent structure, a mere hundred years old. For many thousands of years, the army was housed in the Great Seelie Keep itself, but its oftadversarial relationship with the Royal Guard, also (and still) quartered there, resulted in its removal to a safer distance.
Stil-Eret,''The City Emerald;' from Travels at Home and Abroad
ilverdun, having regained his taste for the dress of nobility, if not its pretenses, presented himself at the Barrack the morning after his dinner with Everess, Heron, and Glennet. A surly corporal took his calling card and bade him wait, then directed him to follow, walking at such a pace as to require that Silverdun trot along behind him. The corporal led Silverdun to a small meeting room, ushered him in, and closed the door. Alone, Silverdun sat drumming his fingers upon the table, looking out the window down at the Promenade where Seelie without any seeming cares strolled the wide avenue, laughing and talking in the noonday sun.
