Though Precious Wind had said this quietly, and though her face was still, Xulai felt the words like hammer blows. She knew Precious Wind. She was saying that something had happened that was more important than a mere romance, something of portent.
Precious Wind turned to look directly into Xulai’s eyes, nodded slightly, and went on: “Their fates were cast with their first glance at each other, and the duke went to the ambassador on his knees to ask for her. There were lengthy negotiations.”
“Negotiating what?” Xulai asked.
“Everything,” growled Bear, throwing up his hands. “On Wold’s side: dowry. On Tingawa’s side: wife-price. That’s another of our differences. In Norland, women are so little valued, a man must be paid to a take a wife; in Tingawa, women are so greatly treasured, a man must pay dearly to get one, as I have good reason to know!” Bear still owed a large part of the bride-price for his own betrothed, and getting it by wagering had proven unprofitable.
Precious Wind took up the story. “The ambassador, Lok-i-xan, had already allowed his six elder daughters to become first wives to nobles of leading Tingawa clans, and he had obtained sisters or cousins of these highborn men as wives for all six of his sons in Clan Do-Lok. In this manner, Prince Lok-i-xan had already made a dozen alliances with wealth and power, enough to satisfy his ambitions several times over.”
“What were his ambitions?” Xulai asked.
Bear answered. “Clan Do-Lok has been a century putting its alliances together. We are far too lowly to be told anything about them, though everyone knows Clan Do-Lok now heads the roll of great clans in Tingawa. Only the emperor ranks higher, and even he rules only as allowed by Do-Lok.”
Precious Wind nodded in agreement. “This marriage of his youngest daughter evidently fit into Do-Lok plans well enough, though Tingawa made it look like a sizeable concession. Perhaps they felt that a seventh daughter was worth building good relationships with barbarian Norland. At any rate, the ambassador said, so let it be.”
“Mirami was a widow with children,” said Abasio, returning to the earlier subject. “Why would a king marry someone with a family to complicate the succession?”
Bear laughed. “It was his fourth marriage. During the preceding five years, he had had three noble, virginal wives in a row, each of whom died without producing any children at all. Perhaps that was enough excuse for choosing a wife who had proven herself capable . . .”
“Not to mention expeditious,” murmured Precious Wind, “as regards fecundity.”
Abasio murmured, “Since the king had been unable to impregnate his three former wives, I am surprised there weren’t some questions as to who actually, ah . . .”
“Sired either the Kamfels or Gahls offspring?” Precious Wind finished his question. “There may have been whispers, but the queen has several faithful and very dangerous gentleman advisers who are known to react violently against anyone speculating on the queen’s virtue. If anyone thought of doing so, chances are the matter remained unspoken—or was spoken of only once by someone who subsequently went away on a long, long journey.”
Xulai had been trying to remember where this conversation had begun. “I asked about curses . . .”
“Which led us to Alicia, who is half sister to the crown prince,” Precious Wind agreed. “From the time he was born, she had been his constant playmate and companion. Rancitor grew to love Alicia more than anyone. In fact, when he was about six or seven, he asked his father to award her the duchy of Altamont, which was at the time ownerless.”
Abasio looked up sharply. “A six-year-old thought of that?”
“Not very likely, is it?” Bear grumped. “The king was so besotted with having a son he didn’t ask whose idea it was. It may well have been Alicia’s idea; more likely hers than her mother’s. It’s rumored the queen had a prior claim to Altamont through a former association with the Old Dark Man, and she wasn’t delighted at its having been given to Alicia . . .”
“Especially since the queen knew nothing about it until it was done,” said Precious Wind. “Alicia was only eight when she came to court, only fourteen when she became Duchess of Altamont.”
“And this was how long ago?” Abasio asked.
Precious Wind returned to her stitchery, ignoring the question. “It was five or six years after she became Duchess of Altamont that she proposed marriage to Justinian through the mouth of her half brother, the crown prince.”
Abasio ran his fingers through his hair and made a face. “I have to confess complete ignorance about Altamont.”
Bear leaned forward to grasp a charred stick from the fire and draw with it upon the hearthstone. “Here is Wold, shaped rather like a square. The square is split from north to south by Woldswater Running and is limited on the east by the great cliffs and on the west by the peaks of the Icefang range; from those peaks the mountains slope westward almost to the sea. On that western slope, from mountain to sea, from south to north, lie the fiefdoms of Wellsmouth, Marish, Chasm, Combe, and Vale, all of them owing allegiance to Etershore-Across-the-Water, where the king’s younger half brother, Prince Orez, rules his own lands, left to him by his mother.”
Bear thumped his stick on the hearth. “Back to this land of Wold: the northern end is much higher in altitude than the southern end. The northern edge is completely taken up with an arc of tall peaks between us and Ragnibar Fjord, cut only by the Stoneway and curved like an upside-down U. From there the mountains make the rest of the U, marching southward on both east and west. On the east
