Lady Al-Uzza's discomfort was soothed away by Decebal's almost flattering presentation of honor. She sat at his right hand and was offered the choicest selections of the meal. At his left, his wife, Lady Sindal sat and chattered on about the various mundane details of the business of the priesthood in Midloth. Decebal interjected comments about the business of running the city but generally focused his attention on Althos for news of the war raging to the south.
The heavy set woman found her desire to comfort herself met by the exotic banquet of fruit, fowl, and other fare. The spice laden meal was not as rich as what she thought it would be but it was greater than the sparse meals she had grown accustomed to as a lowly secretary. She could eat and when she finished her first course a second appeared shortly there after. Al-Uzza decided that perhaps if she just focused on her food and waited, Decebal and Sindal would continue their prating until the meal was finished and she could go rest.
Instead, there were awkward pauses in conversation where Al-Uzza was in the middle of eating something and was expected to have something to say. There was times where Al-Uzza commented on the food when the conversation had gone quiet instead of adding something worthwhile. In whole, she proved herself to be a poor guest and a boor. Decebal marveled at this awkward, large woman's presence and questioned what reason she was sent north under priestess black. He tried desperately to figure out what Al-Uzza could possibly have to offer and quietly despaired while watching her eagerly eat everything put before her.
After the final course had been set for the meal, Decebal clapped his hands three times. This nonverbal command told his household to clear away the meal and secure the room for important business was to be conducted. As the servants took away the platters and bowls, Al-Uzza managed to restrain a small belch of satisfaction with finally being able to eat as much as made her content with out having to go through the work of bullying junior secretaries for portions of their meal. "You set an excellent table," Al-Uzza sighed. Decebal frowned. Sindal looked at Al-Uzza with something like disgust for a moment.
"What is your purpose for coming north, Lady Al-Uzza?" Sindal asked bluntly. Al-Uzza blinked with surprise. She had not anticipated a younger priestess to speak to her in such a tone. She had gotten used to the idea that as an elder secretary, she was treated with deference. Now, she discovered that this woman who was at least twenty years her junior spoke with boldness and bluntess she was unfamiliar with. "At last I knew, Al-Uzza was the Empress's head secretary. Now you are here in priestess black instead of librarian grey. I doubt that the Empress has need of a secretary conducting a census or learning what manner of delicacies are served in the North. What are you truly here about?"
Al-Uzza colored at Sindal's words but the look from the silent sister in white told her that her every word was being measured and quite possibly reported back to the Empress herself. "Govenor Bastzia has sent word south of the troubles facing him. News has come to her Serene Highness that there are those who would move against the order of the Lady and all who have pledged themselves to Her," Al-Uzza answered. Sindal's look of mistrust eased somewhat.
"Yes," the ranking priestess of Midloth said, "There is a movement of malcontents. They have been quelled in Midloth but they are still present. As you travel north, you will find yourself at the risk of encountering them. I would advise you to travel as I do, within a litter. They will think you only a wealthy traveler. Given the armed company that travels with you, I think they will be sufficient to keep you safe. There are those who believe that Julara is a false goddess and then there are those who believe that her Daughter has broken faith rather than fulfilled prophecy."
"And what do you believe?" Al-Uzza asked. Sindal looked at Decebal and to the acolyte in white. She gave a small sigh and turned her gaze back to Al-Uzza.
"Julara is our Mother. She provides the rivers and green fields that nourish us. Her Daughter is her presence in the world. All that she has done is holy and in her Mother's name. It is not my place to question our Serene Highness and her judgment. I am but her servant in all things." Al-Uzza nodded with a smile on her face that would possibly have been reassuring to someone less experienced. Sindal, who had become accustomed to the courtiers of Midloth attempting to connive her saw something of that in Al-Uzza's nearly pleasant expression. "I assume that you also hold this to be true," Sindal said mildly. Decebal shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Althos coughed to cover up a noise of surprise.
"As do all of the priesthood who have been blessed to serve our Mother and the lower orders," Al-Uzza said in an equally bland tone with her expression fixed in the falsely pleasant smile, "I am honored but remain a humble servant of our dear Lady. Glory is for the vain when the true joy is in our work." Sindal made a noise that Al-Uzza suspected was of disbelief but she was unsure. Instead of continuing to cross verbal swords with the younger yet more experienced priestess, Al-Uzza chose to focus on the matter of the malcontented. "You tell me that Midloth had quelled these upstarts. In what number did they make their presence known? Did they have aid from the outsiders?"
Decebal let out a breath he had been holding. He had expected his lady wife to get into an argument with the emissary of the Empress given her short temper for dissembling and decietful people. Relieved that the argument was not going to happen, Decebal turned to Al-Uzza. "They were not many. Only a small riot broke out in the market. The city gaurd put it down quickly and the instigators were all caught. When brought before us for judgment, they claimed that her Serene Highness had inverted the true order of things. It was heresy, plain and simple. The usual punishment was meted out."
Al-Uzza nodded. The punishment of heretics was the splitting of the tongue. It was harsh but served as a very visual reminder that they were serpents emboided. It was a mark of shame and the punished often found themselves ostricized. Al-Uzza had witnessed such punishment as a young village witch when a man who thought himself better than his wife was judged as wanting. His tongue was slit and his wife divorced him. He was cast out of the village and never seen again. Al-Uzza was sure that the man's arrogance was what lead him to think he could punish her for attending the market with out his supervision. He had come from a family of similar attitudes but they had never so openly touted them.
Caught in the memory, Al-Uzza almost missed when Decebal spoke about the outsiders. "They come from the high peaks. Usually it is to trade but the parties have come now seeking refuge. I have given them the land beyond the wall on the northern side. They stay in their village and pay honor to the Empire. But more of them are coming. The first arrivals had brought children with them and were in good health. They who come now are unwell. Some gravely injured and no children come with them. They speak of a great beast. It is unclear if this is a creature or a man that troubles them. And of an army that travels with this beast."
Decebal gestured towards Althos. "I have asked the brothers militant to request aid. I can only assume that your coming will help answer this question. News has been hard to get from the Govenor. Word has come that his Lady has died. Some say it was murder. I would believe it if the stories that I have heard are true. The city of Acidavia struggles because she is close to the border. Villages north have been razed to the ground. Bastizia has called for aid multiple times over the last few years. Since war broke out to the south, I have been unable to help him."
"Acidavia is cursed, they say," Decebal muttered, looking down at the table before him, "I know not if it is true. I do know, however, Acidavia has begun to have people leave her. They are not refugees for the city still stands. But any who is wise know that rats will flee a burning building at the first sign of smoke. The poor of Acidavia have come to Midloth. We have given them work, to the north is the beginnings of another wall. But I do not know if it will be ready when Acidavia meets Sarben's fate."
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