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Title: Majority
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor
Characters: Vedero, Sheveän, Nemriän
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 4877 words
Written for: calenlilly for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
worldbuildingex
Summary: Vedero turns sixteen. She knows what she wants, and what is possible.
AN: Thank you to Gammarad for betaing and hermitknut for making up names. Thank you to the members of the Goblin Emperor discord for advice on timeline and relative ages. Yes, I am assuming that Arbelan is a decade older than TGE says, and was relegated for forty years by the time of TGE instead of the thirty years the book says, because otherwise the timeline and the relative ages of Varenechibel's children makes ZERO sense.
At AO3. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.
Vedero had known the summons was coming for quite some time, of course. As the fifth child and second daughter, the expectations of the court surrounding the celebration of her majority at the age of 16 were quite set. The child of an Emperor must receive all that was proper to their status. An income, for a start, in the form of rents from various of the Drazhada properties. (The boys had all gotten larger properties than Nemriän had or Vedero expected to.) But that was largely impersonal. Some more individual token was also appropriate … and Varenechibel IV did not know any of his children well enough to select something on his own.
Thus the interview.
Vedero stood before her father in a court dress perfectly suitable to the occasion and the season; she'd never cared much for fashion, but it was a tool she knew well how to use. Varenechibel sat behind his desk, with the nohecharei behind him and one of his flock of interchangeable secretaries off to the side.
"So," his father said. "Thou art becoming a woman, soon. What dost thou want? Nemriän requested a harp from the finest instrument maker in the Ethuveraz, but thou art not musical."
"We wish for apartments of our own, so that we may live outside the Alcethmeret," Vedero said.
"Thy elder sister did not form her own household at her majority," Varenechibel said with a frown.
"No," Vedero said, "but our mother was alive to shepherd and guide her in becoming a hostess appropriate to her rank."
Varenechibel's head drew back and his ears lowered, and Vedero cursed her blunt tongue.
She hurried on. "We will do our best, and we are sure that our two sisters will give excellent guidance, but we would not wish to take the risk of inconveniencing you as we learn." Vedero wasn't close to either her sister or her sister-in-law, and they were both very busy women, but they were also very keen on making sure Vedero was all that was appropriate in an archduchess.
"You cannot move out. You'll be my hostess, once you come of age," Varenechibel said.
Vedero considered this. She hadn't thought about it; after Chenelo had been relegated, Nemriän had become their father's hostess for all gatherings in the Alcethmeret; when she married and was no longer of the Drazhada, Sheveän had taken over, as the wife of the eldest son. Vedero had assumed this would continue until either her father remarried or died, but then again, her father did not like Sheveän much. Sheveän was a very forceful person, and while she was always appropriately respectful to her father-in-law, Varenechibel was not a man who cared to be challenged even in the most respectful way. And certainly not by a mere daughter-in-law. Of course he would prefer a young, untried hostess to Sheveän.
"Empress Leshan did not live within the Alcethmeret." She did not, of course, mention the two relegated wives who had also kept their own apartments and managed as hostess just fine. "And if we are to be your hostess, we will need to learn … quickly. While of course such practice dinners and the like would be beneath your notice, still we would not wish to inconvenience you with them." Vedero was quite proud of how well she had turned that to her advantage.
"Thou shalt have no more freedom in thine own quarters than thou would in my household," her father warned her, brows lowering. "Thou art an archduchess, daughter of the Emperor, sister of the Prince of the Untheileneise Court, and wilt always be judged accordingly."
"Of course," Vedero said. "We would never bring shame upon you, or our late mother, or the Elflands." She let sincerity and certainty color her voice, and kept her back straight and her eyes lowered as befit a maiden. "We are proud of our family and will strive to do honor to all that we bear connection to. And we are sure that, an we had our own household, there would be appropriate companions to ensure that we made no missteps."
She paused for Varenechibel to nod judiciously to this. "It is only that, of the gifts which might be appropriate for an archduchess on her majority, an apartment of our own is the one which most greatly appeals to us. We are not musical, as Nemriän was; we do not delight in jewels, and possess already enough to fulfill our growing role at court." She listed off several other things which her father would find appropriate gifts, and which she would have no use for.
By the end of her list he was nodding along, and Vedero carefully kept her growing hope off her face. "But apartments of our own would give us much greater space and comfort than we would have here in your domain, and we would not have to worry about inconveniencing you."
It was all true, of course; and it was also true that she would never dream of doing anything which might dishonor the house. (If only because she had no wish to find out if her father would relegate a daughter as he already had his first and fourth wives.) But at the same time, in the Alcethmeret she could never truly relax because everything must be done as her father wished; in her own apartments, she would at least have the privacy and freedom to arrange things for her own comfort, so long as there was no public scandal her father must take note of.
Varenechibel stared at her for a few seconds, before giving her a curt nod. "Very well. You will be granted permission to set up your own household."
Vedero held her face and her ears still with iron control. If he knew how much she wanted it, he might deny her simply on the grounds that too much freedom was not good for a girl. She swept him an elegant curtsey and gave him an appropriately heartfelt thanks.
But Varenechibel was staring pensively into space. "Nazhira formed his own household at his majority, but that was not his present; we gave him that palomino with the excellent temperament. That would not do for a girl, of course."
Vedero was not a horsewoman but knew many girls and women who loved riding, either on its own or in a hunt. But she held her tongue.
"What would be appropriate for a girl?" her father mused.
Vedero clamped her lips shut, lest 'a telescope' escape through them. Her father would not find that suitable, not for a public coming-of-age present.
Varenechibel raised his eyebrows at her. Apparently it had not been a rhetorical question.
"A redecorating budget," Vedero suggested. She would need to host events suitable for an archduchess, which meant fashionable furnishings; and if her father footed the bill, she could use the money from the rents she would be receiving to purchase a telescope herself.
Varenechibel flicked his ear at the secretary. "See to it," he said without looking at the man.
He dismissed Vedero with a nod towards the door. Vedero curtseyed and walked demurely out of the room, permitting herself a small smile when her back was to him.
The first order of business, before a suite of rooms had been selected for her, was to put together the household itself. Esaran had given her a list of suitable servants, edocharei and maids and footmen and everything else she would need. Vedero had accepted them without more than a cursory glance. Esaran knew her business far better than Vedero could. While any servants Esaran selected would of course report back to the Alcethmeret, the same would be true of any other servants she hired, should her father desire it. At least the ones Esaran recommended would not gossip outside the Drazhada servants.
Far more crucial was the selection of appropriate companions. An archduchess was not entitled to formal ladies-in-waiting the way Sheveän was as the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, but an unmarried lady could not live alone without scandal. And an archduchess' purse might extend to several paid companions. There were many worthy widows of good breeding but reduced circumstances who would be thrilled by the honor of the post.
Vedero had a candidate in mind. Dach'osmerrem Peshu Melhetharan was not a friend, but was at least an acquaintance; and Dach'osmerrem Melhetharan was a member of a circle of ladies whom Vedero very much wished to join, now that she had reached her majority and her social circle would be largely under her own control.
The problem was Sheveän.
"I do see thy problem, dear one," Nemriän said. She was making lace, fingers flying over the pillow, swapping bobbins almost faster than Vedero could follow, pausing occasionally to place a new pin in the pattern. "She'll think it her right, as senior lady of the Drazhada, to appoint thy companions. And she'll not listen to thy thoughts on the subject."
"Worse than that," Vedero said. She eyed her drawing. She had not gotten the lines quite right, and the perspective was subtly off. Just like Sheveän's perspective. "If I disagree with her choice, she'll take it as proof I'm too immature to make decisions myself and she's right to ignore my wishes."
"Circular reasoning, that," Nemriän said. It was Nemriän, who had taught Vedero the basics of logic, or at least to apply her governess' lessons to the words and actions of the courtiers. "All paths lead to Sheveän getting what she wants—or at least deserving to."
"I can't just ignore her or defy her," Vedero said.
"No, of course not," Nemriän said. "If she complains to Father that thou art not behaving as thou ought, he'll listen; an there is the slightest chance she's right, he'll act, even if he dislikes her. Disciplining and managing the Drazhadeise women is, in the absence of an Empress, her duty, and one Varenechibel cares not enough for to do himself. Even an thou never once gave her cause for complaint, she'd remember the insult, and she might use it against thine interests when the time comes to choose a husband for thee."
"My marriage is in our father's power, not Sheveän's," Vedero said, mulishly.
"On paper," Nemriän said mildly. "But the mistress of a household has much to say in the disposal of its daughters through marriage; if he denied her that say, well. It would not reflect well on him."
Vedero sighed, for her sister was right. She sagged back in her chair. "I sincerely hope that the two of them are at odds when Father is arranging my marriage."
"He'll care no more for thy wishes than she does," Nemriän pointed out. "Thy best hope is to court Nemolis' favor. He's softer than either of them, and Father will listen to him as the heir."
Vedero made a face. "Thank thee, for fanning the flames of gossip during the negotiations for thy marriage." It was not only Nemriän's actions and whispers that had turned the court into a seething mass of speculation the likes of which Vedero had never seen, but they had been a significant part of it. Nemriän had encouraged such talk as part of a strategy that had successfully turned Varenechibel against the least-liked of Nemriän's suitors. As a happy side benefit, it seemed to have discouraged their father from even wanting to think about the future marriage prospects of his younger daughter. It would have been some years, in any case—Varenechibel had taken no actions to arrange a marriage for Nemriän until she had reached the respectable age of twenty-four—but Vedero would take every year of freedom she could get.
"Didst not do it for thee, but thou art welcome." Nemriän frowned at her work, untwisted a few bobbins, and resumed. A few twists later she stopped again to turn the pillow to start a new section at right angles to the first.
"Canst thou help?" Vedero implored.
"With Sheveän?" Nemriän said.
"Thou art no longer Drazhada," Vedero pointed out. "She has no power over the Imelada, nor influence with thy husband."
"She's the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, and that isn't nothing," Nemriän countered.
"Please?"
Nemriän stopped work to look at her. "Thou wilt note I did end up with a husband Sheveän approved of, in the end."
"Yes, but not with the one thou disliked," Vedero said. "I have not thy skill at arranging things neatly."
Nemriän sighed. "Very well. Invite our dear sister to our apartments for tea, and I shall do what I can."
"Thank thee!" Vedero sprang up to give Nemriän a kiss on her cheek, careful not to disturb the cosmetics.
"Sister, we were hoping you would do us the honor of consulting with us about positions in our household," Vedero said to Princess Sheveän at their weekly tea. It was not an appointment either enjoyed, but not to meet regularly would give rise to gossip of a breach between them.
Sheveän smiled. "Of course, sister, I would be happy to help thee. I have had some thoughts about suitable ladies to attend thee."
Vedero let the informal pronouns pass over her without insult and kept her face still. Despite common practice to transition to formality in one's early teens, it was not technically an insult for an adult to use the familiar-first with someone under the age of majority; she and Sheveän were certainly not close enough to use it as fellow adults. "Thank you," she said. "Our sister Nemriän has also had thoughts about the matter, and we have spoken of our needs in general terms. She has been making inquiries, and has invited us to join her for tea in her sitting room tomorrow or the next day to make decisions. Your input would be invaluable."
"Thou shouldst not have troubled thy sister, for she is still new-married, and is much occupied with learning her new duties and role at court," Sheveän said with a smile. "We have many connections throughout the court, and would not have needed to make enquiries."
Of course she would not have needed to make enquiries, Vedero thought sourly. Sheveän would only be interested in candidates who would push for the sort of decorum, activities, and political ideas she herself approved of. Sheveän would never recommend a woman she did not already know intimately; and the sort of women Sheveän approved of would immediately obey her wishes regardless of their own previous plans.
"Our sister Nemriän is busy, but we think a year of marriage has taught her to manage her household and her duty to her husband quite well," Vedero said. "She certainly has the time to care for the honor and guidance of a sister she loves. But of course we wish your assistance, as well."
It was the truth, and not only because Sheveän would be impossible to live with if she was not allowed a part in the decision. Narrow-minded and single-minded as Sheveän could be, she was intelligent, competent, and astute in both the running of a household and maneuvering among the court. Vedero had learned much from her, in the years since she had married Nemolis, though she did not like to admit it.
Sheveän eyed her sourly, but there was nothing in Vedero's words she could take offense at.
The tea began cordially enough, with Sheveän and Nemriän discussing what sort of events Vedero would be expected to host, both on her own as an archduchess and also in the Alcethmeret as the Emperor's hostess.
"The family dinners are simple enough," Sheveän said dismissively. "Every week like clockwork, one dinner for Varenechibel to see his children and grandchildren. Merrem Esaran knows how they are done, and will need little oversight. The political dinners are hardly any more difficult; thy father's secretaries will provide the guest list, and thy part is merely to plan the menu and play the gracious lady and dutiful daughter. They are not frequent, as thou knowst."
"There shouldn't be any other sort of event for which Father might need a hostess," Nemriän put in. "He's quite set in his ways and doesn't like intruders in the Alcethmeret if he can at all help it."
Vedero nodded; that was, she suspected, half of why he was allowing her to move out. As an adult she would very properly have a larger and more active social circle than she had had as a child.
"If you need any help, either Sheveän or ourselves would be happy to provide it," Nemriän continued. "But your companion should be a lady experienced at entertaining on the highest levels."
"Certainly," Sheveän said. She opened her mouth, no doubt to list candidates, but Nemriän carefully did not notice her.
"What sort of a social circle were you thinking of gathering?" Nemriän asked. "Are there any particular types of event you would like to host regularly?"
"We have been thinking about what types of gatherings the court already has regularly, and what niches are yet unfilled," Vedero said. "We would rather avoid the resentment of competing with other established hostesses."
"Thou art an archduchess, and it is only right that they should give way before thee," Sheveän said.
"I think you are being too delicate, but then, you know your own strengths," Nemriän said thoughtfully. "What were you thinking of?"
"There were many salons, in our grandfather's day, we are told," Vedero said. "They drew in the finest minds at court, and honed them further; they were great patrons of the arts and the universities. We feel that, properly directed and managed, such salons might be an asset to our father's efforts to reform and improve the Empire."
"They were also hotbeds of dissent and radical thought and scandal," Sheveän said. "Which is why thy father did not patronize them."
"True, but the troublemakers are no longer at court," Vedero argued. "Those who were not implicated in scandal and relegated have long since died or retired. In any case, we would not be replicating the wild free-for-all of our grandfather's day; something smaller, more sensible, less radical, would bring together the intellectuals of court so that they might be harnessed for our father's purposes."
"A proper focus for thy efforts would be the unmarried maidens of the court," Sheveän said with a frown.
"And of course we will gather them into our circle as well," Vedero said. "But many of them—the ones an archduchess might most usefully cultivate—are already within your sphere of influence." She used the plural and gestured to both her elder sister and step-sister. "If that is all we do, we will hardly be an asset to Father's court."
"And it would not play to your own strengths," Nemriän acknowledged with a flick of her ears.
"Hm," Sheveän said, eyes hard. She did not acknowledge the point, but neither did she gainsay it.
"If salons are your aim, then you must have a companion who is also highly intelligent and interested in all things," Nemriän said thoughtfully. "It is a pity Osmerrem Lethenaran is not higher born; she would be ideal to grace a salon."
"Osmerrem Lethenaran!" Sheveän said with a scoff. "No, indeed, she is not fit to be an archduchess' companion. We are surprised at you, sister, for even mentioning the name. She would be no better than Ilio Doheraran!"
"Oh, certainly," Nemriän said meekly. "It was not a suggestion, of course it wasn't. And Dach'osmerrem Teshkalaran would be of high enough rank, but is not of the right faction."
"Too close to the Tethimada," Vedero said. Asterian Teshkalaran's mother was Tethimadeise by birth, and kept in close touch with her kin in that house. They were a perpetual thorn in Varenechibel's side, best handled from a distance. "Although perhaps it would be useful to build a more cordial relationship with them?" It was a statement calculated to appeal to Sheveän's desire to be right, and it worked.
"No, no, my child," Sheveän said condescendingly, "for the friendship of the Tethimada is not long-lasting, and thou wilt not be able to dismiss or replace your companion without causing offense to her family. Osmerrem Coletharan has the perfect connections: her mother is the sister of Prince Orchenis, and she has close friends among the Pashavada and the Bazhevada."
Osmerrem Coletharan was everything Vedero dreaded in one of Sheveän's favorites: dull-witted, boring, and utterly under Sheveän's thumb. She looked at Nemriän, who was nodding thoughtfully, and opened her mouth to protest, though she knew not on what grounds.
There was a rap at the door.
"Yes?" Nemriän said.
The housekeeper stepped in and curtseyed. "Begging your pardon, Dach'osmerrem, but Dach'osmerrem Peltharan is here, and the footman let her in rather than saying you were not at home to visitors as he should have."
Sheveän frowned. "What incompetence! He should be let go immediately."
"Indeed," Nemriän said. "Though it is too late now. Send her in."
Vedero took a sip of her golden orchor to hide her smile. If the footman had genuinely forgotten, Vedero would be terribly shocked. More likely, the whole thing was planned in advance, with Dach'osmerrem Peltharan in full confidence. An inconvenient visitor could be told their host was not at home with no insult, even if they knew very well it was a polite fiction. But to say the host was home but too busy to see them was an insult, and Dach'osmerrem Peltharan was too important to be insulted, even by an archduchess.
In short order, Dach'osmerrem Peltharan had been escorted into Nemriän's sitting room. Greetings were exchanged all around, more tea and cups were brought, and Peltharan seated herself delicately between Nemriän and Vedero, across from Sheveän.
"We do hope we are not intruding on any family business," she said brightly.
"Nothing private," Nemriän said, before Sheveän could. "Our sister's majority fast approaches, and Father has granted her permission to establish her own household."
"Congratulations!" Peltharan said, turning to Sheveän. "What sort of social circle will you be gathering?"
"We hope to have salons," Vedero said. "In addition to the usual sort of parties. We feel that, providing they are properly managed to avoid the radicalism of our grandfather's day, it would be an avenue for those of the Court who wished to familiarize themselves with the causes and effects of the changes in the Ethuveraz."
"We see you are ambitious, as befits the Drazhada," Peltharan said with a smile. "And thus you will be an asset to your father's dream of modernization. What apartments have you been granted?"
Vedero named them, and the conversation turned briefly to what refitting and redecorating she was planning for them.
"And have you selected a companion?" Peltharan sipped her tea. "Oh, perhaps we should not have asked—we should not press before you have made any announcement."
"We have been considering whom to select this very afternoon," Vedero said. "Our sisters have been generous in their help and counsel."
"Of course," Peltharan said. "You have two very able and wise sisters." She smiled at Sheveän. "Few have the measure of the ladies of court as accurately as you, Princess."
Sheveän gave a stiff nod. She had not contributed much to the conversation since Peltharan had arrived, for the two were not close; but Vedero didn't think she suspected Nemriän had set this up on purpose.
"Have you considered Osmerrem Rosherharan?" Peltharan asked, popping a cherry into her mouth.
Vedero raised her eyebrows, as she hadn't. "Certainly she has the proper breeding and the intelligence to be an asset at any salon, but we hadn't thought she would be … open to taking a position as companion?"
Peltharan pursed her lips. "She would be honored by the offer."
"But surely she would not accept," Nemriän said. "Why should she give up the freedom of her own household?"
"Her late husband was not as clever an investor as he believed himself to be," Peltharan said delicately. "Her dowry was … not well managed. And there were gaming debts …" she trailed off.
"We see," Sheveän said, drinking in the gossip.
"We would very much like having her as a companion," Vedero said. "She would indeed be quite suitable. We cannot think of any way in which Osmerrem Rosherharan would not be proper." She was of the right rank, of the right faction within the court, and, most importantly, was a sensible and forthright lady who was not in Sheveän's circle.
"We did not care for the sort of parties she held while her husband was alive," Sheveän said firmly. "Too much gambling. It would not be appropriate for an unmarried young lady."
"Those were for her husband," Nemriän said. "He always wished them. Would you have had her refuse to oblige him?"
"She might be better off now if she had," Peltharan murmured into her cup of tea.
"As long as we do not host any gambling parties ourselves—and we have no intention of doing so—there should be no issue, and we believe she would be a good choice." Vedero lifted her chin stubbornly. It was undiplomatic, but she had never had the gift of indirect persuasion that Nemriän had. It was one way she and Sheveän were alike.
"No, we fear that we cannot approve," Sheveän said firmly. "If nothing else, such extensive gambling that a fortune was lost will have left her with connections in … low places."
"She can have no reason to keep up such connections now that her husband is dead and no longer gambling away her fortune, and every reason to cut such connections," Vedero said.
"Thou art the daughter of the Emperor," Sheveän said severely. "Thou canst not be too careful with thy reputation and connections."
"But—" Vedero said, feeling very much like a child, and misliking it.
"Our sister Sheveän is perhaps a trifle stricter than we would be in this instance," Nemriän said, "but her point is well taken. Thank you for the suggestion, Peltharan, but I fear that, excellent as Osmerrem Rosherharan is, we will not be engaging her services for our sister Vedero."
Vedero stared down at her teacup, and worked very hard to keep her ears still and serene. Why had Nemriän agreed to help, if she wasn't going to take Vedero's side?
"It occurs to us," Nemriän said meditatively, "that Dach'osmerrem Melhetharan might be an option. She would get along well with Vedero, we think, and we know nothing to her discredit. Vedero, what think you?"
Vedero kept her face still but couldn't quite manage her ears. "We think she would be an excellent choice, also, sister. If we cannot have Rosherharan, then Melhetharan would do." She was, perhaps, laying it on thick, but Sheveän would be more satisfied if she thought she had prevented Vedero from getting her way, even if she didn't succeed in installing her own candidate.
"Oh, quite," Peltharan chimed in. "Such an elegant lady, refined and intelligent. And of course she has had so much tragedy and ill luck in her life, it would do our heart good to see her receive such an honor. She is worthy of it, don't you agree, Princess?"
To that, Sheveän murmured something polite and noncommittal; Vedero's heart rose when Sheveän couldn't muster up a concrete objection.
"Then it is settled!" Nemriän said. "How much did you say Father had given you for redecorating?"
The tea hadn't lasted long after that; Peltharan had taken her leave after sharing a few new bits of gossip, and Sheveän had left shortly after that.
"Thank thee, sister," Vedero said sincerely.
"She won't be happy, as she didn't get her way," Nemriän said. "But I hope she will be less so than she would otherwise have been."
"I wish I was as good at managing people as thou art," Vedero said.
Nemriän laughed. "If we were all alike, the world would be a very boring place. I will help where I can, but alas, I fear I will not be remaining at court much longer. My father-in-law is ailing, and we shall be moving to the Imelada estates to take care of him and see to the family's interests. We shall stay until thy first salon, but then thou wilt have to look to Melhetharan for help managing Sheveän, an thou needst it."
"Eventually, we shall have to learn to do it ourselves," Vedero said. "For we shall always have to deal with her."
"Not always," Nemriän said. "When thou marriest, thou shalt owe that allegiance to the senior lady of thy husband's family."
"Yes, but Sheveän will always be the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, until she becomes Empress," Vedero pointed out. "Even in another family, she will still be a force and a power."
"True," Nemriän said. "But I have faith that thou wilt learn to deal with her, and with the court. I was not always as skilled as I am now. I learned, as thou shalt."
"I will miss you," Vedero said.
"And I you." Nemriän reached out and took her hand. "But we shall have letters, and I think thou wilt be very happy in thy own household."
Vedero squeezed her hand. "I think so, too."
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor
Characters: Vedero, Sheveän, Nemriän
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 4877 words
Written for: calenlilly for
worldbuildingex Summary: Vedero turns sixteen. She knows what she wants, and what is possible.
AN: Thank you to Gammarad for betaing and hermitknut for making up names. Thank you to the members of the Goblin Emperor discord for advice on timeline and relative ages. Yes, I am assuming that Arbelan is a decade older than TGE says, and was relegated for forty years by the time of TGE instead of the thirty years the book says, because otherwise the timeline and the relative ages of Varenechibel's children makes ZERO sense.
At AO3. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.
Vedero had known the summons was coming for quite some time, of course. As the fifth child and second daughter, the expectations of the court surrounding the celebration of her majority at the age of 16 were quite set. The child of an Emperor must receive all that was proper to their status. An income, for a start, in the form of rents from various of the Drazhada properties. (The boys had all gotten larger properties than Nemriän had or Vedero expected to.) But that was largely impersonal. Some more individual token was also appropriate … and Varenechibel IV did not know any of his children well enough to select something on his own.
Thus the interview.
Vedero stood before her father in a court dress perfectly suitable to the occasion and the season; she'd never cared much for fashion, but it was a tool she knew well how to use. Varenechibel sat behind his desk, with the nohecharei behind him and one of his flock of interchangeable secretaries off to the side.
"So," his father said. "Thou art becoming a woman, soon. What dost thou want? Nemriän requested a harp from the finest instrument maker in the Ethuveraz, but thou art not musical."
"We wish for apartments of our own, so that we may live outside the Alcethmeret," Vedero said.
"Thy elder sister did not form her own household at her majority," Varenechibel said with a frown.
"No," Vedero said, "but our mother was alive to shepherd and guide her in becoming a hostess appropriate to her rank."
Varenechibel's head drew back and his ears lowered, and Vedero cursed her blunt tongue.
She hurried on. "We will do our best, and we are sure that our two sisters will give excellent guidance, but we would not wish to take the risk of inconveniencing you as we learn." Vedero wasn't close to either her sister or her sister-in-law, and they were both very busy women, but they were also very keen on making sure Vedero was all that was appropriate in an archduchess.
"You cannot move out. You'll be my hostess, once you come of age," Varenechibel said.
Vedero considered this. She hadn't thought about it; after Chenelo had been relegated, Nemriän had become their father's hostess for all gatherings in the Alcethmeret; when she married and was no longer of the Drazhada, Sheveän had taken over, as the wife of the eldest son. Vedero had assumed this would continue until either her father remarried or died, but then again, her father did not like Sheveän much. Sheveän was a very forceful person, and while she was always appropriately respectful to her father-in-law, Varenechibel was not a man who cared to be challenged even in the most respectful way. And certainly not by a mere daughter-in-law. Of course he would prefer a young, untried hostess to Sheveän.
"Empress Leshan did not live within the Alcethmeret." She did not, of course, mention the two relegated wives who had also kept their own apartments and managed as hostess just fine. "And if we are to be your hostess, we will need to learn … quickly. While of course such practice dinners and the like would be beneath your notice, still we would not wish to inconvenience you with them." Vedero was quite proud of how well she had turned that to her advantage.
"Thou shalt have no more freedom in thine own quarters than thou would in my household," her father warned her, brows lowering. "Thou art an archduchess, daughter of the Emperor, sister of the Prince of the Untheileneise Court, and wilt always be judged accordingly."
"Of course," Vedero said. "We would never bring shame upon you, or our late mother, or the Elflands." She let sincerity and certainty color her voice, and kept her back straight and her eyes lowered as befit a maiden. "We are proud of our family and will strive to do honor to all that we bear connection to. And we are sure that, an we had our own household, there would be appropriate companions to ensure that we made no missteps."
She paused for Varenechibel to nod judiciously to this. "It is only that, of the gifts which might be appropriate for an archduchess on her majority, an apartment of our own is the one which most greatly appeals to us. We are not musical, as Nemriän was; we do not delight in jewels, and possess already enough to fulfill our growing role at court." She listed off several other things which her father would find appropriate gifts, and which she would have no use for.
By the end of her list he was nodding along, and Vedero carefully kept her growing hope off her face. "But apartments of our own would give us much greater space and comfort than we would have here in your domain, and we would not have to worry about inconveniencing you."
It was all true, of course; and it was also true that she would never dream of doing anything which might dishonor the house. (If only because she had no wish to find out if her father would relegate a daughter as he already had his first and fourth wives.) But at the same time, in the Alcethmeret she could never truly relax because everything must be done as her father wished; in her own apartments, she would at least have the privacy and freedom to arrange things for her own comfort, so long as there was no public scandal her father must take note of.
Varenechibel stared at her for a few seconds, before giving her a curt nod. "Very well. You will be granted permission to set up your own household."
Vedero held her face and her ears still with iron control. If he knew how much she wanted it, he might deny her simply on the grounds that too much freedom was not good for a girl. She swept him an elegant curtsey and gave him an appropriately heartfelt thanks.
But Varenechibel was staring pensively into space. "Nazhira formed his own household at his majority, but that was not his present; we gave him that palomino with the excellent temperament. That would not do for a girl, of course."
Vedero was not a horsewoman but knew many girls and women who loved riding, either on its own or in a hunt. But she held her tongue.
"What would be appropriate for a girl?" her father mused.
Vedero clamped her lips shut, lest 'a telescope' escape through them. Her father would not find that suitable, not for a public coming-of-age present.
Varenechibel raised his eyebrows at her. Apparently it had not been a rhetorical question.
"A redecorating budget," Vedero suggested. She would need to host events suitable for an archduchess, which meant fashionable furnishings; and if her father footed the bill, she could use the money from the rents she would be receiving to purchase a telescope herself.
Varenechibel flicked his ear at the secretary. "See to it," he said without looking at the man.
He dismissed Vedero with a nod towards the door. Vedero curtseyed and walked demurely out of the room, permitting herself a small smile when her back was to him.
The first order of business, before a suite of rooms had been selected for her, was to put together the household itself. Esaran had given her a list of suitable servants, edocharei and maids and footmen and everything else she would need. Vedero had accepted them without more than a cursory glance. Esaran knew her business far better than Vedero could. While any servants Esaran selected would of course report back to the Alcethmeret, the same would be true of any other servants she hired, should her father desire it. At least the ones Esaran recommended would not gossip outside the Drazhada servants.
Far more crucial was the selection of appropriate companions. An archduchess was not entitled to formal ladies-in-waiting the way Sheveän was as the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, but an unmarried lady could not live alone without scandal. And an archduchess' purse might extend to several paid companions. There were many worthy widows of good breeding but reduced circumstances who would be thrilled by the honor of the post.
Vedero had a candidate in mind. Dach'osmerrem Peshu Melhetharan was not a friend, but was at least an acquaintance; and Dach'osmerrem Melhetharan was a member of a circle of ladies whom Vedero very much wished to join, now that she had reached her majority and her social circle would be largely under her own control.
The problem was Sheveän.
"I do see thy problem, dear one," Nemriän said. She was making lace, fingers flying over the pillow, swapping bobbins almost faster than Vedero could follow, pausing occasionally to place a new pin in the pattern. "She'll think it her right, as senior lady of the Drazhada, to appoint thy companions. And she'll not listen to thy thoughts on the subject."
"Worse than that," Vedero said. She eyed her drawing. She had not gotten the lines quite right, and the perspective was subtly off. Just like Sheveän's perspective. "If I disagree with her choice, she'll take it as proof I'm too immature to make decisions myself and she's right to ignore my wishes."
"Circular reasoning, that," Nemriän said. It was Nemriän, who had taught Vedero the basics of logic, or at least to apply her governess' lessons to the words and actions of the courtiers. "All paths lead to Sheveän getting what she wants—or at least deserving to."
"I can't just ignore her or defy her," Vedero said.
"No, of course not," Nemriän said. "If she complains to Father that thou art not behaving as thou ought, he'll listen; an there is the slightest chance she's right, he'll act, even if he dislikes her. Disciplining and managing the Drazhadeise women is, in the absence of an Empress, her duty, and one Varenechibel cares not enough for to do himself. Even an thou never once gave her cause for complaint, she'd remember the insult, and she might use it against thine interests when the time comes to choose a husband for thee."
"My marriage is in our father's power, not Sheveän's," Vedero said, mulishly.
"On paper," Nemriän said mildly. "But the mistress of a household has much to say in the disposal of its daughters through marriage; if he denied her that say, well. It would not reflect well on him."
Vedero sighed, for her sister was right. She sagged back in her chair. "I sincerely hope that the two of them are at odds when Father is arranging my marriage."
"He'll care no more for thy wishes than she does," Nemriän pointed out. "Thy best hope is to court Nemolis' favor. He's softer than either of them, and Father will listen to him as the heir."
Vedero made a face. "Thank thee, for fanning the flames of gossip during the negotiations for thy marriage." It was not only Nemriän's actions and whispers that had turned the court into a seething mass of speculation the likes of which Vedero had never seen, but they had been a significant part of it. Nemriän had encouraged such talk as part of a strategy that had successfully turned Varenechibel against the least-liked of Nemriän's suitors. As a happy side benefit, it seemed to have discouraged their father from even wanting to think about the future marriage prospects of his younger daughter. It would have been some years, in any case—Varenechibel had taken no actions to arrange a marriage for Nemriän until she had reached the respectable age of twenty-four—but Vedero would take every year of freedom she could get.
"Didst not do it for thee, but thou art welcome." Nemriän frowned at her work, untwisted a few bobbins, and resumed. A few twists later she stopped again to turn the pillow to start a new section at right angles to the first.
"Canst thou help?" Vedero implored.
"With Sheveän?" Nemriän said.
"Thou art no longer Drazhada," Vedero pointed out. "She has no power over the Imelada, nor influence with thy husband."
"She's the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, and that isn't nothing," Nemriän countered.
"Please?"
Nemriän stopped work to look at her. "Thou wilt note I did end up with a husband Sheveän approved of, in the end."
"Yes, but not with the one thou disliked," Vedero said. "I have not thy skill at arranging things neatly."
Nemriän sighed. "Very well. Invite our dear sister to our apartments for tea, and I shall do what I can."
"Thank thee!" Vedero sprang up to give Nemriän a kiss on her cheek, careful not to disturb the cosmetics.
"Sister, we were hoping you would do us the honor of consulting with us about positions in our household," Vedero said to Princess Sheveän at their weekly tea. It was not an appointment either enjoyed, but not to meet regularly would give rise to gossip of a breach between them.
Sheveän smiled. "Of course, sister, I would be happy to help thee. I have had some thoughts about suitable ladies to attend thee."
Vedero let the informal pronouns pass over her without insult and kept her face still. Despite common practice to transition to formality in one's early teens, it was not technically an insult for an adult to use the familiar-first with someone under the age of majority; she and Sheveän were certainly not close enough to use it as fellow adults. "Thank you," she said. "Our sister Nemriän has also had thoughts about the matter, and we have spoken of our needs in general terms. She has been making inquiries, and has invited us to join her for tea in her sitting room tomorrow or the next day to make decisions. Your input would be invaluable."
"Thou shouldst not have troubled thy sister, for she is still new-married, and is much occupied with learning her new duties and role at court," Sheveän said with a smile. "We have many connections throughout the court, and would not have needed to make enquiries."
Of course she would not have needed to make enquiries, Vedero thought sourly. Sheveän would only be interested in candidates who would push for the sort of decorum, activities, and political ideas she herself approved of. Sheveän would never recommend a woman she did not already know intimately; and the sort of women Sheveän approved of would immediately obey her wishes regardless of their own previous plans.
"Our sister Nemriän is busy, but we think a year of marriage has taught her to manage her household and her duty to her husband quite well," Vedero said. "She certainly has the time to care for the honor and guidance of a sister she loves. But of course we wish your assistance, as well."
It was the truth, and not only because Sheveän would be impossible to live with if she was not allowed a part in the decision. Narrow-minded and single-minded as Sheveän could be, she was intelligent, competent, and astute in both the running of a household and maneuvering among the court. Vedero had learned much from her, in the years since she had married Nemolis, though she did not like to admit it.
Sheveän eyed her sourly, but there was nothing in Vedero's words she could take offense at.
The tea began cordially enough, with Sheveän and Nemriän discussing what sort of events Vedero would be expected to host, both on her own as an archduchess and also in the Alcethmeret as the Emperor's hostess.
"The family dinners are simple enough," Sheveän said dismissively. "Every week like clockwork, one dinner for Varenechibel to see his children and grandchildren. Merrem Esaran knows how they are done, and will need little oversight. The political dinners are hardly any more difficult; thy father's secretaries will provide the guest list, and thy part is merely to plan the menu and play the gracious lady and dutiful daughter. They are not frequent, as thou knowst."
"There shouldn't be any other sort of event for which Father might need a hostess," Nemriän put in. "He's quite set in his ways and doesn't like intruders in the Alcethmeret if he can at all help it."
Vedero nodded; that was, she suspected, half of why he was allowing her to move out. As an adult she would very properly have a larger and more active social circle than she had had as a child.
"If you need any help, either Sheveän or ourselves would be happy to provide it," Nemriän continued. "But your companion should be a lady experienced at entertaining on the highest levels."
"Certainly," Sheveän said. She opened her mouth, no doubt to list candidates, but Nemriän carefully did not notice her.
"What sort of a social circle were you thinking of gathering?" Nemriän asked. "Are there any particular types of event you would like to host regularly?"
"We have been thinking about what types of gatherings the court already has regularly, and what niches are yet unfilled," Vedero said. "We would rather avoid the resentment of competing with other established hostesses."
"Thou art an archduchess, and it is only right that they should give way before thee," Sheveän said.
"I think you are being too delicate, but then, you know your own strengths," Nemriän said thoughtfully. "What were you thinking of?"
"There were many salons, in our grandfather's day, we are told," Vedero said. "They drew in the finest minds at court, and honed them further; they were great patrons of the arts and the universities. We feel that, properly directed and managed, such salons might be an asset to our father's efforts to reform and improve the Empire."
"They were also hotbeds of dissent and radical thought and scandal," Sheveän said. "Which is why thy father did not patronize them."
"True, but the troublemakers are no longer at court," Vedero argued. "Those who were not implicated in scandal and relegated have long since died or retired. In any case, we would not be replicating the wild free-for-all of our grandfather's day; something smaller, more sensible, less radical, would bring together the intellectuals of court so that they might be harnessed for our father's purposes."
"A proper focus for thy efforts would be the unmarried maidens of the court," Sheveän said with a frown.
"And of course we will gather them into our circle as well," Vedero said. "But many of them—the ones an archduchess might most usefully cultivate—are already within your sphere of influence." She used the plural and gestured to both her elder sister and step-sister. "If that is all we do, we will hardly be an asset to Father's court."
"And it would not play to your own strengths," Nemriän acknowledged with a flick of her ears.
"Hm," Sheveän said, eyes hard. She did not acknowledge the point, but neither did she gainsay it.
"If salons are your aim, then you must have a companion who is also highly intelligent and interested in all things," Nemriän said thoughtfully. "It is a pity Osmerrem Lethenaran is not higher born; she would be ideal to grace a salon."
"Osmerrem Lethenaran!" Sheveän said with a scoff. "No, indeed, she is not fit to be an archduchess' companion. We are surprised at you, sister, for even mentioning the name. She would be no better than Ilio Doheraran!"
"Oh, certainly," Nemriän said meekly. "It was not a suggestion, of course it wasn't. And Dach'osmerrem Teshkalaran would be of high enough rank, but is not of the right faction."
"Too close to the Tethimada," Vedero said. Asterian Teshkalaran's mother was Tethimadeise by birth, and kept in close touch with her kin in that house. They were a perpetual thorn in Varenechibel's side, best handled from a distance. "Although perhaps it would be useful to build a more cordial relationship with them?" It was a statement calculated to appeal to Sheveän's desire to be right, and it worked.
"No, no, my child," Sheveän said condescendingly, "for the friendship of the Tethimada is not long-lasting, and thou wilt not be able to dismiss or replace your companion without causing offense to her family. Osmerrem Coletharan has the perfect connections: her mother is the sister of Prince Orchenis, and she has close friends among the Pashavada and the Bazhevada."
Osmerrem Coletharan was everything Vedero dreaded in one of Sheveän's favorites: dull-witted, boring, and utterly under Sheveän's thumb. She looked at Nemriän, who was nodding thoughtfully, and opened her mouth to protest, though she knew not on what grounds.
There was a rap at the door.
"Yes?" Nemriän said.
The housekeeper stepped in and curtseyed. "Begging your pardon, Dach'osmerrem, but Dach'osmerrem Peltharan is here, and the footman let her in rather than saying you were not at home to visitors as he should have."
Sheveän frowned. "What incompetence! He should be let go immediately."
"Indeed," Nemriän said. "Though it is too late now. Send her in."
Vedero took a sip of her golden orchor to hide her smile. If the footman had genuinely forgotten, Vedero would be terribly shocked. More likely, the whole thing was planned in advance, with Dach'osmerrem Peltharan in full confidence. An inconvenient visitor could be told their host was not at home with no insult, even if they knew very well it was a polite fiction. But to say the host was home but too busy to see them was an insult, and Dach'osmerrem Peltharan was too important to be insulted, even by an archduchess.
In short order, Dach'osmerrem Peltharan had been escorted into Nemriän's sitting room. Greetings were exchanged all around, more tea and cups were brought, and Peltharan seated herself delicately between Nemriän and Vedero, across from Sheveän.
"We do hope we are not intruding on any family business," she said brightly.
"Nothing private," Nemriän said, before Sheveän could. "Our sister's majority fast approaches, and Father has granted her permission to establish her own household."
"Congratulations!" Peltharan said, turning to Sheveän. "What sort of social circle will you be gathering?"
"We hope to have salons," Vedero said. "In addition to the usual sort of parties. We feel that, providing they are properly managed to avoid the radicalism of our grandfather's day, it would be an avenue for those of the Court who wished to familiarize themselves with the causes and effects of the changes in the Ethuveraz."
"We see you are ambitious, as befits the Drazhada," Peltharan said with a smile. "And thus you will be an asset to your father's dream of modernization. What apartments have you been granted?"
Vedero named them, and the conversation turned briefly to what refitting and redecorating she was planning for them.
"And have you selected a companion?" Peltharan sipped her tea. "Oh, perhaps we should not have asked—we should not press before you have made any announcement."
"We have been considering whom to select this very afternoon," Vedero said. "Our sisters have been generous in their help and counsel."
"Of course," Peltharan said. "You have two very able and wise sisters." She smiled at Sheveän. "Few have the measure of the ladies of court as accurately as you, Princess."
Sheveän gave a stiff nod. She had not contributed much to the conversation since Peltharan had arrived, for the two were not close; but Vedero didn't think she suspected Nemriän had set this up on purpose.
"Have you considered Osmerrem Rosherharan?" Peltharan asked, popping a cherry into her mouth.
Vedero raised her eyebrows, as she hadn't. "Certainly she has the proper breeding and the intelligence to be an asset at any salon, but we hadn't thought she would be … open to taking a position as companion?"
Peltharan pursed her lips. "She would be honored by the offer."
"But surely she would not accept," Nemriän said. "Why should she give up the freedom of her own household?"
"Her late husband was not as clever an investor as he believed himself to be," Peltharan said delicately. "Her dowry was … not well managed. And there were gaming debts …" she trailed off.
"We see," Sheveän said, drinking in the gossip.
"We would very much like having her as a companion," Vedero said. "She would indeed be quite suitable. We cannot think of any way in which Osmerrem Rosherharan would not be proper." She was of the right rank, of the right faction within the court, and, most importantly, was a sensible and forthright lady who was not in Sheveän's circle.
"We did not care for the sort of parties she held while her husband was alive," Sheveän said firmly. "Too much gambling. It would not be appropriate for an unmarried young lady."
"Those were for her husband," Nemriän said. "He always wished them. Would you have had her refuse to oblige him?"
"She might be better off now if she had," Peltharan murmured into her cup of tea.
"As long as we do not host any gambling parties ourselves—and we have no intention of doing so—there should be no issue, and we believe she would be a good choice." Vedero lifted her chin stubbornly. It was undiplomatic, but she had never had the gift of indirect persuasion that Nemriän had. It was one way she and Sheveän were alike.
"No, we fear that we cannot approve," Sheveän said firmly. "If nothing else, such extensive gambling that a fortune was lost will have left her with connections in … low places."
"She can have no reason to keep up such connections now that her husband is dead and no longer gambling away her fortune, and every reason to cut such connections," Vedero said.
"Thou art the daughter of the Emperor," Sheveän said severely. "Thou canst not be too careful with thy reputation and connections."
"But—" Vedero said, feeling very much like a child, and misliking it.
"Our sister Sheveän is perhaps a trifle stricter than we would be in this instance," Nemriän said, "but her point is well taken. Thank you for the suggestion, Peltharan, but I fear that, excellent as Osmerrem Rosherharan is, we will not be engaging her services for our sister Vedero."
Vedero stared down at her teacup, and worked very hard to keep her ears still and serene. Why had Nemriän agreed to help, if she wasn't going to take Vedero's side?
"It occurs to us," Nemriän said meditatively, "that Dach'osmerrem Melhetharan might be an option. She would get along well with Vedero, we think, and we know nothing to her discredit. Vedero, what think you?"
Vedero kept her face still but couldn't quite manage her ears. "We think she would be an excellent choice, also, sister. If we cannot have Rosherharan, then Melhetharan would do." She was, perhaps, laying it on thick, but Sheveän would be more satisfied if she thought she had prevented Vedero from getting her way, even if she didn't succeed in installing her own candidate.
"Oh, quite," Peltharan chimed in. "Such an elegant lady, refined and intelligent. And of course she has had so much tragedy and ill luck in her life, it would do our heart good to see her receive such an honor. She is worthy of it, don't you agree, Princess?"
To that, Sheveän murmured something polite and noncommittal; Vedero's heart rose when Sheveän couldn't muster up a concrete objection.
"Then it is settled!" Nemriän said. "How much did you say Father had given you for redecorating?"
The tea hadn't lasted long after that; Peltharan had taken her leave after sharing a few new bits of gossip, and Sheveän had left shortly after that.
"Thank thee, sister," Vedero said sincerely.
"She won't be happy, as she didn't get her way," Nemriän said. "But I hope she will be less so than she would otherwise have been."
"I wish I was as good at managing people as thou art," Vedero said.
Nemriän laughed. "If we were all alike, the world would be a very boring place. I will help where I can, but alas, I fear I will not be remaining at court much longer. My father-in-law is ailing, and we shall be moving to the Imelada estates to take care of him and see to the family's interests. We shall stay until thy first salon, but then thou wilt have to look to Melhetharan for help managing Sheveän, an thou needst it."
"Eventually, we shall have to learn to do it ourselves," Vedero said. "For we shall always have to deal with her."
"Not always," Nemriän said. "When thou marriest, thou shalt owe that allegiance to the senior lady of thy husband's family."
"Yes, but Sheveän will always be the Princess of the Untheileneise Court, until she becomes Empress," Vedero pointed out. "Even in another family, she will still be a force and a power."
"True," Nemriän said. "But I have faith that thou wilt learn to deal with her, and with the court. I was not always as skilled as I am now. I learned, as thou shalt."
"I will miss you," Vedero said.
"And I you." Nemriän reached out and took her hand. "But we shall have letters, and I think thou wilt be very happy in thy own household."
Vedero squeezed her hand. "I think so, too."
