The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 19
So, here we are on the nineteenth day of Anadrasata's travels. The Pearlish Queen continues on, and exotic locales are on the horizon.
This piece runs to 2,173 words, and I hope that you enjoy it.
Index Page.
Daighsday, 29 Ochd, 1893 C.E.
Dear Journal,
Last night's storm seemed particularly loud, so perhaps we were not so far above it as we usually are.
Breakfast was busy early again, as it appears, I am one of the few Imperial passengers continuing on into the Kerajaa. The military gentlemen, Lady Rhainail, and her children are, of course, going to their next postings either in Tettamri or near it. The Dowager Countess' party and Mr Naigheargain are planning to get a faster airship to Akatoil so they don't have to go through the Kerajaa. Colonel Dhaiharai is planning to visit his married sister who lives in the city. That will leave me with the dh'Jhaints, Dr Ghairn, and Mr Rhaimais. Dr Ghairn and the Right Reverend Dean dh'Jhaint are both passionate about their subjects, but neither of them seem to be good at extended conversations, though at least the Doctor is personable when delivering one of his monologues. Mr Rhaimais is good company and I have hopes of young Mr dh'Jhaint but his uncle(?) seems to think that the younger man's conversations need to be 'guided'which stops him talking at all.
I made sure to make my farewells to the Dowager Countess, Lady Saidhelait, and Miss Ghaighain (they have all been so kind), and Lady Rhainail at breakfast. They will all be busy between now and disembarkation, I am sure.
I did not see Lady Saidhelait and Major Vhenghahair on my walk around the promenade this morning, but they did sit together at breakfast this morning.
The chapter in my Coatl primer this morning was revision - sentence structure, colours, emotions, directions, and terms of address/honorifics. As a treat, or not, the chapter finished with instructions on how to scribe three of the eight hundred (!!) classical glyphs.
I wrote up this journal to the end of my language practice and then stepped out to get some fresh air and a look at Tettamri. Just as I finished locking my door, two stewards dashed out of the crew staircase and rushed past me. When I turned around to see where they were going, because stewards do not run, it was to see a Kerajaan-looking man backing out of Colonel Dhaiharai's cabin with his hands in the air. The Colonel followed him, leading with his pistol pointed at the man. The Kerajaan-looking man started talking loudly in, I think, Behessa, and I was suddenly reminded of those thieves in the market back home who set up a fuss in one place to attract attention from the other thief who is doing the actual stealing. The stewards were being soothing while Colonel Dhaiharai explained to the stewards that the man had picked the lock of his cabin, which was why he'd summoned the stewards. Another Kerajaan man, this one I recognised as one of the younger sons, arrived from the other side of the scene and also started talking loudly in Behessa. Then the stewards and Colonel Dhaiharai switched to Behessa as well. The two Kerajaan men were getting more agitated, the Colonel's pistol was unwavering, and then Lord Retneseri and his manservant were beside me. Then the manservant took charge, and the girl's claims that he is an officer were brought strongly to mind, and he asked Lord Retneseri to summon more stewards from his cabin and then to escort me down the crew's stairs to the next deck. Having done that. he strode forward, also saying something in Behessa. [I did notice that he called Lord Retneseri 'Your Nobility',]
Lord Retneseri did exactly as he was asked (I suspect this is another indicator that his manservant is a bodyguard) and we emerged from the crew's stairs somewhere between the kitchen and the Chief Purser's office, as two stewards hurried into them. Lord Retneseri and I made our way to the lounge, where he settled himself into a chair with a book, and I took myself out onto the promenade deck to have a look at what I could see of the city.
It was a warm day and there was heat haze shining over parts of the city. Most of the buildings have been plastered or painted white, and when I looked in the wrong direction, the sun's reflections were blinding. I also saw the local authorities coming aboard, and I went back into the lounge to find out what was going on. The first Kerajaan man is the servant of the second Kerajaan man, who is the son of the man Dr Ghairn discussed tapestries with yesterday at lunch. The first Kerajaan man did indeed pick the lock on Colonel Dhaiharai's door. Investigation of his employer's cabin found several engraved items belonging to various military gentlemen who are leaving today and whose cabins are in the other first class hallway. It seems there were other items in the young man's luggage as well, and we were all asked to check our cabins/luggage to see if anything is missing. Apparently the second young man thought that Lord Retneseri could tell the Imperial authorities to let them go (??) but Lord Retneseri declined to intervene. First class departures and then boarding were a trifle delayed as a consequence.
The vast majority of our new passengers are Kerajaan citizens returning home. The exceptions are Mr Taighaign, a businessman, and Mrs dh'Haibhaint, a widow who is going to visit her younger son at our consulate in Sengrangri. The young man with the larcenous servant was not at lunch, and his father sat between Lord Retneseri and Dr Ghairn who were, I believe, offering him support. For once Dr Ghairn was not talking about tapestries. Mr Taighaign sat with a group of Kerajaan businessmen at lunch, apparently they are business associates or acquaintances. Mrs dh'Haibhaint sat on one side of me, and Mrs Efune on the other, with Mr Muget beyond her. Opposite me was Mrs Khatijah, the wife of the clerical gentleman, the Ajiad Ashtaquil Niktangka, who was sitting opposite Mrs Efune. The Right Reverend Dean dh'Jhaint sat next to the Ajiad Ashtaquil and tried to engage him in theological debate over lunch, which I thought was rather rude. In my opinion, the Ajiad Ashtaquil showed much better manners in refusing to rise to provocation. [Given that the Ajiad represents the majority religion in the Kerajaa, I have to wonder just how he is going to go on there.]
I was very surprised when the Right Reverend Dean dh'Jhaint appealed to me for an opinion. My response was that my knowledge of the Kerajaan faith was limited to the facts that we share some holy texts, agree on principles, and disagree on the personage of the Divinity. I added that the importance of the difference from our side depends on which theologian/s you consulted, and that Mhaiskhoain should probably be discounted because his treatise on the subject was written when he began to turn 'peculiar'. The Right Reverend Dean had nothing to say to that, and Mrs dh'Haibhaint chimed in with, "Well, you did ask her!"
We finished our meal without more theological discussion.
After lunch I took two turns around the promenade deck and then took my embroidery to the balcony parlor. Mrs dh'Haibhaint also sat in the parlor with her embroidery - I cannot say that we were together. Mrs Khatijah and two other ladies played a three-sided game of koh. More Kerajaan ladies, including Mrs Efune, arrived just before the tea tray - coincidentally the time when I finished this table runner my mother wants. [I think Mother expected it to take me longer to do than this, but just being able to sit and embroider for the afternoon is very helpful.] I was surprised that the tea tray today is not the one that I am used to - a silver and glass pt with tall silver and glass cups that let you see the tea from the side. Mrs Efune and Mrs dh'Haibhaint explained that this was the Kerajaan way of drinking tea, and that there were spices in it already and only honey or palm sugar to add to it. Also, the stewardess stayed to pour instead of one of us doing it, because, again, that is how they do it in the Kerajaa. It does make sense that if most of the passengers are Kerajaan that the ship should do tea the way they like it.
I had the stewardess prepare mine the way she would recommend for someone who hadn't had this style of tea before and - it was different. The little sweet Kerajaan dainties that came out with it were very nice, and I don't know what else to call them because they weren't a biscuit, cake, slice, or sweetmeat but somewhere in the middle of all of that.
At dinner I was between the Ajiad Ashtaquil Niktangka, and young Mr Dhail dh'Jhaint. Early in the meal, Mr dh'Jhaint expressed some misgivings, very quietly, about the trip he was on with his older relative - apparently, if I understand correctly, he thinks the trip may have been misrepresented to himself and his parents. I took the time to eat a few mouthfuls of food and consider, and then suggested that this evening he could quietly get Mr Rhaimais and the Doctor's contact information, and then ask Lord Retneseri for advice on which officials might need to be contacted if, say, the Right Reverend Dean were to become ill or have an accident. Also. Mrs dh'Haibhaint would be able to supply him with the direction of the consulate in Sengrangri. With that information, if there were problems with the dh'Jhaints' proposed itinerary, he would have options to gain assistance.
When I turned to the Ajiad, he asked me how I came to have such a forthright opinion in a theologian. I explained that when I was sixteen my mother tasked me with reading what she thought would be an improving book on the lives of influential theologians and writing a precis of each chapter. This book had discussed Mhaiskhoain, his opinions and his life. This last included how, after the death of his only child, he became convinced that the young man had been reincarnated(!) in a colt foal conceived on the property on the day of the young man's death. He had gone so far as to insist that his wife attempt to supplant the mare in the foal's affections and that his daughter-in-law should 'remarry' his 'son', but only after the colt had reached breeding age, to avoid any suggestion of impropriety. The Ajiad asked me how that had turned out - as it happens the daughter-in-law married a man from Mhaiphrial and removed there with him, her children, and her mother-in-law. Mhaiskhoain remained on his estate, tended by his servants and students, and the horse was stabled until Mhaiskhoain's death in a downstairs room of the house 'because the son of the house should not be sleeping in the stables.’
Mr dh'Jhaint had turned his attention back to me and asked if that had made my mother reconsider the book. It hadn't because in those days she only wanted to see the precises when the book was finished. She had accused me of making things up when she read the precis on dh'Lhaghotain where I had included the sentence on exactly why dh'Lhaghotain was preached against in services - the event that caused him to take up theology. I had to show her the actual passage in the book, and the definitions in the dictionary I'd looked up to understand what the book was saying. Tellingly, Mother has not set me any biographies or memoirs to read since. Both the Ajiad and Mr dh'Jhaint laughed at that.
No fortified wine in the balcony parlor tonight, and none in the dining room either, I believe, because the gentlemen joined us straight away. Several gentlemen went to play billiards, and several games of shabh-hab were started. There was a game of koh, but I was included in a table playing the card matching game. Tea was brought in at about the normal time, but in the Kerajaan fashion again, but with a different spice mix, and little cakes and savouries on the side. The teacups, silver and glass again, and the little food plates were left on the table as we played which I found odd but is apparently quite normal.
My card game broke up after the second time through the deck, and I made my excuses at that point.
After this morning's incident, I made sure to prop the chair especially firmly under my door handle tonight.
Tomorrow I will be in the Kerajaa and spending the night, and the night after, in a government hostel. My bag for that stay is packed, except for my toiletries and hairbrush and comb. Also, the stewardess warned me that the Kerajaan authorities will search my room here while I am in the hostel. I tell myself that this is an adventure, and that helps.
Anadrasata Nearabhigan