The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 37
Anadrasata has her first full day with her cousins. What does a young lady need for an extended visit in a foreign city? Who might she meet?
This piece runs to 2,596 words, and I hope that you enjoy it.
Index page.
Skaithosday, 18 Naisen, 1893 C.E.
Jimool, 5 Sajibu, 2157 T.M.L.
11 Oztotl, 21 Kiauitl, 6.11.2.1.8.2.13
Dear Journal,
I woke this morning when a maid I haven't met before brought me warm water for my ablutions. She was shy, or my accent was so bad she couldn't understand me, or she is mute, but she just smiled and curtsied at me in response to my greeting and my request to know her name. I did try in both Imperial and Coac-htl. I may already be known below stairs as "that fool who thinks she can speak Coac-htl" when I think I am "that fool who is trying to learn Coac-htl."
Breakfast was in a dining parlor on the ground floor and was served as a buffet. I recognised most of the food on offer by category rather than as the specific food item it was. There was no-one else in the room when I arrived, either family or servants, although neatly stacked used plates on a trolley near what I assumed was the servants' door showed that I was not the first to breakfast. I selected an unused table setting, poured myself a glass of water from the jug on the sideboard, and helped myself to some toasted bread, poached fish, and pickled diced vegetables. I was just thinking that I would like some tea and some butter for my toast when Matlal (the butler) entered the room.
Matlal cast an eye around the room, and then asked who had served me. I answered carefully that as no-one else had been here when I arrived, I had assumed that I was supposed to serve myself. I added that if I had done the wrong thing, could he please tell me the right thing to do so I didn't repeat myself. Matlal told me (sternly? reproachfully?) that ladies should not have to serve themselves, and then asked if I required anything else. I asked for butter, and if it were possible, tea. Both were obtained and I offered appropriate thanks. When I had finished the food I had served myself, and Matlal was offering me a serving of some sort of fruit preserves, rather like unset jam, and something I think is yoghurt but not made from cow's milk, Cousin Chicumexipaltimiztli bounced into the room, freshly washed and bright eyed. He greeted Matlal and myself, asked Matlal for his usual second plate and said that he would sit opposite me, and let Matlal rearrange the tableware. My cousin then sat down opposite me, and asked how I was this morning. I replied that I was well, thank you, and remarked that of course I was not yet familiar with the way the household conducted matters, but I hoped to learn quickly.
He nodded, thanked Matlal for the plate of food the butler gave him, and then I asked him how he was this morning. He told me that he was well, and that he had just returned from an hour of exercise at his fighting club. The only thing I could think of in reply to that was to ask if it was wrestling, boxing, or swords? He replied, with the closest thing I have seen to a grin from my relatives so far, that it was all three, plus shooting and general fitness, depending on the day. He then told me that he does this every morning, after a small snack, then he comes home and has a proper breakfast. He also invited me to call him Miztli, and asked whether I was called by a shorter version of my name. I admitted that I never have been - the logical short form would be Anna, which we use for my eldest sister, but we've never shortened Tallaig's name either and perhaps the respect due to a future head of a family is in play. (Cousin Miztli's Imperial is much better than my Coac-htl because he followed my ramblings on the subject, and I would not be able to express what I said in Coac-htl.)
I excused myself after my third cup of tea, thought to ask Matlal what time I should be ready to leave the house for the shopping expedition, and thought to ask Cousin Miztli how I should arrange my banking. He recommended that I bring it up with his mother, and went back to his breakfast.
I met Cousin Poktlilui on the way back to my room, and received the draft letter for me to copy. She was kind enough to explain the words I didn't understand, and we agreed that I had time to do the fair copy before we left to go shopping. She also assured me that we could deal with the banking issue when we went out.
The request for an appointment was done on the first attempt, and after a brief discussion with Cousin Poktlilui and Great-aunt Giltreeada, I signed it as Anadrasata Nearabhigan spelt phonetically in Coac-htl character glyphs, and subscribed it as Chicmacxiuhtontli (TenSmallLeaf). It was left for distribution with the rest of the household's mail and then we went out.
We used the same carriage that I arrived in yesterday. Great-aunt and Cousin Poktlilui occupied the forward facing seats, Great-aunt's maid and I were in the backwards facing ones, and a footman occupied the bench seat beside yesterday's driver. Our first stop was the bank that the family normally does business with. Cousin Poktlilui took the lead in introductions and explanations, with the end result that Tlapleta and Sons had accepted me as a client, and I had an account with them in my own name. The gentleman who assisted me with the account and Cousin Poktlilui went over the coins with me several times to make sure that I knew how much money I had and what it was worth. Then we set out on our shopping expedition.
First was a fabric warehouse where we selected and purchased lengths of fabric for nine new gowns, two over garments, and a gift for Lady Xochihtli. The dress lengths were of cotton and p-akeri wool, and the outer garment lengths of undyed p-akeri wool, and the gift was a length of undyed cotton. (All those beautiful colours! I felt quite rich after I'd paid for my purchases.)
Then we stopped at the temple of Lady Xochihtli - rebuilt after the War of Secession, Cousin Pokthilui told me. The current version is made of blocks of stone from the Circle Mountains, carved with bands of reliefs, and decorated with growing plants spilling everywhere. The priestess to whom I was made known told me to call her Firstsister, although Cousin Poktlilui and Great-aunt called her Tececetca, accepted the gift graciously on behalf of the temple, but seemed confused when I asked whether there was a charitable fund administered by the temple that I ought to contribute to. Great-aunt understood what I meant but we had to explain it to Cousin Poktlilui and Firstsister. It took a few minutes, but we did manage to convey the concept of church building funds and poor boxes to them. I said that I didn't know how long I would be staying on this visit, and I would rather not find myself behindhand with my social obligations. Firstsister seemed to find that amusing but assured me that everyone would know if they had a need arise for extra funds. She also told me that disaster relief was the responsibility firstly of althepetl government and then of the higher levels of government - Lady Xochihtli's servants are rarely involved in such things. We then made our farewells and withdrew.
Our next stop was Great-aunt's dressmaker. It was explained to me that she has more expertise with Imperial complexions and body types than the establishment that Cousin Poktlilui favours. What I did notice was that the process of making a garment was different to the one at home. House gowns are made up of geometric pieces and are hardly fitted at all. Visiting dresses and dining gowns involve both tailoring and draping. Of course, I needed to be measured for foundation garments as well. The locally favoured item is shorter than the stays I am used to and doesn't supply so much back support. There were shifts and chemises to order as well.
Then we went on to buy hats and footwear. The hats are straw or dried reeds and mainly undecorated, relying on weave pattern and shape for attractiveness. Most of the footwear is sandals with some slippers. There were some boots on sale but these are usually worn in the colder and wetter months, so I am unlikely to need them.
After all of that, we returned home for lunch.
I was seated between Axolinchicycictalti and Yeixipalliehuatl, and opposite Tehaneumeoztotl again. They asked me to call them Axolin, Yeixi, and Tehaneume respectively. I explained that I had no familiar name to offer them, and (for the first time) was able to explain that Anadrasata is a feminised version of Anadras. We spent the rest of the meal discussing a familiar name, for use within the family, for me. By the time we were finished, the favoured choice was Xiu, from the middle of Chicmacxiuhtontli. It's a nonsense syllable on its own but Yeixi pointed out that so is his use name, and Tehaneume pointed out that familiar and use names are sometimes puns or friendly jokes. [I really have to find out more about use and familiar, and formal names.] I pointed out that we don't have to decide it right now, and Axolin agreed, and pointed out that I am small and so is the proposed name. Tehaneume gave him a look, and then Great-aunt asked me if I could join her At Home Imperial conversation session this afternoon. I agreed, because she is my hostess and I have no reason not to.
[I think that Yeixi and Tehaneume are working on coming to an understanding. Just an observation. If I understand all the relationships correctly, they aren't related to each other.]
It seems that for many years Great-aunt Giltreeada has been holding conversational Imperial lessons for Confederation officials with a need to speak the language. She is, of course, a native speaker and so can help with idiomatic usage as well as giving the participants confidence in using their vocabulary and in their pronunciation. I can see that having another native speaker present would be useful.
This afternoon there were six visitors present and because it is a lesson, rather than an ordinary At Home afternoon, they stayed for an hour. Four of the visitors were men my age and younger. One was a gentleman of approximately Great-aunt's age. The sixth was a man of about Cousin Ghrus' age who has recently been reposted to Tlemutsiko and wanted to both refresh his Imperial and renew old acquaintances. Because this is supposed to simulate an Imperial At Home, without the time limit on visits, tea was served and I poured for the company. All of the visitors noticed that my accent was different to Great-aunt's (and my cousins') and I explained that my mother had not chosen for me to have sufficient elocution lessons to eliminate all trace of the provincial accent I'd learned in the nursery. The younger men, I think, didn't know what to say or had trouble with their comprehension, but the middle-aged gentleman, Mr Coatlnahuitlalli, asked me questions about my home province and Umbrial. In return I asked him about his home althepetl and hometown (Tecocoapan in Queresco). Between us we encouraged a young man who had a question about the difference between sheep and cows. (It was about whether they can interbreed because their main wool and meat/milk animals can.) From there we moved on to time (via gestation periods of sheep, cows, and p-akeri) and I tried to convert Imperial 30 day months into 13 day weeks (tzolk) and/or 29 day months (haatstli). That took us from day names to days of rest - each place has three official days of rest within a thirteen day tzolk and Tlemutsiko's are days one, four and nine. That was enough to fill our hour of conversation. I noticed that all the young men took great care to practice their farewells.
When they were all gone, Great-aunt commented with great satisfaction that the whole thing had gone very well, and we could probably expect more attendees at her next At Home lesson. When I asked her why, shoe laughed and said that my accent would be the attraction for a certain type of official.
At the time I didn't think anything of her comment, but when I was changing for dinner, it occurred to me to wonder what sort of official that would be.
At dinner I was seated between Miztli and Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecolotl, who is a secretary employed by Cousin Ghrus to organise the translation of Great-uncle's diaries. According to Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecolotl (ThirteenMoonOwl?) there are three institutions of higher learning in the Confederation that teach Ghaistonyc and each of them will have no more than ten students in each intake. I asked him if part of his plan for this project was to wait till the end of the academic year and recruit unemployed new graduates. He agreed, and added that underemployed students on long term break also played into his plan. We then discussed how higher education is organised in the Confederation as opposed to the Empire. I didn't have the vocabulary to explain my sister Sura's field of study in Coac-htl and Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecolotl didn't really have it in Imperial either, but I think we worked it out.
Tonight's meal was much the same as last night's but varied as to the individual dishes. I might ask for the recipe for tonight's meat stew - I think it would adapt well to mutton.
In the parlor after the dinner, we ladies discussed my wardrobe extension over our kasoolht. Then I asked a question about charity and good works, because at home I would expect most of that to be around and/or through the Church, but from today it appears that the temples don't do that. The answer is that it is complicated. Some temples keep their eyes on the divine at some point above the horizon. Others pay much more attention to what is going on around them.
At that point the gentlemen rejoined us, and I was asked to repeat what I had said at dinner about Sura's studies. Great-aunt commented that she was surprised my mother allowed it, and I replied (perhaps unwisely) that I thought she hoped Sura would attract the marital interests of a scholarly younger son of good or even noble family. I added (I had drunk my entire glass of kasoolht) that I hoped that if she did it would be someone who supported her interests and studies, and not someone who expected her to give everything up to support him. When Cousin Ghrus asked me why, I told him that it was because she is most alive when talking about natural science. Then someone asked me what I was most alive about, and I had to say that I didn't know. Cousin Poktlikui changed the subject, which was kind of her, because what interests do I have beyond embroidery? Not that I would call that a passion.
I went up to my room when Great-aunt withdrew for the night again. I had this journal to update, and some quiet, and not happy thoughts to think about myself.
Anadrasata Nearabhigan