The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 45
Day 45 and we have more about clothes, and a dinner party.
I think I might need to sit down and pull out my notes about when I want Anadrasata to return home, and the map, and then calculate journey times and departure dates. Otherwise, things may not work out the way I want them to.
This piece runs to 2,701 words and I hope that you enjoy it.
Index page.
Rhoinday, 26 Naisen, 1893 C.E.
Jimool, 13 Sajibu, 2157 T.M.L.
6 Tlanoluaoy, 29 Kiautl, 6.11.2.1.8.3.1
Dear Journal,
I woke up to a rainy morning today. Really, I have been most fortunate with the weather so far on this trip - nowhere I have been has been in drought or suffering a water shortage, but I have not been personally inconvenienced by rain. When I commented on it to Nais, she remarked that it is a good thing I am not here in storm season and she is probably right. We picked out a yellow house dress for this morning and I asked Nais to think about her recommendations on what I should look for in combs and hair pins as I suspect there will not be room for her in the coach this afternoon. She promised to have a written list for me when I came up to change after lunch.
When I went downstairs for breakfast, Mitzli was preparing to go out for his morning practice. Presumably because of the weather, this morning he put on a capacious leather coat that was almost like a hooded cloak, except that it had sleeves, and a densely woven, wide brimmed straw hat. I said good morning and hoped that he wouldn't get too wet, and was assured that he had adequate protection. I did notice that the hat went on over his hood, and on reflection, that is the way that would keep him driest. It would also mean that your rain hat(?) would need to be a larger size than your normal hats.
At breakfast Axolin told me that he is planning on taking me on a city tour tomorrow morning. Cousin Ghrus assured me that he would make sure that my absence would not disrupt the work of the office-parlor. It did cross my mind that he might have arranged for Axolin to organise the tour for the morning because he wanted me out of the office for the whole day, and then Axolin suggested that we might invite Lord Elnaith along as well and our conversation veered off into whether this was appropriate.... I got the distinct impression that there was another consideration, other than my courtship by Lord Elnaith, in play which no-one was articulating or explaining to me. On reflection, I think it is about Axolin getting to know Lord Elnaith better. Interesting.
In the office parlor, the section of journal with Fraisis numbers in the margins seemed to have ended. However, as Great-aunt Giltreeada arrived to be consulted in the subject, the clerk working on an earlier journal found another section (or possibly an earlier section?). The two sections both have sequential numbering internally and both begin from the nullpoint. I did ask whether they both begin from the same nullpoint but there was nothing to indicate that it was anything other than zero in the assumed axis. (Frais arithmetic seems to start somewhere in the middle of other people's advanced mathematics, and I believe that is why its numbers are often used in scientific notation.) Great-aunt Giltreeada asked me to read the numbers out in Imperial, Ghaistonyc, and Fraisis [and that pushed the limits of my Fraisis] but she didn't know what they signified. Great-aunt also pointed out that these journals pre-dated her first meeting with Great-uncle so he may never have used the numbers during the time she knew him. Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecolotl made a comment about needing a code breaker on the team. I translated a few sentences of Ghaistonyc that had been found the precious working afternoon and this morning, and worked on reading, and understanding, the newspaper. My collection of single glyph words grew by ten. I wonder if I should ask Axolin to include all these places in the city on tomorrow's tour?
I sat next to Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecolotl at lunch and he spent the meal asking me about Fraisis numbers and arithmetic. I think everyone around us had their eyes roll back in their heads when I described the four axes they use but, to be fair, that's about where my eyes roll back in my head because that's where you get charting the movement of three dimensional objects through time from. I suspect that eye rolling back thing is a self defense response of some kind. [I have no answers as to why the Frais do things this way.]
Cousin Poktlilui told me to have Nais come with us this afternoon and to warn her that she will need to sit on the box between the driver and the footman because Great-aunt and Tehaneume are coming with us too. I told Nais this when I changed out of the house gown and into my newest walking dress - a dark green cotton that had Mother complaining that the colour and style were 'too frivolous' for someone of my station and prospects. [I now question all her advice on this subject and wonder if a touch of lace should be added to the garment in question.]
As I said, I went up to get changed after lunch and advised Nais that she is to come with us and that she will be sitting on the box. After I asked her, she assured me that she had something suitable to keep her dry in today's weather. She had the list of combs and hairpins written out, and the clothes that needed a dressmaker's hand to redo all folded up inside a tied cloth, so when she had fetched her coat. we went downstairs together.
No doubt due to the weather today we went out in an enclosed coach. The box wasn't enclosed but it was covered with a roof that extended forward over the full depth of the seat and footboard, and had a wall behind the seat from the body of the coach to the roof over the box. The box was open at the sides, no doubt so as not to block the driver's line of vision, but I thought that unless we were driving into the rain, then Nais should be nice and dry between the coachman and footman. Inside the coach the seats were padded, if not as comfortable as those in the barouche, and I was pleased that it didn't leak around the windows. I also hoped that the boot, where my dresses were and where our shopping would go, was waterproof.
Our first stop was the dressmaker. I tried on the remaining garments to doublecheck the fit and length, and then signified that I was very happy with the results - I actually looked elegant! Then the dressmaker looked at the dresses I wanted rejuvenated. She agreed that the fabric of the walking dress, in particular, was too fine not to keep and produced a copy of the Seib edition of The Monthly Ladies' Fashion Compendium, published in Mhaiphrial. In the middle of it there was a walking dress with a bodice that had extensions at the rear rather like a tailcoat's. The dressmaker suggested that a strong brown colour either in a plain fabric, with decorative trim around the edges, or as the ground for paler flowers in brown tones would work. She suggested that they could remove a sleeve while we waited so that we could compare colours in the fabric warehouse. The morning dress was, I think, originally one of my paternal grandmother's garments and when it was remade for me the major conversion was taking in and flattening the seams, consequently the dressmaker thinks that once the seams are let out again, the worn sections taken in, and a decorative tape (or braid) applied over the 'extra' seams I will have a garment I won't be ashamed to be seen in. She has several examples of the type of braid she means, and I expressed a preference for the ones with geometric patterns. (Depending on just how much braid is needed, she may need to get it in specially for this dress.)
Our next stop was the fabric warehouse. Our first step was to find a close match for the fabric type of the brown striped fabric. It's a wool and silk mix, but not a bombazine, so because they don't use as much silk, or as many silk mixtures, as we do at home, our search was limited to the 'exotic' and more expensive fabrics. The flowered fabrics are all prints or embroidery meant for specific garments (and so expensive!) and the prints are all cottons. As well, at the moment their flowered prints all have white or off-white grounds - not what we are looking for. In the end we found a p-akeri and silk mix fabric in the right weight and beautiful, rich brown colour that goes well with the original fabric. I am inclined to think that the trim around the new bodice should be in a combination of a darker brown and golden yellow, but I am not sure what is possible. We paid for the fabric and then took it back to the dressmaker who pronounced it an excellent choice. She also said that she thought the trim should be embroidered in gold or golden yellow and produced several patterns for my approval and we picked one she called yoleukiyyoxochtl vine. [I have no idea what the yoleukiyyoxochtl is or what it looks like in real life, but I find the design very attractive.]
From there we went to look at hair pins and combs. Hair pins were fairly simple and I chose both a plain set and one with decorative ends. Hair combs were more complicated. Many areas of the Confederation have their own particular styles of hair comb and this shop had them all. Nais assured me that not all of them would work with my hair, so that did cut down on the selection and I was able to select two sets of six - one suitable for day wear and one for evening. I don't think I was extravagant, and everyone agreed that my selections were enough to be going on with, but I can't help wondering if I really need everything I brought today because I haven't needed this many hair accessories before, ever.
We returned home in time for me to be able to spend some time on my embroidery before I bathed and dressed for dinner. One of the pleasures of the shared bath house, I realise, is that you turn up when it is convenient for you. In what I regard as a normal household like this one, there are the needs of multiple people to consider (no-one has a bathtub for every member of the family!), the household's capacity to heat water, and the carrying capacity and other duties of the staff. I have given Nais the authority to negotiate the timings with the household staff within the understandings that I do wish, very much, to have a bath every day and that the needs of my hosts take precedence. (Also on the understanding that there is enough water for this - Nais has been told to let me know if this is an issue.) The embroidery on the gift tablecloth is progressing well and I hope to have time to add simple lines of stitching to frame the guardian beasts - I think it will make the design look more complete.
I wore one of my new dining gowns tonight. It is pink with fine detailing in red, but it isn't the pale pink that debutantes wear at home, this is a very bright pink that you don't see at home. It looks positively garish in daylight, but under the light of candles and oil lamps it is less overly bold and more simply firmly confident in itself. I will probably not wear this again once I am home, so I plan to enjoy it now.
My cousins had other guests to dinner tonight. Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli is an althepetl official from Zapohtitan and was accompanied by two younger associates. One of them, Mr Chictawatlallitochtli, was seated between Tehaneume and myself, with Axolin opposite him, and Miztli on my left and Yeixi on Tehaneume's right. While both my dinner companions were talking to their other dining partners, I occupied my mind with working out the reasoning behind Cousin Poktlilui's seating plan. Cousin Ghrus was obviously honouring and interested in his primary guest, Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli. His other associate was seated next to Great-aunt Giltreeada who was, it seems, a friend of his parents and grandparents so she plied him for news of their mutual acquaintance. I hadn't decided whether we were keeping Mr Chictawatlallitochtli under close watch or simply becoming acquainted before he switched his attention to me. I agreed with him that my cousins keep a fine table, and asked him about Zapohtitan. (I believe it was whether the local plant life differed much from here.) The rest of our conversation over dinner was spent talking about our respective hometowns - it included a long diversion on the subject of what, because we are so far from the sea, do we do for fish?
We ladies withdrew and drank our kasoolht as usual, but the gentlemen took longer than usual to join us. With no evidence whatsoever, I suspect that they were discussing whatever business has brought the party from Zapohtitan here. By the time the gentlemen joined us I felt that we had thoroughly exhausted the changes to my wardrobe, silk/wool mix fabrics and wool/cotton mix fabrics, and the difficulties one might encounter using Confederation-favoured hairstyles on Imperial-type hair. I had just asked if the Confederation had publications like The Monthly Ladies' Fashion Compendium when Cousin Ghrus led the gentlemen into the room, spouting apologies for being tardy. [I thought he seemed rather pleased, so I suspect that the male only discussion achieved his goals for it.]
I was organised into a six handed table of maistoto with Cousin Ghrus, Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli, Cousin Poktlilui, Axolin, and Great-aunt Giltreeada. Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli took one hand to realise that Great-aunt is not a sweet little old lady at the card table. Table conversation over the second hand told me that Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli and Cousin Poktlilui are related. Third cousins once and twice removed, I believe, and he was well aware of her card playing skills. After the third hand he suggested that as there were three card games in play we might like to redistribute the players between the tables, but as one of the other tables was still on their third hand and the other was halfway through their fourth, this wasn't possible. After the fourth hand he commented that he was glad we weren't playing for money. As I was about to deal the fifth hand, he commiserated with me for being one of the p-akeri in jaguar territory. [I am not sure what a jaguar is. I had thought it was a large spotted wildcat, but this phrase implies something more dangerous.] I was very naughty. I think, and agreed with him that my Great-aunt and cousins are challenging players, while I did my fanciest card shuffle without looking at the cards while I was doing it. (And yes, I have practised it.) Mr Tototlnahuitlaulli did laugh, and when it was his turn to shuffle and deal for the last hand, did his own fancy shuffle. I did suggest that there were no p-akeri here, only jaguars, and everyone at the table laughed. (Please note, all the conversation at the card table was in Coac-htl. I didn't imagine that I would be able to do that by now when I left home!)
The evening ended when the last hand of cards was finished at the last table, and all we ladies went upstairs together. Cousin Poktlilui told me that I had done very well this evening, and if his lordship doesn't come up to scratch or suit me, then she has some cousins who might suit instead and could be persuaded to move to the Empire. I think this is a good thing and I made what I hope was a light and appreciative reply, but I have never had so many prospects!
Anadrasata Nearabhigan