The Vendesian Archipelago

[lordinmanner]

The trip to the shore had gone smoothly enough despite the circumstances, as the Empress had sent word swiftly, along with the hoped-for Certificate. A ship would be waiting for them, she assured, at their usual port, and as promised, the three-masted vessel was standing tall in the berth

Comments

[so_far_fallen]

It felt like a dream to Aria at first, like this was all happening to somebody else. He'd been born in Verdimond City and he'd never left, now he was to be one of the only people in the land to have ever left it, and he was quite sure it would be unlikely he ever returned

[so_far_fallen]

Aria accepted the tea with a kind nod to the attendant and a quiet 'thank you'.
Aria had not really noticed Kithaniel's absence from the conversation, he was much too fixated on giving the Empress a good impression.

"I'm not sure how it came about," Aria replied after a moments thought, "It has always been. We believe you marry those you love, and people aften find more than one person in their loves they have such feelings for. Surely it is better to love many and share feelings of joy than it is to divorce one lover in exchange for another, such actions can only bring hurt and bitterness..."
Aria wasn't sure if he was speaking too boldly and felt anxious again, but he'd had no other way of explaining how people from Verdimond thought.
"My lady, I will earn my keep iin Vendesey in any way I can, I swear. I will seek employment - I can cook, I was a kitchen boy at Verdimond Palace as a teenager. I'll do anything asigned to me, I will farm, or build, or become a servant. Wherever I am placed I will accept it gladly."

[lordinmanner]

"I assure you," she said with a warm chuckle, "that there will be no such placement for you - you'll too soon be the toast of the social scene, though you do, I hope, understand that our customs are... a bit different from yours. If you do find yourself having romantic notions toward another man, you'll have to curb them if you wish to continue your social life. I believe that change may be the most difficult for you, given your history."

Her voice was quiet and casual, but there was a touch of regret to her tone. Some things were out of her control and how, exactly, the Vendesian people viewed such things was far out of her command. It was something to be gone over in private instead of among company, though.

Reaching out, she lifted one of the small cakes to take a dainty bite. "I apologise for what you may see as curtailing your freedom, but in our nation, politics and sociability has become something of a way of life."

[so_far_fallen]

Aria hadn't thought of that before, the idea that his heart would be conditioned was a little hard for him to take, but there was little else he could do.
"Of.. of course. I will obey the customs here. I will not shame you or give you reason to regret allowing me to become one of your people, my lady."