"Ah, Helena, my sweet," Kai cooed as a well- endowed maiden came flouncing over from a window seat and pecked him on the cheek. "You ready to marry me yet?"
Helena giggled, as did three other young women sprawled about on the cushioned benches set below the windows. Two of them could have been twin sisters; when Alaire appraised them from a discreet distance, he realized they probably were. Long, silky curtains hung on the walls, giving the balcony a very feminine atmosphere.
He started to feel uncomfortable as he tried to assess the kind of situation Kai had introduced him to.
This did not look like his mother's solar -- but it also did not look like anything else he recognized.
He was afraid that the young women here might be something other than the kinds of young women he should be associating with.
The prospect made his stomach quiver.
Alaire was, even at the not-so-tender age of nine- teen, still a virgin, and though naturally desirous of rectifying the situation, he knew it would be madness to even dream of doing so here and now. "Assume every friendly female you meet is in the employ of our enemies," Naitachal had said. Wise advice, Alaire reluctantly knew. Naitachal had often commented that his upbringing had an odd mixture of naivete and street smarts.
Don't get ahead of yourself, he thought. You don't know what's going on here yet. There could be an innocent explanation for all this!
Right. These are Kai's schoolmates. And those boats down there are going to take to the air and fly away like a flock of gulls.
"And who's this?" Helena said, moving clos Alaire. He unconsciously took a step backwards. "A new friend?"
"Allow me to introduce ..." Kai began, pausi Alaire's warning look. "One of the ambassadors Althea. Meet his Lordship, Alaire Re-Risto. Alaire, meet Helena."
Helena bowed slightly, offered her hand. Alaire took it and kissed it gallantly.
The twins giggled hysterically. Alaire's face burned.
Kai proceeded with the introductions.
"And over there," Kai gestured grandly towards the twins, "are, in order of appearance, Heikki and Aini."
He leaned closer to Alaire, whispered, "And I think they like you. They like to share, if you know what I mean!"
Alaire fought back a wave of dizziness. "Pleased to meet you!" he said, to no one of them in particular. His words came out a full octave higher than usual.
He leaned over to Kai, whispered back, "No! I don't know what you mean!"
"And the fourth lady," Kai continued, indicating a more modestly dressed lady a bit older than the oth- ers, "is Rajanen. She will be entertaining us today on the harp."
"On the . . ." Alaire started, glancing around the room. What he had first thought was an oddly shaped piece of sculpture was a harp indeed, the large, non- portable kind that remained in music rooms and moved only rarely.
Rajanen smiled politely and stood up. Gracefully, she made her way over to the instrument, seated her- self on a small stool, leaned the huge instrument against her shoulder, and began playing. It was a soft, lilting tune, evidently selected to tranquilize. Or, Alaire's frame of mind, calm the jitters. Perhaps she observed this; the prospect made his face burn even more.
"Come. Let's sit." Kai led them over to the flat couches, and clapped his hands three times. "Now we will have that meal you've been begging for since this morning."
At first he thought Kai was referring to something besides food. Out here? In the open? Better come up with some kind of story, something conventional, something believable, and something that would make me... He thought about it a moment. Got it!
"I'm engaged back home," he blurted out. His announcement passed without comment. As they sat on the cushioned benches, now out in the full sun, two servants appeared with trays of food Oh. The two young men didn't seem to notice the women as they entered They stared straight ahead, unblinking. They opened small folding tables and set the trays down, taking the silvered covers with them. Kai hardly acknowledged them as they marched back into the palace.
Alaire regarded the food in a mixed mood. He was hungry, yet his stomach was in knots. Still, the "practice" had taken a lot out of him, and the romp in the royal ice water had put an edge on his hunger.