tokeep from throwing up all over the front of his chain-mail shirt.
Then dear, dear Kamion rescued me. ‘Excuse me, Sir Taygon, but Lady Polgara’s sister, our future queen, requires her presence. I know that we’ll all be made desolate by her absence, but a royal command cannot be disobeyed. I’m certain that a warrior of your vast experience can understand the importance of obeying orders.’
‘Oh, of course, Kamion,’ Taygon replied automatically. He bowed clumsily to me. ‘You must hurry, Lady Polgara. We mustn’t keep the Queen waiting.’
I curtsied to him, not trusting myself to answer. Then Kamion took my elbow and guided me away.
‘When you come back,’ Taygon called after me, ‘I’ll tell you about how I disemboweled an offensive Arend.’
‘I can hardly wait,’ I said rather weakly over my shoulder.
‘Do you really want to hear about it, my Lady?’ Kamion murmured to me.
‘Frankly, my dear Kamion, I’d sooner take poison’
He laughed. ‘I rather thought you might feel that way about it. Your face was definitely taking on a slight greenish cast there toward the end.’
Oh, Kamion was smooth. I began to admire him almost in spite of myself.
‘Well?’ my sister asked when I rejoined her, ‘how was it?’
‘Just wonderful!’ I replied exultantly. They were all smitten with me. I was the absolute center of attention.’
‘You’ve got a cruel streak in you, Polgara.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I’ve been cooped up in here all afternoon, and you’ve come back to rub my nose in all your conquests.’
‘Would I do that?’ I asked her archly.
‘Of course you would. I can see you absolutely running through the halls to get back so that you could gloat’ Then she laughed. ‘I’m sorry, Pol. I couldn’t resist that.’
‘You’re above all that now, Beldaran,’ I told her. ‘You’ve already caught the man you want. I’m still fishing.’
‘I’m not sure that I’m the one who really caught him. There were a lot of other people involved in that fishingtrip, too: Aldur, father – mother, too, probably. The notion of an arranged marriage is just a little humiliating.’
‘You do love Riva, don’t you?’
‘Of course. It’s humiliating all the same. All right, tell me what happened. I want every single detail.’
I described my afternoon, and my sister and I spent a great deal of our time laughing. Even as I had, Beldaran particularly enjoyed the reaction of the Rivan girls.
That afternoon was my last unsupervised excursion into the untamed jungle of the adolescent mating ritual. From then on, father sat scowling in a spot where everybody could see him. It wasn’t really necessary, of course, but there was no way that father could know that mother was already keeping an eye on me. His presence did set certain limits on the enthusiasm of my suitors, and I was of two minds about that. None of my suitors were likely to go too far with him sitting there, but I was fairly sure that I could take care of myself, and father’s insistence on being present robbed me of the chance to find out if I could.
For some reason Kamion made father particularly nervous, and I couldn’t understand exactly why. Kamion had exquisite manners, and he never once did anything at all offensive. Why did my aged sire dislike him so much?
Got you that time, didn’t I, Old Wolf?
Then King Cherek and his sons, Dras Bull-neck and Algar Fleet-foot, arrived for the wedding, and things began to get just a bit more serious. Despite the way Beldaran and Riva felt about each other, my sister had been right. Theirs was an arranged marriage. The possibility that my father might also decide to arrange one for me – just to protect me from all those fawning suitors – raised its ugly head. There was in those days – probably even still existing – the idea that women are intellectually inferior to men. Men did – and many still do – automatically assume that women are
Then dear, dear Kamion rescued me. ‘Excuse me, Sir Taygon, but Lady Polgara’s sister, our future queen, requires her presence. I know that we’ll all be made desolate by her absence, but a royal command cannot be disobeyed. I’m certain that a warrior of your vast experience can understand the importance of obeying orders.’
‘Oh, of course, Kamion,’ Taygon replied automatically. He bowed clumsily to me. ‘You must hurry, Lady Polgara. We mustn’t keep the Queen waiting.’
I curtsied to him, not trusting myself to answer. Then Kamion took my elbow and guided me away.
‘When you come back,’ Taygon called after me, ‘I’ll tell you about how I disemboweled an offensive Arend.’
‘I can hardly wait,’ I said rather weakly over my shoulder.
‘Do you really want to hear about it, my Lady?’ Kamion murmured to me.
‘Frankly, my dear Kamion, I’d sooner take poison’
He laughed. ‘I rather thought you might feel that way about it. Your face was definitely taking on a slight greenish cast there toward the end.’
Oh, Kamion was smooth. I began to admire him almost in spite of myself.
‘Well?’ my sister asked when I rejoined her, ‘how was it?’
‘Just wonderful!’ I replied exultantly. They were all smitten with me. I was the absolute center of attention.’
‘You’ve got a cruel streak in you, Polgara.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I’ve been cooped up in here all afternoon, and you’ve come back to rub my nose in all your conquests.’
‘Would I do that?’ I asked her archly.
‘Of course you would. I can see you absolutely running through the halls to get back so that you could gloat’ Then she laughed. ‘I’m sorry, Pol. I couldn’t resist that.’
‘You’re above all that now, Beldaran,’ I told her. ‘You’ve already caught the man you want. I’m still fishing.’
‘I’m not sure that I’m the one who really caught him. There were a lot of other people involved in that fishingtrip, too: Aldur, father – mother, too, probably. The notion of an arranged marriage is just a little humiliating.’
‘You do love Riva, don’t you?’
‘Of course. It’s humiliating all the same. All right, tell me what happened. I want every single detail.’
I described my afternoon, and my sister and I spent a great deal of our time laughing. Even as I had, Beldaran particularly enjoyed the reaction of the Rivan girls.
That afternoon was my last unsupervised excursion into the untamed jungle of the adolescent mating ritual. From then on, father sat scowling in a spot where everybody could see him. It wasn’t really necessary, of course, but there was no way that father could know that mother was already keeping an eye on me. His presence did set certain limits on the enthusiasm of my suitors, and I was of two minds about that. None of my suitors were likely to go too far with him sitting there, but I was fairly sure that I could take care of myself, and father’s insistence on being present robbed me of the chance to find out if I could.
For some reason Kamion made father particularly nervous, and I couldn’t understand exactly why. Kamion had exquisite manners, and he never once did anything at all offensive. Why did my aged sire dislike him so much?
Got you that time, didn’t I, Old Wolf?
Then King Cherek and his sons, Dras Bull-neck and Algar Fleet-foot, arrived for the wedding, and things began to get just a bit more serious. Despite the way Beldaran and Riva felt about each other, my sister had been right. Theirs was an arranged marriage. The possibility that my father might also decide to arrange one for me – just to protect me from all those fawning suitors – raised its ugly head. There was in those days – probably even still existing – the idea that women are intellectually inferior to men. Men did – and many still do – automatically assume that women are
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