She giggled."No!But I know where you can find some to sketch!"
"What?Really?Where?"
"The royal gardens!"she said excitedly, grabbing his arms again and all but dancing in place."I was speaking with Prince Bakhtiar this morning during a special breakfast in the garden.He was giving me tips on playing taaki.One thing led to another, and I mentioned the frogs.He said his mother—" she broke off giggling again."Well, let us say, only her eldest son would be brave enough to say such things about Her Majesty!He's so charming, even when claiming his mother is evil incarnate, as though the Jewel of Tavamara could ever be any such thing!
"ButI am meandering, the point is that she apparently has a special section of the royal gardens where she keeps several poisoned dagger frogs, in all different colors!Prince Bakhtiar has granted you permission to visit them for your work.Here you are."She thrust a piece of paper at him, one of the special writs needed to enter various parts of the palace, mostly places like the treasury or anywhere at all in the royal wing if you were not part of the staff that worked there exclusively.
There was a section on the writ for the length of time permission was granted, but Prince Bakhtiar had only drawn an X.He had no idea what that meant."I'll retrieve my sketching materials and get to work immediately, my lady."Normally he did the sketches last, after he'd copied all the text and had a solid idea of how many sketches, what kind, and where exactly they would go, but he would make do.At worst, he could do tipped-in pages, though that wasn't his preferred method.
She smiled and pinched his cheek in a way that reminded him so much of his mother, made him wonder what she might have been like had she not been beaten down and broken by the iron fist of Havarin and the particular cruelty of Margrave Consus."Take your time, dear.I'm going to be in tiresome meetings arguing with tiresome men for the next few days and will scarcely have time to read my own notes, nevermind anything else.Have fun in the royal gardens.To be permitted to see them is quite the honor."She smirked and winked."You do seem to have made an impression on His Highness, though, hmm?Not surprising, as sweet and pretty as you are.Get along with you, then.I'll see you in a few days when I'm free again."
She strode off, like flower petals blown away in the wind, leaving Aaralyn red-faced and flustered.Tucking the writ into his pocket, he hurried back to his workshop, gathered up his portfolio, plenty of blank paper, sharp pencils and, at the last minute, his watercolors, and headed out.
His first stop was the dining hall, where thank the gods Mehr was eating an early lunch, as she often did."Mehr, Mehr!I need your help."
She laughed."What did you do now, Havarin?"
"I didn't do anything!Lady Hedieh somehow got me permission to enter the royal family's gardens to draw those frogs I was talking about this morning."
Her jaw dropped."You have the luck of the gods!Oooh, if you thought Davud was mad at you this morning, just wait until this information reaches him!He's going to drag you down to laundry and smother you in dirty linens."
"I don't think he'd go to that much trouble.He'd probably just smother me with my own pillow after I went to sleep.Anyway,I don't know where to go.You have to help me."
She burst into giggles, finished her tea and a last hastily-shoveled bite of food, then stood and all but threw her dishes into the washing bins."Come on, then, Havarin."She looped her arm through one of his and dragged him off through the palace.
As they ventured through hallways he'd never seen before, except very vaguely as he was carried around like a child, he was even more grateful he'd asked for help.
Eventually, they came to a set of heavy, ornate doors carved all over with birds.The guards loomed over him, at least a head taller and practically twice as wide.Though he knew it was simply part of their job to look fierce and intimidating, that they would not actually harm him, still he tensed the closer they got.
When they reached them, Mehr strode up to them as though she was a queen.Prodding the slightly taller of the two in one of hisverywell-muscled arms, she said, "Muscles, Havarin here has a writ to get into the gardens to draw frogs for Lady Hedieh.Let him pass, and don't any of you tease him, understand?Or you'll be hearing it from me."
The man's intimidating demeanor fell away like a dropped cloak, and he rolled his eyes dramatically."Mehr, when don't we hear it from you?The real trouble begins when you actually shut your mouth."
The other guard laughed as he pulled a key from his belt."What's your name then, Havarin?"
It was somehow endlessly amusing so many people called him that, and yet so many of the actual residents insisted he must be mistaken when he said he was from Havarin."Aaralyn Caulfield."
The guards stilled, clearly surprised, and shared some silent conversation.Then 'Muscles' said with a soft, amused huff, "So you're Master Aaralyn.Guess I see what all the fuss is about.On with you then."He waved off the writ as Aaralyn held it out."Keep it.Some of the other guards or servants will demand to see it."
"Definitely Omid, officious brat thinks he runs the place," the second guard added."Feel free to tell him to stuff his face."He pulled the door open and swept an arm out."To the end of the hall, turn right, you'll practically run right into the main portion of the most royal of the royal gardens."He grinned."I assume you're here for those pretty little rainbow colored frogs that we're told are fatal to the touch?Just follow the path, go over the first bridge, you'll then see a little pond protected by a rock wall.Can't miss them, they're the color of jewels.Just absolutely do not touch them."
"Why they keep those things around is beyond me," said Muscles, "but royals do as royals please.Enjoy your visit."
"Thank you," Aaralyn said."Thank you, Mehr."
She grinned and playfully pinched both his cheeks."I expect afullreport later.In front of Davud, so I can see him explode from jealousy."
"Get back to work, woman," the second man said."I can practically hear Lady Atousa shrieking your name."
"She'll be screaming your wife's name later," Mehr replied tartly, then turned on her heel and strode off.
Amused, Aaralyn thanked the guards again and finally set off, heart in his throat as he traveled a hallway he had no business being anywhere near.
This section of the palace humbled the beauty of the rest of it, and the royal palace of Tavamara was already breathtakingly beautiful.If there was one thing he missed about home, other than his family, it was all the green.Long grasses, towering trees, endless fields of vibrant royal crocuses awaiting harvest, rain showers…
The royal gardens as a whole always reminded him of home in comforting ways, butthesegardens held plants that actually were from his home.Including crocuses, and not the saffron ones his people harvested their entire lives, but the bright, sunny yellow ones they had preferred before Havarin came in and reduced them to saffron farming.There was also a spread of paper flowers, because the petals looked like slightly crumpled and curled scraps of paper.The shop he'd worked at had used a stylized paper flower as their official mark.
Though he would have loved to linger amongst the little reminders of his homeland, he was only allowed in this space because he had work to do.He was not here to linger like a guest, and would not reflect poorly on Lady Hedieh by doing so—or abuse Prince Bakhtiar's generosity, especially when he'd already done far too much for Aaralyn.
