Chapter 15 Chapter Twelve

"Businessman Bansai wants to talk to you." Steward Temigast announced as he walked into the garden.Lord Feringal and Meralda were standing quietly, enjoying the fragrance and the beauty of the sight - the flowers and the sunset burning orange on the dark sea. "Bring him here," replied the young man, rejoicing at the chance to show off his latest emotional spoils to outsiders. "Better you go and see him," said Temigast, "Bansey is nervous, and seems anxious. He is not fit to see Meralda dear. I doubt he will spoil the garden." Moonlight." "Well, we can't allow that to happen." Lord Feringal relented.After smiling slightly at Meralda and patting her hand lightly, he started walking towards Temigast.

Temigast winked at Meralda as Feringal passed the butler, letting the girl know that he had just rescued her from a long lull.But the young girl didn't feel much insulted by being excluded.On the contrary, she began to be more and more amazed at the tacit understanding and relaxed feeling when she was with Feringo. Now she is free to enjoy this fabulous garden alone, to touch the flowers, to feel their silky texture, to be surrounded by their warm fragrance, without having to suffer an admiration at the same time. She, and the constant pressure of a man who followed her every move.She savored the moment and vowed to herself that when she became mistress of the castle, she would also spend more time alone in this garden.

But these days she is not alone.When she turned, Meralda saw Priscilla looking at her. "After all, this is my garden," said the woman coldly, as she moved in front of a row of bright blue cornflowers, watering them. "That's what Steward Temigest told me," Meralda replied. Priscilla didn't respond, didn't even look up from the watering session. "I was surprised when I found out," Meralda continued, her eyes narrowed. "After all, it's beautiful." Those words made Priscilla's eyes look up for a split second.This woman is just too sensitive to insults.She walked towards Meralda with a tense face.For a split second the young girl thought that Priscilla might come to beat her, or try to get her wet, perhaps with the jug of water in her hand.

"It should be mine, not that you made it so beautiful?" Priscilla said. "Of course, you may think that only someone as beautiful as you can make such a beautiful garden." "Inner beauty." Meralda replied without flinching.She knew for certain that her posture had impressed Priscilla enough to let her guard down a little. "Yes, from the flowers alone I can tell the way you talk to them, touch them, make them grow. Learn from your garden, Lady Priscilla, you don't put your friendliness to them A shred of it was shown before me." "Learn from my garden?" Priscilla repeated.She stood there straight, her eyes wide open, already frightened by the frankness of this rural girl.Meralda cut her off when she stammered a sentence or two.

"It's the prettiest garden in Orkney I've seen with my own eyes," she said, turning her eyes from meeting Priscilla's to the sight of flowers, with a startling emphasis, "I used to think you were just annoying." She turned to face the woman, but it could be seen that Meralda was not keeping a straight face.So Priscilla's frown softened a little. "Now I know more about you, because no matter who can make this garden into such a pleasant place, there must be happiness hidden in her heart." A hearty smile ended the sentence, a smile that even Priscilla couldn't ignore.

"I've been tending the garden for several years," the older woman explained, "planting the flowers and managing the fields so that the flowers show their colors every week of every summer." "The work is showing results now," Meralda congratulated her sincerely. "I bet there isn't a garden in Luskan, or even Waterdeep, that can compare to it." Meralda couldn't help but smile when she saw Priscilla's face that was beginning to flush.She has discovered this woman's weakness. "It is a beautiful garden indeed," said the lady, "but the garden in Waterdeep is as big as the whole Castle of Oak."

"Bigger indeed, but certainly not as pretty," added the indomitable Meralda. Priscilla stuttered again, the unexpected compliment from the country girl making her so visibly let down. "Thank you," she blurted out without thinking, and a big smile Meralda had never imagined flashed across her round face, "Would you like to see something special?" Meralda remained wary at first, because of course it was difficult for her to trust Priscilla now, but the girl decided to take the chance.Priscilla grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the back of Castle Oak, through two small rooms and down a hidden staircase to a small open-air courtyard - which looked more like design A hole left by the castle, the place is so small that it can only accommodate the two of them standing side by side.Looking at the scene in front of her, Meralda laughed excitedly, because although there was nothing on the broken and weathered walls made of gray and white stones, in the center of the courtyard, there was a row of poppies, among them Most were the usual crimson, but there were also some pale pink varieties that Meralda didn't recognize.

"I often take care of these plants here." Priscilla explained as she led Meralda to stand on the flower bed.She knelt before the red poppies, and with one hand she took the stalk and pushed it down, so that the black stamen in the middle of the petals was revealed to Meralda. "See how thick the stems are?" she asked.Meralda nodded as she reached out and touched the sturdy stalk. Priscilla stood up abruptly, and led Meralda toward the flower beds where other, lighter-colored poppies grew.She showed the girl the pistil again, this time it was white, not black.And when Meralda touched the stems of the plant she found them softer.

"I've been crossing them with softer plants for years," Priscilla explained, "until I succeeded in getting this, a poppy that is very different from its distant ancestor." "Priscilla Poppy!" Meralda exclaimed.She was delighted to find that Priscilla Oak was really in the midst of laughter. "But you have every reason to use that name," Meralda continued, "and you should bring them to the merchants who travel between the Stone of Hyder and Luskan. The noble ladies of Luskan How could one not pay a fortune for such a delicate poppy?" "The merchants who come to Orkney are only interested in things that are practical," Priscilla replied, "tools and weapons, food and wine, always wine, and maybe a little fishbone carving from Ten-Towns. The Lilords have a fair amount of this collection."

"I'd love to see it." After Priscilla looked at her with a very strange look, "You'll like it, I think." She said it a little dryly, as if she had just remembered that it was not an ordinary farmer in front of her, but A woman who would soon be mistress of Castle Oak. "But you should really sell your flowers," Meralda continued encouraging, "and take them to Luskan, maybe to one of those fairgrounds I've heard of, that would Very surprising." The smile came back to Priscilla's face again, at least a little. "Yes, yes, we'll see," she replied, with an emphasis creeping into arrogance. "Of course, only the peasants in those villages go around selling their clay pots."

Meralda almost gave up in disgust.Her relationship with Priscilla had come a long way in one day, more than she had thought would take a lifetime to achieve. "Ah, you are here." Butler Temigest stood at the door leading to the castle.As always, he showed up at a time that couldn't have been more right. "Forgive me, Meralda dear, but I'm afraid Lord Feringal will be away all night for a meeting, because Bansai is quite the devil of a trade, and in fact the few small things he brought The thing has also caught the eye of Lord Feringal. He ordered me to come and ask you if you would like to visit here during the day tomorrow." Meralda looked at Priscilla, hoping to get some clues from her, but the woman was busy tending her flowers again, as if Meralda and Temigast were not there at all. "Of course, tell him I do," Meralda replied. "I beg you not to be too angry at our lack of care," said Temigast.Meralda laughed and said the idea was absurd. "Very well, then. Perhaps it is time for you to go, for the carriage is waiting, and I fear a storm is coming tonight," said Temigast, moving aside. "Your Priscilla poppies are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen," Meralda said to the lady-to-be.That's when Priscilla grabbed her pleats and the girl turned around in surprise, and she immediately became even more surprised as Priscilla was handing her a small pink poppy . The two ladies shared a smile, and Meralda passed Temigest into the castle.The butler followed hesitantly, but immediately turned his attention to Ms. Priscilla. "A friend?" he asked. "Almost impossible." Came a cold answer, "Maybe when she has her own flowers, she will throw mine aside." Temigast chuckled, and immediately caught Priscilla's icy stare. "A friend, a female friend, may not be such a bad thing as you think," commented the butler.He turned and caught up with Meralda to urge her, leaving Priscilla alone on her knees in her private garden with a bunch of very strange and unexpected thoughts. Some idea sprouted from Meralda on the way home from Castle Oak.She had been on good terms with Priscilla just now, the girl thought, and even dared to hope that one day she might become a real friend with that lady. Just as the thought crossed her mind, a laugh broke out from the young girl's lips.Really, she couldn't imagine having a close friend like Priscilla, and she probably always, always thought of herself more than Meralda. But Meralda was feeling better now, not because of the progress she had made with that lady today, but because of the progress she had made with Jaka Scully a few nights earlier.Meralda felt the world was a better place now, or at least her corner of it.She had already seen that earlier night as a turning point.It was a moment for Meralda to control, a moment only for Meralda, and it made her accept the more or less complained responsibility that had been thrown onto her own path.Yes, and now she would play with Lord Feringal, and let him run at her heels, as far as the wedding chapel at Castle Oak.That way she, and more importantly her family, would get what they asked for, and that benefit would be in exchange for Meralda, at the price of a new woman in Orkney, no longer It's a girl, and this will make her give up her freedom and be controlled by certain constraints. Still, she was glad she hadn't seen much of Lord Feringal tonight.There was no doubt that he would try his best to express his love again, and Meralda wondered if she had the self-control to not laugh at him. Smiling with satisfaction, the young girl cast her gaze out the window as the carriage drove along the winding road.She saw him, and that made her smile disappear suddenly.Jaka Scully stood on top of a rocky cliff, staring down at the coachman with a lonely look as he routinely escorted Meralda out of the carriage. Meralda poked her head out the opposite window from Jaka's, so she could keep herself out of his sight. "Good coachman, please drive me all the way to the door tonight." "Oh, but I really wish you would ask of me today, Miss Meralda," replied Lane Wooden, "it seems that there is something wrong with one of my horses. Maybe your father will have a straight Iron bars and a hammer?" "Of course he has," Meralda replied. "Bring me home, and I promise my father will fix that horseshoe for you." "That's great!" replied the coachman.He whipped his whip so passionately that the horses trotted faster along the way. Meralda sat back on her seat, looked out the window, and saw the profile of a thin and thin man, she knew it was Jaka's abandoned pose.In the girl's mind, he could clearly see his expression, and she almost reconsidered her plan and told the driver to let her get off the bus.Maybe she should go to Jaka's again, make love to him again under the stars, have another night of freedom.Maybe she should run away with him and live a life of her own, just for herself and no one else. No, she couldn't do that to Mom, Dad, and Torrey.Meralda was a daughter her parents could rely on in times of crisis.An important moment, and Meralda knew that now was an important moment, which made her leave her love for Jaka far behind. The carriage stopped in front of Gundry's house.Lean Wooden, the agile fellow, jumped down quickly and opened the door for Meralda before she could touch the latch. "You don't have to do that," said the young lady as the dwarf helped her out of the carriage. "But you're going to be an Orkney lady," replied the jolly old chap, with a wink and a smile. "I can't treat you like a farmer now, can I?" "That's not so bad," Meralda added, "Being a farmer, I mean." Lion Wooden smiled enthusiastically, "I'll send you out of the castle at night." "And to take you back to the castle whenever you want to go," he replied. "Steward Temigast has said that I will be at your disposal, Miss Meralda. I can be your and your family's ally." Drive, if you please, wherever you want." Meralda smiled happily and nodded her thanks.Then she noticed that her stern-faced father had opened the door and was standing in the house watching them. "Dad!" Meralda cried, "Maybe you should help my friend..." The girl stopped and looked at the coachman. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name yet, why didn't you tell me?" she said. "Most noble ladies don't take the time to ask," he replied, before laughing with Meralda. "Besides, to your tall race, we all dwarves look alike." He said. Blinking mischievously, then bowed lowly, "Lian Mumen, at your service." Denis Gandrey came over: "Only a short stay at the castle tonight," he asked suspiciously. "Lord Feringal is busy with a businessman," Meralda replied. "I'll be there tomorrow during the day. Lion has a horse with a horseshoe right now. Can you help him?" Denis looked past the coachman to the carriage and nodded. "Of course," he replied, "go inside by yourself, girl," he ordered Meralda, "your mother's sick again." Meralda rushed into the house like lightning.She found her mother lying on the bed with a high fever, her eyes sunken deeply into their sockets.Torrey was kneeling by the bed with a glass of water in one hand and a wet towel in the other. "She's been getting worse since you left," Torrey explained, noting that a nasty illness had struck Bristol months earlier. Looking at her mother, Meralda really wanted to throw herself on the ground and cry. The woman looked so frail, and her health so unpredictable.It seemed as though Berster Gandlay was walking on the verge of her own grave every day.The girl knew that, since Lord Feringal had come to summon Meralda, her mother had only been sustained by a good state of mind in the last few days.Now, the girl can only desperately grab the only prescription within her power. "Oh, Mom," she said with feigned exasperation, "can't you pick a good time to be sick?" "Meralda," panted Perster Gandley, and even that seemed like a lot of effort for her. "Then now we have to get you well soon." Meralda said sternly. "Meralda!" Torrey complained. "I told you about Lady Priscilla's garden," Meralda continued, ignoring her sister's protests. "Get well soon, because tomorrow you will go to the castle with me. We will walk in the garden together." "Can I go too?" Torrey begged.Meralda spotted another of her audience when she turned to look at her.Denis Gandrey stood in the doorway, leaning against the post, a look of wonder on his strong but tired face. "Yes, Torrey, you may come with us," said Meralda, trying to ignore her father, "but you must pledge your conduct." "Oh, Mom, please hurry up!" Torrey begged to Best, holding her hand tightly.For a split second the sick lady looked a little angry. "Go, Torrey," Meralda directed, "to the coachman—his name is Lane—and tell him the three of us will need a carriage to the castle at noon tomorrow. We'll let Ma walk all the way. .” Torrey ran away as if ordered, and Meralda bent over to her mother, "Get well," she whispered, and kissed the sick man's forehead.Best smiled and nodded as best she could. Meralda walked out of the room under the deliberate gaze of Deni Gandrey.She heard the man draw the curtains of the room and followed her to the empty room outside. "Will he let you take them with him?" Denis asked, his voice so softly that Pest couldn't hear. She shrugged: "I'm going to be his wife, and he's pursuing me. He won't be stupid enough to refuse my waywardness this time. " Denis Gandre's face melted into a grateful smile as he threw himself on his daughter and hugged her tightly.Although she could not see his face, Meralda knew he was crying. She embraced back with ten times her strength, and buried her face deep in her father's strong shoulders. It was not a small reminder to herself that although Meralda had become a brave man who would go through fire and water for the benefit of the family Soldier, but she was still a little girl who was easily frightened at times. She felt a warmth, which reassured Meralda that what she had done was right, because her father was kissing the top of her head. On the hilltop a little further away, Jaka Scully watched Denis Gandre help the coachman repair horseshoes, and the two talked and laughed like old friends.Jealousy at the sight almost knocked poor Jaka down, considering the way Denis Gandrey had treated him the other night.Didn't Deni know that what he punished Jaka for this was the same thing Lord Feringal wanted?Couldn't this man see that Jaka had a nobler purpose than Lord Feringal's?Isn't his status and background closer to Meralda's?Wouldn't he be a better choice? Afterwards Denis returned to the house, and Meralda's sister immediately appeared in sight. She jumped happily and rushed to the coachman to talk to him. "Did none of my allies come?" Jaka asked himself quietly, chewing his lower lip angrily. "Are they all coming to fight me? Blinded by Feringal's unearned wealth and prestige?" ? Fuck you, Meralda! See how you betrayed me?" he cried, not caring that his wailing would reach Torrey and the coachman. He didn't look at them again.Jaka clenched his fists and hit his eyes hard, before lying on his back on the hard ground. "What kind of a fair life is this?" he cried, "oh bah, to be made a beggar, me, a man more fit to wear a king's mantle! What fairness allows that foolish Feringal to enjoy these What kind of law of nature dictates that his purse be bigger than his waist? Fuck life! And fuck Meralda!" There he lay, muttering curses, and weeping like a caught cat, until Lane Wooden repaired his horseshoe and left after having a drink with Denny Gandrey; until Meralda's mother entered a comfortable until Meralda described to Torrey all that had happened between her and Jaka, and Feringo, and Priscilla, and Temigast; What a tempest like Temigast had come with all its fury, pouring rain on puny Jaka, leaving him drenched and tottering in the cold sea wind. When the dark clouds cleared, he was still lying on the mountain, waiting for the first ray of sunshine, when the working people had already appeared on the road.One of them, the only dwarf in the group, approached the young man and touched him lightly with his toes. "Are you dead or drunk?" asked the rough, gnarled creature. Jaka rolled over and rolled away from him, for the dwarf's muscles and joints were always painfully hard.His wounded pride made him unwilling to respond, and he was too angry to face anyone, and the young man scrambled to his feet and ran away. "That guy is really a strange person." The little man muttered, and the people around him nodded. Not long after the morning, when his clothes were dry—and of course the night's chill from the night's wind and rain still clung to his skin—Jaka returned to his field, enduring the pain of the landlord and other workers. ridicule ridicule.He's trying to give his full attention to work, but it's a total struggle because his mind is full of clutter, his thoughts are wandering, and his skin feels sticky from the relentless sun. Uncomfortably wet. It only made Jaka feel worse when he saw the wheels of Lord Feringal's wagon rolling down the road below the horizon, and the wagon drove straight up to Meralda's house and then back again, but there were too many wagons on board. More than one passenger. These are stimulating him. Meralda preferred her visit to Castle Oak today to her previous visits, though Lord Feringal certainly couldn't hide his disappointment when he found out that the girl wasn't the only one.Priscilla, on the other hand, had already been boiling over for three peasants for her garden. However, Lord Feringal quickly returned to normalcy, and Priscilla was finally outwardly polite after a few coughs from Steward Temigast.To Meralda it was all about seeing her mother smile, seeing the sun on her frail face, seeing her bask in the warmth of the sun and the sweet fragrance.Such a sight strengthened Meralda's determination and gave her hope for the future. They didn't stay in the castle very long, just an hour in the garden, followed by a more casual lunch and another walk among the flowers.At Meralda's request, Lord Feringal expressed a special apology for his poor hospitality earlier, which was an unexpected gift - the young Lord personally boarded the car to send them back to Gandle's. At home, only sour Priscilla and Temigast were left at the gate of the castle. "Farmers," grumbled Priscilla, "I should give my brother a good smack on the head for bringing such relatives to Oak Castle." Temigast chuckled at the lady's prophecy. "It is true that they are not well-bred," the butler admitted, "but they are not annoying." "Mud eaters," said Priscilla. "Perhaps you're looking at things from the wrong angle," said Temigest, turning his head to the lady with a crooked smile. "There's only one way to look at farmers," Priscilla countered, "and you have to look at them from the top down." "But the Gundles will soon cease to be farmers," Temigest could not help reminding her. Priscilla cast doubt with a mocking look. "Perhaps you should see this as a challenge," Temigast suggested.He paused until Priscilla turned around and looked at him curiously, "like patiently waiting for a bud to turn into a bunch of delicate flowers." "The Gandelés? Delicate?" Priscilla said suspiciously. "Perhaps they could have the help of Lady Priscilla Oak," said Temigast, "how versatile they would be under Priscilla's tutelage, a feat which would enable her brother to Every trader who passes by blows it for a while, and word of these great achievements will no doubt reach the ears of those high society in Luskan. It will be a beautiful feather in Lady Priscilla's hat." Priscilla snorted at this again, with a look of disbelief, but didn't speak again, not even mumbling about it like she usually did.As she walked away, the lady's expression began to change into a thoughtful curiosity, perhaps, thinking about some plan. Temigast knew she had swallowed his bait, or, at least, had taken a bite.The old butler shook his head.It was by no means the last time he had been surprised that nobles always thought of themselves more than the people they ruled, though this was as common in the world as the birth of a child.