4: Envera
An hour of time in the Duke's library taught me that libraries that do not use the decimal system are much harder to navigate.
I stumbled across something useful entirely by accident by starting at the end of one row that, thankfully, had geography books in it.
I found a really big Atlas along one shelf and pulled it onto the floor.
I began to look through it.
What started to get to me was that there were pages and pages of it. It was as big as one at home would have been.
This world I was in was clearly the same size as earth...which scientifically made sense, but that kind of detail hadn't been what I expected from Karen's book.
In fact, each of these continents I found had a name. And they weren't like the ones at home. One looked a little like Australia, but it was higher up. Most of them were much smaller than Africa or the Americas would be.
I didn't know what one I was on, but if the weather was any indication, I had to be near the equator of this world or at least not very far North. Most of the continents were around that area, but spread out. There were some archipelagos with names just like at home.
It was overwhelming. I was starting to feel like crying again from pure frustration and the fact that I hadn't had caffeine in...oh, 10 hours at least, and it was the middle of the day by now and I'd only eaten one apple.
Though in that blasted dress I could barely feel my own stomach.
"Trouble planning your voyage, miss?" someone had snuck up on me while I wasn't paying attention.
I looked up to see another man, this one maybe 20 years old, with similar features to the duke and his sons, but with bright green eyes.
I blinked at him. I didn't want company, but I was anxious to ask someone for information, and I had to weigh my options.
"Sorry," he said, taking my stare to be annoyance. "I thought you were looking through it so avidly, but of course, I shouldn't tease a lady."
There was that word again. I wasn't one to take offense to being called a lady, but I think I was going to be if this kept up.
"It's hard to plan a voyage when I ain't got no idea where to start from," I said crossly, forgetting to check my accent yet again.
"What an extraordinary accent," he said at once, of course. "Are you foreign?"
"More than you'd believe," I said dryly. "I'm new around these here parts. My...father is Lord Laurel."
"Oh, oh, you were here to be presented to the Duke," he said, understanding dawning in his expression.
"Yeah, speaking of which, you look uncannily like him," I said. "But I didn't see you in that courtroom yonder."
I think I was upping my country manner on purpose then just out of rebellion. I haven't used the word "yonder" except as a joke in my entire life.
But then, this did seem like the place people would say "yon" and "thither" and "ere" in, so who knows?
And that didn't seem to confuse the guy as much as the part about my identity.
"I see," he said, bending down to straighten the Atlas. "Well...there is a reason for that. I suppose you'll find this out sooner or later. Might as well own up to it now. I'm the Duke's illegitimate son."
I think he thought I would look horrified or embarrassed, but half the people I know are "illegitimate", and I didn't bat an eyelash.
"I see," I said flatly. "So you weren't invited to the big event? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but no one could have told without you admitting it. You're the spitting image of them--those-- other two."
I mentally kicked myself.
"Mostly," he said, with another weird look at me. "Just the eyes are different. But that's not the point. I take it you don't know who I am?"
"I barely know who I am anymore," I said, back to being downcast.
He chuckled. I think he thought I was kidding--and I would have been, normally.
"I guess being elevated to a lord from a knight must be a bit of an adjustment," he said. "But you'll be in good company. My father has elevated many of his battlefield favorites. There's going to be a lot of girls in the country who will be adjusting to new living conditions and rules of etiquette. "
I wondered if I should have been insulted by that, but it was the honest truth, and what could I say?
"I hope it won't take long," I said aloud. My life could depend on it.
"Well, I suppose I should introduce myself then. My name is Reginald," he said.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I said without thinking.
It was just so...predictable. Karen, seriously?!
He looked at me weirdly again. "I guess it is a little fancy for an illegitimate son, but no one's ever had that reaction before."
"Oh...sorry." I realized my mistake. "It's not...uh, that, really. I just think all these names sound so...high falutin'. I mean, upscale--no, that's not right either."
I couldn't tell if trying not to talk with an accent was just making more of the terms I'd hear from old timers coming into my head the way that trying not to think about cookies makes you want them more, or if I was just that bad at sounding urban.
"Well, everyone calls me Reg." He said the "g" like a "j". "Or just third son, usually. What's your name?"
"I guess it's Hope Ann," I said. "But everyone's just been calling me Hope."
Made me feel a little half-cocked the way they left off the Ann.
"That's a nice name," Reg said ambiably. "It's appropriate. I mean, at least now that the war is over."
"Is it?" I said flatly. "Hey, do you know anything about geography?"
"I dabble. What did you want to know?" Reg asked.
Good, he was eager to show off.
"Call it a pop quiz," I said, "but can you show me where exactly we are right now?"
"What is a pop quiz?" he said blankly.
"It's...a really fast test," I said feebly.
"It sounds fun, 'pop'," he said. "But anyway, I think we're..."
He turned a few pages. "Right about here, though you can't see the village on this map."
Where he was pointing me was in a kingdom or empire called "Envera".
The name was also just so, so typical of the genre's over dramatic ways of doing things. Someone should tell Karen that we have a whole province that was named Newfoundland.
Reg was showing me a place that was not marked Capital, but was a little south of it.
We were about the same distance from the equator as North America, to my relief, meaning that the weather here would likely be what I was used to. If it had gotten frigid or boiling, I was going to have a conniption in these clothes.
But unfortunately that was about all it told me to be here.
"Well, that's something," I said aloud, mostly to myself. "Now to find books on Envera."
"You're interested in learning more about the country?" Reg said.
"Yeah, so?" I got up shakily. I was getting very tired by now.
"Nothing, I suppose. It's just...uncommon for a woman," he said, putting the Atlas away.
"Isn't that just so predictable," I said, not really caring if he didn't get it. "But I'm not super interested in what the people here think is normal for women."
"Hmm, you know, you and Lady Stella might get along well," he said.
I noticed suddenly that I knew all the names here were real names. That made it easier for me.... Did it tell me about the world though? I wasn't sure. But it might be a start.
"Why? Is she educated?" I said.
"She is," Reg said, sounding impressed. "But more than that, she thinks that women should all take an interest in politics and world affairs."
"How forward thinking of her," I said dryly.
"Well, some people think so," Reg said. "I suppose we do have queens and empresses. It's just that few people will ever be one, so it seems a little overreaching to insist that all women care about these matters."
"Few men will ever be in charge of much either," I said. "What kind of logic is that?"
"I guess you're right. It's not very logical," Reg admitted surprisingly easily. I took it he must have had this out with Lady Stella already. "But it's what some people think. And unfortunately you can't change what people think, usually."
Well, since he was the illegitimate son of a duke, I knew that he must feel that on a personal level.
If I was reading this story instead of living it, I might have been mildly interested in his background and his role in it, if he was the protagonist. He'd be a likely one--but I didn't have time to waste on anyone else right now, so if he couldn't help me, I wasn't really interested.
And right now I had to find my new family before they concluded I'd wandered off the grounds. I suddenly realized that I could get in big trouble for what I did if they caught me in here when I wasn't supposed to be.
"You still there, Pip?" I called.
"Yes'm," he replied.
"Why didn't you warn me?" I said.
"He was already in there ma'am, I never saw him," Pip replied flatly.
"Isn't that one of the kitchen boys?" Reg stared at him.
Pip edged away from the door.
"I asked him to show me where the library was," I said. "It's my own fault."
"That's fine with me, but Lucy will have his head if she finds he's been slacking off to stand in front of the library door," Reg said, sounding amused.
"I'm not afraid of of old Lucy," Pip growled, but I think he was lying.
"You'd better go," I said. "I guess I can find the front hall from here."
"You didn't pay me," Pip said.
I looked guilty.
Reg pulled some coins out of his belt and gave them to Pip.
"He's our servant," he explained to me. "It wouldn't be right for you to pay him."
That was a joke, but I was just glad anyone covered for me.
Pip nodded and ran off.
I was going to miss him. At least he wasn't fancy.
"For future reference though, Lady Hope," Reg said, "you probably shouldn't ask kitchen boys to show you around. We have other servants who handle those matters. Or you could have asked one of us."
"There's three of you, and any number of those servants. I didn't have time to wait," I said staunchly.
Reg chuckled again. "Strange perspective."
I was just going to walk away, but he seemed to feel it was his chivalrous duty to escort me the rest of the way.
I had no trouble with the servants, though they did look at us strangely.
Unfortunately for me, my new stepmother and her bratty daughter and energetic son were waiting in the front hall for me.
My fake father must have been talking to the duke or his sons; he wasn't in sight.
"Where have you been?!--" Stepmother began to yell at me before she saw who I was with and stopped.
"It's my fault, I'm afraid," Reg said quickly. "I insisted on showing her the inside of the mansion, out of courtesy. I hope we did not keep you waiting, Lady Laurel."
"Oh...no, it was just a minute," Stepmother said slowly.
"It felt like longer than that," Tobias said.
She pinched him, and he looked pained.
Penelope curtsied to the third son.
"Well, I bid you farewell." Reg bowed to me with an ease I had to envy.
He walked away.
I preferred him to my obnoxious new family, but I knew I couldn't follow him.
"Well, you were certainly busy," Penelope said as soon as he was gone. "But isn't that the third son?"
"Yes, I believe it was," Stepmother said. "Sadly, he's probably a waste of your time, Hope."
"Actually, he was very helpful," I said, just to annoy her.
She frowned at me. "That's besides the point."
"I'm sure it is," I said, "for you."
"Are you sassing your stepmother?" she asked me.
I was hungry and tired, but I didn't want to push my luck even so.
"No, ma'am," I said, more subdued. "Just agreeing with you."
"Well, see to it that you do that, especially in front of other people." She scowled at me. "We have to go home. It's indecent to overstay your welcome at a Duke's house."
She took Tobias by his arm and tugged him out the door.
Penelope lingered for a moment to glare at me.
"I thought you were feeling ill. Was that just some ploy to get a chance to get close to the young dukes?" she said.
I decided that Penelope was safer to tick off than her mother.
"Not everyone thinks as small as you do," I said to her, huffily. "Some of us have real problems, Penelope. I don't have time to waste thinking about whatever nonsense is going through your head right now. If I were you, I'd mind my own business. That fellow is a nice enough young man, I think, and I wouldn't be so crass as to talk about him like he's chattel just because he's the duke's son. You should have more manners."
Boy, did that feel good to say.
And the look on her face was priceless.
I could see that she was going to argue, but that it slowly hit her that if she did, she'd basically be saying she could talk about the duke's family like they were her property, and that would be abhorrent.
When she realized that I had trapped her, she just huffed and walked away without another word.
That was the best I'd felt all day. But it didn't last long. My mind was back on my predicament as soon as she was gone.
* * *
When we arrived back at the lord's mansion, I lost no time excusing myself and rushing up to my room.
I tore off the shoes and stockings first thing and every other article of clothing I could get off myself--which wasn't most of it.
Olivia said I should get dressed for tea when she came in.
I was hungry, but not interested in dining with other people and asked her if I could just have it brought in.
She acted like this wasn't proper, but when I said that I'd nearly fainted that day from exhaustion, she seemed more convinced.
I guess my father must have okayed it, because a different servant did bring up a tray.
It was still late afternoon, but I had already gotten into my nightdress--it was the most comfortable article of clothing available.
I know the servants were concerned about me but couldn't ask, and I was glad for once that their jobs kept that barrier up between us. Though as a rule, I thought class differences were balderdash.
I sent them away as soon as I could, and then I grabbed the tablet Karen had left in my trunk. I'd stashed it under the mattress earlier when I had the chance.
I'd realized in all this time that she'd not given me very specific instructions, and I probably should be expecting that.
I was relieved to see there was another page of writing--this time it was a bit easier for me to decipher. Either she did it on purpose, or my eyes were getting used to the script now.
This letter read like so:
"My Dear Hope, I've given our little game some thought since breakfast. I think it's only fair if I explain the rules just a little more to you."
Now she cared about being fair.
"As I said before, you can write in here and I'll see it. But you must not write anything too detailed about your own personal life. I won't answer any questions about your world here. It would break the suspension of disbelief."
I was in disbelief all right--at her gall.
I later had reason to suspect that Karen had other motives for not wanting me to write about my own life, but at this stage, I only felt it was another blow to my ability to keep a link to sanity.
But I kept reading anyway.
"I can give you some hints about this world. I haven't really fully developed all of it yet, so you'll have to learn as you go. But if I were you, I would look to stay on the good side of any nobles and royalty you meet. As you've learned by now, your position is a low level noble. I thought it wouldn't be too overwhelming for you."
Load of crap right there.
"It will be a lot to get used to. But for a history expert like yourself, it ought to be a dream come true. You'll get to breathe history and then tell me if you think the inclusion of things like magic spoiled it for you."
I could just see her smiling slyly at that part.
"But of course there are things you should not do. Never lose your temper to anyone who ranks higher than yourself. The punishment for it varies from banishment, or imprisonment, to death, in some cases. Now, you're a young woman of marriageable age, so it's entirely possible for you to have suitors in this world. I really don't care what you do about that, but keep in mind that class is everything. There will be severe consequences in the world for getting caught doing anything that they would considered inappropriate to your station. I'm sure you know all about that.
"As for what I want from you, I do have a way to make this more interesting. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt. When I walked into your little antique ship, I was doing research for some items to include in this story. And as you are so sure that I'm not authentic, I want you to keep a look out for anything that seems like it should not be there. You can write to me, and I can make a note of it. I would look especially for jewelry and armor. That is the hardest thing for me to place.
"If you do this, then I will do my best to make sure no harm comes to you in your stay.
"But I should warn you, authors never have full creative control. Stories take on a life of their own. Characters change from the way you intend them. You may find that the story changes from what I expected myself. In that case, I can't be sure what will happen. It will be easier for me to control your fate if you update me regularly about it, or I might miss something until it is too late.
"I will be checking my notebook almost every hour of the day. So far you've not told me anything. You might want to work on that.
"As a small head's up, there will be a shopping excursion coming up for you and then a ball. The usual things aristocracy does to amuse themselves. I have a guess that you don't really like things like that, but you'd do well to learn. If you stand out too much, that might change the story, and who knows what will happen?
"That's all for now. Toodles--Karen."
* * *
I reread her instructions several times to commit them to memory.
They infuriated me, as you can imagine, but at least it was something to go off of.
So, Karen was really going to push my knowledge against her story. It seemed unfair.
I didn't want to write her, but I had no choice.
I wanted to write all kinds of insults at her, and I started to, but then I tore the paper up.
"Let's be rational about this," I told myself, as shaken as I was still. "If someone else finds this, by any chance, I can't have them thinking it's anything odd. Just some rough draft of a letter to a friend or something. If I pack it full of insults, that's going to seem important."
I knew the heroines or female leads in any kind of fantasy were always doing dumb stuff that got them in trouble so easily it made you want to break your phone.
I wasn't going to play that role just because Karen had written me to be part of a ditsy family.
No, it was better to play this like I was a spy. Everything had to be well thought out. I thought I'd go crazy less if I did it that way.
So I wrote out a carefully coded letter to Karen. I called her my "tutor", since I thought that would be less suspicious, and said I was glad for her advice, which was a lie.
Then I asked her the most pressing question I had.
"What exactly does it mean if someone doesn't have magic? How much magic is in this place, and will it cause problems if they don't have it? Should they admit to it? Asking out of curiosity."
I didn't think it would really sound that normal if anyone found it, but I hoped I could play it off as morbid curiosity after visiting the duke's gardens and not a lack of it on my own end.
But I got to thinking, no one in the lord's family seemed to have magic. If they did, it was not obvious. They didn't seem to expect me to have it.
I hoped that meant I was in the clear. Maybe it was only a small part of the world, and Karen just used it, like many writers did, to cover issues that would be major inconveniences in real history. Like the lack of diseases in time without real doctors.
If this time didn't have doctors. I wasn't really sure.
I ate the meal I was brought slowly--it wasn't bad, but I didn't recognize most of it, just the bread and tea.
The butter tasted different than what I was used to, and the bread was much less bland and didn't taste of preservatives.
It wasn't bad, but I missed sandwiches already.
Still, it put me in a better mood.
I went to bed as early as possible. I half hoped I'd wake up and this nightmare would be over. Karen would have had her fun and would just say psych!
I think deep down I knew that wouldn't happen.
* * *
The next morning, Olivia woke me up again.
"I hope you're feeling better today, milady," she said cheerfully.
I sat up and sighed.
This didn't feel any more real on day two.
"I was just speaking to the missus," Olivia said, "and she said that you were all going to go to town and get some 'decent clothes', in her words. Just after breakfast."
I remembered Karen's warning about this and rolled my eyes.
But then I smacked myself. This was an opportunity to learn about the village, wasn't it? I might need to know that if I was stuck here.
I had to focus on that, on my mission, or I'd fall apart with how bizarre this situation was.
I got dressed the way I was told to and tried to ignore how uncomfortable it was.
I was getting used to some of it even after one day, but the shoes were just not right.
"I suppose Penelope will be there," I said distastefully.
The look on Olivia's face told me that she didn't like the second oldest child any more than I did, but of course she couldn't badmouth her boss.
"I think all the family except the lord himself will be," she said.
I figured Tobias would hate this. I'd at least have some company in being miserable.
I got shown the dining room finally.
It was pretty grand, but at least it was on a smaller scale than the ones you see in movies. It wasn't 100 feet long. Maybe half of that.
And the table itself was smaller and sat about 12 people, I think, comfortably. Maybe could have held more if it had to.
My new family was all around the front end of it.
Tobias was the only one who looked at me without frowning.
"You're late," Lord Laurel said.
"Sorry," I said. "Took me a while to get dressed."
"Those clothes will be going first thing," Lady Diane said, sniffing.
"I hope I can get a wardrobe like Lady Annette," Penelope piped up.
I began to pick at my food. I know I saw eggs, but that was all I recognized except for some berries that might have been raspberries, but they were huge and more vibrant.
I tried some, and they tasted way better than any store bought ones. My father always said most food we ate was out of season. I guess he was right.
I could get used to that, but...was that veal? Venison? I didn't know the meat I saw, but I didn't like the look of it.
I hoped they didn't eat mutton. I'd heard it was awful.
I missed coffee, but it wasn't anywhere in sight.
While I ate, I thought about the clothes thing. I didn't want to worry about it, but I had to blend in here. I'd better get clothes that would make it seem like I did. No more of these "ghastly" comments.
And much as I hated to do anything Penelope said, my accent was going to be a dead giveaway if I didn't modify it. I didn't think I could get rid of it entirely, but I could make it lighter. I would have to try to avoid slip ups.
My goal right now was to pass under the radar as much as I could till Karen decided my sentence was fulfilled, so anything that made me stand out had to go.
I thought I could imitate the hoity toity way of talking--but could I do it and make it sound natural?
Lord Laurel was the only one who didn't talk like that. He didn't have my accent, but he sounded a bit more like a regular person in the real world might. Not real high falutin'.
I could manage that, I thought.
I also better learn more of the family history I was in if I didn't want to make more embarrassing mistakes. But how could I ask about that without seeming crazy?
I couldn't play the amnesia card that most people did in stories in this situation--they'd never buy it.
I wasn't clear what our situation was. We were well off, but we couldn't have been well off for long if we just moved here and had outdated clothes...but then, I didn't think our clothes were like a poor knight's family's either.
I needed more info on that. I could tell already that Lady Diane would not have married Lord Laurel (whatever his first name was) if he didn't have some up and coming potential. She wasn't the type, and they seemed to have been married longer than he'd been a lord.
Something about it wasn't right. And I could not have cared less if it didn't affect my fate, but since it did, I had better start caring about pedigree.
This sounds like so much work...
Well, I thought, think of it like your psych classes. Learning about people's backstory helps you figure out their psychology.... Of course it would be nice if I already wanted to be a psych major and didn't just take it because I had to for my degree, but it's not the worst class in the world.
That would have been chemistry. I hated that class.
Trying to hype myself up only half kept my mind off how weird this was. In the back of my head I was still overwhelmed by the weird sounds and the odd people.
Everyone here looked too plastic, I thought, now that I had time to look more closely.
Not as perfect as the duke's sons had, but there wasn't a wrinkle on the two older people, and even Tobias looked way too clean for a 10-year old boy. Penelope was real pretty, if you ignored her attitude, and looked kind of too old and too young for the age I thought she was.
Everyone's eyes were big, and their hair was perfect.
I lifted my own. It did look fuller and smoother here. I wondered, if I was in a picture, would I look like a woman out of some web comic? Or would I look like myself?
Better not to ask that.
"You seem awfully quiet," Lord Laurel interrupted my thoughts. "Aren't you interested in getting some new clothes?"
No, I wanted to say.
Instead I shrugged. "If it'll help me look the part," I said.
I didn't really mean to be funny, but Tobias snorted a laugh. I think he wasn't excited about the idea either.
Lord Laurel raised an eyebrow, but there was really nothing wrong with that statement, so he didn't criticize it.
"If she's not that interested," Penelope said, "she could always just get a few dresses."
"You'll get the same amount." Lord Laurel must have seen her coming. "You'll have to go to parties together now. You have to be part of the elite social circles and that's not negotiable now. We have to live up to our role. To make the empire strong again."
I was more interested in this. If I had to pick what part of a boring fantasy story I'd be into, it would be the politics.
"Do you think the Empire will have a hard time recovering, Father?" I said, straining to curb my accent as much as I could.
He seemed surprised that I asked.
"Well," he said, "the war took a heavy toll on the country. A lot of villages and towns are struggling to recover from it, and many of their young men died. It cost us thousands in lives to fight off the Aremesians. Their kingdom is so much larger than ours, if the other had not come to our aid, they probably would have won. But that has made the rebels in this kingdom unhappy with the high price of war. Many felt it was not warranted to fight over the borders."
I couldn't exactly follow all of this without more information, but I got that it was bad.
Diane, Penelope and Tobias all looked bored, and Penelope was glaring at me like she thought I was a jerk for bringing up the topic.
I guess it was getting on a roll for the lord. He went on another several minutes about how unhappy many people were with the state of things.
It didn't surprise me, but I saw no reason to care much unless it would affect me.
I hoped more fighting wouldn't break out. I didn't think I'd be very safe if it did. They always come for the aristocracy first.
But at last breakfast ended and it was time to go.
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