Snowblind {complete}

Wet - Snowblind

Lanna fell into a routine. Every evening Chowa would call her to study in her tent, though a few nights after the raid Lanna received orders to attend Chowa earlier than normal. Puzzled, Lanna rushed to her tent, arriving panting and flushed.

Chowa knelt at her scroll table. The portable stove in a corner of the tent crackled. Glowing embers pulsed under the lamplight; a copper kettle placed on them for tea. In another corner, three canvas bags held the chemist's belongings and materials she had brought with her from the palace.

Lanna kicked off her shoes and bowed as she entered. Rush mats covered the floor and they shouldn't be stepped on with outdoor shoes. A detail Lanna hadn't known until Chowa scolded her. No one in Eight-Nine-Two had done this.

Chowa indicated for Lanna to move to the opposite side of her table. She made to seat herself, but Chowa rolled her eyes and tapped the table with the handle of her ink brush in irritation. Ink splattered over the chemist's fingers.

'Wrong! You are a woman. You must kneel; only men should sit in company. You will be thought of as immodest if you do not kneel.' Her voice flicked out of her thin lips like a lash.

Lanna froze, confused, then knelt. Folding her legs was easy enough but how long would Chowa expect her to kneel for?

'Only whores spread their legs for strangers to see what is between them,' Chowa sneered, and Lanna flushed. Half a year in the Empire and she hadn't known this either. She bit her lip and looked at her knees. Could she crawl under the table now? What must they have all thought of her? An apology was in order.

'Forgive me, Misra. I didn't mean to offend.' The words stuck in Lanna's throat, but she forced them out.

'Your village was filled with ox-herders and rice farmers,' Chowa sneered. Dark eyes narrowed and Lanna's heart sank. 'I'm not teaching you how to drink tea with farmers. These are the mannerisms of the palace and they are as complex as they are elegant and beautiful.' She peered down her nose and Lanna's blush deepened. 'You are no longer a farm hand. Forget your former expectations.'

Chowa's words turned to a lecture on noble hierarchy. Lanna did her best to listen but kneeling for an hour proved agony. Her legs throbbed and became numb.

'So, you see, in becoming my assistant you have neatly sidestepped the normal requirements needed to rise in rank,' Chowa intoned as she sipped her third cup of tea. 'Most would need three generations of manoeuvring and political alliances to ascend to your level and enter into palace service directly.'

Lanna nodded, attempting to look suitably humbled. All she really wanted was to stretch her legs. Should she be worried that she could no longer feel them? Were her toes even there anymore? Or had some strange Imperial rodent nibbled them off?

'That is enough for tonight. You may rest.' Chowa gave an elegant wave of dismissal.

Lanna bit back a sigh of relief and made to rise, but her legs refused to follow her order and she fell forward onto her hands. Lanna winced and attempted to drag her uncooperative legs round in front of her. In moving, blood rushed to starved muscles and sharp, tingling pain followed, causing her to whimper.

Lanna glanced upward, expecting to be scolded for the display of weakness.

'Idiot child.' Chowa sighed, yet there was no bite in her tone. Rather she seemed disappointed, a slight downward turn to her thin lips.

'You would endure pain in silence and say nothing? What do you think we are here for? How can you concentrate if you are uncomfortable?' Chowa snapped then turned to Epen as he folded clothes at the back of the tent. He had been so quiet Lanna had forgotten he was there.