Decisions and Ceremonies
The next morning Zalen had barely gotten up from his bed when two servant girls entered and began to help him get dressed! He was still too drowsy to put up much resistance and either the girls didn't understand Common or they just chose to ignore his protests. And attempts to cover himself just made them smile and giggle.
Soon enough he was ready and dressed. Not in his normal robe, however, but in something that looked far too expensive to be useful. It was white and filled with intricate golden decorations, but at least it felt relatively cool in this heat and its symbols still made him look more like a mage than some lazy noble.
Outside his room the Master of Keys was waiting.
"Good morning, Master Zalen."
"Morning," Zalen replied, yawning.
"I beg your forgiveness, but although I am now in your service, I still have some duties for my former master, such as his funeral."
"Ah, yes. I understand. You have my leave. Is there a problem with his funeral?"
Zalen had noted the worried expression on the old man's face.
"Nothing to worry you, Master Zalen. It's just... The Sheikh always hated the traditional funeral, hated all the rituals and all the crying. But he never once said what he would want instead."
"He should have been to a Kyrian funeral. They are meant to honor the dead, to celebrate everything good the one who passed away had done in his life."
"Yes, he would have liked that. And... Has my master already... decided?"
Zalen sighed.
"I will let everyone know tomorrow at noon."
The Master of Keys then bowed and left, apparently deep in thought.
Zalen set out to find his companions. He had now a little over a day to decide what to do. They would have to move on sooner or later and he had no desire to return here even afterwards. This country was just too warm and dry for him. And servants? He was no noble and neither did he want to become one. But would it be considered an insult if he just sold this place?
And the women. So far he had only seen four of the seven wives but no woman would be happy to just be handed over to a new man, tradition or no tradition. He vaguely remembered that a divorce here would just require saying the words three times but would the seven wives want to be cast aside like that? Hardly.
Oh well, he was the one who had made the decision to return the mysterious cube to its rightful owner and he would face the consequences like a man. No good deed ever went unpunished, indeed.
He found his companions together in one of their rooms. The Veiled One was again asking Darnac questions about the Myrnae Empire, her bodyguard sitting nearby and Talyar laid on the bed, his fancy hat pulled to his eyes. It was amusing how the four were nothing alike.
Darnac was a huge man, tall and strong as a bear although he was only in his early thirties, but had already been the leader of the Emperor's Guard. He certainly knew how to behave when needed, but in private he cursed and joked almost worse than most soldiers.
Rasan, now the Veiled One's bodyguard, looked almost frail when standing next to the man from Myrnae. He was no longer quite as hostile as he had been in the beginning, but he still only talked to answer a direct question - unless the matter concerned Amaryan's safety.
Talyar on the other hand looked nothing like a fighter, despite his sword. He dressed like a noble, or more precisely like a character from one of those ridiculous romantic adventure stories that were the latest craze among the nobles. There was no way of knowing if the man was a noble though - he never told the same story twice when asked about his past. And most of his 'accomplishments' were probably just as invented. But he was friendly and easy to be with and even if his stories were clearly nowhere near the truth they were still great entertainment.
And Amaryan - well, the Veiled One had turned being mysterious into art. Zalen still didn't know anything more about her or the Veiled Ones than he had when she first joined their group. He was almost sure she had magical skills and he had tested that her veils were magical but that was pretty much it. And just her beauty made her at least as dangerous as the others.
Darnac noticed Zalen's approach.
"What now?"
"You didn't bother mentioning that the 'valuables' I'd inherit would include the Sheikh's harem," Zalen said addressing Amaryan.
The room went silent. Darnac whistled. Rasan's eyes had went wide and even Talyar had raised his hat to look at Zalen.
"It's every man's right to name what he considers most valuable", Amaryan remarked with a slight smile.
"You inherited his harem," Talyar said, with a rare look of surprise. Usually nothing seemed to faze him and he often just countered with an even wilder story.
"Yes. I'm now the new husband to his seven wives and I don't even know their names", Zalen confirmed.
"Well, my friend, you certainly seem to have interesting luck with women", Darnac said chuckling. "The last woman you were with is now a sword, the previous woman tried to kill you, and half of Saleria knows the Ballad of Zalen by now."
Zalen tried to just ignore Darnac's comment. Darnac knew the truth, but trying to explain to the others would take too long and probably be just as embarassing. So he continued:
"And since he had no living male relatives I also inherited this palace, his horses and most of his treasury. And that damned cube, except that the second assassin had stolen it."
"Wow! His treasury? Oh, that reminds me of the time..." Talyar began, but was cut short by the Veiled One.
"Oh, shush. Does this change your plans?"
Zalen went silent for a while.
"I'm not going to just settle here, but neither can I just run from my duties here. I will tell my new plans tomorrow, but it will probably take a week before I can resume travel. Can you wait that long?"
"I will wait," Amaryan said. "The Sisterhood promised its help and I will not leave you until I'm no longer needed and you have paid your debt for us. The longer it takes, the bigger the debt will be."
"You need to ask? Oh no, I just can't live with all the delicious food, pretty servants and luxurious surroundings", Talyar added with mock horror.
Rasan said nothing, but he'd hardly leave Amaryan unprotected.
Darnac was the only one looking unhappy about the situation but after a while he nodded as well.
"I want to get to As'arain before Coryel grows bored and gets herself into trouble, but I understand duty. I'll wait a week."
"Thanks."
After that the day had pretty much flewn by.
To Zalen's surprise the wives had apparently liked the idea of a Kyrian funeral and during the day the servants had dragged every little detail he knew about the ceremony, the foods, the decorations and so on. Although Zalen had not been raised as a Kyrian - he had only found out his true race much later - he had still seen more than his share of funerals during and after the war.
Another surprise had been that the funeral would take place the very same day, at sunset like the Kyrian custom required. Zalen had asked why and received no answer whatsoever. The Master of Keys had even seemed a little worried for some reason. Well, perhaps Zalen would find out the reason eventually.
*
The sun was already touching the horizon as the last man entered the half-circle. He was old and held a cane, although mostly for appearances. He, like the rest of the guests were clearly a little surprised at the unusual setting but none of them had said anything. Apparently the Sheikh had gained a reputation with his little quirks. It probably wasn't normal either that there were only five guests, but that was probably due to the short notice.
The dead Sheikh had been positioned on top of the pile of wood.
As the Sheikh's Om'asara and the one most familiar with this ceremony Zalen had been asked to lead. He took a step forward with a lit torch.
"We are here tonight to honor the life of a great man. As is tradition where I come from, a funeral ceremony is not meant for sadness. It is for telling stories of his great deeds, for praising the role he had in our lives. We will drink and make toasts for him so that even the gods will have to listen and admit what a great man he was!"
As he shouted the last words he threw the torch towards the pile, and the flames begun slowly spreading.
Zalen stepped back. The Master of Keys was the next to raise his voice, beginning to tell the story of how the Sheikh had caught him trying to steal food and ended up hiring him.
The other guests, even if slightly bewildered by the unfamiliar ceremony had also caught on and were also taking turns telling amusing stories involving the Sheikh.
The Sheikh's wives who were all wearing white robes that covered most of their faces - probably in order to combine the local funeral tradition with this Kyrian one - also joined in.
Zalen was the only one without any stories to share so he just stood there, listening.
Finally the stories and songs had run down and there was again silence.
Zalen stepped forward once more, raising his cup towards the embers in the middle.
"To a great man. To a great life and to an even greater afterlife!"
There was chorus of agreements.
Quite a bit later all the guests had finally left and Zalen was back in his bed, deep in thought.
All those stories about the Sheikh had finally convinced him of one thing. He wouldn't be able to keep this place. He'd just feel like a permanent outsider all the time. But he had at least decided how to solve the problem.
He'd talk to the Master of Keys tomorrow as the old man would have to handle the details anyway.
Sumi
A few days later Zalen was sitting on his bed, trying to remember if there was still something that needed to be done before going to bed, a knock came from the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and a woman slipped in. But to Zalen's surprise it was not one of her companions but one the Sheik's wives. They had kept their faces hidden during the funeral but he had actually seen her face before that. She had peeked through a doorway back when he had been talking to the Sheikh the first time.
