After the visit to his sister in law he went to the practice yard and trained with his sword for half an hour before heading off to the rooms his ward, Rachana Sabine had been provided. They were located halfway up one of the castles towers and her maid Elean who was five years older than her was waiting outside the door to her apartment. After opening it she had him, follower, her into the antechamber beyond where Rachana was sitting on a nice comfortable chair awaiting his presence.
“How are you this evening milord?”
“I cannot complain milady I have been catching up on the state of the village and the rest of the barony, how was your day?”
“I did the usual lady-like things sewing, knitting and the like, we listened to Deloer Dnich and your late brother’s minstrel Daegan Gockle try to outdo each other it was rather amusing actually. I paid a short visit to your sister in law and was given a tour of the new Manor House with your sisters. It’s a fine enough building but it must be costing a fortune and your brother’s widow has poor taste.
Your sisters are rather a mixed bag if you don’t mind me saying so. I like Daphne, and to a lesser extent even Zeinab but while Rhea is pleasant enough I suppose and Caro is fine in small doses your twin sister Lilou is something else entirely.”
“Yes, she always was a refined taste, when we were young not a single day went by during which I didn’t at one point or another wish her harm. Does she still twirl her hair every so often and constantly brag about one thing or another”
“Matter of fact she does but that isn’t the worst part, she seems to disagree with almost everything anyone else says, no matter the subject.”
“Not that’s new, it used to only be me she acted that way with.”
“Well not any more she’s branched out in that regards and if she were a man then I think she would be challenged to duels every other day. And her sense of fashion is so over the top that I despair of it, she must be the worst dressed woman I have ever meet and I thought my mother was bad.”
“She’s colour blind you know our mother was as well but thankfully I am not.”
“That might explain it or part of it anyway, I wonder if her daughter Olga is as well Vida certainly isn’t”
“You’d have to ask someone else to know for sure but I would hope not, Olga was still in her womb when I left. Until my return the only niece of mine I have met were Daphne’s lot, what do you think of them?”
“ I only say the youngest for a few moments yesterday by Maia seems to be a healthy child, so full of life, she started walking last month but I didn’t get a chance to see her doing so. Jasmine seems to take after her mother but her sister Hala seems to be a bit of a tomboy even more so than me. She is really into horses and constantly boasts about the pony she got last year and how fast and well behaved she is.”
“Her mother was really into horses as well at that age that was until she had a really bad fall breaking both her arms and legs. I don’t believe she has been on a horse since the accident, certainly not in my presence anyway.”
“Well Hala hasn’t grown out of it yet and by the way she talks about that pony of hers, I don’t think she ever will. I don’t believe I have yet heard Olga speak a single word she only nodded when I was introduced to her, it’s unnatural I tell you, especially in a girl. as for Vida, she does the most exquisite needlework I have ever seen notwithstanding that tapestry I saw when we visited the castle of the Duke of Vasilt after you won his tournament last year.”
“Have you meet any of my sister’s husbands yet?”
“I was briefly introduced to the ones currently residing at the castle as well as your younger brother and most of your nephews. From what I have overheard other than Lilou’s husband Marcus none of your brothers-in-law take much of an interest in their children, not even their sons. Other than lamenting the lack of a male heir Marcus seems to doat on his daughters, finding it hard to say no to them.”
“He seems like a good man to me, other than Rhae’s late first husband Asen he is my favourite brother in law, what did you think of my nephews?”
“I haven’t really interacted with them enough to form any real opinion but Vasily seems to have all the makings of becoming a little terror one of these days. Vasil isn’t as tall as the rest of your family and is really In love with his new wife Laurel and Levan is rather on the blimp side.”
“And my brother Dako?”
“He is a very handsome young man who thinks he’s Amundisu’s gift to women, let’s hope he never goes after the wrong sort of woman or theirs going to be trouble. Now, what is the real reason for your visit, while I am sure that you value my opinion of them you aren’t visiting me just to enquire after them?”
“Alright I plan to visit the Membe Dungeon tomorrow and thought that perhaps you might consent to lend me your families talisman for the occasion. As far as I know, unlike most of those who control a dungeon no Baron of Membe has ever owned anything like it, did you bring it with you?”
“I never go anywhere without it, not since my father give it to be just before he died. I’ll lend it to you but only if you promise to keep it safe and show me around the dungeon sometime soon. I want to see what the former dungeon on the island of my birth might have once looked like before it got in the way of those making money from mining the island and they destroyed it.”
“Agreed Rachana it may be a few days or weeks before I get around to doing so but to tell the truth compared to other dungeons ours isn’t up to much even compared to what they used to say about yours. No one knows why that might be the case, but it seems to me at least that the prevailing theory that someone must have done something to it when it was first discovered may be wrong.
I am unsure as to the actual reason but as far as I am concerned it just seems wrong. Well, it’s unlikely that anyone will ever discover the reason behind it so I just accept that it is the way it is and spend my time doing more constructive things.”
“Well a broken down dungeon is better than either no dungeon at all or a destroyed one any day of the week I reckon and since I’ve never seen one before it will be a new experience for me.”
“You know I’ve only ever been their once before and I don’t remember much about it. I do however clearly remember my first visit to another dungeon. It was the Cundallas dungeon in Schuw, part of the prize when I won my first tournament was a visit to it. I killed three Watprhogs and a whole lot of goblins and in exchange, I received several gold coins, the hide of two of the warhogs, a bow and arrows plus two goblin short swords the size of daggers.”
“Was the haul from that dungeon in any way typical?”
“At least for that dungeon anyway, with the Membe dungeon your lucky if you meet a single monster and receive a few silvers in return. That was in my father’s time these days from what I have been told only a single visit every other year leads to a monster encounter. While the owners of most of the other dungeons make piles of money every day the only way the barony made any money from the dungeon was the yearly festival.”
“Well is better than nothing as my family knows too well.”
“Yes, but your family has no enemies other than the land itself.”
“I suppose so try to enjoy your trip to the dungeon anyway, if there’s nothing else then I imagine we both have things we need to do.”
“Yeah I have to read up on the dungeon and I’m sure you have things to get on with so it just remains for you to hand over the talisman and then I will bid you a good night.”
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