March 1223 - Lady Marta's Feast

Lady Marta had been sending occasional invitations to Sir Achilles ever since the man arrived and was declared Lord of Caribet. She simply had to meet the man who could claim to be Lord over those scholars, as she was dying to find out how he was coping... This month, she finally received agreeable word from Sir Achilles.

When Achilles accepted Lady Marta's invitation, she did of course start making preparations. It was to be a good dinner, naturally, though not to bankrupt her estate over it. One thing she made sure of, was to instruct some of her serving-women in serving the food. She carefully chose the prettiest and most mannerly of them, making sure that they knew their tasks. On the day, she made sure that they were fairly well-scrubbed and nicely (and attractively) dressed. Marta knows a few things about men, and she likes to keep them mildly distracted and a little bit off their guard.

Sir Achilles himself spent some time planning his escort, trying to pick out the most "normal" of the men he had available. There was no point in trying to take men from guarding the palisades around the clearing - although there was no likelihood of any challenges, the Magi would throw a tantrum; likewise the best warriors all seemed to be claiming special privileges as Personal Servant to one Magus or another. However, he could muster a handful of presentable types, especially if he included Pepin the Scribe as a "squire".

One snag was Mistress Galienne, now IV months pregnant, and still convinced unshakeably that she would marry Sir Achilles, and it was only a matter of time before the arrangements were complete. If this were a Real Manor he'd have had her married off to some peasant, or beaten, or confined to a nunnery - anything - but it would be inconceivable that she could talk so to a Real Noble. Unfortunately, Speculor the Wild Wizard, he of the electrifying and rather fearsome aspect seemed to have a personal affection for Mistress Galienne, which might fall short of letting her claim the status of Personal Servant, but still ranked above Turning Nobles Into Frogs.

The two nobles spent the entire evening scoring verbal points off each other. Somehow or other, Achilles found himself agreeing to go hunting with the strong silent (and alarmingly Military) Sir Eberhardt, Marta's champion. It were a good thing that Achilles had been practising his riding skills against the day when some fool might call upon him to display them! Marta was also interested in the Manor's farms and would keep discussing yields and produce - Sir Achilles had to dissemble to avoid explaining quite why the Covenant's fields yield quite so well... he still remained quite embarrassed at the thought of the tiny fairies crawling around in the fields. Marta insisted that he accept several barrels of her apples, as he so clearly had not yet managed to develop his own Orchard (point!).

Marta was also keen to probe (without seeming) into the rumour that Achilles was constructing a bridge over the river cutting the path from Caribet to Plouec, and otherwise improving that road. Achilles agreed that this was basically true, and that he hoped that the increased trade would pay for the investment in the bridge, especially since he was now Lord of Plouec and all its sub-manors (point!).

[Fortunately this was before work on the bridge resumed, so Achilles could answer in all honesty, with no prevarication, all Marta's questions on the subject...]

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