The Affairs of Mortals

Chapter 18

It continued to snow as the winter solstice approached, but it never became cold enough for a deep freeze. The flakes remained fluffy and wet, and they heaped up into huge soft mounds of white. It made the whole land look beautiful and new when it sparkled in the sunlight. Everyone took on a more festive mood, and the Lady Catherine made an effort to stay as far from Vero as possible. Vero was just as happy to return the favor.

The Marquise's blood had come, and Vero had returned to Jean's bed. It seemed that the soothsayer's rabbit would live to see another month.

It was a Jubilee year and the festivities would go on for three days. Jubilees occurred once every seven years, when the new moon coincided precisely with the last day of the year, the solstice, and the first day of the new year. It was the most profound holiday of all, but Vero's own woman's blood always came with the new moon, which hampered her ability to enjoy the festivities somewhat. Fortunately, her discomfort was only mild and as Jean was not a sorcerer, he had no fear of being made ritually impure through contact with her, which made everything much easier to bear.

On the first day of celebrations Jean's court went out into the city after a light breakfast. They spent the morning at the city cathedral where Father Ignacio and a priestess of the dark moon read mass. The cathedral was still in the final stage of construction, but what had been erected already was very grand. It had originally been intended to be consecrated to the Sun God alone, but it had gained Luna as a sponsor before construction began. Recently, to finance the completion, the sponsorship had been expanded again to now serve the whole pantheon of gods. Besides the local aristocracy, few worshiped the sun or the moon in the city.

After mass a huge feast was laid out in the church and the city's orphans, crippled, and widows were invited to eat with them. There was also much alms-giving to the poor, and by the time they left Vero had a wonderful warm feeling inside her.

Next, they moved to the city's main guild hall. There they had supper, which was just as grand as their dinner had been. This time they broke bread with the city's merchants and craftsmen. Each of the guilds took turns presenting a scene from the lives of the saints on stage with prizes given to those who received the most acclaim. The ironworking and copperworking guilds were the largest and Vero suspected some of their performers of being professional actors, but they took the first and second prizes respectively. The third prize went to the tailors' guild which gave a more amateur, but enthusiastic, performance. Vero thought she preferred the latter.

Several of the leading burghers took this opportunity to discuss business directly with their lord. However, she still had Antoinette and Ser Frederic to keep her from feeling neglected, and there was a wonderful carnival atmosphere everywhere.

As the evening drew on, Saul arrived with the leading citizens of the dwarven quarter. The dwarves had their own calendar, and did not necessarily celebrate human holidays. Although some who settled in human lands were slowly assimilating to surface culture, and more just appreciated any opportunity to enjoy themselves. They brought vodka with them and Vero got along with all of them. They became such close friends so quickly that she thought it a great shame to leave when the time finally came, and she invited them to come to the keep for the next day of celebrations.

When the next day came it also began with acts of charity, but at the gate of the palace where the city's beggars gathered for alms. After mid-day, they set the tables aside in the great hall and prepared the floor for a dance. This gave Vero an anxious feeling, she loved dances as a girl, but she had not attended one for years. Her leg was mended well enough for walking, but she worried about embarrassing herself in front of the whole court.

She demurred as long as she could until Jean pulled her up and onto the floor with him. Of course, there had been nothing to be afraid of all along; Jean was more than skilled enough to keep them from treading on one another's feet.