Chapter#219
He and Tashka got down to the serious business of what she might wear that afternoon. While they were deciding on green hose and a white shirt (but not one with lace, the day I think I will be quite plain, with an high collar, and I will wear that earring which is just a plain gold rod hanging from my ear), Vadya managed to sneak on a tatty pair of breeches and his buckskin jacket. He had already managed to get one boot on by the time Batren had found the exact earring Tashka wanted so he got away with the breeches but Tashka said she wanted the jacket. They had a wrestling match over it and Tashka won, to Batren's great disgust. He hated the buckskin jacket, he thought they both looked vile in it. Vadya thought it made him look raffish and handsome, it made him feel like a lone forester striding in the woods. He thought Tashka looked adorable in it. It was too big so it made her look as if she were playing at dressing up. She would have been revolted if he had told her so, he let her think she looked like a lone forester too.
He walked down to the armoury with her and watched her start her practice duel. She was fighting with a visiting officer on leave from Seventh Soomara. He had a reputation and she was looking forward to it. Vadya was glad to see Captain-Sir Levair give her a challenging fight. She rarely got an opportunity to properly test her skills and this would put her in a good mood. Since she had to take it off for the duel, she let him have the jacket back so he was pleased too.
In the evening they went to the First H'las party but they left it early. They liked to get to bed early then Tashka could wake up early and Vadya could have a good lie in. When they got to their room it was all laid ready but Batren never hung round in the evenings.
Vadya was humming to himself but Tashka was grumpy. She strolled about in front of the cold fireplace, undoing her shirt buttons. Then she stood over the hearth, glaring into the room, her hands on her hips and her soft heavy silk shirt hanging open so her bodice showed underneath it. She had got on a black bodice embroidered with hunting scenes in red thread, Vadya cast it an appreciative glance as he went to put his lucky filigree button on the mantelpiece beside a clutch of pink and gold cards inviting them to go all over Trossia witnessing the bestowal of friends on other friends by their families.
Anata Yrai's bestowal on Hanya el Jien had been nicely timed for the winter sports in the H'velst mountains. They would be able to take a holiday there with his cousins and then come back down to Port Ithilien to see Hanya Lein bestowed on Dar Vaie. Tashka had invited her old friends the Angels - and of course Pava el Jien and Clair - to come and stay in Castle H'las for a few days beforehand. They were planning to have a splendid officers' party on board his caravel sailing down to Port Ithilien although Tashka said Vadya would still have to pay for the provisions even if he did not manage to win the caravel back from her before the party.
Vadya pulled his purple velvet jacket off and his grey silk shirt over his head, letting them drop on the floor. "I had a nice chat with Dame Lisette Piria," he said.
"Yes, I noticed," Tashka said coldly. "You danced three dances with her."
"We were talking about Hyaline's pottery," Vadya said, sitting down to tug his boots off. "She said ..." suddenly he lifted his head and looked up at Tashka.
She pouted grumpily at him, her rose-petal lip pushed out and her slanted blue eyes narrowed up in that killing glare. Vadya sniggered.
"You are jealous!" he exclaimed gleefully.
"No, I am not!" she protested.
"Angel of Charity!" he said joyfully. "You are jealous of me! Sweet Heaven! Look at you: the prettiest officer in the whole H'las army, the youngest General ever to be made, the best rapier-swordsman in Trossia and you are jealous of me! I never thought to see it."
"I am not jealous of you," she scoffed.
"And you are the one who danced with Levair's chicken!" he laughed. "His reputation as a rapier-swordsman is not more notorious than hers for a pink-fingered flirt! I am the one who should be jealous."
Tashka looked sideways at him in a flash of amused blue. "She asked me," she said.
"You might have refused. Levair was fish-eyed when he saw her dancing with you!"
"I may be a woman," she responded haughtily, "but I can still be a man of honour, is it not? You would not refuse a lady who asked you to dance with her."
He grinned but she was still sulky. She flicked her mouth with one scarred finger and said: "Why should you dance three whole dances with one skinny cow?"
"We were talking," he said patiently. "Darling, you are truly jealous? Surely you do not doubt me!"
"No-o," she said, "but I should like to dance with you."
"Neither of us can dance the woman's steps," he pointed out.
She pouted again and walked off round the room, her hands linked behind her back, her right leg trailing behind her. When she came back to the hearth, he got up and put his arms around her, taking one of her hands up in his.
"So dance with me," he said. "I will sing and you may dance with me. You can teach me the men's dances you do with Clair."
She took her hand out of his and grasped him round the chest, pulling him against her body. "Dancing is boring," she said and tucked her hands into the waistband of his unbuttoned hose, pushing them down to squeeze his buttocks.