When the cart carrying Izulen and Esellyn arrived at Relan two days later, Izulen knew he would not fit in here.
People worked in the fields, but only some Izulen's age bothered to look up as the cart traveled down the path. He caught the gaze of one girl and dropped it immediatly with a shiver. She had had the look of a caged animal in her emerald green eyes, bored and yearning to escape.
The hold proper was a small building with about a dozen smaller buildings scattered around it. Even the buildings managed to look gloomy despite the warm Southern climate. The driver of the cart stopped in front of the hold proper and knocked on the door.
It was opened by one of the most powerful looking man Izulen had ever seen. He was tall, Izulen guessed even taller than him, and looked to be in his late fourth decade by his silvering hair. But it was neither his height nor his age that gave him his power, it was the look on his face. He was a person who commanded obedience and did not tolerate the lack of it.
"I assume these are the two from the Harper Hall?" the man asked the driver in a controlled but still deadly voice. He was sizing up Izulen with steely gray eyes even as he spoke and didn't seem to like what he saw.
"This is them, Lord Shanol," the driver replied. It was obvious he wanted to be out of Lord Shanol's presence and Relan Hold as fast as his runner could take him but he stood his ground.
Shanol nodded, produced a doublemark from his pocket and pressed into the driver's hand. The driver smiled and bowed and then beat a hasty retreat to his cart.
A drudge had already begun to unload their belongings and the healer had come to take care of Esellyn, leaving Izulen alone with Lord Shanol.
"You must be Izulen," Shanol said after a few uncomfortable moments of silence.
Izulen extended a hand. "That's me. And you are Lord Shanol. Merry Meet."
Shanol shook his hand but withdrew his own quickly. "I am guessing you have been informed of how we live in Relan."
"No harpering, I know," Izulen replied with a nod.
"Harpering has no place at Relan hold, Journeyman, except to teach the basic skills of reading and writing," Shanol told him. "Please keep that in mind while you are with us."
Izulen nodded but met the Lord's gaze evenly. "Don't worry, I will."
"You won't last a day here," a woman's voice scoffed from somewhere behind him.
Izulen whirled to see the emerald-eyed girl from the field. She had the same look in her eyes, though mixed with a bit of envy and more than a bit of sadness. "What makes you say that?"
"The last harper here didn't," the girl replied with a shrug. "Father caught him playing his gitar in his quarters and..." her voice trailed off and she gave him a sad smile.
"Well, I didn't even bring anything to play with me," Izulen assured her. "And even then, I'm not here as a harper. I'm here as a son taking care of his mother."
"I don't think that'll last," a blonde haired girl sneered as she joined the first. "Mmm, he may be a harper, but I think he's cute."
"Harpers are very good with their hands, or so I hear," a third red-haired girl shot a meaningful glance at the blonde, who glared knives at the red-head.
"Don't even start," a fourth girl with black hair warned, "you know he'll be Nita's as soon as she gets her hands on him."
The emerald-eyed girl swept her eyes up and down Izulen. "He might be worth the trouble," she purred.
"Ooh, I think Nita's found a new toy," the blonde cooed. "Did you finally get rid of Charis then?"
"If you ladies will excuse me..." Izulen began and backed away as the girls began to squabble. As he headed into the hold proper for the infirmary, he started to hum and then caught himself and wondered how long he'd last in this hold.
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