In just five more days he would be knighted and officially one of them. But as exhausted as he was from his physical travails, and as tired as he was from the strain of worrying if he was really good enough to win the day, he greeted his neighbors with charm and goodwill. What had begun as a small celebration given by his family now turned into a Quarter-wide fest. This was a great moment for the Mercenaries. One of their own had not reached the rank of Crusader Knight in over sixty years. Food was shared, ale and cider flowed, and it was well past midnight when the Quarter finally grew silent.
The next morning a page was sent from the Garden District to accompany the future Sir John Swiftsword and his family as they chose which house they would have among those currently available. Susanna was beside herself with excitement.
“Lara must come,” her father said.
“But it will not be her home,” Susanna said carelessly. She could think of nothing else but that she would soon have a real house.
“Where I am, my daughter will always have a home,” John Swiftsword said sternly to his wife. “She has earned the right to see what her sacrifice has gained us.”
Susanna’s face fell as she realized how unkind her words had sounded. She turned to her stepdaughter. “Oh, Lara, forgive me!”
Lara laughed, and put her arm through Susanna’s. “Let’s go and see your new dwelling,” she said softly. “I know you meant me no harm.”
Outside they discovered a cart drawn by two pretty gray donkeys, with John’s horse tied to the back of it. He mounted Aristaeus while the young page helped Lara and Susanna into the cart, which was white and had gaily painted wheels. They sat facing one another upon red leather benches. The page joined the driver at the front of the cart, and they were off, the soon-to-be Crusader Knight riding by their side. Reaching the Garden District, they were met by Sir Ferris.
“There are several fine houses just now available,” he told them, smiling broadly. “I, of course, have my preference, but I will be curious to know which dwelling pleases my lady Susanna.” He helped the two from their cart. “We’ll walk,” he said. “The day is fair, and most are at the tournament.”
“Oh,” Susanna said nervously, “should we have gone today?”
“Nay, my dear,” the old Crusader Knight told her. “Your man has won his place, and now he is not expected back at the tournament field until his knighting day.”
“I should not like to do the wrong thing,” Susanna confided to Sir Ferris. “This is all so new for me, and I am, after all, just a farmer’s daughter.”
“So are many of the women you will soon meet among our stratum, although some have forgotten their humbler beginnings and occasionally need to be reminded,” Sir Ferris chuckled wickedly. “I am very good at that.”
Susanna laughed at the twinkle in his eye when he spoke. “I think, sir, you were a most naughty fellow in your youth.”
“Still am!” came the quick reply.
They were shown seven homes, and Susanna marveled at the size and number of the chambers. She exclaimed at the wonderful light, and the privacy. Never in all her days had she seen such fine homes except on the day she had gone into the Golden District. These houses were smaller, of course, but they still had many of the same fine features. It was difficult, but she finally selected a house built around an inner courtyard with a shallow, narrow reflecting pool in its center. At first she considered if the pool might not be a danger to Mikhail, but Sir Ferris pooh-poohed her fears.
“You will be given three well-trained household slaves, my dear. A maidservant to help you, a nursemaid for your children, for you will certainly have more, and of course, one manservant to do the heavy work and look after your little garden. You have chosen wisely, for this is the dwelling I would have chosen.”
“We have a garden?” Susanna was surprised. The house itself with its inner courtyard seemed more than adequate.
“A walled garden behind your home,” he answered her. “It has an apple tree.”
Susanna began to weep softly. “There was an apple tree outside my bedchamber at home on my father’s farm,” she said.
Sir Ferris patted her arm, and smiled, well pleased. “Now that is settled I shall send you and Lara off to the Crusader Knights warehouse so you may choose your furnishings. Men are useless in such an endeavor. You may bring a few personal possessions from the Quarter, but nothing else,” he explained. “We like our new knights and their families to fit right in. Your husband will meet you at home later, my dear.”
They returned to the cart and were taken out of the Garden District to a large building on the edge of the City. There they were greeted by the manager, a self-important little man, who escorted them through the warehouse as Susanna made her choices of furniture, draperies and all manner of household goods, Lara at her side. When they had concluded their business the manager assured them all would be delivered on the morrow early, and if my lady would be there to tell the movers where to put everything it would certainly be helpful.
“Gracious!” Susanna exclaimed as they were returned to the Quarter. “I have never in all my life had such a day, nor could have even imagined one like this.”
“We are both beginning new lives,” Lara responded. The Garden District was lovely and the house Susanna had chosen was beautiful. Lara wondered if her new home would be as fine. But then the Pleasure Quarter was said to have some of the loveliest houses in all of the City. She had never been there, of course, but it was said, and if it was said, then it surely must be true.
The following day when Lara and Susanna arrived at the new house they found three slaves awaiting them. The trio bowed politely.
“I am Nels, and this is Yera and Ove,” the man said, indicating the women who stood beside him. “We now belong to John Swiftsword, and are bound to obey him and his wife, mistress.”
For a moment Susanna was speechless, but Lara quickly spoke up. “My stepmother, the lady Susanna, thanks you. Serve her well and you will be treated well. Serve her badly and you will be beaten.”
Susanna now recovered. “Which among you is the nursemaid?” she asked. She didn’t know what she was going to do without Lara, who seemed to have instincts beyond her knowledge and above her station.
“I am, my lady.” The younger of the two women curtsied.
“And you are?” Susanna said.
“Ove, my lady.”
“My son is called Mikhail. He does not yet walk, but he will in a few weeks. You must keep him from the reflecting pool at all times, Ove.”
“Yes, my lady,” the girl replied.
The furniture arrived, and the rest of the day was spent deciding where it would be placed. Yera took charge of all the household supplies, and began to set up the kitchen. Susanna was kept busy running from place to place, making decisions, while Lara quietly directed Nels in the hanging of the draperies. On the following day Nels arrived in a cart at the hovel to collect the few personal items they would be taking with them. When they departed on the day of the knighting they would not return again; a young mercenary and his bride-to-be had already been assigned their hovel. At the end of the knighting ceremony Lara would spend a final night with her family. On the following day she would be taken to Gaius Prospero’s home, and after that she knew not what.
On the day of the knighting, the Master of the Merchants sent his litters for them as he had on the first day of the tourney. John had already gone ahead. Tania arrived once again, and this time she braided Lara’s magnificent long hair into a single braid into which she wove fresh flowers. Lara and Susanna donned their fine gowns. Tania departed, and without a backward glance Susanna picked up her son, and hurried to the waiting litter, but Lara remained for several more minutes.
Looking about her she felt tears coming, and forced them back. This was her home. The only home she had ever known.