The lady signed for Mary to sit down in one of the chairs at the table. Mary sat down and soon she was joined by the Lady and the two aari. After a while, Kopa and Nihal also joined them. As they sat talking, people came in with plates full of food and placed them in front of them. Mugs with water and cups with hot tea were also served to them. The conversation around the table revolved mainly around the journey back to Salmis. Mary ate and listened; she learned a lot by listening to the others. Apparently, it would take three days before they left Domne. That was the part of the trip that Kopa and Nihal worried about the most. Mary discovered that although the two men each had their area of responsibility and command of different groups, their responsibilities overlapped on a lot of the time. She thought it was something which could lead to problems. But it seemed the two men were able to cooperate without any problems for the most part, and they had very similar views. Mary was stru

The morning came quickly and Mary hurried to eat her porridge and after telling Tariana where she was going, she hurried away to the yellow wagon. Sinhera seemed to have just gotten there."Do you need help?" Mary asked."If you have the time to spare, I would be grateful," Sinhera said. Mary nodded and climbed onto the wagon."The procedure is reversed from yesterday. We usually put the stars separately from the lines for the sake of simplicity. Make sure all the packs are steady and below the top edge of the wagon" Sinhera said."Okay," Mary said, getting ready. Soon the packs were handed in, Sinhera lifted them up to Mary, who put them in place. Mary quickly worked out a system she thought would do. The wagon filled quickly and soon all the packs was in place."Thank you" Sinhera said. "If you have time, please give me a hand this afternoon." Mary promised to come and help unload. She was happy to be useful and she took it as a good sign Sinhera had asked her to help.In the days t

Kopa led Mary to the horse and grabbed her around her waist and lifted her so she was seated on the horse. Mary let out a surprised squeak and franticly tried to find something to grab hold of. She didn’t sit like the rest of the riders, that had one leg on each side of their horses. Instead, she sat with both legs on one side. She was also sitting further forward on the horse, almost so she was sitting on its neck. “Take hold of its mane, you won’t hurt her” Kopa instructed, and Mary turned her upper body so she could grab hold of the horse’s mane with both hands. “Good, now turn a little so your right leg comes a bit more on top of her” Kopa said. Mary turned her lower part and let her right leg glide up a bit and she realised she was more stable in that position. “Very good, you’re a natural” Kopa reassured her. “I’m going to mount now. I’ll be sitting right behind you. She might sway a bit, but that is okay” he continued, and Mary nodded. She focused on keeping her balance as Kopa

“That’s komqer melon” Bettina said, standing from the table and getting a round vegetable, the size of Mary’s hand. She handed it to Mary. It felt soft and squishy, and Mary smelled it. It didn’t smell of anything in particular, it reminded her of cucumber.“It almost smells like cucumber, just a bit sweeter” Mary said. Bettina nodded.“Yes, it consists mostly of water and the inside is a thin layer of pulp that is sounding an almost liquid centre. We use the centre to drink or in soups. The pulp is usually placed in salt to firm up and then either eaten as is or pickled” Bettina explained.“Children use them to throw at each other. They are soft and if you get hit with one, it explodes and covers you in juice.” Kopa said and Mary saw Bettina rolling her eyes. Mary smiled and placed the melon on the table before finishing her food.“Thank you, Bettina, it was delicious. And don’t worry about the food. I like trying new things. I expected that much when I decided to come here” Mary smi

Kopa returned a short while later, announcing they had plenty of firewood in all rooms. He started to question Mary on Salamis, and she repeated the word and phrases she knew. She was pleased to remember them all and Kopa only had to correct her pronunciation on two of them. “You sound like a native,” Bettina said, sounding surprised.“Thank you.”“Do you want new words?” Kopa asked and Mary nodded. He started giving her new word but was stopped by Bettina after the second one.“I love you dearly husband, but you are teaching her the wrong words. When will she be using all this military words?” she laughed at him.“I use them almost every day,” Kopa pouted.“I’m sure you do love, but I don’t see Mary taking over as head of the Lady’s private guard any time soon. So maybe start with words she will use moving around the city or at home,” Bettina continued while giving him a knowing look. Kopa huffed but the next word he gave Mary was the word for street. Mary smiled and started memori