Ive frequently made light, disparaging remarks about Alorns and their fascination with the sea, but theres a kind of holiness in it almost as if true sailors have a different God. They dont just love the sea; they worship it, and in my heart I know why.
I cant see the land any more! Beldaran exclaimed that evening, looking apprehensively sternward.
You arent supposed to, love, Riva told her gently. Wed never get home if we tried to keep the Sendarian coast in plain sight the whole way to the Isle.
The sunset on the sea ahead of us was glorious, and when the moon rose, she built a broad, gleaming highway across the glowing surface of the night-dark sea.
All bemused by the beauty around me, I sat down on a convenient barrel, crossed my arms on the rail, and set my chin on them to drink in the sense of the sea. I remained in that reverie all through the night, and the sea claimed me as her own. My childhood had been troubled, filled with resentments and a painful, almost mortifying sense of my own inadequacy. The sea calmed those troubled feelings with her serene immensity. Did it really matter that one little girl with skinned knees felt all pouty because the world didnt genuflect every time she walked by? The sea didnt seem to think so, and increasingly as the hours passed, neither did I.
The dawn announced her coming with a pale light just above the sternward horizon. The world seemed filled with a grey, shadowless luminescence, and the dark water became as molten silver. When the sun, made ruddy by the sea mist, mounted above the eastern horizon, he filled my heart with a wonder such as Id never known before.
But the sea wasnt done with me yet. Her face was like molten glass, and then something immense swelled up from beneath without actually breaking the surface. The resulting surge was untouched by foam or silly little splashings. It was far too profound for that kind of childish display. I felt a sudden sense of superstitious terror. The mythology of the world positively teems with sea-monsters, and Beltira and Belkira had amused Beldaran and me when we were very young by telling us stories, usually of Alorn origin. No sea-going people will ever pass up the chance to talk about sea-monsters, after all.
Whats that? I asked a sleepy-eyed sailor whod just come up on deck, and I pointed at the disturbance in the water.
He squinted over the rail. Oh, he said in an off-hand way, those be whales, my Lady.
Whales?
Big fish, my Lady. He squinted at the sea again. Its the time of year when they flock together. Id guess that there be quite a few down there.
Is that why the waters bulging up like that because there are so many?
No, my Lady. One whale all by himself can make the sea heave that way.
I was sure he was exaggerating, but then an enormous dark form erupted from the water like a mountain aborning. I couldnt believe what I was seeing! Nothing alive could be that big!
Then he crashed with a boom back into the sea, sending great sheets of water in all directions, and he slapped his tail down against the surface with another huge noise and disappeared.
Then he jumped again, and again.
He was playing!
And then he was not alone. Other whales also came surging up out of the sea to leap and play in the morning sun like a crowd of overgrown children frolicking in a play yard.
And they laughed! Their voices were high-pitched, but they were not squeaky. There was a profound depth to them and a kind of yearning.
One of them I think it was that first one rolled over on his side to look at me with one huge eye. There were wrinkles around that eye as if he were very, very old, and there was a profound wisdom there.
And then he winked at me and plunged back into the depths.
No matter how long I live, Ill always remember that strange meeting. In some obscure way its shaped my entire view of the world and of everything thats hidden beneath the surface of ordinary reality. That single event made the tedious journey from the Vale and this voyage worthwhile and more.
We were another two days reaching Riva, and I spent those days filled with the wonder of the sea and of those creatures she supported as a mother supports her children.
The Isle of the Winds is a bleak, inhospitable place that rises out of a usually storm-tossed sea, and when viewed from the water the city seems as unwelcoming as the rock upon which its built. It rises steeply from the harbor in a series of narrow terraces, and each row of houses stands at the brink of the terrace upon which its built. The seaward walls of those houses are thick and windowless, and battlements surmount them. In effect this makes the city little more than a series of impenetrable walls rising one after another to the Citadel which broods down over the entire community. Whole races could hurl themselves at Riva with no more effect than the waves have upon the cliffs of the Isle itself. As the Master said, All the tides of Angarak cannot prevail against it, and when you add the Cherek fleet patrolling the waters just off the coast, you have the potential for the extinction of any race foolish enough even to contemplate the notion of making war on the Rivans. Toraks crazy, but hes not that crazy.
Beldaran and I had taken some rather special pains to make ourselves presentable that morning. Beldaran was to be Queen of Riva, and she wanted to make a good impression on her future subjects. I was not going to be the queen, and my target was a certain specific segment of the population. I was rather carefully taking aim at all the young men, and I think I hit most of them. What a glorious thing it is to be universally adored! My fathers slightly worried expression made my morning complete.
Dont let it go to your head, Polgara, mothers voice cautioned me. What youre seeing on all those vacant faces isnt love. Young males of all species have urges that they cant really control. In their eyes youre not a person; youre an object. You dont really want to be no more than a thing, do you?
The prospect of incipient thinghood put a slight damper on my enjoyment of the moment.
Traditionally, Rivans wear grey clothing. As a matter of fact, the other western races call them grey-cloaks. Young people, however, tend to ignore the customs of their elders. Adolescent rebellion has been responsible for all manner of absurd costumes. The more ridiculous a certain fashion is, the more adolescents will cling to it. The young men crowding the edge of the wharf with yearning eyes put me in mind of a flower garden planted by someone with absolutely no sense of taste. There were doublets down there in hues I didnt even have names for, and some of those short jackets were varicolored, and the colors clashed hideously. Each of my worshipers, however, was absolutely convinced that his clothing was so splendid that no girl in her right mind could possibly resist him.
I felt an almost uncontrollable urge to burst out laughing. My fathers concern about what he felt to be my fragile chastity was totally inappropriate. I wasnt going to surrender to some adolescent whose very appearance sent me off into gales of laughter.
After the sailors had snubbed up the mooring ropes, we disembarked and started up the stairs that lead from the harbor to Rivas Citadel. That series of stair-stepping walls that are part of the citys defenses were revealed as a part of the houses in which the Rivans lived. The houses seemed bleak on the outside, but Ive since discovered that the interiors of those houses are places of beauty. In many ways they are like the Rivans themselves. All the beauty is on the inside. The streets of Riva are narrow and monotonously straight. I strongly suspect that Riva had been guided by Belar in the construction of the city. Everything about it has a defensive purpose.
There was a shallow courtyard surrounded by a massive wall at the top of the stairs. The size of the roughly squared-off stones in that wall startled me. The amount of sheer physical labor which had gone into the construction of the city was staggering. We entered the Citadel through a great iron-bound door, and I found the interior of my sisters new home depressingly bleak. It took us quite some time to reach our quarters. Beldaran and I were temporarily ensconced in a quite pleasant set of rooms. I say temporarily because Beldaran would soon be moving into the royal apartment.
Youre having fun, arent you, Pol? My sister asked me once we were alone. Her voice seemed just a bit wistful, and she spoke in twin.
I dont exactly follow you, I replied.
Now that youve decided to be pretty, youve got every young man you come across fawning all over you.
Youve always been pretty, Beldaran, I reminded her.
She sighed a rather sweet little sigh. I know, she said, but I never got the chance to play with it. Whats it like to have everybody around you dumbstruck with adoration?
I rather like it. I laughed. Theyre all very foolish, though. If youre hungry for adoration, get yourself a puppy.
She also laughed. I wonder if all young men are as silly as these Rivans are. Id sort of hate to be the queen of the idiots.
Mother says that its more or less universal, I told her, and its not just humans. Wolves are the same way, and so are rabbits. She says that all young males have what she calls urges. The Gods arranged it that way, I guess so that therell always be a lot of puppies.
Thats a depressing turn of phrase, Pol. It sort of implies that all Im here for is to produce babies.
Mother says that passes after a while. I guess its supposed to be fun, so enjoy it while you can.
She blushed.
Now, if youll excuse me, I think Ill go break a few hearts.
There was a large hall near the center of the Citadel that seemed to be where the members of Rivas court gathered for fun and games. The throne room was reserved for more formal occasions, and unlike the rowdy throne room in Val Alorn where the Chereks mixed business and pleasure, Rivas Citadel had separate places for separate activities. The door to the hall was open, and I peeked around the edge of that door to assess my competition.
Rivan girls, like all Alorns, tend to be blonde, and I saw an immediate advantage there. My dark hair would make me stand out in the middle of what appeared to be a wheat field. The young people in that large room were doing young-people things, flirting, showing off, and the like. I waited, biding my time until one of those lulls in the general babble hushed the room. Somehow I instinctively knew that the hush would eventually come. That was when Id make my appearance. Entrances are very important in these circumstances.
I finally got a little tired of waiting. Make them be still, mother, I pleaded with the presence that had been in my mind since before I was born.
Oh, dear, mother sighed.
Then a hush fell over the brightly dressed throng.
Id considered the notion of some kind of fanfare, but that might have been just a trifle ostentatious. Instead, I simply stepped into the precise center of the doorway and stopped, waiting for them all to notice me. My blue gown was rather nice, so I was sure Id attract attention.
I think mother or possibly Aldur had fallen in with my scheme. There was a fairly large window high in the wall opposite the door and after Id stood in the doorway for a moment, the sun broke through the clouds which almost perpetually veiled the Isle, and its light came through the window to fall full upon me.
That was even better than a fanfare. I stood regally in the middle of that sun-flooded doorway, letting all the eyes in the room feast themselves on me.
Dear Gods, that was enjoyable!
All right, it was vain and a little silly. So what? I was young.
There was a small group of musicians at the far end of the room Id hardly call them an orchestra and they struck up a tune as I regally entered the hall. As Id rather hoped they would, most of the young men began to move in my general direction, each of them mentally refining some opening remark that he hoped would get my attention. You have no idea how strained and inane some of those remarks were. After about the fourth time someone compared my eyes to a spring sky, I began to realize that unrestrained creativity was not exactly rampant among adolescents. It somehow seemed that I was adrift in a sea of platitudes. I got compared to summer days, starry nights, and dark, snow-capped peaks a rather obvious reference to the white streak in my hair. They swarmed around me like a flock of sparrows, elbowing each other out of the way. The Rivan girls began to look a little sulky about the whole business.
A young blond fellow in a green doublet quite handsome, actually pushed his way to the forefront of my suitors and bowed rather floridly. Ah, he said, Lady Polgara, I presume? That was a novel approach. He gave me a rather sly smile. Tedious, isnt it? All this empty conversation, I mean. How much time can one really spend talking about the weather?
That earned him a few dark looks as a number of my suitors hastily revised their opening remarks.
Im certain you and I can find something more pleasant to talk about, he continued smoothly, politics, theology, or current fashion, if youd like. He actually seemed to have a mind.
We might want to think about that a bit, I countered. Whats your name?
He slapped his forehead in feigned chagrin. How stupid of me, he said. How could I possibly have been so absentminded? He sighed theatrically. Its a failing of mine, Im afraid. Sometimes I think I need a keeper. He gave me a sly look. Would you care to volunteer for the post? he offered.
You still havent told me your name, I reminded him, ignoring his offer.
You really shouldnt let me get sidetracked that way, Lady Polgara, he chided gently. Before I forget again, Im Kamion, an incipient baron just as soon as my childless uncle dies. Where were we?
Ill confess that I liked him. His approach had some genuine originality, and his little-boy manner was appealing. I realized at that point that this whole business might just be a bit more challenging than Id expected. Not all of my suitors were freshly weaned puppies. Some of them even had brains. That was rather refreshing. After all, if youve seen one furiously wagging tail, youve seen them all. I actually experienced a slight twinge of disappointment when the swarming suitors swept Kamion away.
The platitudes came thick and fast after that, but nobody chose to talk about the weather for some reason.
The Rivan girls grew sulkier and sulkier, and just to tweak them a little more I dispensed a number of dazzlingly regal smiles. My suitors found those smiles absolutely enchanting; the girls didnt.
The afternoon progressed in a very satisfactory way, and then the musicians lutanists for the most part struck up a new tune, and a thin, weedy young man dressed all in black and wearing a studiously melancholy expression pushed his way forward. Would you care to dance, Lady Polgara? he asked me in a broken-hearted tone. He bowed. Permit me to introduce myself. Im Merot the poet, and I might be able to compose a sonnet for you while we dance.