A Small Disturbance
Inanna approached the young foreigner. He was dressed in white, the cut of his outfit in the traditional Ankidan style. Although he had an eye-patch, it did not detract from his looks – indeed, he exuded an aura of mystery that Inanna knew would likely intrigue the highborn ladies. Indeed, they were; but for now they were content to stand on the sidelines giggling coyly as they dared each other to make the first move. The man did not seem to notice Inanna’s approach, instead idly chewing on some meat skewers while his sole eye roved over the banquet tables. Inanna was used to this. She made sure to put on a smile on her face, certain that she was not interrupting anything important, and politely said, “Excuse me, sir. Would you like to sample some of these biscuits?”
That caught the man’s attention. He turned, gulping down the last of his meat. Looking at Inanna, he paused for a while. His eye flicked up and down her body, before resting on her face. The foreigner seemed to be examining her closely, but for some reason, Inanna did not feel any form of lust or desire that would normally accompany such scrutiny from a man.
Lucia would have been offended by this, thought Inanna, but on her part it only invited mild confusion and more than a bit of curiosity. However, it would be rude to bring that up, and so she smiled brightly again and subtly brought the plate of biscuits forward by just a few inches.
The man glanced at the biscuits and nodded. He took just one. However, he did not eat it, and continued to look at her. Uncertain if unilaterally retreating at this moment would create some form of diplomatic furore, Inanna was forced to confront the man in her meek and mild manner.
“Is there anything wrong, sir?” She bowed her head slightly in a gesture of obsequience, the way she had been taught to do in such circumstances.
He shook his head, and finally replied. “No. Not yet. Sorry.” The foreigner spoke haltingly, in simple words. He was clearly unused to the local language and his accent was thick. “Just wondering some things.”
Inanna thought, quite briefly and sharply, that he seemed very untrained in foreign languages for a possible diplomatic attaché. But that was a rude thought, and she put it out of her mind quickly.
“I see, sir. Then, if you do not need any more biscuits, I will take my leave.” She bowed again. As she turned to go, she heard a commotion coming from the center of the hall. There were shouts and sounds of scuffling. Unable to resist her curiosity, she peered at the center of the commotion. There, she saw an unexpected sight. It was Sir Camna, engaged in fisticuffs with another man also in military dress – shockingly, it was Lord Ramsesphilios’s second son, Eridukos. The people around them began to crowd around, though Inanna could not tell whether they were trying to pull the two apart or make things worse.
As she stared, a stray boot came flying straight at her out of the melee, perhaps the consequence of a careless but hard kick. Inanna’s only possible reaction was to flinch her eyes shut and stumble backwards, spilling the biscuits that had been so carefully balanced on the tray. But yet the boot did not hit her.
She opened her eyes only to see that the foreigner had calmly snatched the boot out of the air before it landed. With a slight, mischievous smile curling his lips, he drew his arm back, as if to hurl the offending footwear back where it came. Before he could do so, his arm was grabbed. The bearded foreigner, who Inanna remembered as some high ranking diplomat, shook his head and began conversing sharply with his younger counterpart in their language.
As she could not understand a word of it, she decided to turn her attentions to cleaning up the biscuits that had fallen to the floor instead. Somehow, the biscuits kept slipping through her fingers. Was it the honey? Meanwhile, Lord Ramsesphilios had waded in and began to assert order. His face was red with rage and embarrassment, likely at this fiasco that has happened under his very own roof.
Lucia came to assist Inanna with the biscuits, and quietly whispered to her, “I’ll take care of this. You seem a bit shaken up, so why don’t you leave the hall for a bit, go to the kitchen and get old Usermatre to whip up a new batch?”
It was then that Inanna realized that her hands were trembling. She noticed the rapid palpitations of her heart, and the coldness of her face. She was not good with violence. Had never been good with it. It… scared her. More so than it rightfully should, if she was being honest with herself. The very sight of it would freeze her mind and strike a knell of fear in her heart. It was for this reason that her brother had tried his best to get her this position at House Ramsesphilios, away from the more rowdy parts of the city that they used to live in.
Inanna nodded at Lucia and smiled gratefully. “Thank you,” she whispered. She straightened up and was about to leave the hall, before remembering that she should also thank the one-eyed man for gallantly stopping the boot.
Her words of gratitude were answered with a gentle grin and some well-natured – and very unexpected – ruffling of her hair. That silent gesture earned the young man another lecture from his superior, and gave Inanna the chance she needed to scurry away from the hall. Her face felt hot now, though her heart still hadn’t slowed down one bit. Behind her, she could swear that Lucia was probably giving her a cheeky leer – her coworker had seen every bit of that interaction.
As she stepped out of the banquet hall, and into the courtyard, the cool, night air surrounded her. It was refreshing, and Inanna could not help but stop and close her eyes for a while to calm down. After a while, she composed herself. She should be heading to the kitchen, as Lucia asked. She could hurry there immediately, back through the corridors of the mansion…
Or she could cut through the garden of golden Inanna flowers, and relax herself a bit more. For some reason, the flowers that were her namesake never failed to calm her down.
***
In the end, she decided to:
A. Hurry to the kitchen.
B. Take the more roundabout path through the garden.