[The previous episode, Episode 15, is here.]
When Stefan finally regained consciousness, as we saw earlier, Penelope's face was the first he saw. Penelope's mother and Sofia (Queen Ione's personal maid, a girl of about 14, the oldest surviving servant in the Palace) both attested to Stefan (when she had left the room briefly) that it had been Penny who had cared for him in his weeks-long convalescence.
It wasn't long before Stefan and Penelope confessed their love for each other. They were married in an austere ceremony on the Palace steps, as soon as Stefan was able to walk. Stefan would never be as strong as he was; the blade had hurt his abdomen, and according to the primitive medicine of the time, they had managed to put him together too slowly to enable the stomach to heal completely. But his mind was whole, and his legs were whole, but he could not remain standing for long.
Ianthe, meanwhile was beginning to relax in the City of the Horse People, but she could meet Jana only occasionally, and had to be satisfied with spying on the exercises of the riders through a high window. One day, she begged to be allowed to visit the humble Horse Officer in her home, and was conducted there by Jana herself, and met Jana, and Ole and Eva, her adopted father and mother. She learned all about how Jana had been abducted from among the warrior women of the north during a raid, and Ole proudly declared that Jana was destined to be a great warrior, despite being a woman. Jana was, of course, deeply embarrassed by all this, but Ianthe listened, and remembered.
When the time came for Ianthe to return to her people, the bandit raids had increased in frequency, and Jana could not leave her work. It was natural that Ianthe asked for Ole and Eva to accompany her to Heliopolis. Once Stefan, Ianthe, Penelope and her mother, were all gathered in Heliopolis, Stefan finally felt comfortable with leading the kingdom, with the able assistance of his sister, and the advice of Ole and Eva.
With her adopted parents gone, Jana was utterly alone. She was welcome in the palace, but now the King, long a widower, was learning that he missed the company of the lively princess from the north, and Jana tactfully avoided spending too much time in the palace. Her mind naturally turned to that lovely young woman who had entertained her in the traveling village in which she and Ianthe and their squadron had spent that night. After a sweep of the eastern border, Jana took her troop up to where the village had been relocated, and when she approached it, Leila saw her from far away, and ran to meet her, joy written all over her face.
"Take me with you, my lady! Oh, please take me with you! You are such a sight for Leila's eyes!"
"But what of your beloved mistress Alicia, the chief's daughter?"
Leila's look of joy waned somewhat. It appeared that, while the chief's daughter had sent for Leila a few times and comforted her in the way of women, the young woman could not forget the princess from the north. Alicia lusted for Princess Ianthe, and she had begged her father to conduct her to the City of the Horse People. They had left for the City some weeks before, and the girl had not returned with her father. She had evidently stayed with the King, and Ianthe.
Jana and her company spent the night, and in the morning, Jana got permission to take Leila into her service. Permission was given, provided Alicia was informed as soon as possible. Jana and her troop, with the addition of the gleeful Leila, returned to the City of the Horse People.
Jana made Leila comfortable in the home of her parents, and went to the Palace to greet the King, and inform Alicia, the Chief's daughter, that with her permission, Leila would come to work for Jana. The Chief's daughter had become even more beautiful in the intervening months, and she seemed to enjoy life at the palace of the King of the Horse People very well. So Leila set up the home of the Horse Officer to her liking, and to the world they were householder and slave, but in the dark of night they were lovers.
Some time later, when Jana visited the Palace, the Chief's daughter came to her privately, and revealed that she was pregnant with the King's child. Jana was shocked, but realized that it was natural, because the young woman was tempestuous and lusty, and if the King had asked her, she would have certainly gone to his bed. "The King must not know!" she said to Jana, her eyes full of alarm. Jana sighed, and asked what she wanted. She wanted to be hidden until the child could be delivered, and return to the Palace, as if she had never given birth. Jana pointed out that the child would be heir to the throne, but Alicia was adamant: she was no mother, and the child should be brought up by someone more responsible than Alicia. To cut a long story short, Jana arranged for the Chief's daughter to be conducted to Heliopolis, where she knew Ole and Eva would see to the welfare of both mother and child.
Some months passed, and the child was delivered, and Ole insisted that it should be brought to the Horse People, or it could become politically troublesome. Jana reluctantly agreed to bring up the child. When Leila saw the child, she loved it so much that Jana realized that this was the best possible arrangement.
[The story continues in Episode 17.]
Kay.
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