161 Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One – The Wine and Cheese Party (1/2)

”Canapes! I need the canapes out now!”

”No, the fish, the fish! Set it there, there, and there!”

”Do you not know how to arrange a proper cheese platter? A wheel, a wheel, this is the pattern...”

”Did someone never teach you something as elementary as washing and plucking grapes properly? These are for eating, not for wine!”

Amber's tyranny of fashion was on full display. The baronial staff was completely cowed by now, hurrying this way and that, their former huffiness and disdain completely cowed under the relentless demands of perfection and busy-busy she was heaping upon them.

Everything had to be set before the visiting nobles got back from their tour of the winery. Bunting was being hung, candles put out, the wines and many glasses put in place, and Amber had half the glasses sent back to be cleaned and buffed properly, so outraged that she had a senior maid crying in frustration.

Mama, of course, cleaned them all up with a cantrip, greatly relieving the maid, who returned in triumph, and promptly was set off to clean up a dozen of the tablecloths that were stained as a reward for her fine performance, sending her back to Mama, trembling in anxiety.

One of the Northmarch King's lesser wives' children, cousins of the Baron, were visiting with an entourage, turning this small winery into the biggest gala of the season. There were dozens of young nobles in attendance, many of them young maidens wearing their best and trying to outshine one another. Many of those had the misfortune to run into Amber and her tight and eye-catching garb, with flowing silks and frippery and tight here and showing legs and high boots there, were totally bowled over, and in a flurry of fittings and cuttings, were now wearing custom outfits that were obviously very different from all the other girls.

Amber took to the mass confusion with a great smile, inexhaustible energy for everyone, and soon knew everyone's name, faces, backgrounds, who was sleeping with whom, tastes, preferences, and all the gossip, all the while directing the event with total aplomb, as if she was born for it.

Nobody believed she was only twelve, and as she was tall for her age, she said nothing.

Mama, Verd, and Veis had taken over the kitchens with a deftness and coordination that put the serving staff to shame. They'd also brought over most of the appliances from home that Hazé had helped them put together and enchant, because the quality level of the ones in the manor simply weren't up to stuff, so there was a quick stone building annexed to the kitchens holding the extended cooking facilities.

Mama's use of lesser magic to accurately measure the food, Phantom Servants to help with stirring and peeling and other drudgery, heating and cooling exactly as fast as needed, and the use of alchemical ingredients, combined to fill the kitchen with a heavenly aroma. The pastries and fruit for breakfast had already received rave reviews, with not a few intruding minions inquiring if they weren't for permanent hire at other estates before being shooed off and out of the way. The sight of the diminutive and unbelievably cute Veis in her fluffy skirts bringing out tray after tray of delicacies definitely had them all salivating for more.

Feist was working in the kitchen too, and many a servant was watching as his knives moved like living things, juggled without effort, slicing meat, bread, cakes, dough, whatever, at a speed to rival magic, only more precise. He had been roped into the cooking the girls did long ago, despite himself, and had a real gift for working with pasta.

Hazé contributed minor magic where needed, mostly getting food where it needed to go at maximum speed. Dark and quiet, she did little more than accept the invitations, which allowed her to examine all the nobles coming in, and as she moved through the flow of servants, all of them, as well. Very proper, and her green eyes very knowing, she intimidated even many of the noblewomen, especially with the silver amulet at her throat indicating she was also a Caster, if her casual use of cantrips wasn't enough to warn them.

Verd and Veis had been very excited to go into business, and Amber was also keen to use the chance as a launching platform. Mama also hadn't minded, and with Hazé around, picking up fine and fresh ingredients was remarkably simple, with Teleporting and Item spells letting her grab fresh fish from the ocean, and fresh berries in season from the other side of the Empire in passing, as there simply was no way they could afford her to pay her properly for using that level of magic just to transport food.

But it was definitely paying off. It had taken her three weeks to get all the proper ingredients, getting everything prepared for this, and everything was going off smoothly.

While the others were glowing with the accomplishment of putting their names out there, Hazé was here to people-watch.

Most of the important nobles wore minor Artifice to interfere with divinatory spells, out of an enhanced sense of privacy, and the whole noble and mercantile family secrets thing. A social event like this was a good chance for the younger generation to meet and to socialize, competing and comparing, while the older generation would renew ties, break ties, and forge new ties in a whirlwind of cut-and-thrust wordplay and cruel one-upsmanship.

The money being spent on new clothes alone could last their quaint little town of Vyster for a year or more.

However, these nobles didn't know they were dealing with a Ten Caster, and their minor defenses wouldn't stop Divinations at Five. She had Dawnstopped her Aural Rede, and with the permission of Aru, it would last until the first rays of morning light. She was examining everyone's Auras, especially those who came from far away.

She was unsurprised and yet still disappointed at the few people among the nobility veering to the side of The Light. Despite invoking the gods and praising them, their hearts were completely on mortal needs and the demands of being rich and wealthy people scrambling to preserve their status and gain ever more of it. Such a mindset naturally reached down into the children, who had already lost their innocence and were scheming for their own futures, especially any young women who didn't have any real Levels or power of their own to fall back upon.

Those with darker intentions and ambitions, and willing to do a wide variety of socially unacceptable things to further those desires, were also very much in evidence.

She was making mental lists in her Visual File of who served what, whose Auras resonated with others despite seeming to have no relationship via emotional attachments and enmity. She saw hands red with the blood of the innocent, others flaming with dark lust, and a notable few with some very dire proclivities.

If things were not handled very carefully, there was going to be a lot of blood spread at this gala. She wasn't necessarily opposed to a number of these people getting their just desserts, but the fallout for the locals might be a bit excessive...

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The evening's entertainment was a singer and her band from Southmarch, invited on their tour of the area, their alternately lively and sad music very different from that of the Western March. They arrived late, coming in only an hour before dusk, but set up quickly, replacing the classic orchestral quintet smoothly, and launching into their show. Support members of the band were more than happy to demonstrate a couple southern dances to the eager younger folk, and the head singer, Muomissa, did a soulful job on the traditional waltzes and strolls to alternate.

During a short break in the dancing, Amber slid in with a tray of drinks to the band. Winking at them knowingly, she said, ”This is some Kruegur vintage that may have fallen off the table before it got to the nobles. I thought you might like a taste of some of the famed Golden River grapes?”

The band members glanced at one another knowingly, and eagerly accepted the golden wine, which did indeed go down smoothly.

She presented the final glass, a deep red, to Moumissa. ”And a vintage from the Kasmaido hills. There was only the one bottle, so we would not think of denying the singer a taste from her home, so far away.”

The chocolate-skinned singer looked both impressed and hesitant, but accepted the glass, sniffing it with a smile, and her dark eyebrows rose despite herself. She took a drink of it, and nodded once to Amber. ”Very good! You have a considerate eye, young miss.”

Amber waved it off. ”Think nothing of it,” she smiled graciously. ”Now, I have to go, as I'm sure they're trying to let the cream melt before we can serve the sherbet.” She turned and glided off quickly, adroitly accepting a few flues on the way without breaking stride, before handing the tray off to a maid and zipping out to inspect the deserts.

The band finished their wines, and the whole tray of gooey, cheesy pastries of out-of-season fresh gooseberries, and headed back to their instruments.

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The late dessert was coming out, slices of elderberry pie and moonberry sherbet, to top off the evening and give a late kick of energy to those who still wanted to dance. The band played softly, and Moumissa crooned an old ballad from her native land, perfectly adept at fitting the music to the temporary mood as the people ate their fill.

The gasp behind her, and the sudden off note alerted her to the fact something was wrong. Then the longhorn player choked, his instrument bleating as he dropped it and clutched at his throat.

All her band members started writhing in pain, lines of silver shining where veins should be. As they did, they began to change.

Their faces elongated, sharp muzzles protruding, incisors extending, whiskers blossoming as dark fur erupted over all of them. Their clothing tore as hairless tails erupted from behind them, legs shrinking in size as clawed feet drove out of fine slippers and boots, hands twisted into strong yet delicate claws.