(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

{From here}

Sinric leans Athelstan into their rooms. It's clear he hasn't slept there either. Even the mead cup sits on the table when he left it.

He draws Athelstan towards the bathroom. "Will you bathe with me?" His voice is soft and gentle. "Your clothes smell rather strongly of goat."

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

"Sinric!" Athelstan stares at it. "She knows what she's doing."

[thewidewideworld]

"She is a wise and wonderful person." He brings everything over to the bed, making a picnic of it.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan shifts, careful not to overturn any of the dishes.

"I haven't tasted some of those berries in years."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric laughs softly, but honestly. "I don't think I've ever seen them cooked like this. Shall we try that first?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes, let's", he agrees. "And then the bread while it's still warm."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric offers him a spoon and steals a berry off the top of the tart between delicate fingertips. He pulls a face and laughs again. "Oh! So sweet, but tart too."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Perhaps it might be better mixed with the filling of the tart", he suggests. "What fruits and berries grow naturally in the East?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Dates, figs, pomegranates." He lists, thinking of his favourites. "Apricots, cherries. And grapes of course but they are better for wines. And olives. They are like the goats of plants; they grow where nothing else will."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan smiles slightly.

"So that even the most unpromising land can be used to grow something."

[thewidewideworld]

"Even the driest of land will grow olives and eaten by birds, the seeds travel further still. Olive trees can be found in the most unlikely of places."

[athelstanthescribe]

"They grow with no human hand to tend them?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Wild and scraggly. Much like the goats that crop them." Sinric nods. "Wild olives are said to have a stronger flavour too but produce less fruit."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Cultivation does change plants", he agrees. "Have you tasted them for yourself?"

[thewidewideworld]

He nods. "Traders often bring them as part of their retinue, collected on the way. Sometimes olives are sold in the market as wild but only as they fetch a higher price. But a seller who is caught out in such a lie is open to ridicule from his fellows and may be drummed out of the market place."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan nods back.

"As with any trader caught in fraud."

[thewidewideworld]

"In some cities he might be stoned and his goods given to the local magistrate but my lord prefers that justice be served by the man's peers."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And what do his peers do? Just send him into exile, or harm him?"

[thewidewideworld]

"The first time they might but scald or threaten him. For foolishness more than maliciousness. But a second time, they would beat him. If he did so a third, they would beat him badly before taking him to the magistrate or running him from the city. From what I hear from the cooks and kitchen hands, few are fool enough to try past the first beating and all know if it so they will have no trade with him."

[athelstanthescribe]

"No one should get away with committing the same crime more than once", he agrees. "Unless it be theft caused by starvation, and then they should be helped out of the need."

[thewidewideworld]

"Because it is my lord's way to care for all in his city, if a man's goods are taken for such a crime they are given to the poor, or sold for food that may be passed out to those most in need."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Your lord is the best of men. I hope someone will find a way to continue that under Leo."

[thewidewideworld]

"I doubt it. Leo, and others see such charity as weakness. He conceded the city of Ravenna to the Lombards, not from weakness of position but because he could see the people of the city would suffer under a long and drawn out siege. He would rather see them continue their lives under Lombard rule than see them suffer from terrible war."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I hope the people of Ravenna think of him kindly for it. Perhaps some good-hearted merchant might pick up where he left off, if Leo can't order him not to?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Leo would not notice such things. They are below him."

He leans back, breaking off a piece of bread and cheese. "I think... I hope they remember him well. The loss of Ravenna took from the Empire the better part of Italy as it allowed the Lombards to control trade by sea."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And Italy is where the empire began", he says slowly. "Do you think Leo might try to retake it?"