Devin nodded, and forced a smile in returnHis...
Devin nodded, and forced a smile in returnHis throat was dry thoughHe went to the side-tables, and one of the two hovering servants hastened to pour him water in a gold and crystal goblet worth more than everything Devin owned in the worldA moment later Menico signaled and they went out into the courtyard
The dancers began it, backed by hidden strings and pipes
If Aldine and Nieri had burned love candles late last night it didn't show, or if it did, only in the concentration and intensity of their twinned movements that morning
Sometimes seeming to pull the music forward, sometimes following it, they looked, with their thin, whitened faces, their blue-grey tunics and the jet-black gloves that hid their palms, truly otherworldlyWhich was as Menico had trained his dancers to beNot inviting or alluring as some other troupes approached this dance of the rites, nor a merely graceful prelude to the real performance, as certain other companies conceived itMenico's dancers were guides, cold and compelling, towards the place of the dead and of mourning for the deadGradually, hermes wallet inexorably, the slow grave movements, the expressionless, almost inhuman faces imposed the silence that was proper on that restive, preening audience
And in that silence the three singers and four musicians came forward and began the "Invocation" to Eanna of the Lights who had made the world, the sun, the two moons and the scattered stars that were the diamonds of her diadem
Rapt and attentive to what they were doing, using all the contrivances of professional skill to shape an apparent artlessness, the company of Menico di Ferraut carried the lords and ladies and the merchant princes of Astibar with them on a ruthlessly disciplined cresting of sorrowIn mourning Sandre, Duke of Astibar, they mourned, as was proper, the dying of all the Triad's mortal children, brought through Morian's portals to move on Adaon's earth under Eanna's lights for so short a timeSo sweet and bitter and short a season of days
Devin heard Catriana's voice reaching upwards towards the high place where Alessan's pipes seemed to be calling her, cold and precise and austereHe felt, even more than he heard, Menico chanel purses bags and Eghano grounding them all with their deep lineHe saw the two dancers, now statues in a frieze, now whirling as captives in the trap of time, and at the moment that was proper he let his own voice soar with the two syrenyae into the space that had been left for them to fill, in the middle range where mortals lived and died
So Menico di Ferraut had shaped his approach to the seldom-performed Full Mourning Rites long ago, bringing forty years of art and a full, much-traveled life to the moment that this morning had becomeEven as he began to sing, Devin's heart swelled with pride and a genuine love for the round, unassuming leader who had guided them here and into what they were shaping
They stopped, as planned, after the sixth stage, for their own sake and their listeners'Tomasso had spoken with Menico beforehand, and the nobles' progression past Sandre's bier would now take place upstairsAfter, the company would finish with the last three rites, ending on Devin's "Lament," and then the body would be brought down and the crowd outside admitted with their leaves for the crystal silver chanel vase
Menico led them out from the courtyard amid a silence so deep it was their highest possible accoladeThey reentered the room that had been reserved for their useCaught up in the mood they themselves had created, no one spokeDevin moved to help the two dancers into the robes they wore between performances and then watched as they paced the perimeter of the room, slender and cat-like in their graceHe accepted a glass of green wine from one of the servants but declined the offered plate of foodHe exchanged a glance but not a smile, not now, with AlessanDrenio and Pieve, the syrenya-players, were bent over their instruments, adjusting the stringsEghano, pragmatic as ever, was eating while idly drumming the table with his free handMenico walked by, restless and distractedHe gave Devin a wordless squeeze on the arm
Devin looked for Catriana and saw her just then leaving the room through an inner archwayTheir glances met for a second, then she went onLight, strangely filtered, fell from a high unseen window upon the space where she had been
Devin really didn't know why he did itEven gucci watches for women afterwards when so much had come to pass, flowing outwards in all directions like ripples in water from this moment, he was never able to say exactly why he followed herA complex longing born of the look in her eyes before and the strange, floating place of stillness and sorrow where they now seemed to beNone or some or all of theseHe felt as if the world wasn't quite as it had been before the dancers had begun
He drained his wine and rose and he went through the same archway Catriana hadPassing through, he too looked backAlessan was watching himThere was no judgment in the Tregean's glance, only an intent expression Devin could not understandFor the first time that day he was reminded of his dream
And because of that, perhaps, he murmured a prayer to Morian as he went on through the archway
There was a staircase with a high, narrow, stained-glass window on the first-floor landingIn the many-colored fall of light he caught a glimpse of a blue-silver gown swirling to the left at the top of the stairsHe shook his head, struggling to clear it, to slip free of this eerie, dreamlike replica pasha cartier m