- ARCHIVE - Sultanate Court of the Zayyanid Caliphate [Algeria]

[unmerged(17500)]

Mario responds.

"I have another idea, how about simply deciding on tariff reductions on both our regions. What would be a decent tarif you think on salt, sugar, and ivory.

I think 25%, 35%, 45% tariff can be agreed upon respectifully. Then we can decide about the slaves. Not sure what you are looking for on Venetian tariff reductions but I'm sure you have come up with a price quite possibly."​

 

[Blade!]

"Mario, you know Livia, she is seated next to you, learning Mongolian I beleive, or somesuch language.

Those tariffs sound possible... frankly I have not given a great deal of attention to Venetian wares... as you can see, aside from grain and olive oil copious quantaties of northern goods are supplied to us by Ba.. Portuguse routes. Slaves, black slaves, yes we have a great deal of many types of black slaves, that is our primary slavegood, we even have fine Nubian Christian slaves if you can believe it. They can be troublesome though, I understand that Omani and Mameluke dealers part them to us rather easily... so my sister tells me."

Sitting with her back against the Sultan's, the Amira of Tlemscen addressed Tomas.

"Tomas, I hope you have prepared yourself for some good argumentation as to your qualifications. I have spent much of the last two days convincing my brother not to strip you of what I have granted for your services. Cordoba is.. was quite the jewell of the Islamic world at one time, and many still have great attachment to the name alone, much less the idea that it may be freed.

Tell me Tomas, did you dress so finely simply for the banquet, or were you hoping to impress... the Sultan?"

Yasmine cast a warm conspiritorial smirk in Tomas's direction.

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

Tomas smiled confidently at Yasmine. While he knew it would be a challenge convincing the Sultan to grant him the challenge, deep down he felt that it was task far better suited to ...well, a Badajozian than a traditional Arabic noble. All he needed was time to explain and a fair hearing, and he felt assured that he would be given the chance, and at last he would prove himself to the Sultan and in particular, his sister.

"I am ready, Your Radiance. I can be...quite determined...in my arguments. As for these..." he flushed, thinking of how he had obtained the clothes. "There was some hope of impressing the Sultan...most particularly, I was trying to make a good impression on his sister, the one to whom I owe my service. Do you think it worked?" He winked at her, turning to sip some of his wine. Tomas was coming to enjoy these banquets with Yasmine, and he looked forward to when he could do so without fear of someone spotting the two of them too close.

 

[Blade!]

"Do I think it worked...?

Ah, well perhaps we should judge the evening by its whole rather than simply by its most excellent beginning."

Yasmine gave Tomas a coy look and then leaned back forcefully into her brother, laughing, knocking the wind out of him as he was talking to the Venetian.

"Why you little..."

 

[unmerged(17500)]

Mario responds.

"25%, 35%, 45% it is then, hmmm as for the slaves, yes they will be well kept I assure you. A buyer should be slightly problematic, but none the less it shall be done.

The Portguese you say? hmmmm interesting. Well I wonder if Livia would like to try the perfume that is made from the rose oil I have brought. The many fields of Bulgaria are covered in roses making it for the Mameluke Sultan."​

Mario brings out a bottle of clear pink liquid.

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

Tomas relaxed, leaning against his cushions, enjoying the opulent feast that was laid out that evening, feeling content and soothed, as if he wished nothing more than to lay out for hours on end on his plush couch back in his quarters. No doubt, this was because of the meal, which he was not used to.

He grinned at the byplay between Yasmine and the Sultan, which made him thoughtful. It was clear how much they cared for each other, and this no doubt was why it would be so very hard for him to convince Akbe Mohammed of his...worthiness? Was he? He had told Kajol that he didn't feel worthy, though he attributed that to his confusion after the Queen Adalia's death. Certainly he felt up to the challenge. But worthy? Well, that's what this whole business was about, was it not, to prove to the Sultan what he could do?

Tomas looked over at Kajol for a moment, remembering what she had said. I am going to make you into a man worthy of my cousin... The thought made him nervous, conjuring impressions, not of a sculptor gently crafting a finished good, but of a blacksmith hammering raw material into form. Yasmine...and now Kajol had steadily led him away from everything he knew back home in Portugal. His clothes, his speech, and even his faith were the result of that.

His acceptance by the Sultan would prove the final confirmation of his journey, the point towards which he had struggled these past months. He turned back towards Yasmine and the Sultan, and his eyebrows rose when he spotted Mario presenting perfume to Livia. This should be interesting, he couldn't help grinning to himself.

 

[Blade!]

"Why.. thank you."

Livia turned from her conversation in the glutteral tongue spoke in Crimea, smoothly transitioning into Latin as she took the bottle in her hands. Removing the stopper, she raised it to just below her nose, closed her eyes and inhaled.

"Ah, quite lovely... it reminds me of the fine rose gardens we had in Thrace. Maybe I will wear it later this evening. Or perhaps now."

She took some onto her index finger and dabbed it behind each of her ears on her wrists, and under her chin. She smiled across the table at Kadija who did not look impressed whatsoever, and at Rebekka who smiled and then looked at the Sultan who looked at his sister, twitiching his nose.

"Smells... sweet."

"Indeed."

Yasmine spoke with half a smirk.

"Lady Livia, it matches you finely... sweet and from far away."

The Amira's eyes began to narrow, and her face took on a rapid and random change.

"You must bring it to my games later... it seems to be a good concealment for the stench of bloo.."

"Amira..."

Kadija spoke with some force from across the table, and raised her eyes to a point above Yasmine. A young lady, mayhaps 14, stepped forward and handed Yasmine a new chalice. Yasmine held it in one hand and locked eyes with Kadija, as she drank the contents down. Finishing, she wiped her red lips with the back of her hand and turned to Livia.

"A joke my dear."

Livia smiled warmly at her, and nodded, as if communicating somthing the rest of the hall could not hear.

"Your highness."

Livia held the perfume out for the Sultan to see more closely, and the Amira leaned over her brother's lap to view the bottle now suspended over Mario's plate.

 

[Blade!]

Caliph Election

"As apparently no one has any more objections over Al-Asqalani's wisdom"

*She held the man she was supporting's hand up into the air.*

"Nor to my plan, and as no volunteers have come forward..."

*Her free hand extended to Umah Omsa'ir*

"The three of us shall travel, like the three Zorasters who found the Prophet Isa... but this time we shall head east. The rest of the Ulama must act as counsel and form consensous to rule in our absentia and questing."

 

[Hamilcar]

Caliph Election

Al-Asqalani bowed slightly and spoke.

I shall fetch my staff; let us leave before the sun sets.

 

[Blade!]

Caliph Election

"Indeed."

Aaminah Jamila al Umm-Hakim addressed her attendees commandingly.

"Summon the finest horses and camels! Gather the supplies and rations neccesary for a journey... put together the seals of the respective Alims to facilitate our journey. We cannot take many, I shall have to select only two of you and two Berber guards to come with me."

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

Tomas watched the byplay with some interest, trying to decide how the Amira viewed Livia and Kadija. It seemed as if there was some tension between them. Like all the great courts Tomas had known, rivalries and competition were often hidden beneath honeyed words and wide smiles. One always had to be careful amongst court politics, doubly so when the court was foreign, as this was to him.

He sat calmly and observed the discussion over the perfume bottle. Tomas knew better than to interject, not wishing to get caught up in court maneuvers anymore than he already was. He leaned forward and sampled some dried dates, one of the delicacies he was beginning to fancy the most during his stay in Tlemcen.

 

[Blade!]

Kajol reclined on her pillow between Kadija and Rebekka watching the Venetian dog talk to the Sultan, 'why the barbarians were even allowed in Tlemscen is beyond my rationale. At least Tomas can claim to represent an Almohid province.' Her eyes moved to the bowl of figs from which Tomas had been withdrawing the sweet nuggets. He did look Ashraf like indeed with his new clothes.

Her thoughts were interupted and she leaned forward as the perfume came out. She could not smell it, but seeing a familiar look come over Yasmina's face, she sat up. Before she could react, however, the ever watchful Kadija had already spoke, and one of Yasmine's girls brought one of Rebekka's healing draughts. The girl was barely a mere wisp of a woman... 'her name... Aliya, another one of Mina's Ashraf orphans.' Kajol admired the girl's smooth skin, and her budding shapeliness, thinking back to when she had been that age.

She had indeed been born in the Maghrib, in Tunis to be exact; daughter to Yasmine's aunt and of a noble cum scholar from the Delhi Sultanate. Soon after her her 6th birthday, her father had taken them back to the lands of Hindusthan where he assumed the position of Naib, or Nawab as they called it there, of Oudh. At the age of 17, their palace was sacked and her mother taken and killed, after her father had been killed in battle trying to subdue the so called "sultanate" in Bengal run by decadant Turks. Kajol herself only escaped through the ferocious fight her Maghribi eunuchs put up, and their long ride to Delhi. There, however, she had been at the mercy of the court, and the Sultan had taken advantage of her most heinously, ruining her purity and shaming her for some years. During this time, her correspondance with her cousin had halted, and Yasmine had sent aid, eventually bringing her back the Maghrib... where again she was somewhat at the mercy of the court, but certainly had more power with extended family in power.

Seeing Yasmina drink brought Kajol back to the present, and her own hand slipped to a pouch at her side, and retrieving some of Rebekka's powder, she slipped it into her own drink. 'There is too much excitement around here these days...' Taking a sip, she looked up at Tomas, and then very slowly and deliberately to the Venetian tribesman.

"Kadija, is it not interesting how the fate's of individuals are wrapped up in their roles and their nations..."

"Eh? Fortunes of empires may wane and wax, but under the desert sun, one always has herself... though I suppose I see what you mean, when one is in a foreign realm, the politics of states can easily favor or disfavor the individual."

 

[unmerged(17500)]

Mario speaks slighlty at a lower tone to the other guests, particularly Kajol and Yasmina.

"Or himself....
*with a slight grin he continues

Well I am sorry if we have not met, I am Mario. I love such philisophical arguements. Truly how much is one person attached to the fates of their nation. How is their personality affected by what their leaders proclaim, and what they were taught as children. Personally I am Venetian, and of course I have my dislikes and likes of other cultures, but I can see that both of you have very good points. I may be Venetian, and by nature am suppose to take issue with the Genovese, however I don't. Many people cannot come to agreewith my sentiment."​

Mario bumbles a bit while trying to look at Livia.

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

Tomas had been looking over at the Venetian, curious and wondering how the perfume smelled, when he turned and sampled a few more of the dried figs. As he did so, he again felt the eyes of Kajol on him, and he looked up at her, noticing how she continued to stare at him, look at Mario, and then back at him. Her eyes were sparkling, challenging, with that annoying possessiveness which made Tomas nervous.

And when she turned to speak to Kadija, Tomas knew precisely for whom her words were meant. It was a signal message and a warning. His fate, particularly as far as the Amira was concerned, was very much bound up with his nation...and he didn't think Kajol was referring to Portugal. So rises Tlemcen, so rises he. And the opposite, he had no doubt of.

He wasn't sure what she meant by his role. His role as Yasmine's suitor? His role has a foreign noble adventurer? Or, and it was Tomas' most worrisome thought...his role as Kajol had planned out for him. He was beginning to have a feeling that he was trapped on this course he had set for himself. Yasmine was ahead and above him, the elusive goal he was risking all to reach. But now, much to his discomfort, Kajol had insinuated herself beside and behind him, making it clear that there was no way out for him.

All he had was success. His eyes met hers, accepting her words with defiance and awareness. Yes I know, noble lady. I accept your challenge and will meet it, he said to himself, though he couldn't manage to take his eyes away from Kajol until she had turned against to look over at the Venetian. Frowning to himself, he looked back over at Yasmine and the Sultan, waiting to see what would happen next.

 

[Blade!]

Mario brings out a bottle of clear pink liquid.

The Sultan yawned and look at the second bottle inquisitively.

"What is this Mario.. another bottle of pink... more perfume?

Well, fun and games are all well and good, this perfume certainly has caught the interest of the ladies... but I should see to getting down to buisness."

As he said 'buisness' Yasmine turned her head to look back at Tomas and smiled with confidence, and gave him a slight nod as if transmitting solidarity.

The Lady Kajol answered Mario quickly, followed by Kadija.

"So you are Mario of the Venetian Tribe, I have heard you are the most industrious barbarian in the court... tell me, what is more important than Venice to you? Does every man have his price... aside from love of course, Venetians do value love? And learning... as I understand it some of our more wayward Almohids have been most studious..."

"A fascinating question indeed, wealth is nothing if you cannot run free on the desert, or direct your people to cultivate prosperous lands..."

The Sultan perked up.

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

As the Sultan mentioned getting down to business, Tomas set his goblet down and wiped his hands, wanting to be fully prepared for when it was his time. He smiled back at Yasmine, feeling somewhat like a pupil who was ready to show his knowledge to an instructor, though Tomas did not mind, indulgent as he was where the Amira was concerned. So he felt the tension rise as the moment drew closer, feeling that sudden rush of clarity that came when one was about to give a public speech.

In the midst of it all, he could hear Kajol's voice, soft yet carrying. Did she no longer rank Tomas as a barbarian? If so, it was a step in the right direction, unless he was supposed to be ranked below Mario. He would not put it past Lady Kajol, who seemed to take a particular pleasure in needling him. And was 'wayard Almohids' meant to refer to him? He shook his head, annoyed at Kajol for turning him into such a paranoid listener.

He made himself relax a little and listened to Kadija's answer, which confused him. Frowning slightly, he was simply unable to equate running in a desert to the accumulation or enjoyment of wealth. Prosperous cultivation, he could understand. No matter how much he learned about and strove to be a part of Tlemcen culture, he would never be a true Berber. His heart lay in the cities and on the seas, and the comforts therein.

 

[Blade!]

As the people spoke at the main table, Tomas felt Yasmine's fingers glide over his, and then her shawl drew across his hand as she reached for her goblet on the table. Her gaze was intenetly on Kadija, but at that moment, Halud Hasan wandered up from wherever he had been and snuggled in between Tomas and Yasmine at the table. Yasmine shifted to the side and smiled as she edged the Sultan over. The Sultan looked away from Kadija and towards Hasan.

"Halud, arn't you getting a little old for this kind of behavior?"

Halud puffed up his chest.

"I am a Sheik now! Sheik-i-Sierra Morena!"

"What? Oh yes... Yes, Tomas... Ah, Halud, re-examine the texts, the squire of the Naib of Cordoba is the Sharif of Sierra Morena."

"Oh..."

Halud blushed, and the Sultan focused on Tomas.

"Do you understand that this position... which I only grant under extreme duress from my sister, and the the greatest caution... bears great responsibility and duty, symbolic and otherwise?"

The Sultan stood up from the table, and looked down at Tomas.

"In truth I am not completely unpleased to grant this title to a native of Al-Andalus, who could poddibly speak the language of his charges. Come and kneel Naib Tomas."

 

[Mettermrck]

Banquet Hall, Sultan's Palace

Tomas felt Yasmine's fingers on his, and an electric thrill went through him as he felt the pleasure of her touch. Then his mind came back to the fore and he was reminded of what was coming. He enjoyed her closeness for a brief moment before Hasan bounded in, interrupting in his innocent way, which made Tomas grin.

Then he heard the Sultan begin to speak, and he knew it was very serious now. His features grew somber and humble as he listened to him speak of the responsibilties of his position. "Yes, I understand and accept all that is expected of me." he said, switching to Arabic to mark the meaning of the occasion.

As the Sultan stood, Tomas looked over at Yasmine, caught her eye, and smiled warmly at her, the true reason for all of his actions. With deliberate calm, he moved closer to the Sultan and knelt, not feeling as nervous as he had been when he had knelt before Yasmine. He felt like the line had long been crossed, and that this was merely confirmation. With meek acceptance, he stayed bowed, respectfully awaiting his fate.

 

[unmerged(17500)]

After nodding to the Sultan he speak so to Lady Kajol.

Lady Kajol, I am not sure what you imply with "Venetian tribe" or "barbarian" but we are a glorious nation of warm people. As for the price and the extent to which they shall go to certain lengths is something I would love to address. Love, honor, dignity are things you can not put a price on. The love for ones country; the love of a women, the love of ones family are all priceless and no amount of florins can tear me from such ideals. And yes we value love greatly, after all we are not beasts but Italians. Some would even say that we would go to greater lengths then others for the greatest reqard in existance - love.​

Trying to sense where Livia was in contrast to him in the room he could feel her essence to his left. Looking around the room he saw her eyes placed on him. As their eyes met for the quickest second, the shock quickly forced his neck to turn to the Sultan and he began to talk on other matters.

"Your grace my zeal show some of the wealth of Venezia and what it can offer has distracted me. You are quite right. I apologize. To the issues of trade then?"​

Mario slightly turns his thumbs over each other, trying not to look in her direction even though with the greatest passion he would want nothing else.

 

[Blade!]

"Yes, I understand and accept all that is expected of me."

As Tomas spoke in Arabic, a smile appeared on the Sultan's face, and he drew a large scimtar of his own out of the hands of a sword bearer who had been waiting nearby. It was a silvered two-handed affair, which the Sultan controled easily in one hand. Its blade, like Tomas's was inscribed in Arabic, though Akbe's had several paragraphs upon it.

"You have learned the noble tongue? Most impressive."

The Sultan's gaze turned to his sister and he nodded his head at her before he continued.

"I see that the Amira did not put forth a title lightly, this does you credit... can you read the script?"

He lowered the edge of his sword to Tomas's right shoulder and rested its heavy mass there.

Kadija regarded Mario with a bemused look as he finished his say, and then her eyes widened as he addressed the Sultan while Tomas was kneeling.

".... I apologize. To the issues of trade then?"

Livia touched Mario's shoulder.

"Mi'lord... perhaps a glass of wine for the moment, I beleive the height of the feast is coming after this ceremony."

She smiled warmly at Mario.