(no subject)

"You'll have to excuse - ah, yes. I forgot I'd dropped that there - the mess in here," Thayet says, clearing the way for Tavi to come through the door.

A little known fact about the Queen of Tortall: she can be a tad messy. The door that opens to Milliways is unfortunately found in the series of small, connected closets that access her dressing room, a larger space with mirrors, boxes, small bottles of scent. Sometimes, it seems, garments do not always make it to their storage space.

This is what happens when she tells the servants "Oh, for goodness sake, go to bed, I can manage myself."

"Just let me move this cloak. There we are." She smiles at Tavi and opens another door to a sitting room lit by candles and waning afternoon light. It's summer in Corus, and thus the air is still and heavy until they pass an open window and the fragrance of a large, well-tended garden drifts past. "Welcome to Tortall," she says with a wide smile.

(no subject)

Summer in Corus can be punishingly hot, especially in the enclosed banquet halls and galleries of the palace.

Thayet has taken to indulging in a morning visit to Milliways, just to slip outside and have the cool Scottish breeze dance off the lake and through her hair, cooling her down for at least a little while.

Today she takes a large glass of iced tea along and chooses a spot underneath a tree, listening to the leaves rustle above her head and the whinnies of horses turned out in the paddock.

Milliways is enchanting in the morning mist.