Dyder holds the door open as he watches Myna hurry out of the room. He closes it behind her. “Has Ilsenyla mentioned anything about what she might like for her birthday?”

  “I learned a day ago—less than a day ago—that you are courting my sister, and you want me to help you? Tell how long this has been going on, and then, I will answer your questions.” Ede asks as the two descend the stairs.

  Dyder and Ede begin to descend the stone steps of the Queen's spire. The light shining in through the windows cast their shadows against the centre pillar and down the steps.

  “Five years.”

  "I beg your pardon! How? She is always in Sk?dstan; she only comes to the isles for _Nyluhnkroux_ [1]." Ede exchanges frequent letters with her sister, but this has not been brought up once—she also has never asked.

  “We exchange letters.” Dyder opens the door at the bottom of the stairs, leading to the antechamber. He waits in the doorway.

  The antechamber of the Queen’s Spire is a sparsely decorated, half-circular room. A long red carpet runs through its centre, stretching north and south across the bridges that connect the spire to the rest of the castle. The west side is formed by a blackstone wall separating the antechamber from the spiral stairwell; set into it are the door and a large, gold-framed, landscape painting of autumn forests. The east wall is composed of tall windows and a fitted, curved table arranged with small houseplants and potted ferns. Sunlight pours through the glass, casting the shadows of three wooden support beams across the carpet and the wall.

  Dyder looks over his shoulder and up towards Myna; she is just now rounding the corner, taking each step slowly.

  "Ohhh," Ede knuckles her forehead, "I am such a fool... That makes sense. Well, I suppose I have to answer your question: I do not have the faintest idea—she is extremely hard to choose gifts for. She will always just spend the allowance Father gives her on what she wants."

  Dyder steps out into the antechamber and pauses to run his fingers through the top of his long, blonde undercut, rubbing his forehead with his palm—he had looked over the letter from Ilsenyla the night prior and could not find the faintest sign of her expressing a want for something.

  “Why don’t you visit? I’m sure Kary will let you. Ilsenyla would like that—if my suitor, whom I only communicated with by letter, came to visit me for my birthday, I would be thrilled!” Ede enters the antechamber of the tower.

  “I am fond of that idea; I’ll ask Gekaryna soon.”

  Ede nods, "How long do you think it will be before you pay the dowry? Please do not take this offensively, but you are well over the normal age of those who get married [2]."

  "Yes, well. This is not my first betrothal. But I'm about seventy-five full golds short; it will be a while."

  "Oh... yes." The fact that Dyder had been in a previous arranged marriage, though he had never been open enough to say who it was with. Feeling she has made the environment awkward, she dismisses herself. "Well, we should not dawdle."

  The two part ways, crossing the respective bridges to the male and female dormitories.

  ## Footnotes

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  [1] A Ianyan festival to celebrate the both the Dark moon and new moon phases of the of The Crone's Glass Eye. The celebrations lasts for one day outside the normal 13-maiden calendar.

  The name, 'Nyluhnkroux' means: The Cycle of the Crone.

  For Nyluhnkroux, a wide variety of activities are set up in the main agoras of towns and cities, which usually consist of small carnival games (typically feats of strength) and food vendors (most commonly pastry chefs). The most notable Nyluhnkroux activity is a drinking competition, where all the breweries in a town will get together with one stand—typically the largest—and over the course of Nyluhnkroux they will keep a tally of who can drink the most. This goes about as well as one would expect and results in 1-3 deaths from alcohol poisoning per year.

  [2] The average age for a people do be married in Ianya varies heavily by class.

  Serfs

  * Women: 16-19

  * Men: 20-24

  Freemen

  * Women: 16-19

  * Men: 22-26

  Note: Freemen are exceedingly rare in Ianya (particularly within the Kingdom of the Great Moon of Our Lady), as they exist outside the communal land-rent system. A freeman may only arise through the outright purchase of land from its current holder—typically the Hersts or one of their vassals. Such sales are strongly discouraged by custom and law: valuable land is almost never alienated, and when it is, the price is set far beyond ordinary means; land of little value offers no incentive, as its purchase entails forfeiture of all citizen’s dividends derived from the communal rents. As a result, freemen are legally possible but structurally disfavored.

  Artisans

  * Women: 23-28

  * Men: 23-28

  Note: Due to both men and women being present in the trades, both sexes tend to delay marriage until they are finished with apprenticeships.

  Merchants

  * Women: 18-23

  * Men: 25-30

  Note: Men tend to delay marriages in hopes of marrying into a beneficial trade agreement.

  Lesser Nobles

  * Women: 14-18

  * Men: 18-25

  Note: Typically earlier marriages for alliances.

  Higher Nobility

  * Women: 16-22

  * Men: 18-24

  Note: Arranged marriages among higher nobility are quite rare, because of how fractured Ianya has become—no one is willing to take the risk.