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A great number of early Edreveise Revival historians owe a mighty debt indeed to the prolific correspondence of one woman: Csethiro Zhasan, wife of Edrehasivar VII Zhas. The 316th empress of the Ethuveraz was a prolific letter-writer, and her letters to her most regular correspondents — her four sisters, Emiro, Hesiriän, Iru and Saleheio; her close friend and sister in law, Vedero Drazhin; her husband, Edrehasivar VII; and later, her three children, Prince Chenelis (later Edrehasivar VIII), Archduchess Lurino (later also Duchess Orverached) and Archduke Malha — are some of the most prominent primary sources about the court and the Drazhada during the early Edreveise Revival period. 

However, reading these letters was not to be an easy job. Scholars were fairly confident that Csethiro's correspondence would contain a vast amount of social and political context; but any of her letters which left the court or contained any kind of personal information were heavily cyphered. House Drazh’ eventually gave the letters to the Ceth’university in 1740 AEC, in the hope they could crack the cypher, as none still living knew how to read it — though there was a sort of family folk memory about the contents of them. After much trial and error, the cypher was discovered to have been based, obliquely, upon the ninth page of the Zhasan'frechelar, Csethiro’s translation of the Frechelar cavalier epics, which may have been why Csethiro’s children were so slow in letting the Ceth’university have access to the manuscript, despite obviously wishing it to be published. (Some scholars have suggested that the difficulty of the cypher is Csethiro’s revenge upon the Ceth’university for never publishing her in her lifetime.) It took the codebreakers years to firstly crack the code, then longer still to transcribe all the letters. The reader has here a selection of early pieces, from the very start of Csethiro’s tenure as empress; immediately after her marriage to Edrehasivar. More will follow. It is, however, believed that there are still a few letters collected in the Alcethmeret archives that are not publicly accessible, but H.I.S Edrehasivaran I has in turn refused requests to access her ancestress’s extended correspondence, a fact which has distressed a great number of academics.

Csethiro Drazharan, Ethuverazhid Zhasan, was born Dach’osmin Csethiro Ceredin in 1574 AEC, the first of five daughters born to Csathis, Marquess Ceredel (then Dach’osmer Csathis Ceredar), and his first wife Saleheio Ceredaran (née Eremin). The Ceredada, an ancient noble house from the time of the Old Beleveise period, were at this time markedly unstable — the sister of the then-Marquess was Arbelan Zhasan, Varenechibel IV’s first wife, who had been recently relegated for barrenness — and when she fell, her brother almost fell with her, and suffered all the financial, social, and societal indignities which accompanied a teeter over the pit of indignity. Csathis Ceredar was thusly fostered into the Celehada as a child — both as a money-saving strategy, and to foster ties between the two houses, since the two families already had several marital links. Further, the Ceredada felt they were owed a favour. ⁽¹⁾ The Celehada had also at this point a distinct lack of male heirs, besides the young heir to the house, Dach’osmer Derezhis, and the then-Count was anxious to ensure his son had some sort of companion. Hence, Csathis Ceredar was sent to be raised with Derezis Celehar. (Csethiro would later be named after the late wife of her father’s ‘heart-brother’ who died untimely young, after bearing her husband only one child, a daughter named Csoru.)

The Ceredeise coffers were saved by a series of clever investments (including in municipal tram developments) spearheaded by Csathis’s mother the Marchioness Irian, but by the time Csethiro was born, their social and political standing remained somewhat shambolic. In 1572, the Marquess won the hand of Dach’osmin Saleheio Erimin for his son, out of pure luck — Erimel agreed to the match to teach his easy-mannered daughter (who had a habit of laughing at her suitors and had thusly sabotaged his attempted matches with the Tethimada and the Rohethada) a lesson, by marrying her off to an undesirable house. Saleheio seemed unfazed by this attempt to humble her — her new bridegroom was also duly laughed at, and arguably she had rather a lot to laugh at. But unlike the rest of her suitors, Csathis took little, if any, offence, and apparently could not believe his luck at being handed a wife immensely rich and vivacious. It was not a particular love match, but Csethiro once wrote to her youngest sister Saleheio;

'…wilt not of course remember, but twas ever clear to me that their match was not v. romantic, and Mama would have been happier as a rude rich spinster aunt, + Papa would have been happier… well, even an he never thinks of’t, I have my suspicions that he should have done otherwise than he did. But in retrospect I must admit that they were pleased with one another in their way and I do think Papa was infinitely more neurotic and insecure once she died.' ⁽²⁾

Csathis inherited the Marquessate when Csethiro was two, and proved a relatively inoffensive Marquess. He was nervous of Varenechibel Zhas, and more active houses like the Tethimada and the Doreshada, and was desperate to regain the family’s former glory. He strove to remain uncontroversial, and thus unridiculed, in everything, from his House of Blood voting habits to his dinner courses. 

Saleheio bore four more daughters (Emiro, Hesiriän, Iru, and Saleheio), in an attempt to produce a male heir for the Ceredada; she died of childbed fever three days after the birth of her last daughter, who was named after her. Csethiro was fifteen by this point, and nursed her mother on her deathbed — some of her letters imply she retained resentment about the death she felt was an avoidable disgrace for her entire life, and it was certainly very prominent in the family’s minds every time one of the Ceredin sisters bore a child, although advances in medical technology, and none of them having more than three children, ensured none faced their mother’s fate.

The Marquess Ceredel remarried, eventually, when Csethiro was twenty, caving to pressure from his kinsmen; Meliro Ceredaran was much younger, only twenty-three when she was married, but seemed to like her role and status as Marchioness, and made constant overtures of friendliness to her stepdaughters. Csethiro was cold to her, embarrassed by a stepmother who was a mere three years her senior, and resentful that Meliro was being positioned to take on a matriarchal role within the Ceredada that Csethiro had been accustomed to since her mother's death. She felt she had taken the duty upon herself ⁽³⁾ and did not want it taken away from her by her father’s young bride. 

Despite five daughters in the main branch and no male heir, the Ceredada remained relatively wealthy (thanks in part to the Dowager Marchioness, as well as Saleheio Ceredaran, and later Csethiro); they were somewhat socially elevated by the new wife, and the tireless efforts of eldest sisters Csethiro and Emiro. Csethiro was in the social circle of Varenechibel's younger daughter Archduchess Vedero, hunted with the major parties, and was generally respected as competent and accomplished, if rather academic; and Emiro was, like her mother, hugely sociable, very funny, and slightly rude, and remained hugely popular in court circles her whole life. Although Csethiro’s rivalry with the new Zhasan, Csoru Celehin, complicated their social standing in the final years of Varenechibel’s reign, the Ceredada nonetheless were somewhat on the up-and-up again by the mid 1590s. ⁽⁴⁾ They would continue in this manner, with Meliro performing the social functions of the Marchioness, and Csethiro (and later Emiro) actually managing most of the household, for most of the 1590s. In August 1596, Meliro announced her pregnancy (it would be a boy, named Csathis after his father, born just before Csethiro's marriage in early April 1597) — then, in September, the Wisdom of Choharo was blown up in the Tethimadeise Conspiracy, killing Varenechibel and his three eldest sons. Edrehasivar VII Zhas, Maia Drazhar, ascended the throne.

Ceredel was not exactly intelligent, but he saw his obvious opportunity to regain the long-lost imperial favour immediately. Edrehasivar was eighteen, unmarried — and, even better than that, had lived his entire life in relegation and thusly had absolutely no attachments to any noblewomen whatsover. Once Csoru Celehin had been married to Varenechibel and Stano Bazhevin had been promised to Archduke Ciris, most fathers had married their eligible daughters off to other houses, suspecting that Varenechibel would never marry off Archduke Nazhira and they would do better giving up on a Drazhadeise match until Prince Nemolis's son came of age. Thus, Ceredel, who for all his weaknesses was fond and proud of his daughters, and had lots of ideas about ‘mighty matches’ for them (though no apparent idea as to how he was meant to afford similarly mighty dowries) immediately thrust Csethiro into the discussion around who should be selected as Edrehasivar’s empress. Being one of the most established unmarried women of her age group, she emerged as a frontrunner, alongside Paru Tethimin and Loran Duchenin. It is not believed Edrehasivar had much of a say in any of these negotiations — new to court and entirely ignorant of the noble families, he could not have hoped to choose a bride alone. Csethiro herself certainly always thought that the match had been made by Edrehasivar’s secretary Csevet Aisava, not by Edrehasivar, and liked to use the knowledge to make fun of both men. ⁽⁵⁾ But the Corazhas sponsored Csethiro as both a sensible choice and a way of repairing the damage done by Arbelan’s relegation, and for his own reasons, Aisava must also have supported her... and thus the marriage was decided on, and duly announced. 

Csethiro was, in a word, furious. Emiro wrote to Hesiriän later;

'I thought about sending Csethiro the sad little head of the porcelain angel she smashed upon the betrothal announcement as a wedding-gift, but I demurred as I thought she would not find it amusing in the slightest. Instead I think I will bide my time and then send it to Tranquillity ⁽⁶⁾ on a pertinent anniversary, which no doubt will still earn me a total hiding, but will be most diverting.'  ⁽⁷⁾

Csethiro considered, not entirely wrongly, that her father had heedlessly sold her off to an unknown entity, a man that court gossip knew only as ‘Edrehasivar Half-Tongue’, and claimed to be either an idiot, mad, or both, and who was currently obviously enamoured with an opera diva. ⁽⁸⁾ An enthusiastic academic and sportswoman, Csethiro was also likely frightened of being forbidden from her study or her fencing — she knew perfectly well that many men of the period were disdainful of academic women, and would be hostile to a wife cleverer than they, and that her duelling habit was archaic and considered inappropriate by most courtiers. She was also no doubt wary of being humiliated — either by having a fool for a husband, or by him taking a mistress instantly, and immediately usurping her — despised that she had been forced by her kinsmen into a terrible duty she misliked. Further, she must have been very conscious that three previous Zhasans of Varenechibel's (Leshan, Pazhiro, and Edrehasivar’s mother Chenelo) had all died before they were thirty. The examples of Stano Bazhevin and Csoru Zhasanai, one stuck in limbo from her betrothed’s sudden death, the other cut instantly from her power and influence and reduced to a mere nuisance, would have also felt very present; Edrehasivar’s reign was not at all stable, and many couriers had (ironically) bet that he would be dead by Winternight. To be yoked to such a man was, in her view, a disaster.

Indeed there was some merit in both her scepticism and the courtiers' callous bets; one coup attempt and one assassination attempt (on Winternight, ironically enough) followed in quick succession, although Edrehasivar survived both, and both are popularly reproduced even today in art, opera, motion-picture, and novel form. What there is no record of, is exactly when or where Csethiro seemed to change her mind about the match. Somewhere between engagement and wedding Edrehasivar must have done or said something to make her backtrack on her disdain for him, but what it was is lost to time. Perhaps it was merely his ability to withstand being battered by the opposition of the court that impressed her. But one famous piece of Csethiro's correspondence (reproduced beyond this introduction as an epigraph) is famously outraged about the Drazh-Chancellery Coup on Edrehasivar's behalf, and offers to 'prove [the Princess's] worthlessness upon her carcasse'; suggesting that her mood had shifted at least by about the time of the coup.

The imperial couple were married in May 1597, when Csethiro was twenty-two and Edrehasivar was nineteen. A letter from Emiro Ceredin to a cousin in Thu-Evresar noted drolly that Ceredel ‘...cried from Csav’meire to Untheilean to be giving up his Csethiro, though at least he tried to do it quietly and with the best dignity he could muster…’ and there are plenty of letters which describe in great detail the proceedings, since it was one of the most enthusiastically attended social events in decades.

Csethiro aimed immediately to be a useful and active empress, and often took petitions in the Untheileian in her husband’s absence ⁽⁹⁾ or interceded with courtiers on her husband’s behalf, leading to many ambassadors meeting with her first. The Pencharneise ambassador once described her as;

‘...a striding, and strident, woman, silent until she finds she has an opinion, which is then invariably frank; her voice is deep for a woman’s, and she does not speak loudly, but she is a confident orator and will discourse on matters of state which would not concern many wives of her rank. No particular beauty, but she has good health and good spirit, and she is fashionable and tasteful; tall, though not so tall as the Zhas; possessed of disconcertingly blue eyes, by which one feels impaled. She rode out with us to hunt yesterday morning and proved herself a game and skilful huntress, a veritable Osreian with the hunting bow. Her children love her and she is merry with them; she is especially proud of her daughter, in defiance of the courtly men who privilege male children, though I think her little son the Archduke is most like her in his looks…’

Despite her initial reluctance, she gained a reputation for being an aggressively defensive and genuinely fond wife, and by all accounts Edrehasivar loved her very much; when she died in 1652, he himself died the following spring, which did not surprise the Drazhada — his great-nephew and namesake Maia Belrechar said he thought Csethiro's death broke his heart irreparably, and the family knew he would not see another Winternight without her. The satirist and novelist Halsiro Cennavin said Csethiro was;

‘...mighty martial, the true nohech’zhasan — I daren’t say anything flippant about poor Edrehasivar in case it gets back to her, and she has me tripped down a stone staircase and my neck broken in the name of the husband she loves so well that she would rend flesh with her teeth to defend.’  ⁽¹⁰⁾

A key patron of women's rights and education, Csethiro oversaw a major university overhaul, being instrumental in doing away with the law which required patriarchal permission for women to undertake studies. She co-signed and curried support for a great number of women’s rights bills, and alongside her sister in law Archduchess Vedero she constantly hosted and encouraged women in academic, artistic, and artisan pursuits. She was an avid sportswoman, huntress, and a skilled sword duellist, a habit that was considered barbaric during her youth and much of her adulthood. She sponsored several new hospitals in the north, and funded the training of a good many Csaveise clerics, as well as the formation of the women's rowing, fencing, and riding teams at the Ceth'university. A statue dedicated to her remains in what was originally the courtyard of the university’s women's quarter, where students still leave offerings in the hope of good luck in examinations, sporting competitions, or assessments. The Ceth'university Women's Fencing Team typically kiss the right hand of the statue before the start of the season and high-profile matches, and it has been deliberately marked over the years with lipstick.

Popular mythology holds that Csethiro died with the Ceredada sunblade in hand, the weapon having been smuggled to her bedside by the contrivance of her daughter and granddaughters hiding it amongst the preparation of mourning veils, though this claim is difficult to validate. The claim that she committed a kind of honourable revethvoran with is certainly nonsense. More certain is that she was buried with the sword, in the ultimate assurance of Ceredada loyalty to the Drazhada, as it forever denied any future potential Ceredeise traitors the ‘noble’ death for treason, which was beheading with the family sunblade, and gave them the option of only the ‘common’ reveth’atha, or a generic sword. 

Her tomb and Edrehasivar’s were interred together; unusual, as empresses were typically never buried with their husbands. Many suggestions have been made about opening her coffin to retrieve the sunblade, but popular mythology touts that she laid a curse on any who would attempt to remove it from her coffin — and when it was suggested some decades after her death that it should be retrieved, the Osmer who made the suggestion received a spectacularly abusive missive from Csethiro's daughter, the by-then-elderly Archduchess Lurino.

An invariably frank and opinionated woman, Csethiro was not known to mince sentiments when she felt strongly, and her correspondence provides valuable insight into the sometimes opaque internal life of Edrehasivar VII and his household. Previous empress’s excessive correspondences tended to be indicative of isolation or idleness (for example, Csethiro's own mother in law, Chenelo Zhasan, wrote constantly to her father the Maru’var while in relegation, though never received a reply), but in Csethiro’s case it was more indicative of a woman with a lot to say, although also of a woman unused to no longer having charge of three of her four sisters. We as historians are grateful for her inclination to be gossipy and reflective in equal measure, and we as women are thankful for her efforts to advocate for us as more than just wives and mothers.

We remain, the editors;

Osmn. Terilo Daramin; Mn. Renin Serazeched; Osmrrm. Miru Pel-Derezmach

Notes:

1. For more on the Ceredada and the Celehada, see Reliva’s The Falcon and the Wren (Belsorina Press, 1801). ^(▲)

2. Some have read this as an allusion to the fact there might have been a little more than mere fraternal fondness between Ceredel and Celehel, but if Csethiro knew or thought anything else on that matter, no letters survive. ^(▲)

3. Emiro once wrote to her brother-in-law the emperor that Csethiro only thought she had chosen the duty, because the alternative, that she had been '...disgracefully offered no help by aunts or grandmothers who should have come a-running [...] and hence was forced to handle four bereaved little girls while being herself a bereaved little girl [...] for her, did not bear thinking about’. ^(▲)

4. Csoru Drazharan (née Celehein) was the widow and last wife of Varenechibel IV. She was of an age with her successor; their fathers were, of course, friends, but the daughters were less so. Society dictated they be civil, but they never did quite manage to be friendly, and they had several famous arguments and feuds throughout their lives. ^(▲)

5. Derelin’s Csethiro & Csevet Zhas (Valno House, 1800 AEC) is a comprehensive view of the wickedly productive relationship between Csethiro and Csevet Aisava. ^(▲)

6. Emiro always used ridiculous synonyms for ‘Serenity’ when talking about the emperor, and sometimes even when talking to him. ^(▲)

7. She must have done so, for Csethiro’s son Archduke Malha eventually gave it, with some aplomb and a hint of irony, to the Zhasan’Museum in Cairado. ^(▲)

8. Modern historians do not generally believe that Edrehasivar actually had an affair with Min Vechin, but it was popularly thought at the time that he had. ^(▲)

9. See Csethiro Zhasan Reigning In The Untheileian In The Absence of Edrehasivar Zhas, Amal’gallery, ER.32.475, Room 3. ^(▲)

10. Csethiro and Cennavin were friends, so while this proclamation is likely not entirely serious, it does sum up the court opinion on Csethiro as a staunch defender of her husband. ^(▲)

Chapter Text

SELECTED LETTERS OF CSETHIRO ZHASAN

PART 1: 1597 AEC 

[EARLY EDREHASIVAR VII PERIOD]

TO THE EMPEROR EDREHASIVAR VII DRAZHAR, GREETINGS & WISHES FOR YOUR SERENITY’S CONTINUED HEALTH & SAFETY & THE ENDURANCE OF YOUR REIGN. WE KNEW SHEVEÄN WAS AN IDIOT, BUT WE HAD NO IDEA SHE WOULD GO SO FAR IN HER IDIOCY. WE REGRET EXTREMELY THAT WE CANNOT CHALLENGE HER TO A DUEL AND PROVE HER WORTHLESSNESS UPON HER CARCASE, BUT WE ARE TOLD THAT DUELLING IS BARBARIC & UNBEFITTING A LADY & IN ANY CASE SHEVEÄN WOULD NOT KNOW HOW. 

NEVERTHELESS SERENITY IF THERE IS ANY SERVICE WE CAN ACCOMPLISH FOR YOU—BEYOND OUR LOYALTY AND FIDELITY, WHICH YOU HAVE ALREADY, YOU HAVE ONLY TO SAY THE WORD. ⁽¹⁾

TO EMIRO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

I have written so many letters this morning that my hand may simply drop off; I might have a scribe I suppose but I cannot be having with that as a notion, and I should have to teach the poor thing the cypher, which cannot be borne. And Terano ⁽²⁾   has quite enough of her own writing to be getting on with. I have written to Father (has he stopped crying yet? Say yes, I beg thee), briefly to the Marchioness, to the cousins at Valno, and have separated a letter to Frogs&Sal ⁽³⁾ so they do not feel left out. I dare say thou wilt get correspondence from Hes ⁽⁴⁾ at some point, but at the minute she is half an hour deep into a discourse with Prince Idra on some tiny negligible detail of epic poetry, so I daren't intervene. This leaves me only to express myself to thee; as thou'rt an utter busybody of the worst order I know thou wilt be utterly desperate to know the manner of my first weeks as Zhasan, thou total snoop.

Well, I am very fine and exalted, I must say. Soon I shall be spoiled and turn into a tyrant like Csoru. I have been so busy; invariably I have hunted or ridden or walked in the mornings (I have been asked by various ladies to ‘moderate my pace’ when I ride… if I rode any slower one might as well walk after the quarry!), then come home and changed, and gone up to endless soirées or tea parties, then to dinner, then to the opera or to a dance or the theatre, which never ended before 11, then come back and fallen into bed, and then done it all again… I realise it is bad + useless to complain that I am wasting my days in perfect enviable entertainment, but I would like to be doing something more useful with my time. I know in these very pursuits I am setting up myself for future effectiveness, by asserting myself with the courtly women and seeing what's what, but for all-goddesses sake I already knew what was what, those who are now my petitioners were once my peers. And the only times I get to see Maia are at dinner, at whatever pursuit we go to afterwards, and when I go to bed (no comments from thee, don't be a beast). Emperor's Man ⁽⁵⁾ tells me I will have more of my own time again when the season ends at the end of this month and everybody retreats to country estates, and that going forward he will attempt to intersect my schedule more with Maia’s; I do hope so, because if not I shall run totally mad. He is plum, though. Utter priss, and underneath his mild little mask he is, I am certain, absolutely a man insane — there is no other explanation for willingly undertaking such a beast of a job utterly unprepared — but such taste, such efficiency! He plays cards with me and we talk about literature. It is funny to think that he made the match and I frequently grill him about it, but he refuses to admit outright to having picked me, even though Maia has told me he did. He runs the household as if we should all die if we were late to lunch. I shudder to think what would happen if we ever purposefully scuppered his lovely plans; I think he would eat us alive.

Ah well, no more time now, have to change for dinner. I hope I've not been seated near any of Csoru’s little minions. Or Anmura forbid Csoru herself. Will put fork through my neck if tis the case, or possibly pretend to come over all funny and make Maia take me outside. 

TO EMIRO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

I'm sorry that Frogs&Sal are being such nightmares. I would say twas a punishment for thee being a beast to me all these years but I know too well the agony of their shrieking and arguing and so I will not be cruel. I could've expected it, but I had thought they'd have more time to get used to Hes & I being absent before Father yanked all of thee away to Teramee. Will separate them another letter and maybe make Maia add a postscript if thou dost think it would please them. Naturally I miss the three of thee too— although all of thee are utter terrors and I would probably be shouting if thou wert here.

Sat for Dachensol Foremar this morning so he could make preparatory sketches for the wedding portrait and the imperial mint. I am so looking forward to being on the half-zhashan. It is so very stupid that I find it highly amusing; I shall be collectable! I shall be in museums, when they dig up a hoard of me in three hundred years! ⁽⁶⁾ Tis mighty diverting. But I do not think Maia liked it in the slightest; he was dreadfully skittish, by all appearances he truly hated being sketched and arranged and directed. He came in looking miserable and spent the first hour quite unhappy. He acted as one going to the reveth’atha; I asked if he had ever had his likeness taken before and he said he had not, which explained a few things. Tis a pity though, he is fine and when he forgets himself he is mighty expressive. I reminded him that he was much handsomer than I, and therefore the Dachensol would have no trouble with him, but I should not have tried to jest with him at my expense because I just made him look even more wretched. Still, I found it much finer than sitting for fussy old Gorenar ⁽⁷⁾ Foremar is not such a snit and had some diverting chatter, which I think he does on purpose to draw real expressions from his sitters. He managed to win some polite interest and faint amusement out of Maia in the end, but he told me at the end he intends to ‘work on’ him. I think he wants a depth of expression that Maia was not giving him. To the Dachensol's credit he did not try to flatter me (unlike Gorenar), and I am depicted satisfactorily with my customary pathetic chin and surfeit of nose, and the stupid bit at the back where my hair doesn't lie flat. 

Maia looked at it once and looked uneasy, even though it was a good likeness; I suspect that he has been told, or else it has been impressed upon him, that his goblin features make him undesirable, which is ridiculous & infuriating given that the first thing thou saidst to me once Father had told us of the match was well, at least he is handsome. As I recall I did shout at thee, but thou wast right, tis not particularly hard in retrospect to admit. Actually once Arimian is out of the childbed (is she well? I have written her my best but will do so again if she is very miserable) and the season starts again thou must rush back, and see how all the court men are trying themselves to be Edrehasivars. I am seeing men who used to slick their hair with anything they could lay hands to now trying to make their sad slippery locks hold a curl. I am enjoying it very much, tis very funny; Maia does not understand why they would do it, and finds it unsettling and sycophantic and hypocritical, which of course it is that also. I can see the furtive looks I am getting from their wives and sisters, but I know that women’s fashions will shift more slowly in my favour, for nobody wants to look foolish and overeager. 

I suppose thou wilt be tearing thy hair out because I am not giving thee any sufficient gossip about my new husband, to which I say; good. Rend thyself with frustration. But— and I have said’t before, but it has not changed now I am officially made Csethiro Zhasan — I will flatter myself enough to say that he likes me; I am not going to sit and write, mere weeks into my marriage— my arranged political marriage, no less — that my arranged political match loves me, for t’would be foolish beyond belief and terrible egotistical. But in sooth I believe he likes me, and has evidently forgiven me for being a presumptive beast in our early engagement. I am well pleased today because I have noticed he has started asking me to explain cultural references; I assume thou hast noted at least a little he has great gaps in his knowledge — not to say his understanding, that is very well — but in his knowledge of art and culture and history and so on. It is both better and worse than I thought; he is trying very hard to make up for it, and he has the oddest bits here and there (he recognised ancient silk-tambour work and told me that the contrast was achieved with two separate shades of thread, even though the colours were sun-bleached out almost entire — how he knew this I have no idea, but I suspect it must be to do with the late empress), but I make references that I consider widely known and he is uncomprehending, and obviously unhappy that he has not the scope to understand. Berenar is dutifully patching the gaps in his political comprehension, but no one has thought to make him cultured, which is a great pity because he is enamoured of opera and theatre and fashion — when he does dare to express an interest at all, that is. And perforce I am throwing my weight about to ensure we might go regularly to the opera, and in something of a dictator's fashion I am trying to read Goëlar to him, though I have to gloss a number of references. But today he asked me, a little uneasily, what was the Bucolic and how it was different to Cethoreise Pastoral, and it pleased me so much I got overexcited (and confused him, I think), but I have promised him if he makes me a list I will explain them all, so I hope I will get a list. 

TO EMIRO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

Everybody gone, praise the Dreaming Lady! Social season over, court lovely and quiet, parliament and HOB at recess. The boys ⁽⁸⁾ do not know what to do with themselves, especially Csevet and Maia. They are bewildered to be idle. Not that they are truly idle, but tis just less hectic and the Corazhas only conduct business via letter, unless there is some big emergency. I think poor little Nemer ⁽⁹⁾ is going to have a fit, only having to dress Maia for one or two things a day. As I say though I do not think either Maia or Csevet know how to be truly idle. Not that Csevet’s job ever stops, but he seems to have time he’s not sure what to do with. I asked would he go and see his friends in the courier fleet, had he the time, and he gave me a bit of a startled look before he realised I had pluralised it, so I think I might have accidentally hit on something there... t'would be cruel, not to mention risky, to ask him if there’s a dashing courier beau, so I won’t, but I do so want him to tell me. Maia of course would not presume marnis if it took him to a blanch-show and put its hand up his shirt, but I hope he will get there one day.

I have fought Csevet for the planning reins and somewhat won, and now we are going to hunt or ride at least twice a week while the weather holds. Tis much more pleasant when one does not have half the courtiers panting around thee, and the prospects in the north park are excellent, I cannot believe the Zhases have been hiding them from us all this time. Maia will not hunt with a large party, I think he is insecure that he is not as competent a horseman and worries he would look a fool, although I remind him that Viscount Rennavel rides with every fashionable hunting party, and that man couldn't sit a horse if you put an armchair on its back. Besides, he is a very fast learner, and his mount is mild and loves him, and I doubt it would throw him for anything. But he will ride out with a few of us, so I get to have him to myself, which is not objectionable... He is too kindly to like overmuch any sort of killing — which is all very well, so I said, but I had quite promised Dachensol Ebremis a haunch of venison, so if it was all the same to him I would still shoot our dinner, to which he acquiesced, and I flatter myself he was impressed with the fallow stag I brought down. Today we went out to ride with Idra, Vedero, and the little girls ⁽¹⁰⁾ who are learning quickly on their ponies, and Csevet, who being an ex-courier sits a horse like the outriders of Anmura and can do all sorts of stupid and dangerous tricks. Cala Athmaza ⁽¹¹⁾ hates riding, poor pet, and I know he was cheating with maz. (I do like him, even though every time one trips up a step or spills ink on thyself or sneezes badly he is invariably there, noticing, with his big spectacled insect eyes.) Shouldst come out with us when thou’rt back, t'would be well. 

Nothing much this evening; will have a private dinner, maybe with the nursery, then read one of my neglected novels and force Maia to hear some snippets. Nice to be lazy; do not think we have been lazy since Varenechibel died. Hope Papa is not driving thee up the wall.

(P.S. Ah, and I have a list! Cathareled, Post-Conquest romanticism, Dachensol Teremis, The Resolve of Cereno… ay, he knows not what he is letting himself in for. I will talk until Anmura falls from the heavens and ends the world.)

TO EMIRO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

Agh. Too hot for anything. Usually like to decamp in Maia’s bed but simply cannot share with anybody, too damn hot. Nobody is doing much. Finished Min Forelin’s Dilemma, thought it was a bit of not much, sort of twee but not charming about it; but that’s what I get for taking books from the Marchioness. Need to read something very bracing to recover. May try a Teremed although nobody ever found a Teremed a soothing summertime entertainment. Too much killing.

Had finally today to explain the concept of the blanch-shows to Maia, for we hit that bit of Lireän; ⁽¹²⁾ perplexed, so I tell thee. He does not understand why ladies would make their living impersonating him, or indeed why gentlemen would impersonate me, and did not seem very impressed by my remark that some of them were actually too handsome to play me. I offered to take him to one, which made the Lieutenant ⁽¹³⁾ try to intervene, so I gave him what-for and said ‘the Lieutenant can tell thee Maia, ‘tis not so uncommon, the soldiers on the Steppes do cross dressing mock-operas just like it—’ ⁽¹⁴⁾ and earned myself a look which rightly should have burned off what scant eyebrows I have. He is so honourable and goodly but he is such an absolute priss! I bet he was a Grande Dame on the Steppes. But he absolutely would not say. I think Lt Telimezh ⁽¹⁵⁾ would have been an ingenue. Anyway, now have had the idea must find a way of getting Maia to see one. Trouble is his presence anywhere is about as subtle as a brick through a window. Hmm. Will consider’t because I like them very well and want to see how they would do us... ⁽¹⁶⁾

Later: asked Lt Telimezh when he came on duty and he confirmed he was, in fact, an ingenue which pleased me immensely. I bet he was v fine. If he knew of Beshelar’s role he would not say’t. I maintain my bet.

TO EMIRO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

Well well, I trust it will amuse thee to know I am holding down the fort with aplomb in Maia's absence. ⁽¹⁷⁾ Nothing fallen down, no one dead, no one crying (yet). Nobles in audiences very cross to be treating with me instead of him, especially once they realise he is much nicer than I am, for I have no qualms about cutting them off halfway through their ramble about prize sheep. I like watching the Dach’osmers trot the length of the Untheileian only to remember they have to deal with me, then scowling about it. Capital. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Of course I cannot do very much material about their grievances, other than either promising (or very much not promising) to bring it to my husband's attention, but tis nice to get in the way if it’s a real time-waster. Count Tescamel quite desperately wanted the imperial intervention in a disastrous betrothal negotiation between his daughter and Ushanel’s son but—and I more or less said as much—what in damnation are we meant to do about it? Or more, why should we care? Well, on a gossip level I care very much—apparently Osmin Tescamin clung to the doorframe while they tried to drag her out to the marriage contract signing, and Osmer Ushanar went on a three-day tour of Cetho public houses and had to be put over the back of a mule to be brought back to court — but bringing all of that to an imperial petition? ⁽¹⁹⁾ I was agog. Tis likely they are disrespecting me on purpose given I am merely a Simple And Enfeebled Woman distinguished only by the fact Papa got Maia's signature onto the marriage contract first… but they still have to walk the whole Untheileian to get to raise their damn’d problem to me, so at least we’re all unhappy.

Think I may have wrenched my right knee trying to flèche this morning. Hmm. Well, make nothing of’t, the only thing that’s really hurt is my pride. As usual! (And 'tis not like when I broke my whole arm in the pursuit of swordplay and pretended to Father that I fell down the stairs.) 

Ay, speaking of sports, am practically sick with excitement, for representatives of the Ceth’university have come to ask if I might sponsor their women’s sports teams! Quite bit their heads off in my enthusiasm and probably scared the poor women rather badly, but I talked to Terano and she does not see why we cannot pursue it; they do rowing, tennis, and a genteel sort of showjumping at the minute but they are looking into bringing back the archaic fencing team too, which I encouraged loudly and at some length. Wouldst be very fine! I hope they do. Will talk it over with E'sM [Emperor's Man] when all of them are back; it is a tad lonely in the Alcethmeret at the minute. I complain about my gaggle of young men and frequently am away to retain my equilibrium in the nursery with Nemolis’s daughters, but really I am bored when they abandon me. I hope they bring me back a present. Or some gossip. Maybe that can be Csevet’s job, actually. I will tell thee if he does...

[E.N. There is something of a deficit of correspondence after this point, as the court social season had resumed and the Ceredada returned to court, so Csethiro did not have to write to Emiro.]

Notes:

1. This letter is much-reproduced and very beloved amongst amateur and professional historians alike. The original still exists in the Alcethmeret archives, which is remarkable. The signature here is a monogram in the style of the ancient Edreveneise cavaliers, which Csethiro used as a mark in her personal correspondence and the reader will observe routinely instead of a typical signature throughout these letters. This letter is written in the Barzhad rather than the secretarial hand. ^(▲)

2. Min Terano Olivin, Csethiro’s long-term secretary. ^(▲)

3. Familial nicknames for Iru and Saleheio Ceredin, the two youngest sisters, who were often referred to as one unit, probably because they spent most of their time together and, if Csethiro is to be believed, also caused trouble together. ^(▲)

4. Hesiriän Ceredin, another of the Ceredin sisters and one of Csethiro’s ladies in waiting. ^(▲)

5. What Csethiro liked to call Csevet Aisava. Archduchess Lurino once recalled that her mother only seemed to ever call Aisava by his given name (like everybody else did) if something was going wrong. ^(▲)

6. There are in fact a number of Edreveneise half-zhashans featuring Csethiro in various museums. ^(▲)

7. Three Daughters of the Marquess Ceredel by Dachensol Gorenar is seemingly the sitting being referred to; the painting is currently in the Ceth’gallery, ER.34.670, Room 12. ^(▲)

8. Csethiro always referred to Edrehasivar’s household as ‘the boys’, being that there were so many young men running it. Later, her sons were ‘the toms’ and her daughter was ‘the mich’queen’, in reference to masculine and feminine naming conventions for cats.^(▲)

9. Nemer Cerezched, one of Edrehasivar’s three original edocharei.^(▲)

10. Idra is, of course, the then-Prince Idra, Prince Nemolis's son, still under Edrehasivar's wardship; the 'little girls' are his young sisters, Mireän and Ino Drazhin. ^(▲)

11. Edrehasivar's first maza-nohecharis; famous for killing Eshevis Tethimar on Edrehasivar's nineteenth birthday. Despite his slightly towering and folkloric reputation in modern times, his peers thought him mild, easy-mannered, and vaguely whimsical. He was also Edrehasivar's longest-serving nohecharis. ^(▲)

12. Lireän is the most famous work by Halsiro Cennavin, writing then under the masculine pseudonym Goëlar; it was a social satire and romance set amongst the petty gentry, and while somewhat derided as 'mere women's literature' at the time, it sold well, and it has only grown in fame and popularity throughout the centuries. Blanch-shows were a form of early drag and burlesque, usually deployed as satirical or parodic recreations of contemporary events or figures. Called thus both for their proclivity to make their more conservative audiences do just that, and for the amount of bleach they got through to replicate and maintain the imperial white of their zhas-costumes, they fell out of fashion as the form splintered into more specific branches, and specific impressions fell out of fashion in favour of individual tailored personas. In their heyday, Teralo Parazached made her fortune in the blanch-shows as the first and most famous impersonator of Edrehasivar VII (usually performing and touring alongside Reläis Techena as Csethiro and Calio Tenasin as Csevet Aisava) and was popularly held to have once been sent an ostensibly anonymous tip of three hundred muranei by the emperor himself, so he must have eventually come to understand it. ^(▲)

13. The Lieutenant in question is Deret Beshelar, Edrehasivar’s first soldier nohecharis for most of his reign. ^(▲)

14. Technically true, if a little deliberately misrepresented by Csethiro; soldiers stationed on the Evressai Steppes, during the border war with the Nazhmorhathveras (later ended by Edrehasivar in 1610, but at this point in his reign it was ongoing) put on mock operas to pass the time, and having no women, played all the parts themselves. ^(▲)

15. Second soldier nohecharis to Edrehasivar for most of his reign. ^(▲)

16. It is interesting that Csethiro expresses a love for the blanch-shows; Archduke Malha Drazhar, famously the most garrulous of Edrehasivar’s three children and not a man who ever became more discreet with age, also loved them, possibly because of his mother’s influence. Later mich’Drazhada scions, who took very seriously the dignity of their ancestor Edrehasivar VII and disliked pulp media featuring him, said Archduke Malha did not solely represent the interests or views of the Drazhada, and was of a ‘uniquely frivolous disposition’ and ‘lacked gravity’. One wonders if they would have said the same about their ancestress, had they known.^(▲)

17. This was Edrehasivar’s first absence from court, to a Cairadeise judgement. Technically power was left with Lord Chancellor Berenar, but Csethiro upheld both social and bureaucratic functions. ^(▲)

18. Csethiro sometimes took audiences with noble petitioners in the Untheileian during Edrehasivar’s absences, which was not utterly unheard of, but implied a level of power-sharing that had not been typically afforded to Varedeise empresses. It was also almost unheard of for the Zhasan to sit alongside the throne, rather than further down the dais, and Csethiro doing so was the topic of much court gossip (and, later, art; see the notes in the Introduction chapter, and the appendices). The attitude here suggests she was doing it on purpose to clash with petitioner’s preconceived disdain for treating with Zhasan instead of Zhas.^(▲)

19. There is no formal record of this marriage, which suggests that negotiations did indeed fall through.^(▲)

Chapter Text

PART 2: LATE 1598-1600 AEC

[E/N: This next letter survives in this collection in Csethiro’s own hand, potentially because she had to transcribe it to read it— it seems that the cypher was childish and potentially incorrect, probably because the writer of the letter was her michen-sister Saleheio.]

CSETHIRO ZHASAN THE EMPRESS
ALCETHMERET, UNTHEILENEISE COURT

Dear Csethiro everyone said not to tell but I heard Stepmother saying that Dach'osmer Doreshar is going to ask thee, SOON, if he can marry Emiro and he’s going to ask thee BEFORE he tries to ask Papa. ⁽¹⁾ He doesn't have to ask thee but he says it's tradishonal [sic] that the Zhasan say yes to highprofile [sic] court weddings but Iru says he's scared of thee and wants thee to say it's all right and Min Lirein says he probably thinks thou wouldst be more of an obstacle than Papa, if thou didst not think he was suitable. I told the Dach'osmer that if thou wast going to say no thou wouldst have gotten rid of him by now but he did not look sure even though he has made it almost two years without thee threatining [sic] to kill him. Please don't chase him off Csethiro it will make Emiro cross and I like him and thou’rt always complaining that Maia [sic] the Emperor is the only son in law so has to deal with Papa on his own anyway.

Write back and say thou wilt not be mean to the Dach'osmer and crush his hopes and also say if thou hast done anything fun at court and tell Hes and the emperor that I said hello. Miss thee, can we play Tericis ⁽²⁾ when we all come back to court? I want Stepmother to bring us now but she says not til Winternight. I am very good at Tericis now I have practicied [sic] and I could definitely beat thee every time. love Saleheio

TO MCN. SALEHEIO CEREDIN, TERAMEE, THU-CETHOR

Hullo Sal, 

Well well well, I knew I could count on thee for information when it came down to't, my dear. I will think on what thou hast told me; I will not be unfair I promise thee that. Tis lucky that Emiro is here and cannot read over thy shoulder, no? Ay yes we can play Tericis when thou’rt back. I am as poor at it as I have ever been because I have no patience, I am sure thou wilt beat me every time. I have taught Maia and he is quite good at it though, perhaps he could make thee a better partner. 

Thy lettering is good and I liked thy drawing of the dogs; give them all a pat from me. I am sorry Valmata got hurt in the hunt, but tis well that thou’rt making a big fuss of him until he heals up again. I hope thy lessons are going well and the two of thee are behaving for thy masters and so on and not being terrors… I am sure thou’rt not. ⁽³⁾ I am looking forward to seeing thee both back at court and then everyone can be back together rather than spread around. 

Some bits from Cetho for the two of thee will follow in a few days; but in here are the menagerie cuttings for thee, and give Frogs her pamphlets. I miss thee too, and Maia and Hes both say hello. 

[E/N: The following was not cyphered, and was a courier-carried letter within the court, marked with Csethiro’s personal seal. ⁽⁴⁾ It was written in the Barzhad.]

DACH’OSMER DORESHAR, 

WE HAVE HAD YOUR LETTER AND ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGIES FOR NOT PRESENTING YOUR SUIT IN PERSON. THERE ARE MANY MEN WHO EXPRESS THEMSELVES BETTER ON THE PAGE THAN BY THE SPOKEN WORD, AND WE WERE COGNIZANT THAT YOU WERE OF THEIR NUMBER, BEING THAT WE HAVE WITNESSED YOU WRITE TO OUR SISTER FOR AT LEAST THE PAST THREE YEARS— ALTHOUGH WE SUSPECT IT HAS GONE ON LONGER THAN WE KNEW OF’T. WE WILL NOT MORTIFY YOU BY TELLING YOU IF WE DO OR DO NOT KNOW THE CONTENTS OF ANY OF THOSE LETTERS, BUT YOU YOURSELF HAVE SISTERS, AND MAY GUESS AS YOU WILL. ⁽⁵⁾

WE ARE AMUSED THAT YOU THINK TO TREAT TO US FOR A PERMISSION THAT YOU KNOW WE OURSELF CANNOT ACTUALLY GRANT, BUT IT IS A KIND COURTESY AND WE LIKED YOUR SENTIMENT WELL. IT IS IMPOLITIC AND ENTIRELY IMPRUDENT AND WE APPROVE OF IT HEARTILY. 

WELL DACH’OSMER, WE MIGHT AS WELL TELL YOU THAT WE WILL FORM NO OBSTACLE AT ALL TO YOUR AMBITIONS OF MARRYING EMIRO, AND WE ENDORSE YOUR SUIT, WHICH WE HAVE EVERY CONFIDENCE WILL BE ACCEPTED WITH IMMENSE ENTHUSIASM WHEN YOU MAKE IT. IF OUR INTERVENTION IS REQUIRED WITH OUR FATHER, INFORM US AT ONCE.

WE WILL BE PLEASED TO BE, ALL BEING WELL,

YOUR SISTER,

CSETHIRO ZHASAN

TO THE AVAR’MIN SEVRASECHED, THEVER ERIZMED
THE CORAT’ DAV ARHOS, URVEKHARA REGION, URVEKH’, BARIZHAN ⁽⁶⁾

TO THE AVAR’MIN SEVRASECHED, GREETINGS AND ALL BEST WISHES,

I MUST OPEN, I THINK, WITH AN APOLOGY FOR WRITING TO YOU IN THE MOST RIDICULOUS FORM POSSIBLE; NEITHER MYSELF NOR YOUR NEPHEW BEING POSSESSED OF MODERN BARIZHIN, AND THINKING IT RATHER SELF IMPORTANT TO RESPOND IN REGULAR ETHUVERAZHIN, I HAVE CHOSEN THE ARCHAIC BARZHAD, WHICH IS FAMILIAR TO BOTH COUNTRIES AND I HOPE IS SUFFICIENT, OR ELSE THAT SOMEBODY CAN TRANSCRIBE IT FOR YOU. ⁽⁷⁾  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTER; IT REACHED US EASILY ENOUGH VIA MERREM VIZHENKA AND OSMERREM GORMENED. YOU WILL DOUBTLESS GET ANOTHER NOTE FROM YOUR NEPHEW, BUT I WILL PRESUME TO TELL YOU IN CASE HE DOES NOT VENTURE TO, THAT IT PLEASED HIM VERY MUCH TO BE THOUGHT OF, ESPECIALLY BY HIS MOTHER’S SISTER AND BEING THAT YOU KNEW HER SO WELL. I THINK HE HAS READ YOUR LETTER AT LEAST FIVE TIMES SINCE WE HAD IT. ⁽⁸⁾ I AM SORRY YOU WERE NOT THOUGHT UP TO VISITING FOR WINTERNIGHT, FOR I THINK ALL WOULD HAVE GREATLY DESIRED IT.

IT INTERESTED ME VERY MUCH TO HEAR ABOUT THE CORAT’ DAV ARHOS AND BARIZHAN; I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED VERY MUCH THE IDEA OF VISITING AND SEEING THE GOBLIN WARRIORS MYSELF, AND I HOPE WE MAY YET CONCEIVE A WAY OF MAKING IT HAPPEN. I AM A VERY BAD SEAMSTRESS AND BECAUSE OF THAT NEVER DABBLED IN WEAVING A BIT BUT YOUR METHOD SOUNDS FASCINATING AND I APPROVE HEARTILY OF THE NOISINESS OF IT DROWNING OUT DISPLEASING PERSONS AND CONVERSATIONS. PERHAPS I SHALL TAKE IT UP. ARE YOU ONLY ABLE TO WORK WITH CERTAIN TEXTILES OR IS IT POSSIBLE TO MIX YARNS? I CONFESS MYSELF IGNORANT.

THE ONLY PIECE OF INFORMATION THAT DIVERTED ME MORE THAN ALL OF THIS WAS YOUR ACCOUNT OF CPT. SEVRASECHED YOUR HALF-SISTER, WHO SOUNDS ENTIRELY MAGNIFICENT AND I WOULD LIKE VERY MUCH AN EXCUSE TO MEET REGARDLESS OF SUPPOSED LACK OF PROPRIETY. THE GLORIOUS DRAGON! I AM MAD FOR AN EXCUSE TO VISIT. ⁽⁹⁾

I OWN I SYMPATHISE WITH YOUR COMPLAINTS OF YOUR FATHER’S OPPRESSIVE FUSSING VERY MUCH. OLD MEN ARE SO TIRING, MY FATHER IS MUCH THE SAME. I HOPE YOU CAN DO AT LEAST A LITTLE AS YOU WISH WITHOUT EXCESSIVE CONNIPTIONS BEING HAD ABOUT YOUR WELLBEING; YOUR MENTION OF MAKING YOUR HUSBAND GIVE YOU ‘ORDERS’ WHICH ARE ACTUALLY JUST YOUR IDEAS AMUSED ME AND I HOPE IT IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO FREQUENTLY. 

PLEASE DO SEND THE PROMISED SAMPLES OF ROMAKI ⁽¹⁰⁾ IF YOU CAN POSSIBLY GET AWAY WITH IT. T’WOULD BE EXCELLENT. AND DO RECOMMEND ME TO CAPTAIN SEVRASECHED AND MERREM SEVRASECHED; MERREM PERENCHED AND HER FAMILY; ZER’MIN HOLITHO; TO THE GOOD MER ERIZMED; AND MY CONTINUED BEST WISHES TO YOUR FATHER THE GREAT AVAR. ⁽¹¹⁾

I AM PLEASED TO BE, AND WILL REMAIN, 

YOUR NIECE,

CSETHIRO ZHASAN ⁽¹²⁾

TO VEDERO DRAZHIN, FORAMEE, THU-ISTANDAÄR

Am sick with jealousy that thou’rt at Osmin Tativin’s little scholarly excursion in Thu-Istandaär without me. Oh yes, I am sorry I suppose that thou’rt stuck with some of them a fortnight, but good personalities never made geniuses, and ‘tis their work thou’rt there for, after all. Please bring me copies of all the best manuscripts and blueprints and so on, oh please do, and remind them all I want them all at court soon and will have salons and so on at which I would dearly like to see them. But do not make it sound like an order, I should hate to seem a desperate tyrant, how embarrassing. And some of them so much older than us! 

But tell me everything; art thou going to speak on Cstheio’s Girdle? ⁽¹³⁾ Tis right above thee there, thou must, and I wish thee every best piece of luck if thou dost. And please remember to take notes for me on the Poststructuralist Frechelar talk! 

I am sorry for hectoring thee. Am horrified I cannot go, but the look on Csevet’s face when I tried to suggest it was simply the gavel bang, it could not have happened. We are too busy here; I am inundated with correspondence from Mamas looking to make some long-winded play to ingratiate themselves, and with minute lords trying to sidle around me to get to Maia, so he can solve the problems they’ve created for themselves during the summer season. Back, thou beasts, back I say... I was very rude to Viscount Terezel. And anyway I admit I am feeling a little unwell as of late and everyone is being irritating, so perhaps should not have gone anyway. Have had megryms and nausea and so on, but presume it is merely autumnal gripes, from when all the grubby Dach’osmers bring their maladies back to court with them. ⁽¹⁴⁾

I will furnish thee with the court gossip, although I am sure thou wilt have heard of Iäno Relesin trying to elope with Becanel’s son, aiming to escape her arranged marriage to one of the endless Rohethada scions. They got blocked trying to board an airship to Valno, fled down to Cairado, then her father's guards caught up and now they're both under what amounts to house arrest. Poor things. Stupid in the extreme but one has to feel sorry for them. Rohethel took advantage of a visit to his grandchildren ⁽¹⁵⁾ to try and raise it with Maia, but Maia was snowed in with agricultral bills and not in the slightest interested and honestly annoyed Rohethel was trying to make it his matter. He was correct, it is not his matter, though I was interested, although for all the wrong + busybodying reasons. 

Rohethel is much reduced these days. Once he thought his daughter would be Zhasan, and now wilt thou only look at him? Haggard. He asked Maia again for his daughter's release and Maia said while he was not desirous of Sheveän being put away forever, he would not countenance her freedom while he still believed her unrepentant — but should her children wish to visit her he did not see why they should not, for it would be cruel to have her totally isolated. That was not Rohethel’s thought — he wants Sheveän out only for the sake of his house’s reputation, to which I say, for the first and last time, that I pity thy old sister-in-law — but Maia’s winning card was that he said all of this in front of Idra, and so Rohethel could not argue without seeming a bull to his grandson. Maia is cannier than he looks; he is bad at cards because he is uneasy about betting and further unhappy that we might let him win on account of being the emperor (I have done no such thing however; he is paying me back my dowry by now I am sure) but he is an excellent bluff and he notices so much more than he says. Idra says he might take his sisters to visit their mother once he has reached his majority but he seems uneasy about it, and I do not blame him. And he will have to take an airship, which for reasons very obvious ⁽¹⁶⁾ , I do not think he will like; and it seems an immense risk considering he is the sole heir. Maia told him to think about it and if he really wished to visit her, he would see what could be done. I think it is rash on Maia's part but he is too anxious about doing to Sheveän what was done to him + his mother to entirely be easy about it. ⁽¹⁷⁾ I would say it is the least Sheveän deserves, but I am not Zhas, no matter what the court men call me. ⁽¹⁸⁾ (I had actually assumed that had come from Csoru, but I suppose she is too reluctant to afford me any such power even in derogatory sentiments.)

Well, what else. The Chelemada have been making a great fuss and noise of late, and even came back early, because the Viscountess wants to put out her two daughters in this set of presentations (both at the same time, leaving no room for the elder to have any fun on her own… seems awfully harsh so, I thought) and she has been buying just cartloads of muslins and silks and brocades. Those unlucky girls, they have not a hope of a sensible entrance, they will come into court life looking like an opera curtain. Then again, I do not think many noble girls debut without misery. I was staggering in Mama's shoes with tissue stuffed in the toes; Csoru, much as I hate her, was done the indignity of being stuck in her mama’s gowns because her father was too stupid to think to commission her some — she, of course, got immediately commissioning her own clothes the second she had pin-money, and I cannot blame her for that. ⁽¹⁹⁾ But then, what does Celehel know about women?  ⁽²⁰⁾ Anyway, I shall be interested to see the debuts this season.

Thy story about thy grandmama insisting she is going to sing at thy cousin’s wedding ⁽²¹⁾ had me in fits — the Eldest Rose’s aria, of all pieces. ⁽²²⁾ Even Maia laughed at that. Dost thou think when families ascend to a Marquisate they all sign an agreement that they henceforth will be terribly, diabolically, embarrassing? But I have to admit, I would pay to be there. Can we have an excuse to go? I am sorry, but thou knowst it is always so much funnier when it is somebody else’s kinsmen. Tis the way. Maia finally admitted to finding my father 'amusing' the other day to which I said, finally, it has been almost eighteen months!

In fact speaking of clothes and buying fabrics, EM [Emperor’s Man] tells me that jewellers up and down the country have had Mamas and Dach’osmins in droves begging to have cauls, and they are at the milliners looking to have caps like I wear riding, and at the dressmakers trying to alter their skirts out of the sheath fashion, and get themselves hunting habits and britches in my style. ⁽²³⁾ Soon we will all look like a gaggle of Camelios indeed. ⁽²⁴⁾ I knew I could not hold them off for so very long. Damnation of’t. Now thou wilt have to take dress advice from me, ha ha ha.

Do remember my notes! All my best love.

EDREHASIVAR ZHAS, PRINCE’S PALACE, ROSIRO ⁽²⁵⁾  

Morning Maia et.al, will cut to chase and not waste time because I anticipate this letter being skimmed until I make some reference to my wellbeing; AM QUITE, QUITE FINE. ALL WELL. There now. Everyone can cease their conniptions. Especially thee!

Emiro’s wedding a very nice affair, all things considered, lots of fluff and fuss to please the bride, old Doreshel didn’t totally mess it up (if he had I would have cooked him). ⁽²⁶⁾ Emiro very cocky up until the last moment, then went bleach white when we went to make the ritual Csaiveise prayers and she realised she was actually leaving the Ceredada, so we all had a cry (we made our apologies to the Lady but I imagine she sees a lot of it), pulled ourselves together, and then went and got her married. Everyone including Emiro and Doreshar got drunk and giggly; I ate excessively at Doreshel’s expense and gossiped and won lots of money at Pakh’palar, which I will have to be satisfied with. 

Oh dear, am actually quite torn up about it all. Finding some sympathy with poor Father and his relentless sobbing at our wedding now. Tis very bad to imagine that one will eventually see one’s sisters off to all corners of the Ethuveraz. At least I get to keep Hes. ⁽²⁷⁾ Emiro made fun of me for crying, and could not even blame it on the baby for that is not common knowledge yet, even if everyone clearly suspects; the Marchioness was there and if I had said anything in front of her it would have been in Valno by noon. Played with Csathis ⁽²⁸⁾ a little while but then everyone started clucking about how t’would be me with ‘my son’ 'when the time came' and thusly I got quite cross and went to read one of my violent Barizheise bricks to calm down. Will be most amused if it’s a girl instead. ⁽²⁹⁾ (But how does everybody know? Does the whole of the court know when my monthly courses are, and that I had to let my stays out? Maybe Csoru kidnapped one of the poor charwomen to get the exclusive. Is anybody missing?) 

Naturally I then told Dorey ⁽³⁰⁾ if he made her unhappy I’d get him killed in a hunting accident. Emiro shouted across the room that I 'couldn’t say that now I was Zhasan' because he’d ‘think that I meant it’. As if I was joking! I can think of lots of good ways to do it, too. Unfortunately will probably never get to try them, because he’s a nice lad really, if a total fool. Oh well. (And he does love her, for some reason, even though she’s annoying and will make him go bankrupt in two weeks because she will bill him for all her damn shoes. Ay, I shall set myself off again.) 

As said, am fine, someone bring me back something interesting from Rosiro or else I will kill all of thee and really seat myself Csethiro Zhas, etc etc etc. Not really. Don't let Beshelar take that seriously. Best love + fondness (+ wishes for Rosireise candied ginger PLEASE.)

VEDERO DRAZHIN, MELOMEE, THU-ISTANDAÄR

Hullo sister, hope all’s well off in Melomee and the sky prospects are good + not cloudy. Thou hast been quite on the move as of late. How are thy maternal kinsmen? Thy grandpapa? Hope they spoil thee, Anmura knows thy father kept them in money enough — and so he should’ve done, squandering their only daughter on him as they did. It know that it must be passing strange to be there without thy brothers, though; I hope ‘tis not so bad as thou hadst feared, but I know’t so often is. ⁽³¹⁾

Will endeavour to be diverting by telling thee I have lately been extremely badly behaved. I am too proud to own’t to my sisters (Hesiriän already knows of course but has been wise to leave me be for a while) but I know thou wilt not laugh at me. Have been total lump + very cross. It is not even that I have felt particularly unwell because since the quickening I have stopped vomiting and although my feet + hips hurt, ‘tis not unbearable… but it is making me testy in all my worst ways. I was informed ‘in my condition’ I ought not to go to the Old-Town in Cetho for the Salezheise Dedication but the idea of being left in the Alcethmeret to sit and be fussed over was intolerable to me — so I decided I should make my bad mood everybody’s problem and thusly went out with Maia + the children. Mistake! Freezing. Utterly bitter. Poor Idra had to rub his sisters’ hands very quickly between his to heat them up, and I spent the entire thing tucked under Maia’s arm being beastly and finding fault in everything. Poor Maia, he tried everything to cheer me up but I was too in love with my own vexation by that stage and wanted to be mighty and disdainful. And my feet hurt. I didn’t snap at him but I was very aloof and cool and I was mighty short with poor Lieutenant Telimezh who was only trying to help me up the steps; now I feel terrible, for I have been trying so hard not to be cross with everybody… but unfortunately I have been awful these last few days. Grumpy and demanding. Beshelar asked me yesterday morn if I was well and I told him if I was asked that again I would drown him in the ceremonial fountain in the Rose Garden, but he took it with as much dignity and with as few reproachful looks as he is capable of (which is still, admittedly, quite a few). I really should say sorry.

It is not Maia’s fault — well, actually, it is his fault, but that's all one — so I should not be so mean, and he has been very good. If he has an obligation that clashes with my (often perverse and inconvenient, I know’t) will, he suddenly develops an inexplicable ability to bend it, in a way he had never done prior. He does as he is told, and sometimes as he is not told and just infers, and he buys me presents (mostly food, as I will’t). He is driving EM insane with his oscillating — but to be quite fair Csevet is also taking pity, for he will play cards with me, and gossip, and let my waves of maundering wash over him. Actually all my boys have been kind to me and I have been ungrateful. Feeling quite wretched. Thank the Fivefold Harmony I haven't seen Father these last few days, I should have bitten his head off. Then again he is very used to pregnant women, having six children as he does… perhaps he knows to keep his distance.

I know I am being very evil for a woman who must bear this at least another few times, but I do not like to be idle and I do not like to be cooed at. Despicable. It makes me very angry that my value has only been on the up since I have been In My Condition; I was ne'er so venerated. Not that there's anything to be done for't and I expected it entirely, but it makes me nasty of temper and ingenerous of inclination. I found a clause in an archaic copy of the nohecharei vows (I was looking up a cross-reference for Camelio) which stipulated they were obligated to also protect the Zhasan ONLY if she was 'certainlie with childe'. I was not, thou mightst imagine, impressed, but it was dated from 1256 so one cannot be too shocked. Maia went practically catatonic about it still being law though, even though I know it's being ignored by the current nohecharei because Telimezh nearly broke a few Osmer's arms for getting too close to me last Winternight ago. Ay, well. Tis ever so, is't not? We and our dead mamas know well. The currency is sons and we may hope only that Edrehasivar's gamble on Csethiro Ceredin pays for itself. 

But yes, Hesiriän’s entire job thus far has been shuttling away over-invested Mamas from distantly related families before I hit them. If I was to have anyone’s Mama flapping about me like a trapped bird with unsolicited advice, it would be my own, for she would laugh at me and not treat me like a convalescent — but since I might not have mine, I shall not have anyone’s. Why are we all in such a deficit of mamas? Has anyone a mama? Actually, I think Csevet does, for he gets these unbelievably neat parcels in the post room all carefully wrapped up in brown paper and string and the return address is a ‘Min Aisavin’ in Nelozho (was not snooping on purpose! was just looking for my letters). Might be a sister or a cousin but I think mother, personally. ⁽³²⁾  

In absence of any such mamas, may simply go whinging and crying to Kiru Athmaza ⁽³³⁾ like a michen — who will inevitably be so sensible I will feel stupid, but that’s healthy enough. Thank Csaivo she has agreed to deliver so I do not have some prune-faced doctor rummaging around like I’m a foaling mare. Thy father’s introduced fad for doctors is all very well when one has the sessiva but they make no such midwives. 

I remain thy bad-tempered and ungrateful sister who must go and shamefacedly make herself sorry at dinner, and inevitably alarm everybody when I attempt to be meek, because that is not my way and never shall be. Do let me know how goes Melomee and I hope my badness has amused thee. And PLEASE tell me if thy grandmama does really sing the aria. I shall shriek. ⁽³⁴⁾  

Sending thee my best love as ever + admittedly only presumed regards from thy brother, who last I saw was asleep face down on the divan in the Tortoise Room and Beshelar kept having to check he hadn't suffocated himself.

[E.N. The Ceredada and the Drazhada — and Emiro and Dach’osmer Doreshar — remained at court for the remainder of Csethiro’s lying in and for several months after, although a fragmentary letter from Emiro to Csethiro once they left survives, which has been reproduced here as a contextual piece;]

[…] perfect darling and I miss him already […] hope everybody remains happy and grateful and making a big fuss of thee &c [...] was saying to Hes that tis overdue reward that thy own son is a saint after we all terrorised thee for years. Sure he is not always thus but he behaves for aunties&c very well and thou hast not complained overmuch so he cannot be so very bad for thou’rt ever one to complain. Then again he is Tranquility’s son so one can’t feign much surprise can they? […] girl next time [...] be well, cannot be allowed to have too many boys, [...] against the grain is't not? […]

NOTES:

1. Somewhat true, but it was an archaism that was not usually observed unless the match was going to be unpopular or problematic, or if the women involved were ladies in waiting to the empress. ^(▲)

2. A sort of strategy board game using different coloured counters. Popular amongst noblewomen. ^(▲)

3. Csethiro often lamented the younger Ceredin sisters’ inability to behave for anybody except her or Emiro, so possibly this was a ploy to see if they would respond to her confidence in them, even from afar. ^(▲)

4. A cat rampant, armed with a sword, in the archaic woodcut style. ^(▲)

5. Anyone familiar with the dynamics of the sisters Ceredin can surmise Csethiro had probably read a great many of poor Varet Doreshar’s love letters to Emiro. ^(▲)

6. Thever Erizmed, née Sevraseched, was the sister of Chenelo Drazharan, Edrehasivar’s mother, and the elder daughter of the Barizheise Great Avar, Maru Sevraseched. She did not travel to the Ethuveraz with her kinsmen when they visited for Edrehasivar’s first Winternight on the throne, but she sent regular birthday presents to her nephew once he ascended the throne (and her niece once Csethiro married Edrehasivar), as well as a wedding present and quite a sheaf of correspondence; it is thought she had tried before to contact him and been curtailed. Here, she had finally gotten through via her illegitimate half-sister Nadeian Vizhenka and her maternal cousin Nadaro Gormened, who both lived at the Untheileneise Court; Nadeian as the wife of the Hezhethora Captain stationed there, Nadaro as the wife of the Barizheise Ambassador. Reputed as insane, Thever ‘did not’ travel (though whether this was preference or edict is murky), had her correspondence limited, and only married when she was almost forty, to one of her father’s minor courtiers, which allowed her to stay at the Corat’ Dav Arhos and retain her position in her father’s court. What exactly her affliction was is not certain, as the government of the Corat’ Dav Arhos avoided discussing her when possible and courtiers both Barizheise and Ethuverazeise merely asserted common belief in her insanity, but her correspondence is usually lucid, albeit tremulous and frequently rude — although not typically in a manner directed at the recipient. A full book of her letters and writings is available from Urvekh’university Press. ^(▲)

7. The surprisingly frank and self-deprecating, if still respectful, tone of this letter is owed to the fact that the Barizheise court culture was far more familiar than the elven one, and Csethiro seemed eager to adjust to her aunt-by-marriage’s customs and win herself goodwill. It may have also been a response to the immense flippancy in Thever’s initial letter. Csethiro also seems to think that Thever is being restricted by her father's court, and is obviously trying to signal a disdain for that without outright saying so. ^(▲)

8. Edrehasivar’s letter does not survive, but Csethiro's suggests he was eager to be thought of by his Barizheise family, something that was corroborated by the state visit to Barizhan in 1610. ^(▲)

9. ‘Captain Sevraseched’ refers to the Maru’var’s eldest illegitimate daughter, Shaleän, who was politely called a ‘captain’ but was really a pirate; the Glorious Dragon was her ship. Shaleän would later win the succession war in the wake of the Maru’var’s death and reign as the Arh’avar, the first woman to ever hold the title of Great Avar; her sisters were integral to currying support and spying for her. For more on this wildly contentious period of Barizheise history, see Osmerrem Pel-Derezmach’s Shaleän Sevraseched: The Glorious Dragon (Urvekhara Press, 1799 AEC). ^(▲)

10.  Wine popular in Barizhan and the southern Ethuveraz. ^(▲)

11. ‘Merrem Sevraseched’ suggests Csethiro considered Shaleän’s unlicensed marnis marriage to Zeveran Malnovared legitimate; unusual for the time, not particularly unusual for Csethiro. ‘Merrem Perenched’ was Shaleän’s full sister Ursu, a captain’s wife and shipping officer; ‘Zer’min Holitho’ was their half-sister, Ashevekheise votary Holitho; ‘Mer Erizmed’ was Kelru Erizmed, Thever’s husband. The editors suggest another Pel-Derezmach book, The Six Sisters Sevraseched (Urvekhara, 1795) for a comprehensive view of Maru Sevraseched’s daughters, both legitimate and illegitimate. ^(▲)

12. This letter survives because it was kept amongst Thever Erizmed’s extensive papers; earlier historians have accused her, ungratefully, of hoarding, but she saved many historians and archivists headaches by doing so, albeit that her personal and wildly unique filing system took Barizheise historians a while to comprehend. We are indebted to our colleagues at the Urvekh’university for permitting us to reproduce this letter, the original being in their collection. ^(▲)

13. Colloquial name for the major constellation in the south-west. Vedero was a noted astronomer and a collection of her papers, writings, and notes, some of which were spectacularly ahead of her time, were published towards the end of her life with Csethiro's help. ^(▲)

14. Csethiro was not ill; she was two months pregnant, and was either deliberately playing down the possibility (many Ethuverazheise noblewomen, especially empresses, did not let it be announced until it was completely undeniable), or deliberately ignoring the possibility, potentially out of fright. It is not actually alluded to, however, until a letter to Edrehasivar about a month later. ^(▲)

15. Duke Idra Rohethel, the Rohethada patriarch, was the father of Sheveän Drazharan, the late Prince Nemolis’s wife and the mother of Idra, Mireän and Ino, who was relegated on treason charges after attempting to overthrow Edrehasivar in the first year of his reign. ^(▲)

16. His father and Vedero's half-brother Nemolis had, of course, died in the crash of the Wisdom of Choharo. ^(▲)

17. Edrehasivar lived his entire life, before ascending to the throne, in relegation; first with his mother Chenelo Zhasan, then after her death, with Setheris Nelar, a disgraced barrister. It is not thought that Edrehasivar lived in any particular distinction and he was by all accounts extremely isolated. ^(▲)

18. Csethiro was sometimes disdainfully called Csethiro Zhas by courtiers, in reference to both her immensity of character and the belief that she had more than the usual empress’s influence over Edrehasivar. While it is true that her political opinion was probably valued more than all of the Varedeise empresses’ put together, it would be erroneous to suggest she unduly influenced her husband’s decisions, given Edrehasivar was markedly stubborn. ^(▲)

19. Csoru and Csethiro’s mothers were both dead by the time they debuted, and they were left to the slightly dubious sponsorship of their fathers. Csethiro was wearing cast-offs because the Ceredada’s coffers were tight from supporting five daughters, as well as the recent funeral and interment of their mother, and hiring more nursery-maids for the small girls; Csoru was wearing cast offs, in Csethiro’s opinion, because her father had not thought ahead. ‘Pin-money’ is an archaism now, but was then a slightly pejorative term for the allowance afforded to adult daughters and wives by their fathers or husbands. ^(▲)

20. Some marnis-theorists take this as reference to the possible mutual homoeroticism between Ceredel and Celehel, but it may also just be a reference to him being a widower and awkward with women. Or, possibly, both. ^(▲)

21. The Perimada were Vedero’s maternal kinsmen; her mother, Pazhiro Zhasan, was the daughter of Marquess Perimel, and had served both of Varenechibel’s previous wives as a lady in waiting. She died in childbirth with an infant son who died with her; some historians think this commonality strengthened Csethiro and Vedero’s relationship. ^(▲)

22. From The Dream of the Empress Corivero; an infamously difficult piece, even for opera singers trained to sing it. ^(▲)

23. Fashion trends at court have always followed the Zhasan, and it was no surprise that they started now to lean towards the stylishly martial. Csethiro wore an amber-studded net caul under her veil at her wedding, sparking a fashionable trend that had constant revivals, not least when her daughter borrowed it to wear at her debut Winternight. The caps in question were a sort of half-size tricorn pinned atop arranged hair, often paired with a hairnet or a caul or very tightly arranged braids; Csethiro tended to wear them riding or travelling. The hunting habits were long coats made in a more masculine fashion, with jodhpurs or britches worn underneath them. Csethiro was not generally reputed as personally vain, but she was fashionable and tasteful. ^(▲)

24. Camelio Carenivin was the only female cavalier of Edrevenivar the Conqueror, and was the standard (and indeed more or less the only example) of female martial, equestrian or hunting prowess. She was a great research interest of Csethiro’s, and a number of anonymous papers on Barizheise depictions and accounts of Camelio are thought to have been written by her, possibly while she was lying-in. They were not published until long after they were written, but they seem to date to the late 1590s or early 1600s. ^(▲)

25. Edrehasivar was in Rosiro for a judgement and various other political obligations; the timing of Emiro’s wedding provided an excuse for Csethiro not to accompany him which avoided raising any eyebrows. It was highly convenient and may have been purposefully contrived by the bride. ^(▲)

26. Emiro married Dach’osmer Varet Doreshar in late October 1599 with all of her sisters in attendance, later becoming Marchioness Doresharan when her husband inherited the Marquessate. ^(▲)

27. Hesiriän Ceredin was one of her sister’s ladies in waiting, and remained unmarried, although she did later become one of the first female literary scholars to teach at the Ceth'university. ^(▲)

28. Csathis Ceredar II, not to be confused with his namesake father, was the son of the Marquess Ceredel by his second wife, Meliro Ceredaran, and hence Csethiro's half-brother. He was about two here. ^(▲)

29. It was a boy, despite Csethiro's contrary imaginings; born Chenelis Drazhar on the 27th March 1598 AEC, honour-named for Chenelo Zhasan; later would become Edrehasivar VIII. ^(▲)

30. Emiro started this vaguely disrespectful nickname for her beau-later-husband, but all of her sisters picked it up. ^(▲)

31. Archdukes Nazhira and Ciris were Vedero’s full brothers, but after the Wisdom of Choharo disaster, Vedero was the only living child of Pazhiro Zhasan. Vedero was at Melomee for the wedding of her maternal cousin, as mentioned in Csethiro’s previous letter to her. ^(▲)

32. Csethiro is correct; Csevet Aisava’s mother was named Dalero Aisavin, an unmarried washerwoman and factory worker from Nelozho. Exactly how old she was when she bore her son is murky, but she was likely a teenager. Aisava was the first commoner to ever hold the title Master Secretary, and maintained his commoner’s suffix even when he became Osmer in 1612, when he was officially created Secretary of State, and he would have been reasonably entitled to Aisavar; his refusal confused and offended parts of the court immensely. Neither Edrehasivar or Csethiro seemed to mind, however. ^(▲)

33. Edrehasivar’s second mazo-nohecharis; the first woman ever accepted to the post of nohecharis. She had worked as a cleric of Csaivo for over twenty years prior and was already an experienced midwife. She delivered all three of Csethiro’s children with what Csethiro later called 'remarkably little fuss'. ^(▲)

34. The Dowager Marchioness did, indeed, sing the aria. Several diaries of various agonised Perimin granddaughters attest to it. ^(▲)