[Kratos has no idea how to own a slave. The leash will be long, in some respects. ... He does not like having someone directly behind him, at his heels; he especially does not like, when he glances back, seeing Yuan's head so bowed. But he frowns and says nothing, for now, only turns to turn and strides briskly through the shaded streets. After a moment, he shortens his pace slightly, to make sure Yuan can keep up.
[Triet is built for desert living; the stone is baking but the streets are narrow and the buildings tall, so that they never once actually enter full sunlight. The Knights' compound is one large complex built on tiny stilts, over running water channeled from the oasis.
[That, at least, is like home, except that all the water is beneath instead of above; but it's not so different to an aquifer, if bigger, and Kratos can't deny the effect it has inside the walls. When they enter, there's a difference of at least a dozen degrees, and turns the hot if shaded outside into pleasantly cool inside. The windcatcher towers draw in air to filter past the water below and create some movement within.
[The courtyard, such as it is, is more segregated from the inside than is Tethe'allan custom; but it's effectively shaded by the height of the buildings and the windcatcher towers, with the plants receiving sunlight only at certain times of day and with judicious garden planning. Still, at least there are plants -- though many of them seem to be grown in pots in the halls. ... That took some getting used to.
[Kratos nods to guards and passersby who snap salutes, and ignores the stares which follow them. He does catch one of the runners and requests an attendant to his quarters. There's only one Knights' regiment in Triet, which makes him the highest-ranking knight stationed here; and that means he has the best room, nearest the gardens around the oasis and with personal access to the courtyard and the baths sectioned off beneath the building. His suite is, effectively, a sitting-room, an office, a kitchenette in the event he doesn't wish to attend the mess hall, a spacious bedroom, amenities ... he is, at least, afforded a guest room.
[It's obvious to anyone looking in that the promotion is recent: most of his things are still neatly in the corner, the room sparsely decorated but for the furniture that was already provided, elegant and trim in style -- luxuriously economical.]
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[Triet is built for desert living; the stone is baking but the streets are narrow and the buildings tall, so that they never once actually enter full sunlight. The Knights' compound is one large complex built on tiny stilts, over running water channeled from the oasis.
[That, at least, is like home, except that all the water is beneath instead of above; but it's not so different to an aquifer, if bigger, and Kratos can't deny the effect it has inside the walls. When they enter, there's a difference of at least a dozen degrees, and turns the hot if shaded outside into pleasantly cool inside. The windcatcher towers draw in air to filter past the water below and create some movement within.
[The courtyard, such as it is, is more segregated from the inside than is Tethe'allan custom; but it's effectively shaded by the height of the buildings and the windcatcher towers, with the plants receiving sunlight only at certain times of day and with judicious garden planning. Still, at least there are plants -- though many of them seem to be grown in pots in the halls. ... That took some getting used to.
[Kratos nods to guards and passersby who snap salutes, and ignores the stares which follow them. He does catch one of the runners and requests an attendant to his quarters. There's only one Knights' regiment in Triet, which makes him the highest-ranking knight stationed here; and that means he has the best room, nearest the gardens around the oasis and with personal access to the courtyard and the baths sectioned off beneath the building. His suite is, effectively, a sitting-room, an office, a kitchenette in the event he doesn't wish to attend the mess hall, a spacious bedroom, amenities ... he is, at least, afforded a guest room.
[It's obvious to anyone looking in that the promotion is recent: most of his things are still neatly in the corner, the room sparsely decorated but for the furniture that was already provided, elegant and trim in style -- luxuriously economical.]