My First Tea Party at the Royal Academy
It was the day of my tea party with Solange. I cleaned my hair with rinsham and then had Brunhilde braid it up for me. My clothes and hairstyle were in accordance with the current trends of the Royal Academy, but I also had prominent flower ornaments adorning my hair and chest that would be visible even while I was drinking tea.
Brunhilde and Lieseleta had tried to do their jobs as attendants and gather information on Solange in preparation for the tea party, but nobody in Ehrenfest knew her preferences, nor did any of the apprentice attendants from other duchies. I didn’t yet know what sweets she liked, so I was bringing a basic pound cake.
“Nobody knows anything about Professor Solange,” Brunhilde said. “It seems true that she has not recently attended any tea parties. I myself never considered her someone to have tea parties with until you guided us to her, Lady Rozemyne. I would have liked to visit the library to discuss matters directly, but I unfortunately did not have the time...”
Lieseleta nodded. “As Brunhilde says, she must have been very lonely spending so much time without anyone to socialize with. Hopefully your tea party does something to assuage that. We intend to provide pound cakes with cream, honey, rutreb jam, and rumtopf as available toppings, so that she may choose whatever she prefers. We can also use this to ever so slowly determine her preferences for ourselves.”
Our plan was to provide a variety of options so that we could then make pound cakes specifically suited to her tastes during any subsequent meetings. As for tea, we had chosen blends that nicely paired with each particular topping.
“It is important that you ask Professor Solange what her preferences are during the tea party,” Rihyarda said, going on to list a number of other things I would need to bring up as well. “Do you have the topics memorized, milady? You cannot use your diptych today, so an apprentice scholar is going to accompany you to record the conversation.”
Philine was standing with us. This would be her first job as a scribe, so she was looking much more nervous than I was. Hartmut had been teaching and helping us during our practice sessions, but it was possible we might one day go somewhere no men were allowed to go. Most tea parties didn’t require a scholar standing by and taking notes on the conversation, but we were going to be scheduling the measuring today. Plus, I was intending to ask Solange for her opinion on my collection of knight stories.
...Well, that was the explanation we had given, at least. The actual reason was to give Philine some experience working as a scholar and so that she could write down Solange’s reactions to things as per Brunhilde’s request.
“I imagine this will not be easy for you, Philine, but I trust that you will do a good job,” I said.
“This is my first time holding such expensive paper. My hands won’t stop shaking...” Philine replied. She had been given some of the failed workshop paper that I normally used for notes. It was completely unsellable, so repurposing it as such was much less wasteful, but she clearly wasn’t considering that.
“Paper and ink are necessary for writing things down, so I suppose you will just need to get used to it. I could lend you my diptych, but those not used to writing in wax will struggle to keep their notes an appropriate size and identify which words to prioritize.”
Diptychs needed to be small enough to be carried in one hand, meaning there wasn’t much writing space on them. For that reason, it was better for Philine to get used to writing on paper.
“This is an incredibly important job,” Brunhilde said. “The notes you record at this tea party will inform how we spread our trends in the future, and how we find ways to catch the attention of those from other duchies.”
“Oh, don’t frighten her like that, Brunhilde.” I couldn’t help but giggle as I saw Philine hugging her paper, tears forming in her eyes. Everyone who was tense about the tea party loosened up a little at that.
All of my retainers were accompanying me to this tea party. Rosina was coming as well, but as the tea party was being held in an office connected to the reading room, it would be up to Solange whether she actually performed. Either way, it would be rude of me not to bring a musician at all.
“Am I forgetting anything...?”
I did one final check before leaving the dorm. Rihyarda had with her a cart, on which were all the sweets and tea we needed for the tea party. Brunhilde looked me over to make sure my clothes were neat and my hairpin properly positioned, while Philine made sure she had all her writing materials. Hartmut and my guard knights had seen us go through this process several times already, so they just glanced at each other and shrugged.
Wilfried, seeing me pointing around as I checked everything over, shook his head. “If Rihyarda says you’re ready, that means you’re ready. I’m less worried about you forgetting something and more worried about whether you can socialize properly,” he said, his concern clear in his voice. Rihyarda had spoken to him about my key weaknesses—namely that I tended to lose sight of everything when books got involved, and that I was missing two years of important life experience—so he was even more worried than I was about my two upcoming tea parties.
“Wilfried, everything is going to be fine. We have already created a list of non-book-related topics for me to discuss.”
“I think you’ve got it in you to succeed, but don’t let your guard down.”
“I won’t. Rihyarda’s going to be with me, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
The sweets and tea were prepared, and come third bell, we were on our way.
“Welcome, Lady Rozemyne,” said Solange.
“Thank you ever so much for inviting me, Professor Solange. I have very much been looking forward to this.”
We were guided into Solange’s office, where the table and chairs used for registering students were arranged in a manner appropriate for a tea party. There was Solange and a woman who seemed to be her attendant.
As Solange and I greeted each other, our attendants swiftly began making the necessary preparations for the tea party. Hartmut was telling Philine where she should put the ink and how she should take notes. Meanwhile, my guard knights divided themselves into two groups, with one guarding my back and the other guarding the door.
“Milady’s here.”
“No reading books now?”
Schwartz and Weiss entered the office from the work space in the library. They looked at me with wide, golden eyes and tilted their heads.
“Indeed. I am having a tea party with Professor Solange right now. We are going to be deciding some things about your new clothes, so keep up the good work in the meantime,” I replied.
“We will.”
“New clothes.”
I gave the two shumils some more mana, and then they returned to the reading room, their heads bobbing as they walked. Solange watched with a smile.
“Erm, Professor Solange... If you are concerned about the reading room, I would not mind you leaving the door open.”
“Oh no, Lady Rozemyne. There are few visitors today, and I am more concerned about the aroma of sweets and tea drifting into the reading room,” Solange replied with a chuckle before closing the door behind Schwartz and Weiss.
“What shall we do about music? Do you think the noise may leak into the reading room?” I asked. Ivory buildings tended to excel at dampening sound, but the door itself was made of wood, which was hardly soundproof.
Solange looked at Rosina and her harspiel and fell into thought for a moment. Then, her blue eyes crinkled in amusement. “She’s going to play those unique songs you composed yourself, yes? I would certainly like to hear one. I do not get to participate in other tea parties, so it has been a long time since I have felt such excitement,” she said with breathless restraint.
I glanced over at Rosina. “In that case, my musician shall perform for you a song that I was planning to debut at my tea party with the music professors. It is dedicated to Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom, so I believe it would be perfect for the first performance to be here in the library.”
Solange widened her eyes. “Oh? Would that truly be acceptable?” she asked, cautiously looking at my retainers.
I nodded with a smile; it wasn’t like I had promised the music professors anything. My original lyrics were in praise of the library, after all.
My retainers, who knew that I had thought up the lyrics in my excitement to visit the library, all struggled to remain stone-faced as they tried to contain their laughter.
“In that case, please do play the song after we have had our tea,” Solange said.
Rosina sat down in a chair that Solange’s attendant had prepared for her, and then readied her harspiel such that she could play the second she was instructed to. Rihyarda began pouring the tea, while Brunhilde laid out the pound cakes and decorative toppings on plates.
Solange looked at the pound cake before her, and then at all the supplements, blinking in surprise all the while. “What is this, Lady Rozemyne?” she asked. “I have never seen sweets quite like this.”
As expected, pound cake was considered an unusual sweet in the Sovereignty. I could already see Brunhilde’s amber eyes sparkling as she analyzed Solange’s reaction with keen interest.
“It is pound cake, a sweet that has quite recently become popular in Ehrenfest. You may find it is a little different from Sovereign sweets, but I hope you like it nonetheless,” I explained. I could imagine that someone used to the excessively sugary foods served in the Sovereignty might find pound cakes somewhat bland. “You can add cream and jam of your choosing. We have plain cream, rutreb jam, honey, and rumtopf.”
“Rumtopf...? Is that another Ehrenfest specialty?”
“The fruits are steeped in wine to preserve them. You may have something similar, but in Ehrenfest, we call it rumtopf.”
Solange looked over the finely chopped rumtopf and repeatedly nodded to herself. As it turned out, in her home duchy, they would steep highly acidic fruits like lemons in honey to preserve them for the winter.
“I would suggest taking a bite of your pound cake without any toppings first, and then pairing it with whatever takes your fancy,” I said, taking a bite of my sweet and sipping my tea.
Solange sipped her tea; then she brought a small piece of pound cake to her mouth. I watched on with interest, highly curious to see what a Sovereign noble would think. She swallowed, and then a smile touched her lips.
“The light flavor is quite nice,” she said, “and the mouthfeel is pleasant.”
So much butter was used in the making of a pound cake that nothing about it could really be described as “light,” but the clumps of sugar the Sovereignty dared to call sweets were evidently so intense that even pound cake seemed to have a subtle taste in comparison. I was aware that the Sovereignty also served tea that was rather bitter. I, on the other hand, was serving a softer kind that paired nicely with our sweets.
“You may add jam and honey if you feel the pound cake is not sweet enough,” I said, taking a demonstrative bite with each of the prepared toppings before piling cream and rumtopf onto the rest of my pound cake.
“Ah, so I can experiment with different combinations... I am excited to see what effect they have on the taste,” Solange said as her attendant started adding a touch of cream and jam to her pound cake. She took a bite with each, then broke into a smile. “I feel as though I could eat this forever,” she concluded. The sweets served in the Sovereignty were all exquisitely crafted, but even Sovereign nobles could only handle one or two in a single sitting.
Solange ultimately took a liking to honey and jam the most; as expected, the plain pound cake just wasn’t sweet enough for her. Perhaps she and the other Sovereign nobles would rather the pound cake be made with honey in the first place, rather than them having to add it on themselves.
“You always wear hair ornaments of that unique style, Lady Rozemyne. Have they also become popular in Ehrenfest?” Solange asked. “I haven’t seen any other Ehrenfest students wearing them before now.”
“My personal seamstress makes them,” I replied, gently touching my hairpin. “I first debuted them to the Ehrenfest nobility during my baptism, and ornamental flowers are now used to decorate not just one’s hair, but one’s clothes as well. This trend has not yet spread too far though, as they are quite difficult to make.”
Hairpins were essentially being monopolized by the Gilberta Company. They had been in production for several years now, but it wasn’t particularly accurate to say they were widespread.
“They look very cute,” Solange said. “There are many girls even here in the Royal Academy who are curious about them.”
I had brought all of my hairpins with me to the Royal Academy and was wearing a different one each day to demonstrate all the available colors. It seemed that my becoming a walking advertisement had paid off.
“My adoptive father has said that if our hairpins attract enough interest, they will be mentioned at the next Archduke Conference.”
The adults didn’t want us kids making significant business deals on our own, so as students, the most we could do was market our products. We would show them off at tea parties, hand out a few for free, and emphasize their good points. The actual buying and selling would be settled among the archdukes at the Archduke Conference.
“I am certain they will be deemed worthy of discussion,” Solange said. “Never before have I seen three-dimensional flowers on a hair ornament, and your glossy hair will only draw more attention to them. Might I ask what your secret is?”
“I use something called rinsham when washing my hair in the bath. It has spread like wildfire among the women, and I am hoping it can become a primary export for Ehrenfest, which currently lacks any exports of note. Aub Ehrenfest is striving to create a variety of original products to reinvent our duchy, and I wish to do my part as an archduke candidate by helping spread them to the best of my ability.”
The conversation settled down as we ate the sweets, and I used that opportunity to have Rosina play harspiel. A high note resounded through the air as she plucked the first string. Then, she began playing the song dedicated to Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom, singing in her graceful voice.
Alas, my library anthem has turned into a religious hymn...
Rosina had completely erased the word “library” from the lyrics after I entrusted them to her, but Solange listened quite happily nonetheless, her blue eyes brimming with tears as she enjoyed the song dedicated more or less to the patron deity of libraries.
“Splendid, Lady Rozemyne. There are hardly any songs dedicated to Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom. I am moved beyond words,” Solange said.
“I am glad you are enjoying it, Professor Solange.”
There were a great number of songs dedicated to the King and Queen gods, the Eternal Five, and the Goddess of Art. There were also many dedicated to the God of War, used to boost the soldiers’ morale, but there were very few dedicated to the Goddess of Wisdom.
Once the performance was over, it was time to discuss the measuring for Schwartz and Weiss’s new clothes. I wanted to get through this part quickly.
“Professor Solange, might I ask what time is most convenient for us to come measure Schwartz and Weiss? The sooner, the better, I imagine?”
“If you were to prioritize my circumstances, sooner would indeed be better... More and more girls have been visiting the library to see them. It truly takes me back to how things used to be...” Solange said with a warm smile. It seemed that the two shumils had also been popular attractions in the library long ago.
“Where would you like us to measure them? I was thinking we could do it here in the office, if taking them outside the library is not ideal.”
“Schwartz and Weiss have many expensive feystones, and they are equipped with a number of protective charms to prevent any potential thievery,” Solange replied. “It would be best to measure them in an environment you can manage carefully as their master.”
Just the thought of taking Schwartz and Weiss out of the library made me nervous, but if Solange was saying it was my responsibility as their master to take them into my care, I would have to accept that she was correct.
“So I can bring them to the Ehrenfest Dormitory?”
“Yes, of course. You are their master now. Please create appropriate new clothes for them both.”
“The truth is, I have several potential designs already. Which do you think would suit them most? At the moment, I intend to dress Schwartz in male clothes and Weiss in female clothes. It is already decided that they will wear flower ornaments just like me, as well as committee armbands, but...”
I glanced at Lieseleta, who promptly produced the organized collection of clothing designs. Solange accepted them, and then broke into a smile as she looked them over. “These are all very cute. I simply ask that you take care not to give them too many accessories,” she said.
Back when Solange had just started working as a librarian, the first change of clothes Schwartz and Weiss received from their new master had apparently included hats, brooches, and accessories galore. They were even given billowing sleeves to match those of their master, simply because it made them look especially cute.
“However, their hats would fall off whenever they were trying to work, and their billowy sleeves would knock the large golds being handed over as deposits onto the floor,” Solange explained. “It was quite the mess.”
“Oh my!”
“Even so, Schwartz and Weiss made no attempt to remove those accessories. We arranged for new outfits to be made as soon as possible, but until they were finished, we had a librarian dedicated solely to watching over them. Ever since that incident, it has been customary to have their sleeves go only to their elbows.”
My perspective on Schwartz and Weiss’s new clothes changed completely once I realized they also needed to be practical. The designs we had were very much focused on cuteness, meaning they would probably need to be adjusted.
“Speaking of which, Professor Hirschur mentioned that Schwartz and Weiss can only be touched by their master. Will it be safe for others to measure them?”
“They can be touched by those who have their master’s permission. That said, be careful whom you give that permission to; those who can touch Schwartz and Weiss can also steal or damage them.”
“I see. In that case, I will take the utmost care.”
Especially knowing what Professor Hirschur is like...
We decided on taking Schwartz and Weiss to be measured three days from now, and with that settled, I changed the subject by taking out my collection of knight stories.
“I am in the process of collecting the stories told by minstrels, by mothers to their children, and so on. You have seen many books, Professor Solange, and so I would very much love to hear your opinion on this,” I said, handing over the stack of several dozen sheets.
Solange blinked in surprise, and then started to look over the stories. Her expression was serious, though her smile never faltered. “It must have been difficult to gather this many stories. How in the world did you manage it...?”
“I had a lot of assistance. Children are raised on stories, so just asking them to write down what they remember can reap significant rewards.”
I couldn’t exactly say that I had baited children into gathering stories for me in exchange for learning materials, so I simply smiled and hoped that she wouldn’t dig any deeper.
“Do you think there’s a market for stories like these?” I asked.
“Who can say...? They are stories that children would no doubt love, but adults and older students in the Academy might prefer stories of another kind.”
“It certainly is time that we start thinking about books for adults. I will discuss this matter with Aub Ehrenfest.”
I was currently making picture books with Kamil in mind, but to establish a culture of reading for fun in the Royal Academy, I needed more mature books for the older students. My first thoughts were to evolve the knight stories into more specialized forms, having some with detailed fight scenes based on the feybeast data we had started to accumulate, some with hints on how to successfully play ditter mixed in, and some for girls that focused on romance.
As my mind raced with ideas, Solange finished reading the knight stories and returned the manuscript. I snapped back to reality and accepted it; then I handed it to Lieseleta, who was standing at the ready behind me.
“There certainly are many unique things in Ehrenfest, don’t you agree?” Solange commented.
“This is my first time leaving Ehrenfest, so I am not certain what is considered unusual outside our duchy, but if a Sovereign noble such as yourself says there are many strange things, then I suppose there are. What exactly do you consider strange?” I asked, wanting her opinion to help inform how Ehrenfest should market its goods.
Solange looked up at my hair before responding. “The product that makes one’s hair glossy, the hair ornaments, the sweets... There are many strange things. But what I am most curious about is the paper your apprentice scholar is writing on. Am I correct to assume it is not regular parchment?”
“Indeed. Parchment is made using animal skin, but not this paper. We are in the process of establishing its production as a major industry within Ehrenfest. What makes it special is that, unlike parchment, it can be mass-produced. My hope is that everyone knows about it by the end of this term.”
I was doing my best to preach the virtues of plant paper, as was the extent of my role. It would then be down to Sylvester to negotiate business contracts during the Archduke Conference. He wanted to know how much resistance we might face, and while we were now informing people of the new plant paper and ink, we were still keeping printing a secret.
“This new paper is cheaper to produce than parchment, but as it must be written on with a special type of ink, it is not remarkably cheap yet.”
“Oh? A special type of ink?”
“Yes. The ink used on parchment can be used on our new paper, but for the sake of long-term preservation, the new type is ideal. For simple notes and the like, however, either type will do,” I explained, noticing her interest.
“My goodness!” Solange exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes. “You use paper for notes?!”
“I receive damaged paper from Aub Ehrenfest’s workshops, which I then use for a variety of purposes.”
Fran, Rihyarda, and the others had also initially been taken aback by the idea, stating that it was a waste, but since I kept using it for notes anyway, they all eventually grew used to it. Honestly, it had been so long since someone had expressed surprise about my plant paper that Solange’s reaction caught me off guard.
“Official contracts are still written on parchment, so this new paper is primarily used in place of wooden boards,” I said. “You would free up quite a bit of space on the bookshelves if you were to replace the boards with it.”
“What a delightful suggestion. The lack of shelf space has always been a big problem for us.”
“If you wish, Professor Solange, I could give you a few sheets. Normal ink will last on them for several decades.”
I gave Solange a few sheets, which she poked and prodded with great interest. She was more interested in the plant paper than the sweets or my hairpin, but just as I realized this, fourth bell rang. Solange glanced up from the papers to look at her attendant, who gave a slight nod.
“Yes, Lady Solange. It is time to end the tea party.”
If we didn’t return to the dormitory soon, my retainers would be late for their afternoon classes. The attendants delicately but speedily cleaned up while Solange and I exchanged farewells.
“To think that fourth bell came so quickly... It seems that Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time has woven today’s threads with exceptional speed and grace,” I said. “I regret having to leave so soon, but I must depart.”
“It has been a long time since I enjoyed myself so thoroughly,” Solange replied. “You have my gratitude, Lady Rozemyne.”
“It certainly was a productive tea party. I learned many important things about Schwartz and Weiss today. I imagine it might be a struggle to find the time, but I would very much like to meet with you like this again.”
“I suppose I shall eagerly await next year, when you no doubt finish all your classes early again.”
I was pretty satisfied that Solange had enjoyed her first tea party in quite a long time. My retainers had their own opinions concerning what people would think about Ehrenfest, but we didn’t have the time to talk it all over right now. We hurried back to the dorm, leaving the discussion and detailed reporting for later.
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