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Skaithosday, 8 Deichen, 1893 C.E.
Rebi, 26 Sajibu, 2157 T.M.L.
6 Ueuekayomatillstli, 13 Coatl, 6.11.2.1.8.3.14

Dear Journal,

It was fine when I woke up this morning, and when Nais brought me in my warm water, she told me that the carriage had already left to collect Cousin Mizti, as well as Axolin and Miztli's younger siblings Eloxochitl and Cuixtli, plus Eloxochitl's husband and child, from the airship port as they came in on overnight vessels. Cuixtli is coming home from school specially to attend this dinner, and Eloxochitl's husband has a position in a government office.

I went down to breakfast and met Miztli and Tekatl Umetlalliyaotl who were going out to their morning practice and exercise session. They advised me that they would be coming back for breakfast and then getting dressed for Tekatl Chicyoualixolin's funeral. I offered my condolences and, as I might not see them before they leave for the funeral, my best wishes that everything might go as well as possible on such a day. I believe that everyone is in agreement that I should not attend the funeral - I did not know the deceased, I do not know his family (beyond one brief encounter with distant relatives), and I do not know what would be expected of me as an attendee.

Matlal had just placed my plate of food in front of me when he had to leave the room to answer the front door. Then there was the sound of arrivals and people having coats and hats taken before going down the passage to the retiring rooms. The new arrivals started coming into the breakfast room about five minutes later. First was Cuixtli who, at sixteen, seems to have been a late last child for Cousins Ghrus and Poktlilui. He is the only one of the brothers to have his mother's nose. Next was Cousin Mizti who puts me very much in mind of Tallaig in his body shape and the way he holds himself - both of them must take after my mother's and Great-aunt Giltreeada's family. He and Axolin exchanged greetings with an emphasis on 'little uncle' and 'elder nephew' which I take to mean that Axolin is older than Cousin Miztli. [It cannot be by much.] Next was Eloxochitl and her handsome little son who is, I think, of an age with Tepin. Coza stayed for a few minutes to say hello to his grandfather and uncle before his mother took him and his nursemaid up to the nursery. [The nursemaid was still using the retiring room when they came in to see us.] The last to come in was Eloxochitl's husband, Yeiteskatl Quispe. Cuixtl took the seat between his father and eldest brother, while Mizti took the seat on the other side of his brother. Yeiteskatl arranged for his wife to sit next to her eldest brother, and took the seat next to her, then filled his own plate. Eloxochitl returned to the room and was ushered into her seat by Matlal, who then (after a brief consultation) filled her plate for her as he had earlier filled mine.

The new arrivals and I were all introduced to each other, and they were perfectly polite but were obviously and reasonably more interested in catching up with their closer relatives. This extended, of course, to the menfolk of Cousin Nhaida's family when they came down for breakfast. I made a good meal and then quietly withdrew.

I went to the office parlour this morning and found that they had not expected me. Mr Chicmacyeimetetlitecototl was very apologetic, and Mr Dhairaign was very complimentary about my transcription sheet for Ghaistonyc to Imperial characters - he found out yesterday that it was my work. They were, however, gently but firmly clear that my services were no longer required. Before I left, they did ask me if three names meant anything to me. The first was a prominent jewellery store in the capital - it's several generations old and they do prominent work for the Throne and Imperial family. The second was a well known lace making village whose wares I have not hitherto been able to afford. The third is, I think, the family name of a gentleman inventor involved in the recent precious metals problem in the eastern portion of the Empire. I have no context for these questions because I and my possessions were ushered from the room, after the clerks had individually bid me goodbye.

I took a few moments to collect myself (I had somehow not expected to finish in the office parlour so suddenly or soon), I took my things back to my room. From there I went down to the parlour with my Aunty Ssang novel.

By the time I reached the ground floor again, the funeral attendees were assembling. The two Jaguar Knights were very impressive in their regalia, and if I hadn't met them before I would have been intimidated. Interestingly, their regalia was the same but not identical. Cousin Poktlilui, Cousin Ghrus, and Axolin were also going, but the two Obsidian Knights were wearing tokens of their Order and not full regalia. I repeated my hopes that everything would go as well as possible under the circumstances and retreated to the parlour.

I was joined there by Yeitlaulli while Eloxochitl, Ghilhaidha, and the older ladies who did not attend the funeral visited in the nursery. They then joined us while the nursemaids took the children into the internal courtyard for some fresh air and sunshine - everyone wants to keep them in their normal routines so that they sleep at night. My lady cousins, Great-aunt Giltreeada, Nantli Yahari, and I discussed their families and my family at home. I learned the public, in the family, version of how Cousin Nhaida's first marriage ended and she met her second husband (it may have happened exactly as I was told, but I would believe that there was more to it than I was told) and they tutt-tutted over my mother's plans for my future. I was asked about the Forbaigns, allegedly a prominent gentry family in the east of my home province, and I was able to say truthfully that I cannot recall either meeting or hearing of anyone who claimed to be a member of that family. Nantli Yahari has a wicked laugh when she is amused.

We were a reduced table at lunch as the funeral commemorations include a meal. I sat between Chiccitlalti and Cuixtli, and learned a lot about the Confederation education system as it pertains to young men of the lower to mid gentry. Mr Dhairaign was seated opposite me and, it being lunch and informal, he added some pertinent comments on tertiary education from an instructor's and administrator's view from across the table.

The funeral attendees returned home about an hour after we rose from the lunch table. I had changed into my yellow visiting dress, unearthed my napkins and pattern book, and taken my embroidery down to the parlour. Great-aunt, Nantli Yahari, and Ghilhaidha (I suspect that she is in expectation of another happy event) were napping, and Eloxochitl and Yeiteshatl were out shopping, which left Cousin Nhaida, Tehaneume, Yeitlaulli, and myself to receive visitors until Cousin Poktlilui was ready to join us in the parlor.

Our earliest visitors of the afternoon were two long term friends of Cousin Nhaida who had heard that she was visiting and called in order to catch up with her. Both brought unmarried daughters with them, including several who are too young for husbands yet, but of course, Cousin Nhaida has three unmarried sons, the eldest of whom is my age. Several friends of Eloxochitl also called, but only stayed for a few minutes when they discovered that she was out. Crimson Blossom of the Ninth arrived just before Cousin Poktlilui joined us, and so learned that Lord Elnaith had attended the funeral as an Imperial representative - his reasoning, as Cousin Poktlilui understood it and translated into Coac-htl was that the Empire owed the deceased this mark of personal respect as he lost his life because of and trying to prevent malicious action against the Empire in Imperial territory. I am as confused as everyone else, and the consensus of opinion was that it must be something to do with importing illicit drugs into the Empire from the Confederation. [There are several plants here whose leaves have beneficial effects when chewed but which can be processed to produce substances with unbeneficial effects. (The locals regard this as a subversion to the Lady of Plants' gifts.)]

Lord Elnaith arrived, no longer dressed for a funeral, a little after that while the funeral attendance was still being analysed. He took advantage of that to identify several eye-catching attendees to whom he had not been introduced or presented to. In return, he told us that he had attended because the deceased had been murdered by members of a criminal gang belonging to the Black Worm cult while they were engaged in activities to further the cult's aim of vengeance against the Empire. Cousain Nhaida asked what they wanted vengeance for, and Lord Elnaith replied that he understood that Imperial forces had prevented the cult from wiping out a local village and hunting down the survivors. He added mildly that we are not always the villains. Apparently the cult leadership continues to regard the ongoing existence of the villages and the Empire as a personal slight to be eradicated. He then asked Crimson Blossom of the Ninth an intelligent question about her poetry.

Cousin Rudhain, his wife Cousin Teicuih, and their daughters, Necuametl and Xocoyotl, arrived just after Crimson Blossom of the Ninth left. They expressed pleasure at meeting both Lord Elnaith and myself, and then withdrew to freshen up, and see Nahuitlau and Yeixi, the brothers of the family. I suspect Tehaneume will be doing her best to make a favourable impression as she hopes they will become her in-laws. Lord Elnaith left before they returned to the room, but we received several more visitors before he did so. These included a trio of Hutitlahuatli ladies, cousins by birth to Cousin Poktlilui, and a committee member of Great-aunt's charity who was accompanied by her married daughter and two granddaughters. The granddaughters were interested to hear that the entire family will be in town shortly and it seems that they are friends with Yeitlaulli and have been for some years.

Lord Elnaith's departure allowed our guests, and my cousins, to comment more favourably on my engagement (and my betrothal) in terms they were not prepared to use in his presence. One of the Hutitlahuatli ladies commented that competence and intelligence is always an attractive combination. The committee member added, in an approving tone, that she had always liked a well set up young man, and when one of her granddaughters queried whether Lord Elnaith could still be considered a young man, she retorted that he was to her - and asked her if she would like a list of the sixty year old men of her knowledge who were trying to attract a wife of child bearing years. Tehaneume intervened by asking if we had made any decisions about the wedding yet, and I replied that we had tentatively decided on the church in my home parish. I cited its size as a reason, and added that it had the advantage of being where my mother and most of her social circle attended. The committee member's daughter asked if my mother was a great patron of this temple, and I replied that wasn't quite the way things worked in our parish, but that my mother was much involved in those aspects of running the church that most often fall to ladies' committees - vestments, altar cloths, flowers, cleaning duties, and fund raising for building maintenance and repairs. To say nothing of winter heating costs.

Great-aunt and Nantli Yahari joined us at that point, and as the tea tray was brought in, a question about what men's responsibilities in the parish are led to Great-aunt telling a story from her youth about a curate, money for new hymnals, a money-making scheme involving home-distilled liquor, and the storage of still fermenting alcoholic liquids in the church loft. I did voice the opinion that it could have been worse as apparently no naked flames were involved. Someone, a granddaughter I think, asked how the foundations withstood the violence done to the building and I pointed out that it might not have had foundations as some older buildings don't. One of the other parishes in Umbrial, St Ghulhivhair's, discovered that they don't and that the building remains standing by not much more than the grace of the Divine.

I completed what I consider to be a creditable amount of embroidery.

At dinner I was seated between Cousin Rudhain and Axolin. Cousin Rudhain and I talked about our families and our hometowns. Axolin and I discussed small items I might purchase for Lord Elnaith as an engagement token, and what I might reasonably expect to pay for a good quality example of various items. One piece of advice he gave me was to never buy a piece of purported xoukitekpatl (jade) based on the alleged value of the stone but be guided by the workmanship of the piece and its appeal to my personal taste. Apparently there is a long history there, and I do wonder how one would go about faking a stone like jade...?

Over our kasoohlt I learned from the other ladies that Cousin Ghraimh and her family should be with us for lunch tomorrow and their rooms have already been prepared for them. They are staying tonight with members of the extended Suchitl family before getting on another airship in the morning. Apparently it is a day of rest tomorrow where they are now, and I do not know how the Confederation makes having different days of rest in each althepetl work, but they do, Great-aunt, Cousin Poktlilui, Nantli Yaharis, and Cousin Nhaida spoke about grandchildren. Tehaneume was thoroughly sounded out by Cousin Teicuiti and her daughters, while Ghilhaidha, Yeitlaulli, Eloxochitl, and I talked about embroidery, household linen, and eels. They were all interested in what I had observed of the Kerajaan bed and table 'linens' in my travels, and I offered to show them my purchases of the same tomorrow. They were also interested to hear that we have no locally caught eels in Umbrial as they have heard that smoked eel, and eels preserved in other ways, are a staple food in parts of the Empire.

I started explaining why this might be so when the gentlemen joined us and Yeiteshatl, possibly out of excessive politeness, asked me to begin again. As Sura explained it to me, from her natural history studies, all the rivers along our (the Empire's) north coast have their own eel populations, with some even being different species. The elvers hatch inland and then make their way downstream to the ocean and then adult eels come back to breed and lay eggs in local streams and their environs. Then the cycle repeats. No-one is sure how long this takes because eels come upstream every year but because they have no way of identifying or tagging elvers in a way that will last, no-one knows how long each elver spends in the ocean to become an eel. This happens in the major river that our local river flows into, but not in our local river. The theory is that before the Age of Cataclysms, our river had eels, like every other river, but then the impact that created the Circle Sea happened, and our river was cut off from its mouth. Our river, because water flows downhill, connected to its new main river but 'their' eels don't know that our river exists. 'Our" eels, it is theorised, go upstream from the original river mouth and now spawn somewhere on the outward slopes of the Circle Mountains. Frankly, I think Sura explained it better, but Ceyouali and Cuixtli both asked whether you would be able to tell if a river was new since the Circle Mountains were created by whether it had eels or not, and I told them they would have to ask a natural scientist, because I had told them everything I know on the subject. Chicmacteskatl suggested that they could review the althepetls' annual produce reports if they wanted to explore that idea for fivers within the Confederation, and the two of them went off to investigate the sources available in Cousin Ghrus' library.

This behaviour in boys their age made more sense when i remembered my lunchtime conversation on education, and that they might both need to produce several researched reports on novel or self nominated subjects in the next year or two of their education.

I finished up the evening playing the city/town building boardgame with Miztli, Cousin Miztli, Nantli Yahari, Chiccitlalli, and Necumetl. Chicmacumetlaulli and Nahuitlau played shab-hab, while Yeixi, Tehaneume, Yeitlaulli, Tekatl Umetlalliyaotl, Xocoyotl, and Ghilhaidha played koh. The rest of the company played card games. It seems that the shab-hab game was just the latest match in an ongoing tournament between the two cousins - Nahuitlau is ahead by two games, but with the advantage to Chicmacumetlaulli in the next game. (?) Tekatl Umetlaliyaotl comfortably won the koh game, without overwhelmingly crushing the other players. Our boardgame was a group win with no one player outright winning on points. Nantli Yahari said that she thought that was the point of the game itself and congratulated us all on playing our strengths for the community.

Then I came up to bed.

Anadrasata Nearabhigan.