Apparently, the Queen did not collect tributes to sacrifice them for beauty and dark magic. (WhichSable had half-guessed, after My Lady's talk of training and luggage.)
Instead, they were all here to be trained in the same etiquette and subjects as a person in the upper aristocratic class might learn. (Which Sable had not guessed at all.)
According to Everett – "Call me Eve" – the Empress wanted new blood in the upper echelons of society. And so she took a girl from every village and city every couple of years and got them trained to fit into the same.
The palace was the Queen's domain and no one was of higher status than her. So it was in the Queen'spalace that the girls would be trained: All treated on equal footing, no matter where they had come from.
But, if that was the case – had always been the case – why had none of the previous girls ever returned?
"Well, you can return to your families, or at least keep in contact with them, if you want to, after you complete your training," mused Everett. "But – well, am I guessing right in saying that your village is rather small and remote?"
"Yes."
"And can any of them read or write there?"
Sable thought Ivy might be able to, but other than her... "No."
"And that's why," explained Everett. "If you got a better life after this training, once you got used to the luxuries in the palace, who would want to return to a small village? And you can't even send letters there since hardly any of them would know how to read. Besides..." Everett hesitated a bit before continuing, noticeably more gently:
"Most of the bigger cities and trade districts know about the tributes being trained for aristocracy. But even from there, most of the tributes who are sent are... girls whom their families consider a burden. I can only presume that is even more the case in the smaller, poorer villages... Like yours?"
Sable hesitated, then shrugged. Not a refusal, even if not an outright agreement either.
Everett sighed. "That's who we usually get. Children considered a burden in a large or poor family, or those who don't want daughters, a lot of orphans... A tribute can also be someone who would normally be considered impaired. But then that region must send two or three girls instead of just one – unless they can prove she is the only girl available in the age the tributes must be.
"But either way, the situation does not really encourage girls to reach back out to their hometowns after their training is over... So far, I don't think any of the older tributes have returned or tried to keep in contact."
YOU ARE READING
The Tributes (Sable)
FantasyEvery couple of years, a girl from each village, town, and city in the kingdom is sent to the palace of the Black Queen as a tribute. And this time, twelve-year-old Sable is the one to go from her village. Sable can't say she's ever been particularl...
