Chevalier has been in the grip of a deep melancholy for two months. Though his mind has functioned, he has worked without passion. It is as if he heart stopped beating two months before, at the gravesides of his family. Not only did he lose his family at that time, not only for the first time did he taste the bitter fruits of true failure and realise that courage, heart and skill cannot always win the day but the Coup de Gras was the irony of the news that awaited him. HesterusÕ death. The unattainable dream had come to pass but all Chevalier could think of was the fact that had he not asked the question of Kirior had he not acted when he did, a solution an accommodation could have been reached with a less intractable ruler that would have seen his family restored unharmed for a price that he could have paid. Dianodus it seems is a malicious puppeteer on occasions .

Still there has been much to fill his days. Planning his investiture as Duke as well as the future of his city. He has already decided to postpone his Coronation till Saturnalia day. The events at the end of this year have made an earlier date less than inauspicious. He has also decided to make his personal celebrations low key. Not blind to the affect on the populace that such an occasion can engender it will be for the majority, a day of celebration and feasting. All businesses will close and all will have that day off. He will use the excess of the treasury to provide vitals and at least one barrel of beer per street, supplementing any short fall with his own money. Good will is a priceless help to any ruler, and with this in mind he reads the census he had commissioned to find out how he stands in the eyes of the people.
Invites have to be sent to dignitaries and friends in all the cities save Sigismund and Cursiter, and even Sigismund has two. Ebron, if he has not arrived before hand and Jurgan. He does not expect Jurgan to actually attend, the fluid political situation in that city will probably demand that he remains on hand to act swiftly as the need arises. This said he is still ChevalierÕs greatest and oldest friend and it is only right to offer him the chance. The way things stand they will probably end up killing each other on the field of battle but it will be without rancour. Those whose station demands a place at the feast will expect a fine selection and variety of foods and entertainment and it would reflect badly enough on BishaÕs standing if they were disappointed for Chevalier to personally choose it.

Before the meal.
Presentation of the Salt. Containers of salt are distributed to the tables . The high table gets the best salt free of dirt, the lower tables get normal salt, mostly clean and the lowest tables get cheap dirty salt.
Bread and Wine . The basic staples of life are presented. Bread is freshly baked and coloured and flavoured red with rose petals, green with parsley and yellow with saffron.
Presentation of the Subtleties. The food sculptures to be served in course 12 are wheeled out in carts to be admired.

The Feast.

Course One
Fruits Melior. Plum, quince, apple and pear with rosemary, basil and rue in a pastry tart.
Entertainment One: Instrumental music by lutes, viols, krummmhorns, bells and drums.
Course Two
A whimsical hedgehog sculpture of chopped meat wrapped in carob pastry.
Entertainment Two: Shilac the Bard
Course Three
Almoundyn Eyroun. Almond omelet with currunts, honey and saffron.
Entertainment Three: Juggler with balls and daggers.
Course Four
Saumon Rosted. Roasted salmon in onion and wine sauce.
Entertainment Four: Minstrel's Songs

Course Five
Fruytes Royal Rice. Artichokes filled with blueberry rice.
Entertainment Five: Singers of ballads and motets.
Course Six
Agredouncy. Honey-glazed sliced chickens rolled with mustard, rosemary and pine nuts.
Entertainment Six: Dancers performing galliards (joyous leaping dances) and pavanes (slow stately dances)
Course Seven
Astrological Temperament Herb Cake.
Entertainment Seven: Mood music for the Four Humours.
Course Eight
Astrological Temperament Cheese.
Entertainment Eight: Songs for the Four Temperaments.
Course Nine
Dukess Wynges. Roasted chicken and pheasant wings.
Entertainment Nine: Sword and Illusion Magics
Course Ten
Elderberry Divination Cakes. Small crullers with imaginative shapes
Entertainment Ten: Seasonal Play.
Course Eleven
Circletes y Roundels. Small almond-spice cakes on roundels, platers with words or poems written on them which the guests should sing.
Entertainment Eleven: The Fire Juggler.

Course Twelve
Parade of the Subtleties. Ceremonial carving and eating of the sugar and pastry sculptures.
Entertainment Twelve: Musical instruments honouring the season or special guest.

End of feast
signalled by shawms (a type of oboe with a piercing sound)
from Medieval Holidays and Festivals. By Madeline Palmer Corman.

The oath of fealty - implied for all Bishan's, openly sworn by important personages

(The following is a description of Fealty)
It was characterized by a number of symbolic acts. The first was homage, the process by which the man knelt and placed his hands between those of his lord, so putting himself at the lord's disposal and under his protection. The next was the oath of fidelity, sworn by the man to his lord, sometimes sealed with a kiss. Then came investiture, by which the lord handed over some token of the fief to his new man. The bond so created was much more than a form of land tenure; it was first a human relationship, in which the lord assumed many of the rights and duties of a father and from which the man could escape only if the lord directly attacked his life or family. If the lord died leaving a child as heir, it was the duty of the tenants to maintain the heir's rights until he came of age; similarly, if a tenant died leaving children under age, their wardship was the lord's. Not the least of the man's obligations might be that of attending the lord at the great feasts of the year, which were at once parties, parliaments, and law courts.

The duties of the lord to the tenant were usually only generally stated; he was bound to protect his man in war and peace, in the field, and in the law courts

CHARTER OF HOMAGE AND FEALTY
In the name of Courgul, I, Weapon, Marquis de Meln, in the presence of the assembled nobles, Priests, and of many other honourable men, who have come to the temple of Corgul of Bisha, to the honour of the investiture of Chevalier de lÕEnfnal as Duke of Bisha: since his Grace, has asked me, in the presence of all those above mentioned, to acknowledge to him the fealty and homage for the castles, manors, and places which I hold from him as a fief, , I have made to the lord Duke acknowledgment and homage as I ought to do.
Therefore, let all present and to come know that I the said Sir Weapon, lord and Marquis de Meln, acknowledge verily to thee my lord Chevalier, by the grace of the Gods, Duke of Bisha, and to thy successors that I hold and ought to hold as a fief in Meln the following: that is to say, the castles of Meln,; and the manors of the Port of Meln; for each and all of which I make homage and fealty with hands and with mouth to thee my said lord Duke Chevalier and to thy successors, and I swear upon these four relics of Corgul that I will always be a faithful vassal to thee and to thy successors and to the city of Bisha in all things in which a vassal is required to be faithful to his lord, and I will defend thee, my lord, and all thy successors, and the said city and the citizens present and to come and the castles and manors and all your men and their possessions against all malefactors and invaders, at my request and that of my successors at my own cost; and I will give to thee power over all the castles and manors above described, in peace and in war, whenever they shall be claimed by thee or by thy successors. Moreover I acknowledge that, as a recognition of the above fiefs, I and my successors ought to come to the said city, at our own expense, as often as a new Duke shall have been made, and there do homage and return to him the power over all the fiefs described above. And when the Duke shall mount his horse I and my heirs, Marquis of Meln, and our successors ought to hold the stirrup for the honor of the dominion of the City of Bisha ; and to him and all who come with him, to as many as two hundred beasts, we should make the abbot's purveyance in the borough of Meln, the first time he enters Meln, with the best fish and meat and with eggs and cheese, honorably according to his will, and pay the expense of shoeing of the horses, and for straw and fodder as the season shall require. And if I or my sons or their successors do not observe to thee or to thy successors each and all the things declared above, and should come against these things, we wish that all the aforesaid fiefs should by that very fact be handed over to thee and to the said city of Bisha and to thy successors.
I, therefore, the aforesaid lord Chevalier, by the grace of the Gods Duke of Bisha, receive the homage and fealty for all the fiefs of castles and manors an d places which are described above: in the way and with the agreements and understandings written above; and likewise I concede to thee and thy heirs and their successors, the Marquis of Meln, all the castles and manors and places aforesaid, as a fief, along with this present charter, divided through the alphabet. And I promise to thee and thy heirs and successors, Marquis de Meln, under the religion of Orth, that I will be good and faithful lord concerning all those things described above.

Made in the year 915 AE, in the reign of King Tarkas of Trefato. Seal of Middleton Potts, Baron of the Stoney Mountains, seal of Baron Jaltra keeper of the Privy Seal, seal of Baron Rhialto, seal of Lord Fiddion Naan, seal Lady Gisselle Mullereen, seal of Lord Jason Tsac, seal of Baron Jedax Jorl, seal of Duke Chevalier de lÕEnfnal, who has accepted this acknowledgment of the homage of the said Marquis.
And I, the monk John, have written this charter at the command of the said lord Weapon, Marquis de Meln, on the day and year given above, in the presence and witness of all those named above. MUTAL DUTIES OF VASSALS AND LORDS
To Chevalier most glorious duke of Bisha, the High Priest Hendrus the favor of his prayers has asked me to write something concerning the form of fealty, I have noted briefly for you on the authority of the books the things which follow. He who swears fealty to his lord ought always to have these six things in memory; what is harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy, practicable. Harmless, that is to say that he should not be injurious to his lord in his body; safe, that he should not be injurious to him in his secrets or in the defences through which he is able to be secure; honorable, that he should not be injurious to him in his justice or in other matters that pertain to his honor; useful, that he should not be injurious to him in his possessions; easy or practicable, that that good which his lord is able to do easily, he make not difficult, nor that which is practicable he make impossible to him.
However, that the faithful vassal should avoid these injuries is proper, but not for this does he deserve his holding; for it is not sufficient to abstain from evil, unless what is good is done also. It remains, therefore, that in the same six things mentioned above he should faithfully counsel and aid his lord, if he wishes to be looked upon as worthy of his benefice and to be safe concerning the fealty which he has sworn.
The lord also ought to act toward his faithful vassal reciprocally in all these things. And if he does not do this he will be justly considered guilty of bad faith, just as the former, if he should be detected in the avoidance of or the doing of or the consenting to them, would be perfidious and perjured.