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The bedroom in the same house, a little enclave from the world (and as such, an indication of bourgeois status). The children sleep in the next room, except for the youngest. The gray door offers private access to the garden outside.

The young woman is wearing a bres, a band of cloth which binds more than supports the breasts, and lanika, whose name indicates the traditional composition of lanë 'linen'; the family however is well enough off that hers are made of silk-- a local product, but expensive. The man's bröca 'trousers' and hend 'shirt' or 'tunic' are made of cotton.

The clean, comfortable goosedown mattress and pillows are also a sign of wealth. A poorer house would have straw mattresses, and pillows filled with wool or rags.

The tall diagonal windows are typical of Verdurian architecture. The primitive Caďinorians used to build walls with beams at the corners and a diagonal lattice of branches in between, filling in the gaps with mud or plaster. If a gap was left unfilled it made a lozenge-shaped window. The effect is now done with careful joinery.


© 1999 by Mark Rosenfelder