Saba Colbshallow’s part in The Young Sorceress is mostly official, in that he is fulfilling his job as a Police Inspector.  He still has his moments with Senta, of course.  All that plays into the larger story going on in the series.  Here Saba and his wife have Senta to tea.

“Senta!”

The young sorceress turned to see Saba Colbshallow walking toward her, only then realizing that she was right in front of his house.  The Colbshallow home was a large, beautiful red brick house sitting back from the road in the shade of large pines and maples on a large fenced estate.  A team of lizzies was busy planting apple trees, which the young police sergeant had apparently been supervising.

“Hey Saba.”

“I was just getting ready to run your birthday gift over to you.”

“You got me a present too?”

“Loana and I got you a present.  Now we can give it to your in person.  She’s just getting ready for tea in the garden.  Come join us.”

“Who’s living in your old house then?” asked Senta.

The small A-frame house, which had been Saba’s first home and stood on the corner of the property, looked like a storage shed next to the newly finished home.  But Senta could see through the window that someone was moving about inside. 

“I’m renting it.”

“I assumed that, since I can see someone has moved in.  I suppose you can use the rent money to lavish your wife with imported fruit trees.  So just who is it that you have living here?”

“It’s Mr. Clipers, the Zaeri Imam.”

“And that’s not making your wife crazy?”

“Of course not.  She hasn’t been around many Zaeri, but now that she’s here, she’s become more cosmopolitan.  Talking of which, when I first saw you I thought you were one of the Zaeri girls on her way home.”

“Oh?  How’s that?”

“With your brown and white dress.  It’s just the sort of thing they would wear.  Anyway, come on back.  Loana will be so excited you’re here.”

Loana was in fact, not excited to see Senta there, though she covered it well.  With a quick admonition to the lizzies to keep working, Saba had led Senta to the garden behind the house.  Here a white wrought iron table had been set for tea.  Two matching chairs were in place, but Saba had quickly added a third.  He was pulling out the chair for the young sorceress just as his wife stepped out of the garden door followed by a lizzie carrying a tray of food.

“I didn’t know you had invited a guest,” said the new Mrs. Colbshallow, a smile tightly affixed to her mouth.

“I just saw her walking down the road,” explained Saba.  “Knowing how much you wanted to get together with her, I thought this was the perfect opportunity.”

“Yes indeed.”

Loana took the tray from the lizzie and sat it on the table, smoothed out her dress, and then waited for her husband to pull out a chair for her.  He did and then sat down himself.  Loana was wearing a lovely dress, pink with black brocade and a low neckline which was trimmed with a dozen large bows.  It displayed her charms nicely.  Loana was as perfect a beauty as could be found in all of Birmisia.  Her chin, her nose, her waist—each of these might have been found in an encyclopedia showing the perfect version of that body part.  Her hair was unusual, arranged in a very complex style, with each strand seemingly a different shade from very light blond to coppery red.  Her eyes were also multihued, one deep brown and the other hazel.

“I made plenty of food.  My Saba always has a healthy appetite.”  Senta thought she perhaps placed a little too much emphasis on the possessive.

“Your garden is lovely,” she said.

“Thank you.  It takes so much effort and it’s hard to keep up on a police sergeant’s salary.  Tomato?”

Sliced tomatoes were only the beginning of a lovely tea.  There was asparagus soup, turnip pasties, and a salad of mint, orange slices, and nettles.  Though not the overabundance that Loana seemed to hint at, there was enough for the three diners.

“So Senta,” said Loana.  “I understand there was some sort of disturbance at Finkler’s yesterday.”

“Oh?”

“How come I didn’t hear anything about it?” asked Saba.

“I’m sure that it was nothing that would involve the police,” continued Loana.  “Just a bit of shouting between two young women over a young man.”

“People are crazy,” said Senta.

“Yes they are,” agreed Loana.  “Some people hinted that you might know something about it, even that you might have been involved—you and a girl named Nellie something, arguing over your boyfriend?”

“Nellie Swenson.  Yeah, I met her yesterday down by the docks.  So we’re supposed to have yelled at each other or something?”

“Yes.”  Loana seemed to be losing some of her steam.

“People make up stuff about me all the time.  Mind you, if I found out Graham was spending too much time with her I might have something to say about it.  He gave me this you know.”  She held up the necklace.

“That reminds me,” said Saba, casting a glare at his wife and getting up from the table.  “Let me get your present.”

“You really shouldn’t have,” Senta told Loana.

“Oh Saba is very attached to you.  He thinks of you like a little sister.”

Saba returned carrying a small box with a bow.  Opening it, Senta found a pair of simple earrings decorated with tiny pieces of amber.

“They’re beautiful,” said Senta, pulling first one and then the other out of the box and fitting them into the holes in her earlobes.

“They weren’t expensive,” he said.

“When Saba told me you had pierced ears, I just knew we had to get them for you,” said Loana.  “I once thought of getting mine pierced, but I didn’t want to look like a tart.”

“You’re just as thoughtful and nice as everyone says,” replied the sorceress.