Thiyo didn’t need that information. But he also didn’t want to get any closer to his real suspicion. He stepped around the question. “And they’ve never thought of exporting it?”
“Who would want it?” Sardas asked. “Surely you agree it’s an acquired taste.”
“I’m sure Alizhan would agree,” Thiyo said. He wanted to nudge her into reacting, but he refrained. “Myself, I rather like it. It’s not so different from some of the greens I grew up eating. There must be nostalgic former residents out in the rest of the world who’d like to rediscover their past with a taste of nightvine.”
“Perhaps,” Sardas said. “But it’s not easy to grow food here. We need it more than anyone else does.”
“True,” Thiyo said. “Still, I can’t help feeling that there might be a market for such a rare and exotic delicacy.”
Sardas laughed. “You have an enterprising spirit.”
“It would be best for sales if we could develop a reputation—if we could tell people that it had some special property,” Thiyo mused. For the first time during the conversation, Alizhan lifted her head as though she might be listening. “Like dreamweed or those calming teas.”
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to stick with your first approach and appeal to people’s nostalgia for their time here,” Sardas said, still laughing. “There’s nothing special about nightvine.”
Thiyo laughed to show that everything was in good fun, but he wasn’t convinced. Maybe Sardas genuinely didn’t know. Maybe no one in Estva knew, since “unnatural behavior” was against the rules. Or maybe the rules prevented anyone from discussing nightvine’s effects. If Thiyo could get Henny and Alizhan together, he could test his theory. And if he was right, that opened up a world of possibilities. If they needed to protect themselves from a memory-changer, nightvine was the answer.
Their silent meal was interrupted by shouting in Estvan. People all over the mess hall got up from their tables and ran to the huge double doors to hold them open, blasting the room with cold air. A crowd gathered around the doors and then half a dozen men dragged a sled into the room.
Ev had to stand up to see what it was. There was a man in the sled, pale and groaning, his clothes dark with blood and his left leg twisted at a wrong angle.
“They’re new arrivals. He’d just gotten down from driving the carriage and was unhitching the horses, but one horse got spooked, slipped on the ice, and fell on top of him,” Thiyo translated from what he was hearing in the crowd so Ev and Ket could understand. Alizhan had declined to come to dinner. “His leg is broken.”
Henny hadn’t even waited to hear that. She was gone from their table already, pushing her way through the crowd, shouting a Nalitzvan word that Ev had learned meant “healer.” She was wearing her brown suede coat, but her hood was off, and the brilliant copper of her hair made it easy to follow her progress.
She went to her knees next to the man and began to examine his leg, already barking orders at the people standing around her. Some of them backed away and others ran to grab supplies. The man let out an agonized sound as she touched his leg, and Henny reached up and touched his cheek with her bare hand. A simple gesture of comfort—except that the man relaxed so fully and so instantly that it could only be magic.
The hall went silent.
And then Pirkko was standing over Henny and the man with the broken leg, her expression grim. Ev bolted from her place at the table and shoved her way there, knowing what Pirkko would say. Henny was practicing unnatural behavior and would be sent into exile. “Please,” Ev was saying, before she even finished pushing people aside. When the crowd finally thinned, she nearly stumbled into the empty space around the wounded man. “Please don’t do this, Pirkko. She was only trying to help him.”
“So you agree she broke rules,” Pirkko said. She didn’t look at Ev, but instead let the crowd surrounding them see her stony expression. She addressed them in Estvan. Ev didn’t need to know the language to know what was being said. When Pirkko turned back to Henny, she said in Nalitzvan, “Go now.”
“This man needs my help,” Henny said.
“We have other healers,” Pirkko said. “Natural healers. You go now.”
Henny’s brown eyes flashed and she reached up and touched the wounded man’s face one more time. When she withdrew her hand, his face went grey in the absence of her touch. She stood, stared at Pirkko one last time, then turned on her heel and marched out into the Night.
“This isn’t right,” Ev said to Pirkko. “It’s not right and you know it.”
There was nothing more to say and the crowd was closing in, people returning with surgical supplies and other healers in tow, so Ev made her way back to the table. Ket was in the middle of a passionate monologue in Nalitzvan, addressed to Thiyo, of which Ev caught the words “Henny,” “Night,” and “die.”
“Go after her,” Ev said in Laalvuri. “Don’t worry about us. Henny needs you.”
“They’re our ride,” Thiyo said.
“They can go back to Nalitzva,” Ev said. “Zhenev will keep them safe. No one is looking for them to throw them in prison or execute them. Henny and Ket brought us here out of the kindness of their hearts, but they never signed up for more. We can’t go back to Nalitzva—and we need to head for the coast to book a ship, anyway. We’ll figure it out. Ket needs to pack up and go now.”
Ket nodded sharply and then strode out of the room.
“I’ll inform the city that he’s leaving,” Ev said. “But it’s forbidden to go to the aid of the exiled, and there’s no way I can convince anyone that he’s not going out there to help her survive, so that means both Henny and Ket have to forfeit their earnings from their stay.”
“By ‘the city,’ you mean Pirkko?” Thiyo said. “What happened there? I thought she liked you.”
Ev shook her head. “We don’t have time for that. Can you find Alizhan? We can’t go back to Nalitzva with Ket, but we need a plan to get out of here.”
“Of course,” Thiyo said. Then he grabbed Ev’s wrist. His stare focused on someone in the crowd. “Tell me that’s not who I think it is.”
Framed by the huge dark square of the open double doors and the crowd of Estvans in brown coats stood a small woman dressed in spotless white. The fur of her hat and her cuffs and collar was like new, unblemished snow, and underneath her white hat, her hair shone silver. Her slate-grey eyes bored into Ev and Thiyo, and her bow-shaped lips curled into a smile.
“Merat Orzh,” Ev whispered.
Thiyo’s grip on her wrist clamped even tighter. “What in the watery hell is she doing here?”
“Nothing good. And she’s already seen us. We need to get away from here.”
Merat made her way to Pirkko to introduce herself as Ev watched. There was no question of approaching Pirkko on Ket’s behalf now. Ev didn’t want to go near Merat. What would bring a Nalitzvan noblewoman to Estva? She had to be following them. But why? It was a long, arduous journey to a destination far less luxurious than her court apartments. Was the book worth that much to her?
“She won’t be as dangerous here,” Thiyo said, as though he were trying to reassure himself. “Not when everyone’s been eating so much nightvine.”
“What?”
“I haven’t had time to tell you,” he said. He moved even closer and kept his voice low. Mindful of what had just happened to Henny, Ev leaned in and listened. Thiyo took a step to get them out of the room, and Ev moved with him. They didn’t rush, just ambled away from the crowd and the main door and Merat and Pirkko. “Henny and Ket and I figured out that nightvine is affecting all of us. It makes people resistant to—well, you saw what Henny just did. She could only do that to someone who’d just arrived here. Someone who hadn’t been eating nightvine.”
“So it’s not that Alizhan changed, but that everyone else did,” Ev said. Her heart sped up. Alizhan couldn’t read her. Alizhan didn’t know what she’d done. But then why was she acting so angry? “So as long as I eat nightv
ine, she can’t—”
“Exactly,” Thiyo said. They exited the mess hall into a corridor, and the din receded, but they continued to talk softly. “You could kiss. I told her to kiss you already, but she’s in a snit about it. I don’t know what happened last triad, but it obviously wasn’t good.”
“Oh no,” Ev said. “Oh, smoke. You told her to kiss me last triad—”
“—and she went looking for you after we finished our shift,” Thiyo said. “What happened?”
“I, um—Pirkko—” Ev’s throat was going to close up. Her face burned and her insides knotted. God, why had she done that? Had those footsteps she’d heard really been Alizhan’s? How much had she seen? If she could just talk to Alizhan, maybe she could apologize. “We were in the hot springs.”
“Evreyet,” Thiyo said. He was far too amused. They were shoulder to shoulder. His hand was still on her wrist, no longer such a viselike grip, just a warm touch. The contact was simple and pleasant—nothing could have felt more like an accusation. Ev snatched her arm away. “My, my. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“I hate you.”
“Oh, I know. Refresh my memory. Didn’t you once tell me how stupid I was for sleeping with Aniyat?”
“We didn’t have sex!” Ev said. It came out too forcefully, far above a whisper. She and Thiyo were still walking close together, and he turned to smirk at her. He was one of very few people in her life tall enough to look her in the eye. “And you were stupid, and so am I, and we both have bigger problems to solve right now.”
“Yes. I’m well aware that the woman who had me thrown in prison and fairly well ruined my life has just arrived in this icy pit of a city, presumably to ruin what’s left of us. We should leave with Ket. It’s the only sensible choice.”
“But what if knowing what Merat wants helps us understand what Iriyat’s after?” Ev asked. “And leaving with Ket isn’t an option. If all five of us go, it’ll be obvious that we’re leaving together—Pirkko won’t turn a blind eye for me now—and we’ll all have to forfeit our earnings. We need that money to book passage on a ship. Because, as previously mentioned, going back to Nalitzva means ending up in prison or dead.”
“Ugh,” Thiyo said. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Where’s the book?
“Alizhan has the original. I don’t know what she did with it. My transcription—and my almost-finished translation—are hidden inside the copy of that drivel you borrowed from Ket.”
“The Sunrise Chronicles? You know I almost gave that back to him a few triads ago.”
“Well, it’s a damn good thing you didn’t,” Thiyo said. “After all the work I’ve done! I even took it apart in the bindery when no one was looking and sewed the new pages in. And to think, now everyone in the men’s dormitory thinks I read that sentimental bunk to myself before sleeping. The sacrifices I’ve made…”
Ev rolled her eyes. “Your courage is astounding.”
“Here, we’re almost to my room. I’ll get the book and then we’ll find Alizhan.”
27
Barsha or Kirisha
ALIZHAN WAS LYING MOTIONLESS ON her cot, her unfocused gaze directed at the ceiling. “Alizhan,” Thiyo said. “Henny got kicked out.”
She sat up. “Are we leaving?”
“Henny and Ket are going back to Nalitzva, and the three of us are going to figure out a way to get somewhere else on the coast,” Ev said. “We’ll walk to the nearest village in that direction if we have to. We have to leave soon because Merat Orzh just arrived.”
Apparently they were speaking again, because Alizhan said, “What the hell is she doing here?”
“That’s what I said,” Thiyo said.
“She must be looking for the book,” Ev said. “Thiyo says you hid the original. He brought his copies.”
“Is Ket gone?” Alizhan said. “I’d like to say goodbye if he’s still here.”
“He’s probably in the stables getting the wagon ready,” Ev said. “We can go look.”
Thiyo muttered something that sounded like “how do you even know where the stables are,” but Ev ignored him and he followed her without further protest, as did Alizhan. Ev had been to the stables on her rounds with Pirkko. Out of habit, she tried to chase thoughts of Pirkko from her mind, since Alizhan was right next to her and it would be rude to expose her to that. Then she remembered Alizhan couldn’t sense what she was thinking.
They walked out into the Night with Estva’s white and grey buildings looming around them, lit by a scattering of lamps and torches. Ev thought about how huge the world was, how desolate and uninhabited, so much of its surface frozen or scorched. The air was cold and quiet and she missed Alizhan talking aimlessly in response to her thoughts. When she’d shared everything with Alizhan, all she’d wanted was a little privacy, and now that she had it, Ev couldn’t remember what to do with it. Instead of relief, loneliness spread through her, crystallizing on the surface of every thought like a frost.
The stables were enclosed but the wide aisle down the center of the building and the high ceiling of the barn made them feel gigantic compared to the rest of Estva. Ket was hitching his horses to the wagon and he smiled sadly when he saw them.
“I’m sorry it ends this way.”
“As long as you and Henny make it back, we won’t be sorry for anything,” Ev said. She hugged Ket. “Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome. It was more exciting than anything that happened at Zhenev’s while we were gone, I’m sure.”
“Maybe not,” Thiyo said. “There are probably still people watching Zhenev’s. Erinsk’s, too. Be careful.”
Ket pulled a glove off one hand, raised it and waggled his fingers, his blue eyes bright. “I’m always careful.”
“Maybe you can teach Henny,” Thiyo said. Ket didn’t laugh, but Thiyo continued, “She’s a strong-willed woman, Ket. She’s not going to do what anyone tells her—not even you. You should think about that.”
To Ev’s surprise, Ket nodded. “I will.” Then he hugged Thiyo, going up on tiptoes to whisper something in Thiyo’s ear. When he broke their embrace, he said, “I know you probably won’t ever come back to Nalitzva, but if you do, you know where to find us.”
“And if you come to—well, who knows where I’ll be,” Thiyo said. “I’ll write.”
Even in the light of the barn’s hanging lanterns, Ket’s blush was radiant. Ev remembered then that there was a copy of Loves in Ket’s bedroom at Madam Zhenev’s. Henny had offered to lend it to her during their stay.
Thiyo was grinning. “Not that kind of writing. Not unless you’re very lucky.”
“I, um—”
“Let this poor man breathe, Thiyo,” Ev said.
Alizhan had been hovering behind them, but she stepped forward. “Thank you for everything.”
She didn’t raise her arms to hug him, but Ket pulled her into an embrace. Ev thought of him as a small person, but he was still tall enough to rest his chin on Alizhan’s head. He touched her fearlessly, given that she’d once knocked him unconscious. “I’m glad to have met you,” he said. “I hope you change the world.”
Alizhan had no response to that except to blink with her wide, grey eyes, and Ket smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Well, I can’t leave Henny to wait in the cold any longer. I feel I should say something final, like ‘sincere vows’ at the end of a letter, but our acquaintance started in a brothel and it’s ending in a barn, so that doesn’t feel quite right. Goodbye and all the fucking luck in the world to you.”
“You too,” Thiyo said. Ket pulled his hood up, mounted the front of the wagon, and drove the horses out the barn door. When he was gone, Thiyo looked around the stables. “You know, I don’t want to stay here, but there aren’t many people around…”
“That’s because we might as well be outside,” Alizhan said, crossing her arms over her chest and rubbing herself to keep warm.
Ev ducked into the stall that Ket had left open. “This is more p
rivacy than the dormitory provides.”
Thiyo pulled the stall door closed behind them, although it was only half-height. Then he removed a book from inside his coat.
“You want to read to us here?” Alizhan said.
Thiyo glanced around the stall and toed a pile of straw with his boot. “No.” He sniffed. “I’d never have come with you in the first place if I’d known things were going to be so dirty.” Ev scooped up a handful of straw and threw it at him. Some of it caught in his hair and he picked it out meticulously before continuing. “We need to talk about what you want to do next, but you shouldn’t make any decisions until you know what’s in here.”
“It’s the translation,” Ev explained to Alizhan. “Not that I’d mind if Thiyo finished reading The Sunrise Chronicles, but we could do that inside, where it’s warm.”
“Finally,” Alizhan said. She sat down in the straw without any hesitation, and Ev sat down next to her, drawing her knees up and letting her back rest against the wall. Thiyo remained standing, with another doubtful glance at their surroundings.
“The first key to deciphering this was the word ‘lacemakers,’” Thiyo said. He leaned one shoulder against the wall. “But after that, I started thinking about keeping records of secrets, and I noticed a few more repeated words—always at the tops of paragraphs, after line breaks—and I wondered if they might be dates. And they were. This text is a personal journal. The first entry is dated ‘Lyrebird shift, 30th triad of Orsha, 761.’” And with that, Thiyo opened the book and began to read. “I do not want to tell this story, but I must…”
The journal entry was from the point of view of a woman—Ev needed no convincing that the wealthy young Laalvuri woman described was a young Iriyat ha-Varensi, but Alizhan would resist—and it wasn’t what Ev expected. It was intimate, if a little pompous, and it was a portrait of a bored teenage girl getting shipped off to meet her betrothed and developing a crush on a sailor instead.
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