by C. Litka
07
'It was nice of you to invite Tey Pot to travel along with us. He'll no doubt be a very amusing addition to our party,' said Naylea, as we stood in the pine-scented shade of the inn's forecourt watching CarVori and his crew load several large picnic lunches from the Pine Spirit's kitchen selected by CarVori and teys selected by Tey Pot Wanderer into the cargo compartment of the carriage. I was pretty certain she was being sarcastic, just as I was pretty certain I hadn't actually invited Tey Pot to join our party.
'I don't recall doing so.'
'It sure looks like it to me. And if you didn't, who did? Aren't you the captain of this expedition?'
'I seem to be more the patron than the captain - at least until my gold coins run out. Which, given Tey Pot's taste in teys, will be sooner rather than later if he's to travel with us for very long.'
'He talks of traveling with us all the way to Marsh Waters. So, if you haven't invited him, you might want to mention that to him before he climbs on board. Oops? Too late,' she laughed. 'Still, it was sweet of you to let Tey Pot travel with us. I know CarVori is looking forward to it. One would almost think we were boring him already.'
'I doubt it. I've never known anyone with a greater thirst, and a greater capacity for knowledge than our carriage captain CarVori. You know, thinking back, It was probably CarVori who invited him along. The first thing he said to me when he met me at breakfast was; "Wouldn't it be a great honor if Tey Pot traveled with us." To which, I absently agreed. Which, I suppose, depending on how you look at it, was my okay. Oh, well, Py seems to have found a kindred spirit in Tey Pot, though I'm not sure what it will be like having two Pys aboard.'
'Amusing? Entertaining?'
'Yes, that. But I can't help wondering what sort of trouble they'll get us into?'
She laughed, 'How so?'
'Oh, I don't know. I can't help but wonder if our Tey Pot Wanderer is, well, sort of the type of weirdness that you claim I attract. Not that I fear him, of course, or can pinpoint what sort of disaster he could attract, but? I have a feeling. Maybe that's just concern for Py. I could see Py becoming a coin-less wanderer if in Tey Pot's company for too long.'
'Natta might have something to say about that? Still, it's not that we have a choice now, as if we ever do when you attract weirdness.'
'Well, he is a treasure trove of information about growing and processing tey on Windvera, which should apply to all of the Pela islands. I'm recording everything he says on my com-link so that - if we survive Tey Pot's company - he'll be worth his cost in tey when I set up shop in the tey business.'
She shook her head. 'Ha! That's just idle talk. You've had thousands of rounds to do just that, and here you are.'
I couldn't argue that, so I just added, 'Well, come what may, he'll be a very amusing fellow to have along for a while, though his poetry may be an acquired taste and his stories, a little ribald, his reed playing is indeed wonderful. It's strange how it affects the dragons. I've never seen them act like that.'
'Who knew that Simla dragons could be charmed by reed music?'
They seemed to be somehow enchanted by Tey Pot's reed tunes, swaying and humming, or growling very low in time with the music, acting, in effect, as a bass accompaniment.
'They are very strange dragons,' I muttered. 'Oh, well, hopefully my coins see us through to Marsh Waters. But why worry about that. I'm sure you and Py have gold coins sewn into the hems of your clothes or slipped into the soles of your sandals.'
'Now why would you think that? Laezans are not known for wealth. Tey Pot is more the rule and the exception.'
'Because you're advocates who must live in the outside world, often undercover. Besides, you had the treasure cave of the SaraDal's Prime Prince to draw on. I rather doubt you'd refrain from requisitioning a few of his gold coins to keep you in char-buns and lizard-on-a-stick during the Assembly.'
'As advocates we are expected to rely on our resourcefulness. I've not lost my old talents', she replied with a sly smile. 'Still, I'm sure Natta has her belts and sandals lined with gold coins. She is not one to leave things to chance, or to Captain Litang, which amounts to the same thing, in her eyes.'
'I certainly hope so. We still have six stages to go - twenty rounds perhaps.' (Not that we counted those anymore - there were no rounds - only meal stops and stage breaks.) 'And if decisions continue to be made as they have been here at the Pine Spirit, someone's going to have to supply the gold, or we'll all be forced to perform for our meals and lodging.' And turning to her I added, 'I bet you sing very sweetly.'
'You've never heard me sing. You'd lose that bet.'
'I have heard you chant, and you do it sweetly. I'm sure you can sing as sweetly as well. Tey Pot can teach you the lyrics to his tunes, the dragons can accompany you on bass. With Py providing the percussion. Trin, well Trin does not strike me as being very artistic, but then, who knows? Even though she's been revealing far more about herself than I would have expected.'
'That's for Py's sake, not ours.'
'Perhaps. I'm not as sure about Py as you are. He is not shy, and yet I see nothing beyond friendliness.'
'Brother Py is a bashful boy at heart, and a Laezan in blue. There is little he can do - at least amongst all of us - to show his interest with propriety. So you can discount his lack of overt interest. And Natta is as cerebral and reserved as they come, so you might be forgiven in missing her wishful gazes - they are brief and covert. But they are exchanged. She is along with us as much for Py as for the Saraime.'
'I must take your word for that, Naylea. I seem to catch very few wishful gazes from you, so I must be blind to such glances.'
'You see none, because there are none.'
'Truth is the True Way, Naylea. There are some. A few, but some. In any event, I think Trin will continue on as our business manager when we are forced to become a troupe of performers to pay our way to Marsh Waters.'
'And you?'
'I shall be the master of ceremonies. "Come one, come all! Hear the masterful reed playing of the legendary Tey Pot Wanderer and the ethereal singing of the fine-feathered barbarian maiden, Naylea!"'
'Maiden?'
'This is show business, my dear.'
'Truth is the True Way, Litang,' she laughed. 'Hopefully it won't come to that - if you remember how to be Captain Litang and take charge of this expedition.'
'I don't think that would help. Chief Engineer Wilitang might be better at it.'
'And if not?'
'Then I may be able to hear how sweetly you sing.'
She gave me the briefest smile and look - not wishful, perhaps, but it went straight to my heart.
And so, Tey Pot Wanderer, someday a legend, joined our party, and between his banter, his passion for tey, his stories, poems and perhaps, above all, his reed playing, he was worth every coin he cost me. And more. And, as predicted, he did make it interesting.
We made our fourth stage stop on the broad, fertile plains of Risdaran, the "western" most province of Taravin within the vague shadow of the towering city-fortress of Risdaran itself. Afterward, we continued on across the vast plains of Windvera - the same farm fields and small wooded copses stretching out to the low horizon in every direction. The same distant fallen rocks, and the same drifting rain clouds. Still, in the bounding cabin of the carriage, it was always different. Talk, song, and reed playing made the time fly for us until we put the straight road behind us and started climbing into the fissure folds of the Taravin plate, towards the great chasm of Kanderee.