Respectant

by Florian Armaselu

  Saliné merely nodded, trying to take in the implications. Once breakfast ended, and the daily routine claimed Foy and Eduin, she thought would prefer to attend to their affairs without a stranger meddling. She went to her room with Eduin’s promise that he would come later and take her to the stable.

  “Son, I don’t remember the northern passes being closed so early. Winter is not yet here, and tomorrow it will probably rain,” Foy said, when Saliné was gone. His hazel eyes glittered, and his intelligent face showed a trace of amusement.

  “Perhaps, but the roads are already dangerous for young ladies.”

  “Started to change your mind about a new mistress?”

  “No, but the winter is long; a bit of distraction would do no harm.”

  “What do you think now, Idonie?” Foy turned toward his niece.

  “There is always something behind a Vision. A meaning. Vio may be an important person, or she may become important for the House of Laurden. It looks to me that Eduin thinks the latter.”

  “Am I so transparent?”

  “Men are always transparent in this kind of situation.” They grimaced at each other, as they had so many times in their childhood, and burst into laughter. “Whatever Foy thinks about men and Light, there is a bit of it in you. Being a man and untrained, your Light acts erratically. You went to Siecle against your father’s will, and that doesn’t happen often. On the road back, you had that sudden impulse to take the western road to Laurden, which is longer. You found Vio there. You risked your life to save her. There is a meaning in all this, but I don’t see it yet. Keep her here until spring. She is safe in Laurden, and we will know more by then. You may want to keep her safe from Eduin too.” She turned to Foy and made a mock pleading face.

  “Do you think so badly of me?” Eduin asked, frowning heavily, but his eyes were laughing.

  “I received a letter from Maud. She was asking about the Candidate King and Queen,” Foy said.

  Idonie’s face changed, and she was lost to them for a while. “I’ve had a new Vision,” she said after a while. “There was nothing in it about the Candidate Queen, but Arnauld may cause problems for Vio. He will come to the Winter Solstice Party.” Why have I the feeling that Vio is related to the Candidate Queen? And what made the Candidate King run from Severin? Idonie belonged to the second Wanderer Hive in Frankis, the smallest one, built in Pirenes Mountains. News about what happened in Severin arrived there two days after she had left the Hive to visit her family. She knew about Codrin from Dochia, and that he was important to the Wanderers. She did not know that he was the new Grand Seigneur of Severin. Neither knew Foy. Severin was a small place, and too far from Laurden. He will learn about it later.

  “I invited him,” Foy said, “and your brother is always a problem where beautiful girls are concerned.”

  “No surprise here, he is Eduin’s cousin after all.” Idonie jumped from her chair, when Eduin sprang toward her, and they ran around the table. She let him catch her, and he embraced, then lifted her, turning her in the air twice. “I miss Laurden,” she said after Eduin released her, like he was playing with a child, “my big cousin here, and my family. Sometimes, it’s not easy to be a Wanderer.” I will never marry and have children. Eduin is a kind man. I would have like a husband like him. Joffroy... she sighed, remembering the man who once she dreamed of marrying. Maybe Vio is meant for Eduin.

  When she was sixteen, and her parents started to search a husband for her, she had suggested Joffroy, the son of Seigneur Pierre, who was the Spatar of Tolosa. They had met in Laurden the year before, and they liked each other. For a reason still unknown to Idonie, her father pushed her to marry Cambio, the son of a powerful Knight in the south, and their neighbor. Later, she thought that perhaps her family did not think she could marry into a Seigneur’s family. Even though her uncle was a Seigneur, Idonie was just a Knight’s daughter. Negotiations went on over the course of a week, in Laurden. One evening, Cambio tried to rape Idonie, and it was Eduin who saved her. She cried a lot in his arms that evening. Her father continued the negotiations, as if nothing had happened, though she asked him to stop the marriage negotiations.

  “We don’t marry for love, Jaquine.” Her father brushed away her complaints about Cambio. We marry out of duty. Love will come later, as it came between your mother and me.” She was still Jaquine then, not Idonie; she took her new name when she became a Wanderer.

  A week later, she has chosen to join the Wanderers. He parents were furious, but they could not afford to oppose the powerful order. The day she left her home to join the Wanderers, she told them the reason she had accepted the Wanderers’ offer; she could not marry the man who tried to rape her. They were shocked, because they did not think of things from that angle, but it was now too late to agree with her. She later heard that Joffroy was also unhappy when she joined the Wanderers, but two years later, he started to court another girl. It felt strange to Idonie that she resented such a normal thing; the Wanderers could not marry, and she was lost to him.

  Both Eduin and his father sensed that she was wandering, and they thought that a new Vision was coming to her. There were two Visions occupying her mind, but they were not new. Idonie knew that Saliné had killed a man; she saw their last moments together, and she also heard the conversation between Guiscard and the priest, when they said that the girl had been kidnapped, and the man who kidnapped her forced her into his bed before the marriage. Her past bad experience with Cambio made her hide both Visions from Eduin, and even more from Foy. With her Wanderer senses, she felt that Saliné was a kind woman, with a sad past, who deserved better and, just like Eduin, Idonie felt she was important too.

  “So, you took care that Vio has everything she needs.” Idonie went out from her inner trance and turned toward them.

  “Yes,” Foy said, surprised by her half-amused tone.

  “And will she have only that riding costume to dress in?”

  “Dress... Why? If you ask me, she doesn’t need to be...” Eduin could not continue as Idonie slapped the back of his head, and he let out a cheerful peal of laughter.

  “Men, they only dream of naked girls. Take good care of her, Eduin, or I will have some nasty Visions about you.”

  After she visited the stables with Eduin and Idonie, and saw that her mare was well looked after, Saliné went to eat lunch in the kitchen, with the servants; no one had told her where to eat, and an unexpected courier delayed Foy and Eduin. It was a separate place, built in the left wing of the castle, a kind of kingdom inside a kingdom where Norma, the Chef of the palace, reigned. Norma knew that Saliné had eaten with the S’Laurdens in the morning, but she said nothing. She took care to arrange a separate table and treated Saliné like an important guest, not a servant.

  “The Mother Storm I got caught in, was it a particularly strong one?” Saliné asked, when she felt confident that she had formed a small bond with Norma. “I’ve never seen such a storm before.”

  “It was of normal strength, but it came a month earlier than usual.”

  I am always lucky, Saliné sighed. “I suppose that Laurden is now cut off.”

  “Not at all. Tomorrow it will probably rain. The passes are fully blocked only deep in winter, but they can be dangerous for a few weeks before.”

  Eduin lied to me, but if he thinks to force me becoming his mistress... Maybe I can leave in two or three weeks. I need to recover first, and preparations may take a while. Laurden is a Seigneury, not a small place like Castis. “I suppose that you have hard winters here.” Saliné found refuge in the usual small talk about weather. Norma kept her entertained with a few stories, and that improved her knowledge of Laurden and its owners.

  The S’Laurdens gathered for lunch later than usual. Waiting for Saliné, they did not start to eat. After a while, Eduin got up and went to her room, only to find it empty. He asked some servants, then some guards, and they asked more people, but no one knew Saliné’s whereabouts, mostly because almost no one knew her. Seei
ng Eduin’s irritation, a young guard panicked and called the alarm. Armed men ran through the palace, patrolling the designated areas, none of them knowing what the danger was and what should they look for. Hearing the noise of marching men, Foy left the dining room in a hurry, fearing that Saliné had run away.

  Soon, patrols ran through the city, the gate was closed, and Foy asked for horses, thinking that the bird had already flown. Eduin was already in his fighting gear, when a young servant from the kitchen came out and asked what was happening.

  “Lady Vio is missing,” a soldier whispered. “We are going out of the city to find her.”

  The servant, a sixteen-year-old girl, took off at a run. She saw Eduin, ready to leave the palace, and ran even faster. “Sir,” she gasped, catching him only a few steps out of the palace.

  “I don’t have time now,” Eduin dismissed her, and walked hastily away.

  She swallowed her fear and acted quickly, before things could degenerate further. “Vio is in the kitchen!” she shouted.

  Eduin stopped; the soldiers stopped, and every sound died in front of the palace. He turned slowly toward the servant. “What?”

  “Yes, Sir, Lady Vio is in the kitchen.”

  Eduin looked at her, and the girl tried to make herself small under his intense star. Then he laughed. “Take me to her.” Feeling her fear, Eduin placed a reassuring arm on her shoulder, and turned her gently toward the kitchen, to where they walked together. “Stop what you are doing and tell Father the news,” he said to the soldiers.

  He found Saliné eating alone at her table, Norma keeping her company, in a chair next to her, telling stories about the palace and the town. “What is the meaning of this, Norma? Since when do my guests eat in the kitchen?”

  Norma tried to answer, but Saliné placed her hand over hers. “I came here, Eduin,” Saliné said gently, though there was firmness in her voice. “I was hungry, and what place better to eat than the kitchen? And Norma is a fine storyteller. I have enjoyed her company.”

  “My apologies, Norma. I think this is my fault. Vio,” Eduin said, “I should have told you to come and eat with us. Someone raised the alarm, because we thought that you ... that you were lost in the city,” he said sheepishly.

  “I suppose I should be grateful for your concern.” There was a hint of amusement in her voice.

  “Please come with me, Vio, we are all hungry, even if you are not.” Eduin extended his arm, and clasping her hand, pulled her gently to her feet.

  “Thank you, Norma,” Saliné said, led by Eduin as they walked together – it did not feel unpleasant. She would have been surprised to learn that Eduin did not even realize what he was doing. She took care to slip her hand from his just before they left the kitchen. It looked natural, as if she needed to detach her hand to pass through the door.

  Norma looked on in knowing amusement. They make a good pair.

  In the evening, Eduin and Idonie came to Saliné’s room, bringing Martha, the dressmaker, with them and three everyday dresses. They were of fine quality and, while they were a bit short, they fit her surprisingly well – Martha did not have much work to do. Unknown to both Saliné and Eduin, they had belonged to his mother. The dressmaker knew, of course, as she had been making clothes for the S’Laurdens since she was a young girl, fifteen year ago, but Foy told her to keep quiet about it.

  The day she left Laurden to visit her family, Idonie took Saliné aside, and they walked together in the garden, which was now white with powdered snow and gleaming in the sun. “There was a man in your life, Claudin,” Idonie said. “I don’t know much about him, but I know that he did not deserve you. He kidnapped you and tried to rape you. In Laurden, you have nothing to worry about. Uncle Foy may look tough, but he loved his wife and never remarried when she died. He feels lonely. I will see you again next year, and I wish you good luck.” She opened her arms. Saliné did the same and they clasped hands. “I have not told Foy and Eduin; what we say now stays between us.”

  “That man killed my stepfather, drugged and raped me when I was still a child and sold my mother. I am not ashamed that I killed him; I just wish I had done it earlier. Thank you, Idonie.”

  “Oh, poor you.” Idonie embraced her. To her surprise, Saliné felt comforted, and she responded with the same warmth. It was both odd and welcome for her to feel such warmth from a stranger; the S’Laurdens, she decided, were not unkind people.

  “Do you think that Foy will let me go to Valeni?”

  “Vio,” Idonie leaned back until they were eye to eye, “there is a reason for your arrival here, but I am not yet able to grasp it. My feeling is that everything will be revealed in spring. You are a strong woman, but please don’t try anything until then. It may be dangerous. I will return as soon as I learn more.”

  ***

  Silent and dreaming of Severin, Saliné leaned, on her elbows, against the window sill. I could have been in Severin with Codrin, she sighed, planning to free Mother and Vio. Her eyes followed the road in the low light of the morning storm, starting from the almost invisible stones at the gate and flowing downhill, vanishing through the heavy, whirling snow. It was the beginning of her fourth week in Laurden, and the storm outside continued unabated. She felt calm, almost like being at home, and the feeling surprised her. Now and then, she pondered about the strangeness of the situation, but didn’t dwell on it. If she didn’t include the storm that had almost killed her, and of which she remembered little, Saliné had never seen a winter Mother Storm before, and in a mountainous area like this one it was even more spectacular. Nature unleashed both attracted and frightened her. The thought that she could so easily have been a frozen corpse in a ravine, or food for the wolves, made her shudder, and there was also a more insidious fear besetting her: Idonie’s knowledge. For a few days, after the Wanderer had left Laurden, Saliné both wanted and didn’t want her to return.

  Eduin and his father entered the room, and admired her back. Caught in her inner thinking and the roaring of the storm, she ignored the small noise of the opening door and their footsteps. Five feet behind her, the men glanced at each other, smiled, and continued to eye the gentle slope of her torso, as it descended into a rounded bottom, outlined by the stretched material. They’d never seen finer curves. In the south, the dresses were tighter on a woman’s body and, being bent over, Saliné offered a wonderful view. From time to time, she swayed to left or right to the tune of the wind, and that enhanced her curves even more. She looked delicious.

  Involuntarily, Eduin changed his stance from one foot to the other. A floorboard complained with a loud creak, and he bit his lip, wondering what excuse he could offer without looking stupid. He didn’t get long to ponder. Saliné swiveled, bent and, touching the floor with her left hand, rotated her flying body, her legs hitting Eduin behind his knees. He fell before he knew what was happening. Then she leaped again, and her knife touched Foy’s neck. In that moment, she realized who they were, and stopped herself from killing him. Her eyes widened. Her face stiffened. She stepped back, dropping her knife, and raising her hands.

  “I apologize,” she said, barely intelligible, breathing fast, in ragged gasps. With all her effort, she couldn’t make them slow. “Please don’t sneak up behind me again. You saved my life, and I am grateful, but this is still an unfamiliar place for me, and I need to be on my guard. I might have killed you.”

  Foy appeared calm, but he let out a long silent breath. An experienced soldier, he had assessed her as she took Eduin down, and was convinced that she would stop in time. “That I have to agree with, lady Vio, we came uncomfortably close to having my throat slit. I am glad that it escaped unharmed. I happen to be fond of my neck.” His timbre and cadence were distinctive, and behind his dark humor, for the first time, there was a touch of appreciation in Foy’s voice. His appreciation of her wasn’t new, but letting her know about it was. There was also a trace of a smile on his lips, frozen. “I apologize for sneaking up on you.”

  He did not try to
defend himself, and he called me lady... “Well, I can only guess why you two did that, and sometimes a woman appreciates such attention, but there are times when it is too much.” Saliné smiled ingenuously, and both men burst out laughing.

  “Caught red-handed.” Foy’s laugh became louder, and his powerful baritone voice filled the room. “Would you mind telling us who taught you to fight with such skill?”

  “My mother and a friend.”

  “Is his name Corrin?”

  Saliné hesitated for a moment. “Yes.”

  “I would like to learn that move,” Eduin said.

  “I can teach you, but you are tall and strong. That move is better for smaller people.”

  Eduin came closer. She panicked, and tried to step back. The wall blocked her. Eduin ignored her obvious tension and moved even closer, their bodies almost touching. His palm touched the top of her head, which was at the level of his eyes. “I wouldn’t exactly call you small.”

  “Still, I am smaller than you, and I am also lighter, and I did not say that you can’t learn it or use it; I just said that it may be less useful to you.”

  “Then we have agreed that you will teach me.”

  “Yes,” she said, gracefully acknowledging his well-laid trap.

  “Dinner time.” Eduin placed an arm around her shoulders, escorting her toward the door. He let his arm drop before Saliné could feel too uncomfortable.

  They soon began a routine of training three times a week, and though she was reluctant at first, Saliné found herself enjoying it. Eduin was an entertaining man, and he never overstepped the mark, not even when their bodies touched during training. She also found it useful to keep herself in shape. Her main worry was not to show him too many of the Assassins’ secrets; she had promised Codrin. She showed him things that Jara had taught her before Codrin came into her life, and some simple tricks from the Assassins Dance.