by G. Howell
“As for the other matters, the outsider will not be executed. Mediators will be assigned as monitors and it will continue about its tasks under their supervision. For the time being it will remain in Shattered Water, but contracts with other countries are to be initiated. It will be forbidden access to weaponry or allowed to discuss such with non-Guild members without prior authorization. External meetings will be monitored and agendas pre-approved by the Guild. There will be further study to determine just how this issue should be addressed, after this affair is settled. For now, please remove the outsider to holding. To guest quarters if you please. Oh, and please make sure it’s bathed.”
A hand touched my shoulder and I flinched wildly and looked up at a pair of Mediators. “Sir,” they said and beckoned. I stiffly clambered to my feet again, wincing as I put my weight on my leg. And when I’d straightened up I was staring back out at that audience of Mediators, those ranks of impassive feline features all staring back at me. Feeling impossibly calm I stared back at them, set my jaw, sketched a quick, polite bow and then stood straight, extended my arm and flipped them the bird. Only then did I turn and lead my escort back out of the hall.
------v------
The guest quarters the mediators took me to weren’t the cells they’d been keeping me in: they turned out to be other rooms in another wing. Proper rooms. They weren’t overly fancy or spacious, were sparsely furnished, but they were clean and finished in polished wood, there were no bars on the windows and most importantly of all, there was a proper bed there, something I’d been without since... since that night out at her ladyship’s estate.
My guards had dispersed on the way from the forum. One at a time along the route they’d peeled off and gone their own ways. By the time we got to the door there were only a pair of them left; still looking alert and armed, but not quite as aggressive about it as they’d been before that assembly. They let me into the room and then left me. I watched the door close and then turned, looking around the room, feeling drained and a little dizzy with the speed at which things had been changing.
No, it wasn’t big. The floor was wood, the walls plain white plaster without any paintings. A pair of candles in a pewter candleholder flickered on a small writing desk: a narrow window showed only darkness through the crude panes. Over in the corner was a wooden storage chest, beside that a small wardrobe, but all I was really interested in was the bed.
It was low-slung in the fashion of eastern beds. No pillows, of course, but that didn’t worry me at all. Neither did the fact that my feet still hung over the edge when I collapsed onto the coarse sheets. Someone was saying something and I don’t recall what it was. I just sighed once and closed my eyes.
And someone was shaking one of my feet.
I opened my eyes a crack and then flinched awake. There was sunlight and Rris in the room. Mediators. My heart lurched and I sat up in near panic before what was going on registered. They were very short for Mediators; not much more than adolescents. There were three of them, with their gangly limbs and that awkwardness shared by teenage human and Rris. One of them was standing near the bed, looking nervous. Beyond that one were two others who’d just finished pouring a bucket of steaming water into a copper tub that’d been set over near the window. I’d slept through all that cacophony?
“Sir,” the one near the bed said. “Your bath, sir, if it pleases you.”
I grimaced, rolled my shoulders and rubbed my face and looked at the window. Morning light was streaming in. Not early light either. I sighed and looked at the youth, “Bath, a? You couldn’t have let me sleep?”
“Orders, sir,” he said. He was trying for one of those impassive faces, but his ears were twitching furiously as he strained to keep them upright.
“Orders. Okay.” I rubbed my face again. Another bucket of steaming water had been carried in from outside and was tipped into the tub. The youth who’d brought it glanced at me and then set ears back and scurried from the room again. “What orders?”
“Sir, my master wants you to bathe. Orders from the Tribunal.”
“Oh. That.” I looked at the tub: An elongated copper washbasin. I guess the Guild didn’t have indoor plumbing. Then I asked, “Your master? You are Mediators, aren’t you?”
“Apprentice, sir.”
“A,” I nodded. “This couldn’t have waited until later?”
Now the ears went back and his tail lashed. “Sir, my master said...”
“You’re not causing them grief, Mikah?” another voice asked. Escheri was standing in the doorway with a bundle tucked under one arm. “Come on you lot, clear the room. Go. I’ll handle this beast.”
The apprentices retreated, looking relieved. Escheri stood aside to let them scurry out the door and then advanced on me. “And you, you get into that tub and wash some of that fear stink off.”
“Talking to me now,” I observed.
“A. And hoping it will be enough to keep you out of the cells again,” she retorted. “Disobeying a Tribunal edict would not be an [auspicious] start to your new situation. Come on, now.” She dropped the bundle aside on the bed and stood over me, cocking her head. “And you don’t want to keep them waiting.”
“Who’s them?”
“Who do you think? The Tribunal, of course. They’ve a few more questions for you. And don’t ask me what those may be. Now, move your hide or I’ll get some people in here and we’ll scrub you down forcibly.”
I grimaced and grumbled but stirred myself. It took a struggle and some amusement from her, but the jeans came off. She took a moment to check the dressings on my leg, poking and prodding and actually sniffing the wound while I stood naked and awkward. It was clean, she pronounced. There was no infection she could scent and it was healing, but it would certainly scar.
“It’s scabbing over nicely, but that dressing should be changed,” she told me. “I’ll fetch a replacement. Now get your hairless hide into that bath. I want you at least smelling respectable when I return.”
The tub was oval in shape and constructed from well-polished beaten copper. Wooden carrying handles doubled as a back-rest, so the occupant didn’t have to lean against the metal. I’d used things like that before in some of the many places here that don’t have indoor plumbing. One time had been way back in Westwater; back in Chihirae’s little cabin in the snow, and I knew from experience that they’re not very practical. For starters it was built with a Rris in mind. I’m a bit bigger. And secondly, if you’re as grimy as I was, sitting down in it meant you were folding yourself up to wallow in your own dirty water.
I didn’t attempt the contortions that would be required to sit down and managed as best I could standing. The apprentices had provided a small box containing some washing implements, albeit Rris ones. Wire grooming brushes, claw sharpening stones and clippers weren’t of much use to me, but the wash cloth and ladle were handy.
The water was warm around my feet. Hot, almost, but it cooled off quickly enough as I poured ladlefuls of it over myself and scrubbed with the coarse cloth. The soap was lumpish, abrasive grey stuff that burned like the dickens on bare skin, but it was all there was. I scrubbed and rinsed and repeated and shortly the water that remained in the tub was looking quite murky.
“Better,” was Escheri’s verdict when she returned and gave me a perfunctory sniff, then grabbed the rag and started scrubbing me down. Briskly at first, then she got to my back and hesitated.
“These are painful?” she asked.
“I can’t feel much there anymore,” I told her.
She vented a small hissing sound from between her teeth but otherwise didn’t reply. However, she was a great deal more careful round that ruined and scarred tissue.
Following the bath she redid my hair, even combing out my beard. “They never said this would be part of my duties,” she half grumbled. “Tending apes. Rot me, i
f they learned of this I’d never hear the end of it. And your pelt is all patchy… Ah, hold still. I have to comb this.”
“Not there you don’t,” I flinched, twisting my hips away from the brush.
“Brush here, don’t brush there... for someone with so little fur you’re awfully finicky about it.”
“Is there a point to this?”
“Orders. Turn around.”
I did so, then flinched as a thought hit me and I turned to study her face: her muzzle, her damp leathery nose and glittering feline eyes. “This is... all that happened is over, isn’t it? Their verdict was final?”
There was no reaction there. She didn’t so much as glance up at me as she said, “The Tribunal’s word on that case is law. That situation is settled, but they do want to talk to you.”
That creeping sense of unease grew. I bit my lip. “Uh, the Tribunal, they were assembled because of the... situation with your Guild?”
“A.”
“Then,” I said slowly, “if the issue is settled, why are they still assembled?”
She cocked her head, concentrating on unnecessarily brushing my arm hair. “Tribunals exist for as long as they are required.”
I twitched my arm away and she was forced to look up at me, tipping her head the other way curiously. “So they’re still assembled and they want to see me again. What’s this about? Is this serious?”
Escheri waved a brief shrug. “I really can’t say. I’m afraid I’m not privy to that sort of information.”
I gave her a hard look which she completely missed. “You don’t know?”
She sighed. “I’m a constable. There are a lot of decisions that aren’t passed around to everyone in the Guild. That would be a waste of time. Look, don’t worry yourself about it. It can’t be so serious. If it was, would they have removed the guard?”
That was a valid point. And if they’d decided to bump me off, why the bath? I nodded and relaxed a little. She patted my arm in a ‘good dog’ sort of way. “Good, now dry yourself off and get dressed. Clothes are over there.”
The clothes she was referring to turned out to be the bundle she’d brought along with her, and that turned out to be a bathrobe. A plain, white linen bathrobe.
“This?” I held it up dubiously. “You want me to wear this? In front of the Tribunal?”
Her hand tipped in a shrug. “If you don’t wish to, you don’t have to wear it. But I thought you preferred some kind of covering.”
“You’re joking.”
She wasn’t.
“What about my clothes?” I asked. “Anything else?”
She snorted. “Those reeking things. That would sort of defeat the purpose of you bathing, a? And we don’t have time to hunt down something that would fit you. Now move yourself. Don’t worry, you look as imposing as always.”
So I once again went before the Tribunal. This time dressed in a bathrobe.
------v------
“Sit,” they told me and I did so.
This assembly seemed to be a more informal meeting than the previous time. At least, that was my first impression. Rather than the cavernous hall it was another small meeting room, in the same wing as the room they’d put me up in. And like the rest of the Guild hall it seemed as if whoever had done the interior design had done it without much thought to what had been done throughout the rest of the building.
Morning sunlight poured in through multiple bullseye windowpanes. Warm light was fractured by the bubbled glass, splinters of it scattered across the room. The floor was polished wood - maple, I think - glowing in the light. There were a pair of matched doors over to the left, in opposite ends of the room with an unlit fireplace between them. To the right were shelves laden with knick-knacks ranging from small sculptures of Rris and animals to silver utensils and some scroll racks. Over where the shattered light spilled through the windows was a low table, covered with bowls and dishes laden with foods and sauces. Seated around it were the Tribunal members, looking up at me as I came in.
The five of them looked rested this morning. Better than they had the night before, I could see that as I stepped into the room. Their fur looked as if it had been brushed, and they were all wearing variants of the usual Mediator uniforms: the rough breeches and padded vests that probably doubled as armor, although in deference to the summer heat they hung open and the lace-on sleeves weren’t attached. One of them lifted a slim fork with a dripping chunk of meat to his mouth and gulped it down before putting the bowl aside. My stomach tightened and growled: it was raw meat he was bolting down, but it was a reminder to my belly of how long it’d been since I’d eaten. The others regarded me impassively, amber eyes not showing a flicker of the fact that the last night they’d been deciding if I should live or die.
“Thank you, constable,” the chairwoman said to Escheri, lurking quietly and professionally in the doorway behind me. “Please wait outside.”
The door closed quietly and in front of me the Rris waved toward a cushion at the table and told me: “Sit.”
I did so. Adjusting that stupid robe as I settled myself on the cushion they offered.
The Chairwoman said, “The constables said you collapsed last night. You didn’t eat.”
“I was... tired, Ma’am,” I replied.
“And now? You are feeling rested?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“There’s food if you need it,” another one of them said, gesturing at the table. It was littered with dishes of meat strips and chunks, small bowls of dipping sauces. There were small pies and breads, cheese and berries, twisted pasta things and fruit preserves and more meats. God only knew what some of those sauces were, so I stuck with something I knew, taking up a bun that was still warm from baking. Before I took a bite I broke it open with my thumbs, cracking open the hard crust and quickly checking for grit or stones or any other unpleasant surprises the baker might have left. It was fine. It was warm and I had to refrain from bolting it down in a few mouthfuls.
The Chairwoman watched as I picked small bites of soft bread from inside the hard shell of the crust, her ears twitching a bit before she asked, “Did you understand what happened the last night?”
Carefully I tipped my hand. “I believe so, Ma’am. But... ahh, there are some things I’m not sure about.”
Heads cocked. “Such as?”
“This affair with his Lordship and Shyia; his decision... that has been resolved?”
“A. It has been.”
“Then why are you still here? I mean: why is the Tribunal still around? If things are settled I mean?”
“Huhn,” she ducked her muzzle and flicked an ear. “That aspect of the situation has been settled, true enough. However, there is still an article that has to be resolved.”
“Would that be myself?” I ventured.
“Of course,” she waved an affirmative. “Some of the recent... incidents that the Guild has seen have been settled, but since you – the underlying cause - are still here it’s been decided that those who’ve had experience of dealing with you once should not be removed. Rather than building from the ground and expecting others to repeat what we’ve learned, this group will stay assembled as a specialist hand dealing with you and [something] issues to do with you.”
“A,” I nodded and plucked out another nibble of bread. “And what happens now?”
“Now? Now there are some more questions to ask you.”
“I thought you said that was settled.”
“That was,” she said. “Other issues have developed.”
“Other issues?”
She waved a hand toward the male with the spectacles. “A,” he said. “There are a few things we are curious about. For example, you escaped some well-trained individuals, made your way across sixty kilometers of wilderness, entered
the city and all while successfully evading the Guild. Who helped you?”
“Helped me?” I blinked. “Umm, well, there was that cub. You know about him. Although he did turn me in. Does that count?”
“Huhn, yes, we know of him.” The Mediator glanced around at the others and then asked me again, “There was no-one else?”
I set my jaw. “If you hadn’t noticed, I don’t blend in very well. People don’t seem to go out of their way to help me when they see me.”
“Huhhn, but they might go out of their way to report you. Or to report thefts of food or clothing. We find it notable that there was none of that. And as you say, you don’t blend in very well, yet you traveled over sixty kilometers and none of our searchers found even a mention of you. You managed to enter Open Fields and board that ship and the guards at the gates saw nothing. You managed to evade all searchers and run loose in the city for days. And you claim nobody was helping you.”
I shrugged. “No. I didn’t find it that difficult.”
They stared. “Sixty kilometers in a few days?”
“It isn’t so far. I just stowed away on a boat. Carrying stone, I think it was. Then I swam into the dock.”
“You swam.” The one who said that looked doubtful.
“You... Rris don’t like swimming, but I’m good at it,” I said. “And you don’t place many guards on waterways.”
“Then where did you shelter? Where did you find food?”
“I broke into a house. I think it was deserted, but it kept the rain off. The food... I paid for that. You know the source. That cub was more interested in money than anything else. I think it was the most expensive meal I’ve ever eaten.”
They didn’t laugh.
“You broke into a property. You didn’t have any contact with the owner.”