“Because I have something for you. Now get over here,” I said. Shva’sika sighed and moved around the couch. “Now close your eyes and hold out your hands.”
“Laz.”
“Just do it,” I ordered. Shva’sika sighed again and did as I instructed. “And don’t you peek.”
Shva’sika’s eyes shut tighter as if she’d been caught, and she waited impatiently. I pulled her gift from behind my back, and Ryoko gasped at the sight of the circlet. Shva’sika’s interest grew when I placed the gift in her hands.
“All right, you can look.”
Shva’sika opened her eyes and her eyes grew wide and sparkled at the sight of the circlet in her hands. Slowly, she looked it over. “You really made this for me?”
I nodded. “I told you I’d replace your other one. Do you like it?”
“Like?” She threw my arms around me. “I love it!”
Ryder chuckled. “Told you.”
“Well if you love it why don’t you put it on for us all to see?” Ryoko teased.
Shva’sika let me go and put the circlet around her head. “Well, how do I look?”
“Amazing! You should go see for yourself!” Ryoko exclaimed.
Shva’sika beamed with delight and dashed off to the bathroom to look at her new jewelry, but stopped when I called after her. “Shva’sika, don’t forget to remove that cover-up. We have a deal this week.”
Shva’sika chuckled. “Fine, fine.”
“Eira, did you really make that?” Raikidan asked from his spot by my bedroom door once Shva’sika closed the door.
I nodded. “Ryder helped, but yes.”
“Have you always been able to do stuff like that?” he asked.
“Are you kidding?” Ryoko exclaimed. “You should see her carvings!”
“Carvings?” Ryder and Raikidan both asked.
Ryoko, beaming with delight, dashed off into her room and came back moments later with two small carvings. One was made of wood and had been carved into the shape of a peacock with a fanned-out tail. The other was of a raging bull made from an ivory nut. Both figurines had un-carved, natural-looking bases, and the details of the carvings were made with great care and precision.
Ryder walked over to Ryoko and took one of the carvings to look over. “Did you really make this?”
I shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just something I did in my spare time.”
“Nothing? This is amazing!”
“Let me see that,” Raikidan stated as he walked over to Ryder. He looked it over for a few moments before looking at me. “Are you sure you’re not from the North?”
A wave of embarrassment rushed through me. “It’s not that great, really.”
“Don’t be so modest.” I looked past the two boys to see Shva’sika standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “One, I love this circlet. It’s the most amazing one I’ve owned so far. And two, you really should think about making more and selling them. The caravans and traveling merchants would be more than happy to sell them for you and split the profits.”
“I don’t know…”
“Laz, it’s a great idea!” Ryoko encouraged. “It’d help us get a little more money, that’s for sure.”
“A little?” Shva’sika laughed. “She could make a fortune off of those carvings and circlets alone.”
“And Laz knows how to make other jewelry, so she’d be making bank!” Ryoko beamed.
“I can get you the supplies,” Ryder offered. “It’s not that hard to do. Well, the wood and materials for jewelry, at least. Ivory nuts are a little harder to find.”
“Guys, I haven’t even agreed to this,” I said.
My words fell on deaf ears like usual as Shva’sika continued the conversation. “I could find her those. Shamans usually have them stashed away somewhere, or know where the best places to find them would be.”
Ryder nodded. “I’ll do that then. I should go anyway. If I stay too long, I’ll get in trouble.”
I sighed with defeat. No one was going to listen to me. “All right, I’ll walk you out.”
“Wait!” a muffled feminine voice yelled. Genesis’ bedroom door flew open, and Genesis burst into the hallway. She crashed into Ryder and gave him a tight hug. Ryder, taken by surprise, froze and his face reddened. “Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Uh, I um… uh… you’re welcome?” I bit my lip at his loss of words.
Figuring it wasn’t nice of me to allow him to stay in such a position, I pulled Genesis away from him and began taking her ribbons from her raven hair. “Gen, you’re an adult now. You need to start wearing your hair like one.”
“Oh, okay.” She grabbed her other pigtail and released the hair from the ribbon.
“All right, now that you’ve been able to thank Ryder, he has to leave,” I said.
“Okay, thanks again, Ryder!” Genesis beamed.
Ryder didn’t respond verbally. He only blinked and stared at her. Shaking my head, I pushed him toward the door. As I pushed him away he took one more look back at Genesis before having to focus on walking down the stairs.
“She’s too old for you,” I whispered.
“Mother!” he hissed.
I snickered. “I’m not blind, and neither am I stupid. She’s too old for you. The body you’ve allowed her to finally have may be young, but after she gets used to it, she’ll start to act more her age, and that’s more than ten times mine, let alone yours.”
“Mom, stop. I don’t even know her.”
I chuckled and opened the front door. “Just don’t get any ideas, okay?”
“Just calm down, Eira, will you? I’m not going to be late.”
I sighed. Now that we were outside, our normal conversations were going to have to be different. “I just don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”
“You’re my friend, Eira, I could care less if I got into trouble because of you.”
I shook my head. “Well I’d rather you not, so get going.”
Ryder smiled. “Sure. I’ll stop by on my next time off and I’ll bring those supplies you were interested in getting.”
I smiled back. “I’d like that. Just don’t go overboard. I can get them myself, too.”
Ryder gave me a quick wave and ran off. I waved back, even though he couldn’t see it, and watched him disappear into the city. As I turned to head inside, I noticed two soldiers watching me. That would explain Ryder’s sudden change in conversation. Why they were here, I couldn’t say, nor could I figure out why they were watching me. They weren’t hiding the fact that they were, and there were several people on the street who could have distracted them at any point in time.
Not feeling comfortable with this, I slipped back into the house. Once I reached the living room, I noticed Argus standing in the hallway.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the shop?”
Argus nodded. “Normally yes, but Zane’s been acting weird lately. He’s been closing the shop early and today he hasn’t left his room at all. He won’t acknowledge anyone who’s knocked on the door, so I came out to look for you to see if you can talk to him.”
I shrugged. “I can try. Won’t guarantee anything.”
“Trying is all I ask.”
I walked past him and headed down the long, twisted hallway. When I reached Zane’s room, I rapped on the door. When I didn’t receive an answer I rapped louder. “Uncle? Uncle?” I grunted when I didn’t get an answer. “Uncle, I know you’re in there. Now open up!”
“You can come in,” came his quiet reply. “It’s unlocked.”
Confused, I opened the door slowly. Zane sat on his bed, fully clothed for a full day’s work. He didn’t acknowledge me when I came in. He didn’t do more than stare at his hands.
I
shut the door. “Zane, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He didn’t look up from his hands as he spoke.
“Cut the shit. Argus says you’ve been acting weird, and now you won’t even look at me.”
Zane sighed. “Eira, can you tell me the color of my work clothes?”
I stared at him. Had he really asked me that? “Uncle?”
“And can you tell me if it’s day or night?”
I was by his side, holding his face in seconds. I forced him to look at me, and begged to see something, but what I saw horrified me. His gaze was unfocused and dull. “U–uncle?”
Zane sighed and pulled my hands from his face. “I can’t see anything anymore, Eira. My sight is all gone.”
“How long?”
“Do you remember when your mother told you I had to retire because of an accident?”
“Of course. You still limp a little from it.”
“Yes, well, I never told her the cause of the accident. I didn’t tell anyone, for that matter. A few years before the accident, I came into contact with a strange chemical, and it got into my eyes. The scientists cleaned them out and found no permanent damage, so they sent me on my way. Unknown to any of us, there really was damage, and I started to have spells of blurry vision and momentary loss of sight. This is what caused the accident, and my need to retire early.
“Over time the spells have gotten worse, but I’ve been able to cope until these past few weeks. Last night was the worst, with me not being able to see for half the day, and now today is topping that with me not being able to see at all. It’s not coming back this time. I can’t work at the shop like this, and I can’t get around on my own. I’m done.”
“No, you’re not done.” I stood up. “There might be someone who can help.”
“Eira, don’t tell anyone!” He tried to grab for me, but reached the wrong way.
“Zane, everyone is going to find out eventually if we don’t try to fix it before it’s too late. You should have said something sooner. This could have been avoided.”
“There’s no fixing this, Eira.”
“You won’t know until you try.”
“Eira, please. For the love of the goddess, just listen to me this one time.”
I ignored his plea and left his room. Setting a quick pace, I headed for the living room to look for a certain tall elf. Once there, I found her sitting on the couch, touching her new circlet a little more than needed.
“Laz, I can’t thank you—whoa, what are you doing?” she yelped as I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down the hall.
“No time. Shaman thing. Come now.”
“You sound like a Neanderthal. Do you mind speaking in a proper sentence?”
I ignored her comment. “Can you cure blindness?”
“Excuse me?”
“Can you cure the blind?”
“Um, well it would depend.”
“On what?”
“If the person was born blind for one, and if not, the reason for the person in question to have gone blind in the first place.”
“Say this person’s eyes were being affected by some sort of chemical or toxin, and has been affecting them for years until finally going blind only recently. Can it be fixed?”
“It’s a possibility. It would really depend on the toxin. But why are you asking all this? What is going on?”
Instead of answering, I opened Zane’s bedroom door and pulled her in.
“Eira?” Zane waited a few moments before speaking again. “Eira, who did you bring with you?”
“Laz, what is going on?” Shva’sika questioned.
Zane froze at the sound of Shva’sika’s voice. “Eira, I told you not to tell anyone!”
“Shut up, Zane!” I ordered. I spoke to Shva’sika next, but in a much kinder tone. “Can you help him?”
Shva’sika looked at me sympathetically, understanding why I was being so secretive. “I can try, but I won’t promise anything.”
“Trying is all I ask.”
Shva’sika knelt down in front of Zane and held his hands. “Zane, I can try to help you if you let me.”
Zane didn’t look at her. He just looked down at his lap, but I could see his eyes wandering as if he were desperately trying to see something in the room.
“It won’t hurt, I promise,” she told him. “The worst thing that could happen would be if I couldn’t fix it.”
Zane still didn’t respond, and I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like him to be this prideful. Shva’sika was just trying to give him a chance.
“Please, let me try to help you.”
Zane sighed and did his best to look at her. Shva’sika lifted up her hands up to his face, and after a few moments, they began to glow with a greenish-blue aura. I watched with bated breath as she attempted to heal him.
When Shva’sika’s hands stopped glowing, Zane’s eyes fluttered for several moments. When they finally stayed opened, he gazed around the room. His eyes were shining with delight, and I knew my choice had been right.
“I’ve never seen this well in my life,” he breathed. “Everything is so clear.”
“Or you forgot what it was like to see so clearly,” I muttered under my breath.
When he was done looking around, he placed his attention on Shva’sika and looked at her intently. I was tempted to move to see what he was looking at, especially since his look was starting to make Shva’sika nervous, but his next actions allowed me to stay put.
Zane reached up and touched her face. I could only guess he had noticed the scar. “My sight must have been real bad if I didn’t see that cute mark on your pretty face.” He let her face go and patted her shoulder as he stood up. “Thanks again, Elarinya. Now if you two will excuse me, I have somewhere to be, and some important things to catch up on.”
I watched Zane leave the room with great interest. He had said her name so well this time. It was as if he were practicing it in secret.
“Boys, let’s go!” he shouted. “We’re days behind on projects.”
Shva’sika remained crouched by Zane’s bed, holding her face. Smirking, I headed for the door. “Told you so.”
She gasped and sounded as if she was going to reply, but I left before she could. I strolled to the living room and headed for my room. Just as I shut my bedroom door, a small log of wood was handed to me. I looked at Raikidan with a raised brow.
“Ryoko asked me to give it to you.” He didn’t look at me as he spoke. “She didn’t say why, but it did come with this piece of paper.”
I eyed him before looking over the wood. It was aged red oak and had a good density. This will work well for carving. I then read the note.
“Sorry for being a bitch yesterday.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s all her.” I teased. Raikidan continued to avoid eye contact as I walked past him. “You don’t believe I made those carvings.”
“I’ve never seen you take interest in anything close to what I’ve seen today.”
“I know it may be hard to believe, but killing isn’t the only thing I know how to do.”
“Eira, don’t—”
“But, I do it at leisure. It’s not like I can make a living off of this. It’s not what I’m designed to do.”
“Eira—”
“I’ll make another statue to prove to you I did make the others. I don’t know why everyone thinks they’re so great, when there are better craftsmen out there, but I’ll make it nonetheless.”
Placing the log on my dresser, I walked into my closet and changed my clothes while thinking hard about what to carve into the wood. I wanted to make sure I didn’t waste it.
When I was done, I left and looked for Ryoko. I didn’t find her immediately in
the living room or kitchen, so I went to her room to find the door closed, but still partially ajar. I knocked. “Ryoko?”
“Yeah?” came her reply.
“Want to go for a walk with me?” I asked.
She was quiet for a moment and then opened the door. “You sure?”
I smiled. “I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t.”
Her confusion changed to excitement. “Okay, let’s go!”
She linked arms with me and we headed out. I didn’t have a destination in mind, so we took turns at random while holding conversation. I laughed as she made some jokes and failed to make my own, but that had her laughing so I didn’t care.
“So, you’re not mad at me anymore?” Ryoko asked as we made our way through the Sector Three.
“Ryoko, how many times do I have to tell you, I’m not mad at you,” I exasperated. “Irritated you broke your promise, but I get it. You were scared you wouldn’t be able to control it, even with time and practice.”
“I feel bad for lying, but worse for acting so horrible when you asked. I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”
“Don’t get so down on yourself. I didn’t handle that well at all myself. I shouldn’t even have pried. It was your business, not mine.”
Ryoko grabbed my hand and smiled. I smiled back, but only briefly. The sight of a dilapidated building caught my eye. An older woman stood on the porch while a few children ran around yelling and screaming with joy.
“Wait, isn’t that the orphanage?” Ryoko asked.
“I hope not,” I replied. “The state of that house looks pretty bad.”
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Ryoko insisted. “That’s Matron Lyra. I’ve seen her at the store.”
I went into deep thought as we continued on. “How often do you think they receive supplies?”
“Judging by the state of the building, I’m guessing not often. Why?”
“What if we did something about it?”
Ryoko’s face lit up. “That’s a great idea, Laz! We could even see if anyone else wants to help out. I’m sure we could get a lot of for them. If not building materials, at least other things they probably need.”
“Let’s loop around and head home to plan.”
Secrets Page 8