The Forest at the Edge of the World

by Mercer, Trish

  Mahrree waved as he clucked the horses to head to the main road.

  Then she smiled at the crates. It was going to cause an argument, she was sure. This was the second delivery of Perrin’s things, and he had more books and maps than she expected, but she really didn’t mind. The past two weeks really had been bliss.

  Their wedding on the 38th Day of Weeding was exactly what Perrin and Mahrree had hoped it would be: intimate with just the Shins, her mother, and the Densals. Although Perrin said it wasn’t necessary that his mother, new mother-in-law, and great aunt sobbed the entire time. Even Hogal shed a couple of tears. At least Mahrree remained composed, too excited to cry.

  The meal afterwards was exactly what Hycymum had hoped it would be. It seemed the entire village came out to the village green, and brought a dish of something to share. There were enough donated leftovers that Perrin sent the remaining food up to the fort, which endeared him even more to his soldiers but not the cooks.

  Even High General Shin was heard laughing a few times during the dinner, and judging by the amazed look on Perrin’s face, Mahrree surmised that didn’t happen very often.

  Since then, they’d been getting used to living with each other. Perrin made the mistake on their third day of issuing her an order, to which she responded by putting her hands on her hips. “You want ‘forward progress?’ That’s not the way, Mr. Shin!”

  And more than once he had to remind her, “Your house? You said this was our house now, remember Mrs. Shin?”

  While the past two weeks really had been bliss, anyone listening in on their conversations would have thought there was already trouble in Paradise.

  They argued.

  Constantly.

  Over who decided what’s for dinner and when, and who cleaned up afterwards, what they did that evening, and where Perrin’s things should go in the house.

  They started arguing even before the wedding, when Perrin came by on his day off to build a new bed for them that took up nearly the entire upstairs bedroom and threatened to burst into the adjoining attic. Mahrree had skeptically evaluated the massive timbers Perrin had hauled up there, with the help of a winded Lieutenant Karna.

  “I was actually imagining a standard sized bed—”

  Perrin raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not a standard sized man, Mahrree. The new bed will fit.”

  “If we jump onto it from the small desk—”

  “We need a big bed. You don’t want me kicking you at night, right?”

  “Well, no, but I would’ve preferred that you tell me your plans for my—”

  He raised an eyebrow again at her.

  “Our,” she corrected herself, “our bedroom. I don’t even know where to get a mattress and ticking big enough—”

  “You can’t,” he grinned. “Has to be special ordered, from Rivers. Should be here tomorrow evening.”

  “You already bought the mattress?”

  “You’ll love it, I promise. I slept on something similar when I was posted in Vines. It’s rather pricey, but the most comfortable blend of straw and down—”

  “But you didn’t even ask my opinion?”

  “Think of it as a gift. That bookshelf has to go, by the way. Down into the new study—”

  “Which I just found out you paid for! We were going to split the cost evenly, remember?”

  “I was never going to let you do that. You paid for the house years ago, so the least I can do is pay for the new study and the bed.”

  “But that’s not what we agreed!”

  “Well, I came up with something better!”

  It was the slow, dragging noise coming up the stairs that stopped their bickering.

  “I could use some help here,” Karna said as he struggled to bring up two more large timbers.

  Mahrree and Perrin glared at each other as Karna dropped the beams in the room with a resounding thud. As he wheezed, Mahrree discovered something about the way she and Perrin functioned. Their glares were shifting into something just as intense, but no longer angry. She realized Karna was speaking again.

  “. . . down in the wagon is still plenty of lumber, so if the two of you would just kiss and make up already, I’d appreciate it.”

  Something was happening in Perrin’s eyes, and Mahrree had the same thought. Karna, if you’d excuse us for a moment, that’s precisely what we’ll do right now.

  “Honestly,” Karna continued his complaining as he tried to catch his breath, “I’m a little worried that the larger officer’s quarters just might not be mine at the end of next week, the way you two keep debating things . . .”

  No problem there, Lieutenant, Mahrree thought as she watched the gleam in Perrin’s eyes take on an additional level of sharpness. A small smile was forming on his lips. Maybe it was because they were standing in what was about to be their bedroom, but she felt her breathing start to increase as she held his deep gaze.

  It was precisely the debating that did it to them. It was the arguing that opened some gate, started a flow that wasn’t to be diverted, like the force of the canal water channeled from the river. Once the current hit you, it was nearly impossible to stand against it.

  That’s when she decided it was likely a good idea Karna was there. Even at their age, it seemed they needed a chaperone.

  Still, she was too preoccupied with watching Perrin’s face to notice Karna was saying something again. There was a flood-like intensity in Perrin’s eyes now—

  “I said, Ahem!”

  Perrin blinked, and so did Mahrree. They looked sidelong over at Lieutenant Karna, almost sheepishly.

  He tried not to smirk, probably worried it wasn’t appropriate, but he did give them both a stern, evaluative gaze.

  “I see,” he said slowly, as his captain and Miss Peto turned pink in the realization that he was in the room. “I misread the previous situation. That’s poor soldiering of me. I now see that it’s exactly the opposite. Shin, aren’t there more timbers to bring up here?”

  Perrin nodded once and turned back to gazing at is future bride. “That’s right. Brillen, go get them for me. I have one or two things I’d like to argue here first, so take your time.”

  Mahrree giggled and Karna scoffed loudly. “Uh, no Shin. I think I need to remain here to protect Miss Peto from potential danger. You go fetch, sir.” He shook his head and sat down on the wood he’d brought up. “If you two aren’t the strangest couple,” he mumbled. “But apparently perfect for each other. . .”

  Mahrree laughed in embarrassment as Perrin glared at his lieutenant, eventually shrugged in reluctant agreement, then jogged down the stairs to retrieve more lumber.

  Karna ended up staying the entire day to help his captain more quickly construct the bed frame and also, he claimed, to make sure Miss Peto was kept safe by an objective member of the Army of Idumea.

  By the next evening the massive bed frame was finished, and the enormous mattress, which was heavier and bulkier than Mahrree could have imagined, arrived. It was dragged up the stairs and hefted into place by Perrin and Karna. It did fit—barely—with plenty of room underneath for storage crates.

  “Well?” Perrin asked as he beamed in pride at his creation.

  “I have to admit, it’s not too bad.” Mahrree eyed the massive timbers turned into simple furniture. Apparently the blood of the High Generals had never been tainted by craftsmen with artistic leanings.

  She wondered if, left to their own devices, the Shin men would have opted for clubs torn off of trees instead of elegant swords with ornate hilts.

  “Certainly sturdy.”

  “If it would make things easier, Miss Peto,” Karna leaned against the wall, “I could step into the hall to let you two debate this in private. But I have to warn you—I’m staying within earshot, and I can report you two to Rector Densal if I must.”

  Insulted, Perrin squinted at him, but Mahrree laughed.

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. It is getting rather late, so I’ll let the two of you get back to the
fort now.”

  It was quite the opposite of sleeping on the small sofa, as she had for the past few nights while the bedroom had been under construction. But once she got over the feeling of being lost on the massive mattress, she had to admit it was the most comfortable night she’d ever had.

  “I should start keeping track of my wins against you,” Perrin smiled smugly when she told him over dinner the next day that the bed was, indeed, adequate.

  It was on their wedding night that the debating began again. The evening started off promisingly when Perrin carried Mahrree easily up the stairs to their bedroom and set her down on the new bed.

  He winked and she giggled nervously.

  He removed his sword—part of the dress uniform, he assured her that morning when she saw he was wearing it for the ceremony—and stood it sheathed next to the bedroom door. Then he undid the top button at the throat of his dark blue dress uniform while his bride, trying to give him a flirty look, apprehensively bit her lip instead.

  He smiled confidently at her, stepped up to the bed, then pulled out the chair from the small desk and slid it over next to the bed.

  Mahrree stared, bewildered, at the chair which now blocked the narrow passageway in their bedroom.

  Perrin squeezed past the chair to his new wardrobe which was wedged into a corner, and pulled out one of his regular uniforms that he’d placed in there the day before.

  Mahrree furrowed her eyebrows. This really wasn’t what she thought would be happening next.

  “Uh, what are you doing?” she asked as he positioned his regular trousers on the chair at a precise angle.

  He flashed the grin that always unfocused her. “Getting ready for bed, Mrs. Shin.”

  She got up on her knees to watch him as he eyeballed the angle of the chair to the bed and shifted it slightly.

  “And so the surprises begin,” she murmured.

  He ignored her comment as he placed his every day boots slightly skewed at the end of the bed and checked the angles.

  “Perrin, remember how I said you were the most perfect man in the world?”

  “Mm-hmm,” he said, shaking out his jacket.

  “Right now you’re being a little odd. I know you like to have things a certain way, but—”

  He put the jacket over the back of the chair just so and winked at her again. “You married the commander of Edge. I’ve trained myself so that every time I undo my top button, I remember to prepare my clean uniform for my next shift.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “Trained? Did Professor Nicko Mal experiment on you, too, as part of your animal behavior course?”

  “He only manipulated horses and dogs. Never humans.”

  “Are you so sure? Perrin, you can’t have the chair right there. Now there’s absolutely no room left!”

  He nodded once. “Sure there is. I measured for the chair. And as the commander of the fort, I have to be ready for anything. Each night I place my uniform in such a way that I can be dressed and out the door within fifteen seconds.”

  “You can’t be serious. Perrin, it’s our wedding night. Wiles’s on duty, Karna’s there, your father’s even at the fort! Should something happen, I seriously doubt any of them would come bother you tonight.”

  “Mrs. Shin,” he said gravely, “Guarders don’t care when someone gets married, or gets injured, or has other plans. They’ll attack whenever they want. If I’m needed, they’ll send for me. I pledged my duty to the army before I pledged myself to you. You know that, Mahrree.”

  She slumped down in resignation. “So the chair’s going to stay there?”

  “The chair stays there,” he said firmly. “Tonight and every night. With my uniform waiting on it.”

  “On the side of the bed I usually sleep on.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “No, that’s the side I sleep on.”

  “You could sleep on the other side.”

  “I’ve practiced getting out of the bed and getting dressed in the dark on this side.”

  She squinted. “You practiced getting dressed in the dark?”

  He folded his arms. “Yes. It will be easier for you to get used to sleeping on the other side of the bed.”

  They stared at each other for a moment before they both began to smile.

  “Leave it to us,” said Perrin as he stepped up to the bed and took her face in his hands, “to spend our wedding night debating.” He kissed her.

  “I’m done arguing,” she whispered. “Are you?”

  “This is my side of the bed,” he whispered back. “If you can accept that, we can stop arguing. Besides, you owe me one.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Our first debate. Hogal told me to win over Edge by going easy on you.”

  “But you quit.”

  “I was to concede. To win you over.”

  She giggled. “That you did! All right, as my wedding gift to you, you can have your side of the bed.”

  “See? Already we’ve got this marriage thing figured out,” he said as he pushed a lock of hair off of her face. “Just always agree with me, and our marriage will be perfect.”

  She laughed. “Don’t count on it!”

  “Just stop talking and kiss me.”

  That’s what Mahrree was trying to do when he suddenly said, “Like the back of a turtle.”

  She paused in mid-pucker.

  “What?”

  “I figured it out. Your eye color,” he said, just inches from her face and staring deeply—analytically—into her eyes. “Like the back of a turtle—grayish, brownish, greenish. Maybe if the turtle were more of a honey color, though, then—”

  “Are you trying to be . . . romantic?”

  “It’s our wedding night,” he explained, and Mahrree thought she heard just a touch of nervousness. “I thought it would be appropriate.”

  “First mushrooms, now turtles? Your descriptions of my eyes are starting to sound like one of my mother’s more unusual recipes. Forget the sweet talk, Perrin. I’ve realized we do better when we argue.”

  “No, I really don’t think—”

  The only way to shut him up and prove her point was to kiss him.

  “Hmm,” he mumbled as he kissed her back, “I have to admit, you just might be on to somethi—”

  Fortunately the forest was quiet that night and ever since then, but even so she begged him to demonstrate how he could get dressed quickly in the dark. He refused.

  “I don’t do any kind of performance unless I’m in the amphitheater. But when the time is right, you’ll be glad I can move so fast. No one’s faster than me.”

  So for the past two weeks of married life they deliberately argued about everything, just so they could get to, well . . . resolving the issue. That was the most discreet way to refer to it.

  As she stood staring at the crates that afternoon, she wondered how she could use them to start another debate. She got so caught up in the details of her planning that she didn’t even realize she’d been daydreaming in her front yard for several minutes. When she finally came to herself, she was sure she was blushing. She glanced around to see if any neighbors could read her mind or see her reddened face, and went back quickly into the house.

  Perrin wasn’t due back from the fort for another hour, so she had some time to figure out where to place the rest of his possessions. When Perrin unloaded the shipment yesterday, he hadn’t realized he had so many things stored at his parents’ home. Much of it he tossed to the rag bag and kindling pile; he wasn’t sentimental about his lieutenant’s uniform, or any of his clothes or school writings from when he was growing up.

  But Mahrree knew that he was most anxious about the shipment arriving today. He had a collection of old books and maps that he treasured because no one else did. His rescuing old writings from the trash heaps of the garrison was one of the many things she loved about him, and every day she discovered something new. All in all, being married was one amazing, intriguing surprise after another.

  “But sure
ly, this will be the last surprises,” she smiled as she looked at the many waiting crates. “After this past season and a half, how could anything be even more exciting?”

  ---

  It was just the beginning of Harvest Season, two and a half moons after their wedding, that an urgent knock came at their back door late one night. Perrin scrambled from the bed into his trousers, landed into his boots and threw on his jacket in just seconds.

  “Wow,” Mahrree whispered, duly impressed.

  He barreled down the dark stairs, somehow simultaneously buttoning his jacket while fastening his belt holding the sheathed sword around his waist. Before she could get her bed clothes covering on to follow him, she heard the back door slam.

  She was all alone, and the sky was black.

  ---

  “Ambush, sir! Two of the soldiers on patrol by the forest. Suddenly they were cut down,” the private hurriedly related. He and the captain mounted the horses the private brought with him.

  “How long ago?” Captain Shin demanded as he wheeled his horse around and kicked it into a run towards the fort.

  The private followed. “Unsure of when the initial ambush happened, sir.”

  “Unsure?! How can you be ‘unsure’?”

  “Well, one of the wounded thought they were hit maybe . . . ten minutes ago, by now.”

  Captain Shin tried not to swear under his breath, but a few words slipped out anyway. “Unacceptable! Is anyone in pursuit?!”

  “Just about the whole fort, sir! Lieutenant Karna has sent everyone out in fours. He’s stationed himself at the edge of the forest.”

  “Ten minutes,” Captain Shin whispered to himself. “Ten minutes!”

  ---

  Mahrree heard the two horses galloping away. She made her way down the dark stairs and sat on the little sofa to wait his return. In all the years she lived there she never noticed before how shadowy and silent the house could be late at night. She secured each door and sat down again, suddenly feeling cold although that night was the warmest all year.