by Victor Poole
"Because you're not doing anything wrong," Ajalia said. She did not mind if the other two heard, and she could see that Delmar was acutely aware of the listening ears behind them.
"But you said I was doing the wrong thing, before," Delmar said.
"But you were doing it for the right reasons," Ajalia said. Delmar glared at her.
"That makes no sense at all," he said. He turned in the saddle. "Are you two enjoying yourselves?" he asked. Fashel turned very red, but Philas kept an easy smile on his face.
"I am enjoying myself very much, thank you for asking," Philas said politely. Ajalia laughed at the expression on Fashel's face.
"Fashel thinks that we are being very immature," Ajalia told Delmar, who looked around at the young woman. "Fashel has decided to marry Philas, and she thinks that she will never have such an argument as this."
Fashel's whole expression was overcome with confusion.
"Don't listen to her," Fashel told Philas. "I haven't decided what I want. I told you that," she added.
"She has decided that she likes you," Ajalia told Philas, "and she is planning her wardrobe for the wedding."
"That is not true!" Fashel gasped. Unspoken was the implication that Ajalia was very forward for saying such a thing.
"I have every right to read your face, and to speak of what I see there, if you are going to ride up behind us, and listen in to what we say," Ajalia told the young woman. Fashel's ears burned red.
"I wasn't really listening," Fashel mumbled.
"Are you really going to marry me?" Philas asked her eagerly. Fashel looked as if she were ready to cry.
"How about Delmar and I have an interesting fight," Ajalia suggested, "and the two of you can go back to being invested in our argument." Even Philas looked a tiny bit abashed at this suggestion.
"I think that is an excellent idea," Delmar declared, glaring straight ahead at the mountains. "We are nearly to Talbos," he told Ajalia. "What shall we fight about that can be resolved in ten minutes?"
"What are your feelings on children?" Ajalia asked. Delmar screwed up his mouth.
"That kind of argument is no good," Delmar said. "I already like you so much that I will end up wanting whatever you want. We could fight about your parents," he suggested cautiously.
"Too long," Ajalia said. "We can't fight about that until after we're married, because you're going to have to take all my clothes off afterwards to make me feel better."
"Oh," Delmar said thoughtfully. His usual reticence about sex seemed to have melted under the cover of his annoyance with Philas and Fashel. "I know!" Delmar exclaimed. Fashel looked so embarrassed now that Ajalia thought her face would melt off, and even Philas had turned an interesting shade of purple. "We will argue about your master. I think he should take over most of Slavithe," Delmar declared. He glanced around at Philas with an aggressive smile, as if to say, this is how to argue, you child, and then turned back to Ajalia. "You're going to try to get me to rule both Slavithe and Talbos, but if I really am going to be king, you're going to have to stay with me in Talbos, and someone is going need to be in Slavithe. Anyone who lives there and is Slavithe themselves will naturally try to take power. I think you must send to your master, and we'll establish a kind of economic partnership, where he essentially rules from day to day, in the name of commerce, of course, and you and I actually control the city."
Ajalia found this idea compelling. She had opened her mouth, when Delmar had first proposed the coming of her master, and she had meant to protest, but as Delmar went on, a picture formed in her mind of how it would be if her master did become a tributary monarch of sorts.
"Do you think your master would agree to this?" Delmar asked. Philas, who had become thoroughly invested in what Delmar said, spoke at once.
"He would," Philas said. Delmar turned on Philas with a growl.
"This is my argument with my wife," Delmar snapped. "You stay out of it, Philas." Delmar's eyes were flashing. Ajalia felt rather pleased. She had never seen or heard Delmar say anything about her in a defensive way, and she found that she very much liked it. He had also never referred to her as his wife before, or even talked about the possibility of her being such. He had asked her a few times to marry him, but had focused on the act of marrying her, rather than the consequences of husband and wifehood that would result.
Philas looked a little abashed, and clammed up at once.
"What do you think?" Delmar asked Ajalia with dignity, as though he had not snapped at Philas at all.
"He might say yes," Ajalia said slowly. "You are right that I wanted at first for you to rule, but you are probably right, about needing to stay in Talbos. Talbos seems more advanced, and more civilized. Slavithe is backwards in a lot of ways. My master would like it there."
"You see, I was thinking about this, since we talked about Talbos," Delmar pressed on, "and I know if we left anyone in charge behind us, to manage things, they would end up becoming a new sort of Thief Lord. Card would do it, and Chad would. It would happen almost without them meaning for it to."
"The people would look on them as a Thief Lord," Ajalia said. "Ocher would just go ahead and seize power," she said with a smile. Delmar looked a little embarrassed to be speaking like this in front of witnesses, but he ploughed on, and the redness in his neck diminished gradually.
Ajalia thought that it was good for Delmar to be able to speak his mind in semi-public situations. She reminded herself of her idea of forming up an Eastern cohort of slaves to follow along behind Delmar, to get him used to the ways of the East, and to make him look like an impressive and regal figure. She had not yet told Delmar of her plan, but she thought that he would be amenable to the suggestion, after she had explained the wisdom of the scheme to him.
"But do you think that would work, to have your master come?" Delmar asked. He glanced behind at Philas, as though checking to see if that slave would interrupt again, but Philas had turned pensive, and seemed to be thinking of something else entirely now.
"It might," Ajalia admitted. "The whole city is an economic mess. My master would tear the whole place up, and turn it all around. He would make it very efficient," she added quickly, "but there would be a lot of upheaval first. I don't know if that's what you're asking for."
"I want Slavithe to be a better place than it is," Delmar said. "I know it would be fine, if I lived there, but I think you're right that Talbos is more important. I haven't told you this," Delmar said with a frown, "but when my aunt and her husband take power in Talbos, things between Slavithe and Talbos will become very strained. He's an awful person," Delmar said, turning to glance at Fashel and Philas. "I think he might try to displace me."
"Your aunt and uncle aren't taking power in Talbos," Ajalia said. "You are the heir to the throne. You will be taking power."
"That depends on my grandfather," Delmar said.
"It doesn't," Ajalia told him. "You have all the people on your side, and your grandfather knows it. There is nothing he can do, short of declaring war on Slavithe, to prevent you from becoming king, and once he meets me, he will have no objection to your inheriting the throne." Delmar frowned, and glanced back again at the other two.
"That isn't what it sounded like when you spoke of this before," he told Ajalia in a quiet voice. Ajalia did not lower her tone.
"That is because I am acclimating you to the idea," Ajalia said. "If I had come straight out and said that you were going to be the king of Talbos, you would have panicked. I planted the idea, and now you've thought of a better plan than I had come up with."
"Do you think your master would agree to come?" Delmar asked.
"He has thought of it," Ajalia said. "If I can make horses that fly, and you can work magic in the land, as you say you can, then you can trade my master a canal and a flying horse, and we can go there together in the space of a few days."
"Do you think we can make flying horses?" Delmar asked, looking intrigued.
"Are they insane?" Fashel whispered
to Philas. Philas, who still looked distant and thoughtful, shook his head.
"Ajalia's always been like this," Philas told Fashel. "I couldn't tell you about Delmar, but I think he likes it."
"Of course I like Ajalia," Delmar said sternly. "Who could help but like Ajalia. You like Ajalia, too," he added, as though that settled the matter. "And what do you mean, are we insane?" he demanded, turning in the saddle to stare at Fashel. Ajalia saw the distant gate of Talbos appearing, looking quite miniature in the distance.
Fashel, who was still awestruck when spoken to by the new Thief Lord, buckled her lips up tightly, and gripped at the reins of her horse. Fashel sat gingerly on her brown horse; Philas was a decent rider, and Delmar, who, Ajalia thought, seemed to have changed personalities almost overnight, had proven to have a natural seat, despite his earlier trepidation about horses.
"What do you mean, are we insane?" Delmar demanded again. Fashel, who was now a brilliant scarlet, mumbled quietly. "I can't hear you," Delmar said. "Please speak up."
"I don't think you can tell people what to do," Fashel said, blushing. "Like her master, or the king of Talbos. You can't just make plans, and then expect other people to follow them."
"Does Fashel know yet that you want my master to approve of her?" Ajalia asked, thinking of it for the first time, and turning to look at Philas. Philas looked embarrassed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Philas muttered.
"What does she mean?" Fashel demanded, her voice rising in ire. Delmar grinned at Ajalia, and urged his horse forward. Ajalia thought that Delmar wanted to speak with the guard at the gate alone, before they all went into Talbos. Fashel looked very relieved to see Delmar riding quickly out of earshot. "And none of you make any sense!" Fashel added, before Philas could answer. Philas looked relieved, but Fashel's eyes were bright still. "You are not getting off the hook," Fashel warned Philas. "I still want to know about this master business. But none of you make any sense!" she said again. "You told the Thief Lord that you tricked him basically, by not telling him what you actually wanted, and then he just went along with it, and didn't seem upset, or even bothered by it at all. He should have been bothered," Fashel said, "if he didn't know you were tricking him."
"Delmar knows I trick him," Ajalia said. "It makes him more comfortable if I manipulate the way he thinks."
"That's insane," Fashel said. "That's crazy. You can't do that to people."
"Philas is doing it to you right now," Ajalia said. "He's making you think that he's only getting to know you. I told you he wanted you, and I warned you about what to say. You haven't done what I told you, because you don't want to make up your mind. Philas is tricking you right now. Look at him, and see if what I say is true."
"Of course he isn't tricking me," Fashel said, but her eyes began to move, as though drawn against her will, towards the slave.
"You know he's a slave," Ajalia said. "You know he plans to be the king of Saroyan. You have not asked him how he plans to do this. You don't know about Leed. You don't want to know what it will mean to be the queen of Saroyan. And the worst part is that Philas does not care if you want to know. He wants you, and he is determined to drag you along with him, and get you to adjust as you go along." Ajalia could see that Fashel was determined to ignore what she had said before, about having made up her mind to marry Philas.
"Philas is not like that!" Fashel said, sounding outraged. "I mean, he is only my friend right now," Fashel said, "and I know he thinks I'm pretty, but the only one who has talked about marriage, and him wanting all these things from me is you. I think you're making it all up, and I want to know why you would make things like that up."
"I wouldn't make those things up," Ajalia said. "You're being awfully quiet, Philas," she added. Philas, who seemed to be pretending not to exist, looked over at her.
"Who me?" Philas said mildly. "I was just thinking about the weather."
"Has he tried to kiss you yet?" Ajalia asked Fashel, who blushed.
"I don't want to talk about that," Fashel said indignantly. The girl looked far more comfortable now that Delmar had gone on ahead. Ajalia saw from Fashel's face that Philas had not attempted to kiss her.
"You said that Sun warned you about Philas," Ajalia told Fashel. "I bet Sun told you that Philas tried to kiss her."
"I did not kiss that young lady!" Philas said loudly.
"I know you didn't," Ajalia said. "I warned her to keep away from you, and I had a boy standing by to assault you bodily if you tried."
"So you know I didn't," Philas said quickly. "I didn't even think about kissing that girl," he told Fashel.
"I know you didn't," Fashel said complacently. "And Sun is very silly," Fashel told Ajalia.
"She is silly," Ajalia said, "but Sun told me what happened, and the boy told me as well." Philas's ears began to turn pink. Fashel had been looking at Ajalia, but she turned to glance at Philas, and she saw his embarrassment.
"What happened?" Fashel demanded. "Sun told me nothing really happened," Fashel said to Ajalia. Fashel looked flustered. "I thought nothing happened!" Fashel said to Philas, who turned an ever-brighter shade of pink.
"Nothing," Philas said weakly. He was glancing at Ajalia with nervous appeal in his eyes.
"Philas," Ajalia said, "I have no pity for you whatsoever. If you want this girl to like you, you had better be more honest with her than you were with me. I take no responsibility for your inability to be honest. Your failure to advocate for yourself as a lover is entirely on you. I wash my hands of it."
Philas's lips crimped into a look of some irritation.
"Well, you seem perfectly willing to explain everything else to people," he complained.
"I'm not the one who wants to marry Fashel," Ajalia pointed out.
"Well, I haven't told her that I wanted to marry her yet," Philas said, sounding completely irritated. "You're the one who keeps telling her I want to marry her."
"Yes," Ajalia said, "because you do want to marry her, and if you don't tell her what you are really up to, she is going to find out in two or three years, and then you are going to pay for it for the rest of your married life. So it would be better to avoid that."
Fashel was staring between Philas and Ajalia, and her face was gradually becoming filled with a very still anger.
"I want to know," Fashel said in a calm voice, her eyes turned steadily on Philas, "what she is talking about. And I want to know," Fashel told Philas, "why you are speaking like this about me. I thought we were friends," Fashel added, her lips pressing a little downwards in disapproval.
"We are friends," Philas said quickly, his eyes flicking at Ajalia for a moment. "I mean, someday I would like to be also more than friends, but I don't want to—" Philas, who was growing gradually agitated, turned to Ajalia. "Will you stop listening?" Philas asked. "Go ahead with Delmar, or something."
"No," Ajalia said. Their horses were walking, and they were slowly drawing near the gate of the city; Ajalia could see that Philas was growing deeply uncomfortable with the situation. "You brought this on yourself, by coming to spy on me and Delmar," Ajalia added.
"I want her to hear," Fashel said angrily. "She knows you better than I do, and apparently, you have a hard time lying to her. I want her to tell me if you're saying real things." Philas did not like this at all, but Ajalia thought that he could see how upset Fashel actually was, and she thought that he did not dare oppose her too far.
"Well, what do you want to know about?" Philas asked tentatively, his eyes going again towards Ajalia, who was facing forward, and riding ahead of him and Fashel. "You brought up several things before," Philas added, as though he were excusing himself from remembering what she had said.
"First I want to know about Sun," Fashel said. Ajalia heard the same cold, hard anger in the young woman's voice that she had felt pretty often towards Delmar, and she smiled. Philas seemed to sense Ajalia's glee, because she could feel him glaring hard at her back.
"I hadn't se
en you yet," Philas said. "And nothing happened."
"I don't want to hear about how nothing happened," Fashel snapped. "I already heard from Sun that you were inappropriately flirtatious. I want to hear from you what you thought you were doing. I do not want to hear about how things happened to you, and how you are an innocent bystander. Stop lying to me."
Philas was silent for a long time.
"I don't want you to hate me," he said finally. Ajalia, who was becoming thoroughly invested in this conversation, halted her horse, and turned to stare at Philas. "I thought we were going to Talbos," Philas complained, bringing his horse reluctantly to a stop. Fashel, whose horse had been following the lead of Philas's horse all day, stopped as well.
"We are going to Talbos," Fashel said, "but I want to clear this up now. She's right," Fashel said, looking towards Ajalia. "You're lying to me, and leading me on with false promises of friendship. I want to know what you really want from me, and I want to know what happened when you were alone with Sun."
"I was not alone with that girl!" Philas cried despairingly. He looked as though he wanted more than anything to escape. "Does she have to be here?" he added, pointing at Ajalia.
"I don't mind," Fashel said. "And she's right, we were trying to overhear them talking."
"That doesn't make it right to listen in!" Philas said. He was blushing furiously. "It's wrong to listen in to other people's conversations, especially when—" Philas broke off, and became inarticulate with embarrassment. Ajalia was watching Philas with great interest. "Would you stop staring at me?" Philas demanded of Ajalia, who smiled.
"You were not fair to me," Ajalia pointed out, "when I was crying." Philas's whole face screwed up, and he looked at Fashel.
"I am not going to ask you about the crying," Fashel said. "I have already spoken to Ajalia about you and her kissing and whatnot." Philas's eyes popped out so wide that he looked as though his eyes were trying to explode out of his face.