“The miare could have done that too.” Brin said, her voice tight. “Even one finding some dignity would elevate them greatly.”
“Enough.” Kaiel said, his voice low and forceful. “During my studies at the College, I knew miare, I was tutored in the art of diplomacy by a miare, and I learned a great deal about the miare in my xenology classes. They are as capable and deserving of dignity as any other race.” His eyes were cold, even as he turned them to Taylin. “If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them later.”
He started to move away, but Brin grabbed his arm. “Kaiel, wait. I didn't mean it that way. I know miare too and... and it's just frustrating seeing how they're treated. People take that politeness for subservience and they're still too polite to correct them. It isn't a way to live.”
While the ice left his eyes, it was clear that he was still disappointed. “I still need to pay for these.” He said, absently indicating the books. “I believe Ru wanted me to show him to a reagent shop. We'll catch up to you at that restaurant Rai's so excited over.”
Brin relinquished her grip on him and watched as he lost himself among the shelves. She gave Taylin a pensive look. “I really didn't mean anything by it. I just... I know how they feel and wish they'd stop their part in it.”
Taylin shifted uncomfortably. She'd wanted to put a hand on the other woman's shoulder, offer her some comfort, but she couldn't bring herself to initiate even that kind of touch. She opted for a shy nod. “I understand, and though I know little about the miare situation, but I remember seeing how other ang'hailene were treated and wishing they would fight back. I don't think it's as easy for them as it looks from the outside.”
“Did you?”
Flickers of a flashing blade and spraying blood went through her head. Taylin blinked them back into the depths of her mind. “I did. But I had to do it alone.”
“It seems like that's always the way.” Brin sighed, then schooled her expression. “Taylin, that sword of yours looks almost as formidable as the Barratta. Tell me about it...”
***
“'Ru wants to find a reagent shop'.” The dark mage scoffed. “As if I can't find one on my own. We've passed two just walking in. I never imagined a world with an overabundance of spellcrafters.”
“I needed an excuse to get away.” Kaiel shot him a withering look as he shouldered the satchel he was keeping his books in. Ru had two books under his arm and one floating in front of him, the pages occasionally being turned by an unseen hand. “She was telling the truth about not meaning it in a bad way, but not about her true meaning. I don't know what that means.”
“It means that you should consider yourself lucky.” Ru angled toward a spice-monger’s shop. “It only took you three hours of acting like an ass before finding the evil inside her. Tell me, Arunsteadeles, was she one of the 'good people' you expected to show me here?”
“You know, I have less illusions than you think, old man.” They entered the shop and Ru immediately went to inspect the offerings in dried roots. “I know that when I write or sing of 'her', that the 'her' I speak of is a mythological figure of perfection. Mortals are not perfect. We couldn't stand perfection if we met it. But the fact that we are flawed doesn't mean that we're so shot through with flaws that we aren't worthy.”
Ru selected a fat, crimson tap root with white tendrils growing from it and moved on. “And your lady love has the 'redeemable' flaw of racial hatred. That must rend your gut, mustn't it? I've known idealists like you, men who dreamed of.... equity. And they always fall hardest when it becomes a lie.”
Drawing his cloak around him, Kaiel allowed himself to growl out his words. “You're a fool. You have no idea what world you're in. It isn't a lie. The Ashing of the Green and the increase in spirit beasts has shown the world that arbitrary divisions and isolation will lead us down the path of destruction. That line of thought is slowly dying out in the greater world.”
“And lives and breathes in the head of Brin of Rolling Meadows Enclave.”
Kaiel hesitated at that. “I... don't know what's in her head. All my training lets me do is identify the whole truth, not half-truths, or something the speaker doesn't fully understand to be true. When you tell me that all people contain a core of evil, I would see it as truth in your eyes.”
“Because it is.”
“Because you believe it. But if Taylin told me that they were good, it would also be seen as truth, understand?”
Ru was picking over vials of powders. “That your power is utterly useless?”
“Useful based on the situation. It isn't an ability for casual conversations. It doesn't help that I can sense discarnate energy about her; she's a practitioner of some sort, and I'm not sure if that would let her fool me.”
“More than just discarnate.” Ru chose a trio of powders for purchase as well. “She reeks of elemental energy as well. It's a long term spell, that's been in place on her weeks, perhaps months.”
“At any point in time were you planning to tell me this?” Kaiel's teeth ground.
“What would it matter when 'true love' at first sight was concerned?” Ru span a vial between his fingers as he leered at Kaiel.
“You're a worm, Ru Brakar. The kind of worm you find in the excrement of other worms. And the presence of a long term spell means nothing. She's a contractor with the Historical Guild, maybe her client put a long term fatigue reduction charm on her, or she's paid for something that increases her combat prowess.”
Ru shrugged and took the items up toward the shopkeep. “It isn't my position to prove or disprove anything. Nor is it necessary. If this isn't some deception, then it will be another. Mortals cannot be trusted, especially when they play at each others' emotions. One would think that you would know this better than others, O wielder of the discarnate energy.”
Kaiel took a long, cleansing breath and threw back his cloak, raising his head. “You're only doing this to get a rise out of me, reduce me to paranoia. It won't work. As a man of education, I need more proof and investigation before I jump to any conclusions.”
Stepping back out into the light shining down upon the street, Ru raised a brow at him. “You are more a man of optimism and heart strings. No other explanation for why you would hurl yourself so readily at a woman upon only seeing her.”
“So you've abandoned accusing me of carousing?”
Ru snarled at having robbed himself of that particular barb. “It doesn't matter. The point I make is that proof and investigation will flee your thoughts the moment you next look upon her.”
“You truly have a low opinion of me don't you, old man? No they will not.”
“They will.”
“They will not.”
Ru gestured some distance down the street to where Taylin and Brin had rejoined Layaka and Rai in looking over the offerings of a carver's booth set out in front of a carpenter's workshop. There was an older man with a wide brimmed hat speaking with them. He appeared to be offering wine. “They will.” He said with finality before teleporting.
Left alone on the street, Kaiel had no other distraction than the one Ru had directed his eyes toward. She was beautiful in a way that simply connected with things in his brain that went beyond the idea of 'his type'. If forced to describe his type that very morning, it would have included something poetic about brown hair, hazel eyes, and the word 'petite'. He wouldn't have mentioned race, but he fell well outside the rather true to life stereotype of students and scholars of the College having a taste for lovers of other races. Nothing against elves, or hailene, or miare, but he was happy with humans and half elves.
But Brin...
She appeared more elf than human, which wasn't the norm for half elves. There were daoine, the rare breed of elf who served Sylph most closely and mostly dwelt on Azelia, but Brin didn't match those descriptions either. She was uniquely Brin and that intrigued him. Everything about her captivated him, even the fact that he couldn’t read what she was thinking and the possib
ly dangerous secret Ru insisted she was hiding.
He wanted to know more, but not for the reasons the dark mage suggested. A heavy sigh left him as he started to walk, recalling Ru's insinuation. “Yes. They have.”
***
Minutes earlier, Taylin and Brin left the booksellers; Brin with a few dime novels concerned mostly with heroes in the now-fabled era of Draconic Control, and a survivalist handbook for Layaka to study. Taylin had a few slim volumes on the short history of the nations created by the Thirteen Nations Accord. She'd also picked up a heavier tome that promised to be an honest accounting of the War of Ascension from the hailene point of view. She couldn't help herself, she was curious as to what reasons drove the hailene to do what they had done to her.
“You seem very interested in history.” Brin was arranging her purchases in a leather pack she carried on a single strap across her chest.
Taylin ducked her head. “As Kaiel said, I didn't have a chance to learn much with my upbringing. You must be interested in it too though, right? Working for the Historical Society and all?”
“I work for the Society because of the job, not their goals.” Brin admitted. She raised a hand to ward off the unhappy look forming on Taylin's face. “Don't mark me for uneducated, but I'm more interested in discovery than learning the past. Playing guard, scout, and errand girl for the Historical Society lets me see places I imagine even most loremen have never seen. I've been on the other side of the Tower Wall of Denaiiassus, Calderia; nipped into strongholds in the Kimean Isles; I've even been to New Illium and inside the southern halls of the Mountaincleaver dwarven clan, and the Society has paid me for the privilege.”
She blushed to see the way Taylin was looking at her. “What?”
“It's just that I haven't even heard of most of those places, and the ones I have heard of, Kaiel has told me aren't welcome to outsiders.”
“Only to outsiders not bearing the seal of the Historical Society.” Brin grinned conspiratorially. “If you're as good with the sword as I suspect, I could introduce you at the offices in Kinos once we reach them.”
“Why follow their rules when the caravans see the world without them?” Rai had found them and was smirking defiantly at them both. “We might not pay well, or cross the sea to Illium, Taylin, but we also won't make you write down every glass of wine you drink with dinner, or ask you to trudge out into the Ashed Lands to harvest chalk.”
An amused smile payed on Brin's lips and she patted the pack she was carrying. “The nice thing about that is that they let you keep some of what you take.”
Rai's smirk vanished, replaced by naked avarice. “You... have some here?”
“Two pounds.”
“I didn't take you for a woman that wealthy, Brin.” said Rai, eyes locked on the pack. “One ounce on a whetstone and I'll make it so you come with us for free to Kinos.”
“Not a wealthy as you think. I use it myself, sometimes on the daily, depending on where I am. But you have yourself a deal.” Rai's grin was more wolfish than any of the actual wolves the clan kept.
“Miss Brin! Miss Brin!” Layaka called from a booth. “Oh, these are all so darling! You must come see!” She was holding up a carving of a lap-bear and another of a cat. Brin chuckled softly and nodded to the others before trotting over to humor the girl.
“What was that about?” Taylin wrinkled her brow at the question in front of her. “And what is ash chalk?”
Rai rolled her eyes. “You've heard of spirit beasts and how even lesser beasts are nearly impossible to kill without magic, yes?” Taylin nodded. “It's because they heal damned fast and don't stop until you separate the head from the body. For Greater Beasts, that won't stop them either. But ash chalk... there's something in it that keeps wounds from healing. Once it gets in their blood, they stop healing, so even one chalked blade can let a group kill one of the things.”
“But they're so rare. Why not just avoid them?”
“Rare in your time.” Rai says, sounding almost envious. She maneuvered both of them toward the booth where Brin and Layaka were. “But since the Ashing, there's been more and more of them. It used to be that they'd avoid the caravans altogether, but sometimes, we run into one that doesn't—and we'll be glad to have the chalk then.”
Taylin nodded her understanding and Rai gave her an approving glance. It wasn't the first time she'd provided the lessons her sister needed instead of Kaiel.
Someone cleared their throat off to the left of the pair and they looked to find an older man in priestly robes and a wide brimmed hat. He was tall for a human, taller than Ru or Kaiel, and narrow at both shoulder and hip. His robes hung about his figure in a relaxed and almost haphazard manner with the sash loose. He had a long, gray beard with the bare minimum of grooming and long, unkempt hair the same color.
His brown eyes practically sang with amusement, and beneath his beard, he wore a broad, closed-mouthed smile. “If I might trouble you for some of your time, ladies.” His voice was strong and rich with a hint of laughter in it. Affecting a bow, he made sure to shake from one sleeve a chain woven iron and gold, wrapped with care around his wrist and the heel of his hand. It held, secure on the inside of his wrist, a golden, six sided dice, each face showing nine pips.
This, he displayed to Raiteria, for it was she who his attention was focused on. “The One Dice informs me that you, good lady halfling, are in fact nir-lumos and of the Clan of the Winter Willow.”
Rai folded her arms and raised both brows at him. “Would that have anything to do with the One Dice noticing the caravan arriving last night under the banner of the Winter Willow?”
The priest of Pandemos laughed heartily. “At times, I worship the god in the aspect of blinding flashes of the obvious. But it has allowed me to speak with you on a matter of great importance.”
“Say on.” While Rai was bantering, Taylin took stock of the canvas bag on the man's hip. It clanked whenever he moved overly much. Were these grenades like the ones Percival Cloudherd carried?
“You can call me Dactus Salea.” He tossed off a casual introduction. “I'm part of the local temple. The new local temple in fact. Old Solgrum burned our old one to the ground when he took over, but a quite unfortunate plague of bad luck in his largest logging camp changed the bastard's mind.” He winked dramatically. “We had the festival to open it last night and today, and so we feel the need to consecrate it with a bit more revelry; a Trinigon Arena match, to be exact; a bit of free wine, a bit of betting, just as the One Dice enjoys.”
He scrubbed his hand through his beard as if something perplexed him about the plan. “Only problem is, we're mostly just tottering old men and women here, the young priests left after one little set back.”
“The burning of your temple?” Rai supplied. By now, Brin and Layaka were listening as well.
“Absolutely.” Dactus bit out the word. “Most of them didn't even see the beauty of the thing. Pandemos only needs a mule with a wine cask on its back for a temple, and Solgrum may as well have rolled over and told us to punch him in his belly doing what he did.
“In any event, we're not the fighting kind and a Trinigon Arena ain't much fun without some weapon play to bet on. And speaking of... I notice that I spy among you a very sharp spear, a very large sword, and a pair of kukris that are the stuff of legend...”
Taylin bit her lip. “I don't want to hurt anyone for entertainment.”
Dactus scoffed. “And Lord Pandemos wouldn't want you to, either. That's why it's a Trinigon Arena; we draw a consecration circle of the invincible on the ground first; makes any injury from a weapon into a bruise.”
That piqued her interest. Every ship she'd ever been on had one of those drawn over the forecastle to protect the captain from snipers. It took considerable effort from casters and drained them greatly. It shocked her that someone would maintain one for fun. And yet...
“I think I should only use my sword to protect people.” She finally gave voice to the deeper concern she held
beyond just the idea of brutality as entertainment.
Again, Dactus was more amused than disappointed. “Ah, another one of those. Funny to see more than one in the city at a time, but Lord Pandemos honors all small gods as if they were part of the Pantheon. Say no more.” Taylin was going to ask what he meant, but Layaka interrupted.
“Miss Brin can do it! She's amazing and she'll win against anyone!”
Brin rolled her eyes, but shifted the Barratta on her shoulders so the rings jangled. “I can't promise all that, but I'm not just going to fight for someone else's fun, Priest Salea. What do I get for winning?”
It seemed impossible, but Dactus's smile grew even more. “Now this is the talk the One Dice likes hearing. Should you win, and I have no doubt that you will, the temple will be proud to share one full-mark for every ten wagered against you.”
“Three.” Brin said instantly.
“Three is a lot of money and we've only just rebuilt our temple.” Dactus pretended to whine.
“The only temple Pandemos needs is a mule with a cask on his back.” Rai recalled with a sage expression.
Dactus made a face. “True, but it is a very big cask and a very strong mule. But if it's wine you want, I will give you a bottle of your choice for your promise alone.” He opened the bag at his side to reveal that the clanking was, in fact, nearly a dozen slim bottles. “Any one of these, and I promise you that they are all delicious, all exotic.” He snatched two bottles from the bag and idly juggled them one handed.
“I am thirsty.” said Brin, “But all the same, I'm a contractor for the Historical Society, so my time is more valuable than one of ten.”
“Ah, a treasure thief.” Dactus didn't hide his mirth at Brin's reaction to the name. “I suppose we can, as a temple, part with a small treasure of magical power if you win.” To the priest's credit, he didn't take his eyes off Brin as she considered, not even when Ru abruptly appeared behind Taylin.
Lighter Days, Darker Nights (Rune Breaker) Page 7