The Tourney

by Juliet Sem

  Keestu studied the flower alphabet, sounding it out over and over until she was certain she had it memorized. She took a break and asked Maurni to let her try and read the scarf.

  Keestu slowly read the message. Several words were misspelled, but Keestu was pleased to finally make out, "Union esape Prato send by Anthan to Linson for hep."

  She nodded and returned the scarf to Maurni, who still had a number of blossoms to embroider.

  Keestu completed four more batts before lunch. She sat quietly listening while eating a thick slice of untoasted bread spread with herbed fat and two large cubes of cheddar cheese.

  When her noble clothes were ready, Keestu was told to change into them while her own clothing was repaired and washed. She found the satin outfit comfortable, but the color was garish and distracted her as she continued carding fiber.

  Anthan checked Keestu's batts, looking them over with a critical eye, asking Keestu to reprocess several of her earlier batts, which weren't brushed as evenly as the others. After she finished those, Keestu carded five more complete batt sets and had made two more batts of the next group of four before Anthan declared the work done for the day.

  She and her helper brought in the two lengths of cloth, which showed an intricate interlocking design that fascinated Keestu.

  Keestu's clothing had been repaired, washed, and dried. In addition, her pants had been bleached and redyed a medium brown. She changed back into her own clothing with a sigh of relief.

  As Keestu folded her finished noble clothing, she examined the fine stitching with a fresh appreciation for the skill of the women who had done the work. If she hadn't seen them working on the clothing, she'd be certain the seams had been sewn on a machine. To her surprise, she was also provided with a gold satin drawstring pouch that had been made from the excess fabric, and it was explained to her that since noble clothing typically had no pockets, they sometimes carried things in a pouch that was tied to the pants at the waist. She noted the pants had had loops on either side of her belly button to hold the pouch, giving her the option of tying it on either side.

  Maurni had finished the scarf and handed it to Anthan with a smile. Keestu examined the scarf, and while she knew the message was there, it was hard for her to make it out with the other colors filled in. She thought the design was pretty by itself, looking from a distance like a field of wildflowers.

  "Thank you so much," Keestu said to the women as they prepared to leave, "I don't know that I'll ever be able to repay you."

  "Oh, no worry. Anthan come help us get our tithe ready next couple days--we have more time since ours is going to Palace City," Maurni reassured Keestu before bobbing her head in farewell.

  "Now, you help me make dinner," Anthan said. She had Keestu wash her hands free of lanolin, then showed her how to peel tubers and set her to peeling several pounds of them while Anthan added some kindling and wood to the coals to restart the fire burning. She put a clean kettle over it, adding some water and herbs. Then she turned to dicing some meat that she got from a small fridge unit.

  "Why do you cook with fire instead of electricity?" Keestu was curious.

  "I grew up cooking on fire, and I like things slow cooked," Anthan explained. "Flavors blend better." She added the diced meat to the kettle, and then helped Keestu wash and chop the peeled tubers before adding those to the pot. When that was done, Anthan brought out several other vegetables and had Keestu help her peel and dice those before they were added to the pot.

  After covering the stew, Anthan pulled a large covered bowl from a shelf above the fire. She took off the towel, revealing a mass of risen dough. Anthan punched the dough down, kneading it on a floured surface before dividing the dough into five portions and placing it into greased round metal pans and placing the pans back above the fire and covering them with towels for another rise.

  Keestu continued carding, watching with interest while Anthan went to the family's store room for some grain that she put into an electric grinder so she could start the next day's bread, explaining to Keestu as she did so, "I wasn't expecting company today, so our bread bowls will be smaller, but I put extra vegetables in the stew to make up for the lack. Dex won't be pleased since he loves bread, but it was his choice to bring you, not that I'd have turned you away myself."

  "Thank you so much for your help Anthan. I'm sorry I don't have much to offer in return."

  "Nonsense," Anthan scolded her. "You're saving one of us four days walking to Palace City and back, which means I can get a head start on harvesting and canning for the winter. It may be three months away, but if I can get the plants to give an extra crop by starting harvesting a week early, I can barter that extra food to get some sugar or sweet syrup to make treats for the family for Midwinter Festival. Besides, you also gave me nearly a day's head start on carding, so I'll be making our clothing for next year that much sooner. I think that's a fair trade."

  Keestu looked out a window and saw with surprise that it was already late afternoon. Anthan's boys came home and were given hot water to wash. Soon after, Dex returned, placing his axe by the door.

  Anthan checked the dough before removing a large brick from above the fireplace, revealing the oven built into the wall. She checked the fire before putting the pans of dough in the oven.

  Keestu was sent with a bucket to fetch water to refill the kettle that was kept over the fire and a barrel that was kept inside. She easily found the large clear stream and dipped the bucket in, shuddering a little as she watched the water rushing past. She hefted the bucket and steeled herself to make as many trips as were necessary while her hosts washed up for dinner.

  Finally, it was her turn, and she gratefully took a basin of water and scrubbed her hands clean again. She also splashed water on her face, hoping she didn't look too disreputable.

  When she went back to the kitchen, she found that Anthan had pulled the bread from the oven, and the scent of it reminded Keestu of home, and she sighed in appreciation as she sat at the table and mimicked her hosts actions of cutting the top off her bread bowl, scooping out the interior to hollow it, grateful that Anthan and Dex used forks rather than the finger utensils preferred on Phaet. She ate the chunks of warm fresh bread she removed, and then when that was done, the bowl was filled with a delicious stew, hearty with tender slow-cooked meat and vegetables. After helping prepare the meal, Keestu realized a new appreciation for the work of the palace chefs at home as she hungrily ate her share.

  Night had fallen by the time dinner was done, and Keestu helped Anthan wash the dishes while Dex pulled a stool near the fire and sharpened his tools. After bringing in firewood, the boys quietly played several games of Engine Room at the dinner table, rolling the die and moving colored seeds around a handmade board. Anthan pulled out a large hook and bright red yarn and quickly made several geometric motifs. Keestu watched for a few minutes before resuming carding, finishing up the batts she had started and blending another four batts to completion before she found her eyelids drooping.

  Neatly stacking those batts with the others, she turned to find that Dex and the boys had already quietly climbed the ladder to their beds.

  Anthan smiled at Keestu and said, "I was waiting until you were ready to sleep." She put her completed motifs into her basket and waited until Keestu had washed, taken her shoes off, and settled on her mattress near the fireplace.

  "Thanks again, Anthan," Keestu said, yawning hugely.

  "You're welcome, Rue. Good night." Anthan climbed the ladder and hit a switch that turned off the downstairs lights.

  It was very dark and quiet. After her eyes adjusted, Keestu watched for a while as the fire crackled comfortingly, extending its warmth throughout the home. She was tired, and her thoughts had no time to disturb her before she fell asleep.

  Chapter sixteen

  Morning came sooner than Keestu would have wanted. Her left shoulder still ached, and her right forearm was sore from turning the crank on the carder the previous day. Her leg, however
, was feeling better. The swelling was gone, but she had a large bruise on her shin.

  Anthan gave her a dose of herbal pain reliever, and Keestu was glad it wasn't a sedating variety.

  At the breakfast table, Dex took out a sheet of paper and used a sharpened stick and homemade ink to draw a detailed map for Keestu, showing her the foot trails she would follow through the forest. He had traveled that route many times himself, so the map was very detailed, showing every major fork she would encounter and clearly marking Linson's tavern's location on it as well.

  He told Keestu, "You should walk about fifteen kilometer per day. Make sure you stop Linson's tavern in Dunne settlement first night."

  "Only fifteen kilometers? I can do more than that in a day," Keestu said.

  "You be walk rough trails and carry two burden baskets," Dex explained. "It hard going, and you don't want spend night on trail. Not unsafe, it just uncomfortable without fire. We don't have spare flint and steel, and I no have time teach you make fire from raw materials."

  "Oh, of course," Keestu said, "I understand. I'll be sure to stop at Linson's, then."

  "Second day, when you get last fork edge of clearing where Spaceport City at, go left fork about quarter kilometer and look for rock look like greater horned odek animal's rump. It wild relative of lesser odek we keep for wool. Twenty paces behind towards sunset dense group trees. In there fungus buy your way offworld. Take four largest fungi without stalks on top–those about release spoors to grow more. Offer two as payment first, but plan give all four ticket agent."

  Dex told her to retrace her steps and take the turn that led into Spaceport City. "About half kilometer before enter Spaceport City, you find abandoned earth house that is sleep in by Dunnes who don't have anything barter for room Spaceport City. It powered by hydroelectric generator so have light and electric cook. Hide noble clothes, food, and mushrooms in roof thatch while go town, take tithe Spaceport City, find tithe office, which mark with banner in Vulo color with Prató's geometric sign on it. You know right?" At Keestu's nod, he continued. "After deliver tithe and get ID chit back, return earth house change noble clothes. Leave burden baskets and tithe ID chit under thatch by front corner eave. I arrange friend bring it back that come our way few day later. When that done, you no trouble find spaceport."

  "Linson is my brother," Anthan told her then. "So he will not question my decision to help you, not with the scarf I'm sending along with you."

  Anthan gave her a wooden mug and several doses of the herbal pain powder and their morning drink in different colored cloth packets along with a long hooded coat to wear over the message scarf and her own mended clothing, explaining, "This time of year, the wind is very cold, and unexpected late rain showers or early snows can blow up. This will keep you warm and dry. You can leave the mug and coat with the baskets when done with them, and Linson will keep the scarf, to return to us at a later time. Have a good journey, Rue. I wish you luck in escaping Vulo."

  Keestu impulsively gave both Anthan and Dex hugs and profuse thanks for their help, smiling at their sons as she strapped on the burden baskets, one front and one back, before being shown to the head of the trail by Dex and Anthan. Keestu noted that Vulo II was setting to what she designated as her west, looking like it was going to collide with Vulo I when it reached the horizon.

  "You go slow and steady today," Dex advised her. "Most uphill. Once at Linson's most flat until Spaceport City. Walk with Rentham, Rue."

  "Thank you Dex, Anthan. You walk with Rentham, too." Her eyes teared up as she saw the kindness and concern in their eyes, and she gripped their hands again in farewell.

  Keestu resolutely turned away from them and started up the trail. It was a narrow single track that wound this way and that, and she had to watch for loose or deeply embedded rocks and tree roots dotting the rough path that made for difficult footing. It was still early, the sun not quite visible, and as she climbed, a heavy fog blew in and blanketed the forest. Keestu felt as though she was in a virtual reality, with the alien plant life looming suddenly out of the fog that surrounded her, the bulky burden baskets draped on her, and an unfamiliar coat that swished past her knees as she walked. Used to long exercise sessions, she paced herself slower than she would normally walk, and then slowed even more as the path climbed a ridge then wound up and down across it.

  She entered a clearing at the top of the ridge, stopping for a moment to look at her map. A loud snort sounded on her right, and she whirled towards it. A large shaggy horned animal stood looking at her from a distance of twenty meters. This, then, was one of the greater horned odeks that Dex had told her about. It snorted again, and Keestu instinctively spoke to it, shooing it away. "Go on, now," she called at the beast, waving her arms. It snorted a third time as it wheeled about, tan buttocks vanishing in a swirl of mist and long locks of matted wool. Relieved, Keestu cautiously crossed the clearing. She felt safer back in the woods, thinking that if she encountered another beast like that one it would not have room to charge her.

  The sun finally rose high enough to burn off the fog, though the wind, as Anthan had informed her, stayed cold. An hour later, it finally warmed enough that Keestu threw back the hood, removed the scarf, and unbuttoned the top two buttons on the coat.

  She checked her map at every fork, hoping she wasn't misreading it and was greatly relieved when she came to a wide creek that had a log footbridge constructed over it. Dex had told her this was a little further than the midway point between their house and Linson's tavern. She rested a while here, eating the small loaf of bread and large chunk of cheese Anthan had packed for her lunch, dipping her mug into the creek for water.

  Greatly refreshed, she resumed her journey.

  The sun was low in the sky when she arrived in the Outskirts that lay halfway between Palace City and Spaceport City. Keestu thought Vuloan place names must be awfully confusing until you got used to them, as there was a town named Outskirts by Palace City as well. Consulting her map, she found Linson's tavern without any difficulty.

  Her feet and legs ached from the constant changes in balance required on the rough trail, and her left shoulder and lower back were quite stiff when she entered the tavern and shuffled up to the bar.

  A man with light brown hair and blue eyes was leaning on the bar, watching her progress.

  He eyed her sympathetically as he took in her bedraggled appearance and heavily bruised face.

  "Ako non," he bade her, motioning towards a seat.

  "Speak Unity?" Keestu said hopefully. The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Reaching into the basket strapped to her front, Keestu pulled out the scarf, handing it over to Linson, for it had to be him.

  Linson took the scarf, looking it over carefully before admitting. "Yes, I speak Unity. Anthan sent you, and with a scarf our mother made, eh? What did you do to make the Prató so angry?"

  "I have no idea. I was part of the contingent visiting from Sandar. We went out to dinner because the food at the palace didn't agree with the Crown Princess's digestion, and we were attacked in an alley outside the restaurant by Vuloan nobles."

  The memory of Tenget's maiming and possible murder flashed before her eyes, and she choked up slightly. "Have you heard anything about the altercation?"

  Linson shook his head, the sympathetic look returning. "No, but the Prató would suppress that information as long as he could. It would look very bad for Vulo, particularly for him, if word of this got out. No, he's the type to try and silence everyone involved and assume an air of innocence when you suddenly 'disappeared'. Good thing Anthan married Dex and learned of such things, or she'd probably have sent you right back to him thinking all was fine."

  He came around the bar to help Keestu remove her burden baskets. "Are you taking this to Spaceport City for Anthan and Dex?"

  Keestu looked at him in surprise. "I assume you are headed that direction, to try and get off planet, and delivering their tithe gives you reason to enter the city unnoticed. How are you going to get on
to a ship, though?"

  "Dex found some noble clothing that I can wear that will allow me to enter the spaceport. He told me where to find barter goods to pay for passage. I must get off Vulo and back to either Phaet or Autocracy Station."

  "Direct station trips aren't on the schedule often for our local jumpers, so you're better off going to Phaet first. You'd also best say you are going to Phaet to relieve someone of palace duty. That way, there will be no questions about why you only want passage one way. Also, since the palace provides everything you need while serving, there will be no questions about your lack of baggage."

  Keestu nodded, happy for Linson's help in expanding her cover story.

  He showed her to a room above the tavern, where he lived and paying guests stayed, turning a sign that hung on the door next to his suite so the blank side showed, meaning the room was occupied for the night. Keestu put the burden baskets in the room, and then went back down to the tavern.

  "I'm short handed right now, so you will need to work for your room and board." Linson explained the table numbers to Keestu, and said since she couldn't mix Vuloan drinks, she would help serve them until dinner, at which time the experienced waiters and waitresses would take over delivering drinks while Keestu helped serve dinner. He told her to keep her mouth shut, as most of the patrons didn't speak Unity unless it was for work, so her lack of fluency in Phaet would not be noticed if they thought she was the surly type. "Given the bruise on your face," Linson concluded, "They'll assume you're passing through and working as you can on your way to somewhere better than you came, which is true, but not in the way they think."

  Several patrons entered the tavern, calling out their drink orders to Linson, who confirmed their orders and put them on a platter for Keestu to deliver. She settled into a routine of taking the drinks off the platter and placing them in the center of the table and letting the patrons grab their own. Three times when she delivered drinks things were placed onto her tray in return, and she looked up to see sympathetic expressions, which she returned with a wan smile and grateful nod as she pocketed the proffered items, realizing they meant for her to use the items for barter on her journey.