by Lisa Daniels
Ailey watched the young woman, then turned her eyes toward the town. She reached out a hand and wrapped it around the young woman’s upper arm. “Come on.”
Immediately the thief began to wiggle out of the grip. “I’m not going to let you turn me in!”
Ailey moved behind the girl and began pushing her forward. “I’m trying to pay you back. Hot meal. Fix your wounded leg. It’s not quite what you want, but-”
“It’s a trick! A trap! You-” The young woman was flailing her arms and trying to get away from the medic.
“Excuse me. Can I be of some assistance?”
Both women turned to look at a man who was standing off to the side of the road. A map was in his long, thin hands. His hair caught the light in a way that made it look like it was a dark green color, and it was cut short. The man’s face was elegant, with eyes that were clearly not human – they were a strange combination of purple and green. Both women stared at him as the man stepped forward. His figure was chiseled and sturdy, but his movements were fluid and hypnotic.
Ailey was the first to respond as he neared. “My apologies for such a display, but it’s quite alright. My younger sister just seems to think that I plan to go through with the marriage contract our parents drew up before they died. All I want to do is prevent it. To make sure it is properly ended, we have to talk to the other family. She seems to think that she can just run away to resolve the problem.” The medic looked down at the young woman. The young woman blinked at her, then turned to look at the young man, unsure of what to say. Ailey spoke again, “I thank you for being willing to help, but I think we will be alright once she understands that I am not lying to her.”
“Well, why don’t I accompany you? That way if the older sister makes any attempt to follow through on the contract, I can whisk the younger sister away?” His smile was beautiful and completely disarming.
The young woman immediately responded, “That sounds fair to me.”
Ailey gripped her arm. “I’ll tell you what, if you can watch her while I go meet with the family, I will buy you both dinner once it is settled. I don’t need her making things more difficult with her constant interruptions, so that would be incredibly helpful.”
The man held out a hand to Ailey. “Lynx.”
A smile pulled at the corner of Ailey’s mouth, “Come, come, if you want to join my sister and me, I’m afraid I need your real name.”
“Medic! I mean, Ailey!” The young woman beside her sounded shocked. “How can you be so rude when he is trying to help?”
The man’s smile widened. “She’s quite right. My apologies, I had not realized.” He gave a short nod at her arm.
Ailey looked down at the patch and back up at the man. “Yes, that seems to be quite common in this area. Someone has even said that I should place one on the other arm. I think that people just need to be more observant.” The young woman glared up at her, but the man laughed.
He held out his hand again. “It is nice to meet you, Ailey. I am Ash.”
Ailey raised an eyebrow but shook his hand without any further reprimands.
The young woman spoke up, “You mean like the tree? Or, like, what’s left after a fire?”
“Like the tree,” he responded.
“I can see why you would use Lynx instead. It’s much manlier.”
Ash blinked at her.
Realizing that what she had said could be relatively offensive, the young woman immediately began to backtrack. “I mean, I like it, I think Ash is a nice name. But why not something like Oak? You look much more like an oak.”
“Dear sister,” Ailey squeezed the young woman’s arm, “you are babbling. Why don’t you introduce yourself properly?”
The thief glared up at Ailey, then turned with a smile on her face to look at Ash. “Hello, Ash. I’m Ivy.”
Ash’s smile spread wider. “Ah, like the parasitic, invasive vine.”
The smile faded from the young woman’s face. Jerking her arm out of Ailey’s hand, she folded her arms across her chest. “You don’t have to be mean about it.”
The man shook his head, “No, it is a perfectly lovely name and plant. You just have to be careful and cultivate it right. When it goes unchecked, ivy is absolutely destructive.” He gave the young woman a knowing look and smiled wider.
Unsure of how to take his words, Ivy fell silent.
Ash turned his attention to Ailey. “I guess she wasn’t lying about her name either.”
Ailey shrugged, “No, it looks like she wasn’t. Maybe she is looking for common ground that would help her get closer to you.” The three turned to head towards the town as Ailey continued. “Since you are being so kind, I feel obligated to warn you about watching your pockets while she’s around.”
“Oh, I know. And a word of advice, you guys need to work on your cover a bit more. Right now it is perfectly obvious to anyone who pays attention that you are not sisters.” He paused and looked at the sky as the women stopped and looked at him, uncertain whether they should continue with the stranger. “I suppose that means you will be alright. Humans aren’t known for being particularly adept at noticing anything.”
“Hey!” Ivy shouted at him. “Wait. You aren’t human?” He turned a little and gave her a perfectly noncommittal smile before sliding his hands into his pockets and continuing toward the town.
Ailey dropped Ivy’s arm. “Of course he isn’t. Have you ever seen a human with purple eyes?” The medic began to follow Ash.
Ivy looked between the two people walking in front of her and the road behind her. Ash continued to walk, but Ailey stopped and looked back at the young woman. Finally making up her mind, Ivy trotted forward and began walking next to the medic, keeping Ailey between her and Ash.
Chapter 2
Unfair Judgement
A female guard held up a hand as they approached the gate. “Please state your business.”
Ash stepped forward and beamed at her, “My cousins and I are on our way to Melzi. Well, one of my cousins is,” he gestured to the patch on her arm. “My other cousin and I are going with her as far as we can, in case it is our last goodbye.” He gave Ailey a perfectly tragic look.
The guard gave him a warm smile, then turned to look at Ailey. “We are honored to host one of the brave people willing to make the sacrifice. I’ve lost nearly half of my family to the plague there. My father was the only one who decided to stick it out here instead of chasing fortune in the city. Now it turns out that he was the smart one.”
Ailey took a few steps forward. “Do you know anything about the illness? Have you seen anyone who has contracted it?” She had plenty of notes, but Ailey had not spoken to anyone who had actually seen any of the victims.
“I’m sorry madam, no.”
“I have,” the other guard chimed in. He was looking at Ivy as he spoke. “My brother has it. We considered sneaking him out, but my father refused to house him if we succeeded. My mother, brother, and myself, I mean.” He gave a lopsided grin as he finished.
Ivy took a few steps toward him. “You must be quite the brave young man to be so willing to risk trouble to save a brother who is ill.” The way she held her body was very flirtatious.
Ailey reached out and pulled Ivy back. “I do apologize, but I need to get my sister cleaned up before she gets carried away. The silly girl did not have our parents’ permission to come this way, so she tailed us from the woods until she got tangled in some particularly messy brambles.”
The female guard nodded, as if a question she had kept back had finally been answered. The young man gave her a look. “You were quite brave, but that was very dangerous.”
“But she’s my only sister. How could I let her go off to certain death without letting her know how much I admire her?”
Ailey began to walk through the gates. “Thank you very much. Once she is cleaned up, my sister may be allowed to come back, depending on how our cousin feels about it. I know he has some business to attend to elsewhere so t
aking her back home is no doubt going to drag him out of his way.”
Ivy gave the young guard a wave as she was pulled away.
The trio walked in silence until they were out of earshot. Ivy pulled her arm out of Ailey’s grasp. “That’s enough of that. I would thank you to keep your hands to yourself.”
“I thought that places like this were nothing more than death traps, yet you go around like a rabbit in heat. I swear.”
“What does it matter to you?”
Ailey turned and looked at the young woman. “You see only marks when you look at these men. That is a terrible way to look at the world.”
“So what? That has nothing to do with you.”
“When people like you make fools of men like that, they take it out on the other women in their lives. I have heard too many stories where men justified their abuse by talking about women like you. Women who used them, then ran off with everything. The men’s actions may not be justified, but your reckless use of them teaches young men all of the wrong ideas about what women are like.”
“And what about the men who used me?” Ivy stopped and glared at Ailey. “You have no idea-”
A hand snaked around her waist, and she looked up into the clear, colorful eyes of Ash. “Ladies, we are supposed to dine and enjoy a little time together. Let’s not turn this into something unpleasant.”
Ailey looked from one to the other before finally responding to Ivy, “I have known plenty of young women like you, women who were treated badly and took it out on everyone they met afterward. I understand what you have been through, that is why I was offering you food and treatment. I am not passing judgement on you. I just want you to understand that your actions affect others just as much as what others have done to you has affected you. You can stop it.”
“Ailey,” Ash’s voice was firm, “right now is not the time.”
“And when is the time, Ash? After she has eaten and bolted? After she beds the unsuspecting youth and steals all of his savings?”
“I wouldn’t steal all of it,” Ivy said as Ash responded with, “That’s quite enough.”
Ailey looked between the two and sighed. Pulling out her coin purse, the medic tossed it at the young woman. Without a word, she turned and headed back to the gate.
“Where are you going?” Ash’s voice sounded a bit surprised.
Ailey didn’t feel compelled to answer him. Neither Ash nor Ivy were her problem. She had simply been trying to be kind, and was reminded why she should stick with only helping those who asked for help. It rarely worked the way she intended it to go.
A hand grabbed her forearm, forcing her to stop. “I asked you a question.”
Ailey looked down at the hand and up at Ash. “I fail to see why that should matter to me. I owe you nothing, you don’t need my assistance, and the person you seem to want to help is slipping away while you hinder me.”
Ash opened his mouth then turned around to see Ivy moving quickly down the street. “Tracking her will not be a problem.”
“Good, then you can go take care of that after you let me go.”
“I thought we would have dinner together.”
Ailey sighed, trying to keep her temper in check. “I have to go see a couple outside of the town. I had not intended to come through the gates before taking care of it. It was only because of that little thief that I am even here. My schedule is tight and since you seemed inclined to deal with that mess,” she gestured in the direction that Ivy had gone, “so much the better. My services are needed by people more receptive to assistance.”
“Are you saying that you are only needed where you will be paid? No need to help someone who actually needs it?”
Ailey stepped forward so that there were only a few inches between her face and his. She was tall for a human woman, so that she was able to look him directly in the eyes without having to tilt her head up. “The couple I am going to help cannot conceive children. If they do not have kids within the next year, they will lose the farm. You see, the land is only available to those who continue the bloodline, and they only acquired it because the wife’s father granted it to them last year when the man lost his job. The father died under mysterious circumstances a couple of months ago. The sister’s aunt is now eagerly trying to take it away from them to expand her own land. All she needs is for the couple to fail to produce a child who can continue to work the land. A human woman takes nine months to bring a child to term, so they are running very low on options and have very little time to prove they can perpetuate the family. Are you going to tell me that my time is better spent dining with two travelers who clearly either don’t want my help or don’t need it over a couple who not only needs my help, but actually wants my guidance?”
Ash released her arm. “I didn’t-”
Ailey moved closer and poked him in the chest, “Of course you didn’t. You nonhumans are constantly belittling us, telling us how we should be, and laughing at our mistakes. You rarely bother to actually learn the facts as you paint all humans as being the same, and even less frequently are you willing to do anything useful or helpful. Well, I can tell you, Ash, we are not all the same. We have short lives, and we do the best we can with the time we are given. There are some monsters who use their time to make everyone else miserable, but they are in the minority, no matter what you non-humans think. We don’t have centuries to figure things out, so we make mistakes, we do stupid things, and we pay for it repeatedly.” She took a step back and looked at his passive face. “But I know that non-humans are exactly the same when you are young. You just have the luxury of time so that you can do better later. You can heal yourselves so that a sword run through your stomach is rarely lethal. We die just perpetuating our species. So before you go laughing at us, declaring us all unobservant or accusing individuals of only working for money, you may want to take the time to actually learn about the individual. I know it will come as a shock, but most of us aren’t like that.”
Ash shook his head and held up his hands. “I apologize. I wasn’t trying to-”
“I don’t need to be a medic to see that your apology was entirely insincere. You are trying to placate me so that I won’t think so poorly of you.”
He frowned. “If we think of you as all being the same, it’s not without reason. You just did it yourself by lumping all non-humans into a single category. Do you really think that all of us feel that way about humans?”
Ailey opened her mouth to respond, then decided it wasn’t worth it. Turning, she walked quickly toward the gate, Ash on her heels. He tried several times to engage her in conversation, but the medic did not feel like dealing with him. As soon as she reached the gate, the female guard gave them a questioning look. Ailey knew they must look strange because she was completely ignoring the man who was passionately trying to talk to her. The medic rolled her eyes as Ash started up with a new method of trying to get her to respond. Turning to the female guard, Ailey said, “I’m sorry, but can you point me in the direction of the Walston Farm, please? They have put in a request and I am trying to answer that, despite this person’s attempt to keep me in town.”
The guard looked between the pair as she responded, “Sure, they are up that way.” She pointed west of the town. “Is everything alright?”
“No, they need-”
The guard shook her head, “I know about the Walstons’ problem. I mean with you and your cousin.”
Ailey looked over at him. “Yes, there is. Apparently, he and his accomplice were not the people they claimed to be. I only helped them because they told me she was pregnant, and like a fool I ignored my doubt and was trying to aid them. I don’t know where his accomplice has gone, but apparently, he’s still trying to swindle me.”
Both guards pulled their swords and approached Ash who held up his hands and moved away from Ailey. He looked at the guards, then at Ailey, his expression one of amusement. “All I wanted was a nice dinner conversation and to get to know a medic a little better.”
“That’s funny, because it seemed to me that you were trying to prove that you are better than humans.”
The male guard sounded shocked. “You mean he isn’t human?”
Ailey took a deep breath and counted to three in her head. She hated it when humans proved they were as unobservant as Ash had claimed. Before she could respond, the female guard said, “Oh geez, I hadn’t even noticed because he was with you two women. He’s got purple eyes. That’s not a human color, is it Evan?”
“No, madam, it isn’t.” His sword moved up a little. “I am sorry Catharine – I mean madam. For not noticing.”
“We both missed it. An important lesson going forward. Depending on what he is-”
“I’m sorry, but I really need to be going,” Ailey interrupted. She had no desire to listen to the instructions that the young guard was about to get.
The female guard nodded, “Of course. Godspeed and guidance.”
Ailey started to walk through the gates, but stopped. “Evan, was it?” She looked at the young man who nodded. “Would you have some time to discuss your brother when I return?”
“So you are going to Melzi?” he asked.
“Of course. I’m just trying to take care of as many cases as possible before reaching my destination because I do not know how long I will be there.”
Evan started to say something, but Catharine nudged him before he could ask further. “He is on duty for the next two hours. He will be in the barracks for about an hour afterward. If it takes you longer, you can ask the general for Evan’s home address.”
“Thank you both for your help.”
“Um, madam,” Evan sounded uncertain, “Ms. Medic. Would you like to leave your bag here? I know that you won’t need that stuff at the Walstons’ place. We could hold on to it, you know, lighten your load.”
Ailey gave him a genuine smile, and Evan smiled back. “Thank you, Evan. And my name is Ailey. You can use that in the future.” She removed the bag from her shoulders and held it out.
“Thank you, madam, I mean, Ailey,” he stretched out a hand and took her bag, his sword nearly touching the ground.