Way Walkers: Tangled Paths (The Tazu Saga)

by Leigh, J.

  “A week?” Ass’shiri asked. “Did you have a precognitive vision, Chann? There’s no way it took longer than a few days to stumble across the vein and then get a crew together to mine enough to confirm it. My uncle’s an earth mage. He works with the government back home, finding veins and moving dirt and whatnot. Even with only using human workers to dig, you’d easily find enough to confirm a vein within a day. Maybe two.”

  Jathen nodded, following the logic. “So you would have to have known about this vein being found, oh, at least a few days before you spoke to me about leaving, over eight months ago now. How?”

  Hatori eyed Jathen appraisingly. “The how is unimportant. What matters is the who.”

  “Your patron,” Jathen concluded.

  “Who you won’t tell us about,” Ass’shiri added.

  Hatori nodded. “Not just yet, at least. After the announcement of the vein is made, maybe. When we need to head up to Fauve to present the first finished works, definitely. For now, just know I still have some very good friends from when I lived here that still keep their… feet in the game, as it were.”

  Jephue sighed. “Must you sound so cloak and dagger, Hatori? If it weren’t for the fact that they are young and unfamiliar with the area, they would know immediately to whom you are referring. It could be no one else.”

  “Jeph—” Hatori started.

  “Oh, calm yourself. I’ll not speak your great secret!” Jephue rolled his eyes. “I just wish you weren’t so dedicated to finding captive audiences to make yourself sound so much more involved with things than you are. You don’t play such deep games. You never did, even back when—”

  “Jephue, enough, please. I’m just trying to praise Jathen for actually thinking a bit on something, and to remind the boys they are to keep their ruddy mouths shut about the amber for a few weeks.” He gave them a dark glare.

  “Fine,” Jathen said.

  “Hey, you’re paying me.” Ass’shiri shrugged. “Meager as it is.”

  Jathen and Ass’shiri spent a good portion of the rest of the day helping around the shop. By dusk, the place was deemed acceptable, and they were released to their own devices.

  “Go, go,” Jephue said. “I’ll stay here and make certain the silly love of my life actually eats.”

  “So now that that’s done,” Ass’shiri said once they were outside, “what are you up to trying tonight, oh companion mine?”

  “Actually,” Jathen replied, “I wouldn’t mind seeing Ishane again.”

  Ass’shiri’s brow furrowed. “Jath, I don’t want to be one of ‘those’ friends who goes on about knowing more than everyone, but let me say I do know a bit about women and the like, at least a bit more than you, would you agree?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “Okay. Then don’t go taking what I’m going to say as anything more than heartfelt advice from a friend who’s been down, and seen others go down, the path you are starting on.”

  “Ass, what are you talking about?”

  “I know you had a good time with that girl last night, and that’s a good thing, but you need to get out and have a good time with others.”

  “Why? If I liked Ishane, shouldn’t I keep seeing her?”

  “See, that’s the thing, Jath. She was your first, and that’s all well and good, but you don’t know what you like yet. Not really. That and you’ve got to be careful when it comes to mei. They are trained to make you enjoy yourself. Not that she wasn’t being genuine with you or anything, but I’m just saying she’s probably going to be genuine with the next man that comes by as well. See what I’m saying?”

  “You’re saying don’t fall in love with a mei.”

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “Well, I don’t think I’m falling in love with her, Ass’shiri.” Jathen forced a laugh. “I just felt comfortable with her, and I’m not really inclined to repeat the horrible awkwardness from before I met her.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s part of the training, to learn to get past the initial uncertainty and find what makes you comfortable and happy. I’m just saying she was nice, but there might be better out there still, even beyond the mei.”

  A Tazu who’s not quite a Tazu. “What if there isn’t?”

  “We can cross that bridge if we come to it. But trust me, Jath, she’s not the end-all. And even if she is, there’s no way for you to know for certain unless you get out there and compare her to others. Do you see my reasoning?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Good.” Ass’shiri put on the roguish smile Jathen had seen him use in the mei temple to such lasting effectiveness. “So where do you want to try tonight?”

  Chapter 28

  Summer rolled in.

  The streets of Ca’june blossomed with the influx of new visitors. Moving amid the crowds, Jathen and Ass’shiri played as tourists over the next few weeks with Jephue for their tour guide. Tucked neatly under a pale cream parasol, the Lu’shun native strolled through the town, dragging them to the tailor and, in Jathen’s case, the barber.

  “I don’t understand how you could go out with your hair like that,” Jephue huffed, spinning his umbrella in disdain. His ever-changing scalp had seen some interesting styles recently, the current being a nod to the Lu’shun presently fashionable use of unnatural color. Pure white, his hair was tipped in orange at the bangs, while the rest hung long and free about his shoulders.

  Jathen snorted as he sat in the barber’s chair. “You said you liked my hair all long and wild when we were in Zo’den and the Furōrin-Iki.”

  “But that was there. Here, you look like a wild child who just rolled out of bed. I can’t believe you went into the mei district like that.”

  Seeing himself in the mirror, Jathen couldn’t quite disagree. The Lu’shun hairdresser had his work cut out for him, and the man sported the sour expression to prove it.

  When the unruly mane was clean and newly trimmed, Jathen had to admit he appeared considerably more presentable. New clothing completed the look. Jephue had outfitted him in finer shades of subtly varying golds and dark browns, and Jathen agreed the style and colors flattered him. If not for the eyes, I’d actually pass for human in these. Not that the Lu’shun care.

  “Much better,” Jephue chirped, while Ass’shiri nodded.

  The purchase of a hat to keep the bright sunrays off Ass’shiri was next. Jathen and Jephue spent a good hour with him at the hatter’s, nodding or making faces in the mirrors while he sampled a dozen or so possibilities. He finally settled on a black wide-brimmed fedora that he deemed a bit sleeker and less “proper” than Hatori’s. He wore it out of the shop, looking more roguish than ever when he tilted it at a few passing ladies.

  “You might as well scribe a sign around your neck that reads, ‘Hello, I’m a Rheanic,’” Jathen teased.

  “Say what you will, but you know I look good.”

  “So does everyone else is this Beleskie-touched country.”

  The headgear came in handy after lunch, when Jephue managed to drag Hatori out and away from his amber for an excursion to the beach and ocean. The sky was a stunning blue, which the water reflected perfectly even with all of its rippling waves. Wearing their hats, the two Clansmen huddled under a huge parasol planted into the sand and boasted matching expressions of distaste.

  “I should be napping, not burning to a crisp,” Hatori grouched.

  “Don’t tell me the mighty Clansman is afraid of a little surf and sun,” Jephue said. “You could at least put on a pair of trunks and come swimming.”

  “I’m not going to subject all the other poor souls on this beach to my bleach-white form bobbing for dear life in the water like a painted dinghy.” Shifting in his chair, Hatori added, “Besides, I’m content watching you run around half naked.”

  “Oh, flattery
will get you absolutely nowhere.” Jephue snorted and flicked some sand at him before marching off toward the breaking waves.

  Jathen bent to take off his shoes. “You sure you don’t want to come?” he asked Ass’shiri.

  “The old grump’s complaints aside,” Ass’shiri said, “Clan really aren’t built for daylight. We can burn rather nastily even under normal circumstances. The sun hurts our eyes, and it’s going to kick off that water like a mirror. I like my skin the shade it is, not blackened to a crisp. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m sticking to the shade today.”

  “Suit yourself.” Jathen shrugged, depositing his shoes between their chairs. “But this is one experience I’m not shying from.”

  “Have fun!”

  “Don’t drown!” Hatori called. “Your mother would kill me!”

  Scalding heat sizzled the soles of his feet. It’s like the hatchery floor. Jathen winced, skipping quickly to the wetter, cooler ground. I should have invested in a pair of sandals. Small rocks and shells cut the delicate skin of his feet. Hissing through his teeth, he finally reached the water.

  “Damn it! Jephue, I’m bleeding!”

  “Just let it soak in the salt, it’ll be fine!”

  Repressing years of training from Petalith, Jathen did his best not to balk at the idea of letting his cut go unbound. The tide was coming in, and the weight of the incoming break and the suction of the water around his ankles when it waned again was all stronger than anticipated. Jathen wobbled on the foaming ground and reached for Jephue’s shoulder.

  “Oh, look at you.” Jephue chuckled and held out a steadying hand. “No sea legs at all!”

  “Didn’t think I’d need them while still on solid ground.” He snorted, and then a powerful wave crashed into his knees, almost toppling him. “Maybe Ass’shiri and Hatori have the right of it after all.”

  “Oh, come along. You just need to get in deeper.”

  “Deeper?”

  “Yes, the force isn’t as bad when the water’s flowing around you. About shoulder high will do. You just need to jump with the wave when it comes in or learn to duck under and let it pass overhead.” With a whoop, Jephue demonstrated, diving into the next surge with the kind of confidence born of having been raised alongside the crashing surf. He popped up a moment later, grinning ear to ear, while the same breaker smacked into Jathen’s thighs, making him wobble. “Come on, Jath, it’s glorious once you’re in!”

  Not as ambitious as Jephue, but resolved to be more daring than Ass’shiri and Hatori cowering under their artificial shade, Jathen inched his way farther out into the water. Following Jephue’s lead, Jathen began to get the hang of it, learning when to jump up and when to duck under based upon the swell and foam in the wave. Feeling more confident, he bounced happily along with the other swimmers, jumping and diving with the enthusiasm of a duck.

  A large breaker rolled in, and Jathen misjudged it, moving to jump over rather than duck under, and he received a slap of foamy water to the face. Tumbling head over heels under the water, he was deposited unceremoniously upon his rear, and sand and sea salt skidded up into his shorts and dug roughly into his skin.

  Coughing and sputtering, Jathen was overcome by the permeating taste of salt. “That’s it,” he coughed, crawling along the shore. He stood and righted his swim trunks enough to feel the heavy drag of wet sand rubbing against places where the small grains most certainly shouldn’t be. “I’m done.”

  “Oh, retreating so soon?” Jephue asked.

  “Jeph, my foot is bleeding, and I’ve got sand in my ass,” Jathen called back in Tazu. “I’ve had enough ocean for now.”

  Ass’shiri was nice enough to vacate his shade and meet him halfway with a towel.

  Hatori, however, was not withholding in his sarcasm. “Enjoy the dunking?”

  “It was glorious,” Jathen replied, shaking his head to clear the water from his ears and hair. He plopped down on the towel spread in front of the beach chairs. “How’s squinting away at your paper in the shade like a frightened mole?”

  “More enlightening than trying to discretely remove sand from an inconvenient spot like you are now attempting,” Hatori said, turning a page with a superior air.

  Reddening, Jathen shifted position as Ass’shiri tried not to laugh and failed.

  Trying to change the subject, Jathen asked, “Has there been any word on that off-island fire? I keep missing you at breakfast to ask.”

  “Not much more than what I said before,” Hatori replied.

  “Well, I was just wondering if it had anything to do with the mine, considering you said they found the new vein just off the—”

  “Hush!” Hatori swung out his foot while yelling in Tazu. “What did I say about mentioning that?”

  Jathen dodged the kick, but he got a face full of sand. “Sorry. I just wanted to be certain there weren’t any problems with your precious resource, since they still haven’t announced it! Ugh!”

  “Everything is fine,” Hatori said in Tar’cil, resettling in his chair. “Nothing my certain friend can’t handle.”

  “So they were related?”

  “I didn’t necessarily say that.”

  “Give it up, Jath.” Ass’shiri shook his head. “He’s gone cloak and dagger on us again.”

  “So I noticed.” Jathen sniffed and turned to stare out at the expanse of water. In the distance, he could see the thin and misty green line of the off-islands he’d overheard so much gossip about. A memory sparked a flash of unsettling déjà vu. “The off-islands out there, do they have very sharp cliff faces?”

  “What is with your damnable obsession?”

  “I had a dream about it, Hatori.”

  Hatori paused then answered somewhat stiffly, “No. At least not anymore.”

  “Anymore?”

  “Well, almost nine thousand years ago, when they raised the continent from the sea, yes, all the off-islands had very sheer cliff faces. But over time, the rain, wind, and summer sun have eroded them considerably. At least, down south here. Up north, the Solki off-islands are considerably larger and not as affected by the wintery climate. Now, tell me about your dream, Mr. Bastard Precognitive.”

  “It wasn’t prophetic. It was just… strange. Besides, it doesn’t matter anyway.” He shook his head. “As you said, the off-islands here don’t have cliffs on them. So it’s nothing.”

  When Jephue returned from the water, Hatori started complaining anew about the sun. Jephue huffed and consented to going back to the boarding house.

  Back in their room, Ass’shiri hissed as he applied salve to his reddened skin. “Have to say I am still with Chann on this one. No more beach for me.”

  It’s strange, Thee, Jathen wrote. Surrounded as I am by Lu’shun who look like Tazu, I am trying desperately not to fall back into old habits of hiding and shying away from people, and I find it’s not a thing that comes naturally. I am shy compared to these Lu’shun, who all seem so at ease not only with themselves but with this “lowly moot.” Ass’shiri is a new factor in the mix, though. He cuts through my sulky moods with the same skill as when wielding his crossbow.

  The boardwalk that ran parallel the beach was riddled with vendors, shops, and games of chance. It reminded Jathen of the low market, but instead of low-bloods in rags, the upper-class Lu’shun trailed along it in their elegant layers of clothing and round parasols. There was a particular knife-throwing game he was quite good at, winning tokens they’d then redeem for various sweets. He and Ass’shiri would sit on the planked railing, licking at fruit-flavored ices made from heavy syrup.

  “The Red can take these seagulls,” Ass’shiri said. The white birds pestered him constantly since he’d made the mistake of feeding one a few crumbs during their beach visit. “If I had my crossbow, you’d think twice, ya flying rats!”

&
nbsp; “It’s miniature drakes who steal our food back home.” Jathen laughed, thinking of Tinzy.

  During the high noon hours while the Clansmen slept, Jathen would stroll along the beach with Jephue, picking up shells and searching for sea glass. He acquired quite a collection of the smooth, marble-like pieces. Their dark blues, browns, and greens glimmered in a jar by his bedside.

  “In Fauve, there is a remarkable dome in one of the temples of the Twelve. I forget which, but it is crafted entirely of sea glass,” Jephue told him.

  “When are we going to visit there?” As nice as Ca’june was, Jathen was already starting to feel the pinch of boredom. One day of gloom and rain had kept him shut in with Ass’shiri, playing jimble then rereading Lost in the Landscape and his atlas, and he didn’t think his sanity could take many more stints like those.

  “Soon, soon,” Jephue said. “When Hatori is done.”

  Most evenings were spent in the mei district, though not all, as Jathen wasn’t as eager to return as Ass’shiri would have preferred.

  “You learn to understand women, and I’m telling you, it wouldn’t matter a rot if you’re a moot when you go home,” Ass’shiri insisted. “For all their high talk about breeding, if you learn how to show them some real affection and care in the bedroom, I don’t care how much they claim they want some perfect egg, those Tazu girls will melt the same as every other woman on the ruddy continent!”

  It was good logic and, in part, why Jathen kept trying, but with the exception of Ishane, most of his experiences in the meisons were unsatisfying. Ass’shiri had been adamant in his not revisiting Ishane at the Véridique Meison, so they frequented the others in the district. The first night out to the meison with green and pink on its crest, they got deep tissue massages, and Jathen wound up falling asleep, soothed into slumber by heavy incense and a lack of intriguing conversation. He was resoundingly unsuccessful the next time with the girls under the white and pink crest, as they spent most of the night ducking away from him and giggling in corners.