The Smiling Stallion Inn

by Courtney Bowen

  “Nothing’s up with us,” Sisila said, glaring at Iibala.

  “It’s just that you two seem to be getting pretty excited over something.”

  “It’s nothing,” Sisila insisted. “We’re just excited about what’s going to happen tonight, that’s all.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, I’m pretty excited too,” Iibala said, smiling. “There’s a young man out there who I hope will ask for me tonight, and—”

  “That’s good. Well, I hope you get him and leave us alone,” Jawen said. She hoped she’d not spilled ale on her dress.

  Iibala smiled even wider at her. “Thank you, I will,” she said before she sauntered off into the crowd, humming to herself. Several men, young and old, looked after her as she sashayed past.

  “No! Jawen, no!” Sisila bemoaned the news, burying her head in her hands.

  “What?” Jawen asked, frowning at Sisila. “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s Basha!”

  Rocking her head back and forth in her hands, Jawen barely heard Sisila’s muffled wail. “What about Basha?”

  Sisila finally raised her head and looked unhappily at Jawen. “Iibala wants Basha to ask for her!”

  “What? Basha won’t ask for her; he couldn’t.”

  “He might if he thought you didn’t love him. You need to do something.”

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen,” the mayor called out behind them, “let’s have the boys line up on one side of the dance floor, and the girls on the other.”

  Sisila ignored him and shook her head. “I hate the way you two dodge around the issue when you should straight out tell one another you love each other.”

  “We’re about to start the sendoff!” the mayor announced. Sisila and Jawen turned around to face him.

  “Let’s go claim our men,” Sisila said, managing to get off of her barstool, though she wobbled quite a bit as she walked out on the dance floor. Jawen was still reeling from the news that Basha might ask for Iibala’s hand in marriage, or that she lusted after Basha. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening. Would Basha ask for Iibala, instead of her?

  Jawen caught up with Sisila. “Why would he ask for her? What did you see?”

  “Basha was walking to the militia tryouts,” Sisila said. “Iibala was coming down from the opposite direction, heading toward town. I don’t know why she didn’t want to go to the tryouts, but she met Basha in the middle of the road by some hedgerows on the edge of the fields. Iibala seemed to be talking to Basha, but he was trying to dodge her, yet he was still talking friendly like to her.”

  Jawen shook her head, stunned by all of this. She tried to reassure herself it wasn’t true. Maybe she was just trying to make all of this bigger than it really was, but Jawen knew she couldn’t take that chance, not when Basha might be hanging on by a thread to his devotion to her.

  “And they were alone together only a few minutes,” Sisila said, as if she couldn’t stop talking. “I didn’t see much happening, and I couldn’t hear them, either. I was too far away. They eventually parted, going their separate ways. Now go get your man before Iibala steals him right in front of your eyes,” Sisila said before running off to join the rest of the girls.

  Jawen knew Sisila was right. Iibala had come over to boast that she was going to take Basha away from her. Iibala had that sort of maliciousness about her. She’d do anything to break up their relationship, especially if she could humiliate Jawen in the process. Iibala had always hated Jawen and vice versa. Everything was a game to Iibala—toying with Jawen and scheming to get Basha to propose to her because it meant the world to Jawen.

  She loved him, didn’t she? Jawen couldn’t think straight. She went to the dance floor, and when she spotted Basha, she ran in the opposite direction. She still didn’t trust him, and the thought of him kissing Iibala—or worse—made her want to avoid him. Which was probably not the best thing to do at the moment.

  She wound up at the head of the girls’ line, and right across from her was Hastin. Her heart sank. Her father had told her earlier that he’d let her go to the Courtship Ritual on one condition: if Hastin asked for her, she’d accept him. She promised her father she’d do so, just to get the chance to go, but she hated her father for it. She just hoped Hastin still felt slighted by her refusal to marry him a few months ago. She didn’t really want to break her promise to her father, but she would if she had to.

  “Thank you, everyone, for coming!” the mayor was saying. “We are honored to have you here to witness a new start in the lives of these young people. Many of you were once in their places. Likewise, some of you will soon be here to choose the one person you most want to be with for the rest of your lives!” he said to applause. “We are honored. We, the people of Coe Baba and of Arria, wish to honor Welda, goddess of love, with this Courtship Ritual held on her feast day, as it has been for over two thousand years and hopefully for two thousand more years!”

  Jawen shuddered. She hated the thought of how significant this ceremony was. It bound you to one person for the rest of your life, seeming to take away bits and pieces of who you are by yourself. She’d seen the Courtship Ritual, many times before as a small girl, but now she knew just how unimportant it could make you really feel as an individual.

  She’d be shrinking to fit into someone else’s world, to become something altogether different than herself. She was old enough to know this wasn’t all she wanted out of life. Yet she wanted Basha, and there he was, standing across the dance floor from Iibala.

  Jawen huffed out an angry breath, embarrassed that Basha could be so bedazzled by another woman he’d forget all about her. Was it true? Had Basha been taken in by Iibala? Would he ask for her instead of Jawen? If only there was some way she could rearrange circumstances to get into Iibala’s place in line. She could look like she was enjoying herself with Hastin to make Basha jealous. It might even make him want her more. Maybe he’d snatch her away from Hastin and take her to Lovers’ Rock, where he’d propose to her as she’d always dreamed. She felt rejuvenated and ready for the dance.

  Originating in the Kiwata rainforests, tealatte was expensive. Her father had arranged for the purchase and transportation of the drink’s ingredients to Coa Baba, but tealatte was worth it. It would give her energy for the night to come.

  Her mind, overexcited by the possibilities, raced ahead of her, but she would have to calm down and do this right. She must not tempt Hastin into asking for her hand at the Rock. She’d just have to tell him afterward that it had just been a game. Hopefully, he’d not need any more discouragement than that. And hopefully he’d not be too angry with her.

  So Jawen danced with Hastin as if she enjoyed it, and then afterward, as they parted at the end of the aisle, Hastin said, “Jawen, I had no idea!”

  “This doesn’t mean anything!” she yelled at him over the crowd, clapping and cheering with the music playing. “It’s just a…” Then she quickly had to go back over to the girls’ line to make way for another dancing couple, although she didn’t know if he’d heard her.

  She wound up standing beside Sisila, who yelled at her, “What were you doing with Hastin?”

  “It’s nothing!” Jawen shouted at her. “It’s just a game I’m playing with him, for Basha!”

  “Jawen, you…” Sisila groaned. “Stay away from my brother!” she shouted. “Not even Hastin deserves this!” She inhaled. “I always told myself not to interfere with you and Basha, but you’ve made it more difficult for yourself. You should have tried talking with Basha, or at least keeping yourself between him and Iibala.”

  “That plan wouldn’t have worked!” Jawen shouted. “There is no way I could have talked to Basha in this crowd! And besides, Iibala would’ve just pushed me out of the way if I tried to take her place!”

  “No more,” Sisila said, shaking her head and holding a hand up. “What is the matter with you, Jawen? You give me a headache! Why can’t you be normal and sensible for once? I was trying to tell you to stick wit
h Basha, and you do the exact opposite of what I said. Why? To make him jealous! Don’t you see what you’re doing to him? Why must you use trickery and subterfuge to make him love you when he loves you already? It’s insane!”

  “Sisila, I…” frowned and shook her head. “You were the one who kept telling me about seeing Basha and Iibala together. I thought if I made Basha jealous—”

  “I don’t understand you!” Sisila exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

  “What is it you don’t understand?” Jawen asked her.

  Sisila ignored her and responded with a question of her own, “What are you so afraid of?”

  “Afraid of?” Jawen asked.

  “Earlier you said that when you were on the front porch with him, he reminded you of a young god.”

  “Well, he did remind me of one of the gods, like Tau or Popo when they were young and powerful and walked the earth. And he’s so devoted to me that it’s almost scary. When he wants something, he won’t give up on it. He puts me on a pedestal, and I’m afraid that once the shine wears off he won’t be so happy and devoted to me. The real me. And that’s scary.” Jawen sighed. “And maybe I won’t be so happy with him either, in the end.”

  Sisila stared at her, distraught by what Jawen had just said. Jawen couldn’t even look at her. Instead, she looked away and said, “Here comes Basha, with Iibala. Smile, Sisila, and clap your hands—make it look like we’re having fun.”

  The two girls clapped and cheered, but after the couple danced past them, their smiles faded as they lowered their hands and glanced down the aisle. They saw Basha part from Iibala before they glanced at each other.

  “Did you see that? Did you see how unhappy he was?” Jawen laughed. “There is hope. He still loves me; he still wants me!” She clapped her hands in a contained cheer.

  “That’s good, Jawen, but are you still interested in marrying him?”

  “Well, I…” Jawen hesitated. She wondered if she was ready. Did she have to claim him now that Iibala was showing interest in him? There were a million reasons why she didn’t want to, or couldn’t, but finally, she said, “I do want to marry him, but—”

  “But what?”

  “Well, I just don’t think now is the right time for us to get married.”

  “Why not? What’s holding you back?”

  “My parents. I still haven’t told them Basha is courting me.”

  Sisila shook her head. “Why not? It’s been months since you two started seeing each other, and that’s a long time in the big scheme of things. If you don’t know yet if you love him, then perhaps you’re right that you shouldn’t—”

  “But I do love him!” Jawen insisted vehemently.

  “Then get engaged! Engagements can last months, even years until you’re ready to marry or decide marriage to each other isn’t what you want,” Sisila said.

  Jawen slowly nodded, thinking on that option as Sisila went down the aisle with Oaka, the two of them an odd sight, Oaka so tall and Sisila so short. Oaka stomped along with enthusiasm, dragging along a squealing, laughing Sisila. Jawen smiled. They made such a cute couple, almost a perfect match in spite of their physical differences, because they had such compatibility of character. She wasn’t so sure she and Basha…no, she couldn’t let herself think that way. She and Basha might not be identical in terms of quality or class, but they did have something special together. An old-fashioned man, her father was a big stickler for tradition, including that of the Courtship Ritual. Perhaps she could avoid his anger if she took advantage of the Ritual’s tradition.

  “All right, boys and girls, it’s time to go to Lovers’ Rock!” the mayor called. “Last chance to claim your partners, girls, before they go asking someone else!”

  Jawen inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as she decided she wanted Basha and whatever he had to give her. And this was her only chance to marry him before he wed someone else, namely Iibala. She’d tell him she loved him and wanted to be his wife, and that she’d accept him if he asked her to marry him. It was time for her to be a woman, a capable young woman who was grown-up and acted responsibly.

  She opened her eyes and looked up…oh, malakel it. There were so many people here she’d lost sight of Basha. Her eyes widened at the sight of everyone running out of the inn and into the street, the boys leading with the rest of the crowd not far behind.

  Jawen pushed her way forward through the crowd, rushing toward the distant door and the outside world. Once they were outside, everybody was singing and dancing down the street. She looked around for Basha. Even though torches lit the night, she couldn’t see the signposts hanging over the doors of businesses, nor the colors of the brightly painted buildings themselves. And she didn’t see Basha anywhere.

  Jawen rushed to catch up with the front of the crowd, where she assumed Basha was, but the darkness held her back. She pulled her red scarf out of her pocket to put it around Basha’s neck when she found him.

  She paused by an alleyway when she heard a familiar voice raised in anger. Even though the noise of the crowd drowned out almost everything, she knew Basha’s deep, soft voice. She lingered, despite the press of people, and she peered into the dark alleyway hoping not to see Basha with Iibala. But it was just as she feared; they were together.

  She closed her eyes, ducked back, and tried to suppress the image she’d seen briefly before she opened her eyes and ran through the crowd, around the corner to the path that led up to Old Man’s hut and Lovers’ Rock. This was the path she’d taken to the river with Hastin when they had come across Basha and Oaka last Suma, where she’d shared her first kiss with Basha a few minutes later. So much had changed since then.

  Jawen blinked to stop herself from crying. Gods, her life was an unholy, gods-forsaken mess, and she was partly responsible for it herself. She couldn’t see them, but she knew Basha and Iibala had to be among them. She sniffed, thinking to herself that she should have listened to Sisila when she heard footsteps coming right at her.

  She ducked behind a bush, hoping to hide her presence, but then she looked up as Hastin asked, “What’re you doing?”

  She stared up at him, still sniffling and soundlessly shaking her head as she rose up from behind the bush. She moved past him to head toward the Rock, but he blocked her. “Are you playing some kind of game with me, Jawen?”

  “No, I wasn’t…yes,” she admitted. “I was. Back at the dance I was trying to make Basha jealous, but it backfired on me and I’m sorry. Now let me pass. Please,” she whispered, half afraid of Hastin at this point.

  “Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.” Hastin shook his head. “Some fool I am. For a moment there, I believed you. There you were, in love with me again. But I won’t let you fool me again. I still lov…care for you, Jawen, but I won’t let you use me!”

  “Hastin, please…” Jawen said, looking around, hoping no one could hear them, but people were still walking by, headed for the rock. Every word she and Hastin said could be heard, revealing all her secrets. “Keep your voice down.” She’d been trying to hide her romance with Basha for so long it was becoming second nature to her, but now she could put their relationship in jeopardy if the wrong people overheard her. But perhaps she could make this encounter with Hastin work for her.

  People smiled at them as they passed by, thinking she was about to wrap her red scarf around Hastin’s neck and claim him. She just had to get this encounter with him over in a hurry. “Hastin, I don’t love you. I never did,” she finally said.

  Hastin stared at her, and for a moment she thought he might strike her, for real this time. “Well, I hope you get exactly what you deserve with Basha. Nothing!” Hastin finally said. “Good-bye, Jawen. I hope I never see you again.”

  He walked away from the Courtship Ritual, heading south down the path to the main road, where he’d turn west and head for home.

  That did it. Jawen sighed, relieved. Hastin wouldn’t ask for her hand in marriage, not after what had just happened, an
d her secrets were safe for now. She hurried on, hoping to catch up with the rest of the girls and blend in with the crowd, ignoring those who might have noticed Hastin’s blow-up. She’d still go to the Courtship Ritual. She’d still have a chance to say yes to Basha, that’s if he still had any feelings for her over whatever he felt for Iibala.

  Chapter 10

  Lovers’ Rock

  “I swear to you a diamond ring, if you

  Promise to be my queen forever, and

  A day. I swear to you my love, my undying

  Devotion, and you will be my queen forever and a day.”

  —Love song, Mirandor

  Near Old Man’s hut, beside an old birch tree, where he sat to tell his stories, Lovers’ Rock was a hallowed location, a place where the people of Coe Baba had gathered for centuries to meet and greet newly engaged couples and to hold other ceremonies, like the presentation of newborns. Since they didn’t have a chapel or temple, Old Man’s presence nearby validated this place as holy.

  Basha rushed into the clearing and snuck into the back of the boys’ line, where Oaka was already standing. No one noticed his late arrival as the mayor had just lit the bonfire in the center of the clearing. Everyone filed into the clearing and huddled around the bonfire for its warmth and light.

  On his way over here, he’d passed Hastin, who seemed to be in a rush to get home. They hadn’t spoken, but they’d exchanged less than friendly looks. And then Basha had grinned at his back. He didn’t know what had happened between Hastin and Jawen after the dance, but obviously Hastin wasn’t going to the Courtship Ritual. Basha felt like leaping high and clicking his heels together. He broke into a run, not wanting to be late to the festivities.

  The whole town, or near enough, had already gathered in the clearing by the time Basha stepped into line beside Oaka.