“The house, it is still growing. That’s why it is so small. You should see my brother’s,” Beite said with a mixture of awe and sisterly disgust. Beite glanced down, embarrassed again. “I’ve never had guests before. I’m glad you like it. I’m also not much of a cook, so my mother invited us up for breakfast.”
Lavinia guessed that Beite meant up literally. She swung her legs out of bed and hurried to get dressed.
Beite led them along the clearing and up the branch paths where Darag had played tour guide for Lavinia the day before. Lavinia had seen little of Darag since he introduced her to his sister, who had offered to host Lavinia. The council and dinner the night before were still on Lavinia’s mind and her pace was slow despite the crisp morning. Mist hung amidst the trees around the clearing. Houses vanished in the grayness while brightly colored creatures chittered from branches overhead.
“Is it common to give your guests so much attention?” Lavinia asked, her mind more on memories than the aerial city.
Beite’s pace matched Lavinia’s as she walked on the balls of her feet, appearing to need a quiet reminder with each step not to run ahead. Beite looked over at Lavinia and grinned. Lavinia blushed as a strange flush spread across her chest.
“No, not really. But we get few guests, at least right in Lus na Sithchaine.”
Laughter puckered Beite’s lips and Lavinia wondered if Beite were teasing her.
“Well we seemed to have been the exception then!”
“Not ‘we,’ you.”
Lavinia’s cheeks flamed hotter. “I . . . I don’t know what you mean. There were people bringing us food . . . and that berry drink, oh and that bread, all night. I don’t think I ever ate so much. There wasn’t any meat though. You don’t eat any, do you?”
Conversation was easy with this Kith girl, who moved like a sapling in a playful wind. She was the opposite of Darag’s intense green eyes and slow movements. He had always seemed to pause before he spoke, a faint smile on his lips.
“No, sometimes fish, and who was it who brought you the food?”
“Um,” Lavinia thought back, pushing aside the memory of Ty’s sullen face and Ria’s pale nervousness. Only she and Niri had seemed to be excited. “There was this boy with reddish hair who brought me the drink. And another, with brown hair like earth who brought the bread.” Lavinia could feel a deep line form between her brows.
Beite giggled. “You still don’t see.”
“See what?”
Faint worry crossed Beite’s face. “Where you are from, you are old enough to kahta . . . um, to choose a man?”
“Yes, why . . . oh.” Lavinia stopped in her tracks. “But everyone always prefers Ria,” Lavinia blurted out.
“Ria, she was the sallow one, yes? What an odd place you come from if they prefer her.” Beite watched Lavinia for a moment as they started to walk again, her head tilted to the side. “You really didn’t know they were trying to get your attention? You have someone back home.”
Lavinia shook her head, looking down and blushing madly. “No,” she forced out through a tight throat. “I’m just not used to such attention.”
Beite had stopped in front of a house that grew where tree branches parted over three hundred feet above the ground. Nestled into the nook of limbs, the beams of the house made with living branches of the tree were straight and stout. It was completely unlike the delicate structure of Beite’s lace like home.
Beite entered without knocking and led Lavinia into the back of the house. A tall woman with hair a deep auburn fed small dark rocks into a tall stone stove box. When the woman straightened, Lavinia realized she was taller than Darag. Her skin was a deep mahogany mottled with russets and her eyes were the same green as Darag’s. Lavinia smiled.
“Mom, this is Lavinia. Lavinia, this is my mother, Suileag.”
Suileag opened her arms and embraced Lavinia, kissing her on the top of her head. Lavinia felt the same comfort as her mother’s hug and found herself holding Suileag tightly for a moment. Stepping back, Lavinia blinked back a few tears.
“I’m so pleased to meet you,” Lavinia said hoarsely.
Suileag smiled. “I am so pleased you have come to us. Darag has spoken quite a bit about you.” A smile lit across Lavinia’s face.
“He says your brother has quite a temper.” Suileag’s expression was worried.
Lavinia flushed. “He just wants to protect me, keep me from making the choices he thinks are wrong.” A little of the anger held over from the day before fell out of Lavinia as she realized what she had said.
Suileag nodded. “You are young then, to be so far from home?”
Lavinia gave her head a shake. “No, I would have left home in a few months anyway. But he has been away for awhile. He forgets I’m not a child any longer.”
The concern left Suileag’s face. Lavinia took a breath without feeling the tight bands around her heart.
“I don’t think Darag sees it that way. He was quite upset at your brother and he does not usually get wound up. Now go, go and sit in the front room. I will have breakfast for you in a few minutes, go.” Suileag waved both of them away.
Beite wove her way back to the main room and sat on a curving chair made of interconnected branches which hung from the ceiling. Lavinia cautiously tried the one next to it.
“I’m confused,” Lavinia said after a moment of testing the strength of her legless chair.
Beite glanced at her from where she swung gently. “About what?”
Lavinia bit her lip, uncertain what to ask. “Where is your father? You don’t mind I ask?”
Beite blinked and shook her head. She glanced toward the kitchen before speaking. “I forget that you aren’t from here. I suppose we are different to you. My father died while I was quite young.”
“I’m sorry,” Lavinia said softly. “How . . . ?”
Beite swung her chair lightly. “His tree got a disease. There are some things that not even Laith Lus can cure.” Beite looked down for a moment then glanced toward the kitchen again. “It has been hard on my mother. It is a long time to be alone.”
“Alone? She won’t remarry?”
Beite sat forward, startled and then laughed. “No, the Kith only kahta once for life. Is that how it is where you are from? You can choose more than once? It does not seem so special that way.” Lavinia blushed under Beite’s amused gaze.
“It isn’t unheard of, if you are young and have lost your spouse.”
Beite shook her head. “How strange. We take a long time to decide, some longer than others.” Beite’s lips twisted with annoyance but before Lavinia could ask, Suileag came into the room bearing two bowls. The smell of roasted nuts, honey, and apples filled the air. As her belly rumbled, Lavinia forgot Beite’s comment.
Before she finished eating, the door was pushed open. Darag walked in, giving Lavinia a warm smile before hugging his mother.
“My sister has taken care of you then? Not left you to sleep on the floor?” Beite stuck her tongue out at her brother. Lavinia laughed.
“Yes, she has done a very good job. I should think you would congratulate her rather than tease.” Beite grinned, raising both of her eyebrows at her brother.
“You aren’t going to steal her all day, are you?” Lavinia’s heart flipped at Beite’s petulant question.
Darag’s green eyes danced. “Perhaps, I have a promise to keep with your guest. I will have her back before your curfew.” Beite blushed and crossed her arms with a huff.
“If you would like to join me?”
Lavinia blinked under Darag’s gaze. “Of course. Thank you Suileag. I will see you later, Beite.” Lavinia gave Beite a quick hug before walking out the door, stopping as she saw the edge of the branch pathway and only moving green leaves below.
“I forgot we were in the trees,” she stammered to Darag.
He laughed softly under his breath. “You seemed so content inside, I would have thought you had been here a month.” Darag gestured tow
ard the path leading down. “Your friend, Whef’aylpah, the naiad is here.”
“Niri? Why do you call her Whef’aylpah?”
“It is our word for . . . water purifier. It is just how I remember her after what you told me yesterday.”
Darag led Lavinia down to the clearing. Across the grassy expanse, Niri sat talking to Laith Lus. Ria and Ty were not to be seen.
“Did my brother or Ria come as well?”
Darag looked down at her, sympathy portrayed in the straight set of his mouth though his eyes had a light of their own. “I have not heard that they had.”
Lavinia was quiet a moment, her heart skipping a beat while it ached at the same time. She could not sort out the thoughts tumbling through her mind. One thing caught and she grasped hold.
“You told Beite you had a promise to keep with me?” No such obligation came to Lavinia’s mind.
Darag glanced ahead the dozen paces to where Niri sat with Laith Lus. This time when he looked back at her his eyes danced. Lavinia sucked in a breath before he even spoke.
“I promised to teach you to sword fight while you are here.”
Lavinia’s thoughts fell out of order again. She couldn’t find a reply before Niri’s voice reached them.
“How can you be sure you haven’t the other skills of a dryad?”
“I am not sure. It could be possible.”
Laith Lus’ answer brought Darag up short. It reminded Lavinia that Darag could not touch metal. She bit her lip as her heart sprinted laps in her chest. Lavinia gave Niri a quick hug holding on for an extra second. She asked the first question that popped into her head.
“How is my brother?”
“Eating, drinking, you don’t need to worry about anything else. I brought some of your things. I thought if you were here for the two weeks, you’d need more than the clothes you were wearing.”
Darag’s eyes were still locked in Laith Lus’ steady gaze.
“Nohle tonwhah erh.” With the gentleness of a breeze, Laith Lus looked at Lavinia. “I’ve sent your things to Beite’s house. Now go, both of you. Enjoy this opportunity that has come.”
Darag nodded slowly, his eyes still unfocused. His expression became animated again as he turned to Lavinia. “I know just the place.”
Darag led Lavinia along the clearing and then into the forest. The trees opened up by a narrow fast moving stream. Moss covered the boulders along it, but a wide portion of the ground nearby was flat and soft in its covering of leaves. Ideas were beginning to bubble to the surface of Lavinia’s mind. The depths remained firmly out of focus.
“How will we practice if you can’t touch metal?”
“I’ll make two practice swords from wood, see.” Darag had been searching the ground, picking up several sticks and discarding them. This time he ran his hand along the length of wood. It straightened and tapered while two branches burst outwards to form a hilt and guard. The casual use of such skill rocked Lavinia back on her heels.
“This should be about the same weight as your sword.”
Lavinia took the wooden sword gingerly as Darag continued to search for another stick for his own wooden blade. “What did Laith Lus say to you?”
Darag glanced up, his green eyes flickering bright in the dim light of the small clearing. “That we would talk later.”
“Do you think you really could have more powers than you realized?” Lavinia asked as Darag walked back to her, a newly formed practice stick in his hand.
He grinned suddenly, humor racing across his face with a roguish smile. “Nothing is for certain. Now come, I will show you how to hold the sword and stand.”
CHAPTER 18
TY’S MIRROR
“I won’t go with you!”
Ria’s shout echoed in Ty’s ears as he stormed down the inn’s stairs and hurtled toward the front door. From the corner of his eyes as he took the ten paces from the bottom step to door, he saw heads turn and a few people rise from their seats in the common room. Ty’s dash burst into a run.
He hit the small skiff Skree had leant him with both feet, his momentum surfing it from the end of the short dock. The slip knot pulled out with one practiced tug and he was fifteen feet from the dock before he even sat down to grab the oars. No one pursuing him had any chance of catching up.
The dock extended back to the small town of Drufforth with not a soul along its length. A great seabird spread it’s black tipped alabaster wings and took off to to skim towards the far end of the bay. Ty bit the oars in deep and hauled back with all his might.
He was halfway around the point of the bay, fighting the tide and wind, when his fury finally left him. His cheeks were damp but he would have denied to the world it was anything other than sea spray. In futile disgust, Ty slammed the oars into the skiff. The tide caught the boat and it bobbed along on the swells, finding a direction dictated by forces greater than him.
Today, the waves tossed him up on a small island north of Drufforth’s bay. Ty waded through brisk water to drag the skiff up onto pale crystalline sand. He flopped onto the ground next to the boat to stare across a stretch of deep blue water to the mountainous forest towering over the shore.
“My sister is in there, somewhere,” he said to the tiny sand lizard that poked its head into the sunlight next to him. It blinked as disturbed sand grains rained down around its head. Ty gritted his teeth and lay back, feeling the sun warmed sand through his shirt. Arm across his eyes, he could not see the dark forest or its stunted twin on the island. There was only the sound of wind and waves against the beach. He could have been anywhere.
The dreams rose the instant he relaxed into the blackness. This time it was the night of the council meeting in Lus na Sithchaine. Before him stood Niri, Ria, and Lavinia, silhouettes barely discernible in the dark. His stomach clenched as first Ria and then Lavinia stood up for Niri’s actions. Lavinia placed a hand on Niri’s shoulder as she stepped forward and spoke.
In the swarms of living light, three Kith stood watch, weighing the words spoken. Their eyes were on Lavinia, one set concerned, one set heavy with thoughts, and the last with a look that boiled fury in Ty’s chest. The Kith that his sister had whispered to Ria was Darag gazed at Lavinia with a proud fondness. It was a look too unmasked and far too intimate for Ty’s liking. Lavinia did not belong in Lus na Sithchaine. She certainly did not belong with a Kith boy.
His sister’s words echoed from the forest, growing louder with each reflection. “She saved our lives, twice.”
Ty bolted awake. Sand scattered from the folds of his clothing as he sat up, sending three lizards diving for protection. He held his head for a moment, rubbing his eyes while his stomach twisted out its knots. The daylight was too bright for his eyes. The faces in his dream haunted his mind, but they were better than the nightmare version of his failed apprenticeship. Or the dream from the night before where he battled the Curse alone while Niri taunted and called it to destroy him.
“It wasn’t just him,” Ty said to the nervous lizards on the beach, offering them some of the bread he found in his pocket. The thin tan creature with scales that glinted like tiny crystals froze, cocking its head to look at the food with one eye. It flashed a deep violet color, lunging forward to grab the morsel before squirming into the sand. Ty chuckled and then sighed at the empty beach.
“Everyone looked at Lavinia that night.”
Ty lay back down, this time watching the clouds overhead. A freshening breeze rustled the shrubby trees on the island behind him. His thoughts left him uncomfortable. The Kith had looked at his sister the way everyone in Mirocyne had looked at Ria. He had once gazed at Ria with the same yearning and rapture himself. That was why he recognized the desire in the strange faces of the Kith.
If Lavinia had grown up with such attention he would have put a stop to it. Ty shifted his shoulders against the sand. Of course, Ria was an only child. She had no one other than very nervous parents to protect her.
No wonder the girl is afraid all
the time.
His angry words at her that morning rang in his ears. Ty sat up quickly again, putting one hand to the skiff. But it was already too late. Chop roiled the sea between him and the mainland. The tide out of the harbor was fast and completely against the direction he needed to go. While he had watched unseeing, the clouds above him had thickened to a woolen grey.
If he’d brought the skiff’s sail, he could have risked the waves before they became any larger. But with only oars, there was no beating the sea’s intent. Ty was stuck on the island until the storm wore down to calm again.
With an eye to the lowering sky, Ty dragged the small boat further above the waves. He placed the upended prow on a rock, tying down the bow line to keep the wind from catching it. He dug the stern into the soft sand. By the time the rain started to drizzle against the overturned hull, Ty was in the small shelter beneath the boat with a fire dancing light across the beach. He smiled as he fed it more sticks.
Drufforth appeared unchanged in the morning, mist still thick in the harbor. It wasn’t until he was nearly to the small wharf that he saw three Kith men standing on the now beached Grey Dawn. The desire to yell at them fell with a heavy weight onto his innards as he realized what they were doing. Darag, Ty recognized him with a cold sweat, stood shirtless with his hands on the mast. He worked with his eyes closed, humming low. The fibers of the mast knit themselves back together while Ty watched.
Ty blinked back his awe. His gaze grew cold as Darag opened his eyes to stare directly at him. Darag’s mouth pulled tight. Ty disdainfully looked away to see the merchant boat heading south was already gone. But he had suspected that. Then for one second, the weight stifling him lifted as his gaze found his sister and Ria sitting on the sand between the two rooted wharfs. For a moment, Ty thought they were waiting for him and had been worried from his night away. Then his spirits crashed again, pulled down with enough force that they threatened to bury his hopes forever.
Born of Water Page 15