32

Marcus

I stop halfway up the stairs, studying Aku’s first whistle bone. Really, it’s just an excuse to rest. I hate to admit it, but I’m dizzy. Plus, those Nonnovan greens were laced with pickled onions, which never sit well with me. After a few deep breaths, I continue up the stairs, reach the third level, and head down the hall. There are smoky mirrors on either side, and between the doors stand tables with colorful vases full of dried flowers. Aku doesn’t skimp on the fine details. “Eight, ten, twelve.” I stop at Ash’s door and knock.

Kaylin opens.

My head jerks back as if slapped. “I thought you were fishing.”

“I thought you were in the infirmary.” He stands tall, not moving aside.

“Fully recovered, thank you.” I try to peer around him. “Ash is expecting me.”

Kaylin finally moves to let me in. “She’s getting changed.”

I frown at that, then focus on the room. It’s large, well-appointed, and lit with colored lanterns hanging from the high ceiling. There are two double beds in an L-shape against the back and side wall.

“The swim was amazing, Kaylin.” Ash comes out of the en suite in a black robe that brushes the floor. I fixate on the embroidered cuffs as she towels her hair dry.

Why are you angry? De’ral asks.

I don’t know. The obvious seems preposterous to me. I am not jealous.

“And thanks for—” She stops mid-sentence when she sees me. “You’re here! Perfect timing.”

I look between her and Kaylin, a burning sensation growing in my chest. Ash needs to focus on her job as a recorder. She needs to focus on me. And Belair, of course. My hands ball into fists.

She is focused. De’ral defends her. Look around.

He’s right. The table is covered with parchments, quills, and inks. I resist the urge to tilt my head and read the exposed pages.

So, there is no problem, De’ral says.

“Except…Kaylin’s a sailor. He could be gone with the next tide, leaving her heartbroken.”

And that’s your real concern?

I think I liked it better when De’ral and I didn’t talk.

“Marcus?” Ash’s brows are up.

I force my face into a pleasant expression. “You were saying something about swimming?”

She laughs. “In the tidepools!” She throws the towel over the back of a chair. “They’re clear as crystal and full of brightly colored sea creatures. Kaylin’s teaching me about them.”

I look at him, wondering what his intentions are.

“See? This is a problem.”

“And the water’s warm in the shallows.” She seems to be purposefully averting her eyes before Kaylin can meet them. Strange. “We ran all the way back.”

“Temperature drops when the sun goes down.” Kaylin looks at Ash.

I can tell he’s keen but guarded. What’s he hiding?

“I didn’t want her caught out with wet hair,” he goes on.

“Very thoughtful.” I make a show of glancing further about the room. Maybe I’m just jealous of how well-appointed hers is.

Theirs is.

“Thank you, De’ral. I needed that reminder.”

“This room is nice. Belair and I are crammed into bunks on the bottom floor with two other green-robes. It’s nothing by comparison.”

“These rooms are for visiting non-savants. They aren’t used very often, I guess, and, trust me, it’s not as—”

“No need to explain.” I’m not sure why I’m being so childish about it all. At least there’s one thing I can do to improve. I step toward Kaylin. “I’ve not had the chance to formally thank you for your assistance on Mount Bladon, the river, the farmhouse…” I pause, searching for a better word than appreciation. “Your bravery and skill… Compensation will be forthcoming. You can leave a forwarding address with Ash, and I will see to it upon my return to Baiseen.” I give a slight bow.

“Compensation isn’t necessary.”

“You saved our lives and got us to Aku on time.”

“And you’re welcome, but I didn’t do it for the coin.” He sits at the little side table. “Cup of tea?”

“We have blackberry leaf,” Ash says. “And Ochee! Has Belair noticed? It should make him happy.”

“Or this.” Kaylin picks up a small jar, unscrews the lid, and sniffs. “Smells like summer.”

“Whatever’s in the pot’s fine.” I feel the irritation creeping in again. They seem so…together. I’ll have to ask Ash where this is heading.

Why? She’s done nothing wrong.

I can’t believe this. On the topic of Ash, my phantom has so much to say? “Never mind.”

“Come, sit down.” Ash takes a seat and motions me to do the same while Kaylin makes the tea.

I lean toward Ash and speak under my breath. “Maybe we should talk in private?”

“Why? Kaylin’s in this, too, remember?”

Since when?

Since he killed his crewmates, fought off the Aturnians, rescued you from the Ferus River, got us safely to Aku…as you just stated. De’ral speaks as if I have lost those memories. For a moment, maybe I had.

I rub my head. “You’re both right, of course.”

“Both?” Ash studies my face. “You feeling well?”

I wave the concern away. I’m not myself, it seems. Ash is my best friend, the person closest to me, the one I can always confide in. She’d laugh if she could hear my inner thoughts just now.

De’ral grunts.

Kaylin pours a mug of tea and makes himself comfortable on the settee under the window.

“So, sharing a room?” I’m stuck on this arrangement, it seems.

Ash lets her breath out in a little laugh. “As I was trying to tell you, Kaylin and I are the only visiting non-savants. It’s customary to put us together.”

“How together is that?” It’s out before I can stop it. Internally, De’ral rolls his eyes.

Ash does the same thing. “I know the protocol, if that’s what you’re worried about. But I want someone here with me. This room, for all its finery, is full of tapping and shadows in the dark.” She shudders.

The trip was traumatizing for everyone, I see. “We’re all a little jumpy.”

“Understandable, after what it took to get here.” Kaylin’s tone is serious.

I nod. Speaking of that… “Have either of you heard Aturnian accents here? Northern, specifically?”

“A green-robe, Northern for sure,” Ash says. “And also there’s an orange-robe instructor, but she’s been teaching at Aku for years, according to Samsen.”

“I met the green-robe on the way from the infirmary. Destan. He says he’s from the south. I can’t tell for sure, though.” I tap the table with my fingertip, thinking. “Could the ban have been lifted?”

“I wondered, too, so I asked Master Huewin, the head library keeper, about it.”

“And?”

“He said Aku keeps its doors open to all the realms but Northern Aturnia. It’s being sanctioned right now, like we thought.”

“Which doesn’t explain why we’re hearing the Northern Aturnian dialect.” Kaylin tops up my tea even though I’ve had only a sip. “Drink.”

“So it is Northern?” I pick up my mug. Holding it calms the storm in my head. “Then they’ve broken the ban.”

“I don’t think so,” Ash says. “Not directly. Kaylin has a theory.”

I give the sailor my full attention. I’m going to have to thank him for this as well, no doubt.

“What if the Northern Aturnians are shipping their green-robes south, sending them to Aku from Clearwater, or even Gleemarie?”

“Passing them off as Southern Aturnians?” It’s a good strategy, from their side. Simple enough, too, I imagine. “But High Savant Yuki would know, wouldn’t she?”

Kaylin walks to the window and stares into the night. “You’d think so. I’d be careful there.”

“Agreed.” I drink my tea down in a few glugs, admitting to myself that having Kaylin here isn’t a bad idea. “We should avoid speaking fully of the incident on the headlands or the brush with the Aturnians’ encampment when we report to her.”

“Brush?” Kaylin toasts me with his mug.

“I’m trying to avoid words like ‘massacre.’”

Ash’s eyes go wide. “Are you saying for me not to record it?”

“I’m saying we need to be on guard with the savants here, Yuki included.” I look to Kaylin for help.

“I think he’s right, at least until we know who to trust,” Kaylin says.

Funny, coming from him.

“Then what will we tell Yuki?” Ash looks unconvinced. “The alliance with Gollnar and Aturnia needs to be reported, even if those scouts were mercenaries. Your wounds and poor condition must be explained, too. Belair took an arrow, you a knife to the chest, all the bruising… I won’t lie.”

“I’m not asking you to. We say that we were put off at Clearwater, got lost in the woods, went the long way around, and had a mishap on the Ferus River. All true.”

Kaylin snorts. “A mishap? That’s even better than ‘brush.’”

I manage to laugh with him. “We can say we slipped past an encampment sporting multiple realm flags. But we don’t mention the details, including the theft at the Capper Point sheep farm. Not yet.”

“We’re going to compensate the farmer,” Ash reminds me. She folds her hands together and closes her eyes, a habit she has when thinking deeply.

Kaylin’s about to speak, and I signal him to wait.

Moments later, her eyes pop open and she gives us a nod. “For now, we say we evaded them, which is true. No one has access to what I’m recording, not even the High Savant, until I hand it all over for her seal at the end.” She levels her gaze on mine. “I won’t fabricate the records, Marcus, but this will give us time to get to the bottom of the Northern Aturnian mystery.” She narrows her eyes at the window. “And my tapping shadow.”

I rub my forehead to cover the cringe. “So, you will put everything in the records?”

Her eyes come back gleaming, and I know that look, too.

“Are you kidding? The most chac’n nang perilous initiation journey in the history of the realms and I’m the recorder. You bet your life it’s all going in.”