A messenger arrived at the estate on West Corid avenue midafternoon on the first day of the new month. When Aralim heard that the courier had only brought word that Vaenuth and one of her companions would be joining them for dinner, he had gone back into his reading room in concern. Her visit would be pleasant, he hoped, but he had been expecting news from Zarru. It had been a week since she had resolved to speak with the Emperor, and he had heard nothing.
He finished reading a book about Slither encounters. The snake people of the desert lands were only known in a vague and mysterious way to the humans south of the Yurna Mountains. They walked across the sands carrying all of their lives with them, and traded in precious metals, herbs, and rare meat, with the caravans that dared go that way. Scalelands tribes, from the distant, unreachable regions of the Expanse, were less likely to trade and more likely to see the caravan workers as prey. There was no shared language, nor could there be—the Slithers were not capable of vocal speech like humans. They had more akin with reptiles than mammals.
He was trying to choose another book when Miresh got home from her time with Rattar. While many of her magical practices were done at home, her ongoing difficulty with learning how to conjure one of her visions on command had her going to Rattar’s meditation hall daily. She said many of the more accomplished magicians who trained there were working on the same thing.
Aralim gave up his book search when he heard her, and descended the stairs while Ko’nagar walked away with her sandals. She had adjusted her attire gradually in the half a year that they’d been in Rema. Now, her once short, boyish hair, had grown long and was braided behind her head. She wore a silk blue tunic which darkened gradually until it matched her black linen pants. She had never adjusted to the dresses that the servants had provided her, and from her comments she did not plan to. She smiled when she saw Aralim coming down into the foyer. “Did you have a vision yet?” Aralim asked.
“No,” she said, her expression souring.
“You will,” Aralim replied. “Give it time.”
“I thought the knife would help,” Miresh said, patting the small silvery sheath on her hip. “I’ve become as familiar with it, as I have with this.” She tapped her lantern staff against the granite floor.
“Vaenuth is coming to dinner,” Aralim said.
His young friend’s grin returned. “Good,” she said. “I was worried she wasn’t going to.”
Aralim chuckled. “I know. You kept saying that.”
They went into the living room, where Hayan was pacing nervously and reciting lines. He looked at Aralim with fear in his eyes. “What if I fail?” he asked. “It’s been two years since my last performance!”
Miresh held her hands out exaggeratedly. “You said the rehearsal went perfectly!”
“That’s what worries me,” Hayan said.
“It will be excellent, I’m certain,” Aralim assured him. If Hayan was on route on the Path—which he must have been to escape those slaves—it would go excellently.
Not an hour had passed when their socializing was interrupted by Ko’nagar getting a knock at the door. Vaenuth entered, wearing the same revealing blue vest she had the first time, and a massive, muscular man entered behind her. Unlike Vaenuth, who’s skin tone matched Aralim’s tan white, her guard was the same ethnicity as Hayan, Ko, and most of the rest of the Numa’nakres locals. He had a few black and green tattoos on his torso, like an eagle head on his left shoulder, and simple crossed swords over his heart. Narr, standing quietly in the foyer like always, kept his eyes on the burly man—the two were of size with each other.
“Aralim,” Vaenuth said, as him and his friends came out of the living quarters and met in the foyer. “Thank you for the invitation, of course. Oh, and you must be Miresh.”
Miresh nodded. “I am,” she said.
“I’m Vaenuth,” the caravan woman said. “I would take your hand, but… I might not give it back.” She grinned.
Miresh laughed nervously.
“Be careful taking her hand,” Aralim piped up. “She is a master mage in training after all.” Miresh and Vaenuth both laughed.
“I’m Hayan.” The dancer and actor gave a little bow and Vaenuth tipped her head to him.
“This big man is Banno,” Vaenuth said. “I trust it will be acceptable for him to join us?”
“If we have enough food…” Ko mumbled, as he walked away to check on the kitchens. Everyone gave him a taken aback look, but the house master didn’t notice. Except Narr, who kept watching their guests with caution.
“It certainly is,” Aralim said laughing.
“He’s a friend, not just a guard,” Vaenuth said. “Working in my line of employment, you develop very serious friendships.”
They were soon seated in the dining hall. Aralim sat at the head of the table, with Miresh on his right and Hayan next to her. Vaenuth sat at Aralim’s left, with Banno squeezing into the armchair next to her. The servants began pouring wine for them.
“You work in a caravan, right?” Hayan asked. “Aralim didn’t tell me much, but I haven’t been around much.”
“I do,” Vaenuth replied. “I run it.”
“Have you ever been to Old Numa?” Hayan questioned. “I grew up there, and this is one of my first times inland.”
“I’ve only passed through it,” Vaenuth said. “We do most of our trading in the Expanse.”
“Oh,” Hayan said. He blinked and took a sip of his wine.
“And what about you? What’s your connection, to living here with these two?” Vaenuth asked. She didn’t touch her wine glass, which Aralim had noticed the first time she visited too. She had sipped it once, he thought, but she didn’t seem overly interested in the beverage. Her burly friend did not hold back.
“Uh,” Hayan said. “I escaped from some slavers… and Aralim asked me to accompany him.”
Vaenuth blinked. “Interesting. So you provided for him when he had nothing?” She looked at Aralim, probably seeing him as some sort of saint. In truth, he’d had nothing either. He remembered those days well, living on the road with Ukanna, Laney, Hayan and Miresh. When she’d had her second vision.
“I wouldn’t say that. I didn’t have a single possession other than my staff at the time. I just gave him someone to walk beside,” Aralim said, with a smile.
“Ah yes, the staves,” Vae said. “Explain that to me.”
Aralim smiled. “It’s more symbolic than anything. Where I come from, it is common to hang a lantern outside your home to light the way to a better life. Those of us who wander the Path bring that light with us always, as we search for strength.”
The caravaneer nodded and finally took a sip of her wine. For a moment they sat in silence, but then Ko and his staff arrived with the first course: curry coconut soup with tapioca loaves and flax seeds. Aralim, Hayan and Banno ate the most, with the latter eating probably half of the course himself. Vaenuth sipped the broth, using her one good hand to lift the bowl to her lips, just Hayan was doing. Vaenuth looked at Miresh. “How long have you had a lantern staff? All your life?”
Miresh smiled, and put down her spoon. “No. Just a few Moons. I’ve only been walking the Path for a year now. Aralim met me in Lantern Town.”
Vaenuth grinned and put down her soup bowl. “I’ve been there!” she exclaimed.
“Wait, what?” Aralim asked.
Vaenuth nodded, and explained to her raptured audience: “I grew up in Bellasa, until I was ten. I don’t remember much of Lantern Town, aside from the obvious—the lights. I was probably only seven when my father brought me there. Can’t even remember why. I think he was a merchant, but it’s foggy.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t remember if you ever traveled further south?” Aralim asked, smiling.
Vaenuth shook her head, and looked down into her stew.
Miresh finally spoke up. “What happened when you were ten?” Aralim had not told her anything about Vaenuth, except that she wasn’t like most women he had met.
Vaenuth looked up sharply, then paused. She took another sip of her curry as she contemplated how to reply to a twelve-year-old. “Some bad men took me. I never saw my family again. Grew up on my own, I guess.”
“I did too,” Miresh said, smiling courageously. Her smile faded. “My parents left me when I was even younger than that. Just left me with the homeless. Never saw them again.”
The scarred woman looked at Aralim, and squinted her eyes, as though to say that he had been right when he said Miresh would be interesting. But then another layer of realization kicked in. “Wait. You met in Lantern Town, homeless, and now you’re being trained as a magician?”
Miresh lifted her head proudly and nodded. “By Grand Mage Rattar.”
“Is that what you wanted all along?” Vaenuth asked.
“Not really. I didn’t know I was a magician until after we left Lantern Town,” Miresh said. “I’ve just been following the Path, like Aralim has. Things are always improving, so I keep going forward.”
“But what about making things full circle? What about your parents who stranded you? Don’t you want to right the wrongs you have endured?” the caravaneer asked.
“That’s exactly what I did,” Miresh said, smiling. “I’ve become more than what I was, what they thought I was. That’s more than I needed.”
Vaenuth ran a finger over the goosebumps on her tattooed shoulder and smiled. She nodded. “You’re a lot wiser than I, Miresh.” She reached for a bun from the table and dipped it in her soup. Banno grinned at her, then grabbed the last one.
“So…” Miresh began. “What happened to your arm?”
By the time they started the second course, Hayan excused himself to go prepare for the opening night of Ghanam and Paraclar. The others finished their meal. When Aralim finally suggested he walk Vaenuth and Banno back to their camp on the city’s outskirts, Miresh told Vae she hoped to speak when the caravan returned to Rema. Vaenuth warned her that might not be for some time.
The lights of the city at night kept the air filled with incense and spice long after the sun had travelled into the distant west, beyond the Yurna Mountains. Aralim and Vaenuth knew why he was walking with them, and it was not just to enjoy the pleasant whiff of herbs near the city’s many temples.
“I assume you have some news about our mutual friend?” Vaenuth asked, as they passed a group of drunkards in front of a tavern. A few stopped their dangerous knife game in order to watch the decorated woman pass—a far more dangerous humour to pursue.
“I wish I had more,” Aralim confessed. “She views herself as a business woman, and has great confidence in the ability of her wealth to protect her. The matter we spoke of may be a very last minute endeavor.” Banno went ahead to clear the way through a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd observing a man juggling torches while balanced on top of a bar stool. Once the noise faded away in their wake, Aralim said, “But I have no intention of delaying your departure.”
“We’ll be leaving early in the day, but we will be in Nokire a few days before heading North. If you miss our departure but have a deal to strike anyway, there is that option also,” Vaenuth said. She gave him a reassuring nod.
Aralim’s lantern staff tapped the cobblestones as he walked. “It might just be a matter of a surprise stowaway when you depart. In honesty, it would likely be best for you to abandon her in Nokire. I can’t see this woman pulling her weight in your venue.”
“But will she be safe in Nokire?” Vaenuth asked. “If this woman accompanies us, I will speak with her and determine what is best. That is a condition for this plan, not an option.”
Aralim nodded. His decision to speak with Vaenuth after hearing her speak at the Third Court had certainly borne fruit. “I’m glad to hear that. Now to spend the better part of tomorrow convincing her to go.”
“Good luck,” Vaenuth said, smiling. These were strange circumstances to have to consider luck in.
They were nearing the outer wall of the city now. Aralim had not been beyond since his arrival in Rema, and he had forgotten that his estate was closer to this than it was to the Evening Lion or, the Iron Palace itself. He slowed his pace. “Thank you for your help. And for joining us for dinner,” he said. He smiled to Banno too, and the big man bobbed his head once.
As he started to go, Vaenuth took a step after him and said, “Wait.” When he paused, she said what she wanted to. “About Miresh. Be careful with her. She is wise, but she is also a child. Whatever she has endured, she is still a child. The filth of this world is not fleeting, or temporary. It is stagnate and it is everywhere. Blind that girl for as long as you can.”
Aralim shifted his weight, holding his lantern staff close to his face. His skin must have lit up blue, but he was just thinking about what she had said. “Sometimes, Miresh makes me wonder about that.”
Vaenuth bit her lip, and not in a pleasant way. She turned her head to the side, and then turned to go.
“I like her,” Banno said, and then followed his employer through the guarded city gate. Aralim had a stage performance to get to. Miresh had gone to get seats, tailed by Narr, of course.