Chapter 9 #2
Rodil fluted out a sigh and said, not for the first time since they'd started cleaning me up, "I would recommend you consider speaking with your sinnenthi about your training here in Radiant Ward.
Perhaps he could find you somewhere to train that is – more suitable, with a more reasonable schedule.
I would be happy to attest to that, if your sinnenthi wishes. "
"I like Tam," I said, rolling my shoulder and wincing.
I kneaded the muscle there, which was tender and awful.
"And I like Radiant Ward. I'm just a dancer from Yellow Fin.
This is what's suitable. And besides, Araxis trusts me to set my own schedule – so you don't need to worry.
I'm fine. This is how humans get stronger. "
"Hm." Rodil straightened after poking and prodding at my knee, which I'd said was bothering me.
"In that case, I will send you a note with some medication you should be able to obtain at a dispensary in Verdant Ward.
You are an important person; the request should suffice.
If there are any questions, you may share my ping address with them and I will speak with them directly. "
I was an important person? If there was any truth to that, it was because of my proximity to Araxis – but if that got me the good meds, so be it.
I made all the appropriate sounds and sent Rodil and Elethenn on their way before holing up to work a little on a report for Perseus I'd been picking away at. This time, because I had the dossier Araxis had prepped for me and because I had a lot to say about abayan gender and how that might impact negotiations – would creche representatives even talk to a human negotiator who wasn’t arkathi?
And how would Perseus know the genders of who they were sending in unless they had an abaya on hand to tell them?
– I had more to actually say, so it took me a few hours.
By the end, my neck was stiff, my head was swimming, and I was ready to just fall into bed next to Araxis and pretend I wasn't going to do it all over again tomorrow.
Plus sword-dancing, but at least that would be fun.
I closed everything up after sending off the report on my new display, which I sure hoped no one was going to rip off the wall.
Valerie had asked me about the weapons I'd tried out at the range – I happen to know someone who is very into rifles, she'd written, and they'll want all the sordid details; I have accepted that I am doomed to always be second-best to their first and truest love, a sniper rifle that has a name and everything – so I resolved to fill her in on the way back.
First, though, I stopped by to see Elethenn, who was packing up his cart.
I'd had an idea – or maybe half of an idea; my brain wasn't particularly up to ideas at the moment – and it required some dumplings.
"Are you sold out?" I asked in abayan, tugging a thin sweater on over my head and suppressing a shiver in the cold air of the market.
While Araxis had said I could keep our bedroom at whatever temperature I wanted, I had an easier time adjusting than he did so I kept it cold; I usually cranked the temperature in my apartment after my abayan guests left to enjoy the novelty of warmth, which meant that heading back into the ward was like taking an ice plunge.
But considering my shirt still had blood spattered all over it, it wasn't a bad idea to cover up anyway – it was possible no one in Radiant Ward would notice, but being blood-spattered would definitely raise metaphorical eyebrows in Verdant.
They might not even let me through the checkpoint.
Elethenn glanced up, smiling as I approached. His mismatched eyes gleamed with pleasure. "I am sold out," he repeated in abayan, stressing the verb and correcting my conjugation. "Apologies. I should have thought to save some for you. You do usually stop by before returning to Verdant Ward."
I beamed, pleased to have followed that even with my fuzzy thoughts and the ache of my body, which seemed to blot out at least half of my ability to think coherently.
Every time I breathed, I had to suppress a wince.
"You already fed me once," I said. "This week has been very busy, so I wished to –" I stopped, scrunching my nose and searching for the right words, but they escaped me.
I switched to Standard, resigned. "The kids love dumplings, and I thought they'd be a nice treat to bring back with me. How would I say that?"
He said the words for me, which I repeated, and Elethenn nodded happily.
"Your accent really is good, Sashen," he said, also in Standard.
Then, strangely, something tense and uneasy flashed across his features.
I don't think I would have noticed except that I was spending almost every single moment of my day with abaya, so I'd become pretty well-versed in their micro-expressions.
"You do seem to be in some pain. I would be happy to walk you to the ward shuttle docks so that you might have an easier trip to Verdant Ward. "
I waved away his concern. "I'm fine," I insisted, believing that if I kept saying it, it would become true. "And I've got the day off from training tomorrow, so that's like resting."
"Hm." Elethenn carefully folded a square of patterned fabric, gray and green with streaks of white in the tassels around the edges, on the closed-up counter of his cart, his stare fixed on the glossy surface before him.
His cart was always clean, which is what had drawn me to him in the first place.
"But your sinnenthi asks you to perform, even though you should be resting? "
That wasn't fair, and it was something I'd made up anyway.
"It was my idea," I said, committed to the lie.
"I'm not saying it's a smart one, but I'm hard to say no to.
And making bad choices is one of my other special skills, but it doesn't tend to impress visiting dignitaries nearly as much as looking pretty with some swords. "
Elethenn's dark stare flicked up, but he didn't even try to humour me with a laugh.
It was too bad about the dumplings. I would have loved to take some home; I could have brought them to Araxis in the morning for breakfast before we went and started training together. It had felt like – I don't know, like it might have been romantic.
Dumplings probably weren't very romantic. Did I want them to be romantic?
"Since my schedule can be a bit unpredictable," I said, already exhausted by the prospect of the walk back along the inter-ward tunnels, "do you think I could ever reach out to you and order ahead?
Oh, let me try that in abayan. Can I write to you and buy dumplings, which I will collect in the future from you?
" I stopped, wrinkling my nose in what I knew was an abayan indication of amusement.
"I definitely fucked up those verbs, but I guess I don't really know your gender or how that relates to mine, or how that would affect conjugation. "
Behind his cart, Elethenn stiffened. He repeated the sentence with several corrections and a wildly different conjugation that spoke to the gulf of power between us, so significant it was as if I was a prince and he was nothing more than the dirt beneath my boot.
"You know that I am – skoshas," he added, strained, as if saying it cost him something.
I was sure someone had told him that. "Are you though?" I asked. "Really?"
A subvocal whined from his throat. "Of course I am. That is why I am here. One of the reasons I am here."
"But before? Is that how you actually feel?" I was sure it was rude to ask, but I hoped that my general ignorance would take the sting out.
"I trained as antali," he murmured finally, no doubt resigned to the fact that I could out-wait him. "And I prefer – a protective role."