***
A full night's sleep in a bed did wonders for a man. At least that's how Kohau felt when he woke the following morning. The warm bath he had indulged in shortly after they arrived at the inn had helped as well. He was also looking forward to something halfway decent for his first meal of the day. There was a slight spring to his step as he made his way downstairs.
The dining hall was mostly empty by the time he arrived. It must have been later than he thought. Yelve was at a table in the corner, a mug sitting ignored in front of her.
"May I join you?"
"If you like."
A young lad in an apron came over to deliver a loaf of dark bread and fruit preserves. "Ale or cider, sir? Squash bake is all we have left if you want something warm."
"Cider and squash would be fine."
He laid a few coppers on the table. They were swept up when the server returned with the cider and the squash dish. The food wasn't spectacular, but it was warm and decently seasoned.
"When do we leave?"
Yelve blinked at him a few times, taking along draw from her mug before speaking. “I had planned on leaving in an hour or so. The ruins are a day or so ride from here.”
“I think the site might be Kalta. It fits with where my research has led to it.”
“We’re not here for scholarly pursuits.”
“I know that. But I can still –“
“We don’t know what we’re headed into, scholar. This isn’t some pleasure trip we’re on.” Her voice had taken on a distinct chill. “If you think otherwise, you’re more than welcome to return to the temple from here.”
“No, that’s not –“
“Finish eating and get your gear ready if you’re still coming with me.”
Yelve left him to his half-finished meal. He forced himself to eat more despite his appetite leaving the table with her. Was it really so wrong to be excited at the possibility he was headed to an ancient city he’d long been researching, if his suspicions were right? His scholarly enthusiasm didn’t mean he’d forgotten about the six bodies lying in a shed with farming tools around them. He hadn’t forgotten the other burned out hamlets or the future threats to Leistros.
As a child he hadn’t been fond of what his sister called people puzzles. Books were a known quantity. They weren’t going to show you more facets than a gem with every turn of the page. The problem was trying to figure out the best way to communicate such with someone who no longer wished to talk.
He was still mulling over the whole mess a few hours later when there was little around them but trees and rocks. Yelve had met him outside the stables with bags of fresh provisions and more cold silence. Scenario after scenario filtered through his mind, only to be brushed away like an errant insect. The High Lady was easy enough to talk to, along with a few other people around the temple he had come to know well. But he had spent time learning them – studying them like he did his books. Kohau glanced at Yelve’s back. Perhaps he just needed to learn how her book was organized.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean for it to come across like it did.” She didn’t look at him as he brought his horse alongside hers, and spoke. “My oldest sister could never understand how I could like puzzles the way I do and not be able to figure people out. People puzzles were never my strongest subject. Because the pieces change, not to mention how they fit together.”
“My pieces don’t make sense to you.”
“No, they don’t. I … I don’t like things I can’t figure out even after I’ve studied them.” He sighed. “You have too many facets and there’s lights flashing here and there, not to mention the other ones hiding away from the light and I just don’t know.”
“So now I’m a fancy cut gem? Are you like this around all the ladies, scholar, or am I just that special?”
“I can’t figure you out. You help people you don’t even know for nothing in return. You play a child’s game on a dusty roadside. You’re generally cold and reserved, until you’re around the High Lady or hear disturbing news about something that’s happened to the people of Leistros. And you used to kill people for money. If that isn’t the most confusing gemstone puzzle of a person, I’m a farkel’s lovechild.”
Her head turned towards him a fraction. “What in Kurdal’s name is a farkel?”
“A nasty daemon from ancient times. Scraggly white hair, large bulbous nose, fangs dripping goo and knobby boney fingers to snatch you up with. There are examples of such beings all around the world. There’s the eastern fae – though I much prefer the Hadurk fae and its love of tempting travelers away from safe paths to the Marbloom.” He couldn’t help the grin that stole across his face. “Then there are tales of merpeople from the western coasts, though I haven’t studied those tales much. And further north there’s a farkel cousin called the Goupal that’s even uglier and nastier and eats everything it can get its claws into. They say when it belches it causes rockslides, and avalanches in the winter.”
“And these … creatures … are known for begetting offspring with human women?”
He paused, her comment confusing him. “Well, no. Not really, they just like to eat people.”
“Then the logical assumption would be that there is no possible way you could be a farkel’s lovechild.”
Kohau rolled his eyes. “You’re trying to change the topic.”
“You brought up being the illogical lovechild of a fictional creature.” Yelve shrugged. “You make it sound as though you can’t figure people out unless they fit neatly between the pages of a book. I am not as complicated as you seem to think I am.”
“How can you take money in exchange for a life one moment and play in the dirt with a child the next?”
“When I was the same age as those children, I was scrounging in dank alleys for meager scraps of food. Fighting for very limited resources with other children doing the same. We didn’t play games.” A muscle in her jaw twitched just beneath her scar. “I earned this a few years later when I refused to please some drunken idiot with my body. That one I killed for free after I started my training. And you scholar? What was your childhood like?”
The question caught him off guard. He had been trying to envision how long he might have survived if he’d been on the streets as a child. “I … I spent as much time as I could hidden behind books. History was more interesting than trading or politics. I wasn’t the son my father had hoped for, and my mother had two daughters already. I remember being punished with no dinner one day because I gave my lunch to some old beggar woman at the market. That’s probably the only time I’ve ever gone without food. How did you end up...”
“The guild who took me in didn’t just teach me to kill. I learned to read and write, as well as learning my numbers. If I had shown interest, I could have apprenticed out to a weapon smith or apothecary.”
“What do assassins need apothecaries for?” He found his curiosity stirring.
“Being able to tend wounds is a good skill to have regardless of profession.”
“Oh.”
“And having even basic knowledge of poisons is something of a requirement for the job.”
Kohau glanced around, even though he knew there were no other people in the area. “Should you be telling me all this?”
“Telling you basic information that anyone with eyes or ears can figure out?” Yelve shook her head with a soft chuckle. “You think too much, my little scholar.”
For some reason, he didn’t mind being called little so much right then. “Isn’t that better than not thinking at all?”
“Perhaps. And I need to apologize for this morning. I … manyol tells me when I focus too much on the task at hand, I don’t see all that I should.”
“I do admit that the possibility of finding proof of Kalta’s location is thrilling, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten why we’re out here.”
“Wouldn’t someone have already searched these ruins for proof of your ancient city?”
Ko
hau shook his head. “They’ve always focused on places further north, or west into the Jadroi Plains. From what I’ve pieced together though looking at old trade routes, and some maps people haven’t looked at much, I think they’re wrong. Of course, there’s no saying I’m right either.”
“Perhaps when this is over we can return to test out your theory.”