A Song of Snow and Ashes

well," said Hialmar. "I'll need to have a town meeting to see if we get any volunteers. Then we'll need to find out how they can be useful."

  "It's the best we've got, I think," she replied.

  They continued to talk about recruiting the young men until lunch time. The meeting was then adjourned. Before lunch, Hanae caught up with her.

  "Excuse me, my Lady, but will you be in your cottage this evening?" she asked, looking a touch anxious and confused.

  "Sure. If you like. Why?"

  "I have a peculiar matter to discuss with you, and it should be done privately."

  "Alright. I'll be there after dinner," she replied, now sharing Hanae's look. Lunch and fighting practice passed as usual, and after dinner she excused herself from the group saying she wanted to look some things over, and returned to her cottage.

  About half an hour later, Hanae knocked on the door. She entered carrying a largish bag with her.

  "What's this?" Eliora asked, very confused.

  "These are your solstice gifts."

  "From you?"

  "No."

  "I don't understand," she replied, opening the bag and laying out the wrapped gifts. Each had a tag with the giver's name on it. "Wait a minute. These are my friends. Why couldn't they have just given me these things?"

  "I don't understand either, my Lady. But about a month ago, when the traders left for the winter, many of your friends sought me out and gave me these items. They told me to give them to you, and not to mention to anyone else that they had asked this favor."

  There were about twenty-five small boxes on the table. She opened them, and found a variety of trinkets, from silk scarves to small carvings, to sticks of incense.

  "I understand it is the custom of humans to give gifts for the winter solstice, but I do not understand why these were given in secret."

  "I think I do." She re-packaged all the gifts and put them in the bag. "Thanks, Hanae."

  "You're welcome, although I'm not sure what I'm being thanked for." She stood up to leave. "No offense, my Lady, but humans are very strange."

  "None taken. I agree with you." The demian left and Eliora stashed the gifts in her closet. Of the young men in the city, only Davin hadn't left a gift with the demian. She wasn't entirely sure of the courtship rituals of the area, but she knew enough to realize if the gifts were delivered in secret, the men had more than simply friendly intentions. She couldn't accept them and she couldn't give them back, so decided to leave them in the closet and not mention them.

  On new year's day, Donnan was relieved to find his eyes had gone back to normal. He spent the day making arrangements to get Alain his own apartment, and soon Alain was moved out and into his own place, which was down the hall. Relations were strained, and it was setting him on edge. It was week after the solstice before he could meet with Aolani again, and he thought out very thoroughly what he would say. The first step, he decided, was to equalize the relationship, although he knew that ran the risk of alienating her.

  She met him in the foyer of the library as usual. "Hello," she greeted brightly. "I hope you had a good holiday."

  "It was fine," he lied.

  "I also hope you haven't forgotten too much," she said with a laugh.

  "You aren't goin' to give me a quiz, are you?" he asked, looking alarmed.

  "No, I wouldn't be quite so cruel."

  The tutoring session passed smoothly. When she started to gather up her books, he plucked up his courage and pulled out a small, soft package wrapped in smooth purple paper. "I got you a new year's present. Sorry about bein' late with it."

  "Oh, you didn't have to do that," she replied, looking just a touch upset.

  "Well, that's not the point of presents, is it?"

  She smiled nervously. "No, I suppose not." She gingerly opened the package. Inside was a lovely pink, lavender, and pale blue silk scarf. "Oh, my goodness. This is lovely. Thank you," she responded graciously, and carefully re-wrapped it and put it in her pack. "I'm sorry to say I don't have a gift for you."

  He didn't expect one, but couldn't help but be disappointed all the same. "That's alright," he lied again. His courage faltered for a moment, but he gathered it back up and asked, "Do you want to go get some coffee?"

  "Keep your quiz average up."

  "No, Aolani. Wait a second," he sighed, stopping her just outside the library.

  "Yes?"

  "I like you a lot."

  "Yes, but you said you just wanted to be friends," she reminded him.

  He cursed himself for ever saying such a thing, but he had worked out a response to this in case she brought it up. "Well, I do. But we only see each other at the library, or as a reward for bein' a good student. I mean, if we're friends, shouldn't we do other stuff together?"

  "I suppose we are friends, but I don't think it would be appropriate to include you in my social life since you are my student," she replied.

  "Then I'll find another tutor."

  She looked startled. "You would?"

  "Sure. I don't want to do anythin' that makes you uncomfortable."

  This didn't seem to make her feel better. "That's quite considerate of you. Remember, though, I have a busy schedule."

  "I know that. I know that." He ran his hands through his hair and tried to keep his tone as accusation-free as possible. "But you make time for your other friends, right?"

  "As best I can, certainly."

  "So if I'm your friend, why can't you make time for me? Or invite me to join your other friends?"

  Her pretty face fell. "It's not that simple."

  "Why not? Is it because I'm not good enough for your high-class friends?" he retorted, some anger leaking through.

  She looked at him, startled. "Of course not."

  "You didn't even introduce me that one time that friend of yours showed up to the coffee shop. Are you ashamed of knowin' me?"

  She just stared a moment, then dropped her eyes. "I would like to think not, but you do bring up a good point. I tell myself the reason I don't introduce to you my 'high-class friends,' as you put it, is that they would judge you harshly and look upon you with disdain and contempt. I tell myself that of course I don't do that."

  "Aolani, if you think your friends would treat me like that, well, why be friends with them?"

  "They're good people," she snapped defensively.

  "My brother always said that how good people are is best judged by watchin' how they treat their inferiors, not their equals."

  "Your brother is quite wise," she replied quietly. "I suppose you've got the measure of me better than I do. If you think I treat you poorly, why are you trying to be friends with me?"

  "I don't think you treat me that badly, all things considered. You're still talkin' to me, aren't you? Sometimes people treat others badly because they just don't know any better. They never stop to think about how they're treatin' others. Not knowin' any better is alright, because that can be fixed. Now, treatin' people badly and knowin' it, that's a whole different matter. But I don't think you're treatin' me this way because you're not nice, I just think maybe you haven't thought about it much."

  "So you're giving me the benefit of the doubt and assuming I act out of ignorance rather than malice?"

  "Um, yeah, I guess, but it's not as bad as that."

  "That's really quite decent of you."

  "Nah. It's selfish. Means I might get to spend more time with you," he replied, with a smile, hoping honesty was the best route.

  She returned the smile. "Your honesty is refreshing."

  "Yes!" he thought.

  "I do honestly think, however, that my friends wouldn't like you very much. It's sad, and reflects badly on me, but it's true. I wouldn't want you to endure snide comments about being pitied."

  "Well, Aolani, isn't that my choice?" he asked quietly.

  A flush crept up her face. "I suppose it is."

  "But you're not goin' to intr
oduce me," he guessed, feeling disappointed.

  "Would you take me to meet your friends?" she demanded defensively.

  "If you wanted to," he stuttered. "But they're not, well, the best kind of people."

  "So you think I wouldn't like them just because they're poor?" she replied haughtily.

  He sighed. "I don't mean that they're poor like me. I mean they aren't the best kind of people. My best friend's been an acolyte of the Order of Darkness for two years. They're thieves, frankly, and hustlers."

  "Well, then, why do you stay friends with them?"

  "I never had anythin' on me they could steal," he shrugged. "They aren't bad guys, they've just made bad choices."

  "Then why did you say they weren't the best kind of people?"

  "You sort of caught me off-guard there. I was tryin' to tell you discreetly that they might cut your purse," he sighed.

  Her face was now quite scarlet, out of anger, shame, or embarrassment, he couldn't tell. "I need to go home now. I'll see you next time." She started to quickly walk away.

  "Well, I'll know if she's worth all this depending on what she says next time," he thought. "I sure hope she is."

  When the time for Donnan's next tutoring session came, he was nervous. He waited in the foyer as usual. Most unusually, however, Aolani was late.

  "Godsdammit," he thought. "I guess I was wrong." But he kept waiting anyway.

  Fifteen minutes passed, and finally she showed up, shaking snow off her clothes, her cheeks very bright pink. "Sorry about that," she said brightly. "I had some family business that didn't end quite on time. Don't worry, though, I'll stay late. You'll get the full hour's worth." With that, she walked into the library proper.

  Feeling a little confused