Chương 86: Outing

By the evening on Fiveday, my scrivener contact Gala Kralcit had gotten me the sigilwork for poison detection, which she had put onto a thumb ring for me. I wanted it to be something that would be pointed towards my face if I was eating or drinking, after all. So now it would light up and pulse and vibrate if something within several inches of it was a poison mixed into food or drink or presented in a container meant for food or drink.

I put it on immediately and had it on when I woke up on Sixthday, ready to spring into the day. Elica was in a rush straight to the shower, I dressed carefully for a day out with my friends, and neither of us needed to have bothered at all because Vancy is a slow riser even for weekends, and Trazom was even worse. We each had a plus-one for this trip. Enefiat Trazom was mine, and Rinnie counted as Elica's. Did I maybe set that up so that she would not try to talk Yheta into this trip? Maybe I did.

I know he's got appointments with his family business, but she might have tried anyway. So now we're scrambling to get eight people together for this trip. Rinnie was the only one that made it easy on us: she showed up at Elica's door at the usual time to help the lady get dressed, add tonics and oils to her hair and brush it out. Then she stood by and waited for us instead of disappearing off to classes like usual.

She seemed a little nettled to be standing by for us instead of having her own weekend on her own terms, or I'm projecting. I poked my head in next door.

"Knock knock, ready for a day trip to Tarcelle?"

"Mmnngfffh," Vancy said, and rolled over. On Larianne's side of the room, her bed was surrounded by curtains hung from the ceiling- not the usual gauzy four-post bed curtains, these looked like vampire-grade blackout curtains. There was a thumping sound from inside them, and the surface rippled like a pillow had been thrown in my direction. I glanced back at Rinnie and Elica.

"One of us has to take the short straw and get them out of bed." Elica smirked.

"I'm tempted to put my girl on the job, but I know my breakfast will not be ready yet, so I'm in no rush. And I believe I can rouse these two faster than either of you could. No offense."

"None... taken?" I replied. I'm not sure what I was supposed to be offended by.

"You help them out, we'll meet you for breakfast." I closed the door behind her, and then Rinnie and I headed down the hall towards the dining hall, and behind us I could hear what was either a championship-level wake-up call, or a drill sergeant being attacked by a buzzsaw. Humans should not make sounds like that, especially on purpose. We walked side by side.

"Hi Rinnie." She said nothing.

"So," I said.

"Where do you come from?"

"A village," she said.

"Tough audience," I muttered.

"What kind of electives are you taking?"

"Business," she said.

"Got plans to go into business when you graduate?"

"No."

"Do you have any idea how much easier things would be for me if I was as good at not talking about myself as you are?"

"Try," she said, and shot me a sidelong. I gaped, and lost a step.

"That was ice cold," I said with a bit of awe.

"Have you been hanging around Elica too much, or is this all you?"

"You don't have to do this."

"What, walk with you to breakfast?"

"Talk to me." I went silent for a minute.

"If you'd rather I didn't, then-""Yes." Shit. Not many people ever shut me down that hard, even the ones that really hate me. And- huh. It probably says a lot that I can't think of the last time anyone told me to shut up. That's probably something that everyone needs to experience periodically, right? It could be a basic human need for healthy psychology, to be openly disrespected every so often just to remember that it can happen. It's probably an important way to keep perspective in our lives.

Or, I'm just rationalizing getting shaded hard by this girl. So I walked with her in silence, with her seething and brooding, and me just strolling along. This was one of the occasions my mood was at its lightest. I did not feel like there was anything in particular that I should be doing. I wasn't driven to solve any problems right now, or to manage any plans. I wasn't going to go slay monsters or make any arrangements or push the plotlines one way or another.

Most of my day was just going to be chilling with my pals, trying not to stress about too much, enjoy company with Trazom and maybe advance his route. As long as I could keep myself from obsessing about whoever had tried to kill me earlier this week, I'd be fine. Obviously, as soon as that thought crossed my mind I couldn't do anything but obsess over who had tried to kill me. I felt myself sour, and sigh, and resign myself to making the best of this day. Sometimes I can't get out of my own way.

Breakfast today was a walnut salad with diced apple, shredded spinach, crumbled cheese and a honey drizzle. I grabbed a carafe of tea for our table and staked us out, waiting for the others to come. And I sat and stewed and obsessed.

"Rinnie, present company excluded, do you know anyone that would want to kill me?"

"Nah," she said. Her tone communicated that she was lying, and that the lie was all about making this conversation stop. Fuck it. I'll just investigate this the hard way, assembling clues or something. Talking to people to solve problems is not my strong suit. Tomorrow, after church, I'm gonna check out that spear. And do you know what? As soon as I had a plan I felt better. I was chipper again by the time that Elica frog-marched Vancy and Larianne over to our table.

Vancy looked uncomfortable, Larianne's face gave away nothing. You'd never suspect the dressing-down she just took. But Vancy looked hangdog enough for both of them. They both took a cup of tea and a bowl of salad, Elica walked over with a kitchen boy carrying her plates. She was served a thick slab of lamb, still sizzling, with a sprinkle of dried seasonings, sesame and sumac; and on the side was diced and roasted potatoes topped with a couscous. She is definitely more spoiled than I am.

I caught the kitchen-boy by the elbow, gently.

"Excuse me," I said.

"I'm looking for my brother. Looks nothing like me, except the eyes. Have you seen him?"

"Er, yes lady. He's been back with the head chef for a half hour now."

"Lovely. Thank you," I said, and let him go. Vancy gave me a wary look.

"What was that?"

"Just making sure that he's where he needs to be," I said.

"Right now he's going through shipping records to see which barrels were offloaded on which day from which supplier. He's trying to get a feel for the scope of the problem but he's still weeks away figuring out the nature of it, and months from finding out who's responsible."

"Which you already know," Elica prompted.

"Yes I do."

"And you won't just tell him?" And deprive him of the quest XP from each checkpoint?

"There are particular reasons why it is important for him to figure out the information on his own, in his own time," I said.

"Yet another Natalie mystery," Elica said, and gestured Rinnie to pour her a tea.

"So, we're waiting on Trazom, and who else?"

"My cousin," Larianne said, as she began her morning inspection of her fingernails.

"And when will she be along?" Elica asked.

"He." You can try the dark brooding silent-type mystique all you want, Larianne, I know that Rinnie is really the cryptic one here. I gestured twice, to conjure and control the owls. I looked out the window and started working. One, to circle around the campus until it spots Trazom, and then return to me and get my attention when it sees him. The others, to fly out to the boy's dorm building, looking in windows, and if they saw Trazom sleeping they were to peck at his window until he was awake and moving about.

They drew on my mental image of Enefiat Trazom. I'd have done the same for Larianne's cousin but I've never seen him. One by one, owls appeared on the branches of the tree outside our window, and flew off in the same direction, on the mission. Elica was still interrogating Vancy about what we should expect in Tarcelle, and I tuned her out until she turned to me quickly to snap "That is very distracting!"

"What?"

"Your owl-games. Please do stop!"

"I was sending them to look for Trazom," I explained.

"I don't have a more direct way to contact him. I had thought he'd be here by now." Well, eventually that mystery got solved. One of the owls returned and pecked at the window to get my attention and let me know he was on his way. I dispelled all the owls, and a few minutes later he walked in, looking haggard.

"This campus is haunted," he said, nervously.

"Some foul spirit inhabits the air. Birds that do not belong here, always staring-""Owls?" I asked.

"Yes!"

"What was wrong with the owls?" I asked, concerned now.

"Other than that we've not seen a single bird in all of Skyside?" he asked. We're in a cave. We have bats, not birds.

"Oh," I said.

"Sorry. I didn't think about that. I just like using owls."

"You sent them?!"

"I sent them!"

"They were so creepy! I've been hiding in my room trying to get them to leave me alone!"

"Well I didn't know!" Vancy was staring at me with suppressed anger.

"Natalie! You were terrorizing Enefiat Trazom!" She looked like I had committed unforgivable heresy.

"Sorry, you're right Vancy. Trazom, I'm sorry I didn't realize what effect the owls would have." He arched an eyebrow.

"That's not much of an apology."

"I'm portioning it out so you can savor it longer," I said dryly. Vancy swatted my shoulder.

"Natalie! You are mocking Enefiat Trazom!" She was still scandalized.

"Yes? He knows his name, he doesn't need you to keep saying it." The musician smiled in her direction.

"You must be Vancy. Natalie has not told me enough about you. Please do correct her oversight." Vancy giggled nervously and started fanning herself. I didn't even know she carried a fan. She made awkward small talk while the rest of us finished breakfast. Larianne's cousin eventually showed up- Nunxio Ebonder, a fourth cousin who looked like her brother, down to the scowl and the fashion statement. His nails were clipped short and unpainted. When we were all ready and rounded up, I tugged Vancy aside.

"So, where is Tarcelle? I never did scout it out ahead of time."

"Um, in Anquarry?"

"North or south Anquarry?"

"Northwest," she said.

"On the Dirsho river?"

"That's enough to get me started," I said. It is not surprising that opening up a doorway in the air that pours out vivid incandescence gets attention every time. All the members of our party stopped what they were doing and stared, gaping.

"I like to wear these before I step inside," I said, conjuring forth my goggles.

"Who wants a pair?" Everyone took one, and Elica joked about getting a second one to layer over it. We stepped into the doorway, and I brought us to the only destination I already knew in Anquarry: the Convergence. We stepped out into an unremarkable field, near the Fissure. The soil had a lot of clay in it, and the vegetation was sparse. The sun was deep in the east, we had traveled far enough that the morning was younger.

"Anquarry, but not Tarcelle," Vancy said, when she took off the goggles and looked around. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I know. Sorry, just wanted to see this area," I said.

"As a tourist." Vancy gave me a strange look, but Nunxio was interrupting in a loud voice.

"Holy shit," he boomed, "that really does take us places! We must be hundreds of miles from Hearstcliff!"

"Pretty neat, huh?" I said to him.

"Oh you bet! Hey, can we go to my buddy's place? He's over in-""Nunxio?" Larianne said.

"We've got plans. We're going with Vancy today."

"Oh yeah! Where's that at?" I tried to look casual about it, but nearby us the clay-clotted earth was moving, tossing aside, forming two long troughs in the ground, the sides bulging up where the dirt piled around the ditches. They crossed at right angles. A massive X to mark the spot. Everyone else was watching Nunxio, or Vancy, or me. Rinnie saw what I was doing. She glared at me but did not say anything. It'll make sense later.

"Well now everyone, let's mask back up, time for the next leg of the trip," I said. I opened the door, and they trooped in, blind, arms stretched out. They collided with each other inside, no space, everything touching, and I was last in. I closed the door behind us, and opened it about a hundred miles north and five hundred yards upwards. I leaned out the door, lifted my goggles away. That's gotta be Lake Foan to the east, right? Still too far south. Goggles down, door shut, door opened, goggles up.

Ah, the Dinthro river! Let's try again ten miles west. Goggles down, door shut, door opened, goggles up. A town! Goggles down. Door shut.

"All right, step out behind me now. Vancy, let me know if I've got the right town, would you? It wasn't labeled for me." Everyone came staggering out, Nunxio stumbled over Trazom's foot and fell sprawling and laughing. Vancy looked around and cheerily announced that we were in the right place. Elica gave me a suspicious look.

"We were in there a long time just now," she pointed out.

"It was four legs to that journey," I told her.

"I just ran them all together to save time."

"And you had us keep our blindfolds on?" I shrugged.

"You wouldn't want to see this."

"Why not?"

"If you don't have vertigo already, you'd learn fast," I told her.

"All right, one and all! We are arrived, and we are done with featureless white voids! Vancy, this is your tour now!" And all the blindfolds vanished away, and I let someone else lead the excursion. She skipped. She led the way through the brick streets, and every so often she would wave and call out to someone she recognized. Shopkeepers, lamplighters, drovers, porters, messengers.

They all seemed to know her, and she shared small nods and smiles to them, but was exuberant in her greetings to anyone she knew by name. I think she had more friendly acquaintances in three blocks than I have in the whole world. It made me feel a little self-conscious. Elica looked scandalized, Larianne looked bored, Rinnie looked annoyed, Trazom was charmed by all this and Nunxio joined in the fun, calling out people's names as he learned them and waving just like Vancy did.

One little old lady with a cane gasped at us.

"Countess Vancy! You are supposed to be in school!"

"I'm just here for the day, then we're right back!" Vancy laughed cheerily.

"My friend here can travel us all the way in just a couple of minutes!"

"My word! I did not expect to see you at all for years! Not until you had graduated! And here you are, just six weeks later!"

"Only for the day! I wanted to show my friends around. But, oh, you're late for your shift!"

"Pishtosh, those girls can get by without a lector for a few minutes! They'll be so happy to hear you're doing well!" I perked up.

"Lector?"

"Yes, little lady, I read to the spinning-girls at the factory," the old lady said. Her hands were gnarled with arthritis but her voice was still strong and her eyes were clear. I reached into the pocket dimension and pulled out a book.

"Here you go, some new material from the capitol, printed fresh just this week!" I can't have the minstrels do all the work. Lectors like her probably have more impact on communities, but without a centralized guild it's harder to get all of them my new stories and material. Anywhere that people are working continuously in close quarters, they can either be bored, restive and annoyed, or they can be entertained.

A smart factory owner hires a lector to sit under a lamp and read stories aloud to the workers, keeping them engaged while they worked. And there's nothing a professional reader needs more than a book of new stories that they've never heard of before. This one had a combination of Disney fairy-tales, all of the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark that I could remember, The Wizard of Oz and Wicked.

"Ah! What a lovely gift," the old lady said.

"Are you in publishing?"

"I'm near it, but not in it," I replied.

"A word then?" she said, hobbling closer and leaning in a bit. She lowered her voice.

"You'd do a wonder if you printed an edition with the pages the other way, bound at the short side so it opens long instead of tall. Easier to read out that way without the book muffling the voice." She held her hand in front of her, gesturing. Once up high as if a book were held high and obstructing her voice from projecting, and once lower so she could read forth without it blocking. I blinked in surprise.

"I'll pass that on. Lectors are an important part of the publishing market!"

"And I'll thank you not to forget it!" she said with a strong nod and a decisive stamp of her cane.

"My ladies, Countess, gentlemen, I'll be on my way, by your leave."

"Of course Lector Tarque! Good bye!" Vancy said, and waved as the old lady hobbled away.

"C'mon, the perfumeries are just a couple streets over!"