Before they left the cave and outcropping the next morning, Tif used charcoal from the dead fire to freshen Pep up.
“You look so much better,” Tif said with a smile to the darker lines that now sat on her palm. She noticed Udaru looking at her, but the aquaros didn’t comment, so Tif continued fussing over the marks until they departed.
It took another few hours of hopping through the sky to reach the coast. The sea was vast, and blue, and green, and moving, like a noble’s long scarf fluttering in the breeze. Tif had never seen anything like it before, and Pep hadn’t either.
“How far do you think it goes?” she asked but of course neither of them knew.
Sitting in the midst of all of that water were a number of islands, some closer to the land they were traveling above and others further out toward the horizon. As they approached, Tif began to see the outline of structures that had to be the Mirrored City, but on the closest, smallest island, which looked to be little more than a crusted, rocky hump in the water, she saw a giant banner snapping to and fro: half black, half blue.
“What does that mean?” she shouted to the wind, and when Udaru didn’t answer, she shouted it again.
“It tells us which reflection is being used,” he croaked back.
Tif couldn’t help but wonder if the one they were going to was somehow nicer than the others, which she knew was probably silly, but they couldn’t all be exactly the same, could they? Of course, even if the black and blue island was somehow better, she’d never know the difference. Tif was tempted to add ‘go to all of the reflections’ to her list, but she already had so much to do, and she wasn’t even the Archon yet, or a knight in truth, so regretfully, she decided to leave it off. Pep consoled her with the fact that if the reflections were all the same, going to one really was like going to all of them.
Udaru angled to the right, toward an island that was shaped like a pear and had the same coloring--light green for most of it but then clumps of tan for the various buildings. The vantage made Tif curious to know what Lercel looked like from above. A rocky cake? Or maybe more like a tent with fabric of grey stone? Tif also wondered if all the residents of Sah’Sah had gotten to see their homeland like this, stretched out below as they fell through the sky toward it. If not, it seemed a bit unfair that someone like her, an outsider, was getting such a magnificent view of where others lived their lives. Maybe when she was Archon she could make a trade agreement with the Qichon about it.
They landed a short time later, onto an open-air floor made of slim poles from some sort of round wood bound together, the ends cut to form a wide circle. Tif tested the strange material with her knees and found it to be delightfully springy. She heard a crash from behind and scrambled over to the edge of the platform, seeing that water from the sea was rising up and hitting the rocky earth some fifty feet below.
Tif was turning around to ask Udaru a question when she saw a dual shimmer in the air heralding the arrival of Bes and Yuu. The knights snapped into existence a moment after, Rof held between them.
“Welcome to Sah’Sah,” Udaru said, and Tif thought it nice that the aquaros included her in the statement, not just his new squire.
Two pathways connected to the circle they stood on, like they were on the corner of a large box. Both paths were lined by buildings on the in-side, leaving the other side of the walkways open to the sea, just as the platform was. Having viewed it from above, Tif knew that the city was flat, but seeing that flatness from this level was still a shock to her--sky stretching above the buildings in front of her instead of tiers of more expensive structures.
That was a mild shock though compared to what the people along the paths were doing.
“They’re all knights,” Tif whispered, watching the people flash from one spot to the next just as easily as the people she was traveling with did.
“We found it the most effective way to flee from Death,” Udaru said. “And it is not everyone, just the eldest of each home. It takes a great number of tears for each seal, but hopefully, yes, someday all in Sah’Sah will know such freedom.”
While the idea sounded well and good to Tif, watching so many people disappearing and reappearing made her wonder how safe it was to walk around.
“What if two people end in the same spot?”
“That’s impossible,” Bes-Ahl said, stretching her thin frame.
“Is it?” Tif asked the knight.
Udaru made a rumbling noise in his gullet. “If the second seal gave us such power, I could jump inside you right now, breaking you from within. If we could do that, none could stand against us.”
Tif felt a bit chill at the thought, especially since the aquaros sounded frustrated that his people weren’t able to use such a deadly attack.
“Injuries can still happen though,” Udaru continued, “which is why porting paths are elevated.” He pointed with a claw to thicker poles of wood that rose up on either side of the paths, each a good six feet tall and about thirty apart. Now that Udaru had mentioned it, Tif saw that the people who were jumping with ris were all landing atop the upright poles--usually balancing on one foot, before vanishing again--while everyone using the middle of the paths was walking around normally.
Udaru went on to explain that their first stop was getting Rof his Tear ris, so he could become an official member of the southern patrol division. Tif assumed that they could go to any of the blue aquaros-shaped Aspects who were surely in the city, but Udaru insisted on an altar of Tears for the initiation.
As usual, Rof didn’t seem to care one way or the other.
They took the porting poles on the outside of the pathway to the left, which Udaru said must move in a clockwise direction. They kept to their usual travel pairings, so at each stop Tif found herself dangling from the aquaros’s grasp, as he stood briefly atop the poll before the next jump. Tif didn’t mind, using each opportunity to look left and right, trying to take in as much as she could before they hopped to the next post. For the first leg of their trip, to the left was the sea and it was a beautiful view: sparkling water of a deep green that undulated side-to-side, stretching between their island and another miles distant that had mist rising atop it. To the right were buildings, made of the same narrow cylindrical wood as the platform they had landed on and the walking paths. The coloring of the pale, tan wood and its rounded shape, gave the buildings a softer, less colorful look than the often painted and gilded stonework of Lercel. The people of Sah’Sah made up for it though by being more colorful themselves, the many aquaros having scales of blue, green, orange, and yellow, just as Udaru had said, and the humans wearing pastels of similar colors, as well as pink and a teal Tif just loved.
The pathway turned inward, and with a single jump Tif’s view was now buildings on both sides. Most were still made from the strange wood, but she began to see more variety in the structures: some two or three stories tall, and a handful with peaked roofs that swooped out on the sides, looking like turtle shells. Though these larger buildings were impressive, overall, the city didn’t seem quite as grand as Lercel did, but Tif supposed that wasn’t fair--she had only been in Sah’Sah a short time.
She and Pep would give it a full day before making a decision.
They reached yet another post that Udaru jumped from, but this time the distance they traveled was very short, just to the boardwalk right below the upright poll. Tif was eager to be on her own two feet again, and as soon as Udaru let her go, she arched her back, stretching her muscles out. She’d only been porting through the city for a handful of minutes, but still, it was much different to be held by someone who was standing firm instead of falling through the air with you. At least that’s how her body felt about it.
Tif saw Bes-Ahl appear on the same post only briefly and then the keshe was standing beside them.
“But where’s…” Tif trailed off when she saw Yuu-Fen show up on the post one stop away with Rof on his back, the young keshe’s arms around the knight’s neck. They wobbled slightly and then vanished, a shimmer appearing nearby for only a moment before resolving into the pair on the pathway. Tif found it interesting that she could see the two coming in a way she hadn’t just been able to with Bes-Ahl. Did the distance traveled make a difference, or maybe how much the person was traveling with? Tif also thought it odd that Yuu-Fen had skipped a post in his jumping.
“Yuu!” Udaru barked.
“Sorry,” the human knight said as he shrugged Rof off of him, “but this kid is a lot heavier than he looks.”
“You want to get our dispensation revoked?” Bes-Ahl said to him, sounding little happier than the aquaros. “Breaking travel laws is an easy way to do it.”
“I know, I know. Next recruit I’ll stop at every post. Knight’s honor.”
Neither Udaru or Bes-Ahl looked particularly convinced, but Tif was happy to have been right about Yuu not porting correctly. As for the shimmer-tell, she’d have to ask about that at some point.
“The sacrifice,” Udaru said, opening a hand toward the two knights.
Both Bes-Ahl and Yuu-Fen removed their tabards, giving them to Rof to hold, who did so without complaint or reverence--which Tif tried not to find frustrating. Next, the knights took off the pocketed vests they wore and handed them to Udaru. Despite all of the vials of tears Tif knew they contained, the aquaros accepted them easily, in one arm no less, gesturing with his other.
“It is time,” the division leader said, turning around and walking from the street.
The knights quickly took their tabards back from Rof and then pushed him after Udaru, to a wood path led into a tall building.
Tif had been so focused on the knights she hadn’t noticed where they had arrived. The structure had four stories and, fascinatingly, no front or back walls. The lack of obstruction let Tif watch people on the first two levels bow and offer vials to a few blue-scaled Aspects in the shape of oversized aquaros. Open as it was, the altar seemed a welcome place for all, and Tif could only imagine what it would be like to sacrifice to an Aspect with the shifting sea as a backdrop.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“There’s actually another floor below these,” Yuu-Fen said. “The building hangs out over the ridge, and the bottom level has a hole cut into it, so you can see straight down to the ocean below, so close you could catch a fish if it jumped high enough. You should give it a look before we leave.”
Tif took a step forward to do exactly that but stopped when a hand landed on her shoulder.
“Not now,” Bes-Ahl said, guiding her away.
Tif thought they might take to the porting posts again, but they stayed in the middle of the wooden path, which excited her. She wasn’t sure how long the ceremony would be for Rof, but she thought for sure they must have some time.
“Would one of you show me a few moves?”
Bes looked at Yuu. “This is why we should have gone to Blood Plains first.”
“And have to carry that sulky kid the whole way?” Yuu-Fen answered with a sour face. “No thank you.”
“I don’t care what,” Tif continued. “I’m happy to learn anything.”
“We don’t know anything that can help,” Bes said, as they walked past two yellow aquaros with a gaggle of little ones behind them. Tif was momentarily distracted by how tiny the scales were on the children, like miniature flats across their heads and down their backs. “Whatever Udaru was planning for you, he didn’t tell us.”
“But you’re knights,” Tif said, doggedly, the chirps of the young aquaros almost sounding like birds to her. “You must know something.”
“We know lots of somes,” Yuu said, “but that doesn’t mean we know the ones that help you. We’re not Bloo--eghh,” The knight hopped on one foot, having stubbed his open-toed sandals on one of the rungs of the pathway that had creeped up. “Aspect, curse it,” he said. “Can’t trust this stupid bamboo.”
Tif shared an “aha” look with Pep. So that’s what this strange wood was called. She was also surprised that Yuu didn’t have better control of his Gold shroud to protect himself. Maybe it was because he had run into the object instead of the other way around? Or maybe he wasn’t as skilled in using his second Gold seal as Sur-Rak was? Thinking of her competition bubbled up more than one feeling in Tif. On the one hand, she was jealous that Sur-Rak was probably getting all the training she wanted right now, but mostly she hoped that Sur-Rak was helping to keep the Archon safe while Tif was away.
“Actually…” Bes-Ahl said, and the tone of the thin keshe’s voice made Tif look up. “Maybe there is something we can teach you.”
“Really?” Tif said, feeling a swell of hope. She could stomach being behind people like Sur-Rak and Jer for now, but only because she didn’t plan to stay that way.
Yuu was half hunched over, still standing but holding his injured foot in both hands. “There is?” he said, peering at his fellow knight doubtfully.
Bes-Ahl smiled, the number of sharp teeth on display making her look even more predatory than keshe naturally did, which gave Tif a slight twinge of worry.
“Oh yes,” the knight said, eyes on Tif while jerking her head toward a nearby gap between two buildings. “Follow me.”
“Leave me to handle everything...” Tif heard Yuu grumble as the human knight limped away, though Tif wasn’t sure what was left for him to do.
It turned out that she and Bes-Ahl had to jump off the wooden platform since it didn’t extend to the space between buildings. The true ground of the island was about four feet down, and rocky, which felt exceptionally hard to Tif after the springy wood they had been walking on. Besides the slanted stones, there were some small clusters of bright green shoots that came up to Tif’s waist and looked decidedly similar to the bamboo that so much of Sah’Sah was built out of. If Tif wasn’t so eager to get trained, she would have asked the knight if it was indeed the same plant.
“First,” Bes-Ahl said, “we make a bargain, you and I.”
Tif nodded, though she wasn’t sure what she could offer a knight in trade.
“When we reach the Roving City, you owe me a favor. Yes?”
Tif would have asked what the favor entailed but that might have ventured in territory about the Blood tribe she was unfamiliar with, so she just nodded again.
“I’m glad we have an understanding,” the keshe purred, looking pleased. “One I expect you to honor, otherwise we’ll be putting that famed Blood healing to the test, hmm.”
Tif moved her head up and down even more vigorously than the last two times. “I’ll be happy to do whatever you need.”
“Wonderful…” Bes-Ahl said. However, instead of instructing her, the keshe slowly pulled a glove onto her right hand, one long finger at a time. “Why don’t you speak like them? I have a bet going with Yuu. No way an outsider gets that much Blood ris. One seal, maybe, like I hear the Archon’s son did, but you must have two or three.”
Tif had been planning to explain this very thing to the knights so they wouldn’t suspect her but had completely forgotten, just like she hadn’t told them yet about the danger the Archon was likely in. They couldn’t do anything for the Archon while they were in Sah’Sah though, so for now, Tif only answered what she had been asked.
“Tiforoth spent a good amount of time in Lercel before the challenges, and she learned how the people there talk. So, traveling together…I thought it would be easier to sound like you.”
“Huh,” the keshe said and then grabbed Tif by the shoulders, positioning her so they stood facing each other in the small space, about two feet apart. “Don’t move.”
“Oka--” Tif started to say, but then the knight tried to slap her face, so she ducked away from it.
“Good reflex,” Bes-Ahl said, “but why are you dodging?”
“...because I don’t want to get hit,” Tif answered, feeling like there was a trick in there somewhere.
Bes-Ahl arched an eyebrow at her. “You don’t?”
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“Of course not,” Tif said, but Bes continued to stare at her, looking like she’d stay that way as long as it would take for Tif to figure out whatever it was the knight had in mind. Getting slapped was bad, wasn’t it? Just like Yuu stubbing his toe. “If I let myself get hit,” Tif explained, “I’ll use up ris to heal.”
“That you’ll get right back as soon as you touch whoever you’re fighting. That’s the scary thing about a Blood user who gets in on you, they never run out of ris. At least not before you do.”
“Okay…” Tif said.
Bes-Ahl sighed. “Where did my arm go when I slapped you and missed?”
“Straight across,” Tif said, pointing hesitantly at the path the keshe’s arm had traveled. She felt bad--she could tell the knight was already disappointed in her, and they had only just started.
“What if I had moved with your dodge. Could you have predicted where my arm would be then?”
“Maybe?” Tif said, unsure where the keshe was going with this.
“And if you hadn’t moved?”
“You would have slapped me.”
“And?”
“And…” Tif groped for the next thing to say and then it was like the exact tile she needed flipped into place. “I’d know where your arm was.”
Bes-Ahl moved her hands apart, palm up, as if she was gesturing at the truth that now sat between them.
Tif was excited to have figured it out but then had a thought that stole some of her joy. “People don’t always do what it looks like they’re going to do though.”
“True, if you seem too open, they may suspect something and change their strike, but more will convince themselves that they’ve caught you unaware or found an opening, especially the less skilled fighters, which is all you should be going up against if you didn’t pass the challenges.”
Tif tried her best to embrace the first part while not letting the second weigh her down. “Okay,” she said, standing straighter. “I’m ready.”
Bes-Ahl cracked her across the cheek. For all of their talk about Tif knowing where the knight’s arm would be, it had happened so fast Tif hadn’t even seen it coming. She worked her jaw feeling the pain of it already lessening due to the warmth of her Blood ris.
“Okay.”
Bes hit her again. It was from the same side, and Tif caught some movement, but her cheek was already stinging before she barely had her arms up. The third time though Tif did get her hands raised--not in time to stop the keshe, but she was getting closer.
Bes-Ahl, however, frowned at her. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to grab you before you hit me.”
“Why is that wrong?”
Tif had been feeling better but the frown and the questions made her doubt herself all over again. She didn’t want to disappoint Bes-Ahl a second time, so she thought about it before answering, hard as she could. Even after that, Tif didn’t really know, but she took her best guess.
“After you hit me, your hand is slower...so I should be trying to grab it then?”
A smile quirked the side of the keshe’s face. “You’re learning.”
They did half a dozen more, and while getting slapped wasn’t exactly what Tif had in mind when she asked for training, she was getting better at it, successfully grabbing the knight’s arm twice!
“Okay,” Bes-Ahl said, rolling her shoulder as if she was getting tired using it, “now use the technique I saw you practice last night.”
Tif’s mouth became an O. She hadn’t even thought of trying to stick someone who was hitting her, just the other way around. If she did that, she could double her chances. Problem was, she’d only practiced doing it with her hands and arms, not her face.
It took her a lot more tries. With her cheek stinging from blows too frequent to fully heal, it was hard to tell which was the heat of her Blood ris and what was just the pain. And even when she could distinguish the two, getting the ris to attach to the keshe the brief moment the glove touched her skin was like trying to catch a mosquito between two fingers. She kept trying to latch on too soon or too late, which let Bes-Ahl’s hand fly free.
When she finally did get though, Tif felt like she had won the lotto all over. The keshe’s hand connected with the left side of her face, a familiar sensation now, and Tif pushed the heat out through her cheek, imagaining it wrapping around the leather fingers pressed against her skin. Tif’s head turned with the blow but then stopped, the glove connected to her body just as surely as the rocks she had been practicing with the night before. Tif whooped in glee, the sensation a bit odd with the knight's hand attached to her face, but that hardly diminished her excitement.
“Not bad,” said Bes, sounding mildly congratulatory. “But what about a weapon, eh?” The keshe leaned over and pulled a slim dagger from her boot with her off hand.
“Um,” Tif said, accidentally releasing the knight’s other hand. She could still see a trail of smokey red ris connecting her face to the glove, but it was hard not to focus on the glittering blade instead. Getting slapped was one thing, but stabbed? She knew her Blood ris would heal her, just like it had her fa’s spear wound, but that type of pain wasn’t something she wanted to go through if she could avoid it.
“You know Death carries weapons, don’t you?” Bes-Ahl said, angling the blade toward Tif. “Most a far cry bigger than this.”
“Yes...” Tif said. She wanted to shuffle back but the space they were practicing in was so tight the only place she could go was under the bamboo supports of the nearby buildings, and she doubted the keshe would ever help her again if she crawled away from their first lesson together.
“The same principle applies. You hold still, you know where your opponent ends up.”
“But…” Tif said, imagining all too well where the weapon would ‘end up’ and not liking the thought of that at all.
“What are you two doing down there,” Udaru’s unique voice interrupted, and Tif breathed a sigh of relief. The aquaros was standing on the edge of the platform above them, one eye cocked their way. “It’s done and time to celebrate.”
“Ah, well. Next time,” Bes-Ahl said with a wink. The keshe ported up to the bamboo path, leaving Tif to climb out of the hole on her own. As she did, she thought about how Bes seemed entirely too eager about this stage of the training, and how next time Tif would be asking Udaru for help--out of earshot of the other two knights just to be safe.
Back on the path, they continued walking instead of using the elevated posts, which meant that their next stop must be nearby. Tif was positioned beside Rof and looked him over, seeing the blue swirl of Tears ris across his forehead, around his neck, and down the inside of both arms it seemed--basically anywhere that there hadn’t already been Gold ris.
“Did it hurt?” she asked him.
He gave her an odd look. “No more than normal.”
Only too late did Tif realize what she was giving away about herself. “Of course,” she said, trying to school her face and voice so they didn’t show the twisting worry she felt inside. “I just thought maybe Tears would be different than the others.”
Whatever bit of interest she had sparked in Rof seemed to evaporate, and he went back to walking in silence, something Tif was more than grateful for.
Udaru turned to the left again, toward another building with open walls, but this one was just a single story and quite wide. Inside there were low tables, with small stools for chairs tucked underneath, while the center of the space was dominated by an oval bar that had an orange aquaros behind it. To her surprise, Tif watched the female ris jump from one end to the other to serve two different patrons in quick succession.
“There they are!” Yuu-Fen cried from where he stood at the bar, seeming in much better cheer than he had been when they last left him. He already had four wooden cups lined up for them, and Tif knew right away what the count meant. She was somewhat put out to not be included, but she also understood that it wasn’t her time yet. That was until Udaru crooked a claw and ordered another from the orange barkeep.
When the others looked at their leader, he merely stared back at them. “She has been a good debtor, polite and little trouble. There is no reason she can’t celebrate with us.”
As usual, Rof didn’t show any reaction, Yuu-Fen shrugged, and Bes-Ahl of all people gave a slight nod of acceptance, which made Tif happy twice over--the first time owing to Udaru’s kind words. Maybe she would train with the keshe again.
After the first round of drinks, which were just as white and deliciously minty as Yuu had promised, a second round was ordered. At that point--with Rof having already been congratulated by everyone, including Tif, all of which the young keshe took stoically--the group broke apart.
Tif wandered to the back of the establishment, toward the sound of the crashing water below. More people had entered the building by then, all of whom wore less clothes than the knights did, so she had to be careful about touching them. The increased crowds or perhaps the approach of dusk also brought a group of three players. There were two green aquaros beating at drums with their scaled hands while a human woman with short gray hair played a haunting tune on a piece of bamboo with holes atop it that she danced her fingers across. It was an infectious rhythm they created together that Tif fell right into, swaying back and forth she didn’t even know for how long.
When the musicians took a pause to rest, Tif made her way back to the bar, which is where she found Bes and Yuu intertwined, their arms and even a leg wrapped around one another.
Tif had thought the inhabitants of Sah’Sah had surprised her but this...she was sure if it were possible her eyes would have plopped right out of her head.
“You two...are together?”
“Obviously,” Bes said from where she had bent down to nuzzle Yuu’s neck.
“But I couldn’t tell.” Tif felt unmoored, a bit like she was falling through the sky. She was normally so good at spotting this sort of thing.
“You weren’t looking hard enough,” the human knight said with a wink.
Reeling from that discovery, Tif went looking for Udaru but couldn’t find the aquaros--perhaps he had gone to visit friends or family. He had said Sah’Sah was home, after all. She did, however, spot Rof, who was unsurprisingly sitting by himself at one of the smaller tables. After a drink and some time with his new ris he must surely be excited, Tif thought, so she decided to try again with him. At the worst, maybe she could find out why he was so grumpy all the time or more about that strange half scroll he had.
She went over to his table, and without asking, pulled out a low stool and plopped down onto it. Compared to the high chair she had sat in at Sur-Rak’s, Tif preferred this much more--almost like sitting on the ground.
“Two seals of Tears,” she said to him. Tif didn’t think any other division gave their squires seals so quickly, but she supposed it made sense with how this division traveled. “How does it feel?”
Rof gave her one of his usual tired looks but then said, “Good.” She saw his fingers tighten against the cup he was holding, his drink barely touched. “Something I’ve been waiting for.”
Tif didn’t say anything for a bit, letting him work through whatever was on his mind. “You walked away when Yuu-Fen brought up the Life trade.”
Rof’s eyes had been drifting along the grain of the table, but he glanced back at her, his expression flat.
She might have missed the relationship between the two knights but Tif knew what a kindred spirit looked like. “Yuu just wasn’t born at the right time to understand. If he was older like our parents or younger like us…” she trailed off.
Rof stared at her, the longest he had ever held eye contact she was sure. “Blood tribe…used the Life Trade? During the same years as Lercel?”
Tif’s heart popped into her throat. She was talking like she was born and raised on the mountain not the plains; what had this drink done to her senses?
“We did,” she said because she had to say something. “And it was as terrible for us as I hear it was for you.”
This time Rof’s drawn out look made her sweat, but the young keshe finally spoke, voice low, “Who did they take?”
“My sister,” Tif answered, grateful that no more lies were needed. Not about this. “Older than me.”
Rof sat back, like he needed space to think about her words. “In Lercel, your parents would have used the money to have you.”
“It was similar for us,” Tif said, then smiled. “She was looking out for me before I was even here.” Tif had the urge to touch her Pep hand to what was left of the birth price on her forehead but stopped herself, not wanting to add to Rof’s questions. At least she didn’t have to deny the tear trickling down the side of her face. In fact, she purposefully didn't wipe it away, glad to let it and the memory linger a moment more.
“It is good to cry but do not waste,” Udaru said, his voice louder than usual. “Not in Sah’Sah!”
“What?” Tif asked, looking up, startled to find the aquaros hovering over her.
“He means your tear,” Rof said.
Tif understood now, it would be like seeing someone throw away a pebble of gold in Lercel.
“What should I do?” she asked, tilting her head to try and keep the bit of water on her face.
“Do you have a vial or a special piece of cloth?”
“A what?” Tif asked the division leader.
The aquaros turned his long snout to the side, as if considering porting away to get her one of those things.
“Um, Udaru,” she asked, her neck starting to disagree with the angle she was keeping her head at. The tear was at the edge of her chin, and she didn’t think it would hang on much longer.
Tif felt the drip of water loosen and as it did, Udaru ripped something yellow from his belt and then there was a softness on Tif’s face, smelling rather musty and even a bit salty.
Slowly the yellow retreated, and as Tif righted her neck she saw it was a small, square piece of fabric, with looping blue stitches around the edge, very similar to the flowing pattern of Tears ris.
“I’m sorry,” Udaru said, looking down at the cloth in his hands with an unreadable expression. “It was very improper of me to do that.” He hesitated and then handed her the yellow square. “This is yours now. Please only use it for your tears, nothing else. It is a sacred thing.”
“If it’s sacred,” Tif said, pushing it back toward him, “I cannot accept it.”
He shook his head. “You must. Only parents with their children or lovers may share a sah. Otherwise, it belongs to whoever has last sacrificed to it. If you do not take it, I will have to discard it, and that…” He took a breath. “That would pain me greatly.”
She wanted to put a hand on his arm to comfort him, but seeing the red dots and lines on the back of her hand stopped her halfway there. She needed gloves, that’s what she really needed. She’d have to ask Bes-Ahl where the keshe had gotten hers.
“Can’t you cry on it and then you can have it back,” Tif said, searching for another solution.
The aquaros stiffened. “Despite what I’ve heard some say of us in Lercel, tears must be a natural occurrence in order to justify the use of a sah. And even if that did happen, me doing as you suggest would only repeat the impropriety, which I could not bear.”
Tif didn’t know enough about his culture to argue the point further, and she could tell from his stance he was resolute. “Okay,” she said, accepting it, though it felt far from right for her to do so.
Udaru didn’t immediately let the square go, and when he did, a sigh rattled from his chest. He turned away from them before he finished, shoulders slightly slumped, and then he was gone--vanishing as only someone with Tears could.
There was a creak of wood, and Tif was shocked to find Bes-Ahl crouched beside her, trimming her long nails with the same knife she had flashed during their training.
“You better treasure that,” she said, pointing at the cloth with the steel. “The tears for his family killed by Death are in there, as are those for his wife and son lost to the flux.”
Tif nearly dropped the cloth hearing that, feeling completely unworthy to be touching such a precious item. Her next instinct was to chase after Udaru, wherever he had gone, but then she remembered how it had ended up in her care, and Tif found herself clutching the fabric tighter instead of letting it go. It was a good home for her sister to share.
“I will,” she said, tucking the yellow cloth into the nape of her neck, where it snuggled tightly against her shirt and chest.
Bes-Ahl gave her a considering look and then said, “See that you do,” before disappearing.
Tif took a moment to take in everything that had just happened. A sip of her drink sounded quite nice after so much excitement, but she was sad to discover she had somehow finished it when she hadn’t been paying attention. That’s when she noticed Rof sitting quietly across from her and realized how long he had been silent.
“Sorry,” Tif said, standing and taking the empty cup with her. “Didn’t mean to bring so much your way when you were looking to be alone.”
He shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care, but she could tell he was eager for her to leave, the brief connection they had shared well past.
“Congratulations again,” she said as she departed.
His expression was still blank, but in the last moment before she turned it seemed to Tif like there was a bit more softness in his eyes now. She would ask him at some point about who he had lost, but not tonight. Tonight was for him, however he wanted to spend it.
She made her way to the bar, trying not to bump into people, but the building was getting much more packed the later it became. Thankfully, the other drinkers didn’t seem to notice the brief nips of her skin, and the little jolts of energy combined with the warmth of the drink in her belly created a decidedly delightful sensation.
She found Bes and Yuu together at the bar where she had last seen them, like they had never been apart. Though this time Yuu was trailing the tip of her knife down his chest, which, despite the clear danger involved, he didn’t seem to mind at all.
Tif held up her empty wooden cup to them. “May I have another?”
Bes-Ahl turned to regard her in that languid way keshe had. “I suppose--”
“Of course!” Yuu-Fen interrupted, grinning widely. “It’s a celebration.” The knight waved the bartender down and it was barely any time at all before it was refilled.
Tif cuddled the refreshing drink happily in both hands, savoring the sweet taste of it when she tipped it toward her lips. Though she was quite content, something nagged at the back of her mind--something she was supposed to remember--though she couldn’t put her finger on what.
“Pep, do you recall it?”
“No need for someone as pretty as you to have to talk to herself.”
Tif looked to the side and saw that a human boy, probably a few years older than her, had managed to worm his way through the patrons to stand near her. It was an odd comment he had made to be sure. Coming from Lercel where everyone with Gold ris was gorgeous, no one had ever called Tif pretty, not even her ma--it wouldn’t have been genuine, and nice looking suited well enough when she deserved it. The humans here were like the people she knew in the lows, with features that were often oversized or didn’t quite line up. They wore their hair much shorter in Sah’Sah though, like this boy did, barely a finger joint long. And though she found his small forehead and wide ears a comforting reminder of home, there was no mistaking the look he was giving her and how it brought to mind Jer and Awt.
Was she still wearing that fairy bracelet on her wrist?
Tif moved to the side hoping the boy would go to the bar, but instead he used the room to put one hand on the wood and lean his body toward her.
“Don’t get many Blood tribe in Sah’Sah. What’s your story?”
“I’m traveling with them,” Tif said, indicating the two nearby knights.
He turned toward the couple, and when he looked back at her he was wearing a confused expression. “The Lercel bunch? That makes as much sense as a lemur going with sailfish. You and me though…” The boy tilted closer, his intentions clear.
“Careful,” she warned, blocking him with her drink. “Touch me and you’ll either lose some ris or pass out.”
“I know what they say about Blood,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her. “And you’re worth it.” He leaned forward again, and Tif was in the middle of deciding if she wanted to let him knock himself out or turn her cheek and try sticking him to it. The choice was taken from her though when the body of a large, green aquaros slammed into the boy, smashing him against the bar. He let out a wheeze of surprise and then crumpled to the floor, while the aquaros pushed himself off the wood back toward whatever had propelled him in this direction in the first place.
Tif stood stunned and then it was like the room erupted into motion: flailing limbs, human yells, and aquaros hisses filling the establishment even more fully than the people in it did.
Tif was shoved this way and that, getting jolts of contact along the way. She dropped her drink within the first few moments, and though she tried to push her way out of the mess, there were too many forces at work for her to gain any sort of control. She finally popped out of the cluster of bodies near one of the sides that faced another building, which wasn’t nearly as crowded as the milling mass near the center.
Tif could even have sworn that the last few people had seemed to push her in this direction, though that was far from making any sort of sense.
Or so she thought until a fairy popped up right in front of her face, closer than the boy at the bar had gotten, grinning fiendishly.
“I told you it would be a riot!”