Tif stared down at her forearm, unable to believe the blue tattoos that curled there. Unlike the spidery gray lines that covered her right hand and crawled across a few other places on her body, the Tears ris were happy, looping swirls that ran up her arm and over her shoulder. She could tell the new ris was other places, too, like atop her right thigh and along her lower back from the feel of it. Instead of the numbness of Death ris, Tears made her skin hum. It wasn’t a lot or something she could hear, just the barest sensation of movement. It was pleasant really, and she smiled, taking a deep breath of the salty air coming into the same open-walled bar she had been to when Awt had gained his seals of Tears.
“It suits you.”
Tif looked up to see Jer was standing by her low table near the rear of the establishment. His hair was tied back and his face was washed, but more than that it was how he met her eyes directly that made him look worlds different to her than a few hours before.
She immediately stood, making him grunt with her hug.
“How are you doing?” she asked, pulling back so she could look him in the face.
“Worried that we’ll accidentally touch,” he said, tucking both of his hands behind himself. “You may no longer have Blood ris, but I still do. It would be a poor way to celebrate your acquisition of ris if I incapacitated you before you had the chance to enjoy at least a few more drinks.”
Tif let him go and sat back down. She was also worried, but not about him gaining some of her energy right now; after getting a seal--a whole seal--she felt like she had plenty to spare.
“Jer,” she started, looking up at him from her short seat, “I’m sorry you had to hear all of those things about your ma. I hope you feel you made the right choice in listening to us. In knowing.” Tif watched him as she spoke, waiting to see if the anger and hate would bubble up again.
He hesitated before responding. “It was…harder at first. All I could think of was what she had done to me, how little her love must have been to leave in such a way. But then I remembered my father’s death, there one moment, gone the next when there was still so much he had planned to do. He did not command the same fame as my mother, of course, but there were a handful of important groups he was involved in and things he had promised to show me, places he wished us all to go.” Jer looked up to the ceiling of the bar, mustering himself. When his gaze dropped back to hers his already red eyes seemed chafed raw. “So, though it hurts terribly, I am glad my mother got to make the choice that he never did.”
Tif, who had stopped breathing as soon as Jer had said ‘harder’, nodded, hating to see him in this sort of pain, but she had asked.
He then took the seat beside her, the lines of sadness on his forehead and cheeks smoothing some. “This way you are treating me is very strange.”
“What? Why?” Tif said, her concern swinging toward worry. Should she not have brought up his ma when he was finally getting back to his old self?
“You, apologizing to me?” Jer said. “After the depths I’ve put you through?” His tone was bewildered, frustrated even. “Tif, you are too kind by half. How can I possibly make amends if you keep treating me so much better than I deserve?”
She laughed, glad to see him joking again. “I’ve hardly been as nice as you say.”
He put his elbow on the table, dropping his chin into his hand. “That is not how I see it.” His irises were as deep rubies in the torchlight of the bar, and his expression was so earnest.
Tif glanced away, embarrassed. It didn’t seem like a jest at all anymore, but she hardly deserved such grand praise. In the lows, getting yelled at or even hurt by someone was just how the tiles flipped some days. If you stopped treating people like people because of that it wouldn’t make things any better.
He was still looking at her when she turned back toward him. “You don’t need to make amends,” she said. “Getting to talk with you like this again is enough.”
“Tif,” he said, and he actually sounded a bit angry now. “I was terrible to you. Unforgivably so. I thought you were able to look past my transgressions because of some deep well of caring you possessed or that you were simply a much better person than most. But now I am not so sure. I think…” he trailed off, looking torn about how he should continue.
“What?” Tif said. She could tell that she probably wasn’t going to like the rest of what he had to say but that just made her even more curious to hear it.
He thumbed a long earlobe that was missing a stone and then pressed forward. “That you do not value yourself enough. That you think it is acceptable to be treated poorly.”
Tif frowned, unable to pick out where he had gotten that idea from. “I don’t think like that.”
“Are you sure?” He asked the question in a way that was a touch too knowing for Tif’s taste.
“I’m very sure,” she answered, sitting straight so she could be as level as possible with him. “If you still hated me after hearing what Udaru said, I wasn’t going to keep trying to change your mind. It was your decision once you knew the truth. I wish I could have said some things different to your ma, and I didn’t want us to stop getting along because of it, but in any friendship you only get half the vote. Not my fault if you wanted something different.”
He shook his head. “But the things I said to you. The threats. I--”
“In the lows, people get sick a lot,” Tif interrupted, confident that this would be better than where he was headed. “Not as bad as what Udaru said happened here, but one time my ma got so ill there were nights my da and I weren’t sure if she was going to make it all the way through. Know what I did?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Carved das tiles. And not next to my ma like she would have liked. No, I went around the corner and then some, far enough away that I couldn’t hear her cough that kept her up at night or her whimpers when the pain was too much for her. I carved so long my fingers eventually froze up, even cut myself a few times in the dark, but I didn’t stop because anytime I did I’d remember how bad she was, and it was like learning she was sick all over again.”
“I attacked you, Tif,” Jer said with such vehemence the nearest patrons, two humans with shorn heads, glanced their way. “It’s not the same.”
She poked him hard in the chest. “We were both hiding, and when you’re that scared of being found, you’ll do whatever you need to stay in the hole you’ve made. And even if you were being wrong to me, doesn’t mean I need to be mad about it or be wrong back.”
He rubbed the spot, eyeing her. “Have you already learned how to store energy with your Tears seal? It felt like that jab had something extra to it.”
“Just a bit of truth,” she said to him with a smile.
Air escaped his mouth. Not a laugh, or even a chuckle, but more than she had heard from him in what felt like forever. “Of course,” Jer said, his head returning to his hand. He paused, long enough Tif thought she was going to need to talk some more, but then he said, “And may I ask why the people here decided to favor you?” He gestured at her Tears arms with his off hand.
“Rot and hollow, I don’t believe it!” a high voice chirped.
Tif looked up to see Teerog and Plumya making their way through the bar. The small bounty hunter shot through the air, zooming over the heads of some surprised bar-goers, while the wide cyclops had to turn and twist to make it past the collection of low tables.
“Leave you alone for a few hours,” Plumya groused when she reached them, well before Teerog, “and you two stop trying to kill each other. And that!” she said, pointing with a tiny finger at Tif’s arm. “What is that?”
“Ris,” Jer answered for her. “I believe you have some.”
“Oh, I see,” Plumya’s whole body buzzed in a circle as she rolled her eyes. “When he’s not all mopey or sleepy, he gets lippy. This job just keeps getting worse.”
Jer looked at Tif with some of the old twinkle in his eyes. “I see this one gives you the opportunity to practice the whole, ‘being wrong to you doesn’t mean you need to be wrong back’ lifestyle you mentioned.”
Tif snorted. She hadn’t always been as successful with that as she wanted to be where the fairy was concerned, but now was as good a time as any to try again.
“Have any fun while we were apart, Plumya?" she asked.
“Not as much as you, obviously,” the bounty hunter squeaked and then turned to Jer, the small tell-tale shimmer of ris above her hand. “And I can show you some ‘wrong’ if that’s what you’re looking for, floppy ears.”
Jer smiled at the fairy, but it was much more predatory than friendly. “Anytime you’d like to match your, what? Two seals, to my four, I’m more than happy to oblige.”
Plumya sniffed, then looked back at Tif. “How in the heights did you manage to get a seal so quickly? And don’t lie and say you carried the tears here. I’ve been in your pack.”
Tif held back a laugh, though she couldn’t really be surprised anymore. Of course the fairy had rooted through her things.
“Appropriate you should ask that,” Jer said, returning to his relaxed posture, chin on hand. “I had just inquired the same.”
“What is being asked,” Teerog huffed, joining them at the table.
Tif looked at her companions, all of whom were staring at her now. “We should have drinks,” she decided aloud, which inspired very little reaction from the group. “Yup, definitely drinks.”
She slipped over to the bar, asking for the same small, minty concoctions that Yuu-Fen had ordered for everyone last time. In addition to paying for her seal, Udaru had brought her here, apologizing that he couldn’t have a drink with her since he must attend to the Qichon and had told the yellow aquaros behind the bar that he would cover whatever she purchased. Tif hadn’t had one yet, so she hoped Udaru wouldn’t mind her ordering four now. She carried the cool half-sized cups back to her group, seeing that in the time she had been gone they had positioned themselves around the table: Plumya was perched on the edge of the wooden top, her gossamer wings lazily opening and closing, like legs that didn’t want to stop moving after a long run; Teerog was sitting on the floor like earlier in the day, but this time there was enough room for her to fit her legs underneath the table; and Jer had shifted on his stool to be able to watch her return from the bar, his steady gaze nearly making Tif drop the cups.
When she had passed them out, she collapsed back onto her stubby seat, and raised the drink to her lips.
“Wait!” Plumya said.
Tif stopped the cup inches from her mouth, the liquid close enough that the minty scent stung her nostrils, making her want to taste it on her tongue as well.
“What?” she asked, seeing the others in similar states of frozen motion.
“You can’t just drink it,” Plumya said. “Not when…When…” The fairy seemed flustered.
“When it’s what?” Tif asked again, propping the rough pottery against her lip so she could smell the liquid’s intoxicating bite again.
Plumya glanced around at them. “Not when its with…friends.”
Tif leaned forward, having not caught that last word at all.
“Friends,” Jer supplied. The bounty hunter shot him an accusatory look, which didn’t ruffle him. “I have very good hearing,” he said by way of explanation.
“Yeah, well maybe you keep it to yourself next time,” Plumya snapped back.
“Friends?” Tif said, honestly surprised. “I thought you said this job keeps getting worse?”
Plumya crossed her arms, looking sulky. “It just did.”
“What was Plumya going to say?” Teerog asked. “What is it we should do with these tiny drinks?”
“Forget it,” the fairy said, taking hold of the cup with both hands, which came up to her chest. However, she didn’t drink from it, just stared down at the liquid within.
“I’d like to know, too,” Tif said. “What are friends supposed to do differently with drinks?” She didn’t remember anything special besides them all having one when it was with Awt and the knights. But if there was a softer side to the prickly fairy, Tif certainly wanted to encourage it.
Plumya eyed her mistrustfully, as if she thought she was being made fun of.
“Please?” Tif tried again, hoping it would be enough to convince the fairy. “I really would like to know.”
“Yes,” Jer added. “What are the customs of Life in this regard? I didn’t spend much time in such establishments, though I do remember seeing them on the lower trunks.”
“They wouldn’t show it to someone like you,” Plumya grumbled in a low voice that still managed to carry.
“Then it’s very kind of you to show us,” Tif said, thinking she had found the perfect opening.
“Yes,” Plumya said, a buzz of her wings floating her up in the air for a moment. “Yes, it is.”
“So what do we do?” Jer asked, clearly playing along but in a genial way.
“Okay,” Plumya said, sounding excited while zipping side-to-side over her drink. “First we all touch our cups together but these are too big.”
“Too big?” Teerog said, looking doubtfully down at the cup that seemed the size of a thimble in her large fingers.
“Then you point at someone and say something you think they should do, like flying in circles until they’re sick or kissing someone they’re sweet on, that sort of thing.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Tif didn’t think the first option sounded very good and the second…Jer suddenly seemed to be sitting much closer to her than she had realized.
“But before you can say anything back,” Plumya continued animatedly, “you have to take a drink, a big drink. Okay?” she said, looking around at them. “Ready. Set. Point!”
Tif only had half an idea in mind, but she pointed and said hers along with everyone else, which ended up being a jumble of words she only caught some of. She had pointed at Teerog, telling the cyclops to use her ris to climb the walls and sit upside down on the ceiling, while Jer had pointed at Plumya, and both the fairy and Teerog had pointed at her. The cyclop’s rumble had been too low for her to make out, but Plumya’s high pitch demand that Tif kiss Udaru she had heard and definitely had something to say about. That’s when she remembered that she had to take a drink first and was just about to do that when Plumya shrieked for a second time.
“Wait!”
Tif’s shoulders slumped; this game wasn’t going to be very enjoyable if she never got to actually drink. “What now?” she asked with more edge than she meant to.
Surprisingly, it was Teerog that the fairy turned her ire on.
“Help you get your Blood ris back? That’s not something she can do tonight, and it’s supposed to be something fun or silly.”
“But it’s something I want her to do,” the cyclops said, not seeming to grasp what Plumya was getting at.
“I get that, but this is about now,” the fairy emphasized. “You could get squashed tomorrow and then what do you have to show for today? If you’re always living for the what’s to come then you’re never really living. Get it?”
“Who would squash Teerog?” the cyclops said, looking perplexed.
“Fine, not squashed, but drowned or whatever. The point is you could be gone, so have some fun before it. Like Tif’s about making you sit on the ceiling. That was good.”
Tif glanced at Pep, unable to hold back an unexpected grin. That had to be the first compliment that the fairy had ever given her.
“Okay,” Plumya said, not seeming to notice Tif’s reaction. “Let’s do it right this time. Ready. Set. Point!”
Tif changed, pointing at Plumya and telling her to carve their names into the table with her Life ris. Jer had pointed at Plumya again, and this time Tif heard him instruct the fairy to stick her whole head in her drink.
“I was going to do that anyway!” Plumya chirped, zipping around so she was upside down in the air before proceeding to dip her entire head into the liquid below her.
Tif laughed at the sight and then shot half her cup back, delighting in the minty burn down her throat. She turned to see that Jer was off his stool, doing a handstand, just as Plumya had ordered him to, and Teerog…again she hadn’t caught what the cyclops had said, though it was clear that Teerog had pointed at her for a second time because her thick arm was still extended in Tif’s direction.
“What did you want me to do?”
“Tell us how you got Tears ris,” the cyclops answered, finally dropping her hand to the table.
Plumya had just emerged from her drink, her short hair stuck to the sides of her head, and hearing Teerog’s answer, she let out a loud groan.
Teerog flinched, glancing down at the displeased fairy. “First Tif must mark Plumya with her Death ris. It feels foul and that will make it funny.”
“Nope,” Plumya piped up. “She didn’t say it when pointing. Doesn’t count.”
“If we’re being sticklers for rules,” Jer said, gracefully going from a one-handed stand to reseating himself. “I thought you couldn’t answer me, Plumya, until after you had taken your drink?”
The bounty hunter drifted down so her chin was on the lip of her cup. “Some rules are squishier than others s’all.”
“It’s okay,” Tif said. “I don’t mind. I know everyone wanted to know anyway.”
“Good,” Teerog said, setting the drink aside, which Tif wasn’t even sure if the cyclops had drunk any of. “Because Teerog thought Tif was coming here to regain passage into Lercel. How will ris of Tears help her become the Archon of her city?”
Jer coughed on the sip of drink he was finally taking and then put his pinky into his ear, shaking it as if to clear out a clog. “I’m sorry, perhaps my hearing is not as good as I believed. What was that now?”
“They’re both looney,” Plumya said, ladling the drink into her mouth with a cupped hand. “They both want to lead their Tribes like that’s going to happen. At least the big one has three of the right kind of seals, but crazy over her,”--she flapped an arm in Tif’s direction--“Keeps getting the wrong type. Even talks to her hand. What is that about?”
Tif had plenty of things to respond to, but she decided to start with the one that Teerog had asked; that was the game after all.
“Udaru felt bad about leaving me behind in Lercel after the Archon’s death, so he paid to buy me a seal.” She considered telling them more and didn’t want to keep hiding things from her companions, but she also didn’t think a public space like this was the best place to reveal the existence of something as important as crests.
“What a pushover!” Plumya hiccuped after surfacing from another large gulp. “If he’s giving out Tears ris for as little as that, I can make him feel bad about something easy enough.”
Tif wouldn’t mind seeing the fairy try, but that would be an unkind way to treat her new friend--the fairy’s words. “He’s a great warrior, Plumya,” she said. “The first warrior of Tears Tribe, in fact.”
“But what is the point of the seal? How can it help Tif achieve her goals?” Teerog pressed, and looking over at the large cyclops, Tif could tell that the Teerog was quite focused on the issue.
“I’m not quite sure how it will help,” Tif admitted. “But it was a gift, so I didn’t want to say no. Plus,” she said, clapping her hands together in excitement, “Udaru has a plan for training me.” Jer had spoken of his training in Blood, and she was fairly certain that Teerog and Plumya had also had such teachers, so they should all understand why she was looking forward to it so much.
However, Teerog grimaced and heaved herself up, stomping away toward the bar.
It took Tif a few moments to realize that her mouth was hanging open at the cyclop’s sudden departure, and she turned to her remaining two tablemates. “What did I say?”
The tiny fairy cackled. “Really? Training takes time, time you already wasted plenty of where one-eye’s concerned, coming all the way here when she didn’t want to. I bet she’s going to say awful things about you now. And I need to get another one of these.” She looked lovingly at the cup in front of her, and then drifted off, weaving unsteadily through the air toward where Teerog now stood, her wide back facing them.
Tif stared after both and then looked at Pep, but neither of them were sure what to say. She could apologize but then what? If she didn’t train with her new seal, it truly would be pointless to have.
“This is why I favored traveling alone,” Jer said to her, consolingly. “Groups can be…complicated”
“Teerog isn’t wrong though,” Tif said, slugging down the last of her drink in a single burning swallow. “I came here to find a way to prove I wasn’t part of your ma’s assassination, and I have nothing but words I can’t take with me. I may never be able to go back to Lercel at this rate.” At least not the city proper, as she didn’t count the underground.
“Where you are going to be Archon?” he asked.
She looked at him and admitting it now didn’t seem nearly as hard when he already knew. “I’d like to.”
He rolled the small cup between his two hands. “Sur-Rak won’t like that.”
“I know,” Tif said, letting out a small laugh. “I found out when I told her.”
“Did you now?” Jer mused, leaning back as much as his short stool would allow. “So that was why she disliked you so much. She never could stand a rival.”
“I also beat her at das,” Tif said with a grin.
“And how was that the first thing you told me when we met?” he said with mock offense. “Perhaps we are truly even.” He smiled with a softness that showed he didn’t really mean it, the guilt still clear on his face.
Tif could have said that at the time they had other more important things to discuss, but bringing his ma up again didn’t seem right. “I’m sure Sur-Rak misses you,” she said instead. “She respects you, in her way. I bet she’s even worried about you.”
“Pfff,” he said, finishing his own drink. “Her way is even less kind than that fairy of yours, and the only thing she is worried about right now is becoming the Archon, a pursuit I have no wish to be part of.”
Tif put her elbows on the table, leaning toward him. “But if you came back with me, you could tell them I’m innocent.” She hadn’t thought of the option before because she had been so caught up in her previous plans, but here her out was, sitting right in front of her.
He looked at her for a time before answering. “I have no wish to go to Lercel now, not when it is in such a state. However, if that is what you want, I owe you that much at least.”
Tif drummed her hands on the table in glee. It was going to work out, just as she had hoped.
“But Tif,” he said, looking quite serious, “I should warn you. While I would not want you to find trouble for how you deceived the arcknights--we could say it happened too quickly or you were confused--I do not think I could lie or would want to about the death of my mother. I would say it was by her request, but still…” he leaned closer to her, close enough she could smell his musky scent, and dropped his voice. “The truth could start a war.”
Tif breathed a sigh out her nose. Teerog had been right to say that keshe were a proud people, and the arcknights she had met during the challenges and her capture had seemed no different, especially the Archon’s brother. She could see him causing trouble for the people of Sah’Sah. People, who she looked around and saw where just going about their lives, spending time with each other over drinks, laughing at jokes, and telling stories. They shouldn’t have to face the horror of invasion, like she had seen as a child when Death had breached Lercel. And if Lercel weakened itself by sending troops away and then those troops were caught by the new hold of Death she had stayed in, the people of Lercel would be the ones to suffer.
Neither of those were what she wanted.
“No,” she said. “Thank you, but you don’t have to. I’ll find another way.”
“Perhaps a letter from me?” he offered. “Both my uncle and Sur-Rak among others know my handwriting.”
“That’s what I asked Udaru to do!” she said, sharing a triumphant look with Pep. She had known it was a good idea. Unfortunately, her excitement faded as quickly as it had appeared. “But wouldn’t that lead to the same thing in the end? War?”
“I don’t mind being more circumspect in the letter. I can simply say that I met you in Sah’Sah and learned through trusted sources that you were not the killer, which is why I did not return with you. I can give a full accounting of events when I see them in person, but as I’ve told you, I do not plan on doing that anytime soon. Perhaps that will be enough time for there to be a much needed change in leadership. I’ve always said that Lercel is the worst off of the great cities.”
The warmth of the drink was spreading through Tif, making her Tears ris hum a touch more she thought, which was nice but also distracting her from really hearing what he had just said. Was he…supporting her dream? Him? The former Archon’s son? He gave her a long look as if to say, ‘yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing,’ which nearly melted her heart.
“So, where will you go?” she asked, trying not to tear up, especially since he had her sah now.
“I’m not entirely sure. I honestly cannot believe they’re letting me roam free knowing what I do,” he added, dropping his voice even though the nearest table seemed well and truly drunk, the three people there leaning on each other. “I keep thinking they’ll try and kill me as soon as I ask to leave.”
“Udaru wouldn’t do that to you,” she said with utter faith. “He has great honor.”
“Yes…” Jer allowed in a quiet, measured tone. “You can probably imagine that it is rather strange for me to say that about my mother’s murderer, but from what I’ve seen of him, I am inclined to agree with you.”
Tif was relieved he felt that way, but it still didn’t give him anywhere to go. That’s when the best thought came to her, which she grinned widely about as soon as it popped into her mind.
“I know somewhere you can travel,” she said.
“Life?” he guessed. “The Canopy is quite beautiful and exotic, but the people there are much like Plumya, and I do not think I could take their unfiltered directness at this time.”
“Not them,” Tif said, shaking her head.
“Death then?” he asked, the ghost of a grin on his lips. “Did you so enjoy your time with our enemies that you think I should vacation there? And here I thought you had forgiven me.”
“No, no,” Tif said, laughing along. She crossed her arms on the table and leaned her head on them, talking in a whisper so he would need to join her. This was a true secret. “There was a sixth Tribe, but no one knows about them because they lived underground. They had naga, which are half snake, half human, and were dedicated to Aspects of Sound. Apparently it’s easier to make good music when you’re surrounded by a bunch of rock. I don’t know exactly where they’re from, but if you want to spend time exploring, what could be better than finding a place like that?”
Jer had leaned close like she had hoped, his chin resting in both of his palms, but he didn’t look convinced. “If this is a joke meant to cheer me, it is not working, and is instead making me worry about your sanity.”
Tif shook her head again. “Not at all. That’s who the leader of the underground is in Lercel, a naga. You should see her! Her tail is at least ten feet long and albino white.”
Jer blinked. “That…was not something I expected you to say.”
“I swear by the Aspects it’s true,” she said. “But you won’t find any people there anymore because their Aspect died.”
“Aspects can…die?” he said.
She nodded. “Shocked me, too.”
“Well,” he said, leaning back. “Suddenly my problems don’t seem quite as bad.”
“Think you’ll try to find it?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Bheroth is where I will likely go, but if my feet begin to itch while I’m there, you’ve certainly given them an intriguing destination.” He paused before continuing on, looking like he wished he had more to drink. “I know I’ve said it every way without saying it, but please know that when you were imprisoned in Lercel, I am incredibly sorry for accusing you of killing my mother instead of helping with your release. And then, even worse, attacking you in the forest, spewing such fabricated vitriol at you. It was extremely unkind of me and beyond unfair to you.”
Tif didn’t quite catch all those words, but she could tell his meaning well enough. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate you saying it direct. “ She smiled to make sure that he knew she was alright since he still seemed worried about that. “It’s past now though, so don’t let it weigh you down. Like I said, it just showed how much you loved your ma.”
“I…did,” he said, looking slightly perplexed. “Though I’m not entirely sure why.”
Tif shrugged. “Some things don’t need a reason, and I’m pretty sure kids loving their parents is one of them.”
“I suppose not,” he agreed, turning toward the sound of the crashing waves.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them,” Tif said to him. “I respect Udaru, and I felt the same way about your ma for a long time…” This was something she had been thinking a lot about, and if she wasn’t going to see Jer again for a while she might as well say it now. “But I’m not sure I agree with what they did.”
“Honestly,” he said, “I don’t know what to agree with anymore. I just hope…” he glanced away, using the yellow cloth she had given him to dab at his eyes, which Tif was pleased to see. “I just hope she’s happier now. Perhaps she and my father will be reborn as Aspects in Lercel and will have all the time they could have wished together. Assuming they won’t perish again?” he said, looking at her in question.
“Now that I know they could,” Tif said, snapping up into a sitting position; this wasn’t something she could talk about half laying down. “I’ll never let the Aspects in Lercel fall.”
Jer nodded, in a grateful way it seemed to her. “I didn’t think you would.” There was a pause like earlier, but she could tell now that he wasn’t finished speaking. “I have a wish for us, too. That I could have more time with you.”
In another time and place Tif would have very well wished for the same, but she had already kept Teerog waiting, and while she could understand Jer’s desire to be elsewhere, she needed to get back to Lercel and her family.
“You already will,” she said, pointing at the sah he was tucking back into his jacket. “It has some of me, a very important part.”
“This I will keep until you wish it back,” Jer promised, “but that isn’t what I meant, and I think you know it.” He lifted his hand with lines and dots of red ris on it. “I was so pleased to get Blood ris, but I hadn’t fully considered what it would mean for my future. I’ll probably have to have it overwritten someday, but I’d much rather you come to Bheroth with me and get a seal of Blood so we could be in balance, at least for a time.”
“I’d love to travel there after becoming a knight,” Tif said to him. “I could join the western patrol division.”
“Just like that?” he said with a hint of amusement. “I have no idea how you will accomplish these things, yet that does not seem to have stopped you so far.”
“Nope,” she agreed, laying her arm on the table in front of them, her hand open. “And this doesn’t need to stop us either.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, which she thought was sweet.
“I have two seals of ris now, both unspent,” Tif said. “That will give us some time. Then, I need to figure out how to apologize to Teerog.” She wiggled her fingers at him, smiling, and he relented, putting his hand atop hers, their fingers intertwining.
Tif felt the pull of his Blood seal immediately, but instead of focusing on that, she turned out to the sea. There the waves rolled on a vast stretch of blue-green, tinted orange by the setting sun, dipping low toward the far off horizon. Her dreams had always seemed distant like that, but they were closer now, she was sure of it. Jer squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. Mending this bridge between them and gaining a seal of Tears hadn’t been what she’d thought to achieve when she first set out to Sah’Sah, but Tif couldn’t have been more grateful for both.
And to share the moment with someone who believed in her ability to cross the remaining distance? That just made it perfect.