Saia came home from the post office. After so much time spent arguing with people who didn't want to pay anything for not attending to their tasks and substitutes that requested a higher pay to take their place, she felt the urge to run to the cave and fish snakes for the rest of the day. Following that urge for two weeks straight had filled her tank to the point she considered buying another one, to separate the adults from the juveniles. Or even better, the ones she could control from the ones she couldn't.
She left her bag on the bed and awakened Koidan. She expected him to say something, at least acknowledge that she was there, but the seconds passed without him saying a single word.
She tapped on the glass of the sphere.
“I'm here. Are you alright?”
The light stopped for an instant
“Sorry, I was just... observing.”
He sounded sadder than usual. Saia put the sphere down on the pillow and sat next to it.
“Something happened?”
“Yes, a lot of things. Kaia gave birth to her twins. Sulsem died last night, I don't even know how.”
“He was very old.”
“It's not that. I've seen countless deaths, but I've always been there. I saw these people being born, and now I'm missing all the most important moments of their lives. I'm missing everything. I'm wondering if what we're doing is even worth it.”
“You'd prefer to die? Is it what you're trying to tell me?”
“No. I don't know, Saia. I'm not more important than Sulsem was, maybe it would've been better if I went with him.”
“You can't really be thinking that.”
“No, you’re right, I’m not. But if I were a good god, I would have accepted my fate for the sake of my people.”
Saia stood and started pacing in front of the bed. It was all she could do to stop herself from screaming in frustration. All that work at the post office, all of her efforts in keeping his secrets with Aili constantly at her side, and he was the one who wanted to give up.
She breathed slowly, trying to calm down, thinking of all the things he had done to help her since she'd arrived at the village. He was a good god and a good friend, and keeping him alive was worth it. She tried to think of a way to make him feel better.
“Why don't you leave? Visit some other village, make a trip across the sea? Maybe going away from this whole situation would help you. We can take care of ourselves, now.”
“I don't have a lot of energy left and I can’t go that far. I have to stay near the mountain, or I won't be able to prevent it from trembling again.”
“How far can you go?”
The light slowed down.
“I don't know. From the temple, I can control the area inside the line of stones. If I move away… I’d say about the end of the beach in both directions.”
Saia raised her eyes to the ceiling, making some quick math, then nodded to herself.
“Do you have any plans for today?” she asked him.
“No. I'll give Sulsem’s family my condolences and Kaia my congratulations, then I think I'll go back to sleep.”
“Tell me when you're ready.”
He dimmed and returned quiet.
Saia fed the snakes. She wanted to show Koidan what she was capable of, but it didn't look like it was the right moment for that.
“Done,” he said.
She put him to sleep and into her bag, then hung it on her shoulder. She left the house, walking at a brisk pace, headed towards the cave.
She stopped some steps before the entrance, kneeled on the sand with her back towards the mountain, and awakened Koidan without taking the sphere out of the bag.
“What…” he started, then paused. “Oh.”
Saia smiled and let him examine his surroundings while she took out the leather boots and put them on in place of her sandals. Usually snakes spent the day at sea, but she didn’t want to risk meeting the stragglers.
“Is that the cave in which you fish?”
Saia nodded.
“It's... it's beautiful. I can sense it from here. Can we go inside?”
Saia brought him into the cave. She was used to seeing it at night, in total darkness, with just the light of a torch shining on the pools. During the day, a faint glow was suspended in the air, while shadows danced on the water. There were small holes on the walls and ceiling, borders levigated by ancient tides. The light entered from there, even if the far end of the cave was still mostly in the dark.
Saia took the sphere out of the bag and held it in front of her, more to observe Koidan’s reaction than for a real necessity; she knew he'd seen every single corner of the cave the instant she awakened him.
He didn't say a word, but his light was shining so bright it was impossible to look at. It reflected on the waves and rocks and made the sand glisten, until the ceiling looked like the surface of the sea at dawn.
Saia kneeled next to a pool, gathered the sand to form a small mound and pressed the sphere down on top of it to make sure it wouldn't roll away. She put on the gloves and looked carefully inside the pool to make sure there weren't snakes ready to attack, then sat on the border, feet dangling inside the water. She sighed while the cold liquid filled her boots. Red and green algae jotted out of the stone walls, their long strands swaying as if moved by an invisible current.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“It feels so different from the village. The rocks are older than me. There's nothing here that was created or changed by a human hand. Thank you.”
Saia laughed.
“You're welcome, but it's nothing special. A nice cave with a bit of privacy from prying gods, that's all.”
“It’s been two hundred years since the last time I could leave the temple freely. I’ve never been here, never experienced this place. That’s why I appreciate it so much.”
Saia nodded. She took some water with a cupped hand, then splashed it on her arm. She did the same with the other, then refreshed her face.
“And what were you doing before those two hundred years?”
He didn’t answer for some instants.
“I lived on the mountain with the monks. But I have to warn you, I can’t answer questions about them without putting you in danger.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know what they could do if they found out. They’re not above killing someone, even if I think they would try less extreme measures, first.”
Saia raised her eyebrows, still moving the water with the tip of her fingers.
“How would they find out?”
“They come here every once in a while to check that everything’s fine, or to recruit people into their ranks.”
Saia stopped and turned towards the sphere.
“They do that?”
“Yes. Sometimes they find people who are acting selflessly for the good of their villages and they ask them to join. It’s rare, though.”
“So I can’t ask you to elaborate on that, right? Or on anything else that regards the monks?”
“We made a pact, so I will answer your questions. I just want to make sure that you know the potential consequences and that you reflect a bit about it before I give you information you shouldn’t have.”
“Thank you for the warning, then.”
“There’s one thing I can tell you, though: my actual name, from before I became Koidan, is Zeles.”
Saia gaped at him.
“Obviously don’t tell anyone,” he added.
“You know I won’t. Thank you for trusting me with this secret.” She splashed her feet in the water. “It’s warm today, do you want me to put you inside the pool?”
“Thank you, but no, I’m already feeling the water. It seems perfect for a bath.”
“I know, right? I used to swim here from time to time when there weren’t snakes around.”
“Snakes like that one?”
Saia frowned.
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“What?”
A splash of water caught her in the face. She jumped out of the pool, wiping her eyes with a hand, and tried to see where the animal had landed.
Koidan’s laugh filled the cave. Saia stopped, then joined him.
“Not fair,” she said, emptying her boots of the water. “I can’t splash you back.”
“Well, I’ve made something that might convince you to forgive me.”
A glimmer on the right side of the cave made her turn. There were five new holes on the wall, larger than the ones created by the tides and clustered together. The wall in that point curved to meet the ceiling, so they could shine on what laid below: a new pool.
Saia cautiously stepped forward to look inside. The water was still filling the cavity, entering from a circular opening near the bottom.
“It’s connected to the sea,” Koidan said. “I made the tunnel small and convoluted enough that snakes shouldn’t be able to enter from there. I imagine you could easily catch the ones that come from the land.”
Saia looked at the water. She was about to ask how much energy it had cost him, but decided she didn’t want to know. There was no way to get it back, after all.
“Thank you. It’s beautiful.”
She observed the water level rising as the sea provided the water to fill the pool.
“Unrelated, but… Can spheres give their energy to each other?” she asked.
“Yes, but nobody would ever do it. Knowing when your life is going to end is already stressful enough, nobody would shorten it on purpose.”
“But using it for a pool is fine?”
“The other gods are little more than strangers to me. You are my friend, and the only reason I'm still alive.”
Saia didn't know what to answer, so she just stepped onto the slightly elevated borders of the pool, kicked off her boots, then slowly lowered her body into the water until she was submerged up to her neck.
“Amazing. One of these each morning, and I'll never feel drowsy again.”
“Glad you like it.”
The distant sound of three bell tolls resounded in the cave. Saia groaned in frustration.
“I have to go back. Aili wants to assign next week's incomplete shifts to the substitutes before tomorrow.”
“Makes sense.”
Saia climbed out of the pool and put her sandals on.
“Yes, but why do I have to be there? And don't you dare to dry my clothes, it's so hot today I don't risk catching a cold.”
“Well, you're her assistant. Maybe she needs your opinion.”
Saia put Koidan into the bag, then hung it on her shoulder and left the cave.
“She doesn't. Every time we sit down to draw the week’s table of turns, she already knows who to put into the empty slots. I don't even have time to read the list of available people. She's too quick, and she's always right.”
“She's just very organized. She has to travel a lot to carry her letters in all of the villages.”
Saia crossed the line of white stones.
“Oh, it goes beyond that.”
“She might make a mistake. It's a good thing you're there to correct her.”
Saia shook her head.
“She's never wrong. A couple of times it looked like she was, so obviously I told her. Turns out she was right. I feel stupid every time she explains why she chose someone to do a job and I have to agree.”
“I told you making her the administrator would have been a good idea. And the fact that she's smart doesn't make you stupid.”
Saia realized she still had the gloves on. She put them into the bag.
“Wait,” Koidan said. “Are those scales?”
Saia took out the gloves again to show him the seven black and red scales sewn in the shape of a square on the back of her left glove.
“I've been practicing a lot. Now I can more or less control them from a short distance. Well, make them sleep, at least.”
“In just two weeks? Impressive.”
“Blame the post office. Half the days it's full of people asking for something, money generally, and the other half I'm lucky if I see another person. And it's usually just Aili.”
“Still impressive. Either you're very talented with magic or you understand sea snakes really well, which is a talent on its own.”
“They're not very complicated. They see something move, they attack until it's dead. If it's dead, they eat it. They need the sun more than they need food, and only leave the water to lay their eggs and rest.”
“I didn't know any of that.”
Saia shrugged.
“It's my job. At least, my main one. The one I'm good at. Maybe I should leave the role of assistant to someone who knows what they're doing.”
She realized they had reached the village and a sentinel was looking straight at her through a window. He waved, and Saia answered with a nod.
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re thinking,” Koidan said.
Saia shrugged and headed towards her house.
“So,” Koidan said as soon as she’d opened the door. “See you in two days, same time?”
“Of course.” She smirked. "Don't be late."
She heard him sigh of exasperation inside her head and put him to sleep, wrapped up in a woolen blanket that she hid under the bed. She changed into a dry shirt and pants and tapped the snakes’ tank before leaving.
Three people were waiting in line at the post office. Aili was explaining to the first one that in order to skip his turn with only two days of notice he had to pay twelve vissins.
“Oh, Saia,” she said with a smile, “can you deal with the queue? I still have to see what turns aren't covered yet.”
She nodded and took her place behind the wooden counter. The man in front of her sometimes bought snake meat from her, often enough that she couldn't afford to be rude to him. She started explaining the payment system while Aili disappeared upstairs.
“Yes, but two weeks ago it was different.”
“Yeah, and you'd have had to pay more.”
“My brother gave only one day of notice and didn't pay this much.”
She was about to explain to him that the amount was lower because his brother had a different job, when Dan stepped through the door.
“I need to talk to you,” he told her, skipping the line.
He looked paler than usual.
“Something happened?”
“Yeah. Aili's here?”
Saia's shoulders dropped a bit. She pointed at the ceiling.
“She's drawing some tables or something.”
“Cool. Come with me?”
He walked past the counter and up the stairs without waiting for an answer. Saia excused herself and followed him. They entered a room full of drawers, which in turn were occupied by sheets of paper. Aili was hunched on a large table at the center of the room, looking at a list of names. Dan put his hands on the wood.
“Hi, boss administrator in charge.”
“Hi, Dan. I'm a bit busy right now.”
“We have a problem.”
“You can just write it down, let's see,” she looked around the room, then pointed at a sheet nailed to the wall, “there. I'll look into it when I'm finished.”
He shook his head.
“It's urgent. It's... oh, fuck it.”
He looked at Saia.
“Milvia was killed.”
The two women glanced at each other.
“Who's Milvia?” Saia asked.
Dan sighed.
“The florist. She was always at the market. She sold food, too.”
Aili brought her hands to her mouth.
“Mili? That Mili? With blond hair and...”
She trailed off, holding back a sob.
“Yeah, her,” Dan said.
Saia lowered her head. She didn’t know Milvia personally, but she had bought products at her stall before. A nice girl, always with a fresh flower behind an ear.
“She was killed?” Saia asked. “How do you know that?”
“Her cousin knocked at the door for an hour, then called a guard, Onis. They broke a window to enter and found her dead. She was bleeding from the back of her head. It's better if you see it yourself.”
Aili wiped her eyes and sniffed. She started to fold the list.
“I'm coming with you.”
Saia nodded.
“Yeah, me too.”
Aili looked at her.
“I think it's better if you take care of the people downstairs. If it's not much trouble, I mean.”
Saia looked straight into her eyes. She hadn't felt stupid for two weeks straight just to let her leave on her own.
“I'll tell them we're closed. This is an emergency.”
Aili let her shoulders slump.
“Okay.”
Dan was already descending the stairs, so Saia hurried behind him. There was a fourth person in the post office now, talking under his breath to the others.
“Do you think it was the evil god?” he asked the man who had complained about the twelve vissins.
Another one shushed him.
“You heard Koidan: don't say these things outside the temple. What if he has killed that girl because she talked about him?”
“So he has killed her.”
“Please,” Aili said in a loud voice, “stay calm and don't rush to conclusions. We're going to take care of it.”
Saia held the door open.
“And the office's closed. Return tomorrow.”
Once everyone was out, she stepped aside to let Aili lock the door. She noticed that her hands were trembling.
“This way,” Dan said, heading towards the eastern part of the village.
The house’s entrance was flanked by two tall vases full of yellow flowers. A person was standing to the side with a brown shawl around their neck. A guard, probably the one who broke the paneless window at the left of the entrance.
They looked up, but didn't say anything.
“Is this Milvia's house?” Aili asked.
“Yes,” Dan said, walking past her. He exchanged a nod with the guard and held the door open, standing outside the house.
Saia stepped in after Aili. The room was filled with various plants in vases. Saucepans of different sizes and materials were hanging from the walls in the kitchen area, over a stone counter still stained with food. There was a table in the center of the room and two doors, both open: one led to a small bedroom, the other to a garden. Saia could see rows of lettuce, carrots and other vegetables in front of a low fence.
Aili circled the table, then jumped and covered her mouth with her hands.
“She's here.”
Saia leaned forward: Milvia was laying on her back with her eyes open. The stream of blood came from a wound in the back of her head, hidden by her blond hair.
Aili sobbed.
“She was so beautiful. And sweet,” her voice trembled. “Anbem’s going to be devastated.”
Saia opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. She rested her hands on the back of a chair and let Aili cry. She thought about her trip with Koidan. Maybe if she hadn't brought him away from the village, he could have stopped the murderer. Or maybe not, considering...
“I need fresh air,” Aili said. “I can't think straight.”
And she left the room through the door that led to the garden.
Saia kept staring at the body. Maybe Koidan couldn't have done anything, because the murder didn't happen while he was awake. Otherwise, he would have said something about Milvia after their return from the cave.
She hurried outside. Orange trees in big vases were aligned along the left and right sides of the fence, where the garden bordered with the neighbors’. Aili was staring at a line of pots on a bench, each of them filled with pink flowers.
“We have to hurry,” Saia said. “She was just killed. Not more than twenty minutes ago.”
Aili stared at her, a tear on her cheek. It fell when she spoke.
“I know.”
She pointed at the vases.
“The soil in the first three is still wet, and it's hot enough that it should have dried by now. The others haven't been watered. This also means that she was taking care of the flowers, when she was interrupted by something, or someone, that made her go back inside.”
She stared at the flowers for a while, then sighed.
“I can't figure it out right now, but we should talk to her cousin. If she has really knocked on the door for one hour, it means that the murderer managed to enter the house, kill Mili and get out without her noticing anything. I don't know about you, but I find it unlikely.”
She turned around, murmured something that Saia couldn't understand, then got closer to the first line of lettuce.
“Let’s assume for a moment that the cousin said the truth: the murderer was either already inside the house, and I'd rule it out because the doors are all intact, or they climbed over the fence. Maybe Mili noticed them and tried to run away, but they managed to kill her before she could escape.”
She paced in front of the garden.
“But no, I don't see any footprints. They could have entered from one of the neighboring gardens, but somehow I doubt it. Climbing over these vases doesn't seem easy,” she said, pointing at the orange trees. “Mili would have noticed them. I can't rule it out, though.”
Saia realized she was gaping at Aili. She recomposed herself.
“So, we need to find the cousin?”
“Yes. I think she was lying.”
Saia nodded, thinking that whatever had happened, the only way to catch the murderer was to wake up Koidan and tell him everything.
“Look, I need to go home for a second. Ask Dan where this cousin lives, we can catch up there, okay?”
She turned to leave.
“Wait,” Aili said. “I'll come with you.”
Saia froze.
“Don't worry, I'll be quick.”
“It's not that. I…” Aili sighed. “I want you to know that I appreciate your help. I was thrilled when Koidan told us to work together. You saved my house, and probably the whole village, and I'll be eternally grateful for that.”
She smiled a bit. Saia looked at her sideways.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don't want you to hate me.”
“For what?”
Aili took a deep breath.
“I think you're hiding something.”
Saia produced a nervous smile.
“What?”
“You looked so sure of yourself when you said that Mili was killed just a few minutes ago, but you didn't even see the flowers. How did you guess that?”
Saia spread her arms.
“I don't know. Gut feeling?”
Aili shook her head a bit.
“We're in the middle of something important and you want to go home alone. Can you at least tell me why?”
Saia stared at her.
“I have to… feed the snakes.”
“So why you don't want me to come with you?”
Saia thought about it. On one side, she didn't really hide the woolen blanket. Who knew what Aili could guess just by seeing it. On the other, leaving her alone would have made her more suspicious, and the whole point of coming along to see what happened was to keep an eye on her.
She shrugged.
“My house is a mess. If you're alright with that, you can come.”