When Singmij walked Nuliyaa and Cheeyt back to the door, Nuliyaa hurried up the steps to give her sister and Singmij a bit of privacy. It also gave her the time to finalize her argument for hiring Sinchach and Tajak, and for the one other thing she felt was necessary.
A tread on the steps alerted her to Cheeyt’s approach and she turned to face her older sister. “Is there anything we need while we are out?” she asked, trying not to walk with her hand covering the contract scroll tucked inside the wrap of her littiichangs.
“No. We should go straight back to the inn.”
Of course. They had left Miyt along with someone they trusted. Who knew what terrors had befallen the old, frail woman in their absence?
They started walking and Cheeyt jumped right into it. “You hired Sinchach without consulting me.”
“He has proven himself to be a capable enough mage and we do need one.”
“Hm. And what were he and Tseetsaa doing? They didn’t need to leave the inn to discuss the assistantship.”
“I sent them to find Tajak.” Nuliyaa answered without a hesitation, infusing her words with all of her confidence. Maybe she could overrun Cheeyt with her belief that they needed him.
“And why do I think they’re not just going to say good-bye before we leave?”
“They’re not. I told Tseetsaa to make him a job offer.”
Cheeyt opened and shut her mouth, pressed her lips together, and visibly ground her teeth.
“You’re not going to object?”
“You’re responsible for employees and money. If you believe we have the finances to hire another person on top of Kachaark and a mage, then I accept your decision.”
Since her jaw clenched after the words were out, acceptance was probably not what she was feeling. But Nuliyaa would take that any day over an argument. Or Cheeyt flat-out refusing to allow Tajak into the company.
“Thank you for trusting my judgment.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Nuliyaa said, “There is one other thing I wanted to discuss with you.”
“You want to hire someone else?” Cheeyt clenched her teeth again, then said, “No. Absolutely not. Why would we need another person, even with the contract from the Sikoesnu?”
Well, that hadn’t lasted long. “I don’t want to hire someone else.” She paused, considering. “Well, I suppose you could say I do, but this isn’t someone new.”
“Oh.” Then Cheeyt nodded. “We should offer Tseetsaa part-ownership of the company.”
Nuliyaa blinked. “You’re not going to argue with me about that, either?”
“She earned it. Especially if she finishes the assistantship.” Cheeyt scowled. “Did you expect us to argue the whole walk back?”
Yes. Nuliyaa did not say that out loud.
Cheeyt continued as though she had. “Why wouldn’t I want Tseetsaa to be a part of this? You are.”
“Because you’ve always acted as though Tseetsaa and I are senseless brats!”
“You are the one who weaseled your way into my company and then insisted our whole family go on this long, difficult job.”
“Miyt insisted. I just agreed with her.”
Cheeyt shrugged. Apparently Nuliyaa should have convinced Miyt to do what Cheeyt wanted.
“You were just telling me you were going to teach me how to shoot a crossbow.”
“It still would have been much easier if none of you had come along.”
And they probably wouldn’t have made it here if the family hadn’t. Nuliyaa was probably never going to convince her sister to see it her way. “So we are agreed about Tseetsaa? As soon as she finishes the assistantship, we will go to the Guild and instate her as an owner.”
“Yes.”
The inn came into view. Tseetsaa sat on a bench just outside, Tajak at her side and Sinchach pacing behind them as he read one of his books. Tseetsaa had a tablet in her hands and was using a piece of charcoal to sketch something.
“Is this correct?” she asked Sinchach over her shoulder. He didn’t pause in his pacing. Tajak turned around, grabbed a corner of his clothes, and gave a quick yank.
“What is wrong with you?” Sinchach demanded, wrenching away.
Nuliyaa saw a small smirk rush across Tajak’s face as he turned back to sitting straight. “Tseetsaa asked you a question.”
“Oh.” He hurried to look over her shoulder. “Yes—maybe. Did you—?” He slashed a finger through the air in a way that Nuliyaa supposed was how the sigil needed to be drawn.
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“Yes.” Tseetsaa hid her eye roll by calling to her sisters. “What did Singmij need from you?”
“We were discussing a job. Come here.”
Tseetsaa jumped up, handed the tablet to Sinchach, and hurried over.
“Everything is settled, then?” Nuliyaa asked.
“Yes. Tajak will be joining us.”
“Good. Now, we wanted to tell you something.” Nuliyaa nodded at Cheeyt.
“Nuliyaa and I talked, and once you become registered as a mage’s assistant, we will add you as part-owner of the company,” Cheeyt said.
Tseetsaa’s eyes flared, then narrowed. “Oh, now that I’m going to be a mage’s assistant, I’m worth part ownership?”
“What is this about?” Nuliyaa thought she would be happy!
“The two of you have never valued me.” Tseetsaa crossed her arms. “Now that I’ll be a mage’s assistant, you have a use for me. You’ve never cared about my wants before.”
Nuliyaa suppressed her sigh. Tseetsaa hadn’t changed too much. “You wanting to stay home and have a family wasn’t the problem.”
Cheeyt nodded. “You always had your nose up about it. All this ‘I’m going to marry’ and then none of them were ever good enough for you. That part’s fine—why would you want a man, anyway—but you just kept refusing them and wanting money from Miyt and us.”
Tseetsaa flushed. “You make me sound so whiny.”
Cheeyt cocked an eyebrow. “You have a better way to describe yourself?” Nuliyaa shoved at her.
“You never thanked me or appreciated anything I did—”
Nuliyaa sputtered at Tseetsaa. “Because you were just doing your part. Did you ever thank us for paying for your food or home?”
Tseetsaa scowled. “I thanked you for the clothes and the paper and everything else you’ve bought me.”
Nuliyaa sighed. “Most of the time, yes, you did. But you didn’t feel the need to thank us for the essentials because that was our part.”
Cheeyt said firmly, “We’re proud of you now because you’ve been learning skills that take months to learn while running from people who were trying to kill us. Not because we think you’re ‘finally useful.’”
“Yes,” Nuliyaa said. “If we had thought you wanted to be a part of the company from the beginning, we would have included you. Even before Miyt decided you and she were going to come along, all you did was whine about how the company was affecting you.”
Tseetsaa went silent, her eyes dropping. “I always thought you hated that I wanted to get married,” she said. “You were both about your work always.”
“No,” Nuliyaa said gently. “I don’t want to get married—that’s true—but I have nothing against your choice. It was that you never seemed to try to get married, you never talked about anything but getting married, and that you were always demanding things from us. I’m glad you were around to help Miyt with her work and the chores. That meant I could spend more time at the shop and bring home more money.”
“Same,” Cheeyt said. “It’s not that I’ll never get married—”
“Singmij will be relieved to hear that,” Tseetsaa muttered at the same time that Nuliyaa said, “It’s that you have horrible taste in women up until Singmij.” The two grinned at each other while Cheeyt scowled again.
“Will you let me finish?” Cheeyt demanded. They just kept grinning. “Most of the women I’ve been involved with weren’t interested in long-term and Singmij and I haven’t even discussed that possibility so will you both stop laughing?”
Nuliyaa wrapped an arm around Cheeyt from one side while Tseetsaa took the other. “Regardless,” Nuliyaa said, “we both think you would like to join us now, so we are making the offer.”
“I accept,” Tseetsaa said. “Thank you.”
“Now that that is out of the way,” Nuliyaa said, “what is going on between you and Tajak?”
Tseetsaa blushed. “We haven’t discussed anything yet.” She sighed, the sound almost dreamy like it had been when she was younger. “He is a much better choice than the ones back home, isn’t he?”
Nuliyaa and Cheeyt looked past her at the arguing Nengmekians. Sinchach kept trying to hand Tajak things to hold as he searched through his physical—not magical—pockets for something. Tajak kept his hands folded in his lap. “I’ll remind you that I don’t work for you anymore,” Tajak said. Sinchach scowled at him.
“We are probably not the best people for you to ask,” Cheeyt said.
“Shall we tell the company about our next job?” Nuliyaa asked.
Cheeyt started walking, pulling her sisters along with her. “Yes.”