Written in water, p.15
Written in Water, page 15
“You need fat of some kind, and lye, and perfume if you want a scent,” Aria answered. “It’s a long process, and tedious. I do not know how they made it look like sand, though. This is not like the soap we make.”
“Want me to wash your back?” Owyn offered. Aria shook her head.
“Soap is not good for my wings. It will strip the oils from my feathers, and make it harder to fly. I’ll go back to the pool and clean them.” She looked at Aven, looked thoughtful, then smiled. “You could wash Aven’s back,” she suggested. “He has lovely shoulders.”
“I was noticing that,” Owyn said.
“What?” Aven looked at the both of them. “What about my shoulders?”
“They go on for days,” Owyn answered. Aria laughed and left, going back out to the pool. Owyn grinned and continued, “Probably because you swim a lot, but you’ve got muscles on muscles across your back and your shoulders. And you’ve got a reach — well, you don’t even have to stretch to hold both of us.”
“And you like that?” Aven asked.
“Ven, I could just look at you all day,” Owyn answered. “I told you, you’re pretty.” He moved behind Aven, and Aven felt the rough soap sand scraping against his skin. Having someone else scrubbing his back was new, and he was surprised at how good it felt. He tipped his head forward, sighing in pleasure as Owyn’s strong hands massaged soap into his shoulders and upper back, then his lower back. They strayed lower, over his arse, and Aven shivered. Owyn froze.
“I should stop,” he said. “I said we were going to wait.”
Aven turned to face Owyn. “No, you should definitely not stop.”
“Not... you want me to keep going?” Owyn sounded breathless. “What about Aria?”
Aven smiled, resting his hands on Owyn’s waist. “She left us in here for a reason.”
Owyn’s eyes widened. “Oh?” he breathed. “Oh. In that case....” He smiled. “I live to please my Firstborn. But I’m going to please you first.”
AVEN WASN’T SURE HOW long they stayed in the bathing room, how long Owyn played with him. When they finally stumbled out, they were both laughing, leaning on each other for support and stumbling on legs that felt to Aven as if his bones had turned to sand. Aria was sitting on the bench in the hot pool, and smiled as they splashed into the water.
“Oh, good. You did take the hint,” she said, moving to join them and putting her arms around both of them. “You both look ever so much better.”
“I do feel better,” Owyn admitted. “But... I thought you were a virgin? How did you know that was going to help anything?”
She giggled. “I didn’t. But I thought that since Earthborn healers use sex as part of their healing practices, that it might help you both.” She hugged them. “Now, come and sit and tell me!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BY THE TIME THEY WERE back in the forge, it was midday. Memfis met them at the kitchen door, and Aven was certain that the older man knew that something had happened in the baths. He had studied them all for a moment, nodded once, then told them that he was going out to see what news was in the streets. They were to stay inside, lock all the doors, and not answer if anyone came to call.
“We’ll have a late night,” he said. “I recommend you all see if you can sleep. Alone, Owyn.”
“That’s no fun,” Owyn grumbled. Memfis laughed. Then he’d left. Owyn barred the door behind him, then looked at Aven and Aria.
“Well, I can’t sleep with you, but I can still sleep near you,” he said. “Aven’s sleeping in the hammock, so I’ll take the other bed.” He led them down the hall to the hidden stairs, and down into the hole.
“Owyn, you left something out of your story,” Aria said as she sat on her bed. “What happened to him?”
“Which him? Garci?” Owyn frowned. “I’m not sure. You don’t get attached, on the streets. He disappeared, and I never looked.”
“The other him. The one who betrayed you.” Aria suddenly looked fierce. “The one I intend to have words with.”
“You’d best start thinking of those words, then. You’ll see him tonight.”
“He’s on the Council?” Aven asked. He climbed into the hammock.
“Yeah,” Owyn said as he stretched out on the other bed. “He’s District Five’s Loremaster. Which means nothing to you.” He rolled onto his side to face them. “There are eight districts in Forge. Each of them has District leaders. There’s a Loremaster, who keeps the records. There’s the Master Smith, who trains the metalworkers and is in charge of the schools. And there used to be the Smoke Dancer. When Mannon outlawed smoke dancing, he replaced that position in each district with the Magistrate. They’re in charge of the laws, and every single one of them reports to the Guard Captain, who reports to Mannon.”
“Wait,” Aven said. “We’re going before the Council tonight. That means Mannon will know—”
“No, because we’re not seeing that Council,” Owyn interrupted. “That Council meets once every ten days or so, and does nothing. Tonight, we’re seeing the Dark Council. The Dark Council meets in secret, they meet at night, and the Magistrates aren’t invited. The Smoke Dancers, however, are. Mem is on both Councils, in different roles. In the regular Council, he’s this District’s Master Smith. In the Dark Council, he’s this District’s Smoke Dancer.”
“That’s confusing,” Aria said. “How do they keep the secret council secret?”
Owyn grinned. “They don’t. Mannon knows there’s a Dark Council. He’s got spies inside. Everyone on the Dark Council knows who the spies are, though.”
Aven frowned, working it through. “So, they’re a distraction?”
“Exactly. The Dark Council in Forge keeps Mannon looking here, and not looking closely at the Earth tribes, which is where the real rebellion is.”
“Which is why Mannon was shipping inferno oil to Forge?” Aria asked. “Because he thinks there is rebellion here?”
“That’s the scary part,” Owyn admitted. “I don’t think anyone realized that Mannon was at the point of taking steps against the Dark Council yet. I mean, all they do is talk! Bitch and moan, moan and bitch, complain about tariffs and new laws, what will we ever do, see you next month.” Owyn flopped down on the bed. “I mean, how can he take all that seriously? There are never any real plans made.”
“Tonight, there will be,” Aven said. “And what will the spies do when they hear?”
There was no answer for a moment. “I don’t know,” Owyn said. “I don’t know how they can stop the news from getting out. But, I mean, it’s not like he doesn’t know you all are in Forge, right?” Owyn looked up. “I mean, everything happened in Forge’s harbor. He has to know you came here. Where else would you go?”
“That is not going to help us get any sleep, Owyn,” Aria said. “You’re right. He must know we came here. Is he in the city now, looking for us?”
“Nah,” Owyn answered, sounding cheerful. “We’d know if he was here. The entire city would be in an uproar. He’s tried it before, and we all knew he was here within an hour. You can’t keep something like that secret. Not in a city full of Smoke Dancers.” He shifted around on the bed. “Right. We need to sleep. I don’t know what Mem is planning, but if he wants us rested, that might mean we’re going to be up all night.”
“How will Memfis get back inside?” Aria asked as she lay down. “You barred the door.”
“He’s got a key, and he’ll ring the bell so we know it’s him,” Owyn answered. He gestured toward a tiny bell in the corner. “No one knows this is down here, and no one can find the stairs in that closet. We’ve used this hole before, to hide people that the Magistrates were looking for. House has been searched... twelve times? Yeah, that’s about right. Anything goes wrong in this district, the Guard Captain comes over, chats with Mem, looks around, and goes away frustrated.”
“Because he knows Memfis is on the Dark Council?” Aven asked. The gentle swaying of the hammock was starting to relax him, and he yawned.
“Exactly. He knows that Mem has to be up to something, and it sticks in his craw that he can’t find what it is.” Owyn chuckled. “All right. Sleepy time.”
Silence fell, broken only by the soft sounds of breathing, and the creaking of the hammock chains. Aven drifted off, not quite asleep, not quite awake, but in a half-aware state where he heard the bell as a distant chiming that didn’t seem to be important enough to wake him fully. He heard soft voices without registering what was being said, drifting off into a deeper sleep that was broken by the touch of lips against his. He jerked awake, recognizing Aria’s scent as he reached for her.
“Are you awake?” she asked, pulling back.
“If I say no, will you kiss me again?” Aven answered. She giggled, and he smiled and pulled himself out of the hammock. He stretched, then looked around. “Where’s Owyn?”
“Upstairs with Memfis,” Aria answered. “Memfis came back with clothes and shoes, and he says we’re to come up and eat before we leave for this council meeting. But we have time, so we do not need to rush.”
Aven nodded. He walked over to the bed and sat down, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. “I don’t like waiting,” he said. “It gives me too much time to think.” The bed shifted as Aria came to sit down with him. He put his arm around her automatically, pulling her warmth to his side.
“What are you thinking about?” Aria asked. “Right now.”
“Right now?” Aven tried to tease a single thought out of the swirling mass in his mind. “Why did you leave us alone?”
“You and Owyn?” Aria rested her head on his shoulder. “Should I not have? You seemed to enjoy it. When you told me, you were very enthusiastic.”
“I just thought you would be my first,” Aven admitted. “I thought that we—”
“I thought about that. And I decided that there were two good reasons to let Owyn have you first. First, you needed the release more than I needed to keep you to myself. You will be my first. And I will be your first woman.” She ran her fingernails up and down his arm. “Does that make sense?”
Aven turned and kissed the top of her head. “It makes sense. Thank you. I did need that. I don’t think I’d have slept otherwise.” He rested his cheek against her hair. “Aria, you’re setting our course. What do we do next? How do we stop this?”
“Memfis is setting the course,” Aria corrected. “Or rather, Memfis is suggesting the course, and I am taking my guidance from him. Because I don’t know what our next step should be. I don’t know enough. We’ll need people. Mannon has men. He has guards. He has power. We have pretty rocks and a diadem. The scales are stacked in his favor.”
Aven huffed softly. “You think?”
“But we have the Mother behind us,” Aria added. “That must count for something. We’ll just have to take things one step at a time. Which means there will be waiting.” She sighed. “And thinking.”
“Or not thinking,” Aven added. “We could spend the waiting time in bed.”
Aria laughed. “We could. Aven, there are ways that healers know, for a woman to not get pregnant. Do you know them?”
“I know of them. Never had to prepare any of them, or use the gift for it.” Aven realized something. “That’s the other reason why you pushed me at Owyn?”
“Neither of you will be in my bed until I’m certain I won’t come away with a child. I’m not ready for that. Not until we’re safe.” She paused, then amended, “Safer.”
Aven nodded. “That makes even more sense. I don’t have any supplies, but we’re going to the Earth tribe lands. We’ll be able to get them. Or speak to a healer who actually has experience with this. All I know is my reading and what my father taught me.”
“Then we can wait. And perhaps the next time, I will watch you and Owyn.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “Lessons for the future on how to please my men.”
Aven hugged her more tightly, then let her go. “We should go up.”
They went up the stairs to find the house quiet. There was no one in the kitchen, or in the upper rooms, and they searched until the only place left to look was the forge.
“We’ll have to just go to the door and look,” he said, looking down at his feet. He and Aria were both barefoot, and he wasn’t going to violate what Memfis and Owyn both said was a safety rule in the forge. He took Aria down the hall toward the forge, and stopped when he heard a strange voice.
“There’s someone there,” Aria whispered. Aven nodded, gesturing for her to move against the wall. He crept down the hall, closer to the door, until he could hear the voices clearly.
“It’s Respite,” Memfis was saying. “I’m not firing my forge on Respite. You know me better than that.”
“I know that this is a job that needs doing,” a man answered. “And you’re the Master Smith in this district—”
“Who is not violating the Respite to make... what are these, Fandor? What abomination is this?”
Aven went tense. Fandor. The man who’d betrayed Owyn. Another thought occurred to him – Owyn was in there, in the forge. He had to be.
“Those are for the Magistrates,” Fandor answered.
“And since when are you the Magistrate’s errand boy?” There was a crinkling of paper, and Memfis’ voice suddenly was very loud. “Go home, Fandor. If this is indeed an order from the Magistrates, then the Magistrates can bring it to me. Tomorrow, when my forge is open.”
“If that’s your final word,” Fandor sounded sulky. Then his voice became warmer, edging towards seductive. “Owyn. You’re looking well.” When Owyn didn’t answer, Fandor continued, “You know, Fisher, my offer is still on the table.”
“You can take your offer and shove it up your arse,” Owyn snarled.
“Now, now. Fisher, your boy is putting on airs.”
“My son is right,” Memfis said. “You can take that order and you can shove it up your arse. You’ve been told no. And since telling you no doesn’t seem to make it through your ears, Fandor, let me try it this way. Fuck your offer, and get out of my forge.” There was a scraping of metal against metal. “And another thing — do not come back to my forge. You are banned from my forge and my anvil. Neither I nor any smith of my training in this District will take your custom.” There was a loud, ringing crash of something metal and heavy against something else. “I’ve said it, and sealed it on my anvil. You’re the Loremaster. Make note of it. Then get out.”
Fandor laughed. “Because I want to take a whore off your hands? Really, Fisher?”
“Because I am through with you harassing my son,” Memfis growled. “Now be off, or I’ll bury this hammer in your skull.”
They heard a door slam. For a moment, they heard nothing. Then the door to the house opened. Memfis didn’t look surprised to see them. He pointed back toward the kitchen, and followed Aven and Aria down the hall. In the kitchen, Memfis looked around, then shook his head.
“Go down to the hole,” he said. “I’ll be along in a moment.”
Aven nodded, and went to take Owyn’s hand. Owyn looked very pale, and didn’t say a word until they were all down in the hole. Aria took Owyn from Aven, taking him to the bed and sitting down with him. Aven paced, unable to sit. He wanted to hit, needed to rage, but there was no target for his anger.
“He called me his son,” Owyn said softly. “He...Mem. He called me his son.”
Aven turned to face them. Aria had put her arm around Owyn’s shoulders. “He’s never done that before?” she asked.
“No,” Owyn answered. “No, he never has. I... I never realized he thought of me that way. I...”
“I’ve always thought of you that way. I’ve just never said it to you before. I’ve never said it out loud before yesterday,” Memfis said as he came into the room. His arms were full of bundles, which he handed to Aven. “Put those down, will you? Then come join us. This needs to be said. It’s well past time it was said.”
Aven took the bundles and put them down on the second bed, coming back to find Memfis sitting on the floor. Aven looked at the space that Owyn and Aria had left for him on the bed, then shook his head and leaned against the wall next to them.
“Aven?”
“I’m too... too something to sit. Angry. I’m too angry,” Aven answered. He folded his arms over his chest. “I want to smash his face in, and I don’t even know what he looks like!”
“Trust me. It would be an improvement,” Owyn said, his voice dry. He reached out and took Aven’s elbow. “Come on. Sit. I want you to sit with me. You can protect me just as well from here.”
“Let him be, Owyn,” Memfis said gently. “He’s all stirred up, and he needs a minute to settle. Yes, I should have said that a long time ago. I don’t know why I didn’t. I really don’t. You’ve been everything a son could be these three years, and I should have filed the papers with the Loremasters the day you came to me.” He rubbed his palms on his thighs. “I was afraid, I think. If I admitted to myself how important you are to me, then I’d run the risk of losing you. Everyone else I’ve ever loved, I’ve lost. If I didn’t say it, didn’t admit it, then you’d never go. The Mother knew. I thought that was enough.” He sighed and shook his head. “I should have known better. Milon would have kicked my arse for stupid thinking.”
“Why?” Owyn demanded. “Why now?”
“Because you are leaving,” Memfis answered. “I have to let you go. I have to let you be the man you were born to be. And I realized that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t acknowledge you for what you really are before you left.” He sighed. “And because if I didn’t cancel those damned indentures, you couldn’t legally leave Forge. Which means they could have hunted you down and taken you from me. Possibly even executed you.”
Aven blinked, looked at Owyn and Aria, then back at Memfis. “Why didn’t you cancel the indentures before?” he asked.
Memfis looked down. “I honestly can’t answer that. I’ve had the paperwork locked in my desk for three years. I don’t know why I never took the last step and took it to the Senior Loremaster.” He took a deep breath, then looked up at Owyn. “But it’s done. That’s where I was. The papers are filed. Your name will be written in the Book of Silver as Owyn, son of Memfis, son of Trezi, of the line of Nerris.”
