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lamps,
watched over by a couple of Paladins who talked together in serious voices.
Zanja found the library empty and didn't want to disturb Emil if he had
already
gone to bed. She went to face Karis instead.
In their bedroom, Karis sat in the chair by the fireplace, where flames
licked
lazily around a half-burned log. Leeba, who probably had exhausted herself
trying to be leader of a pack of strange children all day, lay limply asleep
in
her arms. Medric had come downstairs, and he and Emil had contrived to share
the
other chair; J'han and Norina sat together on the floor; and Garland sprawled
on
the bed, sound asleep.
Zanja shut the door behind herself and put her back against the door jamb.
Emil said, "Zanja, it never once occurred to me, in all the years of our
friendship, that you are not Shaftali."
Norina said, "Zanja is Shaftaliùbut the Speaker for the Ashawala'i is not."
Emil rubbed his weary face. "Land's sake, Norina, she's both."
Zanja said, "The Otter People are surrounded on all sides by Shaftal, and
have
lived in Shaftal longer than history remembers. But they are not Shaftali."
"They are protected from Shaftal," said Norina. "They cannot be what they are
protected from."
Emil said, "I'm offended on your behalf, Zanja. But if you can think about
the
future rather than the pastù"
"Oh, I know what you're going to say." Emil certainly had thought through
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what
must happen, much faster than Zanja had.
There was a long silence. Zanja feared she had offended all of them, and she
could not lose her family and her country on the same day. She said, "I wish
I
had not been so wounded on a day we've been looking to for so long."
Karis, her head bowed over the tousled, sleeping daughter, said quietly, "But
it's an old wound, not a new oneùmuch older than both of us. But it's one
that
we can repair, isn't it?" She looked up into Zanja's eyes. "Will you begin to
visit the tribes? As soon as Emil can manage without you here?"
Zanja stared at her, speechless.
Karis had been somber but now began to look amused. "Did you think I hadn't
learned to let go of you? Did you think you'd have to die every time you
wanted
to get away from me?"
"Yes, every time," said Zanja wryly.
"Then I guess we both can be stupid as rocks."
J'han stood up, saying, "I'll take Leeba tonight."
"No, we'll take her," said Medric.
Emil groaned. "Medric, I beg youù"
"We'll go skating in the morning. I'll sneak out with her, and you can sleep
all
day."
Medric extricated himself from the chair, lifted Leeba from Karis's embrace,
and
kissed her whiny complaints back into sleep again. J'han and Norina woke
Garland, who was nearly as cranky as Leeba. Zanja, at the door, got a cool
kiss
from Norina, a warm embrace from J'han, and a shy handclasp from Garland, who
promised to pack a traveling meal for her and Seth in the morning. Emil
kissed
her twice, and when she told him he had been magnificent that day, promptly
agreed with her. "Oh, and have I mentioned to you how glad I am that you're
alive?" he asked.
"Sixty-seven times," she said.
She kissed Leeba's head, and then she kissed Medric's, and he wagged a finger
at
her, like a teacher reminding her of an important lesson.
Early in the morning Zanja took the back hall to the kitchen to beg for some
hot
water. Garland seemed to find her pitiful, and made her sit and drink some
tea
while he lit the stove in the bathroom and hauled hot water to fill the tub.
She
had just eased herself into the bath when Seth tapped on the door and said,
"I
just want to let you know I'm ready. Don't hurry, though."
"You can come in if you want."
Seth came in, looked disapprovingly around the dark, crowded space, then
overturned a water bucket to use for a stool.
"People insisted on discussing you with me all afternoon."
"They complained to you about my self-importance and temper, I suppose."
"No, of course they didn't! Mostly they were mystified that none of them had
even thought about the border people, even with all the thinking we have done
lately. It's because the border tribes live in protected lands, some said,
and
so a person might live seventy years without ever setting eyes on one.
They're
like a story to most of us."
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"But why?" Zanja said. "What are we being protected from?"
"From us, maybe," said Seth.
Zanja had not left the city and in fact had scarcely been outside for most of
the winter. To stretch her legs and make them do some work was good, but to
stretch her vision across the sun-brilliant landscape and rolling hills made
her
mind feel opened up, as well. Seth was not the chattering type; they walked a
long time in silence.
They left the road to follow the river and had reached a place where a
much-used
footpath pounded into the snow continued across the ice.
The river was wide and shallow here, which was believed to make the river ice
more stable. But Seth looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Walk ahead of me to
prove it's solid, will you? And walk quickly."
Zanja glanced up into the brilliant sky at the raven that followed them.
Karis,
who might be watching through the bird's eyes, would be terrified while they
were crossing. But the ice was hard and solid.
They walked briskly but had to pause to give way to a couple of Paladins on
ice
skates, who flew past like falcons, leaving the walkers to tread through the
wispy vapors of their hot breath. "Oh, we are so slow," Seth complained.
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