C4 Chapter 4

“What are you doing here Miani?”

Beska pushed open the door to her quarters and gestured her sister inside. Miani slid into the cramped entrance and shrugged off her sack. Something rattled with an emphatic thunk when it landed, but she ignored the sound and stepped deeper into Beska’s home.

There wasn’t much to see. The salary she and Cyli earned as servants of the Amber Aerie was hardly enough to afford the necessities, and Beska sent more than half of her earnings back to their aunt. Since the servants were provided with room and board, it didn’t affect her much, but there was little room for nice things.

Three old crates filled the sitting room. They had managed to scavenge pillows for atop them, mismatched, but soft. The crates were separated by a highly decorated table, smooth polished wood carved intricately with fanciful vines and representations of forest creatures. Beska had acquired that one while cleaning the apartment of one of the dragon mates. The woman had requested that she throw it out, Beska had taken it home, instead. One leg was too short, and it had to be propped up with a stone, but it was functional, and it added a touch of beauty to the otherwise drab living space.

“Aunt Huka has taken a lover,” Miani tossed herself onto one of the crates, plopping one of her booted feet onto the table’s surface.

Patience. Beska needed patience. Lots of it. She bent, carefully removing her own boots and placing them in their rightful spot.

“Where have you been?” a black brow arched upward over deep blue eyes.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Beska deflected, “along with which rabid animal got a hold of your hair, and what in the Six do

you mean she’s taken a lover?”

Miani lifted a shoulder, the corner of the fabric on her shirt stood up and remained that way. Beska resisted the urge to rush over and pat it back into place.

“I think she started looking for someone right after you moved here. She’s adamant that you’ve abandoned us.”

Beska’s teeth snapped as they clashed together. She had nearly died that night when the Onyx Aerie was overwhelmed. She was lucky to have been taken to the Amber Aerie instead of left for Quatori fodder. And when the sisters had found her here, they had seen to it that Beska was again employed. All so that she could send money to that woman.

“I didn’t abandon anyone; the Onyx Aerie was devastated. I found work here, Six,” she ran a hand through her hair, only to remember she had braided it tightly for the test. “I send plenty of quarry.” Why was this something she had to explain...again? It seemed like each letter she had received from her aunt asked the same question, and each time she had sent the same answer.

Miani shrugged again. “You won’t come home. Same thing. Aunt had to hire the man down the street to fix the hole in the roof. Now he lives there.”

Beska blinked. “It’s only been a few months,” how could everything slide into the dark realm over such a short time? “And it still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

Beska turned back to see if Cyli found the conversation ludicrous, or if she had simply lost her own sanity. Maybe the stress of the morning had triggered the part of her mind that helped things make sense.

Cyli wasn’t interested in determining her sanity, she was glaring at the ratted sack piled unceremoniously on their floor and nudging it with her toe.

“He cornered me one night when I returned home from old woman Giva’s shop.” Miani’s face hardened, her wide lips pinched into a thin line. “I made his groin sorry for it.”

Beska felt the blood leave her face, replaced by the bile climbing her throat. Miani was supposed to be safe. She, herself, was the one who’d arranged apprenticeship with Giva’s merchant house. And she paid heavily for it, too. Beska had often worried that the old woman might be unkind to her stubborn and head-strong sister. It turned out that wasn’t what she should have worried about.

“What did aunt do about it?” Beska hoped the woman slipped a dagger between his ribs at night, but she had a sinking feeling nothing of the sort had happened.

“She brought up all the times I’ve lied to her. That was her recourse. She defended that puke sack, and when I insisted I wasn’t lying, she decided I had misunderstood what had happened.” Miani’s lower lip trembled, and her voice wavered slightly when she continued. “I’m not going back, Bes, even if he isn’t there.”

Beska allowed herself to sink onto the crate opposite her sister. The cushion sank beneath her weight, her fingers curled around the soft bulge of material to keep them from trembling.

“How did you get here?”

“I took aunt’s stash to pay for passage in a trade caravan Giva was using. Now I’m a liar and a thief,” she spat

Beska swallowed. The danger was past, but the risk of a girl traveling the forest with a caravan of strangers....

She opened her mouth, but Miani raised a slender hand.

“No lectures, Bes. I cut off my hair and wore boy’s clothes. I kept to myself, no one even questioned me. I was as safe as I could be. Safer than I am with her.”

Beska shook her head. “You still shouldn’t have come.” For more than one reason.

“You shouldn’t have left me.”

“You can’t stay here,” Cyli spoke at last. She was still standing over the sack, but she was looking at the two of them now. “You

know she can’t, Beska.”

“What do you mean I can’t stay...where else am I supposed to go? I used all my quarry to get here,” Miani’s boot left the table, and she sent a dark look Cyli’s direction. “I have nothing. I need your help Beska, that’s what sisters are supposed to do.”

Beska dropped her head into her hands. It was the morning that wouldn’t end. What in Vlarious’ name was she supposed to do now? Cyli was right, Miani couldn’t stay. She would want to know where Beska and Cyli went for hours before dawn each morning, or ask questions about the variety of rituals and duties they completed as part of the Sisterhood. She’d have questions, and Beska couldn’t answer them, on pain of death. It was why they were required to forsake all family for the duration of training. To ensure the sister’s loyalty. Beska already risked reprimand for keeping a connection to her sister and aunt. If the Mothers found out Miani was staying with her…

...The trouble was, Miani was right, too.

“You’re the one who ran away from home,” Cyli left the sack and moved toward the sitting room, her cherubic lips turned downward. “Maybe you should have thought it out better.”

Miani lifted her chin. “Oh, I thought about it just enough.”

“That’s unfortunate for your intelligence.”

Miani growled and stood to face Cyli. Beska stood, too, at the protesting of her muscles. The hot water of the bath house faded from her morning hopes. It looked like she was going to spend her morning dealing with out-of-control girls.

“You have no right to speak on the matter, you know nothing about it,” Miani growled.

“I know you had shelter and food,” Cyli shrugged. “You had an apprenticeship, for the love of the Six. And I know how hard Beska saved for that opportunity for you. A chance you just threw away.”

Miani’s face darkened and her fists curled into little balls. Beska was going to have to calm the situation before it became physical.

Teenagers.

If only she felt calm herself.

She had opened her mouth, ready to suggest they all sleep on it for a few hours, when, suddenly, her heart pulsed, a single loud concussion that rang through her blood, and her ears. Followed by a pull beneath her skin. It took several long breaths before

Beska realized she wasn’t experiencing heart failure. She was being called. And she wasn’t the only one who knew it.

Miani still stood where she had been, glaring at Cyli, oblivious to the summons. But Cyli heard it, her attention turned to Beska, her expression one of surprise and wry acceptance.

Not once in her eleven years of training had Beska felt the call of the oath. Somehow it seemed fitting, and inevitable, that it would happen for the first time this morning. Everything else had gone to the dark realm.

“You know nothing,” Miani ground out. “Why am I answering to you? You’re nothing more than a servant. But if this is how I am to be treated, maybe I will find somewhere else to stay.”

“Good.”

“No,” Beska interrupted. “You can stay here, Miani,” she held up a hand to stop Cyli from protesting, “temporarily.” Maybe she could undo the damage to the apprenticeship and find a place for Miani to board. Something would have to be done about aunt’s lover, though...

“Maybe Giva will forgive your absence. She’s a woman in business, I’m sure she has sympathy for these situations.”

Miani’s eyes narrowed. “I am not going back. I’m fifteen, Bes, nearly an adult, and I’m tired of everyone else making decisions for me.”

“We can discuss it later,” Beska turned and ducked into her sleeping chamber. A precisely made bed sat pushed against one wall.

The single gray blanket that stretched neatly beneath it, tucked snugly into the corners. A small trunk sat next to it, just large enough to hold her two changes of servant’s clothing and the white training robes of the Sisterhood. She pulled the robes from her sack and folded them as neatly as she could manage before tucking them under the servant’s frocks.

At the foot of her bed was the rooms only impractical piece. Her easel and paints, gifted to her by the lady Gayriel. It was the only thing she allowed herself to keep beyond her own needs. The only thing that was for her alone. Her first experience with the art, the night the Onyx Aerie fell, had been a terrifying one. It could have put her off from painting altogether. Yet, she found that the act of creating brought her balance. It was a new start to her journey within the Amber Aerie.

It was her sanctuary. Her peace.

She sniffed herself, hoping the lack of a bath wouldn’t be too obvious. Nothing. Right, she had forgotten the tincture that masked her smell, when did that wear off? Not that it mattered now, she didn’t have time to bathe. Even if she could put Miani off for an hour or two, it was a bad idea to put off answering the summons.

Nerves tangled her movements as she checked the sheath that sat against her ribs. The servant’s frock was a plain gray dress made of sturdy wool. The material sat snug against her small chest and flat stomach, the folds redesigned to hide the sheath against her ribs before loosening at her waist. She had also made a special alteration: an opening in the bodice so that, in an emergency, she might easily access the naksha.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Miani’s words sifted into the room. “Unless you are putting me out.”

Beska emerged from her room, fingers quickly re-braiding her long chocolate curls and wrapping the resulting shank on top her head in a knot. Her overall appearance would be meek, and unassuming. Forgettable. Such was the role the Sisterhood encouraged. Give none reason to notice you, give none reason to remember you.

“We are not putting you out,” Beska glanced at Cyli pointedly. She didn’t have time to deal with this problem now. “But we will discuss things when I return.”

Miani blinked. “When you return? Where are you going in the middle of the night? I thought servants started their work just before dawn?” She paused, her eyes narrowed, “for that matter, what in Six realms were you doing when I arrived? It looked like

you were coming back from something.”

Cyli sent Beska a look. One that insisted she had been right about the danger the girl possessed. And so she had, but what Beska could do about the matter, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like she could truly turn Miani out into the world alone.

“We can discuss that, too. Stay put,” she glanced at the two girls, “don’t kill each other until I get back.”

They couldn’t discuss it. The oath forbade her from drawing any sort of attention to the Sisterhood. But perhaps she could think of a suitable lie in the meantime.

It was amazing, really, that she didn’t wilt from the force of the two glares sent her direction. She ignored them and placed her boots back on her feet. What she wouldn’t give to be able to go back to bed and pretend this day hadn’t started. Wake up and try again, but without all the complications.

The problem was, she acknowledged to herself as she slipped from the rooms and back into the darkened hall, she hadn’t even faced the worst of the day yet. She still had to face the summons, and after her failed test, she was certain that it had little good in store for her.