29. A Nice Ring (Vaye)¶
The Cantereian Quarter was blessedly quiet for a market day. A light breeze rose and fell with the city’s breath, riffling Vaye’s hair like an affectionate sibling as she followed Adranaya through the maze of shops and vendors. Although they were dressed in identical School grays, the shopkeepers reacted to the two of them very differently. They treated Adranaya like a favorite niece returning from abroad, but glared at Vaye like an escapee from the Vorkyrda’s menagerie, following close behind her and offering solicitous “help”.
Adranaya’s latest stop was a narrow, stuffy clothier crammed into what had once been a coatroom of a mansion. The building had long ago been converted into stores and government offices, yet the proprietor acted like the mansion’s vanished aristocratic owner.
“How about this one?” Vaye said, holding up a sturdy brown cap and ignoring the shopkeeper’s pointed sniffing.
Adranaya wrinkled her nose. “I’m looking for something a bit more… sleek.” Vaye had liked the hat precisely because it was not sleek. It was durable and functional, built to hold up against Thelenza’s constant damp. Sleekness was beside the point. “This one isn’t bad,” Adranaya said, trying on a triangular piece of red felt.
“That looks identical to the one from the last shop.”
“What?” Adranaya said, frowning. She held the hat up to the light, picking at some invisible spec of dust. “The lines are totally different.” Vaye shook her head. After the fourth shop, she’d given up on trying to guess what would please the Sarmalan.
“I’m hungry,” Adranaya declared, putting the hat back. The shopkeeper frowned at Vaye as though this were her fault. “I never make important decisions while I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”
“Ravenous,” Vaye said, deliberately turning her back on the shopkeeper.
“Great! There’s a little Cantereian place around the corner that makes super-thick honey noodles. Gadarien says the broth is watered-down, but there’s just no pleasing him.”
The noodle shop was little more than a cube of rough boards crammed together under a waxed canvas tarp. A long queue testified to its popularity, and the tangible scent of the broth made the wait almost unbearable. The soup was served in wooden bowls of questionable cleanliness. Clouds of steam obscured the thick slabs of yellow noodles, sweet and salty and herbal all at once, dripping with rich orange fat. They devoured it standing up, as the other patrons did.
Adranaya handed their bowls back to the proprietor and grinned, patting her belly. “I ate too much,” she said thoughtfully, “and yet I do not regret this.”
“You’ve got something on your cheek,” Vaye said, pointing.
“Oh, thanks,” Adranaya said, producing a kerchief from her bag. She dabbed at the spot, missing it entirely.
“Here,” Vaye said. She took the cloth and wiped away the grease, suddenly aware of just how close they were standing.
“Thank you,” said Adranaya, her voice low. She grinned, flashing the one crooked canine tooth that somehow made her smile even more perfect. “Now I just need a puff to help me digest.”
Vaye still hadn’t quite gotten used to the casual way non-Anashim treated nownow, but she masked her discomfort as she always had. Aware of the gazes of the other patrons, she stepped back, clearing her throat. “Sure, but maybe somewhere less obvious.”
“Yeah. Gadarien showed me a nice, private spot to smoke nearby. Very private.”
Vaye followed, wondering how much to read into Adranaya’s comment. The Sarmalan led her down a series of shadowy side streets that terminated in a dead end. But she opened the shutters of an old window pane and they clambered through into a tiny, secluded courtyard. An alcove surrounded a single ancient door adorned with a heavy ring-shaped knocker, its hinges a mass of rust.
“How did Gadarien find this place?” Vaye said.
Adranaya shrugged. “Who knows? That boy’s full of secrets.”
Vaye sat on the doorstep, Adranaya settling close beside her. The sky was still bright, but the mist had turned to a drizzle, so they scooted back into the recess and huddled against the weathered wood. “Thanks for coming today,” Adranaya said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to.”
“Why?” Vaye said, although she already knew the answer.
Adranaya shrugged one shoulder. “The whole thing with circamo. I know it must be hard for you, what they say about Anashim. Is Yobaza still having your room searched?”
Vaye looked down at her hands, scraping the back of one thumbnail with the other. “Yeah. Every few days. And she still has my tzashim.”
“That’s catshit!” Adranaya said. She cursed frequently, but it still sounded surprising coming out of her perfect face.
Vaye managed a half-hearted chuckle. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
“You shouldn’t need to be!” Adranaya said, truly angry now. She grabbed Vaye’s hand. “Fuck Yobaza. She doesn’t deserve to look at you, much less steal your family heirlooms. You should just stash your things in my room. They wouldn’t dare go through my stuff.” She sat upright and snapped her fingers, smiling. “I almost forgot! I got you a gift.” She fished in her bag and pulled out a tiny parcel wrapped in delicate rice paper, then presented it with both hands, bowing her head and grinning. “I saw it at Feather and Vine and thought of you. I know it can’t make up for what Yobaza stole from you, but I hope you like it.”
“For me?” Vaye said, genuinely surprised. No one ever bought her gifts. She unwrapped the package, smiling, but her stomach dropped when she saw what it was. Suspended from a fine silver chain, a tiny witchglass head was topped by a nest of curling hair that responded to the will of the person holding it. It was flawlessly refined and expertly crafted, as beautiful as it was hateful. “Wow,” she said, trying to keep her voice and expression light. “Um, Adra? Do you know what this is?”
“Our buyer said it’s an Anashi protection charm!” Adranaya said brightly. “It’s supposed to make you invisible to anyone trying to harm you. I thought you could use it to... uh...” Her voice trailed off as she saw Vaye’s expression.
“Yeah, it’s an Anashi protection charm,” Vaye said slowly. “As in, it protects you from Anashim. Because the only thing ugly enough to scare Grandmother away is her own face.”
Adranaya’s mouth dropped open, her face growing pale. “Oh. Oh, no.”
Vaye sighed, setting down the figurine and taking Adranaya’s hands. She had been dreading this conversation, but it had to happen. “Adra, look. I know you’re not a bigot or a simpleton. But when you look at me, you don’t just see a woman. You see an Anashi woman.”
Adranaya stole her hands back and covered her face, rocking back and forth. “No, no, no. I’m such an idiot. Sky Mother, I’m gonna be sick.”
Vaye took Adranaya’s wrists, gently pulling them down. “You’re not an idiot, Adra. Neither am I, but I still didn’t recognize you when I met you at School. You remembered me because I was different, because I stood out. But I want you to see me as me, not the representative of an entire culture.”
Adranaya shook her head, a tear rolling down the soft curve of her cheek. “I’m so sorry I made you feel that way. But I swear that’s not how I think of you. And it’s not why I remembered you.”
“What do you mean?”
Adranaya’s iridescent cheeks had taken on a bright red undertone. “Oh, this is so embarrassing.” She was stammering, barely able to get her words out. “You didn’t stand out because you were Anashi. You stood out because...”
Vaye raised her brows, still holding Adranaya’s wrists. “Because?”
“Because I could smell it on you. The thing I want,” Adranaya whispered. Her eyes were downcast, her hands curled into loose fists, but she didn’t pull away.
“What is that you want?” Vaye said, her voice blending with the rumble of the distant Eyewall. Adranaya’s scent was making her mouth water, the hunger once again unbearable.
“I want you to take what you want,” Adranaya said. Vaye saw her own hunger reflected in Adranaya’s eyes, in the lift of her ribcage as her breath came quick and shallow.
And, at long last, Vaye gave in to her appetites.
She reached behind Adranaya’s head and grabbed a fistful of silky hair. The Sarmalan gasped as Vaye pulled her head back, then moaned as Vaye’s lips found her neck and the hollow below her jaw. Vaye tasted Adranaya, the salt of her sweat, her fragile pulse like a baby bird about to hatch.
“Please,” Adranaya whispered. She reached out, but Vaye seized her slender wrist once more, reveling in the strength of her own hands, for the moment perceiving herself the way Adranaya did. “You said to take what I want,” she said. Her blood sang, a strange confidence running though her like a wild animal.
Adranaya nodded quickly, avoiding Vaye’s gaze. “Tell me what to do,” she whispered.
“Look at me,” Vaye said. Pinning Adranaya with her stare, she raised the Sarmalan’s hands overhead and wrapped her fingers around the iron ring mounted on the door. “Keep your hands there until I say you can move them,” she said. The command snapped out of her like a snake that had been coiled in wait. Adranaya nodded, chewing her lip, her body trembling.
Vaye drew her fingernails down the bottom of Adranaya’s arms and the sides of her ribcage. She paused to brush her thumbs across Adranaya’s breasts, confirming the witchglass piercings she’d perceived when they pinned each other. Adranaya shuddered, her back arching to meet Vaye’s hands. But Vaye continued down to the waistband of Adranaya’s trousers, moving inexorably toward the other witchglass piercing she knew to be there. Her fingers slid inward to the drawstring, undoing the knot with a single motion.
She glanced up again. Adranaya’s face rested halfway between desire and terror, her knuckles white where they grasped the ring. But even before Vaye could voice the question, she whispered a single word.
“Yes.”
With a savage grin, Vaye took what she wanted.
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