51. A Refreshing Bath (Vaye)¶
Vaye hadn’t thought anything could be more miserable than crossing the Eyewall, but the Ouvintero had proven her wrong. An underground stream flowed throughout their cave-like cell, flooding it ankle-deep with frigid water. There wasn’t even a place to sit without immersing herself, much less lie down. At first, the temperature had felt like a relief from the mugginess outside, but all the heat had been sucked out of Vaye’s body in the first hour. She wasn’t sure the water was deep enough to drown herself, but the idea was growing more and more appealing.
The only light came from small gaps around the hatch mounted high up the wall. Adranaya sat huddled in a corner, hugging herself and shivering, while Gadarien paced back and forth, muttering and kicking the water like a downed opponent. Vaye wanted to put her arms around Adra and share her warmth, or run her fingers through Gada’s hair. But it felt like some invisible force was pushing the three of them apart, as unflagging as the Eyewall, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had created it.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Gadarien said, for the dozenth time. He attempted to scale the wall again, jumping up and trying to get a purchase on the slick rock below the hatch.
“Gada,” Vaye said after he splashed down into the water yet again. “Stop. You’re going to break your ankle.”
“Yeah? So what?” he said, turning to face her and throwing his arms wide. He swayed back and thumped into the wall. She could barely make out his face, but she knew the crazed look he must have. “My bones deserve to be broken.” He slid down the wall and sat in the water, covering his face with his hands.
Vaye splashed over and crouched in front of him. “It’s not your fault,” she said softly.
“No?” he replied. “I walked us right into that trap, like a raw trainee. I didn’t even check to see if the place was being watched.”
“Those villagers sold us out. You couldn’t have known—”
“And I got you and Adra involved with Feiçeira in the first place,” Gadarien continued, talking over her. “I should never have approached you.”
“Don’t say that,” Vaye said sharply. “I don’t regret it. Even now, even here. Before we met, all I wanted was to tear things down. But you gave me something to fight for.”
Gadarien let his hands drop into the water. “And what about Adra?” he said, pitching his voice low. The Sarmalan was still huddled on the far side of the room, giving no indication that she was listening. “She didn’t ask for any of this. The things they did to her...”
Vaye’s guts clenched with guilt. “I know. But it was at least as much my fault as yours.”
Gadarien was silent for a long moment. “Tell me,” he said at last.
Vaye glanced at Adranaya, who was a dark shape against the wall, separated by a short span of burbling water. It was impossible to know how much the Sarmalan could hear. Vaye wanted to tell Adranaya what she’d done, but she wasn’t sure how. Or at least that was the excuse she clung to. She was terrified that Adranaya would hate her, and that she’d deserve it. She was also afraid that, once he understood what the page was, Gadarien might start to fear her. That idea made her feel sick.
But he deserved some kind of answer. “I broke into Yobaza’s office and stole something. I triggered the alarm and set this whole thing off.”
“The parchment,” he said. Vaye grimaced, praying Adranaya hadn’t heard. “What is it?”
“It’s a page from one of the Anashi Lost Books. I haven’t had time to fully translate it, but it’s...” She struggled to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t make her seem like a monster. “It’s a spell to increase intimacy.”
Gadarien huffed out something akin to a laugh. “Really? It’s some kind of Anashic sex manual?”
Vaye fought down a flash of anger. She was trying to protect him. “No. Sex and intimacy aren’t the same thing. And anyway, I was taking back a piece of my heritage. Yobaza didn’t deserve it.”
“No one gets what they deserve,” he replied grimly. “But remember, I’m a Feiçeira. I can hear when you’re not being honest. So why did you really do it?”
Her first instinct was to make an angry denial, but something stopped her. She hadn’t actually meant to lie about her motivation, but as soon as Gadarien called it out, she realized that she had. More worryingly, she didn’t know why she had lied. She wasn’t even sure what her true reason had been, only that it wasn’t what she had claimed. Was her motivation like her quick healing, a gift she didn't remember getting? The silence stretched as she wrestled with what to say.
“It was Grandmother,” Gadarien whispered. Vaye felt the blood drain from her face. “Wasn’t it?”
Light suddenly flooded the room as the hatch swung open. A rope flopped over the edge, nearly whacking Gadarien in the face, and a bald, backlit head appeared a moment later.
“Bath time is over,” said Jovadão. “We’ve got to go.”
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