The Glass Girl Page 2

  Ilaan sipped tentatively. “It reminds me of coffee. Bitter, and I don't like it, but I want it.” He glanced up at Rhuun and added, “Do the humans generally have it for breakfast?”

  “After a morning like mine, they do.” Rhuun had told him how he and Aelle had ‘sorted things out,’ as he put it, on the snow-covered roof of the Guardhouse. Ilaan gave an inward sigh of relief. It had been a difficult balancing act; being supportive of his best friend’s decision to walk away from Aelle, while remaining loyal to his sister. Now it certainly sounded like she’d finally put her feelings for Rhuun behind her. He hoped it was true. He could never be sure with Aelle.

  “It reminded me of school, except it was Aelle setting me on fire, not Niico. But I think we’re…well, maybe not friends, but…” It didn’t sound like Rhuun was quite sure of Aelle either. And it saddened him that, despite all his hard work, Rhuun still bore at least some resentment towards his Niico. Why else would he mention the play yard of their school back on Eriis? It had been the scene of some of Rhuun’s more traumatic experiences, and yes, it was true that many of them were at Niico’s hands. Well, they were many years and a world away from those days now. They drank and looked out the round windows at the new, white world. To him, it appeared bleak and hostile, but he thought he’d never seen Rhuun look more at ease.

  “I have to go back, don't I?”

  “You are the prince and may do as you like.” As expected, this got a snorted laugh out of Rhuun. “I wish I knew what my father was up to. And your mother. The only thing we have in our favor is they aren't working together.” Ilaan shook his head. “Can you imagine? We'd be cinders by now.” He took another sip. Bitter. “She's looking for your uncle, isn't she?”

  Rhuun stared out the window for a while. Without turning, he said, “When I was a child, of course it was important for me to learn how to behave, not only because I was the prince, but because she wouldn't have an undisciplined hillchild running about. And I remember learning that one says 'rest him now', or 'her now', when speaking of those who went before. And I remember her talking about my uncle, she said something about Araan, and I, being obedient, said, 'rest him now.' Do you know what she did?”

  “Gave you a treat for being a clever child?”

  “Hmm, not quite. She slapped me and said 'Your uncle isn't gone, you must never say that about him again.' I don't think she ever really believed he was dead. She must be out in the Vastness, somewhere. I imagine that's why she didn't know what was happening to me. With the Mages.”

  “Didn't . . . yes, I'm sure. That's why.” Ilaan took another, larger sip of the bitter beer. “I should tell you something. I wasn't going to, but who knows if we'll ever see our homes again, so what's the difference? I should have told you many years ago.”

  Rhuun took a long drink and set the bottle on the desk. “Are you going to confess your deep, true feelings for me? Because who could blame you? I couldn't resist me . . . Ilaan?” Ilaan had lowered his head and did not reply. “Ilaan . . . no, no, oh, Light and Wind, I was making a joke, please—”

  Ilaan looked up, his face red and his shoulders shaking with laughter. “You should see your face. What do we say about jokes?”

  “That you're a terrible person?”

  “I couldn't resist. Believe it or not, that's not what I was going to say. When we were children, where did you take most of your meals?”

  Rhuun smiled. Ilaan knew those memories were some of his happiest, and certainly most peaceful. “With you at your house, if I recall. When your father was out, mostly. I was terrified of him.”

  “But you weren't afraid of my mother.”

  “No, Siia was always kind to me. At least, when we were small.”

  “That's what I wanted to say. She was fond of you, back then. Before it got so complicated with you and Aelle. But she had some . . . specific concerns about the way you were treated. At your own home. She thought your mother wasn't doing much of a job, Beast. She saw you . . . your scars and she was worried about you. I used to listen to her talking with Father. She would have taken you in, I think, if she could have.”

  Ilaan recalled his parents talking—not arguing, just talking quietly after dinner one evening. The true desert was closer to the walls of the city back then, and the sand blowing in off the Vastness was still bad even at dusk, and Ilaan stayed indoors rather than throw on his scarf and go out to play. When he realized his parents were talking about his friend, he made himself small and crouched out of sight behind a tall stone vase. The glowing stones in the vase cast a shadow that helped keep him hidden.

  “That woman—” his mother said.

  “You mean the queen?” asked his father. “Who stands on protocol and wouldn't much like being referred to as 'that woman'?”

  His mother hissed through her teeth. “Fine. Our beloved queen has too much sand to carry, perhaps, to see properly to her son.” She lowered her voice. “Did you see his arm? Fingerprints, Yu. What kind of force does it take to leave fingerprints? It's not mine to ask why they don't disappear or why he has scars—”

  “It's not yours to ask or mention, Siia. Perhaps you ought not.”

  Her voice was low but Ilaan had no trouble hearing her. “Even here? I shouldn't speak freely in our own home? It was her decision not to leave him at the Crosswinds when he was born, the least she could do is act like a proper mother to him.”

  “He does not complain, I'll give him that,” said Yuenne.

  “He doesn't complain because he doesn't know any better! Yu, you have her ear . . .”

  “Absolutely not. Siia, would you appreciate being lectured on how to raise a child? Much less a damaged one? Let us agree to provide for him while he's here. Encourage but don't press. It is only to our benefit that he grow close with our own. He and Aelle, one day . . .” Ilaan remembered thinking girls were nasty, his sister in particular, and found something more interesting to occupy him down the hall.

  Rhuun smiled. “I used to worry I was making trouble or eating too much.”

  “That's the thing. You never made trouble. She thought—and I think—you deserved better.” Ilaan raised the bottle to his lips but changed his mind. Too bitter after all.

  “I feel as if you've made a decision regarding your employment,” Rhuun said. “My mother will miss her little mouse.”

  “It was remarkably easy. If you'll have me, you'll find me at your back. You'll fit the High Seat perfectly.” He paused. “And now I'd like to talk to you about my deep, true feelings.”

  “Shut up, Ilaan.”

  “As my prince instructs.”

  “Are you going to finish that?”

  “Apparently not.” He passed over the bottle. They sat in silence and looked out the round windows. It looked like it might snow.

  Chapter Three

  Mistra

  “You’re certain you’ll be fine?” Ilaan put another Mistran treasure in the wooden box (which was itself a treasure) and tried to convince himself it was really safe to leave Beast alone. His little room was nearly cleared out, not that there was much in it to begin with, and he was anxious to be on his way back to Niico.

  “I’ll only be here another few weeks, maybe less,” Rhuun replied.

  Ilaan thought his friend might like to make this vacation permanent but said nothing. Instead, he held up a round, metal and glass sculpture, which ticked and moved. “Scilla tells me this is a ‘clock.’ You tell the hours with it. See the numbers? You mark the number when you begin an activity, and by looking at the fingers, you’ll know which hour it is when you are finished. So you’ll know how long things take.”

  “Clever. How do you know which is the correct number to begin counting?”

  Ilaan frowned. “Obviously, you should always begin at the number ‘1.’” He packed the clock away and held up the box with the melted glass horses on the lid.

  “This is for you, when we are all home. You’ll need new things for a new room. I don’t guess you’ll be moving back
in to the old one.”

  “Thank you. I haven’t thought that far ahead, honestly. I don’t like to think about…that.” He rubbed his wrist absently. Ilaan pointedly did not look down at the scars on his arm. “Save it for me.”

  Ilaan fit the lid onto his treasure box, thinking about the books he’d been unable to convince Scilla to part with. Perhaps he’d be back for them. There was a claim to be made that some of the things he’d seen in Blue’s study—the remaining khlystrons and a number of old books—were purloined Eriisai property. When he was home he’d have a long talk with Niico about what to do next. In the meantime, he would have to be satisfied with the box of books on Mistran history, his clock and box, some wooden carvings, kitchen items like coffee and sugar, a few to-be-hoarded bottles of sweet wine, and on top, carefully wrapped in burlap and straw, the greatest treasure of all—a potted plant. Olly told him it was called an orchid and needed a little water and some sunlight, and if he was lucky, it would give him flowers. It was going to be his gift to Niico, to make up for his unplanned departure through The Door.

  “I won’t be long behind you. With the time difference, it’ll probably seem quite soon.” Rhuun helped Ilaan tap the lid into place. “Save some of that wine for me,” he said, smiling.

  “Bring your own,” Ilaan replied. “And we’ll have a toast to your crazy new wings. Thank you, just set it there by the door.” He sat on the edge of his cot, running his fingers along the seams of the heavy quilt. “I have a lot to do when I get home, starting with the tale of how you conquered Mistra. By the time you arrive everyone will know you’ve started farting fire.” It would be Rhuun who found a new and mortifying way to produce a flame. No simple fire from the hand for him, no - of course the prince of Eriis made fire from his yala.

  Rhuun colored. “It doesn’t work that way, as you know. I’d appreciate your making it a little more…vague? And dignified, if at all possible. What I really need to do is figure out how to control it.”

  “Perhaps Mother Jaa can help you. If you don’t die of embarrassment trying to tell her how it works.” Ilaan chuckled. “Come to think of it, there are no windows to throw yourself out of at the tents, so perhaps not.”

  Rhuun shook his head and smiled. “I’ll dedicate myself to practice.”

  Ilaan leaned forward. “So, does it work when you’re, um, flying alone?”

  “No. And believe me, locked in my room there was damned little else to do. Would have burnt the whole palace down, if it worked that way.”

  “Too bad. Well then I guess if you want to get a handle on your flame—so to speak—you’ll have to bring Lelet home with you.”

  “I was going to anyway, or so she has informed me. Can you imagine if I tried to leave her here? 'Too dangerous’ and ‘for your own good’ are not in that woman’s vocabulary.”

  “Well,” said Ilaan with a last look around, “Aelle will be at the tents waiting for your call, and I’ll be back in the city, doing something brave that will probably go unremarked.”

  “If we all make it through this, I’ll name a street after you.” Rhuun snapped his finger. “We'll call it The Boulevard of Ilaan Saving the World and Asking Nothing in Return, We Are So Lucky to Have Him.”

  “Do I get to pick the street?”

  Rhuun considered this. “No.”

  One floor up and nearly directly above their heads, Olly was buttoning his jacket. Aelle had one of her fur boots on her lap, stroking it as if it were a pet.

  “I know it’s hot,” he said, “but my family vacations in the Southern Provinces every winter. People walk around half naked. How much hotter can it be?”

  Aelle set aside the boot and bent to lace up her sandals. “This Southern place, you’ll take me there one day?” He readily agreed, and she reached up to kiss him—no flame. She was proud of herself for remembering to spare his delicate skin. “But, Ahlee, you mustn’t think about traveling to Eriis. It’s too hot and too dangerous right now.”

  He lifted her hair over her collar as she tied her tunic in place, and deftly coiled and pinned her it for her. He’d taken to attending her with relish, finding the rituals and customs she brought with her fascinating. He found everything about her fascinating. It wasn’t only his attention to her coif she’d miss.

  “I wish I had something to give you,” he said. She’d seen the box of wonders he’d put together for Ilaan, and although he told them it was for them both, she had already insisted she didn’t need trinkets to remember him fondly. Of course, that wasn’t quite true, even if it was the proper thing to say. “Next time we are together, I’ll have something special, I promise.”

  “A present? With paper to tear? I’d like that.” He’d explained giftwrap and the concept of a gift as a delightful surprise, and she was eager to try it out.

  “Yes,” he smiled, “with paper that you get to tear open. If we were in town I’d take you shopping. My sisters would love dressing you up. And then I’d love undressing you.” He reached for the tie at her hip and she laughed and brushed his hand away. “There is a way for us to stay in touch, though. Think of Scilla’s notebook.”

  Aelle’s look darkened. “She was talking to my father. I doubt I’ll be able to ask him how he managed it.”

  “Then ask someone else. Maybe your brother knows something. I hate to let you just vanish.”

  “Ahlee, you know and I know this is not the end.” She took his hands and looked up at him quite seriously. “Things are changing, here and home, and we can’t stop them. We can only try to keep up.”

  “At least promise me you’ll stay at the tents, and out of the city.”

  She folded her arms. “I have already been informed by Rhuun, by my brother and even by Lelet herself that I am best served by staying at the tents and out of harm’s way. One might think I can’t do this.” She held out her hand, bright with flame.

  “Darling girl, from what I hear, everyone can do that. Don’t be angry, I’m worried about you. The rest of them—” he shrugged. “They started this, and it’s on them to end it. But I dragged you in. I wish I could convince you to stay here with me.”

  She recalled how he’d mistaken her for Maaya and pulled her through The Door, and how she’d been so afraid of this white-skinned giant. Afraid, and then interested, and then something more. She smiled for him.

  “I am not angry, and you did not drag me in. My father started this. And the queen. And Blue. You know why I can’t stay, this is not my home. But I promise I’ll remain with Mother Jaa at the tents. And I will see you again, Ahlee. I want that gift!”

  Chapter Four

  Eriis

  Looking back, Aelle thought it began that day at the tents. That was the day she stepped out of one body and one life and into another. In her Old Self she might be too timid to fly, but could still find things to laugh about. She might quake with fear about leaving her home, but find a strange sort of affection with a strange sort of man in a new world. In her New Self, the fear seemed to have been scorched away, taking all the joy and affection with it. New Self was strong. New Self did what needed to be done.

  It began almost as soon as she and Ilaan got their feet under them, back home on Eriis, at the tents.

  Mother Jaa was there to greet them, and Leef took over the boxes and packages they had brought from the cold human world. Handing the treasures over, she thought there would be plenty of time to hold up each item and smile at the amazement on the faces of her fellow demons, those who hadn't been through The Door. It would be fun, she thought, to explain about coffee and sugar, and admonish everyone to be careful with the glossy bright leaves of the plant called 'orchid.' She was nervous about bringing color home with her, but after all, here at the tents they were safe.

  Now, in her New Self, she didn't care if she ever saw another flower or clock or bottle of wine or color. The world was shades of ash and sand, and that was how it would be. Ilaan wanted to burn the lot. She considered this, but had everything quietly packed away. It wou
ld all be there to burn later, if that was what he still wanted. When he returned to himself, assuming he would.

  They had been back only a few hours and gathered with Jaa in her silk-walled room. She wanted to hear about Aelle's brief career as a teacher, and what the food looked like, and birds, and ice, but mainly she wanted to know how her 'beautiful boy' fared, and for them to describe what they saw, to know for sure that the shadow had been lifted from him.

  “We came close to losing him,” said Ilaan. “No one could see him, and we . . .”

  “We kept forgetting he was there,” finished Aelle. She thought about the blank space Rhuun occupied. “But Maaya, or rather I should call her Lelet—”

  “Yes, my boy called her that as well. Why?” asked Jaa. “That's no proper name.”

  “It is among the humans who don't know anything. I don't mean it as an insult.” Aelle picked her story back up. “Lelet and the little sister, Scilla, they figured out the riddle. They had to visit the Ocean, and she—Ocean—took the shadow, and gave him those wings.” She smiled warmly at her brother. “Niico will be beside himself. I can't wait to tell him.”

  Ilaan returned her smile. “A Beast with wings,” he said. “The two of them ought to have a special match and finally get it all out between them.”

  “Why would Ocean do that?” pondered Jaa. “She would not have gifted him with such a thing if there were not a reason.”

  “Maybe she just knew he wanted them,” Ilaan said. “Maybe that was reason enough. Never seen him look so happy. He never said anything about it, I never knew he missed having them.”