Chapter 34. Meeting in the Marketplace

eleri’s belly was starting to bulge and that morning she had finally conceded to that fact and donned a loose gown of pleated blue cotton with a print of butterflies and dragonflies.  The servants had hidden her ranger leathers soon after her arrival and she had resorted to men’s clothes because the dresses were too binding and she could not nap in them at a moment’s notice.  She had been plied with a variety of more feminine attire but usually ended up wearing clothes intended for Pendaran.  Of course, she found it mildly erotic to don his shirts for it suited the primal huntress in her to wear his pelt.  In this whimsical way she laid claim to him even though he was in no condition for the kind of play it inspired in her.  She sighed, stroking her belly.  All summer long she had desired to have her way with him and soon she would be too heavily pregnant to take advantage of the long winter nights and his recovery.  A sardonic smile rose to her lips as she strode into the sitting room to greet Kantele Marella.

The servants fussed over the two of them as they enjoyed a breakfast of sweetened sticky rice, tea, and a fortifying soup that Hua Bin insisted Teleri imbibe each morning.  The elderly woman did not speak a single word of Tyrian so that her initial arrival into Teleri’s day had seemed abrupt and somewhat intrusive since she took an inordinate amount of interest in every intimate detail of Teleri’s bodily functions. Shikai later disclosed that the woman was the compound’s doula and now that Teleri could no longer hide her pregnancy, Hua Bin was a constant fixture in her life.

She was beginning to learn the names of the servants that regularly attended her.  When her desire to go to the Marketplace was made known, burly Chen Li arrived and waited outside the door.  With everyone away at the imperial guild census, Chen Li as the logical choice for her guide and porter since he alone of the compound’s staff knew a smattering of Tyrian.  He was a stocky figure accustomed to jobs requiring muscle but he was also a very kind and gentle man.  From him she had learned that nearly all the servants had grown up in the orphanage.  They loved Zhou with an unparalleled ferocity, calling him Bei Fu Zi, Great Master Bei.  From Chen Li she learned that Zhou offered adult orphans the option of staying to serve or leaving with a stipend to support them until they found their way in the world.  Nearly all of them chose to stay, either as servants or, if they had the aptitude, as potential guild members whose training he also funded.

Teleri invited Brekke and Orick to join their outing, but the two of them had been granted access to Zhou’s study and were now engrossed in his sizeable collection of books.  It amused her to think of the two of them fighting over books and desk space with Uriel who also dwelt there as Zhou permitted.

Mabane pushed through past the door looking sad and angry.  That morning he had insisted upon following Pendaran to the great hall where the guild had assembled for their journey to the imperial palace.  Somehow her son had counted on convincing his master to let him go along and now he was disappointed and sulky as he dropped down on the couch beside her.

“Hello,” she said cheerfully, passing a plate of sticky rice balls toward him, “Eat up.”

“I don’t wanna,” he simpered.

“We’re going to the market today.  Are you still planning on going with me?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure Pen would have taken you if he could,” Kantele said, “The emperor is very strict about who can see him.”

“Brigit and Lemony got to go,” Mabane murmured.

Teleri was comforted by this news.  Pendaran had been recovering quickly given his condition, and having her two best friends looking after him meant she did not have to worry about his welfare.  She sometimes suspected Zhou drove Pen too hard.  Lemony would keep Zhou in line and few matched Brigit’s ferocity when it came to protecting people she cared about.

“They’re grownups and they had work to do,” Teleri replied, “That’s enough whining now. Eat your breakfast.”

“I want to be a grownup,” Mabane grumbled, “then I could go where I wanted. Dumb emperor.”

Kantele laughed.

“You’ll get your wish sooner than you think.  Now eat,” Teleri said, gratified when Mabane yielded and wolfed down his breakfast in eagerness for their planned outing.  He was adapting well to his new home and his love for Pendaran warmed Teleri’s heart.  The boy was even beginning to imitate some of Pen’s mannerisms such as his tendency to tug at his lower lip when he was concentrating on reading or writing.  Mabane had also taken to carrying a coin and playing with it absently, passing it between his fingers over the back of his palm with almost the same degree of grace and effortlessness as his master.

Without further ado, the three of them joined Chen Li in the corridor and began their outing.  It was nearly noon by that time and Mabane had shed his mulish attitude and was half slouching, half running to keep up with them as they moved briskly across the yard toward the round gate that opened onto the street.  They did not have far to go for their home was near the center of Wajjun Bazaar.  Soon they were rubbing shoulders with ordinary Canthans and the occasional foreigner as they passed stalls of fruit and vegetables, glassware, pottery, and a blade sharpener.

They paused for a moment to watch a pair of young women dancing while wrapped with two rather large snakes, something that Mabane found a little too interesting, Teleri decided, drawing him away as the entertainment became increasingly lewd.  She noticed he was starting to look at girls and women with more than the usual curiosity of a child and it troubled her.  It was not something she had thought about when he was a babe in arms.  He was growing up and she realized she had no clue what she was supposed to do now.

At last they reached a less seedy side of the market and Mabane grew excited when they approached a stall selling fabric.  Kantele also shared his enthusiasm and Teleri decided it was some natural trait of mesmers to obsess about clothing.

“Papa told me to get five squares of cloth!” Mabane crowed and Teleri’s jaw dropped when she realized what he had just called Pendaran.  No wonder he kept asking when or if they would get married.  He had already made up his mind about Pendaran.  Kantele glanced at Teleri, biting her lip as Mabane ran his hands over the bolts of brightly colored silk and linen on display.

“Sweetheart, Pendaran is your master, not your father.”

Mabane flushed scarlet and grew quiet, enthusiasm fading before his embarrassment.

“But if you got married, he would be,” Mabane protested angrily.

Kantele giggled despite her attempt to maintain a level of mesmeric decorum.  Teleri sighed and ruffled the boy’s raven tresses fondly.

“You’re a stubborn little monster like your father,” she said, then tickled his ribs until he squealed, “That’s enough talk about marriage.  If it happens, it’ll happen when I decide it will.  Come on, let’s get the cloth your master asked you to find.”

Teleri leaned against the post of a market shelter as the fabric seller cut neat squares of brightly colored silk for her son with the assistance of Chen Li acting as translator and haggler.  It was then something strange caught her eye.

A tall man drifted toward her, passing lightly through the crowd.  He was a Tyrian of unnatural beauty with ebon hair and skin the color of seafoam and cream. He had a body whose details she had once known intimately from the birthmark just left of his nape to the crooked set of his right pinky where a broken bone had mended imperfectly.  It was unmistakably Rhys.

But he was dead.  She had told herself that for the last three years.  Dead.  If he had survived the Searing, he would have come home, he would have searched the ends of the earth for her.  He had promised her that.  His pale blue eyes met hers as he drew to a halt.  How she had loved him and missed him. 

Mabane crept to his side, a mirror of his beautiful father with his pale flesh and cornflower gaze.  Such a beautiful pair they made, father and son.  She swallowed against tears as Rhys gazed down upon his boy and touched his cheek in wonder.  And then to her horror Mabane screamed like a wounded animal, pulling away and falling to the filthy cobbles as if Rhys’ touch had shocked him.

Silently the figure turned to regard her once more, his inscrutable expression registering neither pleasure nor recognition.

“Rhys?” she wept.

Kantele stood riveted to the stones, pale and frightened.  Then, drawn from her moment of panic, she went after Mabane as he crawled away sobbing.  His palpable fear pained Teleri and yet she was transfixed by the approaching image of her beloved.  Chen Li and Kantele grasped Mabane as he attempted to flee into the crowded market, holding him as he kicked and shrieked.

“Leave him alone, you fiend!” Kantele screamed, a magenta aura of chaos wreathing her shoulders.  Rhys looked upon her now as if noticing the woman for the first time.

“If I did know where Pendaran was, I certainly wouldn’t tell you!” Kantele snarled, the other half of the conversation no doubt occurring within her head.  Now that his pale eyes were diverted, Teleri realized there was something terribly wrong.  This Rhys did not walk so much as stalk like a predator.  He was clad in black with a long flowing robe that curled like a shadow around his lean figure.  And he was far too pale, even by the standards of her beloved’s milky flesh.  There was a deathly, bloodless pallor to the man’s skin.  And he was not breathing.

“We’re going home, Chen Li,” Teleri murmured, “It’s alright Mabane, we’re leaving.”

“He wants Pendaran,” the boy sobbed, then screamed as if he had been stabbed.  It was too much for Teleri and a dagger sprung into her hand where she kept one concealed at her waist.  Mother or not, some part of her was fundamentally a ranger and would always be.  Kantele must have had the same idea, for she chanted and in an instant Rhys’ form was bathed in a burning chaotic aura.

Instead of crying out in pain, however, he glowed from within and a vile grin cracked his stiff features.

“Leave,” Kantele cried, “Leave now.”

“Demon!” Teleri shrieked, rushing at the figure with three years of accumulated grief and rage drawing back her dagger for a devastating strike, “You murdered my husband!”

“The sailors cast him off to sea like wreckage alone in a little boat to propitiate the Queen of the Sea,” said a cold voice within her mind, “How he pleaded for his freedom.  Little did I know you were the hideous little drab he fought to live for.  Just as well he died before I was done with him.  I spared him the humiliation of finding you again.”

The dagger fell with a clatter to the cobbles as Teleri glimpsed images of Rhys lying beaten and dying on a desolate shore.  Oh gods, it was unbearable.  She sobbed in pain and grief, staggering to her knees as she stood by helpless to comfort him in his final agonized hour.  The nightmare shattered when Chen Li swung her quickly into his arms and bore her away.

“Kai Tai-Tai!” the man cried as he carried her, his visage harsh with fear and concern.  Kantele clutched Mabane’s hand and the two of them pelted breathlessly along beside her.  Not a moment too soon did they arrive at the round gate of the compound.  Teleri glanced over Chen Li’s shoulder to see Rhys watching them coldly.  He knew where they lived.

To her relief, he turned away with a swirl of black cloak and vanished back into the crowd like a stalking tiger.