Page 23

“Yes,” I say. “A little too warm for sleeping.”

“I’ll ask it to cool after dinner,” Daurek says.

“Thank you.”

He returns to his food. I wish I knew whether he’d asked me here because he wanted to hear about Tovi’s terrible singing, or because he felt responsible for giving me a tolerable evening.

When the dishes are being cleared, Daurek turns toward me again.

“Will you sit here tomorrow?”

I forget the answer I would usually give, the easy one that leaves room to change my mind.

“Yes. I’d like to.”

Back in my room, I pull my chair up to the writing ledge. The first lines of the letter are still where I left them.

Asha,

I’ve arrived in the Ilden. I’m safe, and I have a room of my own.

I dip the pen and continue before I can find a way to make the next part sound better.

The man who arranged the marriage lied about Daurek wanting a wife. Daurek has asked the council to cancel it. He thinks it may take two or three weeks, and I can stay here while we wait.

The debt stays paid. I’ve asked for twenty silver from my allowance to be sent to you each month. You and Tovi will need a new supplier, and I know the first order will cost more without the others buying with you.

I start a sentence about Tovi’s cousin. Then I cross it out.

Tell me how you both are. Tell Tovi I expect his roof patch to hold until winter, because he swore it would.

I leave the apology unfinished that night. The next evening, with the day’s post already gone, I sit down to try again. I watch wax collect at the candle’s base while I try to write an apology that won’t turn into another explanation of why I thought I was right.

I should have told you before I entered the market. I knew you’d try to stop me.

There. She can be angry with the truth.

I sign my name, seal the letter, and put it beside the cup for Ziku’s next round. The brass token Asha gave me lies at the bottom of the bag, wrapped in a spare stocking.

I take it out long enough to press my thumb into the worn design. Then I put it away.

On my third morning in the Ilden, Ziku takes the letter and hands me proof that Daurek’s request has reached the council. No date has been given for the review.

I thank him and try to decide whether knowing the paper has arrived makes waiting easier.

Reivaka finds me at the doorway, still holding Ziku’s delivery note.

“There’s a cloth trader in the southern clearing,” she says. “Come before she sells the good wool.”

I look down at my dress.

“Is it that bad?”

“It’s thin. You’ll want something warmer before the weather turns.”

She leads me down the steps beneath the Heartwood’s southern arch and along a path to the wagons. The trader is a broad woman with six arms, currently using four of them to unroll cloth across a tailgate.

“She leaves for the outer groves tomorrow,” Reivaka says. “She’ll be back here in six days to collect orders, then she takes what’s left to Karath.”