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Harok waves his free hand at Lymok, shooing him away,“Ei, Lymok. Idi nal.”

Lymok takes only a small step back and says in Artemian, “I was just offering to help Irgo Harok with the issue you are having.”

“Please do. I have no idea what the issue even is,” Tobi says. Harok is still holding Tobi’s wrist up tight between their chests.

Lymok looks at Tobi with a smirk that seems to suggest he knows exactly what Harok’s problem is. He says something to Harok in Ambolk and Harok snarls something back.

Lymok says, “Irgo Harok is asking about what you are wearing.”

Tobi is not sure exactly what Harok said, but he knows enough to understand that the exact words he had said had been rather more threatening.

Harok’s face is stern. He keeps hold of Tobi and points down at Tobi’s feet, snapping out something in Ambolk.

Tobi looks up at Harok with what he hopes is an engaging, defiant smile. “Don’t you like boots, Irgorye?” he says in Ambolk. “My boots from Attar.” .

“Kushir obeys the Irgorye,” Harok replies in a growl of Ambolk, but Tobi can follow each word. “Kushir grelsi.” He looks at Lymok and in a darker tone he says, “Lymok, idi nal.”

Lymok shrugs and turns away, going back to his duties, as Tobi says, “I wear the alit,” replying in his own Ambolk words and tugging the hem of it. He thinks, if he knew more Ambolk words he could tell Harok that he decided not to wear his leather breeches or his shirt with full sleeves. His arms and legs are still bare. He just prefers having boots on his feet.

Tobi looks at Harok. He looks angry, but also drawn and exhausted. He points at Tobi’s feet again. “Boots,” he says in Artemian.

Tobi nods, “Sho, boots.”

Harok speaks slowly, picking Ambolk words Tobi knows. “Kushir el boots es willun.”

Tobi understands this. A kushir in boots is free. Harok thinks Tobi is wearing boots because he wants to be free. He wants to leave.

“Ei,” Tobi says. “Ei willun. Kushir yours.” He isn’t sure of the word for yours. But he curls his free hand into a fist and presses it to the centre of Harok’s chest, which he hopes makes his point clearly.

“Suskara jara ai,” Harok says quietly. Harok turns away and shouts something in fast Ambolk. The next moment Harok’s hand is gripping Tobi by the wrist and Tobi is being marched at a pace back into Urynwud. He is still holding Baby’s halter with his free hand and she comes padding behind.

Harok marches past Susal-ur-Bellan with Tobi trotting behind and only halts when they are behind the dais, beside the fire pit.

Tobi looks at Harok. His eyes are dark. He says, “Boots,” and points into the pit.

Into the pit? Tobi shakes his head. Harok wants him to throw his boots into the fire. “Ei, arral,” he says, shaking his head.

“Sho, Suskara,” Harok says. “Kushir grelsi.”

Tobi just stares at Harok. Eyes burning. He knows there is no point in trying to argue.

Sullenly, he removes his boots, one at a time. He holds them out to Harok. Harok shakes his head and points again to the firepit.

Tobi has no choice. He throws his boots into the pit and watches them burn. His feet bare once again against the stone floor of the Sacred Hall. Harok reaches out and tugs off Tobi’s cloak, snarling out more angry words of Ambolk as he sees the waistcoat.

He points at it, then at the pit.

“Ei,” Tobi says in horror. Not his beautiful waistcoat. Perhaps wearing boots as a kushir is some kind of taboo, but what harm does it do if he wears a waistcoat? It covers no more of his skin than the alit does.

But Harok simply crosses his big arms over his chest.

Swallowing, Tobi removes the waistcoat. He blinks. The pit is smoky. There are tears behind his sore eyes as he throws it into the firepit.

Tobi stands in the Sacred Hall, cold now, in just his alit. The skin on his arms bristle into gooseflesh.

Harok looks past Tobi and says something to Olladin who, along with the rest of Tobi’s guards, have followed them into the Sacred Hall. Olladin responds and Harok speaks again. The guard says, “Sho, Irgo,” and turns, marching away with Cel.

Tobi did not understand the exchange but he thinks he can guess. Harok was asking where the boots came from and Olladin had told him about the chest and the other clothes.