by T. A. Creech
“Ah, I can guess why,” Catli said, laughing.
“However, that’s not why I’m here.” Kota took a sip of juice and cleared his throat. If Catli didn’t know better, his friend looked very uncomfortable.
The suspense was going to kill him when Kota seemed to lose his nerve. “Tell me,” Catli coaxed in a soft voice. “Trust your instincts on this. You came to me for a reason.”
Kota gathered up his hair and twisted it a couple of times before he let it go, hanging over his shoulder. A nervous twitch he’d seen Kota do dozens of time before. Once the fidgeting was out of the way, Kota sighed and slumped. “A rumor is going around that Toa is unhappy your patient is here.”
Catli shook his head and squinted into his cup, the bright yellow pineapple juice more orange from the stain of the vessel’s color. The answer to his friend’s statement wasn’t hiding in the bottom. “That’s stupid. If Toa was unhappy about Alegan, I would have been called to explain what he was doing here. This would force me to explain the situation to Zusah. Who would tell the village.”
“And yet, the rumor is circulating.” Kota raised a hand, to fend off Catli’s outrage or stall for time, Catli didn’t know. “You can guess where it started.”
The blood in his veins literally bubbled with the heat of his anger. “Eshe.”
Kota grimaced. “I think she started to spread it the day after you brought Alegan from the mountain. What bothers me is how fast the rumor is spreading. We are prone to gossip, but this is something else.”
“She is angry with me because I refused to let her touch him.” Catli shrugged at Kota’s wide eyes and disapproving frown.
“What does it matter if she did? There was no harm in her looking him over. We owe no loyalty to this outlander.” Kota placed his cup carefully in the middle of the table, and crossed his arms over his chest. He was waiting for an answer and would wait forever if he had to.
Catli slumped forward and let his head thunk on the table, cup placed in the floor between his folded legs. “I don’t know,” Catli groaned. How childish, though completely true. Even with Kota calling his motive into question, he couldn’t explain the bone-deep aversion to Eshe with her hands on Alegan.
A tap on the table brought his eyes up to Kota’s scowl. “You need to hurry. She is bent on having the title of Koah, no matter what it takes. Half the village is convinced it’s only a matter of time before you name her your successor. If she can sway most into believing you incapable of doing your work anymore because your mind or emotions are slipping, she will.”
Kota tipped his cup back one last time and stood. Catli scrambled to his feet, his knee barking against the edge of it, and took up the arm Kota offered him in a firm grip so their forearms laid together. Giving Kota thanks would be brushed off as nothing, but Catli had to give it anyway.
“Thank you.” Catli squeezed Kota arm.
“No thanks necessary. You know I don’t like sneakiness.” Kota let him go with a grin. “She knows she’s not strong enough to beat you in a fair challenge yet.”
Catli was about to wave off his words, but the soft shift of the black sand at his doorstep cut him off. He was on his feet and through the front door in moments. Alegan was pacing in a manic circle, sheet clutched tight to the hollow of his throat.
Wild, dark eyes pinned Catli to his spot in the doorway. “Is it dangerous for your people if I’m here?”
“What are you talking about?” Catli demanded. A second later, what Kota said slotted together with Alegan’s question and the picture became clear.
“There was a little group that found me at the pool.” Alegan was pacing again, quick, heavy steps that kicked up glittering puffs of dirt. “They said Toa might find my presence objectionable and punish the village for me being here.”
“You were told a lie,” Catli said. “If Toa didn’t want you here, I would know. Or you would be dead.”
Alegan stopped as though he had hit a wall. Catli frowned. Then he nearly groaned, annoyed. How stupid was he to blurt out such an admission.
“It’s true. Toa is alive, isn’t It?” Alegan bounded to the doorway and seized Catli’s wrist, shaking like a leaf in a strong storm.
Catli shook his head. He stared at Alegan’s chin, because the intensity of his gaze hurt. “Not in the way you think. It lives in the same way the ocean is, aware and eternal, but beyond the ideas of us. We have a form that is free to go where we will. Toa is stuck in this place, and Its mind is only concerned with here and now.”
“And it can cause harm to the village, if It chooses?” Alegan asked.
“Of course It can. Its’ a volcano!” Frustration made his hands curl into fists. Catli bared his teeth for a second, but let out a slow breath. Losing his temper had caused problems before. It wouldn’t help now, if he did. “Never mind. Unless you experience the God-Child’s presence for yourself, Its consciousness is impossible to explain.”
Alegan released his wrist as if he’d been scalded. “I’m sorry, I never meant…”
Catli softened his sour expression with a smile. “I’m unharmed.” He caught up Alegan’s hand, much gentler than his guest had a moment ago, and guided him into the house. “Now, go get dressed. We’ll talk this out once you are decent.”
Alegan glanced down and blushed. A good portion of his patient’s flank and thigh was exposed to Catli’s gaze, the sheet parted where Alegan’s arm stuck out. “All right.”
While Alegan was in the guest room, Catli went into his kitchen and pulled out another cup. Kota raised an eyebrow. Catli ignored him, pouring a measure of juice into the cup.
“You’re going to keep him here, aren’t you? Even with the danger he causes to your position.” Kota groaned into his hands. “How stupid are you?”
“He isn’t finished healing,” Catli murmured.
“A lie.” Kota looked like he wanted to slam his hands into the table in a fit of anger, but he curled them tight at the last moment on the wood. “He walks around just fine and his mind seems sound. You should ship him back to wherever he came from.”
Catli leveled a baleful eye at his friend. The half squint and serious frown worked on Kota the same way it has all the times he had to use it on Kota. His friend turned his face away and huffed out an irritated sound. The small smile still showed at the corner Catli saw.
Kota’s expression was straightened out by the time he faced Catli again. “What do you see that I don’t?”
“Parts of him are still broken,” Catli whispered as footsteps echoed down the hallway. Instead of another word, Catli tapped his fingers over his heart, a sad emotion welling up as he thought of what little Alegan had said so far on his quest to the island.
Kota’s eyes rotated up to the ceiling and he sighed, deep and put upon. Catli smiled. He knew Kota would cave to Catli. They had been friends for years too, and if Catli thought something was worth fixing, Kota helped however he could.
Alegan stepped through the doorway into the kitchen in clean tunic and trousers. The fit wasn’t quite accurate, but Catli was pleased to see his estimate of Alegan’s size was close. He would take Alegan to the weavers before long and make sure his clothes were a proper fit.
“Hello, again,” Kota greeted with an open smile. His friend had such an honest face and Catli hoped Alegan might be less likely to run if Kota stayed while they talked about Eshe and her cohorts.
Catli waited, patience barely restrained, while Alegan settled at the table. A sense of doomed seemed to permeate the very air around the table, centered on his patient. Catli cut right to the heart of Alegan’s concerns.
“You are not going anywhere.” Catli smiled and folded up at the tablet, across from Alegan, Kota to his left. “I won’t have it.”
“But isn’t it dangerous for me to be here?” Alegan’s eyes darted between him and Kota. Concern was easy to see. That was interesting. Alegan was worried more about Catli’s safety than his own. It made Catli feel light.
“No, Alegan. I
f Toa had objected to your presence, you would have died on Toa’s Eyes.” Catli took a sip of his drink, to give Alegan time to let that sink in.
Alegan frowned though. “You are sure?”
A chuckle erupted out of Kota. “I’ve seen him commune with Toa, myself. If Catli says you are safe to be here, believe him. He has no reason to lie.”
“I never lie,” Catli muttered, petulance slathered all over his words. He grunted to clear his throat of the sticky feeling.
“Not even that time you told Laah about you jumping to the bay to save one of the pigs?” A smirk puffed Kota’s cheeks.
That was a low blow. “I was not about to tell my mother I was trying to catch starfish because I was bored with learning my letters.”
A blush burned his cheeks when Kota laughed at him and nudged Alegan with an elbow. “Just so Catli doesn’t try to pretend he’s an infallible human, mage or no.”
Alegan grinned for them and that sense of doom evaporated. “You seemed to know him well.”
“Since we were ten summers. But in the matters of safety and his duty, he doesn’t lie.”
“Okay,” Alegan said.
“Even if your presence was dangerous, I can’t allow you to leave until you are completely healed,” Catli added. Alegan frowned at him, which made Catli elaborate. “That is part of being a healer.”
“Ah.” Alegan pinched his full bottom lip between his teeth, brows creased.
Kota reached out and squeezed Alegan’s shoulder until the mage looked at him. “Don’t worry. The group that put those lies into your head is known to us. Eshe is doing what she can to sow discord in Catli’s life for her own reasons. Ignore her.”
“Yes.” When Alegan let go of his lip and locked eyes with Catli, he let every bit of his honest belief show on his face. “I will deal with her long before you are well enough to go, if you choose to leave. Of course, you are welcome among us for as long as you like.”
“You don’t have a say in that, though,” Alegan pointed out. His voice wavered high, like he wasn’t sure. “Right?”
“True, but I can have Zusah, our leader, meet with you. She can tell you the same.” A grin bloomed on his face as he thought of the Latten meeting their guest. “She loves to pester visitors for information about the world beyond the Fire Stars, especially gossip about the royalty.”
Alegan grinned at first, then rolled into chuckles a moment before he burst into a full bright laugh. “Gadal was the same way. She was forever asking travelers to Sparrow about the Osairan king.”
Kota caught Catli’s eyes with a questioning tilt to his head. Catli took a stab in dark about the question he wanted to ask Alegan, but felt wasn’t his place to ask. “Gadal?”
Alegan’s laugh wound down into a wistful smile. “My wife. She was quite interested in the lives of others. She loved their stories.”
“Was?” Kota broke in, since Alegan had seemed all right with sharing.
“Yes,” Alegan answered, the smile falling away as though it had never been, replaced by a glossy stare at the table top. “She died with our daughters, four autumns past in an accident.”
Kota breathed out a sorrowful sound and lurched over to wrap Alegan in a hug. His patient met his eyes with a wide look, but more in surprise than panic. Catli only had a soft smile to offer. Kota was a tactile person. When someone was wounded on the inside, in mind or heart, his friend’s first impulse was to comfort. Alegan seemed to need the embrace, because he shuddered and looped his hands around the arm Kota had across his chest.
Catli had no words for Alegan. He reached across the table and tangled his fingers around Alegan’s, where they hooked around Kota’s arm. It was all he had.
Chapter 6
Alegan slept better in the fortnight after his first trip to the bathing pool. The world seemed a little less haunted with Catli lurking around every corner and Kota, with Mota and Jari in tow, finding every little thing to show him. The little seagulls were still a terrible memory. Those birds were vicious.
The Latten, Zusah, had come by Catli’s home two nights after Catli’s talk with him about Eshe and did exactly as his host said she would. She extended the offer for him to stay as long as Alegan needed and begged for gossip. It was shameless, how eager Zusah was for scandal, and she almost squealed when she heard of King Vius’ marriage to Sumantan King Solna. Just the memory of her squeal made his ears ache.
Life was simple, on Toa, though not easy. Alegan got a firsthand education on fishing in the sea and was almost swept out on the tide from the rip currents hidden under the jewel blue water. He was no hand at the fiber crafts of sewing and weaving, though he was amazed at all the ways the villagers had to dye fabric. He hated farming.
Husbandry was straightforward. The animals loved to cozy up to him, it seemed. A baby goat thought his fingers were excellent for teething. Until that tooth munched too hard on said finger. The teeth might be blunt, but crushed fingers hurt just the same as punctured ones.
“Now look, little beast, that isn’t for eating.” Alegan planted his free hand on the baby’s forehead and shoved a little. The baby meeped low at him, indignation maybe, and came right back with a head butt to his chest.
“She enjoys your warmth,” Catli murmured as he walked up. The faint trace of dust and the scent of sulfur told him where his healer had come from. “Both magical and your personality.”
A smile burst out of him without so much as a warning. Catli seemed to make him happy when he was around. The sarcasm and wry humor were part of the appeal, but Catli’s fierce compassion was what really called to Alegan. There was a freedom to feeling the happiness steal over his heart in Catli’s presence. Something he hadn’t felt in years.
“I think she’s more interested in her ability to eat things she’s not supposed to.” Alegan held up and wiggled his fingers, some of them reddened from being chewed on.
Catli tilted his head a bit sideways, like he was giving the idea a great deal of thought. “Perhaps,” Catli rolled out on a slow breath. “Or perhaps she is fond of the salt on your skin from your swim in the bay, earlier.”
How did Catli know? “Did Jari tell you about it?”
“You forgot to rinse off once you were ashore. I can smell the ocean within ten steps of you.” Catli laughed when Alegan blushed, caught like an errant child. His fellow mage slid onto the packed earth of the goat pen and folded his legs. The goat flicked her ears. “This one likes me best, and yet she continues to harass you. I think it’s the salt.”
“Harass is overstating the matter,” Alegan muttered. He didn’t dare get any more forceful than that. He liked Catli in his space. The way his soul twanged with guilt made him keep a polite distance, but he couldn’t seem to keep Catli farther than that.
“She does seem to be doing her best to make a nuisance of herself.” Catli scrubbed a hand across the top of the baby’s head, fingers bumping against Alegan’s sternum the whole time. The heat of Catli’s fingers through his shirt was almost enough to blister his skin. The thought that maybe, just maybe, he was a little smitten with Catli because the mage was his healer crossed his mind. Such things weren’t unheard of, to mistake gratitude for love. It was possible. Now that his last hope to regain his family had died, four years was a long time to live in the shadow of their deaths. He would never stop loving them. That was impossible.
But he could see them, just beyond the edge of his sight where they always were in his memory. His wife was a star bright beauty. She had a kind word for everyone and lived for burying her enemies under unrelenting politeness. Catli would have been adored for his blunt sarcasm, his cutting words. Gadal would beat him when he joined them after his days were done. She would ask him, with that hard smile telling him how difficult he was to deal with: “Husband, why are you so blind?”
His lovely girls would giggle and push him at Catli when the healer wasn’t looking, they would keep going until they forced him to bump into Catli. And badger him, constantly, in their
sweet voices, until Tima figured out she had to share Alegan’s attention. The pouting would come after that. His girls were master manipulators. Alegan wished they were still with him, to see them grown. To make sure they knew to only use their extraordinary power for good. Their hypothetical disappointment weighed heavy for a moment.
Catli glanced up at Alegan, sitting next to him in the black earth, the endless horizon in front of them. Alegan’s smile wobbled. No, his family was no longer physically with him, but he could feel them just out of reach of his senses. Potential was staring him in the face. He didn’t want Gadal to scold him in the presence of Selena.
Alegan held his thoughts to himself, for now. He was still not in a place to give anyone anything. He wanted to, yes. Hand all the pieces he had left to Catli, and let him do what he willed with the shards of Alegan’s former self. The little that remained. Gadal should be pleased. She had said he was a sweet, bumbling wreck while courting. Bumbling wreck was the only part Alegan agreed with.
First things first. He had to get his feet back under him, as it were. Alegan might be a broken shell of a man, but he’d be damned if he didn’t polished those broken bits to a high shine. Catli seemed like a magpie, if the state of his home’s odd collection of stuff was anything to go by. If he wanted Catli to keep him, shiny was a must.
* * * *
“Alegan, I really must protest,” Jari said as he stumbled along Alegan’s side. “Catli is going to stretch my hide if he knows I helped you do this.”
Alegan turned left along the beach as Jari pointed and talked. His new friend was a serious, but helpful, man and had been more than willing to lead Alegan to a secluded section of beach when he asked. Jari just agreed and didn’t bother to find out why until they were actually on the beach. After this, Alegan was pretty sure his friend would find out what the favor was before he agreed.
