The Timekeeper's Moon

by Joni Sensel

  Wounded anger glinted in Sienna’s face, but she pressed her lips and held her tongue.

  Scarl’s eyebrows rose, too, but he told Sienna, “Sometimes she has to find a path around hazards and rivers. A Farwalker’s feet can’t always keep to a straight line. Besides, the map is complex. The falls may be a symbol, like in a dream, not real water.”

  “It was real,” Ariel insisted. “I saw it. I got wet. And I know where I’m going.”

  He tipped his head to study her. “All right, no need to get angry.”

  “I’m not angry.” Veering away, Ariel yanked seed heads from grass stems and flung them to the wind.

  “Just cranky as a gator,” said Sienna, not quite under her breath.

  Ariel ignored her. When she thought no one would notice, she eyeballed the sun and headed more toward the east. Though she tried to stretch her thoughts toward the waterfall she knew lay ahead, they soon drifted back to Sienna and Scarl. Silently she urged her feet to find a village soon.

  At first the murmur came softly, so softly Ariel thought she heard only the chortling breeze. The words were few and sporadic, uncertain. That evening, she looked for the moon. Barely past its first quarter, it sailed high overhead, where it seemed to feel her notice. The whisper repeated and grew louder: Heed, walker, heed.

  A chill rattled through her. “I am heeding,” she said. “I’m coming, aren’t I?” The bulging half circle said nothing more.

  Passing through rolling hills buzzing with stink-flies, Ariel and her companions walked into August. Ariel barely noticed the flies. Worries preyed upon her instead: the map, the Vault, Zeke… even Vi. But what felt like life-or-death problems sometimes faded before another that was smaller but right there before her each moment: whether Sienna was winning Scarl’s affection and how life might change if the Flame-Mage stayed with them forever.

  With so much clamoring in her mind, and given conflicting instructions—the nearest village, the map, or Timekeeper, wherever it was—her feet lost their focus, just as they had after she’d first seen Tattler. With the tower visible in the distance, she’d let herself be guided by her eyes and her assumptions about the sender, instead of attending the actual pull of her path. Similarly, Ariel kept walking now, unaware of the indifference creeping into her legs. This time her wits were too dulled by fretting for her to notice.

  Early on the third afternoon since they’d left Tattler, Scarl halted them midway through a sunlit wood. Aspens quaked all around them, and at first Ariel thought he merely wanted to rest and admire the dappled forest. He’d been eyeing the trees thoughtfully for some time. She inhaled the leaves’ sweet pungency, grateful that Sienna kept her mouth shut for once. The breath left her in a rush when Scarl unlashed their packs from Willow and pulled them to the ground.

  “Are we camping already?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I think we should, for today. You know why?”

  Ariel studied Willow, the shimmering aspens, Scarl’s face, and, briefly, Sienna, without spying a clue. “Not really.”

  Scarl licked his lips and glanced at Sienna as if wishing she weren’t standing there. He gestured to a dead tree not far ahead.

  “We passed that snag several hours ago,” he said quietly. “I would have said something sooner, but the sun’s been so nearly overhead, I wasn’t sure until I saw that again. We’ve gone in a circle, Ariel.”

  Sienna rolled her eyes, but Ariel’s gaze fell to the ground. Distracted and no longer feeling her way, she’d missed the moment her feet had abandoned the challenge of taking her two different places at once—toward her goal but away from Sienna.

  “I’m sorry! I—” She choked.

  Scarl put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not a disaster. Let’s just relax and start fresh in the morning.”

  She nodded mutely.

  All three silently unpacked and then fidgeted, unsure what to do with themselves. It was too early to eat. Ariel wanted to escape by herself but feared she might make matters worse by getting lost from the camp. More importantly, she didn’t want to give Sienna and Scarl time alone.

  “Since Sienna’s fires are so nice to sit by, and we’ll likely burn one a long while tonight, I’ll go collect wood,” Scarl said. “Ariel, why don’t you come help? Sienna’s been gathering more than her share.”

  Ariel frowned. He jerked his head, encouraging her, before he turned and slipped into the trees.

  “Well, I’ll help if you won’t.” Sienna got up. “We will need a lot, stopping so soon.”

  “No.” Ariel dashed after Scarl.

  She caught him quickly. He shifted what he’d already gathered so both his arms could be filled.

  “Load me up,” he said.

  She stacked dry sticks into his outstretched arms.

  Once they’d fallen into a rhythm, Scarl said, “I’ve been thinking back, Ariel, and I wonder: Was there something that troubled you when we used my glass the other day? Something you saw or felt that we didn’t discuss?”

  “Huh? No.” It hadn’t even been on her mind.

  “You didn’t find more blood on your sleeve, did you? Or anywhere else?”

  She shook her head, grateful the answer was no.

  He waited until he could catch her eye. “Then what’s wrong?”

  She stared at him. “I blew it today, and we don’t have time for mistakes!”

  “Besides that.” His look penetrated too deeply.

  Ariel ducked her head. “Nothing. That’s enough.”

  “No, I don’t think it is. I’m not an idiot. I thought you weren’t acting yourself, and today you proved it. I know you’re worried about what lies ahead, but you weren’t this downhearted even when you were being stolen from home. If you don’t want to tell me why, say so, but I can’t help if you won’t.”

  She piled more wood into his arms, not meeting his gaze. The silence between them grew thicker until Ariel could barely lift her limbs against it.

  “I just don’t like Sienna,” she said finally.

  “You started as friends. What changed your mind?”

  “I don’t know,” Ariel lied. “She’s just so… she’s bossy and she sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. And she’s so worried about getting dirty or messing up her hair or—” She stopped herself before she could say anything too near the truth: Sienna was too pretty.

  With vigor, she stomped a long, thin branch into pieces. She could feel Scarl’s study through the satisfying snaps.

  As she lifted the kindling to him, he said, “Well, all trades have unpleasant parts.”

  Ariel curled her lip, annoyed at the reminder that Sienna’s presence had been her decision.

  He continued. “I suggest you just try to ignore her.”

  “You don’t.”

  The accusation slipped out. Wishing she could snatch the words back, she bent to retrieve a twig hardly large enough to bother with. The forest rustled around them, and she prayed the breeze had stolen her words before they reached Scarl’s ears.

  She wasn’t so lucky.

  “Ahhh,” he murmured behind her. “Ariel, are you … jealous?”

  She cringed. “Don’t be stupid. I just don’t like her as much as you do.”

  The wood in his arms clattered to the ground. “Come here and look at me a minute.”

  She only scanned for more firewood.

  Scarl grabbed her elbow from behind. “At least listen to me, then,” he said, irritation creeping into his voice. “I don’t know what you think, or what Sienna has told you, but you’re making yourself miserable for nothing. And it’s affecting your work.”

  She stared straight ahead for several quick heartbeats before finding the courage to peek over her shoulder at him.

  “That’s better.” His face softened. “We’ve been through too much together for that.”

  Her resistance broke. Turning, she wailed, “She says she’s going to marry you! She only came with us to make you fall in love with her!”

  His e
yebrows shot up and a crooked smile tugged his lips. “She may be surprised, then, when we leave her in some village. Ariel, I’m a bit too old for Sienna. And she is far too wily for me.”

  “Sienna doesn’t think so.”

  “Sienna is wrong.”

  The certainty in his voice reassured her—almost. A memory taunted her. Ariel knew she was taking a risk, but she couldn’t leave that memory roaming loose in her head.

  “I’ve seen you looking at her, though,” she mumbled, “like… like she was a sweet that you wanted.”

  He stiffened and drew back, crossing his arms. Ariel was afraid to check his expression. After what felt like a long time, he exhaled hard and pointed to a hummock on the ground.

  “Sit.”

  Hearing his terse command, she realized how hard he’d been working to hold his temper. She obeyed hastily.

  He hunkered down opposite her. “I don’t think I need to explain myself to you,” he growled. “But I will, because I can see how upset you’ve made yourself, for no reason. Sienna is a tempting young woman, and you watch me too closely, but what you saw wasn’t love. I don’t—”

  “What was it, then?” she demanded, mostly to see how honest he would be.

  Perhaps he recognized that. Certainly his piercing gaze felt as though he were studying the inside of her skull. At last he said softly, “The adult word is ‘lust.’” Anger still edged his voice, but his eyes had gained a glint of sympathy—or amusement. “Do you know what it means?”

  A general idea was enough. She nodded quickly and cast her face down, feeling foolish and too warm all over.

  “Good, because I’m not keen to explain it. But hear me sharp now, Ariel: a look is not the same as an action. I would not lay hands on Sienna for any reason. None. There are too many good reasons not to.”

  Ariel gulped and rubbed her knees, longing to believe him but not able. She’d been too awed by Sienna. “What if she wanted you to?”

  “I would tell her she was confused. Sienna is headstrong, but she’s young—in some ways she’s younger than you are—and she doesn’t know herself what’s good for her and what’s not. What you’ve told me speaks clearly of that. Her ambition is admirable, but the methods she uses to get what she wants are nothing I find attractive. And I do not have the stomach to get tangled in something that would surely bring us all grief.”

  “Really?” she breathed.

  “Really.” He gritted his teeth at her lingering doubt. “Imagine, Ariel, if word got around that the Finder who accompanies the Farwalker took advantage of someone like Sienna—willing or not. How long do you think we’d be welcome anywhere? And how many masters would let their apprentices walk with you ever again?”

  Ariel wasn’t sure how such a rumor could get around, unless she carried it, but she saw his point. There would be people ready to spread ugly suspicions if they saw even a shadow of wrongdoing.

  Shaking his head grimly, he added, “I don’t have the luxury of that kind of… mistake. I’m already as good as dead if I ever set foot again in Canberra Docks. One village that hates me is enough.”

  “You’ve thought about it,” she observed. Her words sounded more accusatory than she intended.

  “For crying out loud, Ariel, I’m human! A thought is not the same as an action, either. I wouldn’t trade on Sienna’s inexperience like that in any case. I know I’ve hardly proven my honor to you, of all people, but I do have some.”

  Before she could assure him she’d seen it, he continued. “It’s going to be difficult enough to leave her in hands we can trust to treat her fairly for a roof and her meals. But she’s an adult, by years, and this was her choice.”

  Mindful of Sienna’s boast, Ariel ventured, “You wouldn’t even kiss her?”

  Looking down at his hands, he kneaded his knuckles. “It may seem to you as though Mirayna has been gone a long time,” he said softly. “It doesn’t seem so to me. And I did love her, Ariel, very much. There’s not space in my arms or my heart for anyone else. Not yet. Nor anytime soon.”

  He rubbed a hand over his eyes and then looked up abruptly.

  “Except you, perhaps,” he added. “But that’s different.” He clasped both her hands in his own. “I certainly wouldn’t speak about such things with you otherwise. And I’m not going to do it ag—”

  “If you can talk to me about women’s bleeding,” Ariel said, “you can talk to me about this.”

  He froze, mouth poised to speak. Then he chuckled, shaking his head.

  “I can’t argue with that, can I? I fear for the man that you marry, truly I do.” He sobered. “But have you heard me? About Sienna, I mean?”

  She nodded.

  “Even if she had bewitched me completely, it wouldn’t change my promise to you. Do you doubt it?”

  With both his hands and his eyes pressing hers, she could hardly remember her fear. Although Ariel told him she was sorry, what she felt most was wobbly relief.

  “That’s all right,” he said with a wry twist to his lips. “Just remember this. The next one of us to do any courting will likely be you, not me. I’ll want to threaten your suitors to mind their manners and you’ll want to tell me to mind my own business. That’s when you can look back on this and try not to be angry with me.”

  Ariel giggled. The picture he painted seemed impossibly far off. Then she remembered her picnic with Nace. That hadn’t been courting—had it?

  Her head whirling, she restacked their firewood into Scarl’s arms in silence. Her body ached with relief and leftover angst, but a long evening’s rest would cure that. She could only hope that her conversation with Scarl would also drain the confusion from her feet.

  CHAPTER 22

  Dog Moon Speaks Up

  You weren’t over there, were you?” Sienna demanded, pointing. She’d been standing with Willow, clutching his mane, but she ran to grab Scarl’s arm the moment he appeared. A spear of resentment flashed through Ariel before she could remind her heart that jealousy was no longer needed.

  Scarl set down his firewood, and they all peered into the aspens where Sienna pointed, quite opposite where Ariel and Scarl had gathered wood.

  Sienna hissed, “I saw someone in the trees! Spying on me! And I’m quite sure it wasn’t old Vi!” She hugged herself, shifting from one foot to the other.

  Scarl’s eyes narrowed. “Just one?”

  Sienna nodded. Ariel trembled and tried not even to think Elbert’s name. Simple answers, she told herself. Elbert was dead.

  “Build your fire,” Scarl said. “Ariel, either help Sienna or do something else that will keep your eyes off those trees.” He settled into the grass, drawing half his glass from his pocket.

  “You really think somebody’s there?” Ariel whispered. But Vi’s confused words about seeing another of them, the Farwalker’s shadow, rushed back to her. As time passed, the old woman seemed ever less crazy. Ariel hoped Vi and Sienna might both have glimpsed Misha, but she’d never seen the ghost herself outside of dreams.

  “I noticed something earlier that made me wonder.” Scarl focused on his glass.

  Ariel gulped and turned to Sienna. “Tell me how to help.”

  Sienna regarded her dubiously. “I’ll do it myself.”

  So Ariel simply sat watching as Sienna arranged kindling. Shortly Scarl got back to his feet, picked up his walking stick, and crouched at Ariel’s side.

  “Keep on as you are,” he said quietly. “I’ll be back.”

  “Be careful!”

  “Of course.” He slipped his knife from its sheath and set it on the ground within easy reach of her hand. Their eyes met.

  “Just in case,” he added. “I’ll have my staff. All right?”

  Drawing a deep breath, Ariel agreed. He touched the top of her head before strolling away, headed nowhere near where Sienna had pointed. Ariel tried to ignore him. Her fingertips tickled the knife handle.

  When she looked up, flames licked in the kindling and Sienna was goggling at the k
nife.

  “You know how to use that?” Sienna asked.

  “Enough.”

  Scarl had taught her. He would have preferred that she carry her own, but Ariel had steadfastly refused. The weight of a blade would have constantly reminded her of her unpleasant encounters with knives.

  “You’re sure not much like other girls,” Sienna said.

  It sounded like an insult, but Ariel took more pride than offense. She wagged her head and then mumbled, “I’m sorry I’ve been kind of crabby.”

  Sienna fed her fire. “I shouldn’t have told you, that’s all.”

  Ariel rejected a number of answers before saying, “Could we pretend you didn’t?”

  “It’s not going to change anything.”

  Ariel swallowed, faltering under the strength of Sienna’s will. She’d seen Scarl’s will proven, however, and she had to trust what he’d told her.

  “I just thought it would be nicer to be friends again.” Ariel shrugged. “If you don’t care, fine.”

  Sienna sighed. “It would be nicer.”

  They both stared at the fire. Its smoke curled around them, stinging Ariel’s nose. After a while Sienna scooted closer to her and gave a silly little wave with her fingers.

  “Hi, I’m Sienna Flame-Mage. What’s your name?” A lopsided smile appeared on her face. “And what are you doing out here in the woods?”

  Crushing a grin, Ariel introduced herself. “Don’t look now,” she added, “but I’m waiting for someone to run out of the trees so I can wave this knife at them.”

  The playfulness slipped from Sienna’s voice. “You really think that might happen?”

  “I hope not.” Worry gnawed Ariel. Hindered by a limp, Scarl was poorly prepared for either a fight or a chase. She wished he’d return. Perhaps they were simply closer to a village than they realized and had crossed paths with a roaming Reaper or Kincaller.

  When Scarl reappeared at last, however, he gripped the collar of someone in tow. Sienna groaned.

  Ariel gasped. “Nace!”

  The horse nickered, too. The boy walked meekly, eyes down. After a week of travel, not even Sienna was truly clean, but Nace Kincaller looked as though he’d been dragged through the dirt. He didn’t even have a sweater, let alone a blanket or pack.