by White, T. A.
Tate released the breath she had been holding. Angering one of the five great Night Lords would have made staying in the city difficult if not impossible.
Until that moment she hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted to stay. She’d had some half-baked notion of disappearing into the countryside and leaving all of her problems behind. Tate had spent enough time around thieves and their hunters to know how to hide her trail.
Now that Lucius had called off his men, staying seemed more attractive all the time. She looked up at the faces towering over her. Yeah putting down roots might not be such a bad idea.
“Have you performed the ceremony of remembrance for your lost friend?” Blade asked.
In a rusty voice, Tate explained, “I’m not familiar with the customs he was born to.”
“I thought as not.” Blade stood. “Follow me. I’ll show you what I remember.”
She copied his motions as he paid his respects to the gods and then made his way to the shrine of the god of water and patron to the Kairi, where he lit incense, bowed and then clapped his hands three times. He told her it was to celebrate the person’s birth, life, and death.
It was her idea to head down to the cliffs closest to the water. He helped her pick out a suitable spot of smooth rock face to etch out the name she’d given him, Tempest. She’d come up with the idea after Ryu told her the Kairi would keep his name in the role call of ancestors. That had been for his people; this was just for her. She wanted his name tied to the city he’d died to defend.
Under his name she wrote, “He paid the ultimate sacrifice so that others might sleep in peace.”
She stepped back and eyed her handiwork. It’d do. Few, except the ones who were there in those dank tunnels, would know of his actions. She’d come back later and etch the words deeper in the rocks and make sure they’d remain until long after she’d faded from this world. He’d be remembered. She’d make sure of it.
Blade’s presence was soothing. “One couldn’t ask for a better remembrance,” he said. She smiled through her tears. “Come on.” He turned back towards the city. “I’ll show you my favorite part of these ceremonies. The drinking.”
