It's been four days without tea.  I can't feel cold, but a chill has set into the bones of the house, and I can light no fires to chase it away.  The lanterns remain unlit, the stove remains dead, the Sunwolf remains slumbering where I can feel her breathing if I lay my chin—gently—across her belly, and she doesn't wake, and she doesn't set the kettle to boiling, and I can't even fit into the narrow kitchen.

The light is waning.  Dusk approaches.  She has a watch tonight.  I whine softly, but she doesn't stir.  No sense of duty wakes her.  I stand, and pace, and mostly turn in a circle, only a step between the far wall and the bed for me.  Her eyes are closed.  I miss their pale blue, like a spot of sky amid the trees.  I wish she would look at me.  I wish she would look at anything.  She does not wake.  I flop back beside her.  Her watch starts soon.  She should be getting dressed.  We should be leaving for her post.  The sun creeps closer to the horizon.

I can't stay here and do nothing.  No matter my pacing, my whining, my mental prodding, she will not wake, and there is nothing I can do to help her, and the house is hollow with grief.  I go to the headquarters instead, looking for the captain, looking for Asa, and I find her—she seems distracted—and I ask if maybe I can help with the watches even though Vṛkā can't right now.  She accepts immediately, with relief, even though my position has never really been official, and I am pleased, if a little confused.

That's when I scent it.  Sour fear over the musk of prey, and woven through it all, the sickly edge of poison.  I hesitate.  She asks what's wrong.  I know that something is, but it feels far from my place.  I am here in Vṛkā's place, and Asa is the captain.

"If you have a question, then ask it," Asa says.  She's looking at me oddly, but I can't decipher what the expression means.  "I can't guarantee you'll like my answer."

"...I smell the other," I say at last, "and Gash.  Why?"

She pauses.  "It was my decision," she says, as though to defend something.  "Gash refused to be held at the courthouse any longer, so I brought him here.  I will take fault for anything that happens due to that."

"You will undo Vṛkā's work!"  I only barely keep myself from leaping to my feet, but Asa remains calm.

"I will not," she says.  "I'll be keeping an eye on the situation.  The settlement will not be jeopardized.  It's my responsibility both to protect the settlement and to uphold the law.  I will not fail in either of those respects."

I force myself to settle back, but cannot quiet my worries.  "He'll make another deal; he'll make another deal..."  I pause.  "You aren't watching them now; how can you be certain?"

"You need to trust me on this, Gwrtheyrn.  I will not let Auris' work go to waste."  Her tone has hardened, and I stare at her...and drop my head with a quiet whine.

"Aham..."  I...

Movement, and she's beside me, hand resting gently on my side.  "Please trust me."

I wish I was smaller.  I don't know what to do.  I wish Vṛkā was here...  "...may I...  May I stand watch?  For them?"

Asa hesitates, but nods.  "For now.  But you'll need to sleep eventually.  You won't do anyone good if you exhaust yourself, Gwrtheyrn."

I duck my head in a quick nod, not bothering to explain my connection to Miris, that I do not always need the rest or food that others require.  "Dhanyavādaḥ."  Thank you.

❂

Gash is sitting in the corner against the wall, staring across the hall at the other.  It's silent as I approach, until Gash darts a glance at me, his eyes narrowing, and the elf speaks up in a lazy drawl, "Well, it's good you're here, isn't it?"

I prick up my ears at that, and sniff the air.  Fear and prey and confidence and poison and anxiety all mingle strongly, and I look closely at the other.  "Why?"

"Look at him," he says, waving his hand toward Gash with the ghost of a smile.  "He's shaking in his boots."

Gash rolls his eyes, but his scent doesn't lie.

The other's smile grows.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Simply making an observation," the other says.  His hand hasn't stilled, and I look quickly back to Gash as he sucks in a breath as though abruptly in pain.

"He's bein' a bit of a pest," Gash says after a moment.  He lets out his breath.  "Ain't nothing fer you t' be worrying 'bout."

"I will worry as I please.  You asked to come here.  Why?  What deal have you made?"

Gash turns his glare on me.  "Nothin' that affects ya or the town.  Just finishin' up some business and tying up loose ends."

The other shrugs, still with that ghostly smile, and eventually Gash says to him, "Jus' pointing out, ye didn't say nuffin' 'bout whether we're watched or not, so's far as ah figure, this still counts."

"I never said it didn't," replies the other.  "As long as he doesn't stop me."

"Stop you from what?" I ask.

"Don't remember ye sayin' anything 'bout that condition neither, now that ah think about it," says Gash.

"I don't see much entertainment going on if he stops me.  Or are you breaking your word so soon?"

"Entertainment?" I ask.  Some part of me feels it should be offended by the idea, but...I'm only calm.  They continue ignoring me.

"Ye ain't entertained by bein' visited by a guard wolf?  High standards."

"I've seen enough guard dogs in my life to be bored by them."

"What did you trade for it, Gash?"  Something is off, within my own mind.  I feel...like I should feel something, but I don't.

There's a moment in which it seems he won't answer, but then he sighs and says, "More o' less, extendin' his half of an agreement we made previously, perm'ently.  Just changin' up the wording some."

"To?"

He looks at me, and the skin of his face is tired.  "That asshat o'er there," he makes a crude gesture toward the other, "ain't gonna mess wi' Val, or contact 'im, or fuck with 'im in any way, or fuck with anyone Val cares about, fer forever.  An' he's gonna do his best t' make sure this goes fer the rest o' his shitty organization, too."  His eyes dare me to say differently.

I consider it.  I think it would be right, to say differently.  To prevent needless suffering.  Or would that merely be good?  But...I think of Valerian, spooked and running.  Ignoring our calls, hiding from us, because who remained whom he could trust?  (I think of Vṛkā, silent and unwaking, and hide the thought.  I should not do it for her.)  "Honor dictates that you owe a great debt," I say to Gash.  "I will see that you pay it."

He makes an odd expression at that.  "Can't fix what ah broke, but ah can fix this, so, figure ah ought."

"Satyam.  Indeed."

"So...ye need anythin' else?" asks Gash.

"No?" I say.

"Ye're just...waitin'?"

"Neither of you have honor.  I will ensure it is done as honor demands."

Gash raises an eyebrow.  "Ye know, that's kinda weird, ye just watchin' the whole time."

"It is unfortunate you think that.  If you had honor, you would not care."

"Some sort of catharsis for him, probably," the other says with a shrug.

I tilt my head, thinking about this.  I don't think it's catharsis.  It might've been, before.  I wanted him to hurt at first.  But right now, I still don't feel anything.  It simply seems the right thing to do.  I should ensure that neither side breaks their word or shies from what was promised, and then it will be complete, and we will not have to worry over it again.  "No," I say to the other.  "I have finished with him.  Now I am an agent of Miris, no more."

"Ah think mos' folks wouldn't be a fan o' bein' watched in this sorta situation, honor or no."

"I will rephrase: if you had honor, you would not complain."

"Definitely some kind of catharsis," the other says.  "He's trying very hard to deny it."  He shrugs.  "Not like it matters.  I was about to give you a break anyway—looks like you need it."

Gash glares at him.  "Real gracious o' ya; a real saint."  He looks at me, grimaces, and resettles himself against the wall.  "Trust me, honor or no, ah ain't 'appy 'bout being watched."

"Hm."

❂

Jakob arrives a little later, and offers a sad little smile to Gash, and settles down beside me without question, and I begin to wonder how much he knows.  But he soon falls to conversing with the other, trading talk of the jungle and some creature they've called a carnotaurus and asking about Freeport and the other himself and his preferences for little things like drinks and styles of clothing.  It isn't enough to make the other forget his task, especially with Gash interjecting insults, but it does distract him, and Gash fares better for it.

Eventually, the other tires, and turns away to the wall.  He still sits with impeccable posture, and it's some time before it's clear he must be resting, and Gash at last allows himself to drift off to sleep.  Jakob and I are left to keep watch.  I tell him he can sleep as well if he likes, but he only smiles faintly and shakes his head and says he doesn't need to.  When the other stirs some time later, Jakob proclaims a cheerful good morning, and that brings Gash groggily back to waking as he strikes up a new conversation.

This time Jakob asks after the other's family, if he has many siblings (he does), and if he's older or younger than them (somewhere in the middle), and if he's close with any of them (Nemorosa, sort of), and so on and so forth.

"You might meet Nemorosa," the other adds after a pause, "if you come with us to the ship today."

"Ye sayin' someone else from yer shit family's here?" Gash finally speaks up.

"They're on the ship.  They have no intention of entering the town.  They're just here to...pick me up."  A note of annoyance enters his voice on the last phrase.

"An' ye know this...how?"

The other smiles, blue-gray eyes crinkling at their corners, and taps his forehead.  "They've been keeping in touch."

Gash frowns.

"Something to say, rat?" he asks in the same, pleasant tone.

Gash pauses.  "Jus' don't like the reminder tha' there's more o' yer shit family out there.  And ah 'specially don't like one of 'em being this close without knowin' about it."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to my family in that manner."  Almost lazily, he waves his hand in Gash's direction, and the shadows around Gash lengthen, and Gash sucks in a breath, tensing as they reach him, the darkness leaching visibly through his veins.

There's a pause as it fades, and Gash slowly lets out the breath with an audible wheeze.  "An' ah would 'ppreciate it if'n ye didn't do tha', but it looks like neither of us'll get what we want."

"You did agree to provide entertainment."  There's an edge to his voice, belying the cool air he attempts.

Gash nearly responds, hesitates, and holds his tongue with a shrug, trying not to look toward us.

"So...Nemorosa?" Jakob asks.  "What is it—like, to have a sibling—willing to come so far for you?"

"I imagine my mother made them come."

"Oh, I see.  So it's about your mother."

The other shrugs.  "Nemorosa wouldn't have come of their own accord.  I imagine some of the others might've.  Ilke certainly would.  But my mother likely wouldn't let anyone but Nemorosa come, especially alone."

"What's Ilke like?"

The other smiles slightly.  "She's a little younger than me, though...she seems a lot younger sometimes.  Very excitable.  Very annoying.  Used to cling to me when we were little."

"Erm, in your family, is your mother—the only parent?"

"Yes."

"Hmm...  What sort of things does Ilke like?"

"Fire."

My attention begins to drift, but is caught by Gash, and it's a moment before I realize that he's stilled, frozen in a way that...feels all too familiar.  Somewhere within my mind, I think there is a muted empathy...but it remains distant, and slips from my grasp too easily.

The other chuckles, looking across to him.  "It's too bad I didn't learn to throw fire bolts."

But Gash has recovered himself.  "Heh, ah dunno, ah think the shadows kinda suit yer personality, don' they?"  They darken around Gash in response, closing in on him in a blink, and he suppresses a cough as they fade.  "Ah—ah think ye're gettin' soft; ain't even tha' bad anymore."

The other narrows his eyes.  "Well, if that's what you think..."

A shadow falls across Gash's eyes as they go wide, unfocused, and he blinks rapidly before closing his eyes altogether, trying to collect himself.  Jakob shifts beside me and Gash twitches, tilting his head to catch the sound.  It must be what the other did to me earlier, stealing my sight...

The other smirks.  "Well, it seems like you're nervous enough, but just in case..."

Gash draws a sharp breath, trying and failing to regulate it as his expression cracks toward panic, his eyes blinking sightlessly, and I remember Vṛkā saying something of how the other could cause fear with nothing but a word.

"Hecate."

Gash freezes.

"If you don't mind..."

The shadows surge through him and he curls in on himself with a groan.

"Care for another?"

Beside me, Jakob closes his eyes.  I...I feel like I should wish to do the same.  But I must watch, and any display of emotion would only serve to satisfy the other, and somehow, knowing this, the calm remains.

Gash turns his face toward the other and speaks deliberately, the words sounding forced, "No, if'n it's all the same t' ye, ah'd rather not."

"Then I suggest you keep your mouth shut.  Next time I won't be so nice."

Jakob's knuckles are pale where his fists rest on his lap.

A beat.  "Ye're a shit person with a shit family—"  Gash cuts off with a hiss as the shadows tighten their grip.

Tears slip down Jakob's face.

"—don' like it when ah point out what a lot o' fuckups they must be, huh?  An' you, too—ah mean, you got caught an' all.  Must be disappointin' to 'em, having to send yer big sibling off to pick ye up.  Ah bet they wondered if they should even bother.  But ah guess the weak protect the weak, an' they cain't really afford t—"  The darkness furls around his throat, the impression of a hand.

"If I were just a bit closer," the other says in a low voice, prowling to the front of his cell, "I would rip you apart," he hisses.  "I'd rip you into a thousand pieces and put you back together just so I could do it again.  Just like I did to Valerian."

Gash makes a strangled noise, his eyelids fluttering, and the darkness rushes away from him at once, the other turning swiftly away, and Gash collapses forward, gasping for air.  "An' yet.  Ye can't do jack shit," he manages in heavy breaths.  "No' to me.  No' to Val."  He grins, and chuckles, fear and mania lacing his expression.  "How's that feel fer ya?"

The other waves a hand over his shoulder, and Gash twitches, but seems beyond reacting.  The other pauses.  "Did you tell him what you were doing?"  His tone has softened and he turns back, anger replaced by something that wants to look like Lyra's open curiosity but is somehow very wrong.  "My, he must be so worried about you—or, wait, you probably kept it a secret, didn't you?  Of course you did.  You wouldn't want him to feel guilty about all you're doing to protect him."

Gash shrugs warily.

"Is that why he hasn't come to visit you?  Doesn't know you're here?"

Gash ignores him.

"The poor thing...  Unaware of your sacrifice.  Don't worry."  He smiles, lips pulling away from his teeth.  "He'll know my touch without you saying a thing."

Footsteps interrupt any reply Gash might give as Tareyna enters the hall.  "Ay, got 'em both in one place now, hm?  Well, ship's in, an' it's ready to sail."

Jakob quickly wipes his eyes before rising to face her with a pleasant smile.  "I am—ready when you are, then."

Jakob is well attuned with the spaces between spaces, and knows how to step from one place to another without visiting anywhere between.  It's how they brought the other to the courthouse for his trial, and how they'll bring him to the docks now.  It makes it more difficult for the other to cause any trouble on the way.

"Jakob?" Tareyna prompts once the other's been manacled.

"Erm, if you don't mind—we should walk down the hall first?"

Tareyna frowns.  "Ye cain't do it from the cell again?"

"The docks are a bit farther than the courthouse."

"Aye, I s'pose they are.  Jes the hall's far enough, then?"

Jakob nods.  "It should be."

"A'right, ye heard 'im."  Tareyna opens the other's cell door to lead him out.

"See ya never, asshat."  The shadow's gone from Gash's eyes now, and he moves toward the front of his cell, catching Jakob's attention before they pass.  "Be safe, kid, a'right?"  The words are softer, but there's a ferocity to them all the same, as though will alone could make them true.

Jakob nods, and then they're past, and down the hall, and vanished from sight.

Gash slumps back against the wall, unfolding a bit of paper.  The calm is finally beginning to fade from my mind, and a sadness pools at the edges, and...a lot of emotions, all packed tightly to be indistinguishable from one another.

"Ay, Gwrtheyrn."  Gash's voice is sharp, and I snap back to attention.  "Do ya know who's supposed t' be going with the asshole?"

The calm is back, washing everything aside.  "Tar-yna and Jakob will do it."  No matter how many times I try, I never seem to be able to pronounce Tareyna's name correctly.  Too many vowels.

"The kid's really going?"  He's pushed off the wall, pain all but forgotten in new panic.  "I thought 'e was just taking the bastard t' the ship; he cain't go all the way wi' them!  It ain't safe!  Ye know what kinda people the shitstain an' his shit family are!"

"They will deliver the other to the archipelago.  It is unlikely they will even leave the ship, themselves, until they return."

Gash paces briefly, wincing at every other step, before gripping the bars at the front of the cell with one hand.  "So?  Tha' doesn't change the fact that they're on the ship, with the two of 'em!  An' the asshole's a damned good wizard, an' who e'en knows what this Nemorosa person can do, an' the Lunides got an 'istory of taking folks and fuckin' with 'em.  How do you know that they aren't gonna pull the same shit with the kid?"

"Na jānāmi.  I do not know.  They volunteered; no one forced them."

"Well, is there at least someone else going with 'em?  A buncha others on the Force, so they 'least ain't outnumbered on th' boat?"  Gash turns away, swearing to himself.  "Right, so, they're heading out an' what, ye ain't gonna do nothing 'bout it?  What's the plan if'n they don't come back?"

"I have faith in them.  But if that comes, we will do everything in our power to retrieve them."

Gash stares towards the door, scowling.  A moment, and the tension drops from him, and he looks at me.  "If'n this all goes t' shit, ah'm going t' go after 'im," he says quietly.  "Ye know that, right?"

I tilt my head, considering.  "You may be assured Vṛkā should lead the charge."

"Hm.  Considerin' that ye said something 'appened to 'er, that don't partic'ly reassure me."

I let out a huff of air.  "Vṛkā will return."

Gash frowns.  "Return?  She gone, then?  ...Yeah, that don't reassure me much at all."  A beat, and he exhales.  "Ye got wizards an' such who can cast Sendin', yeah?  If'n ah were ye, ah'd be checking up on the two of 'em e'ry day.  If'n the Lunides do try something then we oughta know soon as it 'appens, rather than jus' waiting 'til the day they're s'posed to return an' shrugging if'n they don't show."

"Vṛkā is..."  I shake my head.  "I will ask Alboba."

"Good."  He moves back toward the cot and pauses.  "Ah don't s'pose ye'd be willing to let me know how the Sendin's go?"

"You have just told me that you will attempt escape if the news is bad."

Gash blinks, then shrugs.  "Ye know, that's fair, bu' not entirely accurate.  Ah jus' said ah'd be going after 'im.  Up t' ye if'n that takes escaping or not."

"Hm.  No, it is not up to me."  I stand.  "I have other things I must see to."

Gash slumps back onto the cot with a low groan, clearly regretting the strain of the pacing, and I leave.