Page 62 of Ties of Frost

Zidra drummed her fingers on the wood floor, then rose to her feet with grace that could make an elf jealous. “Well then. First, we need to write to Archon Aekyrdra with what we know.”

I nodded. As the current leader of the Order of the Rengir, Aekyrdra could send notices to every Haven in the empire, and she met regularly with the Council of Archons and high-ranking imperial officials. If anything happened to us, the Order would still know everything we did about the league of assassins. Which admittedly was very little.

“Then,” she continued, “we need to go down to the docks and charter passage.”

“That gets us to the inlet,” I said, “but not past Rouven’s ice traps.” Assuming Old Frostbite was the right cranky old ice elf.Please, Iskyr, let him be the right man. And let him be trustworthy and willing and able to help.“I can’t guarantee I can disarm the traps or protect us from all of them. In fact, sometimes such traps are designed to be triggered if other magic tampers with them.”

Sajen stood as well. “I can fly over the inlet to do reconnaissance. If I carry you, perhaps you can sense if there’s a way in.”

Zidra blinked. “Surely no one could maintain magical traps over anentireinlet.”

With a sigh, I shuffled to my feet. “I suppose we’ll find out soon.”

Twenty-Three

Zidra

We spent the next hour reviewing all the information to put in the letter to Archon Aekyrdra and figuring out how to say everything more concisely. Once I was satisfied, I made two additional copies.

One letter I sent directly to Aekyrdra. The second I sent by a different messenger service to the headmaster at Harcos Academy, with instructions to read it and then deliver it to Aekyrdra. The third I sent by yet another messenger service to the Riverfront Haven in Laedresh, again with the same instructions. There was almost always at least one rengir at the Riverfront Haven, so someone would receive it sooner or later. Kyrundar teased me about being paranoid, but I wouldn’t risk the league intercepting a single letter.

Aekyrdra was smart enough to figure out why she’dgotten multiple copies. The Order hadn’t voted to retain her as archon three times in the last forty years for no reason.

By midafternoon, we had booked passage for three to Seath Inlet—according to the ship’s captain, the home of Old Frostbite. Unfortunately, theTristanwouldn’t set sail until early the next morning.

Although it was early for supper, neither Sajen nor I had eaten anything since we bought muffins for breakfast. Kyrundar said he knew several excellent places to eat depending on what we were in the mood for. Sajen wanted fried fish and offered to buy our food, so Kyrundar merrily led us across the sprawling city to a restaurant at the end of White Gull Wharf. True to its unimaginative name, white seagulls circled and cried overhead.

The Sunbathing Seal, marked by a large sign with a painting of its namesake, stood at the end of a crowded row of shops built on the pier. I paused at the end of the pier, gazing out over the gentle waves of the Aizurgon Sea. A cluster of shapes stood out in stark contrast against the pale blue of the sky on the horizon.

The Wyveri Islands.

Shaking off an odd mixture of heartbreak and homesickness, I followed my companions inside.

Sunlight streamed through large windows, and chandeliers provided additional lighting. Despite how many tables and chairs crowded the space, the vaulted ceiling and warm glow made the place feel open and airy rather than oppressively cramped like many taverns. The tables and floor were clean, and I took a deep breath. No stench of sweatypatrons and spilled ale; just a slight lemony scent underlying the smell of cooking food.

Kyrundar grinned at me. “I thought you’d appreciate the ambiance, Zee. And the lack of patrons at this hour.”

I turned toward him, my eyebrows knitting.

Before I could formulate my question, he added, “I know sometimes the crowding, noise, and smell of restaurants overwhelm those overly keen wyveri senses.” He waved for me to follow and made his way to a table in the corner, positioned beneath a window looking out over the bay.

Kyrundar took the chair with its back to the window, and Sajen took the chair to his right. I slipped into the chair with its back to the room. I may not have been able to shift, but my senses were sharp enough that I’d know if an assassin tried to attack me from behind.

Still, I didn’t feel uneasy. The Sunbathing Seal was well-lit, and the few clients scattered around the room were well-dressed. This pier didn’t attract ruffians. Besides, from where he sat, Kyrundar could see the entire room, and I trusted him to notice anything concerning behind me. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

Thankfully, the window behind Kyrundar didn’t face the Islands. I wasn’t sure I could have stared at my people’s home while sitting across from the ice elf I was falling in love with and still kept my appetite.

A young man wearing a black apron over his dark clothing came and told us their selection for the day and took our order. Like Sajen, I opted for the fried cod with aside of peas. Kyrundar chose baked herring stuffed with herbs and a side of roasted asparagus, and I started to doubt my choice. Just thinking about the food made my stomach rumble.

While we waited, we sipped spiced light ale. None of us spoke, but the silence was comfortable. The silence of friends who don’t need to fill every moment with conversation to feel connected. It was a marked difference from the silence I had often experienced at home, where the lack of conversation often was a judgment that I wasn’t worthy of being addressed or a false sort of peace that was merely the absence of arguing.

Such thoughts turned my mood sour, so instead I pondered our upcoming journey. I’d never been on a ship before. Every time I’d had to cross the sea, I’d flown. Even the wyveri merchant caravan I’d traveled with had all flown—we’d carried the hyzli dogs in padded kennels and the other goods in crates. It was exhausting and required crossing the sea only in fair weather, but it was faster and cheaper than a ship. Wyveri merchants would rather take multiple trips than bother with ships. How much of that was simply irrational pride that we didn’tneedships, a practical concern because of how difficult it could be to find safe harbor on the rocky shores of the islands, or a paranoid defense because having no ships meant we built no docks and no one could land on our shores, I wasn’t sure. It was probably stubborn pride and how reluctant most matriarchs, like my mother, were to change how things were done.

Realizing I’d failed to keep my thoughtsoffthe wyveri and my family, I searched for a conversation starter. Anything would be better than brooding.

“Sajen, have you decided if you’re going to take a new partner?”

As soon as I asked the question, I wished I’d thought of a better one. The human firemage who’d traveled with Sajen had retired from the Order a little over a year ago due to a combination of injury and old age. While I knew Sajen wouldn’t be offended, the subject of rengir companions came too close to my strange situation with Kyrundar.

---