“So um…” Alkara begins with a quaver in her voice. “What was that? That thing you did with your voice.” She peers about the glade. “It’s like even the flowers and birds obeyed.”
Tharan pauses, outlining the bell under his tunic with a finger. “During my tenure as Bell Keeper, Doë has deigned to give me certain abilities. I developed this to aid in communication.” His mouth curls into a rueful smile. “When it is used to its full extent the results can be disastrous, as I learned to my chagrin. So now I rarely do so.” He sighs with the weight of responsibility. “Please forgive me. I did not anticipate such a strong reaction but even so I should not have used it. It won’t happen again.”
Alkara furrows her brow and tilts her head. “It’s okay Tharan. It’s just… what did it do?”
“It compelled you to follow my command.” His eyes glisten as his tone drops. “But please believe me when I affirm that I have no desire to control you.”
Alkara lets out a slow breath as she reaches for his free hand. She entwines her fingers through his. “It’s okay Tharan, really. I just… How do you do it?” She nestles against his chest, looking up at him with wide eyes. “The more I learn about your power, magical and political… How do you resist all that temptation?” Gooseflesh ripples across her neck. “I’ve heard about our dukes and kings and the things they’ve done. If you weren’t living proof that it could be resisted, I’d have said it couldn’t be done.”
Tharan pulls Alkara’s hand up to his chest. “It is not so difficult once all potential outcomes are considered. There is no ‘Getting away with it’ as your people phrase it. Even if there were, the privilege of working toward better outcomes for everyone is more desirable.” He quirks his mouth into an impish smile. “Though the temptation is present.”
Alkara nods, though some portion of the message eludes her. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. The sentiment feels lame, but Alkara can’t find a better response.
Tharan squeezes her again. “Think nothing of it. It is simply the way of things. Understanding that makes it so that I do not have to resist temptation. The temptation simply is not there to begin with.” Tharan huffs a small laugh, “For some things. Others…” He nods. “Certainly.” His eyes drift into a faraway look. “All those in power wrestle with, against, or succumb to temptation. But it is our duty to serve our people and strengthen the community. Not serve our own ambitions.”
Doësin focus on serving the community, building each other up and serving the needs of the many. Alkara’s studies have revealed that much. The poor and disadvantaged Doësin live in better conditions that the people of Three Rivers’ slums. And her orphanage threatened to kick her out if she didn’t become a proficient seamstress. In some ways orphans in Afanen fare better than the poorest families.
The combination of cultural work ethic and the community coming together to help those down on their luck seems to work pretty well for the Doësín. The texts describe their civilization as orderly and progressive.
Though they are far from perfect. Trying to enter the city is awful.
“Oh.” Alkara blurts out after several moments of silence. “That reminds me.”
“Hm?”
“Thank you for the Writ of Passage. Entering Afanen was awful before but now I can mostly get through without hassle.” Alkara gestures to Guen. “Once they wanted me to fill out a bunch of paperwork for her saying she’s an exotic animal being trafficked. I told the guard, ‘Guen’s not being trafficked. She’s my friend.’ And the guard looked at me and said, ‘Well there’s no animal friend visa. Do you want to enter the city or not?'” Alkara growls in frustration. “Infuriating. Especially because I know I’ve seen elven rangers with their animal companions walk in with less hassle. Even non-Doësín elves. But at least we got in, I guess.”
Tharan stares back, eyebrow raised and with a blank expression.
“But it hasn’t happened since you gave me the Writ.” Alkara hurries to add. “So. Thank you.” She sighs. “It’s been so nice not having to wait for an hour every time I enter the city.”
Tharan murmurs, “It is my honor to assist.” His brow tightens. “This was an isolated incident?”
Alkara winces, regretting bringing it up. She shakes her head. “Probably half of the time. And then I can’t stay in any of Afanen’s inns–”
“What?!” Tharan’s nostrils flare as he sits up. He stares at her with a cold, iron expression.
Alkara fidgets and swallows. “Well, I have to–” She corrects herself, “Had to…” Alkara gives him a light shrug. “I had to sleep outside because either they wouldn’t allow Guen or the fee for housing a ‘dangerous element’ were ridiculous.” She grimaces with a head tilt. “So I’d go through the process of getting into the city twice. Sometimes I’d just stay out if I came late in the day. Wait until the next day so I’d only need to go in the once.”
He stares at her unblinking. Alkara could almost see the gears turning behind his eyes. After what feels like a half-candle, he sighs. “Forgive our people, Alkara. I am sorry. Our borders are well-protected but I was unaware of the conditions to which you were subjected.”
Alkara shrugs. “How could you? You’re the Bell Keeper. There’s no way you’d have even had a chance to know what it’s like. It’s not a big deal.”
“I appreciate your assurances, but I cannot accept it.” He watches the paladins in the tree-line almost as though they had committed an offense.
Damn it… gone and ruined the mood again.
Alkara grabs a pear chunk and munches on it. She searches for a story to lighten things up. But it doesn’t take long before Tharan releases her from his embrace.
He lies on his back, staring up at the boughs of the old treant. Without comment he paws for a cracker and starts chewing small pieces of it.
His face sags under the weight of his three centuries. Whatever he’s thinking of must not be meditative. An urge to snap him out of it sinks its teeth into Alkara. To get him thinking about something. Anything else.
“Did I tell you Charlotte hired us privately a couple weeks ago?” That question snatches Tharan’s attention back.
He turns his head with arced eyebrow. “Privately? For what purpose?”
Alkara snaps a cracker in half and shoves one part into her mouth. “To protect her cousin. Their farm was being attacked. Livestock turning up petrified. Temporarily, but still.” Alkara launches into the story with full force. With their harvest at stake, the farmers had turned to the guilds for help. But it’d be weeks before they could get a team out there. So Charlotte’s cousin went out to protect the farm on his own, and he was badly injured.
Alkara shrugs. “So she hired us to protect him.”
Tharan’s face grows increasingly alarmed as she speaks. As grave as the situation had been, Alkara still finds a moment to enjoy his reaction. And she’s a little pleased with herself for snapping him away from his thoughts.
Once she finishes, he furrows his brow, “But hiring you privately likely violates her own guild laws. Why not send an official guild team?”
Alkara shakes her head, a conspiratorial grin growing on her face. “That’s the best part. Charlotte wouldn’t tell us. Just said this was a personal matter and the guild wouldn’t be involved.”
Tharan frowns, “That is odd.”
Alkara cocks her head, “Is it though? Seems pretty simple to me.”
Tharan arcs an eyebrow at her. “You suspect Kierra in some capacity.” It wasn’t a question.
“Tch! Of course!” Alkara’s smile suggests no other explanation would suffice. “The only guild that got back to them with a contract was the Northern Blackshaw Company.” Alkara sighs. “And they only wanted half the farmer’s stock, plus a third of their crop in perpetuity in exchange for helping them.
Tharan lifts his platinum blond eyebrows, narrowing his eyes. His lips part. He sits on the verge of asking something more.
Alkara nods, relishing that expression. “Yeah. Still think Kierra’s not up to something?”
Tharan chuffs, “Alkara, by your accounts, Kierra is always up to something. She may not handle things the way you would like her to, but that does not mean she is your enemy, or the enemy of Three Rivers. And she simply cannot be the perpetrator of all evil deeds in that city.”
Alkara frowns and deflates, shoulders sagging. She crosses her arms, “Now you sound like Uncle Iro.”
A smile graces the corners of Tharan’s lips before he clamps them into a thin, neutral line. He sidles across the blanket and wraps an arm around Alkara’s shoulder. “He is wise and understands much, so I take your attempted insult with good humor.” The neutral line cracks into a grin. “However, I did not mean to interrupt. Tell me how this tale concluded?”
Alkara fidgets a little, trying to figure out how to pick the story back up. “Um. Well… Did I ever tell you about jub jub birds?”
Tharan learns quickly. Of course he remembers the flightless, twisted birds from the Wastes. But what he and no one else could explain was how a whole flock of them had gotten across the river. Or why they were in a flock at all.
Alkara does enjoy describing the creative ways she, Chiron, and Dre and come up with to flush them out of their burrows and take them out. It had really become more of a game, once they’d found the dumb things. And Dre of course stuffed a few of the better preserved ones to take them home and dissect. Not to mention harvest their beaks. Though she’d have nabbed the whole flock if Alkara and Chiron had let her.
Tharan chuckles. “And you never discovered how they crossed the river?”
Alkara narrows her eyes playfully at Tharan, “No.”
Tharan fails to suppress this smile, “Let me guess…”
“It makes perfect sense! All of the other guilds dragging their feet. Kierra demanding a ridiculous price for her help. If we hadn’t intervened they would have been forced to accept the deal. She brought them across the river, I just know it! You wouldn’t be so skeptical if you knew what she’d done in the past.”
Tharan’s smile softens. “I heard about the farm incident Alkara.”
“What, when you were spying on us?” Alkara smiles with the accusation, verbally poking with a blunt knife.
Tharan hums with an equal smile. “No. You will recall I requested your return in two weeks after your initial inquiry for the mythril arrows. Your advisor must have told you that I run extensive profiles on my potential clients. Your break with Kierra and subsequent pattern of abrasive integrity caught my interest. Had you continued to be associated with Kierra, I would not have agreed to craft the arrows for you.”
Alkara’s mouth drops open, “So you DO think Kierra is up to no good!”
Tharan chuckles, “I do not agree with her methods any more than you do. She has accumulated considerable power and support. I suspect she will rule the city soon, if not in fact then by practice. And her influence will stretch beyond its wall. It may not be my place to do anything to stop it, but neither will I support it.”
Alkara sighs and puts her head on her knees. “And so, the little folks have to look out for themselves.”
Tharan squeezes her, “Hardly.”
Alkara looks up at him in question.
His smile seems to reach into her and warm her to the core. “They have you.”