“I do.” Soo rounded the corner, the peal of bells following in her wake. “I have a tea for everything.” It was impossible to tell with the heavy weight of wrinkles around her eyes but Stone thought he saw the woman wink. “Here.” She handed Stone a satchel stuffedto the brim. “Make sure your water is hot, let it steep for three minutes.” She held up a finger, pointing it at his face. “Not two minutes, not four minutes. Three minutes. Understood?”
“Understood.” Stone slipped a few coins into her hand and turned away before she could tell him his money was no good to her.
Aesira snatched the satchel from Stone, holding it to her nose and taking a deep inhale. “What’s in it?”
Soo plucked a dry, yellow flower from her wall and began to grind it with a heavy mortal and pestle. “Who are you, girl? You come to the Outpost, a place for miscreants and drifters dressed like a woman of the law.” Soo’s eyes burned a trail from Aesira’s chestplate down to her boots.
That cursed fucking armor. He wanted to rip it off her. Not just because he liked her better without it, but because it would get them in trouble and trouble was the last thing they needed.
“Are you? A woman of the law?” Soo pressed, adding another flower to her mortar.
“I am.” Aesira tossed the tea back to Stone. “Commander Zeliath.” She held out her hand but Soo busied herself, grabbing more leaves and flowers, grinding them to dust. The moth on her shoulder stretched its wings but made no attempt to fly away.
“And it’s you who seeks this drifter?”
“Yes,” Aesira said. “He’s my brother-in-law. My sister is worried about him.”
Soo huffed a laugh before wiping her hands on her robes and pouring the dust into another satchel. “And finding him is what you seek the most?” She didn’t look up as she spoke. She kept her eyes down, drawing shapes and letters into the flower dust that hadspilled onto the countertop. A riddle, Stone guessed, that would leave them more questions than answers. That’s how it went with Soo. Her guidance was a broken mirror and she held the missing pieces, but still somehow expected you to fill in the empty shards on your own.
“I wish to find him more than anything else,” Aesira said and for some reason Stone believed her. She said it with her chest out, her chin high. He respected her dedication. Her loyalty. Even if it was toward the crown, the same people who put him in prison.
“Good.” Soo glanced at her now. “Drink the tea. If finding him is what you want most in your heart, it should lend you some answers. Take this. I have a feeling you might need it.” She tossed another satchel to Aesira before turning to Stone. “Three minutes.” Then, she was gone, back behind the curtain of bells.
“You heard her,” Stone said. “Let’s go.”
Another bell chimed as Stone pushed open the door but Aesira took a step toward the counter. “What is it?” He rejoined her in the back of the store and mapped her gaze to where Soo had drawn in the flower dust.
There was a single word in the center of a set of peculiar drawings.
Lost.
Ten
Aesira
After a few dizzying twists and turns from the Apothecary, Stone stopped in front of a ram-shackled building with darkened windows and a red painted door. “Here we are,” he said, “the one and only Outpost Inn.”
“What a unique name.”
“Thought you might like it.” They ushered inside, paid the surly woman behind the counter, and took the three flights of narrow stairs until they reached the door to Aesira’s room. “I’ll be back with your water.” Stone handed Aesira the satchel before trotting back down the stairs.
Inside was sweltering but simple; a mattress on the floor with worn but seemingly fresh linens. A windowwhich overlooked the docks that Aesira immediately opened, hoping for a hint of a breeze to cool down the space.
The Aquila loomed in the distance, hovering several feet above the bank of sand. There was a small bathroom with a singleastrasconce, a basin for washing and a bar of yellow soap which smelled similarly to the flower Soo had turned to dust.
Aesira tore off her armor, replacing it with a long shirt and leggings, then she stripped her boots and sank onto the mattress. It was larger than the one back on the ship, but thinner. Either way, she was glad to be on land for the night. From her pocket, she pulled the extra tea from Soo. Its sweet smell hit her first, but there was something there at the end she couldn’t place. Something sharp. Medicinal.
She tossed the satchel aside, landing next to her armor that was piled on the floor. She stared at it, resenting it, but before her mind could drift to that dark place, a knock at the door had her jumping to her feet. “Come in.”
Stone joined her with a small iron kettle and two porcelain mugs. “Was able to find water, didn’t come cheap though, bastards.” He set the kettle down on the countertop near the bathroom. “Do you have the tea?”
Aesira set aside the sweet tea and pulled the second satchel from her pocket and tossed it to him. “Are you sure this is safe?”
Stone set to work, heaping a spoonful of loose leaves into one of the mugs and topping it with steaming water. “Soo has been making tea longer than we’ve been alive. If she says it’s safe, it’s safe.” He handed her the mug and a pungent waft of sewage hit her. She wrinkled her nose at the brown water. “Not a fan?” Stone asked through a laugh.
“Can’t say that I am.” Aesira sniffed the tea again and then regretted it. “So all I have to do is wait three minutes then drink and it’ll show me where Desmond is?” She looked up from the muddy water to see Stone readying a second cup. “What are you doing?”
“Joining you,” he said. He held the mug to his nose and took a deep inhale, the steam fogging over his spectacles. “Better we both drink, double up our chances of it working.”
