The elf nodded to her as though he were greeting her at his own doorstep. “Viv. I’m intrigued that you heard me,” he said, in a tone that was anything but interested. There wasn’t a shred of shame, either.
“Had a little help.” She shrugged. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking why you’re here?”
“Of course not. And I imagine the guilt has been preying on you.”
“Guilt?” Viv asked incredulously. “What in the eight hells do you mean,guilt?”
The elf sighed, as though her obtuseness disappointed him. “You didn’t deal fairly with us, Viv. I had my suspicions from the beginning, you know. You were soevasive.”
“It was a fair cut,” said Viv levelly. “Especially for what amounted to rumor and chance. The scalvert’s hoard was plenty to balance the scale.”
“I don’t agree,” he replied silkily.
She found his patient, reasonable voice incredibly irritating.
Then his lips wrinkled in uncharacteristic annoyance. For the first time, his mask of cold indifference slipped. “You were hardly subtle. All that muscle, and not half the wit for guile. Was it taxing for you, the plotting and planning?CleverViv, untangling a fabulous mystery! Why, you must have thought you were the first! How amusing. Then with the Stone in hand, off you scurried, as fast as you could, afraid you’d let something slip if you lingered too long. Or perhaps the shame sent you packing?”
“Shame?” Viv laughed. “You’re full of shit, Fennus.”
“Am I? Tell me then, do the others know?”
“That I made a fool’s bet based on a few lines from a song? No. But not because I wasashamed, Fennus.Embarrassedis closer to the truth.”
He gestured expansively at the building. “A fool’s bet? It seems not.”
Viv ground her teeth. “A deal’s a deal, and I kept my end of the bargain. You reallyneedit, Fennus? What do you think it’ll do for you? Or are you defending aprincipleby creeping around in the night to take what’s mine?”
“Mmm, a principle? Something like that,” he murmured. His eyes flicked to her greatsword on the wall. “When you put that blade away, never believe you exchanged it for scruples.”
“I figure I’ve talked enough. Do what you’re going to do, and I guess we’ll see what happens.”
“Oh, Viv, it’s a shame that–”
Fennus leapt suddenly, gracelessly backward as an enormous, sooty shadow lunged over the table, narrowly missing him with a swipe of fearsome claws. Amity landed with predatory grace and whirled on the elf with a hitching snarl.
“Gods-be-damnedthing!” spat Fennus.
The dire-cat stalked toward him with slow, deliberate steps, her muzzle bunched up above impressive fangs. Viv hadn’t even known the beast was in the building. Howhad shemissedher?
Amity’s growl throbbed louder, and then Fennus ghosted past with a nimbleness even the cat couldn’t match. In an instant, he was out the door and had vanished into the night.
The dire-cat stared after him for a moment, then lazily blinked her enormous green eyes. She padded back to the pillow and blankets in the far corner, circled on them, kneaded them with her claws, and then settled back down to sleep again.
Viv cautiously knelt and stroked the big cat’s fur. The vibration of her purr rattled all the way up to Viv’s shoulder.
“When in the eight hells did you start actually sleeping here?” she wondered aloud.And why didn’t I see her before?
Either way, Viv was going to make sure there was extra cream on hand. And maybe a nice joint of beef.
* * *
Despite the sureknowledge that Fennuscouldn’thave disturbed the stone—he plainly hadn’t had time—Viv couldn’t sleep without reassuring herself.
She checked up and down the street before shutting and re-locking the front door. Pushing aside the table, she squatted and turned over the flagstone in order to stroke the Scalvert’s Stone where it lay.
The shop, Tandri, Thimble, Cal… and now Amity. The way each week seemed to flower into the next, budding into the fulfillment of a heretofore unknown need? Up ’til this moment, speculation over whether her fortune was due to the Scalvert’s Stone had been almost academic. Why probe a good thing too closely?
Now, the question seemed like it always should have been… what would happen if shelostthe Stone? If it truly was the root of everything she had grown, then if it were cut away, would the plant wither and die, or could it continue on? And if so, for how long?
