“Thought I heard somebody else,” the man muttered.
She shrugged.
“Huh.” The innkeeper disappeared behind the curtain again.
“Why’d you shut up?” Fern kept her voice low. “I figured you’d want an audience.”
“Notthatone. Guy has a weird thing for silverware. I don’t need that kind of interest.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. After all,you’rea greatsword that has experienced diminishment. Can’t imagine he has a lot of use for one ofthose.” She blew the shavings off the table.
“Hey, not everybody is as perceptive as they oughta be.”
Fern ignored him and began to write, while he grumbled quietly on the table.
Dear Viv,
I’m soaking wet. I’ve just finished arguing with a knife. This will require some explanation, and I can already tell this is going to run long.
I realize that as I write and rewrite this letter, I can’t help but consider all the ones that came before as part of the same long message. I think I’ve resolved to give them to you in a bundle when I get back, then close my eyes and hold my peace until you read them all. One endless string of apologies with memories sandwiched between them. And at the end, forgiveness?
Maybe that’s asking a lot. Maybe you’ll put them down in the middle of reading. Maybe you’ll never get through the first page.
I imagine you receiving the only one I actually sent. Were you furious? Disappointed? Relieved? All three? Hells, it probably hasn’t reached you yet even now.
I realize I keep imagining your response and trying to write with that in mind. That feels like cheating, somehow, but given the circumstances, that’s a weird thing for me to be hung up on.
Which reminds me . . . Iamsorry. Sorry for tearing my life apart when I gave you every reason to believe you could rely on it staying whole.
I’ve caught the tail of something. I don’t know what animal is on the other end.
I will see you again though, I know that—if it doesn’t swallow me whole—
“Mind if I have a seat?” said a voice, startling Fern so much that she scrawled the trailingeacross the page.
She glanced up to find another rattkin standing across the table from her. His fur was sleek and smoky, ears slim and back-swept, eyes interested and inclined to amusement. He had a dagger belted at his waist and a tartan sash worn crosswise over one shoulder. His tail quirked a curious curve behind him.
“Um,” said Fern, glancing around at the extremely empty great room and its abundance of open seating.
“It’s Quillin, by the way,” he continued, ducking his head in the ghost of a bow. “Sorry to intrude, but I rarely see any of our kind on the road but penitent monks, andhells,they’re boring conversationalists. If I can risk being rude, you don’t strike me as a religious pilgrim.”
“ATarimite?” A laugh escaped Fern, along with a surprised, “Oh, fuck, no!”
Quillin’s brows shot up, and a smile bloomed. “Verynonreligious. Thank the Eight. I’m starved for some honest gods-damned profanity.”
“I . . . sure, have a seat,” stammered Fern, flustered. “I’m Fern. Pleased to meet you.” She self-consciously flipped the letter over in front of her, covering Breadlee with it. She thought she heard an indignant mumble from him, but Quillin didn’t seem to notice, although hedideye the parchment.
“Just a letter to an old friend,” explained Fern, as he slid into the chair across from her.
He raised both paws. “None of my business. And this is none of my business, either, but I’ll ask anyway—what brings you to this absolute pigs-wallow of a town in the ass-end of no-place?”
Fern prepared to explain that she was a bookseller from Thune, which would inevitably lead to an astonished exclamation, a “How in the Territories did you gethere?” and then the admissions and the justifications and the embarrassments.
Instead, with a curious shiver of delight, she replied, “I’m traveling to Amberlin with Astryx One-Ear. A sort of assistant, I guess you’d say.”
The look on his face wasverysatisfying.
He leaned over the table and laced his claws together. “Eightdamnations. Squire to the Oathmaiden? Well now, you are a singular lady indeed. Can I buy you something to drink? Iinsistyou regale me.”
