“Hm.” Was all that Rune said as he turned the lattice in his hands.
“What are you hoping to find?”
“This.” He pulled at a specific bone shard that was placed underneath the keybone. “This one is different from the others, I can feel it. All the other bone shards have a corruptive signature. Most likely, they come from relics that modify the body and taint human physiology. But this one has clarity to it. It’s obvious in its brilliant white color and the way it shines. I think whoever created this determined it was necessary for the pattern to work. Something so dark needed a sliver of light for balance, or it would’ve consumed itself and collapsed.”
“I... I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”
Seraphina knew how to cut shards and file them into the perfect shapes that were needed, but didn’t have a sense for what they did and how they fit together. That was something only a... master weaver knew.
Not just a weaver – a senior journeyman – but a master weaver, born with the talent.
She ran a hand through her hair, not knowing how to feel about this revelation. Maybe it wasn’t a revelation at all, and she was reading too much into it.
“I think I can use this to create a new lattice that would work as an antidote. I only have two brilliant white shards, and I can use them as keybones. I’ll have to take apart an Antipyretic Net and an Anodyne Band for the supporting shards. Or better yet...” He picked up Saint Nikolaus’ kneecap again. “I believe this one does more than we think.”
“Really?”
“Think about it. It gives off a fresh miasma. Since we’ve opened the box and it has been sitting on the table, it has cleared the air in the room. Don’t you feel better? I do. So, I believe this might just be a purifying relic. It purifies the air, so why wouldn’t it purify water? I could use two pieces of it as keybones and support them with the benefic shards from the Pestilent Wheels.”
“You want to... Wait!” Seraphina jumped to her feet. “You want to cut Father Johann’s prized relic?”
“If it saves lives, I think he’d want that.”
“And you just called the bad lattices Pestilent Wheels?”
“I don’t know what the master weaver who made this pattern called it, but I think the name fits.”
It did, and he was right. When Rune told Barbara about his plan, she called Katharina and Willa, and Peter because he was visiting his wife, and they huddled in the sacristy and put it to a vote. They were all in favor of cutting Saint Nikolaus’ relic if it meant there was a chance that a lattice built around it would end the bone fever.
He and Seraphina set to work. While she undid an Antipyretic Net and an Anodyne Band as Rune had instructed her, he pulled a piece of paper and started sketching possible patterns. She listened to the scratch of pencil on paper, and grew more and more annoyed by it.
“What you’re doing is something that only a master weaver knows how to do,” she told him. Her voice had an edge to it.
“Hm? Oh, all right.”
“Hm?” she echoed as her hands stopped moving. “All right? That’s all you have to say? I thought you were a weaver. Fine. That makes sense. Many relic schools train weavers and bring them to the point where they can fix lattices and copy patterns. But master weavers are a different story, and today especially, you’ve been acting like one.”
“I... I don’t know, Seraphina.” He stopped as well, the pencil hovering in the air.
Seraphina hated that she couldn’t see what he was drawing and judge for herself. He could’ve been working on something brilliant, which would further prove he had the skills of a master weaver, or improvising some mangled design that would do nothing, which would mean he was just a regular weaver thinking he knew more than he did.
“I can see this is important to you,” he said. “But I don’t have an answer.” He touched his temple with suddenly trembling fingers.
“It’s not,” she lied, resuming her work. “I just feel like you’re keeping things from me.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him.
“Don’t deny it, I know you are. But I also know you’re keeping those things from yourself. So, I shouldn’t be mad. I’m not. It’s not important, because it doesn’t change anything about you or about us.”
“I’m sorry...”
She sighed. One of these days, she’d have to tell him to stop saying that he was sorry every five minutes, but for now, she still liked to hear it. Even if he had nothing to be sorry about, those were words she hadn’t heard often enough before, and now she was indulging.
However, despite what she told herself, or him, her mood had gone sour. She worked for another half hour, then set her work aside and told him she was going to the tavern. They both had to eat, and she’d check to see what was available and bring food. Rune hummed in acknowledgement and didn’t look up when she slipped through the door.
Seraphina found Peter in the kitchen, but he chased her out and said he would prepare a meal for her and Rune, that she should rest and warm up by the fire. He didn’t look like someonewho could be argued with, so Seraphina accepted a cup of beer from him and sat in front of the fire, extending her legs to warm her feet. Outside, the wind was starting to pick up. The air smelled like it was going to snow again, and this time, it would settle.
“Miss?”
