“One small deviation,” Jayme started hesitantly. “After the position it put me in yesterday… I have no interest in returning to the market.” She turned to the saddled noru. “And while this beast is nimble, perhaps not nimble enough to go through the market. So I’m thinking that I’ll take it out on the main road, and meet you both on the outer circle.”
“We can go with you,” Vi offered.
“Don’t you want to see the market?” Ellene linked her arm with Vi’s. “A caravan arrived from the West two days ago. All the way from Norin, so there’s a whole host of unique goods to peruse.”
That thought hadn’t crossed Vi’s mind. Just because it was near impossible to get in and out of the southern capital didn’t mean the rest of the world was shut off.
“Just agree.” Jayme tried to fight a laugh and failed. “We all know how much you love Western spices.”
“Fine, fine.” Vi held up her hands in agreement. “You two know me far too well and I concede.” She looked to Jayme. “You’re sure you don’t mind? And that you can handle Gormon? A noru is a lot different than a horse.”
“I think I’ll be fine. Yours is far better trained than the one we met in the jungle.” That much was certainly true. Jayme turned to Ellene. “I’ll help build suspense for you. Talk about what a shame it is that you decided not to race this year, to allow our Crown Princess to shine.”
“You’re the best.” Ellene threw her arms around Jayme’s neck. “We’ll see you out there soon.”
Jayme left first, noru reins in hand. Gormon was a fairly gentle beast, so Vi didn’t worry too much for her handling him. Ellene was right: he was faster than her noru, but only because he was younger. Vi watched as his long tail swayed back and forth with the sort of prowling sashay that marked all noru.
She looked away quickly, reminded of the last time she found herself on the receiving end of one of the beast’s paws.
“Well, it is a good thing I’m here then,” Andru reminded them of his presence.
“How are you so quiet?” Ellene nearly jumped out of her skin. “I’d forgotten you were there at all.”
“I am not sure if I should take offense to that,” he muttered, then continued, louder, “You two will need an escort through the market, now that your guard is gone.”
“We could easily get a warrior.”
“Do not be silly. It is no trouble.” Andru smiled.
“Thank you,” Vi said, earning a look from Ellene. “That is kind of you.”
“Is it?” Ellene murmured under her breath.
It was Vi’s turn to give the girl a pointed look. She hadn’t received Romulin’s missive about the importance of Andru. Vi hastily returned her attention to the man in question, hoping he missed the nonverbal layers of communication. Fortunately, he was staring off at the noru in their pen.
“You have yet to properly see the city, right?” Vi dared to ask.
“I have been out a few times.”
“Well, allow us to show it to you from our point of view.” She didn’t know when, exactly, he’d been out.
“Is it very different? Your point of view?”
Did he want to come or not?Vi plastered on a wider smile. “I shall let you reach that conclusion on your own.”
With that, they started off with Andru in tow into the city proper.
They wound around the many unorthodox structures of Soricium. Some short, some as tall as tress. Some made of masonry, others of carved woods, and most magicked into existence with the help of Groundbreakers. Vi did her best to point out things along the way to Andru. In the back of her mind was her brother’s letter—he was important, and she had to be on her best behavior. She’d done an admittedly poor job of it so far, so perhaps she could recover some ground today.
There was an amphitheater to the north of town where most of the performances and lectures for the solstice would take place. The area around it was mostly residential, unused for most of the year, but built with wide roads and space to accommodate the city converging on the spot for those special times. That made it a logical place to pop up the market for the solstice.
“It’s even larger than last year,” Vi appraised.
“Mother says it’s the biggest year yet. The merchants filled all the open space here, they’re overflowing—some are even forced to stay back by the main road. I can’t imagine how full the city will feel when others come in for it.” Many of the smaller towns and cities in Shaldan poured into Soricium for the solstice events.
“What do you think?” Vi asked Andru as they started down the makeshift market stalls.
“It is very different, indeed.”
