He chuckled, a low sound that made a shiver run through me.“I leave that to you.”
“And now we will leave you to bathe.You stink.”
Omira and I took our wet clothing and carried it back to where Yung and Kintle waited.We sent them to the pool and took turns watching and patrolling while the other hung wet clothing to dry.We could hear splashing, but the men were remarkably quiet.Only the low rumble of voices rose above the sounds of the rushing waters from this part of the brook.
“This is a good place,” Omira said.“The water will cover our voices.”
“It will prevent us from hearing Hollows approach too,” I pointed out.
“You are no fun,” she said.
“Would you rather have fun or be alive?”
She bent to pick some berries from a bush, and I joined her, dropping them in a small sack as I picked.
“What is life without some amusement?”she asked.“I don’t think I would want a life where I could not sing or dance or play my cymbalas.”
“What are cymbalas?”
She huffed in disgust.“You really know nothing.”We moved to another bush.“Cymbalas are small instruments I wear on my fingers.I clink them together and make music.”
“Taio said your geography protects you from the Twilight Men.”
“Zleyval, our capital city, is at the joining of two rivers that flow into Lake Igo.We are naturally protected.”
Now this made sense to me.The sea and the steep terrain always served as a natural protection for Highcastle.If Zulen had been overrun by Hollows, it made sense that an enclave with water on three sides might survive.
“When we are at home, there is always music and dancing.”She sounded wistful, much as Taio had when he’d described the capital to me.“I fall asleep to it and wake up to it as well.”
I still found this description of Zulen so hard to imagine.“Your brother really does sing?”
She moved to another bush and began picking, but we were further from the water now and the berries scarcer.“He has a deep, melodic voice,” she said.“You will like it.”She wiggled her brows at me then laughed when I gave her a look indicating I thought she was strange.
“You are such a somber person, but I will have you dancing when we return to Zulen.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I simply cannot allow you to sit on the side with Taio.He has many talents, but dance is not one of them.But you—you can dance.You have grace and coordination.”
“I will not be dancing.”I would be too busy shoring up fortifications in advance of my father’s possible attack—that wasifwe made it to Zulen at all.There were Hollows and Gaz out there waiting.
“I think this is the best we can do,” Omira said, lifting her own sack of berries.“Let’s see if the men are hungry.”
“When have you ever known a man not to be hungry?”
She laughed.“Was that a sense of humor?There is hope for you yet, Mara.”
