He turned to her, and his face seemed to split in two.
I looked away from his taking her into his arms, his seeking comfort in her.
Reed was sitting on the ground, forearms balanced on his knees, head hung. I went to him and sat near him, my hand on his back. I did not know if I was allowed more, but I could not refrain from offering somekind of succor.
“Say something,” he whispered.
I was at a loss. All I could think to say was, “You will see her in every tall, curly-haired person you see for the rest of your life. And it will gut you. And you will see tall, curly-haired people who live past the age she was. And you will think, ‘Why them?’ And none of it will ever make sense. But there will be a day—not now, not soon, but one day—where you will see someone that looks like Evangeline and you will rejoice that you had any time at all with her in this life.”
He nodded but did not lift his head. “Keep talking,” he rasped out.
I told him all that I knew of death, that I was long acquainted with it, having lost Magda at a young age and been more freshly reintroduced to it when I had lost Avery, Rowena, and my parents. Whenever I concluded one story of sorrow, he asked that I keep going. So I did.
Later, there was an argument among the men. Dermid wanted to bury Evangeline, to cover her with rocks. It was a practice of the Helmsmen as they lived in the mountains. But Reed and Keir said that air Tintarians’ bodies were disposed of by their closest relative’s choice. Folks who had earth magic or who worshipped Mother Earth left their dead in Nyossa, those aligned with Sister Sea put them in the ocean, and those with Father Fire burned them. Reed then said we should burn her body as we were nowhere near Nyossa or the sea, and Keir agreed.
I let them debate, let them dwell on something other than sorrow, and then I suggested that we burn her—but that I would offer up some blood so that her pyre would be lit by Father Fire, so that she would be made ash.
Dermid—having heard my brief account of Magda and understanding that once that heat was ignited, there would be no body left—agreed to this.
“She’ll be carried away on the wind, by her god,” I added.
We lined her body with rocks so as not to cause a wildfire.Tessa offered to strike the flint on steel and place the kindling on Evangeline. Then she stood and said to the three men, “Pay your respects. We’ll step back and grant you the time with her. When you’re ready, then ask for Robbie.”
96
NOW: CITY
It took us weeks to reach Eccleston. The horses could only go for so long each day, and I was adamant that no one ride Zara. She was healthy, but her age was undeniable after our pilgrimage, a sunken aspect in her face and a stiffness in her gait worrying me.
By day we encountered the occasional mounted party or wagon, but they seemed to be people going to and from Eccleston on business, not Perpatanians. We made camp every evening with little to say to each other, foraging for food in the scrubby mining country and taking turns to watch in the dark for anyone following us.
Reed and I normally bedded down next to each other if he was not on watch, but we did not share bedding. One night, I was desperate for his companionship. I crawled closer to him, rearranging my quilt up against his blanket, and lay alongside him.
Eventually, I felt his knuckles graze my cheek. Then he said, “Tell me how your hand is? It is nearly blue with bruising.”
“It’s awful,” I replied. “I fear I won’t have full use of my ring or little fingers ever again. What about your chest and your arm? I will want to change those bandages in the morning.”
He turned to me, first his head and then his body, and curled around me. “I am sorry,” he whispered, pulling me close. “I have not spoken in days, I think.”
“You do not have to say athingto me,” I answered him.
The city of Eccleston was the wonder that Tessa had always claimed it to be. It was walled, but not like Skow was, more so the way a house is walled, to provide shelter to those within. The walls were dotted with several gates from the direction we approached it. We waited in line for a half hour or so as folk ahead of us declared their business in the city to their city guard. We could make out some damage had been done from the invasion Tintar had conducted more than three seasons prior, some crumbling to the walls.
The men who interrogated us when we reached the city gate were instantly put at ease by Tessa’s obviously being native to Eccleston. She explained that we were all folk from the low country and that she had lived there the last couple winters. Her account of our wanting to get away from the border of Tintar was explanation enough.
“Why doesn’t she mention we’re really coming from Perpatane?” Adelaide asked. “Isn’t Eccleston an ally?”
I shook my head. “Your father told us the citadel distances itself from Perpatane more and more, even if they have pledged meager troops to them in the war on Tintar. They’re no longer accepting aid from Perpatane either. All the wealthy mining families are paying for the rebuilding. Best not to mention any connection to either Perpatane or Tintar.”
We were allowed passage and directed to a street just inside the gate. The street was mostly made up of businesses that were aligned with Eccleston’s government. As Tintar’s bizarre sanctuary doctrine dictated, their invasion had only applied to buildings paid for by taxes, and this street had sustained much damage.
A unit of their city guard was marching up and down the street, calling out to people. Tessa, as instructed, approached one of them and explained who we were. They pointed us to a rather decrepit building farther down the street, where another guard met us andtold us we could dismount and stable our horses in the building’s small stables. Our wagon was too big to fit, and we left it in the street.
“We can fit in this place, all of us,” Tessa said after speaking to the man. “They’re offering cheap rent to war refugees if those folk can help restore the buildings. So we can stay here until Thane finds us in the city.”
“Do you think he made it out?” Adelaide asked.
I nodded at her. “He and his drivers were readying to evacuate hours after we were. And in the tumult of the tower’s fire, I doubt the army could restrict him. Most of them were already camping in the woods, ready to leave.”
