“Persinette.”
“The magician’s, not yours. But that’s a mouthful, while we’re on the subject.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. His name was Patrick. And everyone calls me Netta.”
She had become very still. The movement of her hand on the knife had ceased.
“And this magician … What did he tell you?”
“He gave me this.” I handed over the token, and she turned it between her fingers. “And told me to find you. He said you were a friend. I was hoping you might give me a place to stay. Just for the night,” I added hastily.
“Do I look like an innkeeper to you?”
“No, but …”You are a woman and therefore automatically safer than others I might encounter here. You have kind eyes. You are clean, which tells me you do not sleep out here, and potentially know somewhere where I might take a bath.All these thoughts ran through my head, but I did not know how to voice them. While my mind raced, my Hair wound loose from my neck and sent tendrils drifting towards Mieka like hands raised in supplication. I grabbed at them and yanked them down, but Mieka had seen it. Her brown eyes widened as she looked from the Hair to me.
“It’s …” I began, and then stopped.
“I know what it is,” said Mieka. She gave me a sharp-eyed glance. “You in trouble?”
I hesitated, wondering how much to tell her. “I think so,” I said at last.
“Watch trouble, or Temple trouble?”
“Both? I think.”
Mieka sighed. “You can come inside,” she said. “The fire is almost out, anyway. But”—she held up a hand in warning—“you’ll need to pay your way. Understood?”
“I don’t have much money.”
“There are other ways.” Well, that was ominous. “Just know that it’s not a free ride.”
I bit my lip. I could figure this out later. The important thing, for now, was to live long enough to see the morning. “Thank you.”
Mieka stood and stamped the fire into ash as I watched, then secreted the knife and strap somewhere about her person, and held out her hand in a beckoning gesture. “Come on.”
Baldbeak, apparently deciding that now was the time to introduce a giant black bird to the conversation, swooped down onto my shoulder.
Mieka raised an eyebrow. “Friend of yours?”
“Er … yes.”
Mieka pounded on the metal door once, twice, setting it rattling in its hinges. It opened a crack, a chain rattling across the opening, and a nose poked out.
“It’s me,” said Mieka.
The door closed again, and I heard the sound of the chain being removed. When it opened again, another girl, much younger, stood on the threshold, frowsy-headed from sleep.
“Who’s this?” asked the girl.
“Netta. She’s new.”
“And what’sthat?” Her eyes rounded as she spotted Baldbeak.
“A raven,” said Mieka briefly.
“Are you sure? I’ve never seen a raven that big before.”
I was always the biggest of all my brothers and sisters, he said, pleased.I learned to fly first, too.
