Maybe they were the best option for the Circuit, or at least the best of the three foreign states. Though the best of the worst doesn’t necessarily mean good, Sally thought bitterly, but that was her stubborn pride talking. The Circuits were changing, that much was clear, and if the Merkahni were the best way for it to survive and thrive? The Circuits would flock to them, regardless of what she thought about it.

  “To future cooperation, then,” the ambassador said, lifting her gss. Lucy complied and they rang as they met.

  Just in time for the first course to arrive.

  22. Rest and Rexation – August 26, Year 216

  Maliah and her crew had said their goodbyes the morning before. Simultaneously, they’d been introduced to a man by the name of Jacob of Pasternie. He was to be Maliah’s client and Lucy’s future… something. Partner? Co-conspirator? Sally didn’t really know a good word for it, but the man was Canthia the ambassador’s assistant and the future link between them once they were both in Ancora.

  Despite the st name, the man was not a direct retive of the ambassador; the Merkahni simply took their surname’s from their pce of birth. Whether it was a coincidence both booth of them came from the same town – or city, or state, Sally wasn’t clear on that – was another question entirely. One Sally didn’t feel the need to find an answer for.

  Today, however, was the day Lucy was to finally be rid of her shattered knee, even if it meant it had to break one more time. Linette, the mage set to heal her friend, had come by the temple around noon yesterday to inform them that she had all the things necessary to proceed, only needing the rest of the twenty-fifth to prepare. They’d set the appointment for the following day, in the morning so that by sunset at the test the ordeal would be done and over with.

  So now, with some aid from the wheelchair the ambassador had graciously given them for the duration of their stay, they rolled up to the familiar white-painted, two-storied residence of the magical healer. They were let in quickly and with the aid of Linette, made their way upstairs.

  The mage’s workspace had been slightly altered since they st time they were here. The sort-of couch and its accompanying table had been pushed away into the corner where the rge, long-and-thin-leafed pnt made its home. The medical bed had repced its position at the center of the room, accompanied by a small wheeled cabinet and table, both den with numerous tools, containers, boxes and the relevant diagram of the ‘ideal form’ of a leg.

  They helped Lucy onto the bed. Sally helped Linette remove the brace around her friend’s leg before the mage went and expined what she was about to do.

  “Now, the general throughline of it all is quite easy,” Linette began. “First, I’ll have to put you under narcosis,” she gestured toward an odd half-mask lying on the table to her right. “Then, I’ll use a special metal fork to find your bone resonance before casting a specific variant of the astasia-curse.”

  “Astasia-curse?” Sally asked, unfamiliar with the term.

  “It is a curse that causes extreme vertigo and disables the target’s mobility,” Linette lectured. “It does so by targeting a specific part of the inner ear and causing it to vibrate at a high frequence. This throws-off the victim’s sense of bance and hamper their ability to walk or run, amongst other things. It’s primarily used to capture people non-lethally.”

  Before Sally could ask, Linette expined further. “The variant I’m about to cast is both more general and more specific. Unlike the regur astasia-curse, it has no built-in target or frequency to attune to, making it difficult to use in a pinch – like a combat situation. In exchange, though, it allows us – us being medical mages – a lot more freedom. We can set both a frequency – which, again, I’ll be able to get this metal fork here – ” Linette held up the pronged medical device, then waving it over Lucy’s knee, “and allows the caster to set its area of effect to wherever they want – in this case, the knee. By doing this, we can break a bone down into very, very small pieces, which in turns allows the further healing process to go better and quicker. All without harming the surrounding tissue.”

  Sally had little knowledge of medicine, barring basic first aid lessons to keep people alive long enough to reach a professional. Of magic, Sally knew even less, so she was surprised to find she understood Linette’s impromptu lesson to an extent. Sure, it was specifically focused on just one thing and even then only expined in very general terms, but it all seemed very impressive.

  Looking at Lucy, it seemed the pilgrim was likewise impressed by the mage’s knowledge, eyes filled with wonder as she looked at the devices. “That’s amazing! We’ve always had trouble healing bones due to the uniqueness and complexity of every break. I’ve mostly done it by resorting to brute-forcing it or finding a work-around like with the ritual. But this…” Lucy hesitated for a split second. “Is there any way you can teach me?”

  Linette smiled ruefully at the pilgrim’s request, shaking her head. “Not unless you wish to become a full-time apprentice. That, or study at the College out east,” she spoke, voice heavy with regret. “The basics are easy enough to understand – and hopefully can help you find your own solution – but the specifics of it require a background, an understanding that is not as intuitive to grasp.”

  Lucy looked down at that, before shrugging and forcibly cheering herself up. “Well, that’s too bad. Thanks for the lesson, though. Maybe someone back in Ancora can figure something out.”

  The mage waved off the gratitude. “No thanks necessary, sharing knowledge is what all healers should do. But anyway, to get back on track-”

  Linette scraped her throat. “Well, I already expined some of it yesterday, but the point is to figure out and extract the ideal form of your leg from both your bodily subconscious – easy enough, your body is right here – and from the greater cognos-” Lucy opened her mouth, but Linette held up her hand. “Yes, yes, you consider it the divine, I call it the cognos, we all agree to disagree. I have no need for another sermon – the one from Otto when I introduced myself at the temple was quite enough, thank you!” Lucy blushed, sheepishly scratching her cheek.

  “Anyway, most of the things I needed for the procedure I already possessed: tree-root, zinc, copper, mushroom and cheese,” Linette pointed to a number of boxes, gss bottles and tiny metal cubes lying on the table.

  Then, she grabbed a small wooden box and a metal cannister from the table. “But these two were missing: honeycomb-” she opened the square metal can, showing its contents to Sally and Lucy. It was the first time Sally had ever seen one; bees were not native to the Circuits, ck of trees, flowers and excessive heat probably to bme. Though maybe the Grey Hives look like that?

  Despite this fact, the look and smell of it brought a pang of nostalgia. Though she’d never seen honeycomb before, she’d had tasted honey once before, way back. A lone trader had come to the Vil as part of their usual route, but one time she’d brought with her honey candy from the Grand Central Union. Her parents had decided to indulge their children and bought two of them, one for Caldwell and one for her. She remembered it being the single sweetest, most delicious thing she’d ever tasted.

  “and this little gem,” the mage continued, opening the tiny wooden box. Linette’s voice broke Sally out of her reminiscence and she looked at the ‘gem’, although that was a generous term to describe what she saw.

  It was a green-blue rock, looking nothing like the glimmer and gmour of what Sally considered a ‘proper’ gem. She’d always liked the sparkly, shiny stuff, but then again, using a beautiful gem for a ritual where it would be likely be consumed would’ve been a terrible waste.

  “This is apatite. For whatever reason, it’s a very useful rock to have when dealing with bone. Without it, it would be difficult to perform even a basic mending,” she directed the st phrase at Lucy, no doubt as to help the Dekantists figure out their own method.

  “If nothing goes wrong, I’ll be done halfway between noon and evening, though I’ll want to keep her for observation, just in case,” Linette finished.

  “Can it go wrong?” Lucy asked.

  “Oh of course! Magic is still magic, no matter how well thought out or structured. A wrong alignment, false symbolics, a mistake during the frequency measuring, even an intervention by some outside force; things can always go wrong!” Linette ughed, though neither Sally or Lucy shared the sentiment. “But it’s not like regur operations have a hundred percent success rate, especially with something as extensive and delicate as a knee.”

  “But that’s rare, right?” Sally asked anxiously.

  The mage waved off her concern. “I’ve done this exact operation a fair number of times, and cases just like it go into the hundreds. I’ve been in this field for near fifty years now. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what is.”

  Sally felt most of the tension leave her. It was comforting to know that they’d been given an expert to work on Lucy’s knee, even if the operation was apparently a delicate one. Besides, even if it fixes her knee only partly, as long as Lucy can walk again, I’ll count it as a win, Sally thought.

  “Now there’s just one more thing,” Linette said, turning to Sally. “No spectating. I need complete focus while I work – no interruptions, no prying looks, no nothing!”

  Sally opened her mouth, but Lucy interjected before she could.

  “It’s fine, Sally,” Lucy told Sally. “You go ahead and get a head start on our shopping. That way, we can leave as soon as possible.”

  Sally swallowed her objections. “Fine,” she said, then looked at Linette. “Halfway to evening, you said?”

  The mage gave her a nod, and after a ‘good luck’ and ‘see you ter’, Sally left for the market.

  X

  The market street was on the northeastern side of the city, near the caravan grounds and some ways away from city center. Then again, this might be the real center of the city, considering Keringa spread out further top the east than west. So, it’d be better to call the pce with the temple and some of the business, guild and administrative offices the old city center, and the market and caravan grounds the new center.

  Either way, Sally grabbed her bag from the temple – emptying it out in their room before leaving – and quickly bought what she needed to buy: another set of clothes – if it wasn’t for the shotgun, she was fairly sure the amount they’d spent on clothes this journey by now exceeded all other expenses combined! – some more food, repcements for their half-ruined bag-straps and belts, and some extra ammunition. While they hadn’t fired much off, some of it had been lost in the sand during the battle with the cannibal.

  Shopping was done with quick, at around the start of noon, meaning Sally had plenty of time she wasn’t sure what to do with. She supposed she could go back to the temple and hang out there, but it would be odd to do so without Lucy; Sally was neither a priest nor a regur believer, the pce simply wasn’t built for her and it would be strange to loiter there.

  So instead, Sally chose to wander the dirt roads of the city, looking at some of the more interesting buildings. Eventually, though, she stumbled across an abnormal looking inn or tavern that piqued her interest.

  It was clearly a Merkahni-style building, but instead of their obnoxious blinding white paint or brick walls, most of it was build with material more commonly found in the older, Circuit-style buildings. It also had rge gss pane windows – thankfully covered by an overhang and build in a spot where the sun rarely shone – with letters that read: First Keringan Café. Then, in smaller letters, it read: Thee, Coffee, Lunch & Breakfast.

  Sally didn’t know what a ‘café’ was, but she’d heard of thee and coffee before. While Sally had never tried it before, they were supposed to be the diluted extracts of special kinds of leaves and seeds, though which was which she didn’t know.

  They were popur in the Grand Central Union out west, and thus popur in Gadeon. When she and her mentor visited the pce, she remembered seeing people trading them at the markets in bulk and drinking them while seated at terraces, but she hadn’t had the time – or the permission – to taste it herself.

  Apparently, it was also a thing in the Merkahn Republic, and now coming from another vector into the Circuits. She supposed a café was one such pce to try them, if the patrons she saw sipping from tiny cups was anything to go by.

  I’ve got time to spare, Sally thought, and the money. She wouldn’t use Lucy’s funds for this, but her own had not quite run dry yet. As long as tea or coffee wasn’t expensive, she was sure she could afford it. Thus, she went into the store, a little jingle of a bell sounding as she did.

  The pce wasn’t rge, certainly not compared to the restaurant she’d been in days prior, and was packed full of people. While it was still a work day, working during the heat of noon was nigh intolerable. Besides, it was lunchtime, and the window did say they served lunch.

  “Welcome to the First Keringan Café! Table for one?” The greeter, a young woman, asked with a professional smile. Sally nodded in response and was guided to a table with two chairs by the window.

  Once seated, the greeter turned waitress. “Can I get you something to drink?” The woman asked.

  Sally debated for a moment between coffee or tea, but since she didn’t know which one was which, she just picked at random. “Tea please,” Sally replied.

  The woman gave a nod, but didn’t leave. “And what kind?”

  Sally knew how to handle this question better. “What do you recommend?”

  “We have a cactus blossom tea? It’s local and fresh, a favorite of our Keringan and Anteeri guests,” the woman suggested, likely having guessed Sally had no clue on the what’s what of tea.

  “I’ll take that one then, thanks,” Sally said, smiling politely.

  “And would you like lunch with that, or just the tea?” The greeter asked.

  Sally wasn’t pnning on spending her money on food she barely needed; the tea itself was already an indulgence. “Just the tea, please.”

  After a few minutes, the woman came back with the cactus tea – a clear, orange-yellow hot liquid – which she set on the table before leaving her alone. Sally took a sip, tasting the beverage.

  It’s whatever, she thought. Tasted okay, she supposed, but it only had a weak fvor, so it mostly tasted of a slightly more fragrant hot water.

  She was kind of disappointed, honestly. Considering how popur it had been, she expected something more… impressive, or at least with a stronger fvor. Maybe they were all drinking coffee, instead of tea. But would a watery seed taste that much different from watery flowers?

  Still, while the tea didn’t leave much of an impression, it did feel nice to spend some time on her own. The st time had been two weeks ago at Southwall, and even then her ‘alone time’ was spent on preparations and buying Lucy that hat. The rest of the time in the city had been spent in her friend’s company, mostly at the temple.

  While on the road, the only alone time she’d had was during the night, either when she was standing watch by herself or those days were she pretended to sleep while Lucy did the watching. Neither of them were particurly rexing – the former always ced with potential danger, the tter tinged with deceit.

  But now, with a cup of mediocre hot water, seated on a cheap-looking wooden chair, surrounded by the noise of the other patrons talking and ughing at each other while outside a scant few people braved the heat…

  It felt as if she were a machine that’d just been turned off. There was no need for thoughts or pns, no need to pay attention to her surroundings, and even the worries she had about Lucy’s treatment fell away with ease – there was nothing she could do about it now, after all.

  So, for once, she let it all go.

  X

  She’d been here for at least an hour, if not longer. She was on her fifth cup of tea by now – still the same fvor as the first – and nearly done with it. She didn’t even know why she kept ordering the stuff, it was not like its taste improved with time or experience or anything. Maybe she did it just because it felt like the thing you do in a pce like this.

  Still, this would be the st one, after which she would need to find something else to do. Probably return to the temple, get everything packed and ready for the journey tomorrow – if Lucy was in condition to leave, that is – and then slowly make her way to Linette’s house. Hopefully, they would be finished by then.

  “Ah, excuse me?” Her peace and quiet were broken by a man’s voice.. She turned and looked at the offender.

  The man seemed to be a Keringan native – or an Anteeri, or from somewhere else in the Grand Circuit, considering his dress. She didn’t recognize him, of course – there were very few people she could in Keringa, especially since Maliah and her Hunt left the city – though there was a look in his eyes that made her think he recognized her.

  “Yes?” Sally replied, annoyed.

  “May I sit with you? The rest of the café seems to be full, and the waiter…” He trailed off.

  Sally looked around. The pce was indeed full, the steady traffic through the door apparently enough to keep the café packed. The by-now familiar greeter stood behind the man, waiting on Sally to decide on what to do with the man.

  Sally barely considered the offer before agreeing. “That’s fine. Was about to leave after this cup anyhow,” Sally said, showing them the half-empty cup.

  The man shot her a grateful smile and moved to take the second seat. “Thank you, thank you. I try to come here for lunch every Wednesday, but I ran a bit te.” Sally gave a simple hum in response and took another sip of her drink, returning to watching people through the store’s window.

  The waiter took the man’s order – a coffee and some kind of sandwich – and the two were left alone. Sally wasn’t looking at the man, but she could feel his eyes on her and from the corner of her eyes, his posture seemed to confirm he was, indeed, staring at her.

  After a long, increasingly uncomfortable moment, the man began to hesitantly speak.

  “Ah, don’t take this the wrong way,” he began. Sally turned, raising an eyebrow, preparing herself to take it the wrong way. “But, have I seen you before? At the temple?”

  Sally stared him in the eye, taking another sip of her tea and letting the man stew in his nervous for a moment longer. “Be specific,” she told him.

  The man scraped his throat, mustered his courage and finally said what he wanted to say. “Are you the companion of the Praeses Luciana? I thought I saw you with her when I came earlier this week…” he trailed off.

  That was where he knew me from? It felt odd to be recognized by people she didn’t know, even if it was by retion rather than outright. She hadn’t expected it either, especially after the ambassador dismissed her once she knew I was Lucy’s bodyguard.

  She wondered how Lucy felt about being recognized, but she supposed the pilgrim – the Praeses, as the man reminded her – must be used to it by now.

  “Yes, I’m Lucy’s guard, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sally said.

  It was kind of funny to see the tension seep out of the man in an instant. “Ah, good, very good!” He said, dramatically clutching his heart as he sighed in relief. “I wasn’t sure, you know, and I hate to make any assumptions, but you are very distinctive!”

  He hadn’t looked at her empty arm sleeve nor did it seem as if his bright smile hid some edge behind it, so she took the words in the spirit it was given rather than an insult.

  “Thanks, I think? Was that why you came to sit here?” Sally asked.

  The man opened his mouth but before he could speak, the waitress came and handed him his coffee, saying his lunch would be around shortly. The man thanked the waitress before turning back to Sally.

  “Well, that’s part of it. I do eat lunch here every Wednesday, but I did choose this specific spot because I recognized you and thought ‘well, she would be interesting to talk to’, and so, here I am,” the man spoke enthusiastically, smiling while blowing to cool his coffee.

  “‘Interesting to talk to’, is it?” Sally asked.

  The man gave a shrug. “Keringa, born and raised – lived my entire life here and will continue to do so, no doubt. So I’ll take any chance I get to talk to strangers, especially those from far away – what’s your name by the way? I’m Jonas, Jonas Loukopoulis,” he rattled off, offering his hand.

  Sally set down the cup and shook it. “Sally Palters,” she said. “Lived here all your life, eh? Things must’ve changed a lot from when you were little.”

  “Oh, yes! Though those changes have been going on ever since Westermont got incorporated into the Republic, what, sixty years ago by now? My father used to tell- well, compin, really, about how simple times were in his and grandpa’s days, how peaceful and nice and quiet Keringa was and how the Grandies, Merkahni, Leaguerans have ruined it all etcetera, etcetera,” Jonas only stopped to take a brief sip of coffee. “To be honest, I find it rather exciting, but I believe I’m in the minority here – though I never see people compining about all the money they bring here!”

  Sally blinked at the deluge, but he carried on.

  “Not that I don’t understand where they come from, of course, especially since some rich Merkahnis started buying up parts of the city proper to build those giant mansions of theirs – really, completely impractical! And now regur Keringans are forced to make their homes outside the city, when it should be the inverse!” The man huffed, taking the indignation as an opportunity to breathe. “There’s plenty of space outside the walls for their mansions, certainly more than inside – why didn’t they just build it there in the first- ah, thank you!”

  The waitress had arrived, handing Jonas his lunch which he took with gratitude.

  “But I compin too much, really; the Merkahni have done far more good than bad, if you ask me! Especially after that whole thing in the Greennds and now that new settlement – what was it called, Green Province? Something strange like that – well, anyway, the roads have never been safer thanks to those Hunters! Now I heard they’re wanting to take the fight to the cannibals, you know?” He leaned forward and ‘whispered’ the st part loud enough for anyone to hear. “Now, if they managed that, well, ‘they got my vote’ as they say in the Republic!” He ughed at his own remark and took a bit from his sandwich.

  Sally took the moment of silence to let the words sink in. While the delivery left much to be desired, she did find herself engaged with what he had to say.

  Though she just had to ask. “What do you do for a living?”

  “Oh, I’m a carpenter!” He said cheerfully before taking another bite of his lunch.

  That makes no sense. Then again, what would’ve?

  Sally finished the st of her tea, although she decided to stick around for a while. “You know, we just came from Green Providence, were even escorted to Keringa by a group of Hunters. Seem like good people, even if Lucy was a bit irritated at Green Providence, well, existing,” she told the man.

  Jonas quickly swallowed his bite. “Oh, yes, I can imagine, Lake Majestic and all. Still, it’s funny, some of my Merkahni friends are Hunters and have turned convert to Dekantism after they stayed a while at that settlement – even took their First Sip just st week! Hopefully it becomes a trend, more people open to the Truth is always a good thing – I’m sure the Praeses’ll agree to that, at least!”

  Sally shrugged. “I suppose. Besides, she wasn’t that much against the settlement itself, I think. More that the Praesidium weren’t informed or asked about it.”

  “They weren’t?” He asked, straightening up in surprise.

  “Not according to Lucy, at least, and she would know,”

  “Huh?” He sat frozen for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought. “Never thought about it, really. Don’t know why they wouldn’t at least ask. Hell, if they worked together, I’ve no doubt they could succeed at the whole thing. I wonder why they didn’t?” He took a sip of his coffee.

  Sally, again, responded with a shrug. “Only the Merkahni know why, though I find it odd as well. Years ago, me and my mentor went to Greenwatch to investigate what turned out to be some sort of diplomatic envoy of the Merkahni and his guards arriving there. Should’ve gone further to Ancora if they were that close already.”

  “Oh, yes, I heard about that! A small army coming from the east, trudging through Keringa like that without warning – turned the whole city upside down at the time!” He ughed, reminiscing. “Though, you and your mentor…?”

  “I am – or was, I suppose – a Warden. From the Vils, you know?” She said.

  The way his eyes lit up at that… Well, seems I’ll be here for a while longer.

  X

  She, indeed, stayed there for a while. The energetic man was a good conversationalist and, in the end, offered her both more drinks and to pay for the others, one she gratefully took. He even convinced her to order a coffee – disgusting stuff, by the way, though according to the man that was a normal first impression – and it took well over an hour before they left, him returning to his shop and her returning to the temple.

  After a quick visit to dump some of the earlier purchases, Sally made her way to Linette’s house. Once there, she was quickly let in – apparently, they’d finished not too long ago – and was led up the stairs.

  Lucy still y on the bed where she’d been when she left. Her friend looked incredibly tired, still pale and cmmy from the ordeal, but also had a bright smile on her face. More importantly, her right leg was bend and she was prodding at her knee in wonder.

  “A success, I see,” Sally said, directing a smile at Lucy.

  Lucy gave her a wide smile in return. “Oh yes, as good as before – better than, even!” The pilgrim seemed to almost vibrate with excitement.

  “She does need to rest, though. And no strenuous activities with that leg for at least two more days!” Linette said, adopting the look of a stern doctor. Or a strict grandmother, rather.

  While unfortunate that they would have to postpone their departure, Sally didn’t really mind much. Not after seeing how happy Lucy looked.

  Sally turned to the mage. “Thank you, if there’s anything-”

  “Now, don’t you start too!” Linette admonished, sending Lucy into a fit of giggles. “The price’s already been paid, and I like doing what I do, and that’s that.” The healer crossed her arms, an exaggerated huff leaving passing her lips.

  “Fair enough,” Sally replied, giving the woman a grateful smile.

  Then, Sally walked toward Lucy. “Ready to go back to the temple, then?” She asked, holding out her hand.

  Lucy grabbed it, lifting herself out of the bed and standing – carefully, but no less decisively – on her own two legs. “Let’s!”