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:: The apothecary's shop smells of dried herbs and :: :: something foul and acrid boiling down to sludge in the :: :: back room, but you haven't been sleeping well for the :: :: past few weeks so you're sitting on the bench by the :: :: door, waiting on the draught he promised would put you :: :: under for good this time. :: :: His apprentice sits quietly at the counter with a small :: :: leather diary open in front of her. She writes slowly, :: :: paying careful attention to each letter as she makes it. :: :: You tell yourself you're not trying to read it, but the :: :: candle is close and her hand is round and plain and :: :: easy to catch sideways, and before you mean to, you're :: :: three lines in.... The air's colder than an empty den t his morning, but I smell a blizzard coming on the wind so I'm doing my midnight's reign rounds early this season. I've been walking the wilderness north of Koguryo for about an hour, hugging the treeline to cut the wind when I hear a low chuckle coming from the direction of the stream to my left. I grin to myself, knowing who it is by the timbre of her voice. I can't resist sneaking up behind her. Not much surprises Zorza in the wild, but I learned stalking from my wolf-mama, so we make a game of it sometimes. She's crouched at the bank with her sleeves shoved up past the elbow as she tickles trout. She's got a line of six or seven fish laid out on the grass beside her, and I'm just about to shout my presence in her unsuspecting ear when she says "Hey Kiri, how ya been?" "Brighid burn it" I mutter, "I'll get you next time." I sit down on the grass behind her, careful not to cast my shadow on the water. "C'mon, join me fer lunch why don't ya?" she says with a broad smile. "I got more 'n I need, jus gettin' extra to smoke fer winter. 'sides, I ain't seen ya in weeks." I smile back. Zorza's kind of my oldest human friend, and it's really good to see her. "That. Sounds good." "Great" she says, "I'll build a fire while you clean the fish." I give her a look that says I know she only said that so she wouldn't have to gut the fish, but I set to work on the task while she gets up to gather kindling. The wood's dry and catches fast, and once the fish are laid over the flame she settles back on her heels and we talk while the fire does it's magic. Just, you know, catching up on each other. She asks after my rounds, I ask if she's wintered anywhere yet or if she's still deciding, and somewhere in there, watching the fish start to spit and curl at the edges, I ask her if she remembers the first time we met. She snorts. "Course I do. You were li'l nuff to fit under my arm." "I was maybe five." "Whatever. Was a hard winter, that'n." "Yes. The kind where packs get thinner. Ours was hungry in a way I hadn't really experienced before. It was... rough." I remember the ache of going to sleep hungry night after night, with only the comfort of the pack around me. It's strangely not a bad memory. Zorza had downed a buck and the pack had circled around, wary of the human scent but drawn by the fresh carcass still steaming in the snow. I feel my mouth fill with saliva as I remember the smell. "I meant ta keep it, ya know. It was gonna be my winter store. I had it half dressed a'ready." "I remember." "Then I see you," she says. "Half a wolf pup yourself. Ribs like a washboard, sittin' there in the snow starin' at my kill like you'd never seen meat afore." I nod. She'd left it. All of it. Just turned around and walked away. "I figured, yeah, there's only mebbe another week left fer huntin', but I can always fish under the ice. I knew I'd be ok." I don't remember her face from that night, but I remember the meat. Warm going down, and warm staying down, and sleeping for the first time in weeks with my belly not aching. Just warm and full and dark and safe enough to sleep. . . . | |