Chapter 29: The Woman Who Keeps Leaving

At Day Thirteen dawn, Elara crossed out TWO FULL DAYS. Underneath, she wrote: ONE FULL DAY. Nia was packing. Ren found her in the stable passage with her courier satchel open, bow unstrung across a bench, and three route tubes tucked beneath one arm. "You just got back." Nia did not look up. "Excellent memory." "How long?" "Two days." "For what?" "Bellwater. North farms. Two orchard stops. One bridge merchant who apparently cannot survive without me personally carrying a receipt." Ren leaned against the stall door. "Is the route necessary?" That made her look at him. "Yes." "And are you also leaving because this place got crowded?" Her ears went flat. There it was. Ren did not take the question back. Nia closed the satchel slowly. "You mean because you kissed Elara." "I mean because twenty-four people arrived, Brinna started flirting, Sylvaine rented rooms, and the kitchen conversation stopped being funny." Nia stepped closer. "So now you think movement means fear." "I think sometimes you leave before anyone can ask whether you want to stay." Her amber eyes sharpened. "And I think sometimes you ask a good question like you are entitled to the answer." Ren’s pulse jumped. They were close enough that kissing her would have been easier than continuing. He kept his hands down. "I am not asking permission for you to travel." "It sounds very similar from here." "I’m asking whether part of you is running." Nia’s mouth tightened. "Do not use that word." "Okay." The answer came immediately. Not an apology for the question. A correction to the word. "I still want the answer." Nia stared at him. "You kissed me twice." "Yes." "You kissed Elara." "Yes." "You have a dwarf trying to climb you through contract law." "That is not an inaccurate summary." "And now you want a return schedule?" "I want to know when someone I care about disappears from my life." Her expression cracked for half a second. Then hardened again. "That is not the same thing as needing permission." "I know." "Do you?" "Yes." Nia grabbed the front of his shirt. Ren stopped breathing. She pulled him close enough that her nose almost touched his. Desire was not the problem. That was becoming obvious. "Then do not chase me," she said. "I won’t." "Do not make me come back because you are sad." "I won’t." "Do not pretend you do not care whether I come back because you are trying to look fair." Ren swallowed. "I won’t." Nia released him. No kiss. That hurt more than one would have. She took the satchel and walked out. Elara intercepted her in the courtyard. "Kitchen." Nia groaned. "I have apparently been scheduled." "You may refuse." Nia stopped. Elara waited. After a moment, Nia followed her. Ren did not. For once, this was not his conversation. He learned the result twenty minutes later when both women returned looking irritated in completely different ways. Nia stopped in front of him. "She says I cannot demand total freedom and then punish both of you for noticing when I disappear." Elara folded her arms. "That is not exactly what I said." "It is exactly what you said." "I used fewer dramatic nouns." Nia looked at Ren. "Then she said a return date is information, not permission." Ren glanced at Elara. "That sounds like you." "I also told her I do not want to be the person who waits beside an empty chair wondering whether asking where she went would count as control." Nia’s ears lowered. "And I told her I do not know how to promise I am coming back without hearing a lock click." Elara’s expression softened. "So we wrote down what she can actually promise." Elara carried three copied notices. Nia carried chalk. "I am leaving," Nia said. Ren nodded. "I am taking the north-farm notices because I am already going there. That does not make you my employer." "Understood." "I expect to return Day Fifteen." Elara handed her the chalk. Nia walked to the route board. Under her own name, she wrote: OUT — NORTH CIRCUIT EXPECTED RETURN — DAY 15 Then she underlined expected. Elara looked at it. "Acceptable." Nia looked offended. "That is all?" "No. You are infuriating." "Better." Their eyes met. Something passed between them that Ren was not invited into. Good. Nia swung into the saddle. She looked at Ren once. He did not follow. She rode away. The hall did not become less busy because Ren’s romantic life had developed a road schedule. Fifteen non-medical travelers bought stew and bread at breakfast. Three silver. They paid another one silver five copper for Day Thirteen shelter. The caravan master renewed three wagon-yard, water, and watch slots. Three silver. At evening meal, the same fifteen bought stew and bread again. Another three silver. Ten silver five copper came in. Pella’s final hardware list cost one silver four copper. Roof-tie bolts and strap. Chimney collar fasteners and seal. A replacement stable latch. A proper lock for Sylvaine’s medicine cabinet. Brinna fabricated the collar from paid salvage stock without using Temper. Kellan replaced the stable latch. Ren spent an hour holding the roof tie in position while Pella explained every way he could make the job worse. The chimney passed its smoke test. The medicine cabinet locked. The east-wall packing cured hard enough for Pella to erase the chalk exclusion. By sunset, every physical item on her final list had been completed. Elara stared at the inspection sheet. "Pass?" Pella shook her head. "The roof tie sits overnight. Hearth cools. I inspect both at dawn." "But the work is done." "The work is done. Inspection is tomorrow." Ren smiled at Elara. She did not smile back. "Cash." They counted. Sixteen silver six copper had become twenty-five silver seven copper. Three copper short. Elara put her forehead on the ledger. "Of course." Bram patted her shoulder with a floury hand. She lifted her head very slowly. He removed the hand. Late that night Sylvaine found Ren beside the front-room screens. "One of the caravan patients wants to speak to Maelis." "Medical?" "No. Freight." Maelis joined them. The patient was a thin wagon assistant with a bandaged calf. He waited until Sylvaine closed the screen. "I worked Mossdeep runs twice last winter," he said. "Only short-haul." Maelis took out her notebook. "What do you remember?" "The public loading yard closes at dark." "That is recorded." He nodded. "But one night a Vadd clerk kept our wagon." Ren went still. "They took us down a stone ramp behind the southern retaining wall. Locked gate. Lower platform. Told me to stay with the horses while other men unloaded." "What cargo?" Maelis asked. "Covered drums. Blue light under the canvas." "Did you see a seal?" "No." "Did you sign a route sheet?" The man looked uncomfortable. "They told me not to write the lower stop." Maelis’s pencil stopped. Ren thought of Oren’s old roads. Of maps that ended where stone kept going. Sylvaine said quietly, "There is no lower loading platform on the public Mossdeep map." The patient nodded. "I know."