‘Oh, but we’re…’ Titiana said.
The man palmed the air.
‘Let the man speak, Titiana,’ I said grinning.
The owner burst out a laugh. ‘You should say that to my wife – she constantly tells me to shut up! No, consider your dinner paid for tonight. When you dine here again, you ask for Kollans.’
We finished our meal and stepped outside into the mild Tryum evening. Cloud cover had come in from the eastern skies, obscuring the starlight. I didn’t know quite how late it was, but I told Titiana that I ought to get to bed soon.
‘Do I bore you now?’ she said, teasing me. ‘Is your life now too exciting to bother with the likes of me?’
My own grin soon faded. ‘No, tomorrow I will be claiming my father’s ashes so that they can be buried in our mausoleum, south of the city.’
‘Oh.’ She took my hands, I momentarily held my breath. ‘You needn’t do a thing like that alone,’ she said. ‘If you need support you only have to ask.’
‘If you’re willing, I wouldn’t mind the company.’
‘You’re not the only one who could do with the company,’ she replied.
‘That’s settled. I’ll meet you around two hours after sunrise.’
‘I’ll come to your house.’ Titiana leaned forward, and her lips touched mine so softly I could have mistaken them for a gust of wind. She whispered to me, ‘You still owe me a dinner, because I don’t believe you actually paid for that one.’
As Titiana turned to walk back slowly through the streets of Tryum, I contemplated how so little had changed between us – the way we interacted, our similar disregard for social norms, my efforts to make her giggle – and the realization of this was somehow rather comforting. I stood still longer than was necessary, watching Titiana walk around the corner, vanishing into the night. A moment later, an old woman shuffled by and regarded me with either a grin or a grimace, it was difficult to say. At least I was smiling.
The Mausoleum
‘Lucan…’
Leana’s soothing voice woke me. The first rays of the morning sun poured in through the tiny window and met high up with the opposite wall. Brightness warmed my vision and I remembered that I wanted to be up early: another busy day lay ahead, another day in which to try to find Lacanta’s murderer. My groggy vision settled on the small bone charm Leana was wearing around her neck, some unfathomable creature’s skull pale against her skin.
‘You had a seizure during the night,’ she said.
‘Did I?’ I sighed. ‘For how long?’
‘One of your longer ones. You settled soon enough.’
She was already dressed, ready for another day’s work, while I remained in a dream-like state, not yet fully awake. To be so punctual and in control of one’s sleeping habits . . .
‘It seems the apothecary’s little potions were no use,’ I said.
‘You took what she said, before you fell asleep?’
‘Well, uh, no.’
‘Spirits save me, you only have yourself to blame.’
‘You make a fair point, Leana,’ I replied. ‘Actually, I wanted to go to the apothecary today anyway, to check whether or not the blue vial had contained poison.’
‘Would you like me to come also?’ Leana asked.
‘No, I’d like you to do me a favour. General Maxant is making a political speech to the people in the lower districts today. I would like it if you could just track the movements of his people beforehand.’
Leana faced me, more attentive now there was a firm plan for the day. ‘What are you hoping to find?’
‘It’s more out of curiosity than anything related to the murders. While we won’t hear anything but a well-rehearsed speech when he’s presenting his case for election, I’d be interested to see what the preparations are like… see just how keen he is on being elected to the Senate. In the meantime, I’ll be off to the mausoleum.’ I spun my feet onto the floor. ‘And Titiana will be coming with me.’
‘I see,’ Leana replied. ‘How did it go?’
‘We had a pleasurable evening,’ I yawned, casting my mind back to the most minute details, smiling inwardly. ‘Nothing happened, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
‘I am in your employment only – your own life remains yours. You need tell me nothing more.’ She moved to the doorway.
‘You know I think of you more like a sister than someone I employ,’ I said, ‘and normally I’d tell you more. All I can say is that I don’t think she hates me any more.’
‘Then you must have been trying very hard,’ came the reply, before she left the room.
Many people would think it unbearable to work with someone who liked making such comments, but I rather enjoyed them. In her own way, she was keeping me in check.
After arranging a rendezvous point with Leana for the afternoon, I wrapped the glass vial and put it back in my pocket, before heading out through the brightening streets. The route was more obvious in the pink light just after dawn, but the narrow street was still concealed nicely from the thoroughfares. I enjoyed being out and about at this hour: it was as if this was how Tryum wanted to be seen, calm and cool, without the throng obscuring the wonderful mishmash of architecture or crowding the temples. One could appreciate the smaller details of buildings, or the arrangement of statues along a colonnade.
Eventually, as I reached the apothecary, the scent of some blissful concoction wafted up the street towards me. There was a small rack of her samples standing on the tiny window ledge. I knocked on the open door, announcing my arrival.
The same blonde woman was there; she was smiling as she stood over a pan of boiling liquid and wore the same dirtied robe she had worn the other night. Herbs and bottles were spread about the place, just as before, and the ledgers were more neatly arranged now. There was an acute sense of peace in the room.
‘Welcome again.’ She looked up once before regarding her pan again. ‘How’s your father coming along with the treatment?’
‘He forgot to drink some yesterday,’ I replied, ‘and suffered a seizure in the night.’
‘Oh that’s not good! He’ll need to take it regularly if it’s to be of any help at all.’
‘He can be a bit forgetful, you see, but I haven’t come today to talk about his treatment.’
‘You have another ailment?’
‘Not exactly.’ I considered the best line of approach and thought it was about time I started being more honest with her. ‘My employment is as an officer of the Sun Chamber.’
She paused and gave me a quick look of concern, before returning to work.
‘You’re in no trouble, have no concern on that matter. I’m actually here for your advice.’
‘Tell me your question, lawmaker.’ She continued to stir the liquid in slow, precise movements.
Law-enforcer, I wanted to correct her, but that would have been petty. I reached into my pocket and took out the blue glass vial, holding it in front of her by its long neck. ‘This is related to an investigation I’m working on. I don’t know where it comes from or what it originally contained, but I would like your expert opinion.’
She took it from me and brought it under the light from the window, rolling the vial between her thumb and forefinger. While she did this, I glanced quickly at a piece of paper to one side, which looked like something attached to a delivery – it contained the address of this place and featured a name at the top:
Mordia Lapmus.
There was no expression on her face to suggest she knew what the vial was – until she unplugged the stopper and raised it to her nose. She jerked it as far as she could from her face, placed the stopper inside again and, angrily, handed it back to me. ‘Where did you get this?’ She thrust it back into my palm.