Besh rubbed a hand over his face, wishing he were digging in his garden, or smoking his pipe on that old stump, or fishing along the banks of the wash. "How soon do you want me to do this?"
"Those people outside want us to do something," Tashya said. "Anything. We shouldn't make them wait long."
"Tomorrow," Pyav told him. "I'll come with you if you'd like. I have a couple of jobs to finish at the forge, but I should be ready before the morning's out. Come by and we'll walk over together."
Besh smiled. "Thank you, Eldest. That would make this… easier." The blacksmith stood, and the rest did as well. "I thank all of you for coming on such short notice," he said. "Besh and I will let you know what we find."
They made their way out of the sanctuary, but stopped at the top of the stairs. The crowd was still there, expectant looks on their faces. "What about it then, Eldest?" asked a fair-haired man in front. Besh thought he recognized him as the father of one of Mihas's friends. "Besh and I will search Lici's house in the morning."
"Search it?" the man said with a frown. "Why?"
"To see if she left behind anything that might tell us where she's gone or when she intends to return."
"What about her gold?"
"We don't know that there is any gold."
Others started to protest, but Pyav raised both hands, quieting them. "Please, my friends. This is a beginning. We don't know for certain that there is any gold, and we certainly can't simply assume that, if there is, it's ours to do with as we please. She may be on her way back here as we speak. Doesn't she deserve to find her home just as she left it?"
"She's an old witch!" someone else called out. "We'd be better off without her!"
The eldest narrowed his eyes slightly. "All right, let me put it this way. If she does return, which of you wants to explain to her that we took all her possessions for our own?"
That silenced them. Besh struggled to keep the smirk from his lips. Pyav nodded. "That's what I thought. As I told the other elders a moment ago, we'll let you know what we find."
With that, the blacksmith started down the stairs. The crowd parted to make way for him, and Besh and the others followed in his wake. "That was well done, my friend," Besh said under his breath.
The eldest nodded, but he looked troubled. "It put them in their places for this evening, but that won't last long. Let's hope that tomorrow's search turns up something definitive one way or another."
The eldest walked off toward his home, and after a moment the rest of the elders did the same, leaving the villagers whispering among themselves. Besh tried to take some satisfaction in the way the eldest had silenced the crowd, but Pyav's words to him still echoed ominously in his mind.
It was nearly dark when he reached the house, and as he wearily climbed the old wooden stairway, the smell of roasted fowl reached him, reminding Besh that he was famished.
They'd started without him, which was just as it should be; he'd told Elica that the children shouldn't go hungry because of all the foolishness surrounding Old Lici. The younger ones had been giggling about something as he climbed the stairs, but as soon as they saw him in the doorway, they fell silent. Actually all of them did. They just stared at him, as if they thought he might have brought Lici with him.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Besh said, taking his place at the table beside Mihas.
Sirj nodded. "It's all right."
No doubt they were bursting with questions for him, but no one said anything as he helped himself to some meat, greens, and bread.
Finally, Cam, the youngest, looked at his grandfather with wide eyes, and asked, "Did you find her?"
Besh couldn't keep from laughing. "Find her? You mean Lici?"
The boy nodded, but by now the others were laughing as well, and his face began to redden.
"No, Cam," Besh said. "We didn't expect to find her. We don't know where she's gone. We were trying to decide what to do with her house and her belongings."
"And what did you decide?" Elica asked.
The younger ones were laughing still, but Elica and Sirj were watching him closely, as was Mihas.
"Pyav and I will search her house in the morning, just to see if we can find something that will tell us why she left."
"Can I come, Grandfather?" Mihas asked.
He shook his head. "No, Mihas. This is no game, nor is it a hunt for hidden treasure. The eldest and I will be the only ones to enter Lici's home."
The boy looked disappointed, but he nodded and said nothing more.
"And her belongings?" Elica asked.
"Are still hers. Until we know for certain that she's not coming back, nothing will be done with her things."
"Good," Sirj muttered.
"Good?" Besh repeated, turning his way.
The man's face colored, just as his son's had a few moments before. Besh wondered if he'd meant to say it aloud.
Sirj took a breath. "Yes, good. I think all this talk about Old Lici's gold has gone on for too long already. You'd think the rest of them were starving, the way they look toward her little hut. It's all nonsense, if you ask me."
"But, Papa," Mihas said. "If she has half as much as they say she does-"
"It's none of our business how much she has. And even if she has more than the five Sovereigns of the Southlands put together, none of us has any claim to a single coin." He looked at Besh. "Forgive me for saying so, but if it comes to it, and the elders have to do something with her home, whatever gold there is should be used for something the whole village needs. A new well, maybe, or repairs to the lane north of the marketplace."
Besh wasn't certain what to say. None of the elders had thought of this, and yet he knew that Sirj had hit upon the perfect solution to their problem. It occurred to him that he had thought the man an idiot for so long that he'd never stopped to consider the possibility that there was a reason Elica had fallen in love with him.
"I guess that makes no sense, does it?" Sirj said, misinterpreting Besh's silence.
"Actually…" Besh shifted in his chair. He could feel Elica's eyes on him. "Actually, I was just thinking that it makes a great deal of sense. I'll suggest it the next time the elders meet."
Sirj stared at him briefly, perhaps searching for some sign that Besh was mocking him. Seeing none, he nodded again. "My thanks."
"What do you think you'll find in her hut?" Elica asked after some time.
"I couldn't say," Besh told her. "Probably little of any consequence. But we have nothing else, and the people in this village want us to do something, even if they don't know what." He took a bite of bread.
"There was a crowd outside the sanctuary this evening, waiting to hear what we'd decided."
Elica's eyes widened a bit. "A crowd? How many?"
"At least fifty. Pyav handled them well, but I only remember crowds gathering outside our meetings like that three or four times-usually in
times of flood, and once when the pestilence came to Irikston."
"Do they know what you and Pyav intend to do?" Sirj asked.
"We told them, yes."
"Then they'll be there, too. At Lici's house."
Besh knew immediately that he was right about this as well. "What would you do in our position?" he asked, surprising himself as much as Sirj. Well, he thought, grinning inwardly at what he saw on the younger man's face, perhaps not quite as much.
"I don't know," Sirj said quickly. "I didn't mean-"
"I know you didn't," Besh said. "I was asking for your advice. You seem to understand all of this better than I do."
"I doubt that." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "I don't know what I'd do." He glanced at the younger children, who were deep into their own conversation now. "Truth is," he went on, his voice low, "I've been terrified of Lici since I was old enough to walk."
"All of us have been," Elica put in. "I think she wanted it that way." "I'm not afraid of her," Mihas said, sounding so terribly young. "Neither are Keff and Vad."