Jonna smiled as she moved the food from the tray to the table. “She drops by a lot these days.”
Lilia nodded. “At least she’s safe when she’s here.”
“And she can get a decent meal,” Jonna added. She straightened. “I’ll go find something for her. Something that will still be nice even if it has gone cold, so she can take it away with her if she has already eaten.”
“Could you...?” Lilia grimaced. “Could you bring something every night? Even if she doesn’t eat it, there are others she’d like to help. I’d like to help. And... can you bring lamp oil so she doesn’t have to find her way here in the dark?”
Jonna looked sympathetic as she nodded. “Of course.”
“And... I don’t suppose... if it’s not asking too much... What does the Guild do with old bedding and broken furniture?”
The servant’s eyebrows rose. “Most furniture here doesn’t break often. It’s so well made it lasts for hundreds of years. If anything does break, we fix it, and if it’s no longer good enough for magicians it goes to the servants.” She shrugged. “Same with old bedding. When it’s too worn for servants it becomes rags.” She looked at Lilia. “But there’s more old bedding about than furniture. Let me see if I can get my hands on some.”
Lilia nodded. “Thank you. I’d buy some things for her, but I’m not allowed to leave the grounds to go shopping.”
“I could get them for you,” Jonna offered, “if you write down what you want.”
“Do you have time? You must be busy.”
“Not as busy as you’d think, especially now Sonea’s not here. Fetching things for you is part of my job.”
“Well... thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
Jonna gestured at the bowl. “Now, you start on that before it goes cold and I’ll go fetch something for Anyi.”
As the door closed behind the servant, Lilia sighed in relief and triumph. Her plan had worked, though she felt a little guilty at suggesting that what she had asked for was going to needy people when it was only going to Cery, Gol and Anyi. But they do need it.
Looking down at the meal Jonna had brought, she decided to eat it and give the food she’d taken from the Foodhall to Cery and Gol. Soup was much too hard to transport, and the dessert was as likely to spill. At least if Jonna saw evidence that Lilia was eating some of the food she’d brought, she wouldn’t worry over Lilia eating enough – or giving it all away.
As she ate, she thought about how such small, everyday things could become so important. Cery and his friend and daughter were safer in the Guild passages, especially with the passage connecting them to the Thieves’ Road destroyed, yet something as trivial as getting food to them was a daily difficulty and risk. If Lilia didn’t have to constantly find them something to eat, it would be much easier to hide their presence from the Guild.
I want to do better than bring them food, too, she thought. I want them to be comfortable. I can’t ask Jonna to buy anything luxurious, or she’ll grow suspicious. Unless... I could say it’s for me...
Finishing the soup, she got up and gathered paper, pen and ink and began writing a list.
As Sonea blinked awake she marvelled that she had slept at all in the rocking carriage. Looking across at Regin, she saw that he was conscious and watching her. He smiled faintly and politely looked away.
How long was I asleep? She pulled aside the screen covering the window over the carriage door. Green hills surrounded them, tainted with the gold of a late-afternoon sun. Quite a while. Poor Regin. He’s probably been awake and bored for most of the day.
For the first few hours of their journey the previous night, their conversation had revolved around the arrangements they’d made to take care of things in their absence, Lilia’s progress and future, the places they would probably stop along the journey and some of the information they had been given about Sachakan society. When Regin began yawning she insisted he try to sleep. He’d eventually done so, a travel pillow braced between his head and the side of the carriage. The roads nearer the city were smoother than those further into the countryside, so he was not often jostled awake.
She’d spent the night staring out of the window, thinking about the tasks she had been given and worrying about Lorkin. Remembering the last time she had travelled this road, following Akkarin into exile, she felt echoes of emotions from twenty years before. Fear, rejection, hope and love, all softened with time. She let them come, held onto them for a little while, and then released them to fade into the past.
This journey brought some interesting new emotions. Aside from fear and worry over Lorkin, and anxiety at the potential for everything to go badly for herself and Regin, there was a strange elation. After twenty years of being restricted to the Guild grounds, she had suddenly been set free.
Well, not exactly free. I can’t just roam about wherever my fancy takes me. I am on a mission.
“What are you thinking?”
Regin’s question brought her back to her surroundings. She shrugged.
“About being outside the city. I’d assumed I’d never leave it again.”
He made a low noise of disgust. “They should trust you more.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think trust was the problem. They had no choice but to trust me. I think they feared what would happen if we were invaded again and I wasn’t around. Or if Kallen turned on them.”
“Do you think Kallen will take advantage of your absence?”
Sonea shook her head, then she remembered the one trait she did not like in Kallen and frowned.
“What is it?”
She sighed. If Regin can read me this easily, how am I going to fare when I meet with King Amakira and the Traitors? I suppose I’m not fully awake and on my guard yet. Though I wouldn’t forgive myself if I failed to free Lorkin or make an alliance just because I was sleepy.
What to say? Regin had clearly picked up that she had concerns about Kallen, and he would imagine all sorts of reasons if she didn’t give him one. She had to tell him something.
The truth. It isn’t exactly a big secret, anyway.
“Rot,” she said. “Roet. It is his weakness. If I was going to corrupt Kallen, I’d do it by controlling his access to the drug.”
Regin’s brows knit together. “Do many people know of his weakness?”
“Vinara does. Rothen, too. I suspect many of the Higher Magicians do, though we’ve not discussed it. Or, at least, they’ve not discussed it while I was present.”
“Whoever sells it to him knows as well,” Regin added.
“Yes.”
“Lilia used roet too, didn’t she?”
“When she was with Naki. Lilia doesn’t appear to have become addicted to it. In fact, she has a distaste for roet and roet users now. I think she blames it for some of the foolish things she and Naki did.”
Regin looked thoughtful. “So the Guild has one black magician addicted to roet, and one resistant to it.”
“And one who wouldn’t go near the stuff if you paid her to,” Sonea added, shuddering.
He looked at her and smiled. “You’re too smart for that. You don’t let anything back you into a corner.”
Sonea felt her cheeks warm. “Except the Guild.”
“A worthy exception.” He looked away. “I wish I’d had your determination and willingness to defy convention when I was younger.”
She shook her head. “You? Not determined? I always got the impression you were completely sure of yourself and what you wanted from life.”