Toymaker

Chapter 35

With Qina's assistance, Idana and Fyorn threw themselves into investigating the royalists in a desperate bid to figure out who held the strings to the coin purse funding the Twisted Serpents and their activities. But with less than a week to the trial, it was a near impossible task. What little information they had been unable to unearth pointed to something big happening during or after the trial.

What it might be, they still didn't know.

It left Idana worried. She hated the feeling of stumbling around in the dark.

And although she and Emeret had not been the closest of friends, given their history, she did not believe he deserved this fate. His actions had not been his own.

Then, of course, there was Laina to think of. Emeret's mother and owner of The Thirsty Hog. And the woman who had taken her in, allowing her to stay at The Thirsty Hog as Idana found her feet upon her first arrival in the big city.

In her entire life, Idana had never met a woman as kind as Laina. She was like the mother Idana had never known.

Though she had never quite given it voice, Idana had wondered, during her days staying in the Hog and at the Academy, if her own mother would have been just like Laina. Lacet had always been reticent discussing her mother and, for the most part, Idana had made do. But after encountering a woman as accomplished as Laina, she couldn't help but imagine what it might have been like if her mother had lived.

So, despite her best efforts, Idana slept poorly as the first day of winter approached. Most nights, she would toss and turn until the early hours of the morning, sick with all the ways she would fail at this critical junction. During class, she could barely concentrate, her thoughts lingering on what else she could be doing to help Emeret in his time of need even as he languished in prison.

Thankfully, classes were merely a formality as the end of term neared. Exams had all been done and dusted. Final assessments had all been handed in. The only thing awaiting her was the chance to have her very own familiar.

Between classes, Idana caught up with Gabri. Qina's sister was always animated. And in these last days before the end of term, she seemed even more so as she chatted about what she and Aleus would get up to during the winter break, the traditions their family had, and of bringing in the new year with the whole family.

Young, most of her chatter revolved around the presents she would receive. Last year, Gabri had been happy to report, Qina had got her a collection of dissertations on the various uses of wild herbs for cooking. It was her most prized possession and something she referred to constantly.

As for the whispers surrounding Hessenia, they had peaked midweek before quickly dying down when another scandal rocked the Academy when one of the professors had been caught in a tryst with a tutor.

And though Idana still felt a twinge of guilt every time she saw the empty seat behind her in Professor Palomen's lessons, Idana had made peace with Hassenia's actions and subsequent expulsion.

More and more, she was starting to see the city as a complex weave of layers. People could lie, cheat and steal if it would secure them a better standing in society. And when it came to Wyndhaven, especially, one's place in the world meant everything.

Everywhere around her, Idana saw people struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. Life in the big city was not so grand as she had initially believed. Rather, it was a fight for survival. The lines stark between the wealthy and the poor.

After seeing Wyndhaven for what it was, Idana felt she understood what had drawn Emeret to the insurgents. As well as why so many others had been so taken with the idea of a republic rather than a monarchy.