Destroyers and the Dragons

Page 25

      "Do not upset my patient," she snaps. "If you have something to state, speak plainly or hold your tongues." I watch several councilors pale or redden depending on what their motives are. The women all start twittering in confusion and several of them have to be herded out of the room because they have become distraught. No wonder he chose to hide in my room and read me children's stories rather than deal with this, I think as Rose finally decides to take me out of the room. I set the plate of draconian delicacies on a table as we leave and smile as we enter the now very familiar gardens.

     "Are you okay?" Rose asks after stopping under a large tree.

     "I am fine, I just don't understand what their problems are," I say slamming a fist into the arm of the contraption.

     "They see you as a threat to their plans," she replies quietly.

     "What, how, why?" I blurt out.

     "You did what none of those girls fathers would do. You came and fought to free us from the upstart. What really is eating at them is you have no personal gain from it."

     "I get the tribes hunting grounds back, what more could I ask for?" I say thinking out loud.

     "That is the problem, you could ask for so much more and you haven't. Then there is the fact that Evergreen spends time in your room almost everyday. It makes them uneasy."

     "That is their problem. I'm not going to be queen or anything so they should just leave it alone."

      "I agree," Rose says and then hands me an embroidery hoop.

     "What am I supposed to do with this?" I ask looking at it.

     "I've seen your tunic," she retorts rolling her eyes at me. I set the hoop in my lap and look at her like she's lost her mind.

     "You think I did all that needle work?" I ask studying Rose.

     "I know you did. The lines are all straight like your scars. Only someone with a steady hand could do that."

     "Fine my secret is out," I mumble. "It keeps the long nights on watch from getting too boring."

     "You stitched that under the moonlight," she demands.

     "I stitched it by feel, to be honest," I retort quietly.

    "Show me how you do that," she demands intently. I shrug and pull the hoop apart freeing the fabric. I study it for a moment and then start a simple pattern of vines after a few minutes I am looking around the garden and watching other people while the needle moves through the fabric. Finally I hand it back to her and watch her as she studies the pattern I've stitched.

     "You didn't even look like you were paying attention to what your hands were doing. How do you do that?"

     "You can't use your eyes to make a pattern, when your eyes have to be looking for the enemies in the dark. I do it by feel with the tips of my fingers." I show her again with my hands where she can see and watch as her eyes widen in awe.

     "You must have very sensitive fingertips," she says as a shadow passes across me. I look up to find Evergreen studying us. I want to apologize for kissing him. But for once I can't find the courage to.

     "It makes it easier to steal also," I mumble.