The Gold in the Dark

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Tia was distracted the whole time they were at the pasty shop, debating with herself whether she wanted to fess up about her ankle. Natlin was too busy gorging herself on saltmeat pasties to notice her sister's reticence. Even at the end of the meal she still couldn't bring herself to tell Natlin the truth, so she spent the whole walk back doing her utmost not to limp. Her ankle was screaming by the time they got back to the academy.

In front of the gates, Natlin turned to Tia. "Will you come by the tent tomorrow?"

"Yes, definitely. This year we're dancing on a public stage right next to the tents, and we have a dress rehearsal there tomorrow." And gods-be-damned she planned on being at that rehearsal, even though the pain in her ankle was making her eyes water. "I'll find you afterwards."

Natlin folded Tia into a final hug, then drew back. Her face was pinched, almost angry. "I understand why you didn't tell me. I wish you'd told me—and I'll probably be properly mad at you later once I think about it more—but I understand. But you need to stay safe. Stabbing him in the leg? Tia, you must be on some god's good side, and that's nothing to count on. And I don't care how good those pasties were, we still shouldn't have been walking around Haplyr at night with a killer on the loose. So please be careful. I don't think I can take another of my family members being in danger."

"I'm sorry," Tia whispered over and over. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." And she was.

There was a nearing clatter of hooves and wheels on the cobblestones, and she threw out a hand to hail the approaching carriage. She fumbled in her pocket for a coin.

"Here, take a carriage back to the tents. You shouldn't be walking around by yourself."

Natlin thanked her and raised a hand in farewell. Tia watched the carriage drive away, and kept watching even as it drew so far away that all she could make out were vague, inky shadows.

~

The next day the Queen's Fair dancers departed the academy right when the morning class ended. With Mistress Oerfall leading the way, they trooped down the city streets in a giggling cluster, save for one girl—Selitta, who maintained a determined silence and trailed behind everyone else.

The rest of the city seemed to be feeling the same sense of elation. An excited energy infused the streets as they drew closer to the fairgrounds, touching revelers and regular city folk alike. The heady smell of onion cakes panfrying filled the air, and the street vendor's line stretched down the block. Strings of merry, colored lanterns bobbed overhead, and troops of musicians, tumblers, and puppeteers drew crowds at every corner.

Eventually almost everyone around them was heading in the same direction, so that Tia felt like a fish being swept downriver. Right when the going was getting difficult with the heavy crowds, they swept left around a corner and found themselves in a gigantic square, packed full of tents of every size and variety. The shrill voice of one hawker floated above the buzz of the crowd. "Woodblock prints of Osanne here, make good gifts for the little ones! And images of a mature variety if that don't suit your needs!" Even at the back of the group and with all the surrounding hubbub, Tia could hear Mistress Oerfall's outraged sniff. Somewhere ahead of them one vendor was advertising fine glassware and another aged sausages, their warring voices forming a discordant melody. A fortuneteller draped in red robes and a lavish fur coat scanned the crowd and cast Tia a vague smile before the dance mistress ushered the dancers on through the confused mess of stalls. Trying to spot the Yarren Street merchants, Tia peered down the meandering aisles between each row of tents, but they were nowhere in sight.

"They're here somewhere!" Wynna said to Tia as she craned her neck this way and that. "We'll poke around after rehearsal."

Just when Tia was starting to think the tents would never end, they emerged from the chaos into a large empty area cordoned off with ropes. Ahead of them the flagstones of the square stretched on, culminating in an enormous wooden stage at the far end. The square ended abruptly behind the stage with an imposing, latticework gate, beyond which sprawled the now familiar outline of the palace—but in reverse. With a jolt of comprehension Tia realized they were on the other side, opposite where Roge had brought her that day. It felt so long ago now. Here she'd been thinking she was starting to really know the city, but Haplyr was vast indeed—too large to really get to know in mere months.