Inkblots: A Tale of Magic, Adventure, and Romance

XIX. Companionship

Alia just stood in shock while her friend began rattling off some rapid-speed tale about how long they had been walking, and how many blisters she had, and how wet it was outside.

"Darine," she said. "Darine," again, a little bit louder. The younger girl kept talking, breaking off only as Kit and Caddock ducked into the mouth of the cavern and forced the two girls to retreat around the side of the fire.

"She just did, Kit! I don't know. What was I supposed to do?" Alia watched as Caddock hung his head, looking uncomfortable.

"Tie her up and leave her in a barn? Use your traveling skills to lose her? Gods, Caddock, what were you thinking?"

The finally-silent Darine looked over at Kit, who was running angry hands through his dampened hair, with wide eyes.

"She just kept asking," Caddock said miserably. "And then it started raining, Kit, and she didn't have anything except that sack, so what was I supposed to do?"

"Oh!" Darine ran back toward the sodden pile she'd dropped at the door and pulled up a small bedraggled-looking bundle. "Here."

Kit watched them curiously from across the fire as Caddock pulled off his wet cloak and began to hang it over a protruding rock.

Alia opened the dripping fabric, not knowing what she was supposed to be seeing, and suddenly her eyes filled up with hot tears. It was her little bundle from packing to leave the Librum. Everything was there—her own warm cloak, her beloved gray dress, the little pouch that held her meager earnings, a few small sheaves of notes and mementos.

"Oh!" she said in a choked little voice, at a loss for words. Why should Darine have done this for her, when they had barely just become friends? She looked up at the other woman, trying to think of a way to thank her, and finally just flung herself over for a hug. The serving girl was plump and comforting feeling, but she was also cold and wet and smelled distinctly of damp wool, so after a moment Alia stepped back again.

"I just thought you might need your things," said Darine, flushing in the firelight.

A snorting sound came from the side, and Alia looked over to see Kit giving her a skeptical look.

The other girl noticed as well. "Well, I did! We barely got them out of the cottage in time, and Master Rubart was so terribly worried about you. I noticed Caddock going and I thought I might as well just bring them to you myself, since Beldara was gone totally mad, and why shouldn't I have an adventure as well!"

"The cottage?" Alia's throat clenched. "My mother, is she...?"

"Oh, she's fine! She's fine." Caddock jumped in from across the fire. "I went to your Master Rubart and he had me tuck her away with the, um, with the shoemaker, I believe?"

"But the smashed the cottage, Alia, they just tore it to pieces." Darine's eyes goggled in horror and excitement as she spoke. "I've never seen anything like it. They found out that the magic wouldn't work anymore, and the Head Scribe explained what that would affect, with the harvest, and the protection and everything, and then it was like they were wild beasts. The crowd... it wasn't like people anymore, Alia. It was like its own living thing, and it just swarmed up and spilled over, and they smashed windows and burned down houses, and stormed the Librum..." Her voice shook with remembered fear. "They were asking us if anyone knew you, knew where you'd gone, but all of us serving girls said no."

Alia couldn't even imagine what she was saying. "Who did?"

"Everyone. I don't know. You couldn't even distinguish separate people." Her voice was very soft, and when Alia looked to Caddock, the big man nodded regretfully.