The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 16: Rekness & Flekjoe

What do I do with this? Rekness thought.

He scratched his nose and went over the shard one more time. ‘Figure out this Dance stuff’? What was there to figure out? He wished Affsol was around, but his friend had his council meeting now.

So he had come once again to the library, hoping to run into the woman with the cloak and ask her what to do. She had told him she’d be there on most days, but he’d come here five of the past eight with no luck so far.

It was a big library though; he supposed they could just be missing each other. He had no read on her crystals so shardtrade was out of the question. Thus, he had taken to occasionally asking other people in the library if they had seen a Lurecrafter anywhere. He was proud that he remembered to not call her a Crag.

Though no one had been able to help him so far, the conversations were good practice. And he was surprised at how many of the townspeople or visitors he ran into knew about what he had done with the Icevein and the fugitive. He was pretty good at telling them the tale by now, and they were always interested to hear about it.

Today, he felt particularly bold and chatty, so when he spotted one of the big ole Stateguards lumbering up the boreway, he wasted no time in intercepting them.

“Hi good Stateguard!” he said. Remembering the proper way to address an elder and a guest, he quickly added: “Pupil Locktree, at your service, if you’ll have my birthright.”

The soldier looked a little puzzled, maybe not expecting a pupil to be so bold. The bald Stateguard did stop though, and said, “proceed.”

Rekness took that as a “yes.” Sometimes people said yes or no with really different words or motions, as old Minyel liked to tell him. He recited his formal address: “I am Rekness Locktree of Massese birthright, by parental triadism. I soulbound my crystal in the light of the Communal Stone of Castle Shimmerpool, in Locktree Lake, of the Western Wood.”

“I am Larrin Tors, of Roythan birthright, by parental triadism. Fourteenth Wardensquad of the Stateguard in Pinedeck. We are well met, Pupil Locktree.”

Rekness had never heard a Stateguard address before. He wondered how many Wardensquads there were. Maybe he’d ask old Minyel sometime. The soldier looked like he was ready to take his leave, so Rekness asked his usual question. “Have you seen a Lurecrafter in the library? She wears a blue cloak and has pink hair.”

“Negative, son.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Something else occurred to Rekness. “Wait. Can you tell me what they did with the fugitive? That’s why you’re here, right?”

“The fugitive is secure. I cannot say more.”

“Oh. Okay then. Thank you.”

The solider nodded, and made to leave, then turned back and narrowed his eyes at Rekness. Here it comes, he thought.

“Locktree... you’re the pupil who disabled the fugitive.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Now he’ll ask me how.

The solider was silent for a moment. He looked up the boreway for a second, then back at Rekness, with a kind of funny look.

“A pup your age shouldn’t have to tangle with the likes of that scum,” the Stateguard said, his voice a little less intense than before. “It was a brave thing you did.”

Rekness beamed. Even the big Stateguards thought he was brave!He wondered if a Massese birthright had ever somehow made their way into the Stateguards.