Chapter 11: The Colour of Thorns
A Silver Embrace
My collapse and recovery rattled me deeply, overshadowing at first the discovery of my eyes being the wrong colour. It was the last thing on my mind after finding out I'd nearly died. Again. Apparently much more than just 'again', if the blue-haired warrior was to be believed.
Worse than a near death experience, by far, was the weakness that followed. I wasn't so fatigued as when I met Jasmin, probably because I had only been unconscious for a short time. By the time of the evening meal, I was at least able to get up and move about, if a little stiffly. My body's betrayal didn't go unnoticed, as Jasmin doted on me much more than she had become given to.
I would have had plenty of time to consider all of that in the next sun, if not for the ridiculous magnitude of Jasmin's reaction to the whole affair once she was sure I wasn't in mortal peril.
To her credit, she responded to my near death experience with an incredibly level head. She tossed Vanara up on the horse and bridal-carried me for miles at a trot without stopping, bringing us clear of what she perceived as the most dangerous part of our journey. She didn't stop all sun and all night, despite my insistence that it was unnecessary.
It all happened so quickly. She woke me before the sun had properly begun, struck camp without a word, and set to it. The next thing I knew, we were moving. Or, she was moving, and I was fussing at the undue attention, to which she maintained an impressively stiff expression, only occasionally smiling at me when she knew I was staring at her.
Had she been able, I'm convinced she'd have tossed the horse on her shoulders and performed the task at a full sprint. I'm still not convinced she wouldn't have been able to.
Either way, we made it to the far side of Thornwood Hallow almost four suns early, really driving home how much Jasmin was holding back on account of my recovery from the first near death experience I'd had in the time we'd known each other. I added to my list of mental notes that she was fiercely protective of me. It was almost kind of nice, to be doted on like that, even if she did go entirely too far at times.
When the trees began to thin, and the barely visible path seemed to regenerate beneath our feet, Jasmin finally let me down and moved to set camp without assistance.
"Darling," I nearly growled the word at her, hoping to make a point.
"My dear?" Clearly, the gruff tone got her attention.
"I am not a delicate flower that requires all things laid out for her," my growl quickly subsided and made way for softness. "Either allow me to help, or I shall continue walking until you collapse. You can't have any more than an hour left in you after a full sun at that pace."
She dropped her hands in surrender, unfortunately also dropping everything she'd been holding in the process. Which was probably too much in the first place. "Fine. But at the first sign of fatigue, I'm making you take a break. Until the eventide."
"Excellent," I winked and stuck out my tongue at her. "Then for now, you sit. Watch me work. I know you've been dying to gawk at me since Mrs. Reed made you dress me all those sevensuns ago."
Jasmin's blush said everything I needed. She was thinking about the body she'd carefully inspected for nearly ten suns, but she wasn't considering it as a thing to heal anymore. And that feeling was beyond mutual.
Without argument, she moved to a nearby log and sat.
I took great care not to overextend myself as I removed the tent roll from the pile Jasmin had dropped and began the slow work of pitching it. Each post, each line, each drape of canvas, I took a moment and breathed lightly. I had to show her I was fine. Still the rough and tumble lovable ruffian she'd saved.
The tent went up in twice the time it would've taken Jasmin, but it made my point.
"May I assist you now, my dear?" Her teasing voice lightened the mood greatly. "You've already done the most difficult task. I'd only be serving to bring us closer to breakfast. I'm not sure if you know this, but running for a full sun from morn to morn builds an appetite."
"Is that what you call that," I smiled dubiously, "running? I'm certain I've seen village elders move more quickly."
"While carrying a delicate flower?"
"Just for that, you're finishing the task," I scrunched up my face at her, letting her know both that I was still playing and that she had won.
The rest of the camp set was done, our bellies were full, and both of us were desperate to rest in almost no time. Jasmin was barely able to stay upright, wobbling a little more with every breath, and I hadn't fully recovered, if I were honest with myself.
"I must rest, my dear," Jasmin said softly, barely forming the sounds.
"Obviously." I faked a yawn that quickly turned into a real one, prompting a weak laugh from her. "Come, darling. We can rest this sun. You've saved us from the danger of the grove of evil, and now peace is ours."
After carefully leading Jasmin by her hand into the tent, I did all I could to secure it from entry and lay her down on our camping pallet.
"Darling. Are you awake enough to give me a few moments?" I was nervous, but I knew I wanted this.
"That wholly depends, my dear," she was fading quickly, so I had to get to the point, "on how long those moments will last."
"Well," I whispered, trying to decide which thing was more important, "we have kissed a few times. And I like it."
"I'll have no butts to that, Roisin," she got the words out quickly, indicating she wasn't quite so tired as she seemed, "save your butt, here in this makeshift bed with me." I smiled at her repetition of my own words.
"Not a but," I assured her quickly, "so much as another 'and'." I took a deep breath and gathered myself. "And, Jasmin, I think I want more."
Her eyes flew open. "Yes, please." The words were fully lucid and present. She was smiling for a moment, but it fell. She thought of something. I braced for the impact. "But can it wait until we reach Blue Stone? I am a dreadful mess. And no offence, but both of us stink like we haven't seen a bath in more than a moon."
"I wasn't expecting such enthusiasm," I admitted, ignoring the unintended jab about smells. "Then I'll get on to my second request."
Jasmin closed her eyes again and mumbled. "Whatever you want, my dear, it's yours. Just get in bed, please."
"Even if it's ... intimate?" I felt my skin flush as I considered what I was about to do.
She smiled weakly. "Especially, my dear, do it if it is intimate." After a few seconds, she slowly raised her eyelids to gaze at me. "But importantly, whatever it is, take it easy."
Without another word, I removed the clothes I was wearing, including my undergarments, and climbed under the blanket, curling up close to Jasmin. I shivered as her arms wrapped around me and her hands made contact with my bare skin. She noticed immediately, and I felt her breath quicken on my neck.
"Well, this is it," I breathed the words, concerned. "Is this ... okay?"
"I see," she whispered. "I'm not opposed. But is it okay if I take things a bit slower?"
"So long as you get here eventually, it could be fifteen moons from now," I giggled at the image of her continuing her modest behaviours with me so exposed. "I prefer to sleep this way. Always have. And you've seen everything already anyway."
"I'm not being modest, if that's what you're thinking," she said it with a huff. "I'm simply too tired to undress just now."
"That's good enough," my contented sigh prompted her to draw me closer in. "I look forward to you sharing when you're able. Rest now, sweet Jasmin. You've earned it."
It was unusually quiet as I floated to sleep. Jasmin's breath light on my neck once she finally let herself rest.
A new dream haunted me that morning. Not a temple, or at least not the same one. If it were a temple, then it must have been more vast than a great metropolis. I couldn't even make out the farthest corner from my seat atop a great raised surface.
Leaning on the side of my seat was a brilliant silver sword. Seated slightly higher than me was the woman I loved, holding court on a matter of dire import.
Two of her sisters had been killed. A great shadow was spreading across Lafleur, and all of us were powerless to stop it.
"My dear Mavi," she spoke to me, apart from her work, "I am sorry I must ask this of you, but your own sisters are falling as well. Will you go out and become once more the Thorn The Befalls The Wicked?"
Without thought, I took my sword in hand and cut the length of my deepest blue hair, laying the whole of it at her feet. Whatever she asked, I would do. It was my duty, just as her sisters' Mavi had theirs.
"Salora," I begged, "grant me only this. I fear this will be our final passing. Grant me, if you deem me worthy, a lock of your silver hair, to carry as a ward against harm."
It was a boldness I hardly believed I had ventured, but she took my sword in hand and cut her own hair and moulded it into a new form before my eyes. She offered it to me, an amulet bearing her essence.
Salora's smile was pained as she bid me farewell. "Stay safe, my dear —"
I awoke still in Jasmin's arms, tears streaming down my face. That dream was a memory. The blue-haired woman had given something up that was dear to her in service to the woman she loved.
There was something biting at my awareness. She said something familiar. It was a new word, one that was fresh in my memory.
"Mavi," I muttered, tasting the truth of it on my lips.
Jasmin was still sleeping. I feared she would be for a long while still. I needed to talk to Vanara. Immediately.
Four Suns and Broken Petals
I made as much progress with Vanara as I should have expected, going round and round for hours until suddenly the weight of Jasmin's arms rested lightly on my shoulders, and her hands found mine. Not only were we one more mystery deep into whatever this whole obnoxious everything was attempting to become, but the only thing I'd managed to learn from Vanara was something I already knew: silverthorn was a deadly poison with no antidote.
So delightfully useless was the experience, I realised I should've just stayed with Jasmin until she woke up. At least then I would have been relaxed instead of incredibly
"Tense, my dear," Jasmin's whisper across my neck sent chills to every distant corner of my body. "You need a massage. I'll be gentle."
She set in to rubbing the tense muscles in my shoulders, neck, and back, silently supporting me in a new way and melting away most of the worries I was facing. "How long is it," I managed between contented moans, "before we arrive in Blue Stone, darling?"
"If you would like to leave this sun —"
"Without you working yourself to death."
She squeezed a little harder at the playful joke. "— we can be there before nightfall. Even if we went at your pace." A moment's thoughtful silence passed before she corrected. "But we'd have to strike camp right after our next meal."
"And we'd be able to get a room at an inn or some manner of public house without issue?" Her hands resumed their previous effort with less force and more deliberate attention. Those were the final words I spoke until we ate.
"Yes, my dear." There was a smile in the words. I hoped she was thinking what I was.
Our mid-sun meal came and went without incident, and somehow the camp was struck before I had a moment to even notice. How Jasmin had managed the task, I couldn't say, but I was happy for it all the same.
"So, I had a thought," Jasmin said idly as we made our final preparations to leave.
"A dangerous thing indeed," Vanara said idly, though I'm not certain they were replying to Jasmin or speaking to themself.
"I want you to ride the horse for this final stretch, my dear," she said, ignoring Vanara's remark. At my glaring expression, she added, "Not for your protection. My strides are longer. I can keep up with the horse much more easily than you. This will have us there by supper without anyone overdoing it."
Foregoing protest, I opted instead to tease her. "But darling! How ever shall I get onto the horse? I have never ridden before!"
Without a word, Jasmin lifted me up to the horse's back, seated just in front of our supplies. The move was so smooth and effortless my stomach dropped for a second during the ascent. "Well. That was unexpected. What of Vanara?"
"They'll either keep up or catch up. My priority is a nice hot meal that isn't made from rehydrated salt-meats." She winked, a thing I was certain I'd not seen from her before. "And maybe other sorts of meal as well."
My blush lasted much longer than the time it took us to get back to the main road. I couldn't help thinking about Jasmin's words. And also the potential for a proper meal. With cool wine and warm ale. Maybe a nice stew.
Before I knew it, an odd shape formed on the horizon before us. At first, it was but a bump in the otherwise natural curves of the landscape. And beyond it, everything was flat and silver-lined. The further we went along, the forms began to articulate themselves. Angular, squared off, complex layerings of buildings obscuring each other. And spiky things on what I soon recognised as
"The sea." It felt like a promise fulfilled. The shapes before us were the various buildings in Blue Stone and ships in the harbour. I had never seen anything like the vast emptiness that stretched out beyond the hills. Just water, flat and serene, for miles until it blended with the sky.
"It is, indeed, my dear." Her voice startled me, almost causing me to fall from the horse's back. She caught me without issue and righted my position, not even breaking her stride. "Do be careful. I've put a lot of work into ensuring your survival."
"Only for those 'other meals' you mentioned."
She stopped in her tracks, pulling the horse's reins to make it do the same, and met my eyes with an intensity I'd never seen. "Do not ever think that. You are far more to me than simply a conquest or a thing to enjoy."
"Yes," my throat caught. I didn't know how to respond. "Thank you for confirming, darling." I sounded like an idiot, but it was better than saying nothing.
That seemed to satisfy Jasmin, as she set back to her previous pace. I had to admit that she was right about her stride beating me out so deeply. Jasmin knew how to move, and even the horse sometimes struggled to keep pace.
From the moment Blue Stone first came into view until we were able to clearly see the guard station at the city gate, around an hour had passed. We stopped a long way off to allow me to dismount and make sure we were clear on everything.
Vanara, surprisingly, had managed to keep up.
"Alright. From here on, you are my wife Afina Roisin Thornleaf, and I am Salora Jasmin Primrose." She was smiling brightly at the whole thing. Goddesses around us, this woman loved to scheme. "It's been several trying sevensuns. Do you remember the whole backstory, my love?"
"Daddy hates those twice-cursed children of larabrin excrement Primroses, but I couldn't possibly be apart from my beautiful, alluring, powerful, love of my life!" The words were meant as a joke, but it warmed my heart to continue describing Jasmin so.
"Close enough." She gestured toward Vanara. "But what about them?"
"Obviously, you're my sister," Vanara said the words without irony. "Salora Primrose and Va Nara. Always have been siblings."
I gently lifted Jasmin's jaw back to its proper place. "There we are. Settled. Now can we please go? I smell like the very excrement my daddy accuses your family of being. I did have one concern, though, love."
"Yes?"
"You said the Thornleafs are infamous in Blue Stone." Our eyes met resolutely. "Are we sure this is a good idea?"
"What do you know about your family's home, Roisin?"
"It's a port district. And it's right there."
"Ah. When I said 'the most notorious criminal family', I meant something very different than what you might expect."
"Why do you insist on speaking in riddles and half-truths?" I wasn't sure why the words came out in that order, but they certainly echoed my feelings.
"They're Fleurian criminals. In Blue Stone, I suppose they're minor folk heroes."
My breath hitched. "And you don't think I should've known that before we decided to go somewhere I've never been to pretend to be part of a family I know nothing about to protect ourselves from a terror this city hasn't seen in our lifetimes – possibly our parents' lifetimes as well?"
"I think, my dear," she said lightly with a knowing smirk, "that your eyes shall see soon enough that all is well in Blue Stone."
Jasmin didn't wait for further argument. She grabbed my hand and began dragging us toward an uncertain fate.
The guards at the gate were right and proper military souls, not like the Danner family in Powell's Square. That meant several layers of security separated travellers from entering the town proper by this route. I was certain we could've found another way, but Jasmin insisted we go through the gate, for propriety and documentation.
At the first checkpoint, the guard looked us over and let us pass without much more than that. Apparently, she was tasked with verifying faces against wanted notices that had drawings. I found out later she was the best at her job, and we were fortunate Jasmin wasn't yet associated with me – entirely ignoring that my face hadn't yet been added to anything that mentioned me.
The second checkpoint took much longer.
"Names?" Their gruff tone suggested they were ready to quit for the sun. I hoped for them that it would happen soon.
"Salora Jasmin Primrose."
"That the three of you, or just the one?" They didn't start writing.
"Just myself, kind soul," she was being sweeter than I was accustomed to. The guard began scribbling the name as Jasmin continued. "And this is my sibling Vanara."
Vanara cut in, correcting, "Va Nara," putting a clear space between the names. What an odd one.
The guard turned to me, "And you?"
"Afina Roisin Thornleaf."
Their eyes widened. They didn't write my name. Instead, they left their post in a huff, not returning for several minutes. When they did, a severe looking woman was with them. She wore her hair like a commander, tied in warrior's plaits, and her torso was adorned with reasonably fine leather armour. As they approached, the guard started whispering rapidly about something, gesturing at me with oddly pointed motions.
Neither of them met my gaze for long. It was almost like it hurt to look at me.
Before either spoke, I noticed their fidgeting, the woman's hand gripping her sword's hilt like it might flee in my presence. They eventually recomposed themselves, but the tension of the moment hung thick in the air.
"Go on," the guard said, their voice cracking, "and tell the captain what you told me."
Jasmin opened her mouth, "Well, I'm Sal—"
"Not you," They barked the words, then addressed me more softly. "This one."
I straightened my posture – a movement my body protested not out of fatigue, but from disuse – and addressed them with all the certainty I could afford for the lie. "My name is Afina Roisin Thornleaf."
The woman's soft face, so similar to Delia's, twisted into something like worry. "Is that an alias, or is it a fact of depth?"
"It's my name." The sharpness that slipped into the words surprised even me. "And I've been travelling for several moons now. I would like a bath, a hot meal, and a warm bed. So if we could conclude this business quickly, I'd appreciate it."
Both their expressions paled drastically as they took in all of my features. After several passes up and down, the woman's eyes locked on my hip where Mrs. Reed's dagger hung. Something told me she was considering something far more complex than I cared for.
At last, she levelled her gaze back at my eyes for just a second before averting, settling, I assume, on my shoulders. "These others. Servants, I assume, Lady Thornleaf?"
Lady Thornleaf? My breath caught at the possible meanings. What hadn't Jasmin told me? Without allowing myself to think too long, I corrected with a forced steadiness. "My wife. And her sibling." Jasmin laced our fingers together reinforcing the notion and granting me stability. My anchor.
The captain visibly flinched at my words. "Apologies, madam," the woman struggled to get the words out. "Will you be staying in the manor, or have you arranged other accommodations, Lady Thornleaf?"
Now there was a manor? Goddesses around us. I shot Jasmin a harsh glare. You will explain this later, darling.
After taking a moment to reorient myself, hoping my gamble would pay off without too much harm, I went ahead with the risk. In for a pebble, after all.
"Well, if the manor is staffed or stocked, then it would probably serve best," Everything about this was risky, but their fear gave me leverage. I quickly realised a possible flaw. "Though I must confess, Captain," the title jumped to my lips just in time as my words dripped honeyed poison, "this is my first time in my home city. An escort would be ... dreadfully helpful."
Her throat clenched at the implications. "Certainly, madam. It is true we haven't seen one of your house for quite some time." She hesitated, considering the full length of the gap. "Not since — Apologies." Not since what, Captain? What was she hiding that she almost said?
The captain stepped out from the guard station and took the horse's reins in hand. "Right this way, Lady Thornleaf."
She bellowed the last two words much more loudly, instantly catching a reaction. Several nearby guards and a few people beyond the gate snapped to attention.
We weren't made to stop at the third guard station.
As we stepped past the last of the gate's security, I took it all in. I was finally there, with Jasmin. The streets were busier than I'd have expected so close to the evening meal, people shoving past one another on fairly crowded streets.
The buildings were like I'd never seen before – which I supposed shouldn't be surprising since I never left the second district before. I'd seen two- and three-level buildings, such as our modest inn and the houses of a few of the bigger families, but never five- and six-level buildings like those I was greeted by here.
Down the main thoroughfare, I could make out one of the piers, and the sea beyond. The sky was settling into a wonderful evening violet in that direction.
What I hadn't expected was the smell. The city smelled of salt and songs, fish and ferocity, perspiration and pride. It was a wild town, not fully tamed by the oppression of the queen's war. And that thought settled deep within me, reminding me that Blue Stone was one of the districts that hadn't seen conscriptions in almost fifty years.
Above all, though, it was safe. It was home.