"The Twisted Path: Chapter 11" by Melissa ´TigerCat´ Jones

"The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast-
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world."

- A Girl by Ezra Pound



Chapter 11: Haven


The shock on his face was apparent even under the dim glow of the cloud-swathed sky. I stood in the doorway, feeling my heart hammer away at my ribs. He was alive! I had dared to think, to hope, it was so. But until I had come upon the quiet cottage and peered silently into the window, I had not truly dared to believe it. Joy and awe and sudden timidity pooled in the pit of my stomach, swept through my veins. Rhys did not speak; he just gazed at me in wonder. The weight of his eyes was heavy. Forever, six heartbeats, I stood in the doorway, waiting, until his hand rose and a thumb lightly traced the fading bruise under my eye. The wind blew, twisting my hair and raising gooseflesh on his bare chest.

His hand moved into my hair, his thumb at my earlobe, and I could not breathe. His eyes were night-black shadows in his face. Speak, I thought faintly. Tell me I am not dreaming. But the dark-haired man said nothing. He moved instead, pulling me toward him with one liquid motion, and kissed me. Kissed me like a drowning man who has tasted air once more. One arm was snug around my waist. The other"s hand was deep in my hair. I did not know what to do, never having been kissed before. I was sure he could feel my heart pummeling against his chest, even through my fingers splayed across his chest. I was frozen into silence and stillness, rooted like a tree to the ground. Oh, how my heart raced!

Then, before I knew it, Rhys pulled back, leaving his arms around me. "You are alive, Tylidae," he said incredulously. "I feared it was a dream."

My face was hot, but I refused to be embarrassed. I shivered at the sound of my name in his mouth. "You thought to be rid of me so easily?" I asked, hoping the raggedness of my voice was not apparent. I was vertiginous, my face and ears burning hot while my heart thundered. This was not quite what I had expected upon my return. I had hoped for joy, at least, for acceptance. Affection was more than I had dreamed. The wind rushed over my hot skin, whisking the blush from my flesh. The trees whispered at my stupefaction.

Rhys laughed, startling me with its boisterousness, and swept me up in a dancing embrace that lifted my feet off the threshold. "Thank the gods!" he said, finally setting me down. My feet lighted on the bare wooden floor of the inner room. The cool hearthstones brushed against my toes. I had taken off my broken shoes sometime before; I could not remember when. "How did you survive?" he asked in wonder.

"I do not know," I said, stepping back, unaccustomed to this proximity with another person. Rhys" arms dropped, but he was still so close I could smell the grass-and-woodsmoke scent of him. "What about you? What of Sidh and Wren and Fox?"

"We are all alive," Rhys answered slowly. "Saved by providence, I think. I can"t imagine any other reason. Wren and Fox are well and home, but Sidh..."

I waited, watching him gather his words. My heart slowed but my mind would not pause. I could still feel his lips on mine, and the touch of his hands in my hair and on my waist. I fought a shiver and won, barely.

"Sidh is not hale," the dark-haired man continued. "He must have hit his head. He has only woken once since the ship went down."

"He is with Wren and Fox, I assume."

"Yes. They are caring for him as best they can. The physician was useless." I caught the flicker of speculative hope in his eyes when he looked at me, but I said nothing. I would try, of course, but I could make no promises. He was still staring at me, coal-black eyes in a shadowed face. "It is impossible," he said softly, "for you - for us - to all be alive."

"Yes," I agreed quietly, remembering suddenly the dream I had while floating on the barrel. Gods and life and fate, all wrapped up together. I could not stop the shiver that passed over me, not this time. Rhys saw it, even through the dim interior of the cottage, and came closer. He radiated heat like a campfire and the hand that touched my cheek seemed to burn like flames.

A strange sort of terror swept through me. I feared rejection above all else, even now when it seemed impossible. I thought, even with my healing ears, that I could hear his heart pounding and then pushed the notion away. It was my own beating heart. It must be. I made myself breathe, afraid to speak, afraid of frightening him away. Afraid of him deciding that I was not worth his time after all.

"If I am dreaming," he whispered, "wake me."

"You..." I paused, stilled myself, forced down my fears, and restarted softly. "You are not dreaming."

He kissed me again, less hastily this time, and slowly my doubts began to crumble.

//~*~\


"The chest, too? I can scarcely believe it," I said, stunned. I watched Rhys haul the laden chest up from the hole underneath the floorboards. The morning sun shone through the open windows. The sounds of the wind had died and birdsong had taken its place. We had talked for most of the night, neither one of us wanting to sleep, and he had only a few minutes ago mentioned the chest. Last night, I thought Rhys had wanted more than kissing, but I was not ready and he had not pushed. I was furious with myself for being terrified of his illusory disaffection. Now, instead of allowing my embarrassment to surface, I focused on the chest instead.

"And nothing seems to be damaged," Rhys replied, hauling the chest free with a grunt. "Everything but the others" shares is in here."

"My clothes?" I asked, eager to have a relatively clean set.

"Yes, and the weapons you left. I hadn"t thought this thing would be water-tight, but it was caulked well."

He left me for a few moments then, letting me empty the chest at my leisure as he started a fire in the hearth and then went outside to fill a kettle at the spring. I changed swiftly while he was out, wishing for a bath. There would be plenty of time for one later, I was sure, but soon we would head down to the lakeside to check on Sidh. I was anxious to see Wren and Fox as well, to see how they fared and to let them know I was alive. It was a strange feeling still, having others care. I did not know if I would ever get used to it.

I stood and brushed dust from the knees of my breeches, and tugged the tops of my boot higher so they would be snug. There was a hairbrush left in the chest, and so I removed my makeshift headband and swept the bristles through my hair, untangling knots and pulling free small bits of forest debris. My ears no longer hummed oddly and the bleeding had long since stopped. I could hear well again, especially with the headband removed, and sighed in relief. I heard Rhys enter and watched him hang the kettle over the fire.

"I have a few biscuits and honey. As for tea, I think there"s just chamomile in that box there." He pointed to a wooden, dovetailed bin on a shelf near the hearth. I steeped the tea, adding some rosehips and mint from my belt, and we ate slowly, looking at each other across the small table under the window. The air that came in through the open windows smelled of sand and salt and wet grass. I could not hear the sea, but that was perfectly acceptable. I had had enough of the sea for the time being.

"Can you tell me," Rhys said abruptly, sunlight glinting on his dark hair, "what exactly happened on the ship? Did it have anything to do with what was in the hold?"

My eyes flicked away for a moment. "Yes," I answered truthfully. "I meant to throw the dust over the side."

He looked hard at me, pinning me with his eyes when I hesitated. "And?" he prompted.

"Marcus came." I looked out the window, seeing the trees stretch toward the sky. A flock of birds whisked past and vanished. "He thought the pouch was an offering to Oryn and so he crushed it under his heel."

Rhys let out a hefty breath. "And you were right there beside him," he said, knowing he was right. I saw nausea blossom on his suddenly pale face. "How could you possibly survive that? You"re barely bruised!"

It was my turn to pin him with my blue eyes. "I was deaf for days," I said. "Utterly deaf. My ears bled." I turned up my palms, revealing the healing lacerations across my palms and forearms. "I did not escape unscathed."

"That"s - " he began, but I interrupted.

"Rhys," I said softly. "You forget that I am different. I am not human, like you."

"But you are still flesh and blood," he insisted, holding the cup tight between his powerful hands. "You are not so different."

I smiled gently. "Nor am I the same. You might believe that in time."

"I prefer to think of it as you having certain...talents that others lack." The dark-haired man leaned back in his chair. My throat hurt, looking at him. I told him I would stay only as long as I was wanted, and the thought of him telling me to leave pained me greatly. Still, I wanted him to realize that I would never be fully human. I would always be somewhat different in ways that even I did not completely understand. I wanted him to like me for what and who I was, without reservations, without regrets or fears. But there was one thing I would never tell him - that I had been the Nightingale - for that would change everything. I would take that knowledge to my deathbed.

"That is a nice way of putting it," I replied, draining the last of my tea. The biscuits and honey had vanished long before.

"Then let"s say no more about it," Rhys announced, rising to his feet. The chair squeaked across the smooth-grained floorboards. I helped him put the chest back into its hiding place and replace the covering. Before we left for the lakeside, Rhys handed me one of his shirts that needed mending. "I hate seeing you wear those head coverings, but I know you need it," he said, indicating that I should use the fabric to fashion a new headband. "Perhaps one day things will change."

I snorted lightly, knowing that would likely never happen, but cut the shirt into wide strips. The well-worn fabric was light and clean. Quickly, I wound a strip across my ears and knotted it carefully behind my left ear, letting the short ends hang free. It held better than the fronds and was much more comfortable. The rest of the fabric I folded tightly and placed into my belt. It would be better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

"Ready?" Rhys asked.

"Yes," I answered, heading for the door.

"I"m not," the dark-haired man said suddenly. I had turned to look at him, wondering what else he needed, when he swept me into his arms and kissed me soundly. "Now I"m ready," Rhys said, grinning broadly. He released me and went to the door, leaving me little choice but to follow after him, breathless and blushing hotly.

//~*~\

I could see the lake sparkling under the azure sky, half-hidden behind an array of limbs and trunks. We had crossed a ridge forested with short, thick pine. There was very little in the way of brush and undergrowth and so walking was easy. We passed a few olive trees, as I now knew they were called, but I had had my fill of them. It was very peaceful and quiet under the low boughs of the pine. The floor was carpeted with a deep layer of soft needles, muffling Rhys" footsteps. Two reddish deer bounded away from us, startled by our scent on the soft breeze. Below, I could see the city spreading its face across the land.

"So this is Lugnayos," I said softly, one hand on the trunk of a young pine as I gazed over the vastness of the city. The sea shone in the distance like a jewel. Ships moored at the dock, sails furled and decks busy.

"It is a nice place, once you get used to it," Rhys replied, standing next to me. "Later, we"ll go down and I"ll show you what it has to offer."

Smoke rose from certain sectors as people, perhaps the baker or blacksmith, plied their trades. The mud-gray buildings with their square, dark windows dotted every section of the seaside city, some tall, some squat. There were square buildings and round buildings, long ones and short. Some were decorated with paint while others had exposed wooden beams poking though the walls near the roof. I saw the temple, tall and full of spires, hover over the land like a boulder among pebbles, and looked away.

"It"s not all paved," Rhys continued as we walked along. "There are trees lining some streets, and wide spaces where soft grass grows thick and wild. There"s a pavilion that overlooks the sea. It even juts out over the water in its widest area and you can sometimes see dolphins leap in the surf."

I was glad to see Rhys happy, to see him excited to sell his city to me. Though I preferred the denseness of the forest, I held my tongue. I had no intention of living in the city proper, but visiting from time to time would not bother me overmuch. Thinking so far ahead worried me. Where would I live now that I was in Lugnayos? With Rhys? I did not know that I could be content to be a mistress; I did not know if that was what I wanted or even if I would ever be ready for something like that. Things had shifted greatly in the last day and I was still struggling to catch up.

"We can see the menagerie," he resumed. "And walk the paths on the roofs."

The wind picked up as the came nearer to the lake. "Sounds lovely," I answered, drinking in the cool air. There were two cottages situated under the shade of the trees, and a barn across from them. I heard the deep braying of a mule and the distant hum of voices. Something crunched a twig beside the path and I twisted suddenly, instinctively alert.

"Mister Rhys!" a young voice shouted. "You came back!"

A dark shape bolted from the path side and raced toward us. A child dived for the dark-haired man, hugging him around the calves. Rhys laughed and patted the child"s curled hair. "Hello, Alessia," he said fondly. "You"ve sharp eyes."

"Mama calls me a hawk sometimes," the girl said, grinning widely. She turned her brown eyes to me and the smile faded. "Who"re you?" she asked shyly.

Rhys pried her slender arms free from his legs. "This is Dae," he told her. "She is...my friend. And a friend of Fox and Wren, too."

Alessia blinked at me. "Do you know Sidh?"

"I do," I answered, watching carefully as she started at the sound of my voice. I had not been close to a human child since I had been a child myself. I did not know how to act around children.

"Have you come to wake him up?" she asked, her large brown eyes unwavering. Tendrils of black hair brushed across her plump face, and I noticed that she had freckles much like Wren.

"I will try," I replied slowly.

"Alessia," Rhys said, drawing the child"s attention. "Will you tell Fox and Wren that I"m back?"

A bright smile instantly blossomed on her face. "Oh, yes!" she crowed and then bolted down the pathway, the flocked skirt flapping around her ankles.

"Whose child is that?" I asked Rhys once she was gone.

"She is cousin to Wren and Fox," the dark-haired man said. "Their mother, Tille aip Vossin, lives here. She"s Mog"s sister, you recall. An aunt by marriage has the second cottage, Vilma aip Roucen." He thought a moment, silent except for the sounds of his feet as we walked toward the lakeside homes. "There"re four children, too; all Vilma"s: Kara, Terran, Alan, and Alessia. You"ll meet them all, I"m sure. They can be...curious at times."

"Thank you for the warning," I sighed. I tugged my headband a little farther down, rearranging it so I was absolutely certain the majority of my ears were covered, and then brushed the dust from the front of my sleeveless shirt. The silver armband above my elbow glinted in the sun, even scratched and unpolished as it was. I touched it, feeling the warmth of the sun echoed in the metal.

A figure darted out from one of the cottages to stand in the clearing between them. I recognized Wren immediately. She was swiftly followed by Fox and the brown-eyed child. Beside me, Rhys was grinning broadly, proud of the fact that he was the one bringing the dead back to life. "It can"t be..." I saw Wren mouth, my eyes better than my ears, and then she darted down the path.

The siblings reached me at the same moment and I was suddenly awash with laughter and cheer and hearty hugs. My heart raced from the nervousness of this confinement, but I tried to fight the panic back. I trusted these people not to harm me but my body reacted without any input from my brain. I slid away from them, smiling, joyous, uneasy.

Wren hugged me with her good arm one last time and then released, allowing me my freedom. "I can"t believe it!" she cried. "You survived!"

"How did you manage it?" Fox asked after clapping me soundly on the back.

"I held onto an ale cask," I answered, overwhelmed by their welcome, "and floated ashore." I saw their wounds and healing bruises. Wren"s arm, Fox"s cuts, Rhys" faint limp - so many things could have happened. It was unthinkable that we had all survived, yet survived we had. The relief, wonder, and elation in the air were palpable.

"Of course Rhys would be the one to find you first," Wren laughed, looking knowingly at me. I inconspicuously pinched myself to keep from blushing.

"Actually," Rhys interjected, "Dae found me. Knocked at my door in the early hours of the morning. Scared me half to death, I might add."

"Well, we are glad you"re alive and hale," Fox said before Wren could speak. I had seen the gleam in her eyes and knew there would be a storm of questions later. I quailed at the thought. "Do you want to come and meet everybody else?"

I glanced at Rhys to judge his reaction. He appeared perfectly calm, so I agreed. "I heard Sidh is here and injured," I said. "Shall I have a look at him?"

"I was hoping you would," Wren answered, her eyes pleading. "A physician came but the herbs aren"t helping much."

The child and a woman were waiting in the clearing between the cottages when we approached. The woman was past her prime, with grey streaks in her dark hair, but her brown eyes were full of vitality. "Tille aip Vossin," she said to me as we stopped before her. "I assume you"re a friend of these three?"

"Yes," I answered. "My name is Dae." I fought the urge to draw a fist across my collarbone in an elven gesture of greeting.

"Make yourself at home, then," she replied, eyeing me thoughtfully. I could not decipher what she was thinking. Wren and Fox ushered me inside where Sidh was waiting. Tille followed after sending Alessia out after olives. In the distance, I could hear the other three children laughing at the edge of the woods.

When I saw Sidh, faint and still on the bed, all other thoughts left me. My dislike for him, and his for me, would not impair my treatment. He had kept his word, after all, by not telling anyone that I was a halfblood. For that, I would aid him to the best of my abilities.

I sat on the stool next to the bed and felt Sidh"s pulse in his wrists and throat. It was strong and steady, a good sign. The room behind me went instantly silent. Carefully, I laid an ear on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing under my cheek. I could hear the air flow from his lungs more shallowly than I liked, but even enough to abate my anxiety. I pulled his eyelids up to check the color of the sclera, to see if it was yellowish or red.

"You"re a physician?" Tille asked from behind me, a hint of shock in her voice.

"Yes," I replied, half-lying, using my long, slender fingers to feel Sidh"s skull under his hair. There were no strange dents or grooves, and no open wounds. There was a large scab behind his left ear but it was close to falling off of its own accord, the skin under it mostly healed. I sat back, evaluating his condition and forcing my mind to remember if Servor, the alchemist in Benthol, had ever mentioned awakening an unconscious person.

"Rhys," Tille whispered, trying to hide her voice from me, "where did you find this one? A physician becoming a - a thief?"

"It"s a long story," Rhys whispered back. He knew I could hear him.

I bent and slid the dagger from my boot, knowing I had eyes on me, and carefully touched the point to the bottom of Sidh"s foot. I was not trying to draw blood, but I wanted to see if he would react to stimuli. I ran the point from his heel to the edge of his toes, watching carefully. Sidh twitched his foot and flinched.

There were startled exclamations behind me. "Is he awake?" Wren cried.

"No," I responded. "Not yet." I put the dagger back into my boot and put one hand flat on Sidh"s chest, feeling the heartbeat underneath my palm. "Sidh," I said firmly. "Can you hear me?" It was subtle, but I felt it. The young man"s heart beat slightly faster. His eyelids flickered. If I had not been looking for it, I would not have seen it.

"What do you think?" Rhys asked, leaning over my shoulder just slightly.

I thought it was likely Sidh would wake on his own in the near future. What he needed most was nourishment, fresh water, and time. I could help with two of the three. My mind ran back over the pharmacopoeia in my head, knowing there was something I could give in aid. "His mind is awake although his body sleeps," I explained slowly. "I can give him something that might help, although what he needs most are sufficient food, water, and time."

Things slowed. Fox and Tille left the cottage to do whatever needing doing outdoors. I had a few herbs necessary for my preparations. Wren fed Sidh small swallows of the horehound, honeysuckle and hyssop infusion I made, slipping in a few granules of ground nutmeg and elecampane when she was able. All were stimulants and helped the muscles of the heart and lungs work more strongly. I wished I had some spikenard and snakeroot, for those would have added emphasis to an already potent brew.

"Should we do anything else?" Rhys asked as I closed the pouches on my belt.

"Nothing more for the moment. He will wake when his body tells him it is time," I said, "but I will need to find more herbs soon. I do not know the land here well enough to scout for plants with which I am unfamiliar. Is there a bazaar here like the one in the Cove?"

"Yes, on the other side of the city. On the square that overhangs the sea. Do you want to go now?"

"We might as well," I answered. "I do not have any coin with me, though."

"I do. We can get yours later," Rhys said indifferently. He turned to Wren who sat quietly on the stool. "We"ll be back later. Do you need anything?"

"No," she sighed, stretching the kinks from her back. "I can"t think of anything." She yawned widely, covering her mouth with a delicate hand that she afterward flapped at us. "Go on."

We left and started toward the marketplace. "Where is the other woman?" I asked as we skirted the lake. "Vilma?"

Rhys thought, making a low humming noise in his throat. "I think she works in town," he answered. "Last I heard she was looking for work making oil."

"What of Sidh"s family?" I inquired, curious about the lives of my companions. "Do they live nearby?"

"Yes, on the other side of the lake there. A more typical family, I"d say. A mother, father, and two younger sisters."

I wondered why Sidh was not with his family in his time of need, but then thought that maybe it was easier for Wren to care for him than his family. Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances of which I was not aware, and besides, it was not my place to judge. I knew Fox, Wren and Sidh, but I did not know the details of their families or situations. In this matter, I would trust their judgment and hold my own.

As we walked, I felt Rhys" eyes alight on me more and more often. I tried to sort out the feelings that flooded me, but they were muddled and confused. I wished I had learned to deal better with people. I wished that I had learned emotions and how to deal with them. I wished so many things. I was stunted internally, I knew that, and part of me understood that I would just have to deal with it, to push forward and move on. The touch of Marcus" needle on my cheek resurfaced in my mind. I had said it before, and I would say it again, trying to convince myself. I would not be a slave to fear.

The sand and rushes turned to stone under our feet as we made our way into the city. The smells and sounds abraded my senses, so chaotic after the peace of the night before. I glanced at Rhys. His jaw was set and his eyes darted like minnows in a shadowed pool. "Are you safe here?" I asked softly, knowing he had been a fugitive.

His dark eyes turned to me. "Safe enough," he answered, a corner of his mouth lifting in a half-smile. "I served my time."

"I asked at the gaol about you," I told him. "It was the last place I thought to look."

"And what did they say?" His lips were tight, as if the thought of my venturing there pained him.

"That you were away," I answered, "and likely were not coming back." To make him smile, I added: "I told them you had my dog."

This elicited a bark of laughter. "A dog?" he said, shaking his head and smiling. "Of all the things to say!" He lifted his head and looked out over the city with its sprawling buildings and streets filled with people. I could smell salt, sand, flesh, animal and vague hints of foliage, bread, meats, and water. Two children, grubby and barefoot and thin, streaked out from an alley and vanished into the throng beyond. My eyes followed them. "I had a dog once," Rhys continued after a moment, "when I was young. Did you?"

"No," I answered. The only real interaction I had ever had with canines was in the Crystal Vale, when they had chased me almost until death. But those had not been true dogs. Not entirely.

"Did you have any animals?" Rhys asked, prodding. "Some people have cats, other parrots or monkeys. I knew a boy that once had a large lizard that perched on his shoulder and ate from his hand."

"No," I answered again. "I have never owned any living thing." The tone of my voice erased the smile from his face and he looked at me, worried and confused.

"I"m sorry. Have I offended you?" he asked hurriedly. "It was not my intention."

"I know." The urge to touch my throat were the beryl had rested, or my cheek where the needle had touched, was very strong and I struggled to resist it. Part of me wanted badly to tell him about my past, but the majority held back. What would speaking of it accomplish but invoking his pity? I did not desire that in the slightest. My teeth clenched at the very thought. "I am - not offended," I lied softly, hiding my face by turning my head to watch a porter pass down a side lane.

"Would you tell me if I said something wrong, Dae? I don"t like not knowing where I stand," Rhys said. The fingers on his right hand twitched. I could sense his unease.

How could I explain myself? Blurting out information was impossible, foolish, and dangerous. "I would try," I replied slowly, "but..." How could I say this? How could I go on? Something must give. I wanted - oh gods, what did I want? "Some things do not come easily for me," I continued, heart throbbing. My fear demanded silence; my heart demanded speech.

"You can tell me anything. Please know that."

I nodded, wanting desperately to believe him. In the end, I said nothing and we continued our way to the marketplace wrapped in an uncomfortable silence that was of my making. I wanted to rectify the situation. "Thank you," I said suddenly, pushing past my anxieties to touch his hand, "for caring enough to ask."

Rhys seemed surprised when he looked at me. "You"re welcome," he replied, and smiled.