"The only thing more insufferable than a complete fool is a complete fool who is thoroughly unaware that he is, in fact, a complete fool." --Zhi novelist, c. 1100 AE
March 25, 1110 AE
Willow's Edge Inn, Koheno, Shiromori
It felt good to be back in Shiromori. There were a few comforts here that could not be found in Tasius. Windows, for one. The occasional sight of green, for another. Despite all this, however, Maru had found herself unable to sleep the night before. Perhaps it had been Zhou's snoring, or Kawa's thrashing about in the night; the occasional bout of nausea, or the baby's cries. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was no longer sleeping in someone's arms. She wondered how Aurius was sleeping these days; she hoped he was having just as much trouble as she was.Aurius. He'd told her that he loved her... but what the hell did that mean? Having spent all that time with friends who wasted their days complaining about how horrible sex was and how their husbands were a necessity and not a luxury, 'love' was a foreign concept to Maru. From what she could gather, the phrase 'I love you' could mean either 'I want to see you naked' or 'Thank you for giving me a healthy heir, and keeping my household running smoothly while I fuck the maids'. Since Aurius, as far as she knew, had neither children nor a household, she gambled on the former, even though he had already seen her naked on many occasions Perhaps he was just being greedy that way.
"Maru?"
She looked up to see Danitia standing by the foot of the bed, a quiet sort of exasperation present on her face. "Maru, are you done? Covius, Kawa and Caius are already in the coach, and as long as you stay here, Zhou will be forced to continue his conversation with this ass downstairs."She was speaking in Zhi, a language in which both of them were passably fluent. In fact, Danitia's Zhi was much better than her Shiromori; she would definitely need it where she was going.
Maru rolled her eyes, then pulled herself off the bed. "Well, if it helps Zhou, we might as well go. Who's the ass?"Danitia shrugged. "Some pompous Shiromori idiot. I stopped listening to him after about five solid minutes him calling us desert dogs."
"It's better in Zhian," Maru promised. "You're more likely to be discriminated against for the way you crack your eggs than you are for your race there."
"I don't like eggs."
"Oh. You might want to keep that to yourself, then."
The other woman laughed prettily; Maru had always envied Danitia's melodic laugh. "Come along--we have to rescue Zhou."
Somewhat reluctant to get back into that stuffy carriage, Maru trudged down the stairs at Danitia's heels. "You're fine for the ride, right?" asked Danitia as they reached the bottom.Maru frowned. "Hmm?"
"Well, you were a little sick last night. Are you feeling better?"
"Oh," she dismissed. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Probably just that awful excuse for a sup--"
She found herself frozen mid-sentence as they made their way further into the lobby. Danitia had been right about Zhou talking to an idiot, but never in a million years could Maru have guessed exactly which idiot it was. "Kitasa help us all."
"...and that is why one of these days, he's going to have to accept me for his daughter," Kuchimatsu concluded. "Shall I review?"Zhou stifled a yawn, his boot scratching against the wood as though he was itching to pull himself from his place at the first sign of an opportunity. "No thank you, I think I got it."
"Ah, so you agree, then?"
"Ah... of course," choked the merchant. "You give many solid arguments. Now, if you'll excuse me, I was rather hoping to leave by midday, and...""...and there is hardly any time for me to explain the rest of the situation, so I'd better hurry!" finished Kuchimatsu--wrongly, Maru could tell by the pained stiffness of Zhou's form. "Perhaps I should just outline from the beginning. You see..."
Zhou's apprentice, Qian, took a few steps toward Danitia and grinned. "That bastard just doesn't know when to stop talking, does he? Rather arrogant too, I think.""Poor Zhou," agreed Danitia.
Qian chuckled. "I'm just glad it isn't me. Anyway, I bet the girl he's talking about won't even give him the time of day, let alone... oh, how did he put it? 'Love him with the fires of a hundred suns', I think he said?"
Maru sighed; how did Kuchimatsu manage to delude himself so? "You're right about that, Qian," she muttered under her breath."...so, her mother and my mother grew up together, and when we were little, they would always talk about the possibility of--"
Suddenly, he stopped; to her horror, she could tell from the movement of his eyes that it was because he had noticed her. Oh, fuck!
"Well, as I live and breath," he whispered, seemingly gliding toward her; she shied away toward the counter. "My heart told me that I would be the one to find you, but I never imagined that it would be in such an insignificant place as this."Maru groaned. "The hell are you doing here, Kuchimatsu?"
"That's rather strong language for a delicate lady such as yourself. Must be these desert dogs you're running about with," he sneered, sending a quick glare Danitia's way.Offended, she rolled her eyes. "Have you considered the possibility that I'm just not so delicate a lady as you say?"
She had to scowl inwardly as he flashed an indulgent smile. She'd found him a pig before, but it seemed that in her absence, he had fully grown into his snout and curly tail. "Oh, you make me laugh, my silly little darling! Nonsense, every word--you're a perfect specimen of a fine lady, and don't think I don't know it," he added with a wink.
Her nausea from the night prior seemed to be returning. Somehow, she had to get him to stop with his self-flattering blasphemies. "Er... I have a suitor." She marveled at the half-truth of her own statement. Could Aurius be considered a suitor? He'd told her he would come for her, hadn't he? Didn't he claim to love her?Regardless, Kuchimatsu's shameless grin remained. "Not if your father doesn't say so, you don't! And as far as I know, he hasn't said so."
"Well, has he ever explicitly said that I don't have a suitor?"
He gaped stupidly; she seemed to have him cornered now. Her victory was cut short, however, by a cold gust bursting into the inn as Covius opened the door and stepped inside.
"Hurry it up already--the children are getting anxious," he reminded them, as though worried that they had all forgotten about Kawa and Caius. He beamed in his wife's direction, then caught sight of Maru and Kuchimatsu. "Uh, do you two know each other?"Kuchimatsu glowered. He was trying to look threatening, it seemed, though Maru found his expression more pained than anything. "Don't talk to me, you impudent dog!"
By the time Kuchimatsu finally left--if he ever did--Maru figured she would have memorized the inside of her own head. "Unfortunately, we do know each other. It would be polite of me to introduce you, but I think I'd rest easier knowing I'd spared you that agony.""Thank you," Kuchimatsu acknowledged.
"I was talking to Covius."
As usual, her words simply bounced off his thick skull. It seemed that he could not ever be discouraged or offended--perhaps that was the advantage to being so unbelievably stupid. "You know, up until this moment, I was never aware that Tasians had names. I suppose you learn one new thing every day, do you not?""You personally might want to consider increasing your quota," Maru quipped.
Kuchimatsu waved his hand as if to push the notion aside. "Maru, Maru, Maru! It isn't as if I have unlimited space up there, you know."
You're telling me.
"Anyway, my dear, I think I'll make you love me even more by taking these dogs off your hands. What say you?"
What had he just said? "Wait... what? No, Kuchimatsu, you don't understand! They're my..."It was too late; he had already turned back to Zhou.
"You may take these desert devils to your homeland as you intend to," he instructed the merchant, much to Maru's silent horror, "but I shall take the maiden and her brother from here. And I'm Lord Koheno, so I can do that sort of thing if I want, and you don't have a say either way."NEXT CHAPTER:
