Kingdom of Cages(70)

Oh. No.

The woman clamped a hand around Sadia’s arm and twisted it easily around her back, holding her hard by her shoulder and wrist.

“I’ll tell!” shouted Sadia after the little man, who retreated back into the shadow of the tent. She fought against the cop’s hold on her, but it was no use.

“Tell what?” He smiled at her, almost kindly. “What under the wide black sky have you to tell?”

“Hold still and you won’t break anything,” the cop told Sadia calmly.

“He’s a tailor!” shouted Sadia. “He’s a tailor!”

“He’s a tink and a loiterer,” replied the cop. “Calm down, okay?”

Chena couldn’t move. Shock and confusion welded her to the spot. Should I run? Should I just back away? Sadia, what’s wrong with you?

What’s a tailor?

Sadia struggled in the cop’s grip a couple more times and then subsided. The crowd apparently didn’t find this entertaining enough, so they split up, turning back to the screen sheet that had held them all mesmerized before Sadia had had her fit of… whatever it was.

“Do you want to make an assault complaint?” the woman asked over the top of Sadia’s head.

The little man cradled one of his long hands in the other. “Can’t afford it, Constable. Not today, anyway.” This last he said straight to Sadia. Sadia looked ready to do blue murder, but she didn’t say anything else. The man walked away, vanishing behind the crowd.

The constable let go of Sadia’s arm and spun her around by the shoulder. She looked at Sadia’s tattooed hand and jerked her chin toward Chena. Chena held out her own hand, displaying the branched tattoo.

“Offshoot?” said the constable. “What are you doing here? Who owns you?”

Chena ignored the strange wording of the question. “We have permission.” Chena fumbled in her belt pocket for a moment and brought out the letter.

The cop read the text carefully and ran a thumb over the signature. Her eyes were suspicious as she handed the letter back.

“I’ve trusted Regan’s word on bigger things.” She looked from Chena to Sadia and back again. “But you are lucky the gentleman there decided not to pay for a charge. As it is, I’m fining you fifteen for hauling me out of the guard shack on a cold day.” She held out her hand.

Sadia scowled hard and reached for her pocket. Chena put a hand on Sadia’s shoulder to stop her and stepped forward.

“I’ll pay.” Chena pulled out a chit, checked the reading, and handed it across to the constable. “May we have a receipt, please, Aunt?”

For a moment she thought the constable was going to refuse. But the woman just smirked and pulled out her reader. “Hold out your hand,” she said to Sadia.

Sadia obeyed and the woman put the reader over the chip. “Now you got a warning, and a receipt saying you paid your fine.” She returned the reader to her belt. “Anyting more I can do for you two?” Neither of them said anything. “No? Good. Let’s all keep it that way.”

She walked away without looking back. Chena let out a sigh of relief and turned to look for Sadia, but Sadia was three meters down the boardwalk, walking fast and gaining speed.

Chena growled low in her throat and raced after Sadia.

“What’s taken over your brain?” she demanded, dodging in front of her, forcing Sadia to pull up short. “First you’re punching strangers, then you almost say piss off to the cop, then you leave me. What is the problem?”

Sadia’s face scrunched up, trying to become angry, but it didn’t work. Instead, tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes and spilled down her flushed cheeks.

“Oh, piss.…” Chena wrapped an arm around Sadia and steered her into the shadow of one of the tents, out of sight of the main avenues. Someone in the tent sang to herself.

If we keep our voices down, they probably won’t notice us.

Sadia cried silently, like someone used to not making any noise, but her whole face was wet now and Chena had no idea what to do. This wasn’t Teal.

That probably didn’t matter. “It’s okay.” She reached out, intending to hug Sadia.

Sadia shook her head and leaned her forehead against Chena’s shoulder. Chena rubbed Sadia’s back, repeating, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” even though she felt stupid. It wasn’t okay, and from the way Sadia was crying, it wouldn’t be okay anytime soon.

Finally, Sadia lifted her head. Tears and snot glistened on her face. Chena pulled out the sweat towel she kept in her backpack and handed it over. Sadia took it and mopped her face dry. Then Chena handed her the water bottle and she drank half of it without stopping to breathe.