Smooth Pebble stepped out the door, a fine brownware bowl steaming in her cloth-wrapped hands. She lifted a questioning eyebrow, unmistakable disapproval in her dark eyes, as she told Seven Skull Shield, “It’s hot. Don’t burn yourself.”
Seven Skull Shield nodded, carefully easing the bowl from the berdache’s hands, smelling turkey, persimmons, and walnut, all thickened with ground lotus root.
“Thank you, Smooth Pebble.” He jerked his head toward the Keeper. “She hasn’t had so much as a morsel. And if you’ll recall, she’d barely sat down to her supper when the summons from the Morning Star came last night. Even as good as this smells, she’s not going to take the time to eat a stew. But if you poked a hole into one of those fingers of bread from last night and stuffed it with mashed up turkey, it would be just practical enough that she could take bites and chew as they talked.”
Smooth Pebble’s brow arched higher, as if he’d taken too free a liberty. Then the growing irritation eased as she shot a measuring look at where Blue Heron bent over the deerhide map with the runner. “Actually, thief, that’s a pretty sharp observation. I’ve spent half my life trying to get her to eat.”
“And you could pour some of the stew into her tea cup. The one with the handle. It’s got to be cool enough that she can chug it. If it were me, I’d walk up during a break, hand it to her, and say, ‘Drink that so I can clean the cup.’ As soon as she takes it, cross your arms and glare at her in that ‘I’m in a hurry’ fashion of yours.”
“Why would I risk angering her that way?”
“Because she’ll drink it down. All these years and you haven’t noticed?”
The berdache now was studying him thoughtfully, lips slightly pursed. “You think that would work? First Woman knows I’ve tried to my wits’ end to keep her fed when she’s in a hurry.” She poked a hard finger at him. “But if she lashes out at me for doing it, I’ll make you wish you were hanging in a square!”
“She won’t. Just don’t be too obvious about it.” He lifted the bowl, blowing to cool it. Carefully he slurped at the hot liquid. Too hot. Having nothing else to do, he added, “She’d take a chunk out of you if she thought you were doing it for her. But just the hint that she’s keeping you from attending to your duties? She simply can’t abide the notion that she’s inconveniencing you.”
Smooth Pebble’s frown etched her forehead as she watched the Keeper. “How do you know so much about her, thief? You’ve only been here a couple of days.”
“People are my business, berdache. If I don’t judge them right the first time, my life gets short and very uncomfortable.” He gestured. “She’s got a right to worry this morning. Whoever this assassin is, he’s cussed clever.”
The berdache nodded, crossing her arms. “I’ve never seen her this way. She’s scared, thief. Right down to the root of her souls.”
“If my neck had come that close to being cut, I’d be shivering, and like Hunga Ahuito, trying to grow eyes in all four sides of my head.”
“And never closing them, even for a moment’s sleep.”
He sipped at the soup. “She and Night Shadow Star seem close.”
“The daughter she never had. She told me about what happened to those dirt farmers up on the bluff. She hasn’t said it, but she’s terrified the assassins have taken Night Shadow Star. That they’ll try the same ritual, but this time with a Four Winds Clan woman.”
He rocked his jaw as he considered it. “Maybe. Me, I’m missing something here. These attacks, they’re not just political.”
“Meaning?”
“Assassination might be a fundamental part of the plan, but whoever’s behind this has thought it through … obsessed on the details for years. Using Pond Water to control Cut String. The brown-chert knives, the manner of the tonka’tzi’s execution and the attempt on the Keeper, the ritual sacrifices up on the bluff, all this is a carefully planned performance. No local chief or House leader that I know of is behind it, either. This is someone … something different.”
“Different how?”
“Dark and malicious. And not just witchery. If I had to use a term, I’d call it brilliant evil.”
“You’re scaring me, thief.”
He nodded absently as he lifted the bowl and blew. “We’d all be a heap better off staying scared, too.”
Another runner came pelting across the wet grass of the plaza, his bare feet slapping. In flying leaps he took the stairs, barely hesitated at the guardian posts, and slipped and slid to a precarious stop. He slapped at his forehead to gesture his respect as he shouted, “She’s alive! Lady Night Shadow Star and the Red Wing are on the way! They got away from the assassins in the dark. I’m to tell everyone!”