Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (12 page)

“Yep, the Queen should be here just after Yule. They’ve been down in Fortesta this year, which is why I had to stop in there to receive my Assignment.” Charlie laughed, “You think Lille is busy now, you should see it in a royal year. There is a
heap
of partying to be done!”

We sipped our iced coffees in the shade and Charlie pulled out his moss-pipe and packed it with moss from his gold-coloured bag.

“Hell Charlie, isn’t this a bit, er,
public?
” I fretted. He smiled.

“Moss is completely legal boyo, well, apart from the Black of course. Gosh, you Humans are allowed to smoke that tobacco stuff, and that shit is
bad
for you! Most varieties of Gold are about as efficacious as coffee, but moss isn’t addictive like caffeine.”

“Why do we even bother drinking it then?”

“Coffee? Because it tastes so nice!” He grinned and handed me the pipe. “And it’s infinitely less expensive than moss!” He blinked at it and I breathed in the herbaceous vapour.

“What? No sparklight?” I asked, handing it back to him.

He giggled. “We’re in the Quarter now Jas, we’re not showing off!”

“Ϛaioћ! Jaseth!” I heard a familiar voice behind us and turned to see Jimmy, laden with shopping bags and tugging a weary-looking Lolitha behind him. They had obviously paid a visit to Myn Tardiallah as well, because Lolitha was clad in a mint-green robe. The colour offset her golden skin and dark eyes, and although she was clearly tired, she looked rather fetching. She’s a lesbian, I reminded myself sternly, and definitely
not
going to be interested.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to look.

Jimmy pulled two chairs up to our table and sat Lolitha down in one.

“On the Gold, eh Ϛaioћ? Ideal! Give ‘Litha a hoot, poor darling desperately needs it, I’m afraid I’ve rather tired her out! I’ll be back in a second,” and he ducked inside the café to order food and more drinks.

Charlie passed the pipe to Lolitha, which she accepted with a sceptical raise of an eyebrow, and he lit it for her with a blink. After a couple of puffs she straightened and handed the pipe to me.

“Gosh, that’s better! We’ve been shopping all day and I was about ready to pass out!”

Sucking on the pipe again I felt infinitely better too. My feet still tingled now I was off them, but I felt alive, full of energy, I could have gone on exploring the Quarter for hours.

Jimmy wove through the tables back to us carrying a pitcher of iced coffee and two more glasses, followed by a waitress bearing plates of filled bread rolls. He plopped down with a sigh on the spare chair and poured the coffee. While the other two ate, Charlie told them about our day so far. Jimmy was distracted, devouring his food hungrily, but Lolitha ate more delicately, nodding thoughtfully at Charlie as he talked. When they had finished Jimmy repacked the pipe from his own pouch and sent it round again. Jimmy told us about their activities that day. They had been to all the places we had, as well as to a cobblers to fit Lolitha for new boots and a pair of formal-style slippers. We both had new Nea’thi-style pens, and we pulled them out of our bags to compare. Lolitha’s was thinner than mine, worked in copper filigree and rich mahogany wood and had been filled with a dark green ink.

“It’s my favourite colour,” she offered with a shrug.

“Wasn’t Myn Tardiallah fun?” Jimmy asked me and nudged Lolitha. “And isn’t she pretty in her new robes?”

Lolitha looked like she wanted to slide under the table. She shoved him roughly in the shoulder. “Shut up Jimmy.”

Jimmy just laughed. “I’m sorry little one, but you
do
look lovely. You too Jaseth, the robes suit you!” And then it was my turn to blush. It would seem that the Nea’thi were generous with their compliments, but I definitely hadn’t gotten used to it yet.

“Oh, Jimmy, have you been to see Фyѫaeжa yet?”

Jimmy chuckled. “Sure have, I ducked in the first day we were here!”

“And how is she?”

“Still crazy! She’s been experimenting with hair dye, of all things, and she looks… Well you have to see her, you’ll laugh!”

Who this
Phinyeacza
was, I had no idea, but although Jimmy had been to see her a few days earlier they volunteered to go with us when we finished our drinks. I wondered briefly if she was Charlie’s mysterious older woman, but he was acting far too casually so I dismissed the thought.

Feeling marvellously refreshed, I followed the other three from the café, away from the direction of the Hall but roughly parallel to the shore of the lake. The afternoon had begun to cool, but if anything the streets were more busy. Jimmy seemed to know pretty much everyone we passed, and a blushing Lolitha was introduced proudly. She seemed to shrink from the attention and the understanding smiles.

“I hate this,” she muttered to me as Jimmy and Charlie laughed with a group of Nea’thi, and we took the opportunity to relax on a bench. “They take one look at me with Jimmy and they
know.
”

“Eh? Know what?” I asked stupidly.

“That I’m, you know, gay.”

“Oh.”

“A male Mentor wouldn’t have a girl Bloodkin otherwise. I feel so… obvious.”

“I hadn’t realised it was a secret!”

She blushed. “Yeah, well, I’ve been trying to keep it a secret for years.”

“And how did that go for you?”

She snorted. “Yeah, pretty shit. But things at home were… different.” She scratched her head and looked down.

“Yeah, but Lille’s different, isn’t it? It’s not like anyone around here minds!”

“I know.” She sighed, “Still, I feel like I’m walking around with a big flashing sign saying ‘Great Ugly Lesbian’ on my head.” The bitterness in her voice surprised me.

“But you’re not ugly at all!” I blurted out and she glanced up at me with a wry smile.

“Ha, yeah, thanks Jas. Hey, at least I’m not still walking round in Human clothes like that snobby bitch Sallagh.” My pulse quickened at the mention of the gorgeous Sallagh, but I tried to appear disinterested.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, her and Emma were the first to move into the Hall. She’s from Lille, you know, her father’s someone terribly important. It’s a pity, ‘cause Emma’s just so goshdarned
nice.
And women usually aren’t, once they, you know,
know.
”

“What, they think you’ll hit on them? That’s retarded!”

“Yeah, well.” Lolitha shrugged. Slightly uncomfortable, I steered the conversation back to Sallagh.

“Though surely that’s why Emma is her Mentor.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I mean, Charlie mentioned something about Mentors being assigned their Bloodkin based on temperament. I’m sure Emma will mellow her out.”

“Well, I’d rather it happened sooner rather than later. Honestly, the girl is a pain in the arse.” She looked up at our Mentors, laughing happily with more Nea’thi who had stopped to chat. Charlie was gesturing like mad and grinning widely.

“Look at Charlie go. He’s so gregarious!” Lolitha laughed, “What does that say about you?”

“That I’m, um, shy?”

“Yeah, sure. Socially inept more like.” She grinned at me teasingly.

As if hearing his name, Charlie and Jimmy disengaged from the crowd and wandered over to us.

“Sorry about that, kids! Hell, I haven’t seen some of these guys for years! Shall we press on?”

We stood and walked a little further down the street, then turned down a very dim and narrow lane. It twisted round a corner and stopped in front of a shop. Its arched windows were unshuttered, but the dark amber glass of the windows themselves
were closed and I could not see inside. The stone sign that hung above the door had been chiselled with a curious design – a pouch above what appeared to be a crossed pair of moss-pipes.

“Come on my darlings,” said Jimmy wickedly as he pushed through the door and led us inside. “I think it’s time you met Fiona.”

The air inside the shop was smoky and sweet, lit by golden light from the windows and amber glowbes. The front section of the shop hardly seemed like a shop at all. Couches were grouped together beneath the windows and bookcases were stacked with magazines and newspapers. A small group of Humans and Nea’thi sat in one corner sharing a moss-pipe and they looked up when we entered and nodded cordially before returning to their conversation. The Mentors led us past the front alcove down to the back of the shop. It was furnished like a wealthy family home, the walls hung with tapestries and paintings, including one large landscape that I could have sworn was an Ashlu. Down the back, racks were set up along one wall and they held coloured woven baskets in white, green, blue, gold, red and purple. They were stacked neatly according to colour and were filled with Nea’thi smoking moss.

The large counter held a clear glass display like the one at the pen-merchant, only this one was filled with pipes of all different shapes and sizes, made from glass, wood or metal. The back of the shop seemed deserted, but then we heard a loud string of curses from a room behind the counter.

“Фyѫeaжa? Are you alright back there?” called Charlie.

“Oh I’m fine, just this bloody thing won’t—” A head popped round the corner. “Ϛaioћ! You’re back!”

The Nea’thi woman who appeared certainly was an odd-looking creature. She wore not Nea’thi robes, but a Human-style dress, full in the skirt and nipped in tightly at the waist, her impressive grey décolletage on display. Odder still was the cloud of bright sunshine-yellow hair that framed her plump, smiling face. I’d only ever seen Nea’thi with white hair, evolved without pigment during millennia Underground. She manoeuvred her ample frame round the counter, silken skirts swishing, to clasp Charlie to her bosom.

“Oh what a pleasant surprise this is! I’m
so
glad you got to come back to us!” Releasing him, she turned to me. “So this is your Bloodkin? Welcome dear!” And before I knew it I was buried in an embrace, my head fearfully close to her heaving chest.

“My name is Фyѫeaжa Odờлoρenấ of the Жanờ Enclave, but with the Nea’thi language and all that, you can call me Fiona.” She smiled at me brightly and I staggered back. She turned to Lolitha. “And you’re Jyѫaжa’s girl! Jyѫ darling, you didn’t tell me she was so pretty!” Lolitha’s blush deepened as she was subjected to the same crushing hug as Charlie and me, and she wriggled slightly before accepting the embrace as Fiona patted her hair. “Welcome! Welcome to my shop, Fiona’s emporium of mossy delights!” she chuckled.

“Фyѫea, your hair! Jimmy said something about dye, it looks marvellous!”

Fiona smiled coquettishly at Charlie and twirled a strand around her finger. “Oh yes, I’ve been experimenting. This particularly lovely colour comes from the tiny stamens of crocus flowers, would you believe? Hideously expensive I tell you, but I’m rather hoping the fashion will catch on, white is
so
boring you know. Oh yes, dye for hair is a wee fun project of mine, not that I don’t have enough to do, growing moss for you greedy lot!”

Emboldened by her outgoing demeanour, I asked, “Couldn’t you just use your, you know, magic to change the colour?”

She looked at me with her head tilted slightly to the side and frowned. “Yes… Yes it could… Hmm.” She went over to Charlie and lifted a long strand of his white hair, peering at it intently for a few seconds. It turned bright blue.

“Oh! Look at that, very clever Jaseth!” But as she looked up at me and away from the hair it turned white again. She looked back and humphed her disappointment.

“There must be a way to make this more permanent.”

“Uh, Фyѫea, I don’t really
need
it to be more permanent.” Charlie looked alarmed.

“Fair enough!” Fiona plucked the hair from Charlie’s head.

“Ow! Was that really—”

“Shush, I’m concentrating.” Fiona stretched the hair in front of her and closed her eyes. Slowly the strand turned bright
blue again. “Look, that’s better!” She waved the hair in front of Charlie’s face, “Permanent! Though I rather think if you wanted to do it this way you’d have to do it strand by strand. Maybe with practice it would only take a few hours,” she sighed. “But I am only a mere horticulturalist, I think I’d better stick with dye. Still, good thinking Jaseth, inquisitive minds do well at the Academy.”

Even though it hadn’t really worked I was pleased that Fiona had taken my idea seriously. At home, any suggestion I made to my parents or tutors tended to be brushed off, due to my lack of experience in anything.

Jimmy had drifted away to study the pipes in the cabinet and bade Lolitha to help him choose a new one. “Not a bloody glass one this time,” I heard him tell her. “I’ll only drop it or something and it’ll smash!”

Fiona was still contemplating the strand of blue hair, muttering to herself about light reflection and cuticle properties.

“Oh, I don’t suppose you’ll be coming down to the Shivering Thistle tonight?” she asked abruptly, as if she only just remembered we were there. “I heard O’Malley’s getting in some wonderful travelling musicians, Nea’thi-Bloods, all the way from Allyon. And Aӣấћtiжầ will be there of course, I’m sure she’d like to see you again Ϛaioћ.”

Charlie blushed almost imperceptibly. Perhaps this
Annyashticzya
was his Journeyman crush.

“Oh yeah? I haven’t seen her for years, how is she?” Yep, his casualness was definitely forced.

Fiona cast a pointed glance at Jimmy and Lolitha, still busy with the pipes. “Oh, you know Aӣấ, she’s fine.” It rather sounded like Fiona was holding back on the subject, but Charlie didn’t push her. “Now, you’ll need to restock your moss, yes?” she exclaimed brightly, changing the subject. She guided us over to the rack of baskets. “I’ve got a particularly nice new Purple in that they’ve been working on down in Hầiờ.”

Charlie blushed outright. “I don’t really think I’ll have much need for Purple,” he muttered.

Fiona cackled and nudged him hard in the ribs. “Well you never know! Although living in the Halls doesn’t leave much room for romancing, Yұieӣấ’s rule of no visitors after ten right?”

“Er, right. Yeah, I probably just need some White, and maybe a bit of Red and Gold.”

“Of course. Now, for the White I find a blend of one third Ұiờ Alabaster and two thirds of my own White Silence to be particularly helpful, great for headaches.”