Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (7 page)

“
I do not want to
start over, Geda.” Habala
at
last
told him. “We
cannot
. N
othing can begin again. We have to move on from this, and
find something else.” She said. She believed that in a sense,
although it was difficult to say. She believed that she could move
on from the clocks, and find something else to occupy any spare
time she had outside of the inn, but she could not believe that she
could forget so easily what had caused her pain.

Geda had not been
satisfied by her answer, for though he knew how she had struggled
mightily the past couple of days with
the
boys’ departure,
as he felt the same way at times,
still
she had not been able to explain
herself fully to him right now, when others were listening to them,
and she was not yet ready to share everything about herself. But
she would be willing to share, she hoped, someday soon, and Geda
would be there to listen to her, just him and her alone. At least
the constable had been satisfied that she had no other ill
intentions towards herself or others, and had let her go with a
warning to avoid fires.

Habala walked back
in, with her husband by her side, and stopped in her tracks.
“Brigga, what are you doing here?” She asked, staring down at the
woman scrubbing the wood floor beneath the bar stools, while Smidge
was tending to the bar this afternoon. A red flush appeared
in
Habala’s
face
at
this odd circumstance.

Brigga looked up.
“Hello Habala, Geda,” She said, nodding her head at the innkeeper
and his wife. “I’m taking over my daughter’s shifts for the week.
I’m afraid to say that my Nisa is not feeling well, a little
nauseous and such, but she should be back soon.” She said.
“Smidge said it would be
fine.”

Smidge looked up from
where he was scrubbing a glass, and caught the glare in Habala’s
eyes. “I thought it would be all right to let her do some of the
work,” He said with a shrug, “What with her being a willing
hand
with an eager
heart
.
Besides, we could do with a fresh face around here, someone
we have not seen for years, to break up the monotony and boredom of
our lives.
” He
added.

“
Boredom? Monotony? Where have you
been? I think we have had more than enough excitement here today to
last us a lifetime.” Geda muttered.

“
I can see that.” Smidge said.
“But aside from that, we need something to stir up our daily lives,
new life in the status quo.”

Smidge
had taken over some of the
work that Basha and Oaka had done since their departure, appearing
more often in the inn and less sporadically
in his schedule whenever the mood suited
him
. Habala
worried
that
, with how much time Smidge now spent at the
inn, and how close they were working together in tight
quarters,
Smidge
might take the chance to renew his advances on her, as
he had done when they were young. But so far Smidge’s behavior had
not been too unseemly and could be accredited to high spirits, his
jovial nature, and attempts to lighten the mood.

“
The
status quo has been shaken up enough. Smidge, next time you should
tell us before you hire someone.” Habala said.

“
That’s fine,” Geda
said, waving his hand
at
Smidge and undermining Habala’s protest
.
“I hope your daughter feels better soon, Brigga.” He told
the
newly hired
waitress. “Carry on,” He continued, leading
Habala towards the private quarters before she could say
anything.

Habala glanced back at Brigga, who
continued scrubbing in determination, and hissed, “Something is
wrong here, Geda. I can just taste it.” She said as they passed
into the back hallway.

“
There is a lot that
has gone wrong here,” Geda
muttered
as he closed the common
room door. “But nothing we can do about it now.” He
sighed and said, “Don’t worry about
Brigga. Besides, Smidge may be right, we need someone else here to
keep ourselves occupied and lighten the load. A former friend can
help.”

“
I was a bad mother.”
Habala admitted out loud. “I thought that I had ignored or
overlooked my boys too much, especially with the work that we had
to do at the inn, and the clocks
…
I thought that if I had paid more
attention to them, none of this would ever have happened.
Especially Basha. If I had been more concerned about him, and what
he was doing, I would never have allowed him to associate with
Jawen
.
”

“
Habala, you cannot
beat yourself up about this,” Geda said, turning to her. “You are a
good mother, the best mother these boys could have had. What Basha
did, that was his own fault, you could not have done anything about
it
.
”

“
I could have stopped
it from ever starting, I could have stopped all of this.” Habala
insisted. “If only
…
I never should have
trusted
…
” She sighed, stopping herself from saying anymore on the
subject. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps I should not blame
myself.” She said, changing to another topic.

He stared at her. “Are you okay?” He
asked.

“
I’m fine,” She lied,
nodding her head. “Just fine.” She could not tell him the truth of
what she had suspected, of what she had allowed to happen in the
past
with Brigga, Smidge, and
even the Old Man
. Perhaps it was her fault
that she had not curtailed this situation sooner, and that she had
allowed it to go on for so long. She had trusted them too much, and
now her sons would have to pay the price.

Morton entered the
inn, glancing around the common room before he headed up to the
bar, stepping around Brigga in the process
without really noticing
.
“Have you seen my cousin?” He asked Smidge.

“
She just came back
from the barber-surgeon,” Smidge told him, pointing towards the
private quarters, “However, I suggest that you don’t disturb her
right now. My brother and your cousin, they’re having a bit of a
row back there.”

“
Oh. Right,” Morton
sighed, and leaned back against the bar. “I should have been there
for her when the boys left, but then I was so upset
about
…
” He glanced down
and
realized
that the mother of the woman he
once had loved
not that long
ago
was scrubbing the floor at his feet.
“Uh, do you need any help with that?” He asked Brigga.
He did not feel comfortable talking
about Nisa in front of her mother, when the pain was too fresh, and
he half wondered if he might eventually reconcile with Nisa, so
treating her mother with kindness might be the right step to take
in that process.

“
Oh, no, thank you,
I’ve got it. Carry on.” Brigga said
willfully, attacking the floor now
.

“
Right, Brigga,”
Morton said,
reluctantly
turning away from her.
“As I was saying, Smidge, I was so upset that I wasn’t
even
…
were you there when the boys said good-bye?”

“
I was there, Morton,
of course I was, I said good-bye to them all.” Smidge told him.
“Gave them a pat on the back and all that, wished them good luck
and told them that I loved them
.
I am their uncle, after all. I
helped raise them, along with my brother and his wife. They are my
brother’s sons, and
you didn’t even say
good-bye to them?”

“
I was upset!” Morton
cried.

“
That’s no excuse,
Morton, even Hermer was there! Everyone was there, all of their
friends and family members, even friends of the
family
. Y
ou should have been there, Morton, it was a sight to see even
if you weren’t emotionally involved in it.
” Smidge remarked, wiping the bar down.
“
Just about
the only people who didn’t make an appearance there were the mayor,
the baron, and Lapo the merchant, but they were on the side of not
letting Basha go on his quest, weren’t they? They didn’t want him
to get his hands on Jawen, make a claim on her with Tau’s Cup. Ha!
He proved them wrong with the Oracle’s consent. He got that
consent
easily enough, I suppose thanks to the Old Man’s help, and
now all he needs is just the Cup.” Smidge muttered.
“Then he will show them who he
really is.”

“
Huh? What are you
talking about?” Morton asked, staring at Smidge in
puzzlement.

“
Morton, do you mean
to tell me that you don’t even pay attention to what is going on
here?” Smidge asked, staring at Morton in astonishment and gasping.
“I mean, that is what the whole thing is about,
the
…
what do you know about the boys leaving?”

“
I remember that
Basha had to go see the Oracle, and then he had to go on a quest
for Tau’s Cup after that,” Morton said, “But I don’t remember much
about
…
I know it had something to do with the Courtship ritual, and
the girl Jawen, but I wasn’t paying much attention and then I was a
little drunk
…
”

“
Morton, Morton,”
Smidge shook his head, slamming his hand against his face. “You’re
embarrassing me.
” He
said.
“
You’re an embarrassment to this whole family, do you know
that? You and your love-sick ways, with your moping and your
crying, all because a girl left you, an
d
you think about her still,
don’t you?
” Smidge asked with
a cruel smile. “You think about Nisa.”

“
I can’t
help it,” Morton said, glancing at Brigga, Nisa’s mother.
This wasn’t something that they
should be talking about, awkward and disgraceful as it was, but
Morton wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to protest Smidge’s crude
manner.

Brigga
stopped scrubbing for a moment and shuddered, hearing them talk
about her daughter like this
made her feel angry and disgusted, but she couldn’t talk
back against them or else she would lose this job and the
opportunity it afforded her. She still could not believe that Nisa
had ever dated Morton, even if it was for a little while, and for
her own purposes. Morton was almost old enough to be…no, actually,
Morton would never be old enough to match the venerable age of the
Old Man, Nisa’s true father. But if Nisa’s father had been just an
ordinary man, one of a mortal and short-lived lifespan, then Morton
would nearly be old enough.

“
I know that feeling
well, for I have lived it.
”
Smidge told Morton, patting him on the shoulder.
“
I felt the
same way when your cousin Habala left me to go with Geda, Morton,
and there was a hole left in the side of my heart that was leaking
blood, and it is still there after all these years.”

“
Does the hole ever
go away? Does it ever get better?” Morton asked, hanging onto
Smidge’s words.

“
Yes, it does,
Morton, because my heart has hardened since then, and it has grown
stronger and tougher than it once was as well.” Smidge said,
looking up at
Morton
with a steely
gaze and clasping him by the shoulders
. “Soon that hole in my heart will shrink away into
nothingness, and
then
I will forget all about Habala and my feelings
for her as well. Morton, your heart will soon grow stronger, too,
and then you will forget all about Nisa, won’t you?”

“
Yes, I will,” Morton
said, trying not to look down at Brigga when he knew the reaction
on her face would either be heartbroken, full of tears at the
thought of Nisa being forgotten by the man that she had once loved,
or anger that he could just so easily forget about her, and move on
to another person. He didn’t really believe that he could move on,
though, as Nisa had been the only one for him, but her rejection of
him had hurt so much that he couldn’t stand it anymore.
He wanted to move on.

“
Excellent.” Smidge
said with a smile,
letting go
of Morton
. “Your life will be better and
you will feel better, too, Morton my dear boy, once you forget
about her. You can sleep easily at night, and wake up feeling
refreshed. Daylight won’t hurt your eyes anymore.”

“
I will,” Morton
said, not fully understanding Smidge’s words. “One more thing,
Smidge, do you
consider me to be a man,
the type of man who could be a husband and a father? Nisa was
saying that I couldn’t be the type of man she would
marry
.
”

“
Morton,
Morton
,
you’re growing up to be that sort of man already, you’re
taking the steps towards it, but you’re not there yet.” Smidge
said, patting Morton on the shoulder.