Ruby Ruins

grounds? I fear that I cannot handle idle waiting.”
“Losing that famed patience you just boasted about?” Charlis asked. “No, no, I understand. If my bosom friend’s life lay in such peril, I would not be able to sit by so idly. Enjoy your walk.”
Deffona nodded. “Ōbhin, would you be a gentleman and give me a tour?”
Ōbhin couldn’t find a reason to deny her. “My pleasure.”
“You have a politeness about you,” Deffona said, taking his proffered arm. Her yellow robes rustled about her body. “A polish that a guard shouldn’t have.”
“It depends on the guard,” he said as he led her to the front door.
“Intriguing,” she said. “Avena mentioned you were a soldier or something in Qoth.”
“Or something,” he said.
“Yes, that’s how she puts it. Like chiseling at granite to get a mere chip from you.”
His brow furrowed as he opened the front doors. Summer sunlight fell dazzling on her robes. Blinking against the sudden glare, he said, “She speaks about me?”
“Often. It’s not surprising.”
“Well, I am training her and . . .” He hesitated. “Well, she is helping me track down some information.” He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid she rarely speaks of you.”
“Rarely?” The young woman deflated.
“She doesn’t talk about unnecessary things with me,” he added in haste. “You know, fighting and, er, our theories on Dualayn’s research.”
“Why the Brotherhood is so interested in it?” she asked.
He glanced askance at her. Deffona’s face shone with innocence. It was about the only part of her body, save her hands, she showed. She swathes herself in modesty and leaves her most intimate part exposed for any man to read her emotions.
“She’s talked a lot. You and her have secrets.” She shuddered against him.
He studied the girl as they walked around the house, following the slope it rested on. They were passing the east wing that held the kitchen. The scents coming from there filled the air, the tang of soy sauce and spice of horseradish. Before them lay the grove gate, a small stand of trees beyond. It held a small clearing in the center with a few benches.
“And now you’ve carried her across half the city to get her help,” said Deffona. There was something . . . girlish in her voice. Breathy. “A mad rush to save her life.”
“What else could I do?” A memory of that panicked flight filled him. Avena had hardly weighed more than a feather in his arms, so frail as she twitched and spasmed. “I shouldn’t have let her come with me.”
“Could you have stopped her?”
He shook his head. They passed the side of the house and he turned them towards the lake. A cool breeze came off of it. The slums of the Porcelain lay at the far end, a black stain, but the southern end still had picturesque trees along its banks and reeds sprouting in its shallows. There were secluded spots along the shore. A heron waded, bill aimed at the water. Its beak flashed down to snatch out a red-and-white carp from the water.
“Will she recover?” Deffona asked, her voice tight now.
“Should be a few more days,” Ōbhin said, trying to put more confidence in his pronouncement than he felt. “I think it’s a good sign she’s made it this far. Dualayn won’t let her die.”
“Good,” Deffona said. “And you’ll be caring for her, right?”
“Protecting her when her stubbornness throws her into the snowsnake’s nest.”
“Snowsnake?”
“Monsters they say live in the deepest snow of my homeland’s mountains. Their bite freezes you, kills the flesh. Frostbite, we call it. They’re said to be invisible and can strike through clothing if you’re not careful.”
“Well, I’m glad. You and her are like a rosebush.” She glanced at Ōbhin. “One that’s growing strong, I think. If a little . . . uncoordinated.”
“Rosebush? Uncoordinated? What are you talking about?”
“Relationship. What me and you are doing right now. We’re growing ours. It’s newly sprouted. I’m not sure what shape it’ll take, but with you and Avena, I see you two as a rosebush. With red flowers. Those are my favorite.”
“Not yellow ones?”
She glanced down at her robe. “I wear enough of that sunny hue, thank you very much. Red would look brilliant on me.”
“Still, I’m not quite following you. A rosebush?”
“That’s what relationships are like. Various plants. They come in different sorts. Some relationships are foul and rotten, like those nasty corpse flowers they cultivate in Relasi. Sticky things that smell of death, or so I’ve read in books. Others are like nettles. Brush them, and you come away in pain. Or a rash from poison ivy. Others are bright. Daffodils that shine happy, or like those fine rhododendron bushes. Full of broad leaves and beautiful flowers.”
“So I’m the thorns protecting Avena’s beauty?” Ōbhin asked, thinking he understood her metaphor.
“Oh, no, she’s the thorny one.” Deffona giggled. “Too fierce and protective for her own good. You’re the flowers.”
“Me?”
Deffona glanced at him and smiled. “Oh, definitely. You don’t know how handsome you are. The dusky and dashing easterner. Why do you think she’s always around you?”
“Because we’re trying to protect Dualayn and figure out what the Brotherhood is up to,” Ōbhin said.
“That’s just the excuse. Neither of you see it.” Deffona shook her head. “From the minute she mentioned your name, I could tell. Miguil’s a nice man, but they were the most dreary plant. Grass. So common. Serviceable. Dependable, maybe, but booooooring. She would have been miserable with him.”
“They both would,” Ōbhin said, his brow furrowing. He remembered that near kiss with Avena when they were drunk in that village not long after their meeting. He had kept his distance after that, and then other things seemed more important. Figuring out about Dje’awsa, keeping Dualayn safe, concealing the truth about Smiles.
Her presence always brightened him.