Hatam-Ile, 10th Seventhmoon 3045

The night was a far cry from pleasant.

Ren’i hadn’t been given anything else to eat but a bowl of greasy broth and a couple of slices of thin, soft akheri-style bread that Mineha had called rieska, and as dusk fell he understood why. When the effects of the medicine abated Ren’i found himself kneeling on the floor, a bucket squeezed in his hands, and once his stomach finally settled he was certain he’d puked out not only his dinner, but also half of his insides. His right arm ached as if chopped in half; there was no hope of sleeping. He felt thoroughly shaky while staring at the opposite wall, going over each and every memory from the past day. The more he remembered the more he wanted to sink into a hole and never emerge again.

What a complete moron he had been. He should have understood to ask Onniar about proper equipment upon receiving the invitation, but he hadn’t been able to resist the temptation to show off. The whole thing had seemed the perfect opportunity to save his face in front of the akheris, to prove that he was a man of his words, capable in at least something, yet all he’d managed was to dig an even deeper hole for himself.

Ren’i sighed and kicked off the quilt. Mineha had lit a fire before leaving, which had turned the room into a sauna. Ren’i couldn’t be bothered to get up and open the ventilation window.

He’d earned each and every aching nerve. When no sleep was coming, he stretched his wounded arm gingerly, teeth gritting together as the newly repaired muscles resisted even his smallest movements. Dawn’s light had already began to colour the horizon when he at last dozed off. When he came to next someone had tossed the quilt over him again, and the searing morning sunlight was already filtering in the room between the curtains.

The chatter coming from the meeting room was so faint that Ren’i couldn’t make out individual words, not even while he lay immobile, straining his ears for minutes on end. He sat up, trying to stretch the worst aches off his limbs as the door opened.

”Well, well, up finally, are we?” Mineha greeted him. Ren’i hadn’t heard her approaching and started so badly that he nearly fell of the edge of the bed. ”Did you manage to sleep?”

”So and so.” Ren’i massaged the spot where the lynx had sunk its teeth. His whole arm was throbbing.

Mineha set a small tray on the sidetable. The scent of food made his mouth water, and Ren’i remembered that his stomach was empty. The very idea of eating had disgusted him during the night, but his appetite came back in a rush when he saw the large bowl of some kind of reddish soup and freshly baked bread with crumbling cheese, cut meats and dried fruits sitting on the tray.

”You may stretch your legs today if you’d like, but don’t strain yourself in the heat,” Mineha said. ”I’ll check in on you in the afternoon.”

”I can never thank you enough for taking such good care of me.” Ren’i bowed towards her, both arms crossed over his chest, which made the old healer smile in an amused sort of way.

The soup had a strange iron tang to it, but Ren’i emptied his tray in no time. Once he was done he noticed a change of clothes in a neat pile on the chair, and after giving his destroyed tunic a sniff he decided to accept the offer. The outfit was simple but comfortable, and he felt less bothered by the heat in the loose top and the akheri-style knee pants.

Ren’i massaged his chest absent-mindedly. The woozy feeling that he’d associated with yesterday’s tribulations had eased somewhat, but it was not entirely gone yet. A sense of vague restlessness lingered somewhere underneath the exhaustion and the aches, the kind of restlessness that he associated with knowing that he was expected somewhere, but the corridor outside the treatment room was empty when he stepped out.

I’ve been indoors for too long, Ren’i deduced, shaking himself mentally.

The feeling eased incrementally as he stepped out of the elder’s house, though all that greeted him was sweltering sunlight. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the brightness. There were locals shopping by the stalls. The seats stood empty for the most part, apart from one shadowy corner at the other end of the square where akheri children were playing despite the heat. With them were two tall figures in white, and Ren’i couldn’t help grinning when he recognised them. The children tossed a large ball in the air and Linnee had to sprint to catch it.

”Hey, that’s unfair!” one the kids screamed when Linnee zigzagged between the children with ease and tossed the ball straight at Yurau. The children ran around giggling and squealing after Yurau as she headed towards a goal post constructed with flower pots, bouncing the ball as she went. On the seats behind them Jen’ei and Tyreil, two more soldiers from the Guard of Honour, were watching the game bleary-eyed. Tyreil nudged Jen’ei in the ribs upon noticing Ren’i. Ren’i waved at them.

”Oi!” Tyreil shouted. ”Linnee! Yurau! He’s here!”

Yurau’s goal was followed by the shrieking of the children. When she and Linnee noticed Ren’i they exchanged a few words with the children and left them to play among themselves. Both women’s faces shone with sweat as they strode over to Ren’i.

”Well, what’s the score?” Ren’i asked, smiling.

Yurau shook her heard. ”5-2 for the kids. We may have underestimated them.”

”How are you feeling, your highness?” Linnee asked.

”Better.” Ren’i looked from one flushed face to another. ”Have you been here all morning?”

Yurau shrugged. ”We’ve been taking it in turns. The captain insists that someone stand guard on the square until you’re back at the camp.”

”Sounds like him, all right,” Ren’i admitted. He’d spent the sleepless hours of the night thinking to the point of exhaustion, and decided to get to the main source of his concerns immediately. ”Listen, you haven’t happened to see Onniar anywhere?”

”That akheri huntsmaster? Not since yesterday.”

”That tall fellow with the angry face came here earlier,” Linnee said. ”Perhaps he’d know where to find Onniar.”

”Who?” Ren’i asked.

”The guy with the black braid and the attitude problem. Eagle, or whatever his name was.”

”Oh, you mean Hawk?” Both women nodded. ”Could you let him know I’d like to speak with him if you happen to see him again?”

”Of course, your highness,” Yurau said. She looked like she still had something more to say. It wasn’t like her to hesitate – Ren’i was used to her announcing her thoughts without abandon, which had occasionally caused clashes with the captain –, but this time she exchanged a brief glance with Linnee before continuing, ”we were thinking about something. Would it be acceptable for us to partake in that festival the akheri elder mentioned?”

”Of course,” Ren’i replied. ”You don’t need my permission. The invitation was meant for us all.” He pressed his index finger against his lips. ”And not a word to the captain or he’ll raise hell.”

Yurau cracked a smile so wide that her cheeks dimpled. Though they’d trained together with Ren’i and been part of his Guard for decades, Ren’i realised that he hadn’t seen either Yurau or Linnee laugh or even smile very often. Both soldiers were watching him eagerly like children who’d received their guardian’s permission to go out and play.

Ren’i wasn’t sure how old they were. Linnee’s hair was a sandy brown where Yurau’s was a faint shade of blue, and there was nothing in their ageless taivashi features to indicate whether they were Ren’i’s age or older. They’d been in the army around the same time as him, but that alone meant nothing – enrollment was voluntary, and there were many who started their service much later in life.

”We know how to keep a secret, highness,” Linnee promised. They bowed to Ren’i as one.

---

The elders continued their counsel, though the temperature in the house rose as surely as the sun in the sky. Mineha made Ren’i down some bitter medicinal drink that left a sugary aftertaste in his mouth, and lead him to a break room at the very back of the house where one of Mineha’s assistants – some relative, judging by the features – was preparing lunch. Mineha laughed when Ren’i suggested that he could eat back at the camp.

”Who said you were ready to leave?” she asked, looking amused. ”I’ll come check on your condition around sunset. Try and get some rest until then.”

Ren’i saw it best to obey and ate his lunch without complaints.

The afternoon hours dragged on sluggish and drowsy. He dozed for an hour until the temperature in the healer’s room became untolerable, and decided to amuse himself by stretching the worst stiffness off his body. The corridor outside the room was the coolest place in the house, and he plopped down on the floor unceremoniously when there was no sign of Mineha nor the elders. His vertebras complained the prolonged lack of movement as he reached for his toes and bent into a deep stretch, nose nearly brushing against the floor.

Ren’i froze mid-movement, eyes going to the closed front door. Though there were no sounds from the square, he had a shrewd feeling that someone was coming. The hunch was soon proven right. He nearly jumped in the air as the door opened, creaking quietly.

The surprise turned into a smile when he saw who it was, despite the fact that the look on his face hadn’t softened one bit since the last time Ren’i had seen him.

It was Hawk.

”Hey, perfect timing,” Ren’i called out. ”Wait a moment.”

Hawk shut the door after himself. His bare feet left no sound as he moved. ”Your soldiers said you wanted to talk about something.”

Ren’i finished the stretch, then bounced back to his feet. If he were wholly honest with himself he had expected Hawk to shrug off the request entirely. He hoped that Hawk deigning to speak with him in the first place was a good sign.

”Actually, I wanted to speak with Onniar, but I haven’t seen him since… Well, I’m sure you remember.” If Ren’i had been given the choice he would have chosen to forget the hunting fiasco completely. ”Would you happen to know where I might find him?”

”He was at the hunting cabin when I last saw him.”

”Oh, you’ve got one those here, too? Could you take me there?”

”I’m not your errand boy,” Hawk said bluntly.

”I would find him myself if I knew the area a little better.” Ren’i flashed him his widest smile. ”I know I’ve already bothered you more than enough, but I promise this will be the last time. Pretty please?”

Hawk rolled his eyes. Frustratingly enough that just encouraged Ren’i to smile at him more stubbornly.

He behaved like a spoiled brat who was used to getting his way, Hawk thought. He probably was at that, being a prince and all – the imperial family’s one and only heir without siblings or cousins to challenge his position.

The thought annoyed Hawk enormously. Ren’i’s expression annoyed him even more.

Hawk grunted, turned at his heels and gestured for Ren’i to follow.

”Many thanks,” Ren’i said, striding after him.

Hawk didn’t wait for an answer and headed straight across the square instead without a backwards glance. He heard Ren’i wheezing at his heels, trying to match his pace. Hawk sighed and slowed down reluctantly. He should have told Ren’i to go back and rest. Demon or not, he’d lost a lot of blood, and healing sapped energy from both the healer and the healed alike.

Ren’i panted, clutching at his side. The accident had taken more out of him than he’d ever thought. He breathed laboriously, as if he’d sprinted across the plains instead of just walking from the square to the end of the street.

”You know, I had heard that you people were quick on your feet,” he gasped as they approached the drawbridge, ”but I can barely keep up with you striding like that.”

”This could have waited until tomorrow,” Hawk muttered before he could stop himself.

Ren’i was still paler than usual and noticeably tired, but he made no sign of slowing down, despite obviously struggling to keep up with Hawk. Mineha would have both their heads, of that Hawk was certain.

”Why leave ’till tomorrow anything that can be done today?” Ren’i huffed a laugh at Hawk’s expression. ”What? You guys don’t have that expression?”

”You’ve only yourself to blame if Mineha loses her patience. I’m not taking responsibility for your actions.”

”I’m not expecting you to.”

Hawk stopped so suddenly that Ren’i walked straight into him and almost lost his balance.

”Do you have any idea how much blood you lost yesterday?” Hawk asked, his voice like a thunderstorm. ”If you had any common sense whatsoever you’d be resting right now. It’s your own fault if you collapse.”

There was a blank look in Ren’i’s eyes, and Hawk could tell that he wasn’t following.

”But I’ve rested already,” Ren’i said. ”I spent all night at the infirmary, if you recall.”

”One night.”

”Mineha said I was allowed to stretch my legs.”

Hawk resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. ”You have been healed before, haven’t you? You’re a soldier, you must have gotten injured in the past.”

”We don’t have healers,” Ren’i replied. ”That skill disappeared from Quan’s bloodline ages ago.”

The words were followed by a stunned silence.

”What?”

”We have ashay. We don’t fall ill or die of old age like, well, all the others.”

Hawk stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted a pair of wings.

Of course. Demon blood could not prevent accidents or violence – or hold back an individual demon’s tendencies of being an accident waiting to happen –, but it still rendered them functionally immortal. They lived for thousands of years and recovered from injuries that would have killed an asari, a merjil or an akheri. Before Hawk had always resented that about them, that arrogance with which they carried themselves through life, as if nothing could possibly stop them, not time, not illness, not even the forces of nature. Now, he wasn’t so sure if it was arrogance at all. All he saw in Ren’i was a common moron with no instinct for self-preservation, because he’d never needed it before.

Hawk took a deep breath and tried him damnedest to be patient. ”Healers are not doctors or miracle workers, and they can’t conjure things out of thin air. Healers can mend broken limbs, but your body will remember the extertion it suffered. Healing saps energy from both the healer and the one being healed.”

Ren’i was ogling at Hawk with wide eyes, recalling what his father had told him of magic back at home. That it took from the world around you, creating nothing out of nothing.

”Um, well… What if the person being healed is too weak? If they have nothing to take from?” he asked uncertainly.

”Then the healer can do nothing.” Hawk searched for the right words, and decided on one of the metaphors that Onniar liked to throw about. ”If the well is empty, you can’t take water from it. Understand?”

Ren’i only managed to find his voice some moments later and said, ”I’m starting to.” He’d never been so aware of his own heartbeat, or of the blood flowing inside him with each beat, and the sensation was anything but pleasant. ”I think I’m going back to the infirmary once I’m done with my errand.”

He trailed after Hawk in silence, watching as the terrain changed little by little. In the darkness of the early morning he’d paid no mind to his surroundings, but he saw now that the path they were following curved to the left, away from the woods and their earlier meeting spot. The path narrowed and became a trail, keeping firmly to the edge of the woods. On their left the grass and the vegetation were replaced by dry and reddish clay-mixed soil that suddenly came to an abrupt end.

Ren’i shivered, despite the hot wind on his sweaty skin. No, the land wasn’t just gone; as he approached the edge he realised that the city and the forest rested on a tall precipice, a dizzying fall towards the desert’s burning heat awaiting below the edge. The sands seemed to stretch on forever, the sunlight reflecting off the dunes making his eyes water.

Hawk glanced over his shoulder. He unfastened the waterskin hanging from his belt and tossed it to Ren’i without saying a word.

At the edge of the woods loomed a rustic-looking log cabin. The trees surrounding it weren’t tall, but they shielded the building from the worst of the day’s heat. Ren’i noticed someone sitting in the shade by one of the walls, and recognised the man as they drew closer.

Onniar took the pipe from his mouth. He looked taken aback. ”Well, well. I didn’t expect to see you two, leastways not in the same place at the same time.”

”He has something to say,” Hawk mumbled.

”Did Mineha give him permission to leave?”

Hawk shrugged.

Onniar rubbed the bridge of his nose, smoking pipe still held in one hand. He looked weary. ”Well, your captain put it in plain terms. Should you want me to bear the responsibility for what happened—”

”The responsibility is mine alone,” Ren’i interrupted him. ”I was careless and can only blame myself for the accident. You, or anyone else besides myself, has nothing to answer for.”

Onniar blinked slowly. ”And does your captain know that?”

”I made it quite clear to him. He can be somewhat fanatical at times, but he wouldn’t defy a direct order.”

”As your highness says,” Onniar said, trying to hold back his amusement. ”Well, then. What did you want to talk about?”

”I have a request.”

Ren’i had mulled over the matter all night long, his shame deepening the more he thought, until he wanted to squirm where he stood. Onniar’s eyes widened as Ren’i went down on his knees in front of him, crossing both arms across his chest. The gesture was thoroughly Kishan, but there was no one on the continent who didn’t recognise it: an expression of the deepest humility, that of a subject in front of his empress, or an apprentice in front of his master.

”Come on, now. There’s no need for any of that,” Onniar hastened to say. He reached out a hand as if to touch Ren’i and pull him back up, but didn’t dare to touch him.

Ren’i lowered his head. ”Please, teach me. Yesterday showed me that I’m just a stranger on your lands. I want to learn your customs – learn to survive here like an akheri.”

Hawk and Onniar both stared at him for a long time.

”He’s lost his mind,” Hawk said.

Onniar cleared his throat. ”I appreciate the request, but it might cause some commotion. You’re a prince and I’m just a local hunter. It’s not becoming of your position—”

”I beg of you,” Ren’i said. He laid his hands on his knees and bowed as low as he could. Ordinarily he would only ever bow that deep in front of the empress. ”Not as a prince, but as myself. As Ren’i.”

Onniar and Hawk could not help gawking at him.

”You’re serious?” Onniar finally asked.

Ren’i nodded, keeping his gaze on the ground respectfully. Long seconds passed, but he held his position without stirring, barely even breathing.

Onniar placed the pipe back between his teeth and said at last, ”all right, all right. I accept, so long as you get back up.”

Ren’i’s head shot up. ”Seriously?”

”Sure, if you want it that badly.”

He scrambled back to his feet and bowed again, smiling from ear to ear. ”Thank you, Onniar. I promise to work hard. When are we starting?”

”For starters, you’ll promise me to rest properly. No talking back,” Onniar raised his voice when Ren’i opened his mouth. ”I’m not taking the risk of you fainting and tumbling off a cliff. You’ll rest tomorrow – no practice or anything otherwise physically taxing. Meet me here at the cabin the day after tomorrow, an hour before sunset.”

Ren’i bent his neck. ”I’ll do as you say.”

”And leave your weapons at camp. You can bring a knife if you wish, as long as it doesn’t impede your movements.”

”Won’t I need a bow?”

Onniar smirked. ”That longbow you people use just gets in the way. I’ll teach you to shoot with an akheri bow.” A curious gleam appeared in Ren’i’s eyes. ”The reason you had no time to shoot the lynx was partially thanks to your choice of weapon. You’re used to sieges and aiming at your targets from towers and ramparts, but the longbow is no hunting weapon in these conditions. A shortbow’s reach isn’t as long, but it has its advantages with the kind of game we hunt here.”

”All right. The day after tomorrow, then.”

”Escort him back to the city, Hawk,” Onniar said. Hawk glared at him. ”You heard me. Make sure he stays at the infirmary overnight.”

Hawk didn’t so much as glance at Ren’i as he whipped around towards Hatam-Ile. Ren’i bid a hasty farewell to Onniar and rushed after Hawk, leaving Onniar to smoke alone. He looked after them, smiling, and inhaled from his pipe.

”Will you look at that. This could get interesting,” Onniar mused and laughed merrily.

---

Author’s notes: Just wait till the captain hears about this, Ren’i!