Among the Graves

[Saruna]

Gustel seemed startled by Derin's question, though the expression shut down in caution and worry. Saruna puzzled over that, though she turned back to her oven to prod at the fire and stir her pot. Gustel meanwhile was taking his time considering his words, eyes moving evasively back and forth over the floor. He settled with a small-voiced, "In a sense," and he licked his lips.

Saruna's curiosity did a series of flips in her brain. So odd was the world of magic that she couldn't understand how any of it worked, more or less why, but this sounded stranger still. She finished what she was doing and moved to take a seat in the momentary silence as Gustel made mouth movements that seemed to indicate he might continue.

But he did not.

"In a sense?" Saruna echoed him, driven more by that curiosity than any real sense of danger at the man's reluction revelations. He only nodded miserably, and she tilted her head to the side. He seemed harmless enough to her. "Why did you not register?" Another point of query that tickled at her brain.

"Can't make a living registered." His emotive range seemed limited to caution and morose self-pity.

Saruna looked at Derin, puzzled why the guards would be in such a frenzy over a man such as Gustel.

[Derin Edala]

Derin stared contemplatively at her hands. "I'm not sure," she said slowly, "how to protect you. If you were a shapeshifter or something it might be easier. Even if you stay here, it's only a matter of time before you are caught. Do you have any eventual plan, any place to go?" It would be inappropriate to approach him with money so soon, and offensive to do so in front of Saruna. Not that she expected Saruna to disapprove, it was merely not polite to be so brazen about conducting personal deals in somebody else's house.

"Perhaps we can find you a place in the forest, or something? Unless you have some penchant for disguise?"

[Saruna]

Gustel looked alarmed at Derin's words. "You're not g-going to abandon me?" The words were forceful like a statement, but the uplifted quaver at the end delivered them like a question.

"No, no, of course not, dear." Saruna was quick to reassure and soothe.

"I don't want to stay in the forest. I can. . .I can disguise myself! I can be useful, please. I-I just need time. A little time, to get myself together."

Saruna shot a worried glance at Derin. "Maybe it's best you stay tonight."

"If you let me stay, I'll do whatever you want!" Gustel blurted out, and then promptly flushed a deep red when Saruna looked at him.

She was very thoughtful. She didn't like the idea of using the poor young man, but at the same time, was it possible he could help her find out what had happened to her father? She felt safe bringing it up. "There is maybe. . .maybe one thing. For me. Derin might have her own but, well you see for me there's an old matter of my father. He was taken by the guards for using magic a long, long time ago. I don't know what happened to him, and I was hoping maybe--?"

Gustel's look of eagerness faded at Saruna's words, and he paled. He didn't look at her. "Ooooh, uh, let me sleep on that, but maybe is there something she wants?" His desire to talk about things other than being caught up with the guards and never being heard from again was obviously quite high.

[Derin Edala]

Derin glanced between Gustel and Saruna, a little confused. She'd completely missed whatever had passed between them to set this up. Had they planned it from the start? No, thinking that was beyond paranoid.

Everything was falling into plkace... no, being placed nicely in place for her. What was Saruna trying to do?

They said that you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Derin had learned that you should always look a gift horse in the mouth, because a diseased horse could endanger your other horses, so to speak. But you never looked a gift horse in the mouth until you were out of sight of the gift-giver.

Derin leaned forward. "I do have... well, there's one thing that I'd like to get confirmed," she murmured. She launched into a brief version of her searching-for-her-mother story, her theory that the bracelet's normally very weak magic would spike in proximity to her and her need, therefore, for a magic-senser to accompany her to the graveyard. Again, she played down the bracelet as a minor protective token, valuable more for its status as an heirloom for anything else. Dying would be irritating; having the bracelet examined closely (and, presumably, destroyed) would be disastrous.

[Saruna]

Saruna nodded at Derin's words, entirely sympathetic to the other's plight. Gustel sighed and looked partially forlorn, but he seemed resigned to his own problems, and only gave the barest acknowledgement he'd heard Derin at all. "We can go to the graveyard." He said in a quiet, frightened voice.

"We should eat dinner first." Saruna asserted herself, maternal instincts coming to the fore as she eyed first Gustel, and then Derin. Neither of them looked as well fed as they ought in her practiced opinion, and she gave another nod as if reconfirming this with herself. "Here now, I'll get the bowls. No sense traipsing around in the dark on empty stomachs."

Saruna bustled to and fro, took the stew off, and ladled everyone a large portion almost to the rim, and handed them out. Gustel picked half heartedly at his, but Saruna attacked hers with a steady purpose. She felt exhilirated, alive; it didn't matter if she was in danger or not. Answers were to be had. Maybe not her own, just yet, but it would happen.

She finished her bowl, licked her lips, and looked up to see if her compatriots were ready as well.

They set off in silence, the first edges of twilight casting deep shadows between buildings.

[Derin Edala]

Walking around at night again. Well, at least she wasn't trekking through the desert any more.

Truth be told, the half-light of the dawning night was Derin's favourite time of the day. It reminded her of home, when... No sense dwelling on that now.

Not yet, anyway.

She had trouble quelling the thrill of excitement , trouble keeping a slow, trudging pace to match Gustel, but old survival instincts helped her to do so. Eagerness was a weakness that it was better to hide.

Instructing Gustel to keep his senses fixed firmly on her bracelet (she had no idea how slight or great the power fluctuation might be), she walked back and forth across the graveyard, arm out like a water-diviner. The sooner they solved this rubbish, the sooner she could plan her next move; if she was right, she would stay and pay her debt to Saruna. If she was wrong, she would pack up and leave town before the old woman noticed.

It was several minutes before an excited exclamation from Gustel indicated a positive result. A bit of crisscrossing later, she found herself standing on top of the 'hotspot' as it were; an old grave. She noted the position and name on the headstone before allowing herself a smile.

This could be it. This could really be it.

"Gustel... come over here and tell me exactly what you feel."

[Saruna]

Saruna was a witness to something potentially dangerous, illegal. It set her heart to pounding, her skin contracted into goosebumps. She shivered, and her palms grew damp as she stood silently off to the side and watched what was going on. There was nothing simple about what she was doing.

Graveyards had never overmuch bothered Saruna. She was a stolid woman, staunchly focused on getting things done that needed work. She did not pay mind to the things that went bump in the night. She was rooted firmly to the ground, and left fanciful dreaming to the young and bardic. She was not foolish. But a strange thing as she watched the dying light of the sun cast vicious orange and red over the gravestones, as the soil grew darker and the shadows crept long and distant towards the village, that she felt something new, and ominous.

It made her nervous, as if she was part of a blooded ritual, some sort of dowsing for corpses; seeking knowledge of the dead. And as she stood on the old soil rich with the rotting flesh of those below her, she could almost feel the edges of the connections she'd made tying themselves firmly about her wrists and stealing deeper within her, marking her.

Gustel had steadied the more Saruna had grown uneasy, and as she watched him the darking creases on his face had grown into something like a smirk. He did not tremble or falter. He watched Derin with hunger, and without remorse. It frightened Saruna more than she could say. When Gustel let out an animal shout, she startled and took a step back, and was glad she could no longer see his face for he had turned away from her.

He walked toward Derin, and she took a faltering step forward, opening her mouth. To say what? And nothing spilled forth, so she tucked her chin and looked down into the grave soil as it absorbed the last light of the sun.

Gustel had reached out for Derin's hand, a motion that was too quick for Saruna to follow. His fingertips brushed hers, and Saruna shuddered at the lines his body had taken.

"There is magic, and it is full of potential." He said in a weirding voice.

"Derin," Saruna said, her mouth suddenly dry. Get away from him! But that made no sense, no sense at all. Gustel turned partially to face Saruna, and she could see the edges of a smile making his face sharp and somehow predatory. She was frightened.

"There's something here you want." Gustel continued, not looking away from Derin. "Exactly what you want."

[Derin Edala]

Derin heard Saruna's warning; one, single word that reached into her past and brought forth memories of a time when that had been all it took to restrain her. "Derin." Had Saruna ever used her name before?

The way that the woman said it didn't sound like a warning, but that meant nothing to Derin; wordiness and bluster was for people who needed to hide their uncertainty or lack of power. Derin's annoyance at being interrupted right when Gustel was being so helpful was quickly squashed; people who put impatience over wariness didn't live very long. So even as Gustel told her that she had found what she wanted, she glanced over. Saruna was staring at the man and she was certainly unsettled -- frightened? Angry? Derin really was going to have to learn the difference, but it didn't really matter; there was a problem with Gustel. The details could sort themselves out.

And now she could see what she had presumed Saruna to be warning her about; Gustel's manner had changed. He was far more confident than he had been in the house; too composed, too brave. Derin reached out and grabbed the man's wrist. She knew that she wasn't nearly as strong as she used to be, but hopefully that wouldn't be too much of a disadvantage; she had found that many people were disinclined to use their full strength because doing so tended to break bones or tear muscles. The condition of Derin's body wasn't nearly as important to her as the condition of other peoples' bodies tended to be. Besides, maybe she'd get lucky and he'd be somebody who couldn't fight.

"Who," she hissed quietly, "are you? What are you after? Saruna, who is this man?"

[Saruna]

The tanner incident was a stain on Gustel's brief career as an informer. It had been the last job he'd needed for the money, so he could take care of his personal matters at home. It would have been the last job, until his nerve had failed him, and he'd bungled the catch and informed the practitioners instead of his boss. The last he'd heard they'd been fleeing the city and Thar Shaddin, heading somewhere southeast in the hopes of a better future -- one that, in retrospect, had been taken from him.

His anticipation, his relief had nearly bowled him over as this new job seemed ready to close -- ready, until the old woman had said one word. Then the eagerness Derin herself had displayed had turned into that of a hunter focused on Gustel. He had one chance to salvage the situation. More than his own life hung in the balance.

It wasn't hard to let the panic, the helplessness rise to the top. It wasn't hard to let his confidence falter into fear. "I- I am Gustel! Why're you grabbing me, that hurts!"

Saruna, watching, felt a fear of her own. Derin's reaction was so. . .cold, precise. . .wrong? Saruna hadn't expected it from the other woman, that sort of quick thinking action. The rush she'd felt from earlier doubled its intensity, and she felt herself blanch. What then, of her normal life? Her stomach pained her, the food she'd eaten so readily sitting heavy and uncomfortable. There was nausea. "Derin," this time, hesitantly, as she might address a wild animal. Shame consumed her. She knew the lies of young people, had seen it in her own children, and Gustel's emotions were real. "Something is wrong, but it isn't, doesn't have to be Gustel's fault. Maybe he is happy to help? It is hard to be the one asking; it is always nice to feel useful. Maybe he's just unlucky."

Maybe it was the magic she'd been uneasy about, as Gustel's posture slumped and he nodded frantically at Saruna's words. She didn't know what she was doing. She hoped she wasn't making a mistake, backing him up. And why had Derin reacted so. . .so offensively? She placed a hand over her stomach and hoped the sick feeling would leave her. "Let us continue." She said, but she didn't sound very certain of the situation at hand.

[Derin Edala]

Derin released Gustel's arm, confused. She didn't believe his reaction for a moment, but she couldn't place Saruna's backtracking. The old woman had to be too wise to have fallen for it, but Derin hadn't missed the implied rebuke for her behaviour.

Of course. She was behaving like a child, jumping into action as she had. She should have taken Saruna's lead and remained subtle. She was a child, really, but that excuse wasn't going to help if she accidentally got them both killed. "I apologise," she told Gustel, "the graveyard makes me a bit jumpy. In fact, I think I have everything; we should... we should probably get out of here. There might be muggers about, or worse."

Derin could still salvage this. She was sure that she could. All of the advantages were on her side; if she lost to this man, she didn't deserve to survive. She just needed some time with Gustel.

Well, it was dark... everyone had to go asleep eventually.

[Saruna]

"Oh, well then, it is getting late, we should head home." Saruna said, though Derin and Gustel both had already turned and started walking towards the path that lead back through the village. She could not shake the feeling that she'd done something terrible, or at least had let down Derin at an important moment. Yet Gustel had not acted victorious; he'd instead looked humbled and, again, scared. She hadn't meant to cause that.

The walk back was as quiet as the walk out, but for different reasons. Derin's silence, in particular, worried Saruna. She feared she'd offended the younger woman, but she didn't want to apologize while Gustel was in hearing. Later that night, she decided, when Gustel was asleep, she would go to Derin's room and give her apology for essentially dismissing her concerns so rudely in the graveyard. Yes, she thought, that was the way to do it, so they provided a united front before Gustel. She didn't want to give the implication to Derin that she had no choice in it. Saruna wanted her to accept that Saruna's home was Derin's home. And Derin had a say in important matters.

The house settled, Saruna showed Gustel his room and made sure the coals in the oven were banked. More dough was set for the next day, and she took the boiled scraps down to the cellar for use as gravy the next day. Then, she went to her own room, to wait a time for Gustel to sleep before she troubled Derin.

All would be well after the night was over.

[Derin Edala]

Derin lay awake, waiting for Gustel to fall asleep.

She had the first part of a plan hashed out, but anything more would require more information. The old "carrot and stick" method -- she had a stick, but it was difficult to know what the best carrot would be. Well, she sort of had a stick. Gustel looked easy to bluff.

After some time, she appraoched his door and heard deep, regular breathing. Good. She hesitated; no, this was the wrong place to start. It wouldn't be the first time that her plans and somebody else's plans had clashed and left a mess. She should talk to Saruna first. Besides, Saruna probably had a better plan.

She went to Saruna's room instead, hoping that the woman was still awake, and knocked lightly on the door. "Saruna? Can I talk to you?"

[Saruna]

Saruna swung the door open, startled, for she had been ready to seek out Derin the moment she'd heard Derin's voice. She faced Derin a little unsteadily, and blurted, "Oh my dear, I am so sorry for being such a tyrant. I'd no intention to be dismissive of your concerns. I hope you might forgive me for being such a pushy old woman."

She wrung her hands nervously.

[Derin Edala]

Derin blinked at the woman's oddly straightforward admission that there might be a problem and waved her words aside. "We need to concentrate on what to do now. Gustel is a danger that we need to deal with, but before we can, we need to figure out what he's after. Unfortunately his damnable magical abilities make bluffing him very hard." Hard, but probably not impossible... wasn't bluffing an old survival skill, after all? Besides, it not like she had to lie that much; most of what she said would be quite real. But if he caught her out in little lies, there's no way she'd know, he'd be too clever for that. Saruna might be able to tell. She hoped.

"I think," she said thoughtfully, "that we can get away with some bluffing." She drew a long needle from her belt. "Pretending to have magic probably won't worsen our situation any. Naturally, I should do that to protect you if worst comes to worst. But what we really need to do is figure out what we need to give him in exchange for his silence; we want to avoid killing, of course." If at all possible. The last thing they needed was the notice of the guards.

[Saruna]

Danger? Bluff? Kill? Saruna stared at Derin with widened eyes. She might be a little past the days of farming, but either they were teaching farmwives new things, or Derin was not all she had said she was. But surely. . .surely Derin would not lie to her? What purpose would there be in that?

It was hard to concentrate on what to say to Derin's expectant silence. Derin would not mislead her. Maybe she had just left things out of her tale. That was fine. Saruna had left things out too. How could she expect Derin to say all to a woman she'd only met a day ago? That was silly. She took a deep breath. That lead to the problem of Gustel, who seemed to Saruna a scared young man who was lacking a safe place to stay. Maybe mislead. But wouldn't that mean he was lying to them? Why would he do that?

"Why is he here, if he is lying?" Saruna said aloud, not quite looking Derin full in the eye. This was certainly more than she had bargained for. "There is nothing to give him if we do not understand what he gains from being here."

She was thinking maybe she should have gone to sleep, and waited until the next day before apologizing to Derin. She suddenly dreaded the night ahead, but how could she abandon Derin? How could she be involved of something like this? How, indeed.