Divided (15 page)

Homes were the most common, and easy to spot, as most had
children playing in front of them, and lines of drying clothes hanging out in
front of them. 

The stores, on the other hand, had objects outside of them. 
The items sat in stalls, or some of them simply sat on the ground.  Calis
marveled at how easy stealing some of these items would have been.  The nobles
would never sell in such an open way.

After a few more houses, they stood in front of one of the
larger ones.  Like a few of the others, there were potted plants out front, as
well as a young child, who was running back and forth.  Clearly, he was
involved in some game that Calis was sure should not be interrupted.  Once they
got closer to the door, the boy tossed them a casual glance and then went back
to ignoring them.

The etiquette here was much different from noble customs, as
the noise in Dark District often kept residents from hearing knocks.  They were
supposed to enter, unless a mark of berry juice was across the door.  As there
was no such thing on this door, Lee opened it without hesitation.  Calis
couldn’t help feeling a little intrusive, though. 

The inside of the house was the same as the out.  There was
no floor, though the dirt had been padded down and there were a few straw rugs
over important areas.  There was a round table in the center of the room and a
basin of water against one of the far walls.  There were a few scattered objects,
most of which Calis didn’t know the use, and on the single shelf in the room
were herbs and berries that Calis didn’t recognize. 

“Excuse me?” Lee asked the emptiness.

The room gave the impression of being outside, though it was
certainly inside.  Light from holes in the wall, passing for windows, kept the
place well lit.  There was another section of the house that Calis couldn’t see
and another on the opposite side.  Both were hidden by brown cloth—giving the
illusion that there was more than one room.

After another moment, a red-haired girl appeared from one of
the sections.  She had a few freckles across the bridge of her nose, and her
face lit into a smile when she saw them.  “Oh, it’s you,” she said.  Calis was
a little alarmed, as Lee had said no one would recognize him.

However, Lee wasn’t bothered.  “Indeed.  Are you the
healer?” he asked.  So clearly the girl didn’t think Lee was who he actually
was—but Calis was very curious as to who she thought he was.

Katt giggled and then shook her head.  Her giggle was almost
flirtatious.  Lee didn’t react as though he noticed this, though.  The advisor
just kept a pleasant smile on his face for the duration.  “No, I’m not.  I’m
her apprentice, Katt Manali.”  She curtsied to complete her greeting.  “Did you
need healing?”

So this was Katt, and she recognized Lee, though she did not
recognize him as the person with whom she traded information.  When Calis met
the eyes of his advisor, Lee just raised his eyebrows at the question in
Calis’s eyes.  “Ah, yes.  My friend’s leg got caught in a rope, and he fell
down a few stairs.”  Calis gestured to his leg accordingly.  “And he hit his
head, so you might want to check that, as well.”

Oh, if only they weren’t under the illusion that Calis had
actually hurt himself—Calis would have enjoyed knocking Lee upside
his
head.  Katt observed the wound for a moment and then nodded her head in
understanding.  “Very well,” she said.  “I’ll go get Miss Amaral.”

“Obliged,” Lee said as Katt disappeared.

At Calis’s second curious glance, Lee spoke.  “You weren’t
the only one who ran into someone during the Soul-Finder dance,” he answered in
a hushed voice.  Calis’s eyes widened.  How surprised Lee must have been when
his “soul mate” was the very girl with whom he traded information.  Actually,
Lee probably rather enjoyed that.

A few moments later, a woman who looked more like a healer
than Katt appeared.  She had a calm expression and warm, hazel eyes.  She was
very pretty, with blond hair tied behind her head.  A brown dress covered her
body, and a small apron completed her look.  She seemed pleased to see them,
though Calis was sure she saw whining citizens all the time.  “Hello,
gentlemen,” she said courteously.  Then, her eyes drifted down to Calis’s
reopened wound.  “Ah, I can patch that up for you.  It won’t take long.”

She gestured for him to follow her into one of the hidden
rooms.  When she opened it, he realized this must be where she did her
healing.  The floor was fully covered in mismatched rugs and there was a table,
large enough for someone to lay on.  There was also a sickbed made of straw,
currently vacated.  If there had been herbs in the other room, the shelves in
this room were covered in them.  There were urns filled with liquids, and leaves
of various shapes and colors sat in piles.

The woman gestured for him to take a seat on the table. 
After he did so, she knelt before him, rolled up his pant leg, and then pinned
it with a wooden pin.  Calis blinked.  He had never seen any sort of
contraption like this. 

Her first step was to wet one of the rags within her reach. 
As she dipped the rag into an urn of water, Calis saw the leaf in the bottom of
the urn.  He found himself curious, if only because there was such a difference
in the way he was usually treated.  “You must see a great deal of people,”
Calis said.

The woman smiled cheerfully and glanced up to him with
glittering eyes.  “I do, but I enjoy healing when I can.  So I don’t mind.”  As
the rag touched the wound, he had to admit that a pain he hadn’t been entirely
aware of felt as though it were being relieved.  As if a thorn that he’d grown
numb to was sticking into his leg, and she’d just plucked it out for him. 

The leaf was obviously doing something for the simple water
in the urn.  He let out a sigh at the relief.  He had never expected to be
actually healed at all.  This was Dark District—they were supposed to be more
primitive.  “Did you treat this yourself?” she asked after a moment.

She’d gone to acquire another set of herbs when she’d asked
the question.  Calis flushed.  Naturally, if she was this good—she was going to
know that someone had played with his wound before this.  “Ah, yes.  It
happened a few suns ago,” he answered honestly.

“You did a sloppy job,” she told him, though with an
apologetic note in her voice.  Calis was confident that the smile on his face
confused her.  The castle healer was always so sure that his way was without
flaw that hearing someone insult him so freely was nice.  The blush on Calis’s
cheeks was probably saving him from exposure, though. 

“Well, I figured I’d done well enough.  But when it was
still bothering me this sun, I wanted to make sure that it got the proper
treatment.  Everyone here in Dark District says you’re amazing,” he said.

“Do they?” she said, mostly to herself.

The leaves she moved along his cut seemed to work more and
more to reach a part of the wound that had been untouched by the castle healer’s
methods.  Calis could only imagine the embarrassment if the wound had been
treated well.  He thought back to his reason for being here while she dressed
the wound.  Kilik wasn’t in this room, and that meant there was only one other
place he could be.

Calis couldn’t think of any logical reason for him to be
peering into another room of the house, though.  He didn’t want to make the residents
suspicious of him, as Kilik did live here.  “I, ah… heard your… son was ill. 
Is he better?”

The woman’s head shot up in worry.  Her eyes clouded with
uncertainty, and then there was a gentle smile on her lips as she returned to
her task with calmness.  “Ah, you must mean Kilik.”  Calis knew Kilik wasn’t
this woman’s son—but a traveler might not be so privy to that information.

“Yes,” Calis answered.

“He isn’t my son, but he does live with me.  And he was
sick, yes, most likely still is.  But, his real sickness is his stubbornness. 
So he claims that he’s well.  I haven’t any idea where he is now, but if you
were to ask him—he would say he was better.”  The affectionate frustration with
which she spoke about Kilik made Calis smile.

Still, Calis felt a strange worry take ahold of his chest. 
Apparently, even living with the healer, Kilik hadn’t gotten the treatment that
he’d needed.  Though, perhaps living with a healer meant that she would want to
treat him more than most, and Kilik knew that.  For some reason, Calis was
inclined to believe the former.  This woman didn’t seem like one to fuss over
nothing.  “How do you know Kilik?” she asked.

“I met him recently—the town had a dance on my first moon
here, and he was there.”  Calis explained this as if it wasn’t a little shady. 

The woman didn’t seem at all suspicious of him, though.  She
nodded her head and completed her dressing of the wound.  “Should I tell him
you asked about him?” she asked.  Calis could swear there was a glimmer of
teasing in her hazel eyes, though the question was completely legitimate.

“No, ma’am” he answered swiftly.  “I was just curious.”

So Kilik wasn’t here, and he was back in society.  Calis
wondered if he might find Kilik about in Dark District, though the idea of
being discovered here, when the healer may well reveal his less-than-courteous
questioning, was not appealing.

The dressing of the wound complete, the woman stood, and
Calis pulled himself from the table.  He thanked her, several times, as they
exited into the main room.  Lee was talking with Katt, with a quiet smile on
his face.  Her smile was much less quiet, in fact, Calis was positive he’d
never seen anyone smile quite so
loudly
.  “Are you finished?” Lee
asked.  Whereas, he would ordinarily have been dying to get away—he didn’t seem
in any hurry, at this point.

Calis nodded.  “Yes.  The healer is as efficient as the
rumors say,” he said.  Lady Amaral just smiled and nodded her head cheerfully.

With a quick farewell, they turned to leave at the same time
a young blond stepped through the door.  She spoke in a loud voice.  “This was
not worth six silver—this was hardly worth a copper,” she growled.  “I can’t
believe he ripped us off like that!  To think, after everything…” 

She had blond hair, much like the healer’s.  Her features
were similar as well, if a little younger, and a little sharper.  She had the
same hazel eyes, pale lips, and blond hair tied back and covered with a
bandana.  Calis felt his heart skip a little as he made a guess as to with whom
she conversed.

Calis was right.  A moment later, the black-haired boy
entered and dropped a sack to the floor.  His hair was a little neater than the
last time Calis had seen him, though not very much.  “Kilik, Alyx, you were shopping?”
Katt asked.

Kilik had yet to look up and observe that Calis was standing
in his house.  Calis was given a moment to wonder if Kilik would even remember
him—whether or not he would even react to seeing Calis again.  Oh, but Calis
wanted him to.  “Alyx was shopping,” Kilik answered cheerfully, “I was
carrying.”

The healer was not at all pleased by this statement.  “Alyx,
you are not a princess.  You should have carried some of the load,” she
reprimanded.  “Especially after Kilik had been ill.”

“Ah, but Alyx thinks she is a princess.  Don’t you,
princess?” Kilik tousled the young girl’s, Alyx’s, hair with affection.  Then,
he glanced across the room to the healer, then to Lee, and lastly to Calis.

He started upon seeing Calis, which Calis took to mean that
his hope had become a reality.  “Ah, we have guests,” he said warily.

Hope granted, Calis still felt as though he had been caught
in some very nasty trick.  Instead of greeting Kilik as he probably should
have, he found himself staring off at one of the far walls with feigned interest. 
“We do,” the healer answered for them.  “This young man apparently took a
rather nasty fall,” she said, gesturing to Calis.

Calis wished she wouldn’t do that.  He nodded his head to
affirm her story, but he said nothing.  Lee bowed a greeting to the two—like
any ordinary person probably should have done.  Calis was normally good at
showing proper etiquette, but the frightening idea that this healer was about
to expose him was preventing him from doing so.  Kilik’s head lowered to glance
curiously at Calis’s leg, where part of his pant was still pinned up.  “Oh!”
the healer’s daughter spoke, “Aitken didn’t tell us.  Well, I trust mother’s
healing helped?”

There was a single moment in which Calis considered
proceeding back to the castle with more haste than he’d ever proceeded with in
his life, but inevitably, he did have to answer.  “It did,” Calis answered,
“immensely.”

“More than he expected it to, I’d wager,” Lee added
cheerfully.  Calis was quite certain that he’d never heard Lee talk in such
amicable tones before.

Once Calis let his eyes observe the two newcomers to the
house, he noticed that the blond girl was offering him a particularly
flirtatious smile.  When he tried to smile back, he had a feeling he gave the
impression of being strangled.  “Are you new here?  If you are not, then you
must have known that my mother is famous for her healing remedies.”  The girl’s
voice was light, airy, and completely oblivious to Calis’s inability to focus
on anything but her black-haired companion.

“He is new,” said that very same black-haired companion. 
“He’s a traveler, I believe.  I’m surprised you’re still here.”  The voice was
calm, collected, but due to the way the blue eyes flitted over Calis’s
appearance as if they expected the blond to morph into some sort of diabolical
monster, Calis doubted the calmness very much.

The young, blond girl seemed surprised that Kilik knew
anything about their houseguest at all.  “Oh?” she asked.  “Well, he isn’t that
new, then.  It’s been two cycles since the dance,” she pointed out.

“Two cycles is not enough time to figure out all the secrets
of Dark District, Alyx,” Kilik answered briskly.