From Across the Clouded Range (12 page)

And his friends. They had trusted him
to look after their daughter, and he had abandoned her. The fire
had taken everything from her, and he had done nothing to restore
her, had left her with a widowed aunt and disappeared with her only
friend. And now as he tried to bring them together, to complete the
only promise he had left, all his mistakes were coming back on him.
Dasen and Tethina were meant to complete each other, and Ipid had
driven them so far apart that they were doomed from the start. How
could he possibly think this would work, that Dasen and Tethina,
given the lives he had made them lead, would ever fit together
again? But even here, his ambition would not be restrained. He
pushed them together with every ounce of his will no matter how
they resisted, no matter the consequences to them.

Go to
him
, a voice sounded in his head. He
looked around the small, well-appointed room as if for
ghosts.
Talk to him
, the voice urged.

He knew it was right, but
still he resisted. Dasen had every right to hate him, the father
who was never there. Even in the face of tragedy, he had run away,
retreated in his work, left his son to be raised by nurses and
tutors.
Why should he listen to me now?
How have I earned the right to be heard?

He needs
you
, the voice answered.
You can never make up for what was lost, but you
can always start again.

Ipid sighed through a sob, felt a tear
course down his cheek. It was the first he had shed since he buried
his wife, and he only allowed himself one. “Thank you, Kira,” he
whispered as he rose from his desk, wiped his eyes, and strode
through the door.

A minute later, he was
standing outside of Dasen’s door. He could tell from the flickering
light at the bottom that he was still awake, but he hesitated,
tried to think what he could say. Finally, he said a small prayer,
left it to the Order, and turned the knob. “Good evening, Dasen. I
was hoping we could have a word.”
Too
formal, you fool. He’s your son.

“
What is it?” Dasen did
not turn, did not look up from the book before him.

Ipid felt his anger
flare.
How dare the boy treat me that way?
If someone in my employ. . . .

But he’s not in your
employ. He’s your son, and you’ve been an ass.

“
Dasen, I want to
apologize. I’ve been an ass.”

That got Dasen’s attention. He turned,
jaw falling open when he confirmed it was actually his father in
the doorway.

Now what, Ipid thought to himself, but
the voice was silent. “I . . . I should have told you about
Tethina. I should have let you read her letters. It is unfair of me
to make you join someone you don’t even know, and though that is
the necessity of the situation, I should have at least given you
what I had of her.” Dasen continued to look at him dumbfounded, so
Ipid stumbled on. “You should also know the whole truth behind
this. Tethina’s aunt is very ill, she is dying. When she dies,
Tethina’s custody will go to her uncle. He is a drunk and a
bastard. He will most certainly mistreat her then sell her as a
bride to the highest bidder.” Dasen looked appropriately appalled.
“Further, she owns half of Ronigan & Galbridge. Her father was
a full partner. That stake passed to her and has never been
diminished. When you are joined, you, through Tethina, will
officially control half of the company.”

At this revelation, Dasen seemed truly
shocked. “Why . . . why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Ipid sighed.
The truth
, the voice
reminded. Ipid lowered his eyes, stared at the planks. “I didn’t
trust you to do what was right for the company. I wanted you to see
how things really worked before you started taking control. That is
why I have been insistent that you apprentice with me, why I wanted
you to see those mills.”

Ipid cleared his throat. Dasen opened
his mouth to speak, the fury clear in his eyes, but Ipid held up a
hand and he stopped. “I am sorry, Dasen. I have made a shambles of
things. When your mother died, I didn’t know what to do. I was so
heartbroken I could barely stand to look at you for the pain it
caused me. I couldn’t stand to be in Randor’s Pass, to see our
house, our things, so I moved us away as fast as I could. And then
I escaped into myself, into my work, and left you alone. It was a
terrible thing to do, and I regret it every day.” Ipid stopped to
clear the lump in his throat. He saw the tears standing in Dasen’s
eyes but somehow did not shed any of his own. “I can only ask you
to forgive me. I hope you see why I did what I did. It doesn’t
justify it, but maybe it explains it.”

“
I think I need some time
to myself now,” was all Dasen said. “I . . . I have a lot to think
about.”

Ipid nodded. What had he expected, his
son to race into his arms like a child, to say everything was
forgiven? He turned to go then thought of one last thing. “As
regards Tethina, be patient with her. You two need each other more
than either of you know. Be her friend, don’t try to change her,
just accept her like you would any other friend. If you can do
that, everything else will work itself out. None of the rest of
this will matter. Trust me on that.”

Dasen stared blankly. Ipid was not
sure if he had heard a word, but something seemed to resonate.
“Good night,” he offered then turned and pulled the door closed
behind him. He returned to his room, collapsed into his bed, and
dreamt of his wife for the first time in years.

#

Even after the door closed, Dasen
stared at it unsure of what had just happened. Had his father
actually just come into this room and apologized for being “an
ass”? He wiped away the tears that had escaped down his face and
tried to understand what he had just heard. His father admitted to
putting his company before his son, to not being able to look at
him, to abandoning him. When he had needed him most, his father had
run away. He had not been too busy, he had willfully abandoned his
son.

Dasen tried to put himself in his
father’s place but couldn’t. Wasn’t he supposed to be the adult?
Weren’t adults supposed to be strong for their children? How could
he have done that to him? How were a bunch of mills, a pile of
contracts and money more important than his son? And on top of
that, all the lies about this fool’s errand. It had nothing to do
with fate, with the Order’s plan. It was all to preserve the only
thing he really cared about, Ronigan & Galbridge.

Dasen rose from his chair,
extinguished his lamp, and pulled off his clothes in a huff. He
found the silk nightshirt in his bag, yanked it over his head and
sat on the narrow, but well-stuffed, bed. His frustration came to a
boil, and he punched the mattress, teeth grinding. He knew it was
stupid to be jealous of an inanimate object, but he wanted to
destroy Ronigan & Galbridge. And like a spurned lover, he began
plotting his revenge. At that moment, he wanted to join Tethina
just to get control of Ipid’s company and tear it apart.

Lying in his bed beneath a single
cotton sheet, he listened to the rain hitting the roof and plotted.
But as his anger faded toward sleep, his thoughts kept returning to
Tethina. “Be her friend,” his father had said. Dasen had nearly
missed it, but now that one comment would not leave him. He thought
about Tethina as a person, about what the letter said about her.
Her aunt had said that the villagers might hurt her. He could only
imagine that they hated her. He had seen the young men and women of
these villages. They were far more conservative than in the city.
Dresses drug on the ground, necklines nearly to their ears. Women
did not work that he saw, did not do any serving at the inns, did
not even venture into the establishments. How could the Tethina
from the letter have emerged from this?

A girl with no
friends
, Dasen realized with a
yawn.
How else could she so flaunt the
rules? Because she has nothing to lose, no relationships at risk.
And no desire to establish any. Is she even capable of having a
friend?

His mind grew muddled as
he drifted toward sleep, but images of himself alone in the
library, aloof and removed from his fellow students, played in his
first moments of dream.
Am I any better
than Tethina, than my father?
There was
something there. Dasen could almost find it, almost understand what
his father was trying to say. In the morning, he would put it
together. He rolled over and heard the rain taper to a drizzle,
tiny patters on his window that carried him to sleep.

Chapter 5

Dasen woke feeling hung over. Though
he had only had a single glass of mediocre wine the night before,
his head hurt, his mouth was dry, and he felt wrung out. He looked
at the room’s single small window and saw stark sunlight outlining
the lace-fringed curtain. Surely his father would be desperate to
be on his way. He spun his legs out of the bed and dropped his head
into his hands. He pushed on his eyes in an attempt to dispel the
ache behind them before finally rising.

Outside his door, he found
a basin of water and used it to wash his face and chest. The cool
water restored him enough to get his thoughts moving.
Today is the day
, he
thought. They should finally reach Randor’s Pass. He would finally
see Tethina.
And then what?
Find a way to turn her into a proper woman, tame
her, be her friend, guide her, support her? His aching head fought
with itself and resolved nothing.

He selected a white cotton shirt from
the small trunk at the foot of his bed, unfolded it, and began
buttoning it over his underclothes. The mother-of-pearl buttons
slid easily through the carefully stitched holes. Black linen pants
followed. The pants were tight. He had added weight on the trip, a
slight bulge surrounding his middle. At the university, he seldom
remembered to eat three meals a day and had maintained a slim
figure despite an utter lack of physical activity, but on this
trip, there had been little to do other than sit and eat. He
buckled the pants with slight difficulty and ran his arms through
an embroidered silk vest. The stitching was a simple pattern of
small diamonds done in deep red, black, and silver, but the
workmanship was excellent, almost imperceptible stitches and not a
one out of place. Finally, he clasped the sleeves of his shirt
together with gold and silver cuff-links in the design of his
father’s crest, a gold cross with triangles at each
point.

Dressed, he ran a
whale-bone comb through his ear-length brown hair as he watched
himself in the small, circular mirror on the wall. He had a long
face, high cheeks, and angular chin. His ears were too big and
stuck out too far. His nose was long and pinched, and his eyes were
a nondescript muddle of colors that did not stand out in any way.
He thought about shaving the paltry growth of stubble along his jaw
and upper lip but decided to wait until Randor’s Pass. One last
look only brought a sigh. What would Tethina think when she saw
him? A bookish, pale, ghost of a man. A pang of worry ran through
him at the thought. As much as he feared the trouble Tethina would
bring, he almost worried more that she would reject him
outright.
What if she laughs in my face?
What if she’s the one who’s disappointed?
He took a deep, shaking breath and cast the thoughts from his
mind
. Well, she has no more choice than I
do. I guess we’ll both just have to learn to live with
it.

With that thought, Dasen grabbed the
black woolen jacket from the back of the chair and draped it over
his arm. It was already too hot to wear such a thing and would
likely be sweltering inside the coach. The clank of coins from the
pocket confirmed that his purse was still there. He left his other
things strewn about the room. Elton would pack them and bring the
trunk down before they departed. He took a last breath and headed
out the door to find some breakfast.

He found his father and Rynn waiting
in the backroom of the inn. They were sitting at one of the four
round tables arrayed around a potbellied stove in the middle of the
room. The floor was made of planks, but they had been carefully
laid and sanded so that they were smooth with no gaps. They were
also spotless – such a change from the other inns they had visited
since leaving Wildern. The walls were covered with wood paneling.
Carefully milled and stained to draw out the grain of the wood, it
gave the room a warm feel. On one wall hung a rare map of the known
world, stretching from the Clouded Range just west of them to the
San Cheir Empire and Kiz to the east. An ornately carved frame held
it to the wall at eye-level, presumably so that the wealthy
merchants using the room could plan their routes. Dasen had
examined it the previous night, and though there were a few small
inaccuracies, it was an impressive and expensive display for a
backwoods inn.

Dasen approached his father’s table. A
plate with the remnants of what appeared to be eggs, sausages, and
toast with a thick, red jam sat before him as he wrote a note in
the margin of a contract. Still tucking away the same meal, Rynn
barely looked up to acknowledge another person had entered the
room. Despite his emaciated appearance, Rynn regularly ate more
than Dasen or Ipid and with such a passion that it was typically
the only time he was quiet.