The Ghost's Crusade

XIX: Akkali (cont.)

"The Inferi said an Enkiri would be along," said the woman. "I am Matron Crenata, second cousin of Duke Rainswall. Welcome to Nearnorn House. I take it you are here to speak with Inquisitor Captain Brennan."

"You have a magnificent house, Matron," said Akkali with as much pleasantness she could force into her voice without becoming overtly condescending. "And yes, I am."

Crenata eyed her head to toe yet again, then said bluntly, "We're full."

"What a damn shame," sighed the Enkiri through clenched teeth. "I shall wait here since I doubt you want a-"

"Miss Akkali!"

Turning her head towards the voice while still keeping an eye on the matron she spotted Hallia bounding down the staircase two at a time. She had a more lively color to her skin now that she wasn't harboring an invading Oratio's spirit, but the happy cry with which she had called out the woman's name did not match the otherwise doleful look on her face. The childish glint that should have been there was gone, replaced with a dead-eyed stare she was far too familiar with.

After a moment she realized that Hallia looked just like Eoran, Farseeth's youngest and most sullen squire. He had lost his entire family in a border feud too, and at almost the same age. While Akkali really felt no real pity for either of them, or even much in the way of sympathy, she knew that what had happened to them was wrong. It angered her that it had happened again, and while she was there to watch it this time: a child being robbed of a perfectly decent family and made to live alone.

She silently hoped that Hallia wouldn't turn out like her, cold and cynical as she was. Children were supposed to be hopeful, cheerful creatures oblivious to the miserable nature of ordinary adult life. Otherwise what point was there in living that long?

Hallia curtsied politely to her. "You look much better."

"So do you," replied the woman with a nod. "Where are Jansa and Tiernan?"

The girl slipped her hand into Akkali's and pulled her outside, then continued to walk across the cobblestone circle which the boardinghouse dominated towards a brewery several doors down the street. "The Captain said not to let you stay too long around the Matron. She can't tell I'm Enkiri too, so we don't say anything. We've made a game of it and it's rather fun, making her think I'm human. He says she's as blind as a bat."

Akkali was surprised at Tiernan's handling of the situation. Hallia was young enough that her markings were barely beginning to show along her neck and arms, and undoubtedly Crenata's old eyes couldn't pick them out unless she was searching expressly for such things. In a long sleeved dress with a scarf of dyed purple wool around her neck she looked almost like any other human child so long as no one took an incredibly long look at her silvery-blue eyes.

"He was helping me make sure that horrible woman was gone," muttered Hallia, a sad and bitter hatred in her words. "He says I'm fine, that she was really destroyed by what you both did. He even offered to take me all the way to Whiteshire. He tells me there's a very nice lady there that runs..." Her voice wavered and her eyes teared up. "That runs a place for people like me, people without anyone that care about them."

Akkali stopped in the middle of the road and gripped the girl's shoulders firmly, an act that made her squeak in surprise. "You listen to me, Hallia. With his very last breath your papa told us where we could find you. He could have begged for help or mercy but he just told us to go save you. Both your papa and mama love you, very, very much. That will not change no matter where they are. Anyone who tells you no one loves you or that no one cares for you is just a lying bastard. You are stronger than any of them because you're here, right now, and you fought off that evil bitch that killed them. Anyone says anything scornful about them, you hold your head high and tell them to piss off. They're not worth any other words."