Trader's Honour

Trader's Honour Chapter 2

It took a while before Mikandra's heart stopped racing and her breathing calmed. She listened out for Father's footsteps on the stairs, but only heard his and Mother's voices in the living room and the clangs and clinks made by Rosep in the kitchen while cleaning the dishes.

Phew.

She pulled the letter out of her dress, unfolded it onto her desk and smoothed out the wrinkles. The letter was printed on heavy and smooth paper that she had heard people in the oases of Kedras made from the fibres of a plant. It was an old-fashioned and lengthy process, and paper was expensive. If she held it up to the light, she could just read the Trader Guild pledge in Coldi script which served as watermark. She knew the pledge off by heart.

I dedicate my life to the Trader Guild.

I will recognise the Guild’s authority above all others.

I will respect and obey the Trader Laws at all times, and report on those who break them.

I will honour and respect my fellow Traders, regardless of their race or origin.

I will accept them and their families as my kinsfolk.

I pledge unswerving loyalty to the Trader Guild and in return, expect unswerving loyalty of the Guild to me.

The words came to her like those of a childhood song.

She had practiced them with Lihan when he was about to be admitted to the academy, and they'd made silly pacts to go to the academy together. But of course he'd gone first, being two years older and of a proper Trading family, and of course he couldn't possibly marry an infertile girl, no matter how much steamy-breathed kisses in the little alley behind his house had suggested that he wanted to. That was a happy time. He was to leave for Kedras the next day. He had never shown anything except friendship to her, except on that day. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, he had said when she asked him why.

Then he left and the next time she saw him, he was in uniform, with a group of apprentice friends, talking and laughing. She'd gone up to greet him, but his manner had been cool and distant, and although she very much wanted to remind him of the fact that he'd kissed her and she wanted him to do it again, she couldn't, because of his friends. She had never spoken personally to him since. Neither had she worked out what had changed and why he had acted so cool. Maybe kissing did ruin the friendship.

He'd completed the academy, got his licence and travelled a lot.

Right now, she wanted to tell him her news, wanted to see the smile on his face and the dancing light in his eyes. Wanted to hear Yes, now we can be together. Wanted someone to be happy about the news that she'd been accepted.

But it was not going to be like that, and she'd known this since first setting eyes on him in school. He was an only son. Regardless of his wishes, his family's succession was his main concern. She did not enter that picture.