Tainted

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sailor rushes to catch up with me. "Why did yae say yae didn' know how tae play Zemet when yae did?" he asks, huffing and puffing after every word.

"Because sometimes men like Rogue need to be taken down a peg," I say. "He thought he could see right through me. I wanted to show him that he can't."

We make our way toward Tanymede's, the sun already baking against my back. It's going to be a rough three weeks working in this heat.

"Can we play Zemet again sometime? Yae were amazin'," Sailor says. The way he looks at me makes me want to ruffle his hair like I've seen other people do with their brothers.

"Sure, of course we can."

As we near Tanymede's tent, I catch sight of her standing in the center of the training space. She's dressed in a billowing pair of burnt orange pants and a blue linen top with white stitching. She's parrying a phantom partner with a double-sided broadsword. I can feel my arm straining against its sling, wishing to hold that sword and twirl it as deftly as Tanymede.

"Good morning," I say, crossing into the training space.

Tanymede spins the sword. She launches forward and whips the blade down on my arm, cutting a loose thread from my sling.

I gape at her. "When can I learn that?" I ask.

Tanymede tries to look as if all she's done is use a butter knife, but I can read the glittering pride in her eyes.

"You're nowhere near that," she says, replacing the broadsword in the woven basket on the outskirts of the training space.

"Sailor, dear, I think we're done here," Tanymede says over her shoulder.

Sailor startles. He gives me a small wave, then turns and walks away along the outskirts of Haven toward the horses and cows.

"I love him to bits, but that boy was a puppy in a past life," Tanymede says. She pulls her usual pole from the basket.

I meet her and reach for my foil.

"How are your muscles?" Tanymede asks.

"They're not too bad," I reply.

She nods. "That's a challenge then."

And with a wink, we begin.

********

The sun's high in the sky by the time we finish training. I've positively sweated through every article of clothing as I place the foil back in the basket.

Tanymede, meanwhile, looks as if she's been standing still in the cool shade for most of the day. Only one drop of perspiration can be seen on her forehead.

"So," she says, "today I was hoping you could handle the transactions."

My hand stills on the broom I've already grabbed. "Really?"

"Yes. You seem to be good with sales, you're observant as you say, and so you notice what sorts of things customers want to buy, and you convince them to do it. So, if you're going to have your own shop one day, you should learn how to work the transactions." Tanymede sits down on her stool in the corner.

"You want me to work with the money?" I ask.

Tanymede's eyes narrow. "Should I not?" she asks.

"No, no," I say quickly, "you can trust me."

Tanymede smiles. "I think so too."

Posy and Ceryl walk into the shop. Posy catches sight of me, her eyes lighting up.