Tarashana by Rachel Neumeier (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

I looked around for a place to go aside and wait. But I already knew where I would go.

Darra inKarano sat outside her wagon, not far from her father’s tent. She sat relaxed, cross-legged, on a close-woven rug of red and gold and blue. A fire burned before her, but she was paying little attention to that. She had laid a smooth sheet of wood aside, with a scroll upon it, and a stylus, and ink. She was studying another scroll, frowning.

When I came there, she held out a hand without looking at me, and I sat down beside her, a position from which I could watch Koro’s tent.

“This was all remarkable,” Darra said. “All these events have been remarkable.” She handed me the scroll.

Taking it, I saw that she had been writing out an account of everything that had happened.

“To whom will you send this?” I asked.

“To Manasig inGesoka. Few inGesoka came to this Convocation, and their lands are so far distant that they left again some-some days ago. They know only that some kind of great sorcery came upon the Tarashana and then came through the pass and upon the inGara. They know that Ryo inGara and Iro inGeiro went with a Lau sorcerer and a Tarashana sorcerer through the high tomb into the land of the shades to address this problem. They do not know anything else. After Manasig reads this to her uncle and to her husband, I think the inGesoka will probably regret that they did not stay to see what else might happen.” She picked up the stylus, but laid it down again. “The Tarashana people disappeared from the lands north of the inGesoka six years ago, a little time before the trouble came this far west. I think it best to know what is happening now in those lands so far to the east. I wish to know whether the Tarashana have returned to those lands.”

“You will probably also write a different letter, much briefer, from your father to the lord of the inGesoka.”

Darra inclined her head. “I have already written that one.”

I nodded.

“Ryo ...” She was not looking at me. “Do you trust him still?”

“Yes,” I said at once. And then, as I would not have said to very many other people, I added, “I think so. I hope so.”

“You are still his. He has not released you. No one has decided yet whether a tuyo taken in the way he took you will ever be released.”

“This is so,” I acknowledged.

“I hoped for your sake that the Lau soldier might win, though I thought it impossible. But for myself, I hoped he would lose, because if Aras died, you would be free. Yet at the same time, I hoped again Aras might be spared, because if you were free, then plainly I should marry you and tell Elaro to look elsewhere. I did not want to do that either. If you wanted Aras to die, then I would know what prayer to direct to the gods, but you do not want that. So then I did not know what to hope for. I was completely confused. So finally I prayed to the gods to give the victory to your Lau, because I knew you wanted that, and I thought if I did not know what I wanted, then I should set everything else aside and ask for what you wanted.”

I nodded. Then I put my arm around her, pulling her against me. She leaned against my shoulder and wrapped her arm around my waist, not exactly in the manner of my sisters or cousins. I said, “When I thought Yaro inTasiyo would kill me, I was so angry. Beyond angry. I have seen the land of the shades, and I do not fear to die, or I think I do not fear that. But it seemed to me, in that moment, that I saw all the life that should have been mine torn away from me. You were a part of that life I have not lived. The thought was extraordinarily bitter to me.” I paused.

Then I said, “You are forceful and clever, and you are accustomed to getting your own way, and that is why you thought of suggesting to two men that you might marry them both. I thought first that I could not accept that, and then, after speaking with Elaro, I thought perhaps the idea was not entirely impossible. Then, when I left you, I thought again that I could not endure it. So you see, I have been completely confused as well. But when I thought I would die, I realized that I had been stupid not to give over temper and agree to what you asked.”

“I was stupid to ask for something so hard. I ask your forgiveness. I knew it was too hard a thing to ask of you.”

“Not too hard for him?”

“Elaro does not have your temper.”

“You have great regard for him.”

“In a different way than I have for you, Ryo.”

I stroked her hair, which was loose. I let the black strands fall through my fingers and ran my hand across the curve of her cheek. I stroked her back, feeling her muscles first tense and relax. This was not like touching a Lau woman. I said, “I dislike him. But I know this is not a fault in him. I do not say you are wrong to want him. You should have a husband who comes to your tent often rather than very seldom. I will tolerate him for your sake.”

She nodded. Then, straightening, she looked at me seriously. “I do not like your Aras. This is not because he is a sorcerer or because he is a Lau. It is not for any fault in him. I dislike him because he holds so much of your heart. When