Wayfarer was uncertain what that referred to, the apples or her lie, but Chap came up beside her with a snort muffled by the apple he had in his jaws.
Magiere’s brow furrowed. “Wait. We’ll be ready ... in a few moments.”
Ducking into the cabin, she slammed the door shut. The last to turn away was Brot’ân’duivé, but he eyed both Wayfarer and then Chap before returning to his own cabin. Wayfarer was again alone with Chap, but another long moment passed before she could look down to find him watching her.
—We will learn ... why ... this is happening to you.... I promise—
Those memory-words did not comfort her as she took the second apple from him. Still, she believed that he had not done this to her. It was not Chap’s fault that she had seen—been forced to see—a memory he had chosen for her.
It was something further wrong with her.
Chap scooted closer, and Wayfarer numbly watched as he stuck his nose out toward her hand holding the second apple. It was he this time, and not she, who flinched once before he touched her hand.
She saw nothing in her head and only heard his words called up from her own memories.
—Say nothing ... of ... what you did ... with me ... to Brot’ân’duivé—
Brot’ân’duivé was still puzzled by whatever had happened in the passage. It could not be something as simple as the attempted theft of an ill-gotten apple.
When he had returned briefly to his cabin, it was only because he knew nothing would be said by the girl or the majay-hì while he remained. Certainly Brot’ân’duivé would hear nothing Chap said unless someone else repeated it. At that, he wondered....
Leanâlhâm, “Child of Sorrow” ... Sheli’câlhad, “To a Lost Way” ... and now Wayfarer might not even tell him what had truly transpired in the passageway.
It was clear to Brot’ân’duivé that, in whatever had happened, the majay-hì had adequately seen to the girl’s safety. In that, he trusted Chap.
For a while he waited in his cabin and listened until he heard a door open. It did not surprise him that the girl and majay-hì had gone to Magiere and Léshil first. When he heard that door close again, he stepped out for the same destination.
At his knock it was Léshil who opened the door, scowled, and turned away.
Brot’ân’duivé ducked in, closed the door himself, and the room was so quiet that it was obvious that he had interrupted a conversation.
The left-side bunk where Magiere sat, now hastily dressed, was in disarray: the altercation in the passage had interrupted something else. But any leftover anger was gone from Magiere’s face and posture. Instead she appeared ... shaken.
Léshil as well looked shocked and distracted where he stood beyond Magiere in the small cabin’s left rear corner. However, Chap lay on the right-side bunk with his head hanging on his forepaws over the bunk’s edge. His eyes were half-closed as he stared at the floor, as did Wayfarer beside him.
The apples were still untouched in the girl’s lap.
“Where did you get those?” Brot’ân’duivé asked.
Wayfarer blinked twice before looking up at him, as if the question was out of context for whatever was on everyone’s mind.
“A sailor gave them to me,” she said.
At that, some of the ire and suspicion returned in Magiere’s expression.
Wayfarer immediately noticed this as well. “It was Saeed. You know he is very polite ... and kind.”
Magiere straightened on the bunk, and Léshil turned to look at the girl. Even Brot’ân’duivé was somewhat surprised at this, considering the way the girl had always reacted to unknown humans, especially males. Only Chap did not move or look up.
“Léshil,” Wayfarer said calmly, “let me borrow your knife.”
Brot’ân’duivé watched as she took the knife and began cutting the fruit into slices to be passed out.
Wayfarer fed a slice to Chap, who wolfed it down in two bites. “Saeed told me that sailors on this ship buy their own food in ports and then hide it,” she continued. “He said that men sometimes fight, even kill, over food.”
She offered Brot’ân’duivé a piece, which he consumed rapidly, and then passed slices to Magiere and Léshil before biting a piece of her own. Whatever heavy thought had preoccupied her and the others melted in their relief. But a few bites of an apple would not solve the current problem.
Brot’ân’duivé noted the angry hardness that filled Léshil’s face as he watched the girl sag in exhaustion once the last of the apples was consumed.
He had joined with Magiere and Léshil—against their wishes—for several reasons, one of which was to learn more about these orbs and why the Ancient Enemy had gone to such great lengths to have them guarded. What he needed most was to learn more of the power the orbs held ... and whether they could truly be used as a weapon.
And as to whatever had transpired in this room in the moments before he had entered, that was a more immediate problem to solve. Secrets were a matter of life to Brot’ân’duivé, and he had always been patient in their acquisition and use.
Leesil was still edgy, even after the old shadow-gripper left on some excuse about looking into “purchasing” more food from the crew. When Magiere’s lips parted to say something, Leesil quickly shook his head. Before she could even frown, he stepped in front of Chap and crouched down.
“Is he really gone?” he whispered.
Wayfarer looked up in puzzlement.
With a grumbling huff, Chap climbed off the bunk and stalked over to the cabin door. He sniffed the space between the door’s bottom and the floor and then pricked up his ears as he stood there a moment longer.
Chap turned back and huffed once for yes.
And now that they were certain Brot’an was gone ...
“Are you sure?” Leesil asked with a quick glance at Wayfarer before he eyed Chap again. “Could it have just been—”
—No— ... —Not memory-words ... I called up— ... —And not as ... Wynn hears ... my thoughts spoken to her—
“Maybe you did something that—”
—No— ... —She saw ... my chosen memory ... of my Lily ... through her own touch— ... —She ... relived ... a moment ... she could not have had—
Leesil eyed Wayfarer, and the girl dropped her gaze.
“How ... Why?” Magiere demanded.
This time Chap spoke aloud with three huffs for uncertain or unknown.
Leesil shook his head and sat down on the floor as Magiere sighed while watching Wayfarer. Still the girl wouldn’t look at anyone.
Did this have something to do with Wayfarer’s visiting the spirits of her people in name-taking? Had they done something to her, or was it something else about her?
Leesil, and Magiere, had already tested that the girl couldn’t catch a memory from them through a touch. So was this something that only worked with Chap because he was ... Chap? They didn’t have any other majay-hì around, such as Chap’s daughter, Shade, so they couldn’t test whether it worked with other majay-hì.
Some might have thought such a thing quite wonderful, but those people would be idiots. The girl had been through enough—too much—and now she was a potential tool, from what Leesil saw of what she could do.
Chap had been right to keep this from Brot’ân’duivé, for if he had not, Leesil could only imagine how the old assassin might have tried to use the girl. Chap knew things that no one else did—could—including Leesil himself and Magiere.
Such as where two orbs were hidden far up north.