The novice wiped his nose on his sleeve, looking hopeful.
“By the way, how much were you paid for these?” Dun Huss asked.
“Eight silver each,” Griff said. He was blinking back tears now as well.
“Even there you funked it. While the quality isn’t the best, being off a sick old dragon, the coloring is quite unique. Polished up and readied for the jeweler, you’d see fifty or more easily. Leith there was making a four- or five-hundred-percent profit off you for a little grease polishing these.”
“The wretch!” Griff said. “He told me black were the valuable ones.”
“Anyone other than you a part of this? If there’s someone else getting you scale to smuggle out, I’ll make it easier for you two. I have friends outside the Serpentine who will assist you getting back up.”
“No, just us,” Griff said. “But if you think I’m the only one sneaking scale out, you’re a fool.”
“All the more reason to make an example of you,” Dun Huss said. “Zante, make this a lesson for you. The only people who can promote you to apprentice are the Masters. If anyone’s going to make apprentice now, it’ll be Ileth.”
“Maybe that’s the idea,” Griff said. “She could have set us up! How hard would it be to mark some scale, sell it to the fishermen, and then blame us?”
Ileth stiffened at that but triple-sealed her mouth. The last thing she needed was another duel.
“For what purpose?” Ottavia asked, putting a restraining hand on Ileth.
“This is useless. You already confessed,” Dun Huss said.
“Make her look good to you. She’s looking to redeem herself after being caught selling her favors at the pile-in in the stables.”
“Selling!” Ileth gasped. “Is th-th-that the story now? I was selling—”
Dun Huss cut her off. “Leave the insult before it turns into another injury. You two, follow me,” Dun Huss said.
Ileth once again followed the procession back to the fishing boat. She fought the urge to shove Griff off the cave wharf. Imagining the startled scream and the splash would have to do.
Dun Huss marched the two exiles up to the boat captain. “You’ve broken no law, so we can’t punish you. I suppose we could ban you from the Catch Basin, but I assume you and your men have families to feed. We’ll still buy your catch, but we’ll buy from other boats first, and if we still have need, then we’ll take yours.”
So Dun Huss also used we when speaking to those outside the Serpentine. She suspected if she were to start throwing wes around in Vyenn, she’d get in trouble. It reminded her a little of Ottavia’s emphasis that she think of the dance troupe in we terms as well.
There was no small satisfaction in the thought that she was part of the we.
“One more condition,” Dun Huss continued, breaking in on her fantasies. “When you leave this afternoon, take these two with you.”
“What am I supposed to do with them?” Leith asked.
“Dump them in the bay for all I care. I suspect you made enough off them to put them up for a while until they sort things out with their families, but that depends on how much of a sense of honor you have when it comes to people who’ve risked—and, as it turns out, lost—a great deal to fill your purse.”
“Well, boys, you heard the dragoneer,” Ottavia said. “Get on board, or we’ll toss you through the catch hatch.”
“I’ll help toss,” Ileth said.
“What about my—” Griff started to say.
“It’ll be donated to the poor lodge,” Dun Huss said. “Next market day. Dig around then.”
Griff looked Ileth levelly in the eye, then called her a vile name. Then he marched on board and sat down in the cabin with his back to the audience. Zante stood on the gangway, looking at them as if in expectation of a Hey, it was all a put-on to frighten you into better behavior; return to the bosom of the Serpentine!, but nothing like that was forthcoming. Finally he crossed over the ship’s side, sat on a pile of netting, and wept.
Ileth now felt more than a little sorry for him. Small against the boat’s side, suddenly he seemed too young for such a hard lesson. She’d seen, hundreds of times in the Lodge, how a younger person modeled on an older one, for good or ill. Oddly, she felt an impulse to go get him some of Joai’s stew and put an arm around his shoulder while he ate it. Or tell him to straighten up.
The party broke up. Dun Huss sent the wingman named Preece to report on the event to Heem Deklamp and dismissed the rest to their duties, except for the two biggest grooms, whom he told to make sure that when the fishing boat left, Griff and Zante remained on it.
Dun Huss pulled her aside, and the wingman with him halted exactly one pace behind. “You’re observant, aren’t you, girl? You notice and remember. That stutter of yours may be a blessing; you use your eyes and ears more than your mouth. I suspect several people saw what you did, but while seeing they weren’t able to forget about the rest and just notice the vital detail.”
“Thank you, sir. Griff had it right about one matter.”
“What’s that?”
“I was out to get him. I think I was. For neglecting the Lodger.”
“Hmmm. Be careful with taking a dislike to someone. People live up or down to your expectations more often than not. We don’t much care for feuds among the company. Human nature being what it is, factions can’t be helped, but—well, there I go again. You’ve done well, and I’m lecturing you when I should be saying thanks.”
Ileth bobbed.
“One more thing: if you ever set out to get me, do me the honor of letting me know. I’ll retire and go off somewhere remote. Seems like it would save us both trouble.”
Ileth laughed at that, and Dun Huss’s eyes twinkled. With that he gestured to his wingman and strode up to the kitchen.
She almost skipped down to the Lodger’s cave, where she found him nosing about in the meal she’d set out.
“These livers could be fresher,” the Lodger grumbled.
“All they had,” Ileth said. “Should I ask the cooks to get m-more?”
“Don’t attend my grousing,” the Lodger said, chewing slowly. “I should be grateful I still have a sense of smell and taste. All fades as you get older. You are bright. What passed?”
“They’re putting new grooms in down here. Griff and Zante are gone.”
“There’s an old piece of lore that says you’re often better sticking with a familiar bad than hazarding an unfamiliar worse, but I’m not sure how much worse we could do than those two.”
Ileth, sensitive to the use of the word we today, swallowed. Then she did a brief stretch on her support and began to dance.
The Lodger blinked. “What are you doing?” he said.
“Dancing.”
“Without music?”
“It’s in my head.”
“Well, it’s not in mine. If you’re going to hop about like that, you should at least have some music.”
“Hopping about for-for-for you is my job. I must do it to the best of my ability. Whatever the challenge.” She tried one of those movements she was so jealous of that Shatha could do where she touched her toe behind her knee with her standing leg while her flying leg pointed directly out from her hip at what seemed an impossible open angle, matching with her opposite arm.
It did not go well. But then she was discovering that it never went well, at first. The challenge was to keep at it until it did go well, and then keep at it ten thousand more times until it was impossible for it to turn out any other way.