"Did we miss anything?" John asked.
Tanash nodded vigorously.
"You’re not going to believe it." Tanash caught John’s arm in an excited grip. "Ji just received word from Sabir. Another ushiri deserted the Payshmura and joined the Fai’daum."
"What?" Ravishan leaned in closer.
Another ushiri. John knew at once who it had to be.
"Fikiri," John said softly. At just the mention of Fikiri’s name Ravishan’s eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"You already knew?" Tanash asked.
"I just guessed," John replied. Anxiety gnawed at him. Fikiri had tried to have Ravishan killed. And he had good reason to want John dead now as well. He searched through the crowded tables for Ji but couldn’t find her.
"Have you seen Ji in here?" John asked.
"She and Giryyn are talking with Sabir’s messenger." Tanash studied John. "So you know this Fikiri?"
John nodded. He piled several slices of meat onto his plate, but his hunger had gone dull. He tried to imagine what he would say to Fikiri if he were here in the room. What would he do? A sick mixture of guilt and anger moved through John.
"We were all at Rathal’pesha together," Ravishan said.
"What’s he like?" Tanash asked.
"He’s like an infestation of fleas," Ravishan said. Then he shook his head. "No, fleas you can get rid of with a comb and some soap."
"You didn’t get along with him?" Tanash seemed genuinely surprised.
"Not from the first day we met." Ravishan helped himself to several slices of goat meat and stewed roots.
"Why not?" Tanash asked. She passed a plate of dark red rolls to John. A sweet buttery scent rose off them. John took the plate but didn’t choose one. He just handed them on to Ravishan.
John wondered if Ji would return soon. If Fikiri had come to the Fai’daum looking for revenge, would she know? Would she have seen it in a vision?
Ravishan took two sweet rolls. He placed one on John’s plate and continued his undervoiced conversation with Tanash.
"We just didn’t like each other. We were competing for the same position. That put us at odds, but there was something about him that I couldn’t stand. I don’t think it would have mattered how we met or what either of us did. I would have hated him no matter what." Ravishan chewed a piece of tough goat meat. He looked oddly thoughtful. Then he said, "He’s weak."
Ravishan’s tone sounded so condemning and final; it reminded John of Dayyid.
"People can’t always be strong," Tanash countered.
"Maybe weak is the wrong word, but I can’t think of another." Ravishan briefly glanced to John, as if hoping he would elaborate.
John shrugged. His concentration was not entirely on the conversation. He continued scanning the room for Ji.
"Fikiri is weak in the worst way," Ravishan said. "Physically, he has strength. He has power. He was an ushiri. Despite all that, he’d always act like someone’s victim. He never took responsibility for his actions. There was always someone forcing him to do everything."
John glanced to Ravishan. He hadn’t thought that Ravishan had observed Fikiri so closely or had that much insight into Fikiri’s inner workings. But then John realized he shouldn’t have been surprised. Ravishan constantly assessed his rivals and his enemies and Fikiri qualified as both.
"Maybe someone actually was forcing him," Tanash offered.
"Certainly," Ravishan replied and John noted the edge of cynicism in his tone but didn’t know if Tanash had. Ravishan ate a little more of his meal but then continued his conversation with Tanash. "If you want to be forced, you can always find someone to do it."
"Some people aren’t looking to be forced to do things. They’re oppressed," Tanash replied, her voice rising almost above a whisper. She looked incensed.
"I didn’t say people aren’t ever forced to do things against their will." Ravishan leaned forward a little. "I’m just trying to explain about Fikiri."
John turned his attention to his own plate, staring down at the heap of stringy goat meat. He chose the roll instead, breaking it apart and watching as wisps of steam escaped.
It was nearly impossible for him to consider Fikiri without feeling terribly conflicted.
John could easily recall Fikiri as the thin boy whom he had forced to march up the Thousand Steps. He’d only been a child then and he had suffered because of John’s need to access Rathal’pesha.
But he wasn’t a child anymore, and even before everything had fallen apart in Amura’taye, Fikiri had been spying for Dayyid and using his knowledge to threaten both John and Ravishan.
Then, unwillingly, John remembered the prison guard smashing a hammer down over his legs and hands. He remembered Samsango’s cold body and a rush of rage seared away John’s sympathy. Fikiri had done his best to destroy both him and Ravishan. He had crushed their hope of escape to Nayeshi. All because he had been afraid.
"He’s a coward," John said softly.
Ravishan nodded at Tanash as if John’s word should settle the matter.
"Well, Giryyn and Sabir and Ji all seemed to think he was rather brave." Tanash speared a hunk of dark root and bit into it.
"Maybe a month with a bounty on his head has changed him." Ravishan’s expression and tone were far from believing. "But in Rathal’pesha all he did was spy, connive, and cry for his mother."
Fikiri had done far worse than that. John felt suddenly relieved that he hadn’t told Ravishan that Fikiri had accused him of Dayyid’s murder.
If Ravishan found out about that, John had no doubt that he would kill Fikiri. John doubted that the Fai’daum would be pleased by that. Ravishan had already cost them one of their men. No one but Giryyn would want him around if he murdered a second member in less than a week.
"You aren’t very forgiving of human nature, are you?" Tanash asked Ravishan.
Ravishan seemed to consider her statement before answering.
"Strength and courage are as much a part of human nature as weakness and cowardice. I don’t have much of a use for people who choose to be less than they can be."
"You sound like my father," Tanash commented.
"Maybe your father’s a smart man," Ravishan replied.
"He is," Tanash said. "But he’s also the man who sponsored Fikiri into the Fai’daum."
Ravishan didn’t have a response for that. He cut off a large hunk of goat meat and ate it.
John smiled a little. When Tanash was older, he thought she might make a great debater.
"Are you going to eat any of that?" Ravishan asked.
"What?" John glanced to him.
"Your food." Ravishan jabbed his knife at the meat on John’s plate. "You aren’t going to get any less hungry just looking at it."
John cut his meat into pieces. He glanced to Tanash but her attention had shifted to the conversation between Kansa and a man from the Smiths District. John studied the hand signs for a few moments. It seemed to be nothing but a flirtation.
Ravishan reached past John to help himself to a thick slice of white cheese.
"Don’t look so worried," Ravishan whispered. "I may not like Fikiri but I’m not so hot-blooded that I’m going to attack him at first sight. We’ll need all the help we can get in the south. And another ushiri could make all the difference in breaching Umbhra’ibaye."
John gazed at Ravishan. It was such a reasonable thing to say. It hardly sounded like him at all.
"I can’t penetrate the defenses at Umbhra’ibaye on my own," Ravishan admitted very quietly.
"You won’t be on your own," John said. He dropped his hand down to Ravishan’s leg. Ravishan smiled without looking up.
"Eat," Ravishan said. "You’re going to need the energy later tonight."
John suppressed his troubled thoughts. Ravishan was right. Tomorrow he’d talk to Ji. Tonight he had other things to do.
•
The next morning, when they were in Ji’s practice chambers, Tanash stared so pointedly at John’s neck that he knew Ravishan had to have left a mark.
He lowered his head and tried to concentrate on the small white bone in front of him. Delicate letters of common Basawar script cut across the smooth grain. It had been a rib, John thought. But he wondered what animal it had come from. A tahldi? Or maybe a goat?