Cold Fire (Spiritwalker 2)

I shut the door. He let Kofi tease and contradict him because he liked and trusted him. I remembered seeing Vai in the village of Haranwy with his age-mates, the ones he had been forced to leave behind when the mages had come for him. How easy he had seemed with those young men! The mage House had stripped that camaraderie away from Vai, leaving the arrogant magister who used his magic, his status, and his cutting words to intimidate. At first he had probably only used those things to protect himself as a youth bullied and scorned by his new age-mates in the mage House, but after long enough, such things become habit. The worst thing for Vai would be to return to Four Moons House and become the magister the mansa wanted him to be.

When I appeared, Vai broke off in the middle of a sentence about not letting Aunty believe that about Cat. “Let me dress,” he said.

He left me looking at Kofi. “I trust Kayleigh is well,” I said. “And your family. No trouble?”

“We have peace in the house. Me thanks for asking. In yee own as well, I hope.”

“My cousin is well, thank you.” I essayed the question I most wanted answered, no matter how much it hurt. “Aunty Djeneba and Luce and them. Are they well? No trouble?”

“Certainly no one have spoken to the wardens of they part in Vai’s situation.” His gaze was not hostile, but it was wary and mistrustful. “Whatever else, I believe yee truly care for them.”

I opened my mouth, and shut it, for my face had grown hot. A pause to check on Vai struck me as timely. I took a step back and looked in through the open door. He wore trousers and a thin lawn shirt. Standing in front of a chair, he was holding a dash jacket in each hand, clearly trying to decide which one to wear. “Blessed Tanit! Vai, is that a mirror you have set on the chair?”

My gaze caught Kofi’s, and suddenly we were both snickering.

Vai’s tone had a glacial scour. “Catherine, perhaps you and Kofi shall go over to the kitchen. I am sure you are hungry.” He tossed the more soberly patterned silver-gray one on the rumpled bed and began to pull on the purple jacket with stylized orange and black stones.

“That one makes my eyes hurt,” I said to the sky. As Kofi and I walked along the brick path toward the dining patio, I decided to dispense with courtesies. “Did you ever trust me, Kofi? Before I was tamed, I mean.”

He whistled appreciatively. “So yee heard that? Meant as a jest.”

“Of course it was! I never doubted!”

He chuckled. “As for the other, yee appeared so suddenly, and up from Cow Killer Beach. Even before, the way he talked about the perdita made me think him witched. It was harder to judge after yee came, for yee would push him away with one hand and draw him close with the other.”

“Two-faced like a star-apple tree. It’s because the leaves are a different color on each side, isn’t it?” I paused at the dining patio, not wanting to take this conversation into the kitchen. “I was very confused. As for the witching, did it ever occur to you he might have set that on himself??”

“Talked he own self into believing he was in love with yee? Could be. Yee know, before the hurricane, I would have thrown yee overboard without a second thought. But when yee crawled under that boat for the sake of a man yee never met nor had reason to care for, I got to wondering. Cat, yee understand I’s concerned that yee shall treat Vai well and not betray him.”

“I had no idea about the raid at Nance’s. As for the other, I shall answer honestly, Kofi, because you have been a good friend to him. I do mean to treat him well. I won’t betray him. But I’ll tell you truly, the best thing for Vai is not to return to the mage House.”

People have all kinds of smiles. Kofi’s lips twitched in a way that made his scars flare. “Yee reckon he shall be better served by joining the general.”

“I don’t trust the general at all. I favor the radicals, but I want to know how people talking around a table think they can win a war.”

He crossed his arms in a way that emphasized how big and sturdy he was, the kind of man you wanted at your side when felling trees, or Councils. “Them with the armies and the coin, and these cold mages yee speak of, shall always have the weapons to crush us. Maybe words is a better weapon than yee think they is.”

o;To get dressed. She’s not working for the general.”

“I’s not yet convinced of it, but—”

“You ought to be convinced by my telling you it is so. If she meant to stab me, she’d have done it to my face while telling me why she was doing it and how I had brought it on myself.”

“That is one thing I shall say in she favor: She don’ spare words. ’Tis not so lively at Aunty’s these evenings, I tell yee truly. But yee know, Vai—”

I shut the door. He let Kofi tease and contradict him because he liked and trusted him. I remembered seeing Vai in the village of Haranwy with his age-mates, the ones he had been forced to leave behind when the mages had come for him. How easy he had seemed with those young men! The mage House had stripped that camaraderie away from Vai, leaving the arrogant magister who used his magic, his status, and his cutting words to intimidate. At first he had probably only used those things to protect himself as a youth bullied and scorned by his new age-mates in the mage House, but after long enough, such things become habit. The worst thing for Vai would be to return to Four Moons House and become the magister the mansa wanted him to be.

When I appeared, Vai broke off in the middle of a sentence about not letting Aunty believe that about Cat. “Let me dress,” he said.

He left me looking at Kofi. “I trust Kayleigh is well,” I said. “And your family. No trouble?”

“We have peace in the house. Me thanks for asking. In yee own as well, I hope.”

“My cousin is well, thank you.” I essayed the question I most wanted answered, no matter how much it hurt. “Aunty Djeneba and Luce and them. Are they well? No trouble?”

“Certainly no one have spoken to the wardens of they part in Vai’s situation.” His gaze was not hostile, but it was wary and mistrustful. “Whatever else, I believe yee truly care for them.”

I opened my mouth, and shut it, for my face had grown hot. A pause to check on Vai struck me as timely. I took a step back and looked in through the open door. He wore trousers and a thin lawn shirt. Standing in front of a chair, he was holding a dash jacket in each hand, clearly trying to decide which one to wear. “Blessed Tanit! Vai, is that a mirror you have set on the chair?”