Do something to get their attention. They seemed to have their fingers in everything, in this city. Kind of like the Ghostbloods. Watching secretly.
Maybe she didn’t need to wait for Wit. And maybe she could solve two problems at once.
“Take us to the Ringington Market,” she said to Vathah, naming the market closest to the tailor’s shop.
“Aren’t we going to unload the food before we return the wagon to that merchant?”
“Of course we are,” she said.
He eyed her, but when she didn’t explain further, he turned the wagon as she directed. Veil took her hat and coat from the back of the wagon and pulled them on, then covered the bloodstains on her shirt with a Lightweaving.
She had Vathah pull up to a specific building in the market. When they stopped, refugees peeked into the wagon bed, but saw only rugs—and they scattered when Vathah glared at them.
“Guard the wagon,” Veil said, digging out a small sack of food. She hopped down and went sauntering toward the building. The roof had been ruined by the Everstorm, making it a perfect place for squatters. She found Grund inside the main room, as usual.
She’d returned several times during her time in the city, getting information from Grund—who was the grimy little urchin she’d bribed with food on her first day in the market. He seemed to always be hanging around here, and Veil was well aware of the value of having a local urchin to ply for information.
Today, he was alone in the room. The other beggars were out hunting food. Grund drew on a little board with charcoal, using his one good hand, the deformed one hidden in his pocket. He perked up as soon as he saw her. He’d stopped running away; it seemed that city urchins got concerned when someone was actively looking for them.
That changed when they knew you had food.
He tried to look uninterested until Veil dropped the sack in front of him. A sausage peeked out. Then, his dark eyes practically bulged out of his face.
“An entire sack?” Grund asked.
“It was a good day,” Veil said, squatting down. “Any news for me on those books?”
“Nope,” he said, poking the sausage—as if to see whether she’d suddenly snatch it back. “I ain’t heard nothing.”
“Let me know if you do. In the meantime, do you know of anyone who could use a little extra food? People who are particularly nice or deserving, but who get overlooked by the grain rationing?”
He eyed her, trying to determine her angle.
“I’ve got extra to give away,” Veil explained.
“You’re going to give them food.” He said it as if it was as rational as making cremlings fall from the sky.
“Surely I’m not the first. The palace used to give food to the poor, didn’t it?”
“That’s a thing that kings do. Not regular people.” He looked her up and down. “But you aren’t regular people.”
“I’m not.”
“Well … Muri the seamstress has always been nice to me. She’s got lots of kids. Having trouble feedin’ them. She has a hovel over by the old bakery that burned down on that first Evernight. And the refugee kids that live in the park over on Moonlight Way. They’re just little, you know? Nobody to watch for them. And Jom, the cobbler. He broke his arm … You wanna write this down or something?”
“I’ll remember.”
He shrugged and gave her an extensive list. She thanked him, then reminded him to keep looking for the book she’d asked for. Ishnah had visited some booksellers on Shallan’s orders, and one had mentioned a title called Mythica, a newer volume that spoke of the Unmade. The bookseller had owned a copy, but his shop had been robbed during the riots. Hopefully, someone in the underground knew where his goods had gone.
Veil had a spring to her step as she walked back to the wagon. The cult wanted her to get their attention? Well, she’d get their attention. She doubted Grund’s list was unbiased, but stopping right in the middle of the market and heaving out sacks seemed likely to incite a riot. This was as good a method to give away the food as any.
Muri the seamstress proved to indeed be a woman with many children and little means of feeding them. The children in the park were right where Grund had indicated. Veil left a heap of food for them, then walked away as they scrambled up to it in amazement.
By the fourth stop, Vathah had figured it out. “You’re going to give it all away, aren’t you?”
“Not all,” Veil said, lounging in her seat as they rolled toward the next destination.
“What about paying the Cult of Moments?”
“We can always steal more. First, my contact says we have to get their attention. I figure, a crazy woman in white riding through the market throwing out sacks of food is bound to do that.”
“You’ve got the crazy part right, at least.”
Veil slipped her hand back into a rolled-up carpet, and pulled out a sausage for him. “Eat something. It’ll make you feel better.”
He grumbled, but took it and bit at the end.
By the evening, the cart was empty. Veil wasn’t certain if she could get the cult’s attention this way, but storms did it feel good to be doing something. Shallan could go off and study books, talk plots, and scheme. Veil would worry about the people who were actually starving.
She didn’t give it all away though. She let Vathah keep his sausage.
I am worried about the tower’s protections failing. If we are not safe from the Unmade here, then where?
—From drawer 3-11, garnet
“Stuff it, Beard,” Ved said. “You did not meet the Blackthorn.”
“I did!” the other soldier said. “He complimented me on my uniform, and gave me his own knife. For valor.”
“Liar.”
“Be careful,” Beard said. “Kal might stab you if you keep interrupting a good story.”
“Me?” Kaladin said, walking with the others of the squad on patrol. “Don’t bring me into this, Beard.”
“Look at him,” Beard said. “He’s got hungry eyes, Ved. He wants to hear the end of the story.”
Kaladin smiled with the others. He had joined the Wall Guard officially upon Elhokar’s orders, and had promptly been added to Lieutenant Noro’s squad. It felt almost … cheap to be part of the group so quickly, after the effort it had been to forge Bridge Four.
Still, Kaladin liked these men, and enjoyed their banter as they ran their patrol beat along the inside base of the wall. Six men was a lot for a simple patrol, but Azure wanted them to stay in groups. Along with Beard, Ved, and Noro, the squad included a heavyset man named Alaward and a friendly man named Vaceslv—Alethi, but with obvious Thaylen heritage. The two kept trying to get Kaladin to play cards with them.
It was an uncomfortable reminder of Sah and the parshmen.
“Well, you won’t believe what happened next,” Beard continued. “The Blackthorn told me … Oh, storm it. You’re not listening, are you?”
“Nope,” Ved said. “Too busy looking at that.” He nodded back at something they’d passed.
Beard snickered. “Ha! Will you look at that roosting chicken? Who does he think he’s impressing?”