The Lord of the Plains (12 page)

‘Bread? Where did you get bread?’

Riley pointed at Jania.

‘It is not polite to point, Riley.’ he said
absently as he approached Jania. He thanked her and apologized,
then offered to pay her for the food- it was expensive here.

‘Oh, that’s very kind, but there’s really no
need. She seems to have come through the testing quite well. It’s
usually very hard on the children.’ she said in a lower voice.

Unease gripped him hard. ‘Oh, quite well. I
think her shoulder should be fine, fei.’ he said carefully, testing
to see how she would react.

‘Ah, she’s extremely lucky then.’ Jania
sighed. ‘Most people never get their mobility back.’

‘How much should I pay for the food?’ Aerlid
asked, changing the subject. Jania’s reaction was promising. Maybe
it would be ok… Riley didn’t even have a scar. The only time he
didn’t remove a scar from her was when she had been phenomenally
stupid and he wanted her to remember what had happened. He was
sickened at the thought he might have to give her one to keep her
safe.

As the last patient left the clinic Aerlid
thanked Jania again and led Riley back home. He took her up to the
apartment and then went to check the icebox. They would have meat
tonight again- though smaller amounts than usual. They’d have some
vegetables too at least. Meat in Astar was much more expensive than
vegetables. People got most of their protein from vegetables and
lived on a mainly vegetarian diet. Meat was a special something,
eaten perhaps once every two weeks or once a month. He supposed
that was because animals needed to be fed before they could in turn
be eaten. They were probably lucky to be having so much meat. He
intended to save it and space it out. Besides…he was getting
heartily sick of it.

Aerlid entered the common area on the ground
floor where the ice box and wood stove were located. You had to
provide your own fuel if you wanted to use the stove. Another
reason meat was a more expensive meal- it had to be cooked. He’d
noticed different families tended to cook meals together when it
involved the stove as it made better use of the fuel.

He opened the ice box and frowned. The lock
on his compartment was broken. He opened the top and looked inside.
Empty. Slow anger began to burn in him. Carefully he closed the ice
box and walked over to the landlord’s office.

He knocked three times before the door was
opened. ‘Yes?’

‘My food has been stolen from the ice box,
faya.’ he said coldly. ‘What is the procedure when this
happens?’

‘Oh, the meat.’ the man shrugged. ‘Not much
you can do.’

‘That meat could have lasted us months. You
say there is nothing I can do about it, faya?’

‘Well, you could tell the Internal Order
Forces…but by the time they get round to it…how are they going to
find out who did it, anyway?’

‘So nothing? I just do nothing?’

He shrugged again. ’Not much of a crime is
it? Now some family will be feeding their
human
kids some
good strong meat, you should be pleased.
’

Aerlid was silent for a moment. His head
pounded, his skin went cold. ‘My girl is a gemeng…are you saying
our food was stolen because Riley is not human?’

The man shrugged, a gleam in his eyes. ‘Most
likely. People don’t like to see gemengs gorging on meat when human
kids ain’t getting enough.’

Aerlid closed his eyes. He counted. He
controlled his breathing. Oh how his hand wanted to go to his
sword- his sword that wasn’t there anymore. It remained in his
room, where anyone who looked upon it would not recognize it as a
weapon. ‘Use of the ice box is included in the rent, correct?’

The landlord’s eyes widened. ‘Yes, it
is…’

‘Well I will not be paying for that anymore,
and I expect a refund for what I
have
paid.’

‘Now hold on-!’

‘You may not care if gemengs get stolen
from, but I am human, and I think the authorities might be
interested in that.’

Food was important here. It was a big deal.
He was sure he was right. He was sure this slimy little creep
didn’t want the authorities to know he turned a blind eye to food
theft.

‘O-of course…I’ll calculate your new rent
now.’ Slowly the man walked back into his office.

Had he not expected that? Had he expected
Aerlid to accept the theft calmly- in fact to be pleased some good
human children were eating well on his food?

Once the landlord returned and handed him
his money Aerlid bid a very cool good-day and left

When he entered the apartment Riley looked
up at him expectantly. He wouldn’t tell her. He thought she would
take it well, might not understand. Even so, he wouldn’t tell
her.

‘How do you feel about salad?’

Riley shrugged. ‘Am I allowed to help?’

Aerlid paused, usually Riley was to be kept
far away from any food preparation at all times. But tonight… ‘yes,
come over here and I’ll show you how to make it.’

He felt an ache as he watched her. In some
ways, it looked like this place was going to be worse than the
gemeng village.

Chapter 9

Restday was fast approaching, and after that
Riley would start school. Despite how uncomfortable she’d been
around Riley, Keila had repeated the offer to take them to the
park. Aerlid had been pathetically grateful, truly expecting to be
shunned by her.

The previous night Aerlid had explained to
Riley that not only did she have to be gentle with the humans, she
had to be careful in other ways too. She was different, and they
knew it. They would treat her differently. They might not be honest
with her, or kind or fair. They might even go so far as to try and
hurt her. So she had to be wary around them. She had to be careful
in more ways than one now.

She had accepted that as easily as she
accepted that they were soft and easily hurt.

He looked at her hair with a critical eye.
The reactions of the humans to her was unexpected. He never
remembered humans reacting that way to his kind in the old days.
Was it because of the gemengs, or was it because she wasn’t quite
one of his people?

Either way, that beautiful, joyful hair was
a problem. He wouldn’t cut it, he had a feeling Riley might
strenuously object to that. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be hidden
though.

‘Riley, come here.’ he called carefully. On
the table was a cap, in his hand a hair tie.

Riley stopped her forms and came over.

‘On the chair.’ She sat, glancing at the cap
and tie as she went.

Aerlid began gathering her hair to tie it
up. Riley took this calmly until he actually started to wrap the
ribbon around her hair.

‘What are you doing?!’ she cried in alarm,
twisting away from him.

‘I am just tying you hair- Riley,
Ow!’

She had bit his hand as he tried to grab
hold of her.

She glared at him, a betrayed look in her
eyes. ‘I don’t want to tie it up!’

‘Riley, it is not a big deal, just stay
still!’

She wouldn’t stay still. She fought and bit
and scratched and was entirely unreasonable. She didn’t draw blood,
but she still bit
hard
.

‘No! I don’t want to!’ She cried, tears in
her eyes as Aerlid finally got the ribbon in her hair. It was a
very messy ponytail. Barely a ponytail at all in fact. As he
watched the ribbon fell out of her hair.

‘Riley, you have to. It will help you fit in
here.’

‘I don’t want to! I’m not
like
them.’

‘That is exactly why you need to hide your
hair.’

She sniffed and glanced towards his hair,
then away. But she didn’t say anything about it and he felt a rush
of affection for her. ‘Riley, please. I want you to tie your hair
up and put that hat on. It is really not that bad.’

She looked at him sadly.

‘Please.’

She bowed her head in defeat, putting up no
more resistance as Aerlid tied her hair up and placed the hat on
her head.

Riley brought her feet up on the chair and
curled her arms around her knees. She wouldn’t look at him.

The next day was much the same. Riley wore
the hat and tie, but she wouldn’t look at him or speak to him and
she barely touched her food. He knew she was being entirely
unreasonable. He was glad he didn’t have to tie his hair back- it
was bad enough that he had to change it from moonlight to grey.

‘You know most humans tie their hair back to
keep it out of their way.’ he told her.

‘My hair does not get in my way.’ she
mumbled sullenly. ‘I am not like them.’

Both statements were true. Her hair was
getting past shoulder length, and never did it get in her way while
training or climbing or hunting. Neither did his. Sunlight was not
meant to be contained and tied up, and neither was hair that had
sunlight and summer in it. Or moonlight for that matter. What was
even worse was that he could understand her sullenness. He had
never tied his own hair back and he didn’t really want to. Of
course if he had to he would. And with more grace than this as
well.

‘We are going to the park tomorrow.’ He
said, his voice desperate. ‘There are trees in the park.’

‘Can’t climb with a hat.’

A flash of anger, ‘of course you can climb
with a hat! Riley, I am taking you to the park tomorrow and I
expect you to climb trees and stop behaving like a baby!’

Riley straightened up instinctively at the
tone of his voice, a little less sullen, though by no means
happy.

That evening after Riley went to sleep
Aerlid stood outside on the balcony, looking up at the moon. His
Lady. He sighed and sang a bit under his breath. He stopped.

Riley would not make friends if she sulked.
Who wanted to play with a sulky little girl? He hoped she would be
happier once they got to the park, but what if she wasn’t?

There was one thing that would make her
happy, though it was very short notice…if he’d had a dagger of his
people’s making he would have given it to her, but he didn’t. All
he had from them were his sword and hers and the one pair of
clothes each.

On their way to Astar from the testing
centre they had passed by Garrondin, the village of the gemengs. He
didn’t remember much. He’d been more focussed on getting Riley
somewhere he could heal her. Garrondin seemed to serve as the first
line of defence for Astar. And there…there they fought with gemeng
weapons, not human. Did that mean sword and shield rather than
weapons that shot light and strange, thin armour?

How would he get there? He had an idea he
would be looked upon with suspicion at best by the Astarians-
visiting Garrondin for gemeng weapons after travelling in the world
for so long, and with a gemeng no less. Best if they didn’t know.
He could arrange that. He could arrange that very well indeed.