The Broken Kingdom (56 page)

Vann did go out to see the party off, not
that he wanted to. He knew if he didn’t Catariah would take it as a
sign Riley was keeping him prisoner. Not that reality seemed to
matter much to her. The group was led by Karesh this time, as Riley
felt his experience might be necessary dealing with Catariah and
the other humans. A large number of Mixed warriors were also going
to help protect the humans. Vann spotted Kalgen among the group and
nodded a greeting to him, which the other man returned. Vann was
relieved the other man was taking his sudden ‘demotion’ well.

‘How could they choose that place over
anything?’ Vann asked Riley.

‘I don’t know. But not all are leaving,
Vann. Only about a quarter are going.’

Which happened to be a source of an ongoing
argument. Most of the children had opted to stay, despite their
parents’ wishes. Only two children were going back home.

‘You can’t keep the children.’ Azra said,
getting Riley’s attention back.

‘Their parents are taking them somewhere
they can never escape, Azra. A place, which, by all accounts, is
quite terrible. The children who want to stay will stay. Here they
have an option of something more, and they can choose to go to
their parent’s home later if they like. But I will not be checking
on those who leave to see if they change their mind, and so once
they go they will be stuck.’

‘You threaten our community’s chance of
survival.’ an older man who was leaving said.

‘Your life is your own. You can do what you
want with it. But I will not let you condemn your children to
inescapable misery. If you want to save your community so much,
stay here.’ she hesitated. ‘You can leave here, but that doesn’t
mean you have to go back where you came from.’

‘We were safe there.’ Catariah said. ‘And we
will have more children.’

‘Fine.’

‘Can we go now?’

Just as she was saying that a Mixed ran up
to Riley with a huge pile of ropes.

Riley turned to Catariah. ‘Take these. The
ropes give you options. They won’t last forever, and it won’t be
easy to climb up a sheer cliff face with them, but they give you a
chance.’

Catariah shook her head snidely.

Irritated, Riley looked at the others who
were leaving. ‘How does it harm you to take them?’

‘I’ll take them.’ Azra said.

Riley handed them to her, mildly
suspicious.

‘Believe it or not,’ Riley said, ‘I do wish
you all luck. Goodbye.’

Catariah looked at Riley for a moment. Then
she looked at Vann. Her expression softened, ‘I don’t understand
you. How can you truly be free and choose to stay here?’

‘I don’t understand you either, Catariah.
And I’m not sure I want to.’

‘Cata, I’m your Cata.’

‘Goodbye, Catariah.’

Her gaze lingered, longing, hoping. When the
group began moving off she went with them. She looked back over her
shoulder, but he had already walked away.

Chapter 67

R
iley returned to the
tent and sat down in a huff. Catariah and the humans had departed
two days ago. Vann had moved on from worrying about them, those
that were here wanted to be here. The others had made their
choice.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘I’ve been thinking of names, I asked Karesh
before he left what he thought of Riley the Extremely Fierce.’

Vann couldn’t help a smile at that, though
he tried to hide it.

‘He and Aerlid discussed it,’ and she
frowned a bit, ‘but I talked to Aerlid today and they think
translating it into another language would be better. But what’s
the point of that, Vann? Then no one will know what it means!’

‘I-I don’t know.’ he managed, struggling to
contain his laughter.

‘Do you think Riley the Very Scary would be
better?’

Vann couldn’t respond.

‘No one likes my suggestions, Vann.’ she
declared, her brows down. ‘Why? What’s wrong with them?’

At the sound of suppressed laughter Riley
turned and glared at him. ‘Hey! Why don’t you come up with a name
then!’

Vann fell silent at that. ‘Well,’ he began,
‘there’s always my name.’

‘Hilyard?’ she asked, looking
thoughtful.

‘It’s just a thought.’ he shrugged, his
heart going very fast, he suddenly felt very warm.

‘Hmm, Riley Hilyard. It’s not very scary.’
she was silent a moment as she thought about it. ‘If Karesh agrees
we can go with that. We’ll ask him when he gets back. I’m sick of
thinking about names!’

Vann said a very rude word about Karesh.
Riley’s eyebrows shot up into her hair.

Then Vann’s smile faded somewhat and he
wondered if the custom was different in Astar. ‘You do know what
that means, right?’

‘I haven’t heard that one before.’

‘No, I mean, you and I… do you want to marry
me?’

Riley looked surprised for a moment.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘Oh, uh.’ she was starting to go red. ‘Well,
you already said you wanted to spend your life with me, and I um…
well, I thought that was what… it was…’ she trailed off.

Vann stared at her a moment. And then he
burst out laughing.

Riley watched him silently, her eyes wide
and her cheeks pink.

Vann seemed to take a long time to regain
control of himself. When he saw her face he instantly started
apologizing, taking her into his arms. ‘I’m sorry- I guess I forget
how different Astar and Coastside are. But no, I guess you’re
right. Now it would just be… official.’

‘Ok.’ she said in a small voice. ‘It’s not
humans from Astar… it’s just I don’t think gemengs get married in
Astar, at least, I never saw… so… I don’t know how it works…maybe…
maybe they do have… more official marriage ceremonies and just
never invited me…’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Privately, Vann
thought the humans in Astar probably didn’t get married quite the
same way they did in Coastside either.

‘Ok.’ she mumbled.

‘I love you.’

‘Mmhmm…I love you too…’ she murmured,
clearly still embarrassed.

He moved a little away so he could see her.
‘I have something for you.’

‘Oh?’ Her eyes brightened a little with
curiosity.

Vann pulled the green-jewelled necklace out
of his pocket. Her eyes lit up.

‘Thank you!’

Vann smiled. He took her hands in his and
gazed at her intently. Stillness settled over them.

Then Vann said, ‘Riley, will you be my
wife?’

She smiled then, her hands holding his
tightly. ‘I will. W-will you be my husband?’

‘I will.’

They kissed then. When they broke apart Vann
put the necklace around her neck.

‘Can we go tell everyone?’ Vann asked.

‘Yes, I don’t think they’ll quite understand
though.’ and she blushed a bit at that.

‘And you’re ok to take my name?’ he asked
again.

‘If Karesh-‘

‘No, I don’t care if it’s not scary enough.
I mean, in Coastside, if we got married, you would take my
name.’

‘Oh, yes, I guess that’s the same in Astar.’
Though she didn’t sound too sure as she said it.

‘So… you don’t mind? If you prefer I could
take your name…’ he trailed off, feeling like he was rambling. He
didn’t really care who took who’s name, as long as there was
something
to indicate their union.

Riley frowned. ‘What name? I don’t have a
last name.’ She sighed. ‘Karesh is probably going to try and name
me Riley Hilyard the Very Scary.’

Vann laughed at that. ‘Alright, I can live
with that. Let’s go tell everyone.’

They climbed out of the tent together and
walked to the centre of the campsite, holding hands. Riley
periodically touched the jewel on her necklace.

When they were there Riley called out in
Plains speech for everyone’s attention.

‘Vann and I would like you all to know we
are now married.’

There was silence from the Mixed. As Riley
had suspected, they weren’t familiar with that term. But it didn’t
matter.

‘There’s something else I want to do.’ Vann
said, once the gemengs had gone back to what they were doing.

‘Yeah?’

Vann smiled at her and pulled her towards
Aerlid’s tent. They found Aerlid outside his tent, closely
examining a large sheet covered in writing.

He looked up when he saw them. ‘That’s the
most unimpressive wedding I’ve ever seen. Even starving peasants do
better. Surely you could have a banquet or something.’

‘Do you want a banquet?’ Riley turned to
Vann and asked, one hand touching her necklace.

‘Maybe. Just for the two of us though. But
there is something I want from you, Aerlid.’

‘And what is that?’ Aerlid asked.

‘I want to be able to see Riley as she
is.’

Aerlid did not look too surprised. He looked
at Riley and asked, ‘do you agree?’

Riley hesitated.

‘Let’s make a deal, if I start saying you’re
a good teacher, Aerlid will change me back.’ Vann said, squeezing
her hand.

‘Hey!’

‘I think… I’m not saying I don’t feel
anything when I see a valkar, but I think I can handle it. And I
want to see you.’ he said the last part strongly.

Riley hesitated. Then she nodded. ‘Alright.
I can’t have more of an effect on you than Rose or Adila
anyway.’

‘I’m not so sure.’ Vann replied quietly.

‘Very well.’ Aerlid said in a business like
way, forestalling any disagreement. ‘Vann, come over here.’

Vann crouched down next to Aerlid, who put a
hand on his head. He hadn’t had to do anything like that last time,
but Vann wasn’t going to complain.

‘It’s done.’ Aerlid said.

Vann slowly turned around. His eyes widened.
And then he smiled, his grey eyes sparkling.

‘Well?’ Riley asked.

‘I can’t imagine anyone ever mistaking you
for a human.’

‘What do you think of my teaching?’ she
asked.

‘It’s not nearly as concerning as your habit
of eating dirt.’

‘It’s better than cave mould. Besides, I
haven’t done it for ages.’

‘Sure.’ Vann stood up then and took her
hand. He whispered in her ear, ‘you’re amazing. You always
were.’

Riley beamed.

‘There’s one other thing.’ Vann asked
Aerlid, dragging his eyes away from Riley.

‘Hmm?’ Aerlid, who had been glancing away to
give them some privacy, looked back. ‘Congratulations by the way.
Perhaps I should have started with that.’

Riley’s smile faltered, as if she wasn’t
sure what to say. But Vann kept talking. ‘Will we be able to have
children?’

Riley’s eyebrows shot up into her hair.
Aerlid saw her expression and smiled. ‘Not naturally. But I imagine
Taelid, or the other valkar, could work something out. Perhaps you
should talk about that together first.’

Vann looked back at Riley at that. ‘You
don’t want children?’

‘No, I just never thought of it. We can have
some if you want them- how many do you want?’ she asked, suddenly a
little alarmed.

‘We can talk about it later.’ Vann said
reassuringly. ‘I never had any parents so I always thought a family
would be nice, but it’s not a big deal, we don’t have to have
any-’

‘No it’s ok.’

He looked at her a moment. Then he smiled.
‘Maybe we could start with two.’

‘S-start?’ Riley replied weakly. ‘O-ok.’

Suddenly they both became aware of Aerlid
sitting there and staring up at them.

‘Yes, I am still here.’ Aerlid
responded.

‘We’ll have as many or as few as you want.’
Vann said quickly to Riley and squeezed her hand. She looked at him
and smiled, reassured.

They said their goodbyes to Aerlid then and
left to spend their wedding day in a little more privacy.

Chapter 68

T
hough he wasn’t sure
what reaction he would get, Vann wanted to tell Lillia the good
news anyway. At least, he waited a few days later so his wedding
day wouldn’t be spoiled. He took Riley with him and went to talk to
her privately, a little distance from the Astar-Coastside
tents.