Wintermoon Ice (2010) (14 page)

Chapter Ten

Suvi

Highest of the Dark clans, Wheat children are predominately well-behaved and eager learners. Some may even wish to be educated in higher subjects such as literature and algebra. This is to be discouraged as Wheat children must be prepared to accept positions in farms, animal husbandry, food preservation and preparation.

Know Your Students -- a Junior Educator's Handbook to the Soli
, Severnessan Ministry of Stations

* * * *

When Suvi arrived back at Carina, preparations for the banquet were in full swing. Brini had an army of helpers in the kitchen making kaapjies, while the men busily set up extra trestle tables in the dining room. Suvi watched the work for a moment.

Goodman Billu passed her, lugging a piece of the wooden platform used as a stage for the entertainment. Suvi waved him to a stop. "Have you seen Calaan?"

Billu shrugged. "He came by the workshop early this morning. Said you had told him to get the truck and go to the mines. Had a bunch of other men with him. Didn't like the looks of some of them, if you want the truth."

Suvi frowned. She hadn't exactly given Calaan permission to take the truck, but if he had gone for salt then it didn't really matter, did it? Still, she could not quite dismiss her misgivings. "Tell him to find me, when he comes back. I need to speak with him urgently."

She wandered away, thinking about Tom. When she left this morning for Ludde's, he was sleeping soundly. But when she returned, he had gone, leaving a note to say he would be back in time for the dinner. She couldn't suppress a little shiver of pleasure at the thought of dancing with him again. But first she would have to sit through several tedious hours of convocation meetings, in which the various groups and work details presented reports and aired grievances.

The creature inside her fretted, wanting another look at the window. Before she had taken the prism the view changed frequently, but now it just showed the same thing -- a wide field of bright yellow flowers, nodding and bowing to a tree-clothed mountain.
Home...

Fingering the key around her neck, she headed purposefully towards the south wing. She unlocked the door to the lower level, but as she started down the stairs she heard someone calling her.

"Suvi? Miss? Are you there?" The voice was Calaan's. She rushed back up the stairs, more than a little annoyed that he had somehow followed almost to the heart of her sanctuary.

He met her at the door, his pale eyes darting past her shoulder into the darkness. "Where does that lead? I never seen that door before now."

She shut the door firmly, blocking his view. "Nowhere important. Why are you here?"

His smile was guileless. "Billu said you wanted to see me, so I came looking for you. Where were you going if that door doesn't lead anywhere?"

Suvi frowned, not liking his curiosity. "I was just... looking for some extra wood to make trestles with. But I didn't find any, so come on." She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the main wing. "How did the mining go today? Billu said you took the pantechnicon."

"Yes ma'am. But we didn't manage to find very much. Only a sack. We can try again tomorrow."

"Calaan, I appreciate what you are doing, but next time you want to go to the mine you really should ask me first." They had reached the main floor, and Calaan's friends crowded close. Suvi remembered suddenly that she had not locked the downstairs door, but she could not go back now without drawing even more unwelcome attention to it.

Sighing, she excused herself and headed for the meeting hall.

* * * *

Tom had almost finished packing when Katy arrived at the bachelor officer's quarters. She knocked on the door, which stood wide open in defiance of the cold. "Oh, it's you," Tom said tonelessly, and shut the lid to his suitcase with a soft click. "Come to say good-bye, have you?"

Katy shook her head. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Jack said you were pretty upset when you left his office."

He sank on the bed and covered his face with his hand. "I wanted to kill him. I still want to. He had no right..."

Katy sat beside him, taking his hand in hers. Her voice was gentle. "He has every right, and you know it. And not just because he outranks you. Do you remember, back in Litchfield, when Lut came to see you out of the blue? He said he needed Jack's help. Not ours, Tom."

Tom nodded miserably.

"Now Jack is up to his eyeballs here, trying to run this war for people who don't have an inkling what kind of enemy they are up against. We tagged along for the ride. And since then we have only gotten in the way."

"Hang on a minute. I've been..."

"Playing at spies," Katy broke in heartlessly, but she softened it with a grin. "And I've been immersed in my little clinic, wiping runny noses. The men at the front need us far more, Tom."

He stared at her. "What do you mean by
us
?"

Her green eyes flashed as she defiantly raised her chin. "I am coming with you on the transport tomorrow. And before you say anything -- no, Jack isn't happy about it. But if he needs doctors desperately enough to send you into the thick of it, then I have to go too. It is only fair."

Tom gave her a small, sad smile. "Katherine... dearest one, you don't have to do that. Stay here with Jack. I will be much happier if I know you are safe."

She leaned forward, bringing her mouth very close to his. "But I won't be happy if you are facing danger alone." Their eyes locked for the space of a heartbeat, then Tom stood abruptly and walked to the far end of the room, with his hands thrust in his pockets. Katy smiled and shook her head. "Anyway, there is no guarantee of safety, even here. Jack told me there have been two ground level bomb attacks in Severnessa in the last two days. Somehow the Grond have infiltrated the city."

"He is probably blaming Suvi for that; am I right?"

"Well, witnesses placed a truck resembling the one they use at Carina at the scene of both bombings." Tom frowned darkly and opened his mouth to argue. Katy cut him off. "Now don't be angry with me. I don't believe she is involved any more than you do. But there
is
something strange about that place, Carina. Haven't you felt it?"

He shrugged. "Like a disturbance in the spheres? Maybe. But anyway, I am going there tonight."

"Are you sure that is a good idea? Jack says..."

"I don't give a shit what Jack says. I care for her, and I believe she cares for me. I won't just disappear without saying good-bye."

"All right, but you will be careful, won't you? Don't give anything else away, Tom. And remember, this war won't last forever. When it is over, there will be nothing to stop you coming back for her."

He laughed bitterly. "Nothing but all the leagues between the worlds. Nothing but that."

Katy could think of nothing comforting to say to this. Instead she asked, "Want to come over to the Officer's Club and get drunk with me? We have all afternoon."

He shook his head, painfully recalling the poteen. "I have to learn a song on the yitar. Suvi's going to sing it after the dinner tonight."

"You really are the most incurable romantic, Tom Finn!" She gave him a fond smile. "What is it called?"

"Something about roses. I don't have the words, only the music." He took the instrument and bowed his head, then fingered the first haunting notes. Katy backed silently out the door and left him alone.

* * * *

Calaan called to his men once the dinner began in earnest. He could see Suvi, with her head bent close to the blond agent's, and knew her attention lay elsewhere. She wouldn't miss them for an hour, not until the entertainment started and they were due to perform.

They slipped out the side door and crept across the dimly lit south wing. He barked a command as one of the men tripped over a piece of rusty piping.

"Keep it down, you idiot."

"Ya, Kepitan, sorry," the offending Privat muttered.

They reached the door that Suvi had left unlocked. Calaan stepped up to the door, and silently eased it open. A short, high-pitched cry of alarm sent him groping for his sidearm, before he remembered that he couldn't carry one -- not in Carina. He stared in shock at the tall blond-haired boy who stood just on the other side of the doorway, his eyes wide with terror.

"Hist!" said Calaan, half in surprise and half in dismay. "Where the hell did you come from, child?"

The boy babbled in some unknown tongue. Calaan was proficient in several languages, but he knew nothing of this one.

"What shall we do, Kepitan?" Sjt. Timms asked. "This crazy kid is going to blow it for us. Someone has probably heard him already."

Calaan frowned. "We had better take him back into the main room. The operation will have to wait awhile. But we have plenty of time yet."

He grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him, protesting, into the light of the south wing. The stranger continued to say things at intervals, and seemed resistant to the idea of coming with them.

"Stop fighting, fool. We won't hurt you," he said in Severnessan, but the boy looked even more confused.

Calaan pulled him along, studying his strange clothing and knapsack. He wore dungarees of blue, and heavy boots of a kind Calaan had never seen before. They looked expensive. He had a puffy jacket of some smooth fabric, very boldly colored in blue and orange. His face seemed quite girlishly pretty, with wide set eyes and a hairless chin. Calaan thought he might be sixteen years old, or perhaps a little older.

When they arrived back in the main hall, at least a hundred heads turned towards them. The boy saw long tables, with families clustered together, sharing food and drink. Cheap paper decorations festooned the ceiling. The cooks had spread a buffet supper on the pass through, and Brini supervised the serving of the kaapjies.

The boy turned back to Calaan, his eyes full of nervous questions. Perhaps his desperation spoke for him. Calaan said, "This is Carina, friend. You are safe here. For now, anyway."

He seemed to understand the word
Carina
, for he said it again and again. Then he said, "Suvi? Suvi Markku?" Calaan nodded and pointed to the table where Suvi still sat close to Tom, looking and speaking to no one else.

Gradually the people went back to their conversations. Someone brought the boy a plate of food, and invited him to sit. He did, almost dreamily, and removed his jacket. Then Calaan did another surprised double take, for the boy was quite clearly now a young woman, with fine, pert breasts.

"Well, well, my lovely, and where did you come from?" he muttered to himself. But he had no chance to find out, for Suvi had left her table and now stood on the stage, with Tom Finn beside her.

She clapped her hands to draw their attention. "Friends! Welcome to the Carina winter banquet. I trust you are all happy with the delicious food prepared for us by Brini and her excellent staff of helpers?"

Wild applause followed her words. She smiled and waved her hands for silence. "Now Tom and I would like to begin the entertainment for the evening with a song." At that moment Suvi caught sight of the strange face in the crowd. Suddenly she felt breathless and a little fearful. She whispered to Tom, "Who is that girl? I have never seen her before."

Tom peered at her, and her odd clothing. Some shred of recognition flitted through his mind, of another time and place, but it was too distant to resolve into anything. He shrugged. "Maybe she smelled the kaapjies and came in off the street. Shall I begin the introduction?"

He and Suvi had not had time to practice. When he arrived at seven o'clock, bearing the yitar, she greeted him with such unrestrained joy that he hadn't even had the heart to tell her he was leaving. Now, as he strummed the first chords of the song she had chosen, he wondered what her voice would be like.

She stepped forward, with her hands clasped nervously in front. An expectant hush fell over the crowd as she began to sing.

Suvi delivered each note in a pure, high treble that seemed to bring all the world to perfect stillness. Tom needed all his concentration not to let his trembling fingers falter on the strings, and at first he hardly listened to the words. Then she turned towards him, and met his eyes, and the room emptied save for the two of them.

Oh Rose, oh Rose, my love, he knows,
The secret deep within my heart.
Though far he goes, the tide still flows,
Twixt him and me, when we must part.

Oh Moon, oh Moon, my heart doth swoon,
With need, such need for his embrace.
Oh gentle June, return quite soon,
That I may see his handsome face.

Oh Sea, oh Sea, please bring to me,
His kiss, sweet bliss, to heal my pain.
Hear now my plea, and set him free,
So I might hold my love again.

Oh Rose, oh Rose, my love, he knows,
The secret kept within my heart.
Though far he goes, the tide still flows,
Twixt him and me, when we must part.

She held the last solemn note, low and clear, for a long, long time. Tom finished with a final arpeggio, and let the yitar's strings vibrate until the sound died away into utter silence.

The hall broke into a roar of clapping and cheers. Suvi bowed self-consciously, and then held her hand out to Tom, so that he could step forward. He wiped his eyes quickly on his sleeve and waved to the crowd. Then they walked off together, as Billu took the stage with his washboard and jug band.

Tom took her arm, and bent his head close to her ear. "That was wonderful, Suvi. You have the most beautiful voice I have ever heard." The clean fragrance of soap in her hair filled him with sudden bleak longing. "Do you think we could go somewhere quiet for a moment? I have something I must tell you."

She turned back to him, and nodded gravely, as if she already knew what he had to say. Then her eyes widened at the sight of a lone figure, standing right at the back of the crowd. He had combed his bushy hair, and put on a reasonably clean pair of trousers, but Ludde still looked distinctly uncomfortable in the company of so many other people.