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Goodwin insisted on walking me to my lodgings, though it was opposite her way home. "I know Pounce and Achoo are as good as a pair of Dogs, but I don't trust the Pell brothers' kin not to make a try for you if they find you away from Rosto's doorstep," she said. "Isn't my lady something? I feel better, leaving Tunstall in her hands. She'll keep him from acting stupid."
"That she will," I agreed.
"I wonder if she'd watch my Tomlan. If I'm not there to do the shopping, he lets himself be cheated by every vendor with a sad tale," Goodwin told me. "And he gives away every copper in his pocket to urchins who could easily find work." She took a deep breath. "But they're right – it has to be you and me. We can be spared. This is an excellent chance for you, Cooper. If we can get a scent of the counterfeiters, it could bring you to the Lord Chancellor's notice. It's always good for your career to have friends in high places."
"I like my career on the streets," I muttered. "Same as Tunstall."
Goodwin snorted. "Even Tunstall needs the right friends sometimes. You're both lucky you have me to watch out for that side of things."
"You don't think I'll fall on my bum, then?" I asked. I was glad for the chilly dark that hid my face. "Even if I did let the Pells get the jump on me this once?"
Goodwin tweaked my ear gently. "Cooper, if I'd thought that, I would have suggested Jewel trade partners with me for this hunt. Now listen, and practice our tale. After the Pell brothers cracked your poor head, Lord Gershom decided to send you away until the rest of the family rushers are taken and questioned. If you're to move up in ranks, you'll need to see the way other towns handle their Dogs, so you've been sent to Port Caynn, with me, your partner, for nursemaid."
I almost took hold of her arm, but lost the courage for it. "Goodwin, I never do that. No more does my lord! He don't favor me, and I don't ask for favors! If that were so, why am I in the Lower City, instead of Upmarket, or Unicorn District?"
Goodwin took out her baton and set it twirling, like she does when she is thinking. "True. Ah – I have it. You're in the Lower City because of my lady, who dislikes you. And it's my lord who put you with Tunstall and me, seeing that we're the best Dogs to keep you from getting killed." She glanced at me. "No one you care about believes any of it, Cooper, and that's all that matters. If you haven't learned it by now, folk will listen to the silliest muck, so they'll gobble this tale up. My lord gives us plenty of coin to look busy and stay out of the way, I play the loose Dog, and you play the pretty pet."
"I hate it," I grumbled.
"I know you do, so give it plenty of practice," Goodwin ordered. "That pout you're doing is very good, for example. You'll want to use it." I growled and spat, which only made Goodwin cackle.
We parted at my lodgings, Goodwin saying she'd see me at my lord's tomorrow night. Achoo, Pounce, and I climbed to our rooms. I'd just put down food dishes for both hound and cat when Pounce said, I will not go with you.
I stared at him. He looked at me from where he sat on my bed, his eyes steady. "Tell me I just heard you wrong," I whispered.
I will do no such thing. You heard me correctly. My problem with my group of stars has proved more complicated than I can manage from here. This hunt of yours could not have come at a better time.
"But I need you," I said. "Going off on my own with Achoo and Goodwin, in a strange city, I need you to talk to, and help me out!" I was begging him, and I hated myself a little for it. Did the Pell brothers hurt me in a place the healers couldn't reach for me to act so – so weak?
I mentioned this to you before, remember, Pounce said. Come over here and sit. I obeyed, quivering all over. Pounce has been with me for five years. He was there when Mama died, when I went through training, and my Puppy year. He never had to go away for more than a day or two before. Pounce settled on my lap and I buried my fingers in his fur. You have become too dependent on me. You will have Achoo and Goodwin. You will do well, he said firmly. My first duty is to these stars, Beka. I have known them for thousands of years longer than I have known you.
"Duty is duty," I whispered.
You freed yourself of Mutt Piddle Lane without me, Pounce said.
"That was luck," I retorted. "I never thought Lord Gershom would take us into his house just because I helped him nab a gang."
You made that luck. You were terrified of those Rats, yet you tracked them to their lair despite your fear. The Dogs frightened you when they would not take the information of an eight-year-old child, yet you were brave enough to stop a nobleman on his horse to give that information to him. You do not need me, Beka. You only think you do.
He stood and rammed his head into my face several times, purring as he did so. Then he was gone. Only his parting words were left in my mind. I will see you when your hunt is done. Seek and find, Terrier.
I couldn't help it. I cried like a silly gixie whose kitten was lost. I finally stopped when Achoo jumped onto the bed and licked my face all over, but I started again as I wrote all this.
I'll take Achoo outside. Pounce is gone, and I have to sleep, so I will continue to heal.
He did say he will return.
Thursday, September 13, 247
Three of the morning.
What is the point of going to bed if you will just lie awake? Not only did I have to think of all that must be done, dreading the days to come, but now I could not forget that I would do it without Pounce. I am so undone by the thought that I could not sleep. Achoo did her best to console me, but in the end I left her in bed alone. I set about packing instead, uniforms, breeches and tunics, and my few dresses. I made certain to put the special Dog tools and devices, like my mage-proof gloves and my lock-stuffing clay, into my pack in case I need them. We are only supposed to gather information, but as I have learned over and over in this work, everything goes awry, given time.
Then there was breakfast to face, and my friends. Ersken was plain jealous. He didn't believe me at first when I said I'd as soon it was him going to Port Caynn. Kora and Aniki took it in stride. Kora promised me some charms to take along. She and Aniki offered to feed my pigeons and dust spinners. I was glad to take them up on the offer.
Tansy was cold and distant to me, chewing over some tough bit of vexation. She finally spoke out over the egg pie. "You and that barbarian partner of yours had Garnett hobbled," she hissed at me as Kora served out the pie.
I was trying to remember if I'd packed dress shoes. No, I owned no dress shoes since my last pair wore out. I would need the curst things for gambling and eating houses. "What?" I asked Tansy.
"My baker, Garnett – he was taken away." Tansy kept her voice down as the others chattered and passed bread and drink. "Yesterday, folk said, for passing false coin, him and his guards. And they told me you and Tunstall was there in the morning. So you gave Garnett up, and everyone knows I'm friends with you. They'll think it was me turned him over to his death!"
"Be grateful it was the Dogs that got him." Tansy should have known that Rosto would hear. "They'll keep their gobs shut about whatever Garnett says under questioning. My folk wouldn't. Then all the town would know he was passing coles on even before I had him strung up somewhere noticeable."
I looked at Rosto. He was getting fair cocksure, first hiring the murder of the Pells, and now talking this way in front of me. "He's getting tried under King's Law, proper," I told Rosto. "And that's the end of it." To Tansy I said, "Be grateful he's not sending other coles out into the moneystream, to enter your coffers through someone else's hands. Either you're a good city-woman or you're not, Tansy. Make up your mind to it!"
She put her face in her hands, then looked up at the others. "I'd never sing on anyone here. Never!"
Rosto slung an arm around her neck and kissed her cheek. "Never thought you would, love. And we're real careful to talk civilized around Beka and Ersken. On account of we don't want to ruin beautiful friendships." He winked at us.
"Oh, good," said Ersken, feeding a bite of pasty to Kora. "I'm attached to my frie
ndships."
Rosto leaned forward to eye me. "So you're off to Port Caynn. How long?"
I shrugged. "As long as it takes."
Rosto's smile was as thin as a knife. "Mind those saucy sailor coves, Beka. Their hands are nimble, and they mean no good to a pretty mot like you."
Phelan laughed. "Our Beka's ironclad against the wiles of common seamen, aren't you, lass?"
I got to my feet. Achoo stood with me. "If you mean to talk nonsense, I have errands," I told them. "And I smile all the time. I just don't do it for nonsense from coves who only mean to get under my skirts."
That made them laugh, as I meant it to. I left them that way, thinking well of me. None of them had noticed Pounce's absence, so I did not have to tell them that he'd left me on my own.
I bought a pair of the thin useless slippers that look good with a dress. Hairpins, too, I needed, and a leather belt to wear under a dress, the kind that would carry weapons. I bought a jar of soft soap, a cloth pouch of sticks for cleaning my teeth, and willow bark tea to ease my monthlies, which were due. I also purchased seed and corn for the pigeons and bread enough for a few days. I reminded myself to leave coin for Kora to pay for more. All these things I left at home.
Next I took myself to Granny Fern's. I had to let her know I would not be visiting for a while, and that she must call on Aniki or Kora if she needed anything.
Granny knew I'd nearly gotten killed by a Rat's kin. "You need to watch all around you, lass," she said as I did a few of her chores, the ones that were none so easy for her anymore. "Here I thought you knew better."
"Everyone slips, Gran," I said, hanging her fresh-washed curtains.
"You can't afford to, not when you're a Dog. At least you're alive to talk about it." She cocked her head at me. "And now you're off to Port Caynn. Watch them sailor lads. They'll have your skirts up and a babe in your belly afore you know what you're about."
"Everyone keeps warning me about sailors," I complained. "Why can't someone tell the sailors to stay clear of me?"
Granny snorted. "Oh, you're the fierce one now! Just take care no one else catches you unawares and knocks you on the nob! Master Pounce, why didn't you – " She looked around. "He's not with you. He's always at your side, that cat."
I wrung my handful of sheets out extra hard. "He's got duties in the Divine Realms, Gran. He told me he'd be away for a time."
She stared at me, drumming her fingers on her forearm for a few moments. At last she said, "Then you truly need to be on the watch, don't you? You won't have your magic cat looking out for you."
"I have Achoo," I reminded her. Achoo lay on her back, wriggling in the bit of grass that was growing in my gran's yard.
Granny looked at Achoo and raised an eyebrow. "Fills me with trust, that one."
I fixed all that needed fixing and did Gran's shopping for that day. Before I left, I brought up something that had troubled me. I knew I shouldn't, but she is my gran. My cousins help her out at times with coin and work, but they have their own worries.
"Gran, I'll be needing silver in the port. I'll trade you coppers for whatever silver coin you have, equal up," I told her.
She had three silver nobles. I gave her three silver half-nobles and the rest in coppers, while I tried to think of the best way to tell her the rest. "I think the silver mining hasn't been good of late," I said at last. "I was you, I'd get my coin in copper for a time."
Granny squinted at me. "Warnin' me off silver, are you? I heard a bit of gossip."
"I know of no gossip, Granny. Don't hearken to it," I answered quickly. "No more should you spread any and say it's come from me!"
"Lucky your cousins mostly get paid in copper and goods, eh?" Granny patted my arm. "Did you think Philben would keep his gob shut about coles? You aren't the only one as can think, girl. Are the Dogs going to do sommat? Seems to me the Rogue is the better cove to put a stop to it, if the colemongering isn't his to start with."
"Gran, for the gods' love, it's talk like yours that starts riots!" I said, keeping my voice down. "No, the Rogue has naught to do with coles! Will you just put a stopper in it?"
She looked at me and sighed. "Girl, do you ever take a breath and wonder if folk don't put out bait for you? To see if you'll bite? You'll never get a man if you don't relax."
My dear old gran. It's a wonder her children aren't every one of them mad as priests, if she mangles their wits as she mangles mine.
"Granny," I told her, "this is dead serious. I can't relax, no more than any Dog. I'm not shopping for a man. That's the last thing I need."
"A good swiving would freshen you right up," she said. "I've heard folk say the Goddess never meant for mots to be brawling like soldiers and Dogs, elsewise why put wombs in them? You'd best think on that, Beka, afore someone cuts yours clean out, and you never have children of your own."
There's no denying it, Gran has good days and bad. I kissed her and took off. I'll keep my womb to myself. The first looby who tells me I'm not fit to do a Dog's proper work because of it gets a kiss from my baton.
Back home, and then I did the rounds of my pigeons and dust spinners, including Raaashell. I told them I'd be going, I didn't know for how long, and that Aniki and Kora would look after them. I can't say if they understood, particularly Raaashell, since she was so new. It's not like our conversations were so promising. The spinners took my gifts of dust and continued to spin. The pigeons stuffed themselves. They had plenty to say, or their few ghostly riders did. I just couldn't make head nor tail of most of it. It was my own fault. I was just plain rattled. How would I manage without Pounce?
When I realized what I was thinking, I was more upset. I do depend on him a great deal, more than I should depend on anyone but myself.
Home I went again, to clean myself up. I changed into my uniform and went to Provost's House. I got there an hour early, so no one might complain that I hadn't left time to say goodbye to my brothers and sisters. I tied Achoo in the kitchen yard, my foster aunt Mya being particular about animals in the kitchen. She was the head cook at Provost's House.
Although the kitchen was as mad as ever, Mya found me right away. "Beka!" Her little wren's face lit up. She came to embrace me, then stopped. "Oh, I've flour on me. I'll smutch your uniform. You haven't come in so long!" She beckoned to one of the message runners. "Tell my lady that Rebakah Cooper is here."
I must have fidgeted or done something to let Mya know I didn't like that. She smiled up at me.
"Beka, you know my lady will be unhappy if she does not see you. It's polite. She requires it," Mya said, her dark eyes warning me.
"I know," I replied. "I'd just hoped she would be out, or something." My lady Teodorie does not approve of me. My lord never had any children who liked the low and dirty life of the Dogs as he did. The young folk of his household who took up Dog work did so because it seemed like a decent living, nothing more. In me he had found someone like his cousin Nestor, who loved it as he did. I would talk to him about the ins and outs of the cases at the end of the day. Having me at Provost's House renewed Lord Gershom's love of being Provost at a time when my lady had arranged a position for him that she thought was better fitted to his bloodline, and to hers. Since she did love her husband, she decided to hate me instead.
It helped not at all that my brothers and sisters wanted to better themselves in ways that Lady Teodorie valued. The girls were good, obedient maids. Diona was skilled at handling clothes and dressing hair. Lorine was a fine seamstress, bidding fair to be a much-favored designer of clothes. My brothers Willes and Nilo were good with horses. Will was a trusted messenger already, while Nilo was learning how to train horses for different tasks.
I answered Aunt Mya's questions about my recent days, even telling her about Silsbee and the riot, but my ear was cocked for that messenger. I wanted this meeting over with so I could return to the kitchen and warm up. I'd done Rat watches on freezing slate roofs in January that were more comfortable than a few minutes in my lady's solar
.
The messenger returned, but not at the trot Lady Teodorie required. He walked. His eyes were huge in his face. He looked at me and said, "My lady says she don't wish to see Guardswoman Cooper. She says she don't wish her servants talkin' with someone that has no better sense than to stay with the Provost's Guard when bein' in it almost got her head bashed in twice in one week. She says Guardswoman Cooper is to wait for my lord in his library."
She'd heard about the Pell brothers as well as the Bread Riot. Only my lady Teodorie would make both of those my fault. Her disapproval meant that it would do me no good to try to see my brothers and sisters. They took their directions these days from the look on my lady's face.
Well, a murrain on her! I did proper work during the riot, and the Pell brothers taught me a lesson I needed to learn. If my lady expected me to come begging for a better position, I hope she had food and drink to keep her while she waited. She has no right to judge what I do.
I'm sure I didn't hear Aunt Mya mutter the word I thought I heard her say. "Go on to the library, dear," she told me. "I'll send you in a bite to eat while you wait."
I nodded and kissed her cheek. "I've got a hunt in Port Caynn," I whispered in Aunt Mya's ear. "Tell my brothers and sisters I said goodbye, and gods all bless."
She clung to my hand. "No bad thoughts, now," she said, gently scolding. "Don't tempt any bad spirits. Gods all bless, Beka."
I do regret not being allowed to say farewell to my brothers and sisters. There's no knowing what will happen to me on a hunt.
I fetched Achoo and took her back inside with me. The servants gawped as I passed them on the way to the library. Word goes around quick. I was relieved to shut the heavy door behind us. At least in the library I felt comfortable. It smelled of leather, cinnamon, juniper, and bay, my lord's own scent. Reports from the different watch districts, each with its own color of seal, were scattered on his desk. His leather case lay atop them, open to show the colemonger report and notes. Letters were strewn everywhere, some writ by elegant scribes, others scrawled notes from Dogs. The servants knew better than to straighten my lord's desk.
