“I know I can.”
Before she slipped out the door with the black bag packed with the necessary tools to perform the moxibustion, she paused at the threshold. She looked between the two of them, now leaning in close to each other as they talked in hushed tones, lost to a world of their own making.
“Wellyn.” The Dobrin boy looked up, his smile faltering slightly when he realized she was talking to him. “I’d like to speak with your parents today regarding your betrothal to my sister. We have a wedding to plan, after all. I take it they’ve already given their blessing.”
This time, he straightened to his full height, sharing aglimpse into the boy who was now, somehow within the span of a few moments, a man. A man who was very much in love with her sister.
He nodded. “Yes, they have. Thank you, Anya.”
“Keep my sister happy, that is all I ask. Or else I’ll be cross with you.”
His smile was bright, dimples appearing on his cheeks. “I will. I swear it.”
“Good.” She nodded then glanced to Enid. “I’ll be home soon.”
Enid’s eyes shined. “I’ll be here.”
In a small, cramped apartment along the docks, Anelize sat at a round table staring down at the steam swirling over a cup of tea the old woman had poured for her. The sweet aroma of linden blossoms filled the drawing room long before the old woman had offered her the cup. Anelize had warmed her hands against the slightly cracked porcelain as Avos breathed through the moxibustion treatment, laying still upon the small bed they owned, pushed against the wall.
“Again, thank you for paying this sour old man a visit, Anya. Would that I could offer you more than a meager cup of tea but as you see…we’ve been rather scarce since he was not able to work in the mill this winter,” the old woman said, wringing her hands atop her lap from her perch along the bed.
Avos grumbled. “If only the king finally gave a damn about the likes of us in the port like he did to those self-indulgent nobles in the upper district, then we’d all be better off. Instead, he wastes his time and our money hunting down those Moroi.But do they ever cease to wreak havoc upon us? Of course not, they’re like roaches. Not even cutting off their heads will rid us of the infestation. This entire city is nothing more than a lost cause.”
Anelize stared at the old man blankly as his wife murmured an apology while he went into one of his many tirades on the Vedrans and king alike.
“I hear the king has issued a high reward to any who will report the rebels and their sympathizers to his men. They’ve been arresting them and hauling them off to the castle to stand trial. I can’t imagine they’re alive for long after that. I do think it a shame that neither side is willing to find a way to live peacefully.”
Anelize said, “I believe it may be too late for peace after so many lives have been lost.”
Once the last of the smoke cleared from the treatment, she quickly gathered her tools and packed them into the old leather bag that had once been her father’s. She told the couple, “If you need me again, you can always call on me.”
The elder couple granted her kind smiles as they bid her farewell. It was so rare these days, to witness kindness from strangers, let alone be on the receiving end of it. Enid would probably consider it a wonderful thing, instill hope within her that someday the people of Elvir would change for the better. That hardships would no longer hinder upon any of them, and that one day they would not regard each other with mistrust. That, perhaps, one day their blind hate and fear of the Vedrans would simply cease.
The reality, however, was not so simple. Not when they blamed the Vedrans for so many of their own king’s shortcomings.
As she stepped out onto the streets, she stared at the frozen tides of the sea beyond the docks. The gray skies reflected off their jagged black shards, a flock of black birds soaring about in a swirling dance.
The clamoring of voices filled the air as she began walking along the docks, back toward the shop. The longer she walked, the louder the voices grew. The sound of footsteps rushing past the streets granted her glimpses of several people urging each other to hurry. She came to an abrupt halt as two small boys dressed in dirty, threadbare clothes rushed past her.
“Come on! We’ll miss it!”
“Wait for me!” One of the boys wailed when he tripped, arms flailing to catch himself. Anelize caught him by the hand and pulled him up before he could fall flat on his face in the snow. He looked up at her in surprise, his face covered in dirt. He revealed two missing teeth when he smiled up at her. “Thank you, miss!”
“What’s going on?” she asked him, looking toward the rest of the boys that ran to a gathering crowd that all seemed to filter out of the main road.
“The Watchmen are arresting Vedrans! They’re taking them to the king to receive their sentencing!” the boy said, his breath whistling through the gap in his teeth.
“Brom! Come on!” one of the boys called to him.
“Don’t leave without me!” the boy called as he scrambled away before looking over his shoulder, the excitement on his face sending a strange, unwelcome feeling within her chest. “You should come watch too, miss!”
Anelize stood there, watching the boy go with a frown as they headed down the road. She had never once wished to be privy to the death or public shaming of her own people. Nomatter how many times she’d wished she weren’t a Vedran. Merely watching the way those boys looked elated by the prospect of bearing witness to the arrest of Vedrans made her stomach roll.
Turning down the familiar street that led to the shop, she hurried her steps, wanting nothing more than to return home.
She should have realized something was terribly wrong the moment she noticed a throng of people gathered in the street. Dozens clustered together, screaming and demanding justice as Watchmen created a barrier around them.
Anelize’s heart sank as she watched them standing at the base of the steps of the shop. The front door left wide open, the rounded stained-glass window in the center of it shattered. Panic pricked at the back of her neck as she ran toward them. She tried to push through the sea of people around her. Her pleas to let her pass drowned out by bellows. The joy and hate in the voices of her neighbors and patrons alike as they surveyed a Watchman step out of the shop.
