They did stop wrestling, only Speartooth then slapped Fell on the back of the head, earning many laughs.In seeming retaliation, Fell flicked Speartooth’s ear.
“Fell says there is nothing to tell?—”
Farwatcher was in the crowd, shouting out, and I felt a rush of heat in my face.I felt doomed.To be thought a conjurer where I am from… the only thing worse would to maybe be a conjureranda whore.And I couldn’t explain my slippers to them, not without jeopardizing my order’s secrets.
King Arik’s command ground my bones.I knew it was a command even without understanding his words.
Fell laughed.No one else did.
“The king says he is being very serious.Fell must tell him all he knows about?—”
Again, Fell laughed.
You are insane, I thought.To laugh at a king like this, when the king is making the face he is making.You are entirely mad.
And then Fell looked at me.
Stop, I wished.
He looked away immediately, speaking softly.
Dania translated, “He says you might be a goddess or the child of one.He would not share your secrets.”
The sea dogs laughed at Fell’s words, and hands quickly rose, shouts accompanying the movements.
“This one says she will act Norsern for you.That one says he would love to have a goddess watch over his children.This one asks?—”
The king cleared his throat, and the wave of excitement settled, but only somewhat.
“The Bard King says he would suggest someone unexpected.He recommends Jorn the Calm—this is the one who read your palm, it seems… I think, yes, by people’s reactions...Odd, I would have thought he’d be taller.Do you think he’ll do mine?—”
Surging voices collided again, sea dogs speaking over one another until one man’s voice won the contest of volume.
“He says this is not possible.Asotercan’t have asoten.The other man there, with the tattooed forehead, he agrees.He says if the king names Jorn Norser then it will be possible, not before.”
“He’s a soten too?”I said.“Or is theer…soe-terr—is that different?”I could barely hear myself over the din.
“Tehe, ‘a soten.’Your accent is adorable.But also, not fully?You will think of it assoteris a man andsotenis a woman, but it’s more…soteris a deep-voiced person andsotena high-voiced person… sometimes someone you would call a man on the Isle will be calledSotenor Norsen here.It… your mind will bubble like cooked butter if we get into that now… There are nine ways of being a grown person in the North and nine… uh, modalities—would that be a good way to describe it?—for each of the nine ways.To make things easy at first, remember —ern, this will include everyone.Sotern.Norsern.”She grinned wickedly.“But if you are curious, I can tell you what ways and modalities you will be named.It will translate as high-voiced, wombed being who despises wombed beings.This is a bad modality, one who hates its own kind.But the guards already call you this after you yelled at Valya?—”
“I didn’t yell?—”
“When you were in Egil’s clutches, you sent her away.The king barred her from the palace, so great was your disdain for her.And Inga, Fell’s…friend… they said you shouted at her too, no?”
“I don’t know who Inga?—”
“She’s really pretty.You would remember her.”
I thought maybe she was referring to Catseye, but before I could formulate a question, my eyes caught on the man in the blazing white tunic.His gaze was still filled with sorrow “He’s an… owned person, too?”I said.
Dania nodded.“Yes, he’s The Bard King’s soothsayer.A famous man in Aalt, a star-reader.”
He looks miserable, I thought.And then, I stopped caring about him at all because I hated the idea of a foreign man with no regard for prescription—sad or not—having judgement over me.And I was only just beginning to grasp what Dania meant when she saidread.I’d only known this word to mean looking at letters on parchment or carved into stone and comprehending their meaning.I had not thought of it as a word for prophesying.
“I cannot be under the judgement of a prophesier,” I said, my throat scratchy with the sudden fear.
“Ha!You could, but I think that is not what the court will accept.It’s very unusual—maybe impossible… Ah, yes, this woman says what I have thought.There is no way it would work.”
Once again, I was washed with confusion.The sea dogs argued with their king as if he weren’t a king.They argued in a way I’d never seen even children argue—with seemingly no control.Just words and gestures released without any thought or embarrassment at appearing so unconstrained.I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would look like if even a single person yelled out to my father in his hall as was happening then in King Arik’s.
