Page 9 of Badmouths & Bards

Fucking weird woman, Tala thought as she took the small porcelain cup in hand.

“What…” Ugh, her mouth tasted like ass. Tala cleared her throat. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

Oh, my gods.

Impatience and irritation weren’t helping the migraine building in Tala’s head. For the sake of her pounding headache, Tala downed the tea. It was fragrant, spicy even, but somehow the warmth soothed something in her.

“I had you in a choke hold,” Tala said after a moment of recollection. “At least, I thought I did but…”

“Here, have more tea,” Aelidon poured another cup. “It’ll help.”

Tala’s thick eyebrows rose in confusion, “Help with wha…”

She did not… there’s no way this bitch—

“Did you poison me with those fucking darts?!” Tala exclaimed.

Aelidon’s peaceful expression was infuriating at a level she never thought possible before. It was one thing to be ambushed—plenty of warriors and fighters used those methods to teach their students. Fuck, Tala had even been asked to spring an attack on the younger disciples when she had still been with the Moon Maidens.

Back before your temper got you into trouble.

But poison?

That felt like a line that shouldn’t have been crossed. Or maybe Tala hated the thought of losing any bit of her own autonomy more than she already had. At twenty-six, she had long outgrown the temple’s guardianship, yet she had earned enough demerits to lock her to serving the temple until she was at least fifty.

Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but fuck!

“I did,” Aelidon said with a calm that had Tala’s fist tightening on her thigh. “There was a bit of a time limit on our fight—though, I was hopeful that Cercel’s herbal lessons would have prepared you better.”

“Aelidon, what in the fire plane do you want from me?” Tala demanded before downing her second cup of tea. “What was all of this about?”

“Considering your habit of fighting first and talking later, I figured it was obvious.”

Smug—

Tala gritted her teeth.

Of course this was punishment for beating the shit out of No—Mikol. Bastard seemed like the type that would squeal to teacher the moment things got to hard for him. Tala hated people who couldn’t take the heat when it was handed right back to them.

“I apologized to Mikol.” Tala said with disdain. “Didn’t Cercel tell you? I took Mikol’s gardening shift for a whole week.”

It had pained Tala to do it, but she knew based on the values of the Dauntless Verity alone that anything but atonement would have been met with more friction. The kind that Tala absolutely did not need as a bigger problem had been weighing on her for over a week.

Why hadn’t Avie contacted her?

The question had alluded Tala as she was pretty damn sure when they had seen each other last, they had been been on good terms. But now…

What if she needs me? What if she’s in trouble and I’m stuck here playing Farmer Bobgon with these assholes?

“He did tell me, but that’s not why I asked you here, Taldesa.” Aelidon poured more tea.

Tala stopped herself from rolling her eyes.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why did you wanna see me?”

“You’ve been with us for seven years now, Taldesa, and during this time your skills have grown a lot. If it wasn’t for the poison, you might have removed my staff from me,” Aelidon said. “Well, the poison and the six other ways I could have subdued you.”