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I have enough money to keep me – and this entire bar – liquored for the rest of the night, so I acquiesce to Farzhi’s conditions.
When the food comes, I realize how hungry I am.
I haven’t eaten all day. I have been too busy obsessing over Salina.
I groan as I taste the oily, salty food for the first time, and I scarf it down.
Farzhi looks at me with some satisfaction, and when the barmaid comes around again, he orders me some mead.
“You can have some zhisk later. The night is still young,” he tells me.
I trust Farzhi with my life. I trust him more than I trust anyone in my family. So I follow his advice and only have some more zhisk after midnight when my stomach has settled.
I also trust Farzhi because I know he doesn’t want anything from me. Everyone in the bar loves me because I can pay for their drinks.
But Farzhi, who is a lesser noble, always pays for his own food and alcohol.
I start thinking about her – Salina – when I start drinking the zhisk again.
I wonder how much zhisk it will take for me to forget about her.
I quickly realize that there isn’t enough hard liquor in the world to make me forget about her.
She is important. And I want her more than anything in the world.
The tavern closes several hours after midnight. Farzhi offers to give me a lift in his carriage, but I decide to walk.
I feel wide awake, and my mind is bouncing all over the place. I know that walking will help me to sober up and will also tire me out.
The walk from the tavern to High Towns will take quite some time, and if I take the long route, I’ll arrive when the sun rises.
That will be a nice way to end the day,I think tiredly to myself.
As I walk, in my drunken state, all I think about is Salina.
My thoughts are not coherent and are hazy visions of her, conjured up by my fleeting memories of her, combined with things I have invented myself.
She is important.
I have walked home on my own, drunk, before. I know that this isn’t always a good idea, especially because drunk nobles get robbed a lot.
But I should be fine, as long as I don’t stray too close to the Red District.
The night grows darker as I walk. I stumble along, and then down an alleyway that should take me home more quickly.
I hope I get home soon.
14
SALINA
TEN.
The air in Vhoig must always be cold, I decide as I drape the cloak around my shoulders.
The fact that Vhoig is a port city probably has something to do with it,I think to myself as I fasten the cloak underneath my chin and pull the hood up.
It is just after eleven at night when I open the window of the loft I am staying in and let myself fall through the air.
