Chapter Fifteen

Kassia and I spent most of our time together for the next few days. I realized that this served two purposes. I could answer any questions she had about our lives, but I could also keep an eye on her for Baisan. Every morning, she cleaned and re-dressed Castin's wound. On the second day, he woke up briefly and Baisan managed to force him to eat a bit of bread before he went back to sleep. We all saw it as a good sign.

For the rest of the day, Kassia and I either stayed home or went out, depending on where Baisan wanted us. No matter where we were, she asked me questions constantly. Mostly, they revolved around the hierarchy of our family, or the way we did certain things. One afternoon, four days after her arrival, she locked on to the topic of our pasts.

We were on the main street, I was looking for a stall I could quickly grab some food from, but she kept distracting me.

"So Orrun and Leker are actually brothers, right?"

I nodded and turned my attention to a nearby stall, but she nudged me sharply, meaning she wanted an elaboration. I flinched and rubbed my side. "All right, calm down. Their father was having an affair. He was married to Orrun's mother. They were born only a few months apart."

"What happened to their parents?"

"Um..." They'd told me the story before, but I didn't know all the details. "Somehow they both ended up living with Orrun's mother and his siblings. He has a bunch, five or six, I think. Anyway, I think their father died and Orrun's mother hated Leker so she made him leave and Orrun went with him. Something like that. Their siblings never came to look for them, so..." I trailed off and shrugged.

"That's horrible."

"It's common. When you're poor, taking care of children is difficult." I slipped up between a few people and grabbed a couple of oranges from the basket I'd been eyeing. After moving away from the cart so we wouldn't be noticed, I grinned and handed one to Kassia.

She smiled. She was really pretty when she smiled. "Thank you. So tell me about Baisan."

I started peeling my orange and tossing the peels to the ground. A rat would probably appreciate them later. "Baisan lived with an uncle because his mother died and his father was a sailor. Then his father died at sea and his uncle refused to care for him, so he ran away. He's the only one of us who has any sort of education, but it's nothing useful as far as I can tell. He was young when this happened, I think around eight. Then," I paused to eat a piece of my orange. "Then he met Castin and they've been together ever since. That's why Cast's second in command instead of me, when I'm clearly smarter and better for the job."

"You don't think Castin's smart?"

I shrugged. "Sure, he is. But he and I have this rivalry, you know."

"I hadn't noticed. With him being unconscious and all," Kassia said.

"Right, well... Anyone else?"

"How about Castin?"

"He's like me, I guess. Son of a prostitute. We think his father was Native, or a foreigner, based solely on his skin. He's darker than me and Ninavi, so we're probably half Telt, but it's impossible to find out."

Kassia looked thoughtful. "So he might be part Deoran or Navirian?"

"I suppose so."

"And is he the same age as Baisan?"

"We guess so. See, Baisan, Stria, Leker, and Orrun all know how old they are, since they had real families. Ninavi, Castin, and I don't. Ninavi's probably the youngest, and I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest." I paused, remembering how old Tannix had guessed me to be. "Sixteen or so, I think. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." Kassia wiped the orange juice off her hands as best as she could on her tunic. "So what about Stria, then?"

"Her family all died from some sickness, so she ended up alone and found Baisan and Castin." I glanced down at my own sticky hands. "Let's go find a pipe. Can I ask you some questions?"

She nodded as she followed me down the street. "Go ahead."

"Thanks. So, you said you were alone because your mother just died?" I realized how painful of a memory it must be as soon as I'd said it. "Sorry, I mean..."

"No, it's all right. Yes. She was a seamstress. She cut her hand while trying to cut some cloth, and it went bad. She died not long afterwards. There was nothing I could do. We didn't have enough money for me to buy her any medicine, and I don't have your particular skills."

"Is that why you know how to sew cuts?"

Kassia shrugged. "I know how to sew cloth. It isn't too different."

"What about your father?"

"I haven't seen him in years. He might be dead, I don't know."

We reached one of the many water pipes that were spread around the city. They were fed by underground rivers from the Cliffs of Loth, so the water was clean and cold. I held my hands under the flow for a few seconds to wash off the juice, then moved aside so Kassia could do the same.

She dried her hands on her pants. "Anyway, we're in this together now, aren't we? Is there anything else we're supposed to be doing?"

I gestured back down the street, towards the stalls. "I was supposed to be getting food."

She grinned sheepishly. "Right, sorry. Maybe I can help you out, if you show me what to do." Without warning, she slipped an arm through mine and started to lead me back up the street.

When we neared the stalls, I pulled my arm away from her. "You talk to the owners, be distracting, and I'll see what I can do."

Kassia nodded. She walked up the street, looking around curiously before stepping up to one of the stalls selling vegetables. "Hello!"

While she struck up a conversation, I slipped behind the stall. The system worked well, and we made it to four different stalls without any problem. At the fifth stall, I made a mistake. Encouraged by our success, I didn't notice until it was too late that there were two people working at the stall. I was reaching into a basket of potatoes when a hand clamped around my wrist. I pulled back, but the woman's grip was too strong.

"Thief!"

"Sorry," I managed to say. She was holding a knife, which she had been using on her vegetables. She probably wouldn't use it on me, but it was still frightening. "I was just trying to, uh... my brother's hurt and—"

"Let go of me!" Kassia was struggling in the man's arms. "I've done nothing wrong, you—" she growled something that didn't sound Teltish.

Kassia provided the perfect distraction and I wrenched my arm away from the woman. She lunged for me but I ducked out of her way and hopped over the stall. By then the commotion and shouting had gathered an audience. Thank Zianesa not many guards patrolled the lower city.

Other merchants along the road were starting to recognize Kassia. Through the babble of the spectators, I heard a few cries of accusation as the stall owners realized what had happened.

The woman was coming around the stall, brandishing her large knife and shouting at me. Seeing no other option, I threw myself at the man holding Kassia. All three of us crashed to the ground. He let go of Kassia in an attempt to catch himself. I hopped to my feet and dragged Kassia up beside me, then gave her a sharp push towards the crowd. "Go."

She didn't argue and bolted. When I turned the man had gotten to his feet and taken the knife from his wife. The crowd around us was getting more excited, but I relaxed. It was easier to think when I only had to worry about myself.

When the man stepped towards me, I did my usual trick by diving out of the way and rolling to my feet behind him. A hop onto his stall made it easy to jump to a higher spot on the wall. I climbed quickly and pulled myself onto the roof before anyone had managed to throw anything at me. I took a moment to catch my breath. From there, it was easy enough to jump to the next building, and the one after that.

Since I hadn't managed to steal anything from them, and man and his wife didn't follow me for long. Once the coast was clear I climbed back down to the cobbled streets and went to find Kassia.

She was waiting near the water pipe, her arms crossed tightly as she stared down the street towards the stalls.

I hadn't come from that direction and stepped up behind her before I spoke. "Looking for someone?"

She spun around, shock giving way to relief. "Thank Zianesa." She pulled me into a quick hug. "I thought I'd gotten you killed."

I shrugged. "It was my fault, I got cocky. Are you hurt?"

"No. You?"

I shook my head as we began walking back home. "I'm fine. What did you say to that man? It wasn't Teltish."

"Oh, I just called him a dumb fat pig in Deoran. Something my mother picked up from a sailor when I was a baby," she said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Seems pretty accurate," I said.

Kassia laughed. "It was pretty fun before that, anyway. Did you manage to keep everything else?"

I nodded and patted the pockets of my cloak. "We did a good job."

We could tell something was going on as we walked through the front door of our home. When we reached the room, we were surprised to see Castin on his feet. Stria was supporting him with his right arm over her shoulders.

The only other person in the room was Baisan, and he was clearly annoyed. "Sit down, Castin."

"Come on, I need to move around."

"You just woke up!" The two of them hardly ever argued. That was proof enough that Baisan was serious. I stepped up next to him.

"Baisan?"

He replied without looking at me. "Tell Castin to sit down."

"Uh... Cast?"

"For the love of Zianesa, be quiet, Finn," Castin muttered. He slipped and I dropped the food I was holding, springing forward to catch his left arm. He glared at me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. How about you sit down before Baisan kills us both?" I didn't wait for a reply, and instead pulled him away from Stria and carefully lowered him to the floor.

Kassia joined us and handed him a piece of bread. "Eat this while I check on your cut."

Castin eyed her. "Who are you?"

"Castin, do what you're told!" Baisan growled. "Don't be like Finn."

I started to argue, but Kassia smacked my shoulder lightly to stop me.

"Boys, you're not helping anything," she said sternly. "Baisan, Finn, give me some space. Stria, please make him eat that bread."

Reluctantly, Baisan and I backed up and let Kassia take control of the situation. Baisan finally noticed the food I'd dropped. "How did you manage that?"

"Kassia and I make a good team," I replied, deciding to leave out the fact that we'd nearly been caught.

We were both still watching Castin, so we saw when he flinched and swore. "Tufa! Don't touch it." The curse was one of the few words from Old Ziannan that was still regularly used. Castin glared at Kassia. "Who are you?"

"My name's Kassia. I've been here since you got hurt, and I've been taking care of you. So stop fighting with me and let me put this salve on your cut."

"Baisan," Castin complained.

"I will call Siour myself if you don't stop being impossible to deal with," Baisan said.

The threat did its job and Castin fell silent, though he still flinched when Kassia touched his cut. Despite his annoyance, Baisan was clearly relieved. For the first time since he was hurt, we could be sure Castin was going to make a full recovery.