a trip. Planned it and executed it like a simple operation. One could not typically presume to pack a bag that would account for what they might encounter while hankering to go from one point to another.
But, well – given the opportunity to pack first, I wasn't going to not. Extra food and clothing (and a weapon thrown in here and there) were always prudent supplies to have on hand.
“Where is it you're going, minda?” Letta inquired a little wryly, following me into the next room. She saw the paper on my pallet, however, and moved to read for herself whatever had prompted this impromptu little excursion.
“The Baltane manor?” she asked. “Truly, minda, what has you so invested in things beyond your own lot, these days?”
“I can't explain it, Letta. Maybe, gods willing, in due time I will be able to.”
“Manor Dorn misses your faithful presence,” she noted. “Evidence of your absence creeps through the place. That corner of yours where the floor rots away is not as well tended, these days.”
I hadn't had the presence of mind to keep up with that, lately, had I? I needed more tiles.
But I would see about that when I got back. Right now, I had to go see the Baltane Manor. It was calling my name like a breathy demon in a nightmare, a nagging echo on the breeze. I had to make it stop.
“Take someone with you,” Letta urged, not one to sit by and watch me slip like I seemed to be doing.
“Who would I take, Letta? Everyone is needed here.”
“Take Tanen. We survived just fine without him before he came to us, and he's a good one to have as an escort across the rubble. He came all the way from Cathwade.”
“You don't have to remind me. And we survived just fine without him because I was here to do many of the tasks he has taken up in my absences. We need him.”
“Words I never thought I'd hear glide from your mouth.”
Well, things had changed, hadn't they?
“We have Victoria and Ombri, now,” Letta reminded me. “We can manage. Take him with you, Vant.”
I caved. “As you wish. We shouldn't be gone too long.” I didn't mind Tanen's presence as much, anymore, it would just be harder to concentrate on the Baltane issue with a greater issue tagging along after all. But I had no desire to stand around arguing. Time was rather of the essence in my life, nowadays, and I was on a schedule with this.
“Godspeed, minda. I hope you have some misplaced sense of what you're doing.”
*
Manor Baltane was a mansion. Manor Dorn was well enough, but it did not compare to the bulk and grandeur of the place that I stood before later that day, my sullied skirt hem billowing over the rubble-gravel street. Valchester Lane was the name of the street, respectively, but it was hardly respectable anymore. It was not nearly as bad as some, but it had certainly crumbled from its glory days as the smooth, sweeping avenue it had surely been.
I clutched the strap of my pack at my shoulder, gazing up at the great diseased entity that had been calling me to its side. Tanen stood at my flank, gazing up likewise. It had taken us a good number of hours to reach the place, trudging over the rubble, and we were both sweaty and powder-streaked and ready to be at journey's end. We had rested once, to eat and drink, and then we'd been on our way again. My feet were sore. I was sure his were too.
“Shall we knock?” Tanen proposed.
I surveyed the top balcony of the place, then decided we might as well. I moved forward, hearing Tanen scuff to life behind me, and we went to the door and knocked on its vast, bold, ornate black pane. I had not knocked on a door for almost as long as I could remember. Only once or twice had I had the chance, running some errand or other as a young child for the circle I was born into. Before the mischief had completely stopped people from being neighborly. Before I had been sold to the Dorns, and thrust out into the isolated, rural countryside.
We waited a good few moments before someone came to the door, but then the great latch was thrown back, and the slab creaked inward. The dark face of a lovely young slave woman peered out, taking in the two unfamiliar whiteskins come calling.
“May