I devour mine with gusto. I sneak a glance over at Aron, and he's sitting, hood still over his face, idly dragging the spoon through his food.
"Where you from?"
I look up at the old man across the table from me. Bearded, scarred, but mostly clean. Seems fairly harmless, I hope. "Me?" When he nods, I think quickly. "Aventine."
He nods over at Aron. "You too?"
"Oh, my master doesn't speak," I say quickly, putting my hand on Aron's arm before he can talk. "He's mute."
The stranger looks at us suspiciously, but when Aron doesn't speak up, he grunts and returns to his food. "Long journey to Aventine."
"Definitely wasn't fun," I agree.
"It true what they say? ’Bout the Citadel?"
I pause. "What about it?"
"Destroyed?" His eyes are piercing.
I blink and feign ignorance even as Aron kicks me under the table. I kick him back. "I wouldn't know. Haven't been there…so. Where are you from?"
"Here," he says, and belches. "Better to be leaving this place than arriving, if you ask me."
That sounds ominous. "Oh? Why?"
"Riots. Thieves. A plague of dead babies. Haunted fields. Take your pick," says another man farther down the table who can't stop staring at my clothed boobs. He's a bit pervy, but he glances over at Aron and makes his gaze more respectful.
That all sounds terrible. "Why is it so crazy?" I ask, and reach for Aron's bowl of stew. He pushes it toward me and I trade him bowls, handing over my empty one.
The men look at me like I'm crazy. "How long have you been traveling?"
"A while," I say vaguely.
"Haven't you heard? It's the Anticipation. Rumor has it that the gods are appearing."
I make my eyes go wide. "You don't say."
The bearded man nods sagely, as if he's been at the center of things. Next to him, the other man speaks up. "Has to be truth. Why else would the Citadel fall to ruin? Goddess Tadekha must have struck it down with vengeance."
Aron snorts deep in his hood. I kick him and shove my spoon into my mouth so I'm not tempted to make a reply.
28
Turns out that we don't need to speak. Now that the topic of the gods has come up, the whole table's on fire with gossip. They all speculate about Tadekha's Citadel though none have actually ever seen it. They speculate if one of the other gods killed her and eventually it's decided that Kalos, God of Darkness, destroyed her because she turned down his advances many, many eons ago and he's apparently always held a grudge. Aron's totally silent so I have no idea if this is fact or not.
"There's another god on the coast, you know," someone at the far end of the table speaks up.
"Vor?" Another asks.
"No, different. Said he won't give his name but I know someone that saw him. My wife's sister was traveling back from Yshrem and saw him. Said he was as handsome as could be, took her breath fair away at the sight of him. Beautiful eyes, she said."
My skin prickles with awareness and I strain to hear the conversation. Aron's beautiful. Aron has striking eyes. It could be one of his Aspects that we're supposed to kill.
"Did she approach him?" Another person asks.
"No, he wouldn't speak to anyone. Had a female companion with him as anchor, but that was it. He wouldn't talk to anyone else. Didn't mingle. She said she wanted to talk to him and get a blessing, but she was afraid."
I nudge Aron's foot with mine, hoping he's listening. "Was he scarred up?" I ask. "Like, say, Aron of the Cleaver?"
This time, Aron kicks me hard.
The man turns to me, his lip curled. "Are ye daft? I said he was handsome. Aron's as hoary and grizzled as the lot of us, mark my word." He straightens and thumps his fist below his breast in the sign I've come to realize is one for Aron's followers. "The Lord of Storms won't be prancing around the countryside with a woman. He'll surround himself with the strongest of warriors and challenge them to fight him every day."
"My bad," I say quickly. "Maybe it was someone else."
"Probably Gental of the Family," the man speculates. "Though what he's doing in Yshrem is a mystery. Those book-loving weaklings are Riekki's followers to a one." He shrugs. "Even if they have a Cyclopae king now."
I eat some more of my stew, hoping the conversation continues on this line. I want to hear more about this beautiful god on the coast