torso a bit to see around his shoulders and saw that Conli had taken something that looked a great deal like a wire scrub brush and started in on the tattoo.
“Wait, kiō?” Markl interjected. Perhaps fortunately, as it headed off a fight.
“Child, or kid,” Wolf translated.
“Although I’m not that much younger,” Rune added, lip curling at the insult.
“Ten years, give or take.” Wolf lifted a shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “Close enough.”
Rune blinked. He’d apparently thought Wolf younger.
What Siobhan wanted to know was, when had they developed nicknames for each other?
Rune’s hand on hers tightened to a stranglehold and he let out a slow hiss between clenched teeth.
“Sorry, sorry,” Conli apologized, not stopping in what he was doing. “I know it stings, but this will clear out the last of the ink and keep it from getting infected. Bear with it a minute more.”
“Ahh, that stuff,” Siobhan said in recognition. Even without Rune’s reaction, the sharp smell was enough to tell her what he was using. It was a mixture of Conli’s that, as far as she could tell, was almost pure alcohol. “The only time I’ve ever seen Tran yelp was when Conli poured some of that on an open wound.”
“I can see why,” Rune gritted out. “It stings a mite.”
Siobhan searched for a topic to take his mind off things. “Rune, your hair is actually quite long, huh. Do you like to keep it past your shoulders like that?”
“Eh? Oh, no.” He sounded distracted as he responded. “Actually, it’s a bit of a pain that long. But I haven’t had much time ta get it cut.”
“Denney can do that for you after this?” Siobhan offered.
He gave her an amused smile, although it looked strained around the edges. “Ya not offeri’n to do it yerself?”
“You don’t want me cutting hair,” she assured him dryly. “Trust me.”
“She gets it crooked every time,” Conli tacked on. “You should have seen what she did to Wolf’s hair the last time she tried.”
“Took Denney two haircuts to really straighten it out again,” Wolf remembered with a grimace.
Denney put her head around the doorframe to say, “I don’t mind. How short you want it, Rune?”
“Bit shorter than Markl’s, here.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” She paused and really looked at him for a moment. “I saw a man in Quigg that had an interesting hair style…it was shorter on one side, a little longer toward the front. It looked sharp.”
Rune asked in an undertone, “Do ya trust her ta play with a man’s head?”
“She’s never made a hash of it,” Siobhan assured him.
Turning his head, he gave her a nod. “Do as ya like, then.”
“Oh good.” She ducked back inside, her words floating on the air. “Let me find some scissors.”
“Well, Rune, you’re going to look like a brand new man by tomorrow,” Siobhan observed. “Conli, are you going to wrap the arm?”
“To keep it from being infected,” Conli responded without looking up. “Alright, Rune, the worst is over. I’ve got some salve I’m putting on—you like that? Yes, it has a cooling effect. Feels quite good, but it also promotes healing. In three weeks, no one will tell by looking at your arm a tattoo was ever there. But for now, we’re going to change that bandage once a day, keep things clean, with lots of this salve on it. Geta? Good man.”
Rune finally let go of her hand with a sigh of relief. She tousled his hair, playfully, before getting up. “He’s all yours, Denney!”
“Oh good, a new victim!” Denney caroled back, appearing with a towel, scissors, and a comb.
Rune eyed the two women with growing alarm, although he smiled, as if knowing they were teasing. “Ah…is it too late ta take it back?”
“Yes,” Denney informed him seriously.
“Just do a man a favor and leave me my ears?”
Denney cackled like a mad crone.
While they had been waiting in Vakkiod, Grae had been busy. Siobhan didn’t want to travel for hours at a time if they didn’t need to, especially with wounded people. In fact, as soon as they were well enough to sit in a wagon, she wanted them out of this village and in a safer place. The question was, where was that mythical place of safety?
Anticipating the need to go into Iron Dragain, she’d directed Grae to build a path to Sateren. If she didn’t get the confirmation she expected to, she’d have him build another path toward Quigg from there. Several people in the guild had had nothing but time on their