Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Read online

  “Still crazy! She’s been experimenting with hair dye, of all things, and she looks… Well you have to see her, you’ll laugh!”

  Who this Phinyeacza was, I had no idea, but although Jimmy had been to see her a few days earlier they volunteered to go with us when we finished our drinks. I wondered briefly if she was Charlie’s mysterious older woman, but he was acting far too casually so I dismissed the thought.

  Feeling marvellously refreshed, I followed the other three from the café, away from the direction of the Hall but roughly parallel to the shore of the lake. The afternoon had begun to cool, but if anything the streets were more busy. Jimmy seemed to know pretty much everyone we passed, and a blushing Lolitha was introduced proudly. She seemed to shrink from the attention and the understanding smiles.

  “I hate this,” she muttered to me as Jimmy and Charlie laughed with a group of Nea’thi, and we took the opportunity to relax on a bench. “They take one look at me with Jimmy and they know.”

  “Eh? Know what?” I asked stupidly.

  “That I’m, you know, gay.”

  “Oh.”

  “A male Mentor wouldn’t have a girl Bloodkin otherwise. I feel so… obvious.”

  “I hadn’t realised it was a secret!”

  She blushed. “Yeah, well, I’ve been trying to keep it a secret for years.”

  “And how did that go for you?”

  She snorted. “Yeah, pretty shit. But things at home were… different.” She scratched her head and looked down.

  “Yeah, but Lille’s different, isn’t it? It’s not like anyone around here minds!”

  “I know.” She sighed, “Still, I feel like I’m walking around with a big flashing sign saying ‘Great Ugly Lesbian’ on my head.” The bitterness in her voice surprised me.

  “But you’re not ugly at all!” I blurted out and she glanced up at me with a wry smile.

  “Ha, yeah, thanks Jas. Hey, at least I’m not still walking round in Human clothes like that snobby bitch Sallagh.” My pulse quickened at the mention of the gorgeous Sallagh, but I tried to appear disinterested.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, her and Emma were the first to move into the Hall. She’s from Lille, you know, her father’s someone terribly important. It’s a pity, ‘cause Emma’s just so goshdarned nice. And women usually aren’t, once they, you know, know.”

  “What, they think you’ll hit on them? That’s retarded!”

  “Yeah, well.” Lolitha shrugged. Slightly uncomfortable, I steered the conversation back to Sallagh.

  “Though surely that’s why Emma is her Mentor.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, I mean, Charlie mentioned something about Mentors being assigned their Bloodkin based on temperament. I’m sure Emma will mellow her out.”

  “Well, I’d rather it happened sooner rather than later. Honestly, the girl is a pain in the arse.” She looked up at our Mentors, laughing happily with more Nea’thi who had stopped to chat. Charlie was gesturing like mad and grinning widely.

  “Look at Charlie go. He’s so gregarious!” Lolitha laughed, “What does that say about you?”

  “That I’m, um, shy?”

  “Yeah, sure. Socially inept more like.” She grinned at me teasingly.

  As if hearing his name, Charlie and Jimmy disengaged from the crowd and wandered over to us.

  “Sorry about that, kids! Hell, I haven’t seen some of these guys for years! Shall we press on?”

  We stood and walked a little further down the street, then turned down a very dim and narrow lane. It twisted round a corner and stopped in front of a shop. Its arched windows were unshuttered, but the dark amber glass of the windows themselves were closed and I could not see inside. The stone sign that hung above the door had been chiselled with a curious design – a pouch above what appeared to be a crossed pair of moss-pipes.

  “Come on my darlings,” said Jimmy wickedly as he pushed through the door and led us inside. “I think it’s time you met Fiona.”

  The air inside the shop was smoky and sweet, lit by golden light from the windows and amber glowbes. The front section of the shop hardly seemed like a shop at all. Couches were grouped together beneath the windows and bookcases were stacked with magazines and newspapers. A small group of Humans and Nea’thi sat in one corner sharing a moss-pipe and they looked up when we entered and nodded cordially before returning to their conversation. The Mentors led us past the front alcove down to the back of the shop. It was furnished like a wealthy family home, the walls hung with tapestries and paintings, including one large landscape that I could have sworn was an Ashlu. Down the back, racks were set up along one wall and they held coloured woven baskets in white, green, blue, gold, red and purple. They were stacked neatly according to colour and were filled with Nea’thi smoking moss.

  The large counter held a clear glass display like the one at the pen-merchant, only this one was filled with pipes of all different shapes and sizes, made from glass, wood or metal. The back of the shop seemed deserted, but then we heard a loud string of curses from a room behind the counter.

  “Фyѫeaжa? Are you alright back there?” called Charlie.

  “Oh I’m fine, just this bloody thing won’t—” A head popped round the corner. “Ϛaioћ! You’re back!”

  The Nea’thi woman who appeared certainly was an odd-looking creature. She wore not Nea’thi robes, but a Human-style dress, full in the skirt and nipped in tightly at the waist, her impressive grey décolletage on display. Odder still was the cloud of bright sunshine-yellow hair that framed her plump, smiling face. I’d only ever seen Nea’thi with white hair, evolved without pigment during millennia Underground. She manoeuvred her ample frame round the counter, silken skirts swishing, to clasp Charlie to her bosom.

  “Oh what a pleasant surprise this is! I’m so glad you got to come back to us!” Releasing him, she turned to me. “So this is your Bloodkin? Welcome dear!” And before I knew it I was buried in an embrace, my head fearfully close to her heaving chest.

  “My name is Фyѫeaжa Odờлoρenấ of the Жanờ Enclave, but with the Nea’thi language and all that, you can call me Fiona.” She smiled at me brightly and I staggered back. She turned to Lolitha. “And you’re Jyѫaжa’s girl! Jyѫ darling, you didn’t tell me she was so pretty!” Lolitha’s blush deepened as she was subjected to the same crushing hug as Charlie and me, and she wriggled slightly before accepting the embrace as Fiona patted her hair. “Welcome! Welcome to my shop, Fiona’s emporium of mossy delights!” she chuckled.

  “Фyѫea, your hair! Jimmy said something about dye, it looks marvellous!”

  Fiona smiled coquettishly at Charlie and twirled a strand around her finger. “Oh yes, I’ve been experimenting. This particularly lovely colour comes from the tiny stamens of crocus flowers, would you believe? Hideously expensive I tell you, but I’m rather hoping the fashion will catch on, white is so boring you know. Oh yes, dye for hair is a wee fun project of mine, not that I don’t have enough to do, growing moss for you greedy lot!”

  Emboldened by her outgoing demeanour, I asked, “Couldn’t you just use your, you know, magic to change the colour?”

  She looked at me with her head tilted slightly to the side and frowned. “Yes… Yes it could… Hmm.” She went over to Charlie and lifted a long strand of his white hair, peering at it intently for a few seconds. It turned bright blue.

  “Oh! Look at that, very clever Jaseth!” But as she looked up at me and away from the hair it turned white again. She looked back and humphed her disappointment.

  “There must be a way to make this more permanent.”

  “Uh, Фyѫea, I don’t really need it to be more permanent.” Charlie looked alarmed.

  “Fair enough!” Fiona plucked the hair from Charlie’s head.

  “Ow! Was that really—”

  “Shush, I’m concentrating.” Fiona stretched the hair in front of her and closed her eyes. Slowly the strand turned bright blue again. “Look, that’s better!�
� She waved the hair in front of Charlie’s face, “Permanent! Though I rather think if you wanted to do it this way you’d have to do it strand by strand. Maybe with practice it would only take a few hours,” she sighed. “But I am only a mere horticulturalist, I think I’d better stick with dye. Still, good thinking Jaseth, inquisitive minds do well at the Academy.”

  Even though it hadn’t really worked I was pleased that Fiona had taken my idea seriously. At home, any suggestion I made to my parents or tutors tended to be brushed off, due to my lack of experience in anything.

  Jimmy had drifted away to study the pipes in the cabinet and bade Lolitha to help him choose a new one. “Not a bloody glass one this time,” I heard him tell her. “I’ll only drop it or something and it’ll smash!”

  Fiona was still contemplating the strand of blue hair, muttering to herself about light reflection and cuticle properties.

  “Oh, I don’t suppose you’ll be coming down to the Shivering Thistle tonight?” she asked abruptly, as if she only just remembered we were there. “I heard O’Malley’s getting in some wonderful travelling musicians, Nea’thi-Bloods, all the way from Allyon. And Aӣấћtiжầ will be there of course, I’m sure she’d like to see you again Ϛaioћ.”

  Charlie blushed almost imperceptibly. Perhaps this Annyashticzya was his Journeyman crush.

  “Oh yeah? I haven’t seen her for years, how is she?” Yep, his casualness was definitely forced.

  Fiona cast a pointed glance at Jimmy and Lolitha, still busy with the pipes. “Oh, you know Aӣấ, she’s fine.” It rather sounded like Fiona was holding back on the subject, but Charlie didn’t push her. “Now, you’ll need to restock your moss, yes?” she exclaimed brightly, changing the subject. She guided us over to the rack of baskets. “I’ve got a particularly nice new Purple in that they’ve been working on down in Hầiờ.”

  Charlie blushed outright. “I don’t really think I’ll have much need for Purple,” he muttered.

  Fiona cackled and nudged him hard in the ribs. “Well you never know! Although living in the Halls doesn’t leave much room for romancing, Yұieӣấ’s rule of no visitors after ten right?”

  “Er, right. Yeah, I probably just need some White, and maybe a bit of Red and Gold.”

  “Of course. Now, for the White I find a blend of one third Ұiờ Alabaster and two thirds of my own White Silence to be particularly helpful, great for headaches.”

  Charlie nodded and Fiona used a tiny pair of tongs to measure out moss from the two baskets she indicated into a small metal container. It had sharp teeth on the bottom and inside the lid. She screwed the two parts together to grind up the moss, and when it had been mixed to her satisfaction she poured the fluffy granules into Charlie’s white leather pouch that he held ready. She repeated the process with the Red and Gold, explaining to Charlie about the different varietals she had in stock and mixing them expertly. The mosses themselves all looked pretty much the same – a dry greeny-brown, though some were a paler mint colour, some almost orange – but without the colour-coded baskets there would have been no telling them apart. When she had finished filling Charlie’s bags she took them back to the counter and weighed them carefully, quoting him a price. Charlie counted out coins from his purse and laughed when he saw my questioning face.

  “Can’t really charge this to the Hall account, it’s purely recreational!” He grinned at me.

  Fiona flapped her hands at him. “Jaseth will be able to, later on, when it’s time for my classes.”

  Wow. “You’re teaching us?”

  “Oh yes,” she said seriously, blinking at me. “A study of the use of moss is very important to the education of Nea’thi-Bloods. I mean, Human children get taught about alcohol, don’t they?”

  I laughed. “Hardly!”

  “Hmph, well they should. Anyway, moss is terribly important, especially the use of the Black.”

  I realised, looking over at the baskets again, that there were no black ones there.

  “Oh, I keep it out the back, locked up safely. I deemed it prudent after the, er, incident.” Charlie coughed and Fiona didn’t elaborate, it seemed like an uncomfortable topic of conversation for both of them. “Now, Jimmy, have you chosen one yet?” Fiona asked, changing the subject again.

  “Sure have!” Jimmy pointed to a substantial hardwood pipe, blocky in design with a long, straight stem. Fiona pulled it out of the display and wrapped it for him. When he had paid, Fiona craned her neck round us to look down to the front of the shop.

  “I’d better go see if that lot are ready to buy what they’ve been trying. Thank you for stopping in, was lovely to see you again Ϛaioћ, and to meet you charming Bloodkin.” She beamed at Lolitha and me, ushering us down to the front of the shop. Jimmy, Lolitha and I made for the door, but Charlie lingered, falling in step with Fiona.

  “How is she, really?” I overheard him ask quietly.

  Fiona sighed. “She’s fine. Her… employment is taking its toll. Come to the Thistle tonight, you can see for yourself.”

  “I… Yeah, maybe.”

  At the front of the shop Fiona waved farewell before going to talk to the group on the couches. We waved back then pushed through the door, to make our way back to the Hall in the late afternoon glow.

  harlie showed me how to run the bath with the red and blue enamelled taps and left me to soak while he fiddled with the fire and finished unpacking his boxes. I lay in the huge bath for a good half hour with my eyes closed, enjoying the luxury of the hot water and letting my mind run over the events of the day. Admittedly, I had never travelled much, but the Nea’thi Quarter was by far the weirdest place I had ever been. The mass of people, the strange things you could buy, Fiona. This place was to be my home for the next two years, but it was totally overwhelming. I doubted I could even leave from the front door of the Hall without getting lost, so how the hell was I going to survive here? My own home, and Jaelshead, I knew like the back of my hand. At home I had been the Lord’s heir! Here, I was just another kid and completely out of my depths. Even Lolitha, shy, quiet Lolitha, seemed to be more comfortable.

  Charlie yelled through the door. “You alright in there, Jas? You haven’t fallen asleep and drowned, have you?”

  “No no, I’m just getting out now.” With much splashing I roused myself and got out of the bath, drained it, and ran another for Charlie. When I had dried myself I left the bathroom to him and went to go change.

  “Are you going to wear your other new robe tonight?” he asked before heading in.

  “What, are we dressing up?”

  “Well, yeah, sort of. We’re going out tonight!”

  When Charlie closed the bathroom door behind him I went and stood by the fire, enjoying the warmth for a bit. Charlie had put the shopping bag on one of the chairs and I fished out my wool robe and went to put it on in my bedroom. The dying sun was shining directly in from the west window, illuminating the city and the lake below and reluctantly I drew the curtain to change, wrapping the towel around my still-damp hair. Out in our living room I pulled out my journals and writing equipment and arranged them on one of the desks. Charlie had finished unpacking his books, and I noticed a new box by the door, addressed to me and stamped with the seal of the Lille booksellers. That was quick, I thought, pulling it open. Inside were all my textbooks, neatly packed. Charlie had left me plenty of space on one of the bookcases and I arranged my new texts there. There were books on Human and Nea’thi history, including one wholly dedicated to the events of the Leaving. There was a brief treatise on Nea’thi culture in the Enclaves, as well as a number of books about Hầұeӣ. More surprisingly there were scientific texts, introductions to physics, chemistry and biology. There was even a small tome about the history and cultivation of moss, written by one Фyѫeaжa Odờлoρenấ – Fiona, of all people!

  I had just finished stacking them away when Charlie finished in the bathroom.

  “Ooh, JJ, you look fancy! Hang on, I’ll go get changed.” When he emerged fr
om his bedroom he was wearing not his usual plain black robes, but a much dressier one in a dark wine red. He had pulled his long white hair back with a black velvet ribbon and he had applied his kohl with much more care than usual.

  “Ha Charlie, you scrub up alright! Trying to impress someone eh?” He ducked his head, embarrassed, but I could see his cheeks crease as he grinned.

  “Oh, hardly. Just haven’t had a chance to wear this old thing much.”

  “Sure!” I dried my hair and hung my towel up, dragging my fingers through to get out the worst of the knots. We could hear a commotion in the hallway and Jimmy poked his head in.

  “You guys ready to go up? It’s almost dinner time!” We waved at him and went to follow up to the common room. Charlie touched my arm as we were about to step into the hall.

  “Jas, if anyone says anything about Лấ Ұaßaлioӣ or Lya Myn, don’t say anything, okay?”

  What I possibly could have said about the assassin’s guild, real or not, I didn’t know, so I just nodded at Charlie and we followed Jimmy and Lolitha up the stairs.

  In the common room both the fires were blazing. Three tables had been pushed together down the side near the kitchen into one long trestle, and the chairs and couches had been grouped around the fire closest to the stairs. We appeared to be the last to arrive – everyone else all had glasses of wine in their hands and were seated comfortably. Along with us eight Bloodkin and our Mentors, Eve was relaxing with a wizened old Nea’thi gentleman, and two Journeymen hovered nervously – one I recognised as Steven, the other was a baby-faced youth who fiddled with his shoulder-length white hair.

  Eve noticed us enter and waved for us to join her, motioning for Steven to pour wine for us. The ancient Nea’thi stood to greet us, his well-lined face belying a bearing that was still tall and upright.

  “Myr Roderick, you might remember Ϛaioћ from his time as a Journeyman. Jyѫ of course you know.” The old man nodded gravely and accepted Charlie’s respectful handshake, but made a show of mock exasperation as Jimmy hugged him around the shoulders. “And these are their Bloodkin, Jaseth of Jaelshead and Lolitha of Lallisol. This is Myr Roderick, Dean of the Academy.” So he was important then. I shook his hand as Charlie had done and Lolitha wobbled a curtsey.