Chenda and the Airship Brofman (30 page)

“I will try. I promise you that,” he vowed. They sat there in silence. Chenda found that Fenimore, more than any other person, put her at ease. Eventually, the others began to stir. Fenimore dropped Chenda's hand and tousled her short spiky hair.

“Look at that,” he said. “We begin again in a new day. Let's see what happens to us next.”

A small, hunched woman tottered quietly into the chamber carrying a bundle of fuel for the fire in one hand and balancing a tray of food in the other. She tossed a few briquettes onto the low flames as she passed and the room brightened considerably. She placed her platter on the table and backed away, bowing.

The serving woman faced Verdu, and patiently waited for him to address her first. He made a greeting, and then the woman quietly delivered her message.

“Ah,” Verdu said turning to Chenda and Candice, who had already begun an examination the breakfast selections. “She says that Pranav Erato will see us in just over an hour's time, and if you ladies wish it, she will be happy to escort you to a hot pool to bathe.”

“Whoopie!” Candice said. “I offend even myself. Let's go!”

“Dear gods, yes,” Chenda replied. “All my fortune for a cake of soap, please.”

The two ladies started to follow the little woman out of the room, but Candice turned and trotted back to the table to snag a few tidbits from the breakfast tray. “No point skipping breakfast,” she winked at Verdu. Fenimore also grabbed a handful and stood to follow the ladies.

Candice held a hand up to him. “No, no, no. You are not going to follow us to the baths,” she said firmly.

“I won't follow you in, I just want to be close by, in case you need me.”

“Don't be absurd.” She flapped her hands at him, “Go. Sit.” She narrowed one eye at him and said slowly, “Stay.” She turned on her heel and marched out.

Fenimore glanced at Verdu, who said, “I'd listen to her, brother, or you may not live to regret it. I've never heard a command so serious.”

Fenimore gave another withering glance at the curtains, still gently swaying from the women's exit, and he sat. “I've been cowed by a woman half my size,” he said shamedly.

A moment later, Chenda burst back through the curtains and ran to Verdu's side. “I'm trusting you to keep these safe for me,” she said, pressing the black velvet bag into his hands and running back out again.

Verdu grinned at Fenimore. “That's surprising. I guess she finally trusts me.”

“Don't be too sure. I would bet you five that she's hoping you steal the little buggers so she won't have to go through with this.”

Chenda, stripped naked and resting in a pool of very hot water, scrubbed at the dirt which had collected in the crook of her elbow. The rough cloth did a fairly good job of scraping off the gunk, but she wished for some bubbles.

“Why don't we have any soap, do you think?” she asked Candice, soaking in another pool across the steamy and low ceilinged cave.

“Well, I guess they don't have any lye, and you need lye to make soap. No hardwoods to use for fires means no wood ash. No wood ash means no lye.”

Chenda considered her missing clothes. The serving woman had gathered them up as they entered the steaming pools, pantomiming a scrubbing motion with them. Chenda assumed that meant her things were destined for a laundering. She was surprised how attached she had become to her warm silk pants and her flight coat. “So, how do you think they will get our clothes clean without soap?”

“Easy,” Candice said as she dunked her head under the water and resurfaced, splashing and blowing bubbles. “Fuller's earth. It's kind of like clay, and it absorbs odors and grease. Useful stuff.” She dunked again, and came up speaking. “Or maybe they use alkaline water. I don't know if there are enough people in the Resistance to collect that much urine, though.”

“Ew. I'm hoping for the fuller's earth now.” Chenda examined the small bowls of various pungent pastes that a serving girl placed at the edge of her bathing pool. She glanced at the young woman in the corner. She watched Chenda intently, waiting to spring forward should the bathing woman required any assistance. Chenda pointed at the first bowl and shrugged her shoulders, hoping to convey that she had no clue what to do with the contents. The girl, with beautiful, richly dark skin and deep brown eyes, dropped to her knees and scooted over to Chenda.

She picked up the bowl and sniffed at it, then offered it to Chenda, placing it before her nose. Chenda inhaled the bright, almost minty smell. “Mmm...” She opened her mouth and pointed in, her eyes asking,
do I eat this?

The girl laughed, a sweet bubbly sound, and she scooped out a walnut sized blob and began to rub it into Chenda's hair. As she massaged it down to her scalp, the girl eased Chenda's back against the wall of the hot spring, settling her onto a smooth bench. It felt so nice. The girl’s fingers massaged the paste through her hair, down her neck and into the shallow divots behind her ears and jaw. The smell of mint and the vapor of the water relaxed her almost as much as the young woman's touch.

The girl picked up another cup from the side of the pool. She tipped Chenda's head back until it rested on the girl's lap. Dipping her delicate fingers into the cup, she transferred an oily liquid to Chenda's face. It smelled spicy and felt warm on her skin as the girl slowly smoothed it across her cheeks and down her nose. Chenda looked up into the girl’s sweet face for a time, seeing the concentration there; she wanted to do her job exceptionally well. The girl’s eyes flicked to Chenda's and she smiled pleasantly. Chenda could tell that the girl was slightly uncomfortable under her stare, so she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of the girl's fingers on her forehead, her jawline and neck. After a few minutes, the girl finished Chenda's massage, and blotted her face with a soft cloth.

The girl patted Chenda on the shoulder and she opened her eyes. The girl pointed to her head and then the water. She wanted Chenda to dunk her head, it seemed, so Chenda did. She could feel the minty paste dissolve as she went under. She swished her fingers through her short hair, and was surprised to feel how silky it had become. She rose from the water again, and looked over to where the girl had been, but she was gone. In her place was an older woman, with much fairer skin, holding a large square of gray, fluffy cloth.

“I guess I'm done then,” she said to the woman holding the towel.

She knelt down and offered a hand to Chenda to help her out of the water. As Chenda stepped up onto the stone bench, she took the woman's hand. The older woman's expression changed to one of long felt pain. “Chenda!” she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

Chenda focused on the woman's face as she pulled a towel around her shoulders. “Yes?” she asked, fairly sure the woman didn't understand her language. Once she looked closely, she noticed that there was something familiar about this woman.

The woman patted Chenda on the chest. “Chenda,” she stated. Then the woman touched her own chest. “Abhya,” she said.

All the pieces fell into place for Chenda in an instant. This was Abhya, the fair skinned one. Sold into service. Swapped for a princess too scared to be a bride. Exiled to the Resistance. Robbed of her child.

“Mother?” Chenda gasped. “MOTHER!”

Chenda leaped from the water, throwing her arms around her mother squatting by the side of the warm pool. She pressed her face into the woman's neck, and she, in turn, wrapped her arms around her daughter. She started to rock Chenda back and forth, as one would rock an infant child. The two women sat there for a long time crying tears of joy, which mingled with the drips of water falling from Chenda's body. Naked as the day she was born, she sat there, holding her mother and being held in return. No thoughts came to Chenda other than the fierce joy of reunion.

Candice, who had heard Chenda exclaim, quickly realized what was going on, and who the older woman with Chenda must be. As she wrapped herself in a thick towel, she felt like an eavesdropper or some kind of emotional peeping Tom. Candice retreated into a shadow toward the back of the chamber and tried to be unobtrusive as the mother and daughter reunited.

Abhya pulled the towel up around Chenda's naked shoulders, and then held her at arm's length. She traced her daughter's features with her fingertips, crying and laughing at the same time. Abhya started talking excitedly to Chenda, and it hardly mattered that she couldn't understand. The rhythm and tone of her mother's voice filled Chenda's heart with gladness.

It occurred to Chenda that she and her mother needed to go back to Verdu. He could help them to talk to one another. She pulled Abhya to her feet and pulled her toward the exit. The woman followed her for a moment and then grunted, pulling her hand back. She pulled up the corner of Chenda's towel and giggled.

“Oops, I'm naked. I might just give those boys a scare if I walk in like this!” Chenda said.

Her mother whistled toward the corner where Candice skulked, waving the woman to come forward. Abhya then turned to a basket on the floor, where she pulled out a few articles of bright Tugrulian clothing. These garments were significantly nicer than the old and plain ones Captain Taboda had given them aboard the
Tjalk
. The gown Abhya pressed into Candice's arms shimmered an iridescent blue, and it practically dripped in intricate embroidery and faceted gemstones. Chenda's gown, equally adorned with expensive needlework, was the palest purple. Hundreds of small and medium sized amethyst beads accented the wrists and neckline. Chenda pulled the exquisite dress over her head and her mother reached out to help her settle it around her shoulders.

A thrill of joy shook through Chenda at her mother's touch. She turned to Candice.” She's my mother! Can you believe it?” 

Candice accepted a pair of soft, embroidered shoes from Abhya, nodding a thank you. “I can see the resemblance, dear. I'm very happy for you.” Candice smoothed the front of her gown and looked herself over. “Well, we are dressed as smartly as one can imagine. I guess we have a big day ahead of us. We should get back to the fellows, as we have an appointment soon.”

“Indeed,” Chenda replied, a little sadness in her voice. She slipped on a pair of beautiful shoes offered by her mother, and tucked her pouch-belt up under her dress, buckling it tight around her hips. Chenda then grabbed her mother by the hand, intending to never let go again. Abhya patted the girl’s hand, understanding, then gestured toward the door. “Verdu,” she said. Chenda nodded and walked toward the opening to the dark passageway.

The young girl who had helped Chenda with the bath ointments burst through the curtains covering the door, shouting at Abhya in panicked tones. The older woman listened for a moment to the flood of words from the serving girl, then Abhya gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand and clutching Chenda's wrist tightly with the other. A moment of decision flickered across Abhya's face, as she glanced at her daughter. A moment later she grabbed the small lantern by the door, and ran, pulling Chenda along. Candice raced after her, nearly knocking down the young serving girl on the way out.

Abhya and the two women raced down the passageway, darting down twisting tunnels like rats in a maze. Chenda never let go of her mother, but checked often to see if Candice still followed. The further they ran, the more rough and unused the passageways began to look.

Chenda gathered that they were running away from something, but she couldn't imagine what. She was afraid. There was panic in her mother's eyes, and Chenda could do nothing to relieve it. On they ran, until the passage deadended into a small cavern. Chenda saw the slightly plump figure of Ahy-Me standing next to a rock slide at the back of the cavern, her face twisted in concern. She brightened considerably when she saw Chenda and Candice.

She blurted several words of relief in her own language, then said, "Vorry not. You safe for now. Pranav Erato send me to help you. Hide you. Come. Ve climb.”

She started up the steep rock slide, leading the way. Abhya pushed the lantern into Candice's hands and then grabbed her daughter, wrapping both hands around her neck. She shook with fear and tears. She brought her forehead to Chenda's and placed her hands on each side of Chenda's face. Automatically, Chenda returned the gesture as she and Candice has practiced. When Chenda reached her mother's elbows and made the gentle push, Abhya stepped back slightly, and with a great sob, turned and ran headlong back into the dark passage. Chenda stepped to follow, but Candice restrained her.

“No,” Chenda said, swatting at Candice. “No, NO, NO!”

She turned and shouted up to Ahy-Me. “What's going on?!”

Halfway up the wall now, Ahy-Me looked down at Chenda. “Soldiers come. They follow the spies that seek you from across the sea, followed you here. They bring the boat man you know. The caves safe no more, we run. Maybe we find friends again. Hurry. Come!” she begged.

“But where has my mother gone?” Chenda pleaded.

“Abhya makes to lead the soldiers away from this path.” Ahy-Me said, climbing once again. “Give us time to run.”

“NO! I just found her. I won't let her go!” Chenda pulled against Candice's restraining hand, trying to race after her mother.

“No, honey,” Candice said softly. “I know you want to follow, I understand. But you'll never catch up to her now, not in the dark. We'll find her again when we can. Count on it.”

She pulled Chenda back toward the rock wall, and pushed her up onto the first rock. Chenda's tears clouded her vision and frustration hung on her limbs, making her move slowly. Eventually she made it to the top of the tumble of rocks. Hidden in the shadows at the top was a narrow crack. Ahy-Me's hand reached through and caught Chenda, pulling her in. Chenda crawled further into the small space to make room for Candice, who climbed through as well.