Episode Four

Yaxi, when she opened her door, came as a surprise to Morran. The near-black skin was there as described by Mr Dreyess, the sable, wavy hair, the broad shoulders. Morran had been expecting a fearsome warrior in riding leathers, however. Not one wearing an old, flowery gown with hair cascading town in a tangled waterfall. And who gave Morran a brief but entirely welcoming grin.
"Hey."
"Er, morning," Morran said, still nervous. "I'm Morran Heppac. I… er, I live in this building too. Next floor down, a couple of doors along, I think."
"Hey. Yaxi Tanson. I live here."
"Yeah. An' I thought I'd, like, pop my head in to say How Do. An' see if you were settling in OK."
The grin appeared again, more mischievous this time. "And to, you know, see who we are and get what I'm told is called in these parts a reet good gawp?"
"Er, yeah. I guess."
"Come in." Yaxi stepped back and closed the door. Morran took a quick but thorough glance around the living room. It was twice the size of her own and contained maybe a third of the possessions. The few items of furniture which did exist appeared to be brand new. The one exception was a large travelling chest by a wall, battered and stained almost to the point of parody. As Yaxi walked further in, Morran noticed how badly she was limping. She was surprised; this detail had failed to make it onto the gossip circuits. "You're the first to call by, actually," Yaxi continued, "Which kind of amazed me. I was starting to think nobody was interested in us."
"Oh no. We're interested all right."
Radav wandered out of the bedroom, wearing a faded shirt and an absurd pair of pale pink pantaloons. Morran had the feeling that, though it was nearly midday, she had got the couple out of bed. "One of the nosy neighbours," Yaxi explained after making introductions. "But she's quite up-front about being nosy so I guess that's OK. You want to sit out on the terrace?"
"Aye, ta," Morran smiled. "Be nice on a day like today."
"Radi," Yaxi said as she hobbled across the room, "Why don't you be a star and fix us some refreshments?"
"Summit wrong with you doing that?" Radav demanded truculently, though he was already heading for the kitchen nook.
"No, I think the phrase should have been, 'You break your legs or summit?' To which the answer, of course, is 'Oh boy, yes, in spades.'"
"Aye, OK. If you don't mind the neighbours thinking I've turned into a pansy boy."
"If the cap fits, hon, if the cap fits." Out on the terrace Yaxi fell gratefully into a cane chair, waving Morran into another.
"You've got him trained well," Morran smiled.
"He's adjusting. We're both, you know, having to adjust a bit."
"That a…" Morran waved vaguely at Yaxi's crooked leg. "That recent?"
"About six months ago now. But you'd better believe, it's not getting any better."
"You never know. We've got a decent herbalist nearby. Smithson. Mind you, he limps pretty bad himself. Was born with it, I think."
"Well, I know quite a heap about herbs myself. Radav does too. And we've tried everything there is to try and can pretty definitely say: this baby is here to stay." Yaxi shrugged. "You know, that's the cards you get."
"You mind if I ask..?"
"A castle gateway fell on it."
Morran gaped at her. "What, a whole gateway?"
"Well, all of it didn't land on my leg. Just, you know, a significant enough percentage. In the gateway's defence, I don't think it was aiming for me. I just kind of happened to be in the way."
"Hell. That's awful. This happen in the Cities?"
"No, not in the Cities. And it should also be said, the gateway wasn't the only thing falling down at the time. The whole of the castle was really. It's just that while we got out of the rest of it before that happened, the gateway was proverbial last hurdle I couldn't quite manage."
"A damn castle fell down. Where the hell was this?"
"Oh, you know. That place where the castle fell down."
"But what made it?"
"Well, to be totally honest, we kind of did. So I really don't have any cause to whine about some of it landing on me."
Morran stared, trying to decide if Yaxi's half-smile meant that she was joking. "You saying you knocked a castle down?"
"We-e-e-ll… we sort of removed the thing that was keeping it upright."
"What, like the cement or summit?"
"Yeah, I guess it was like the cement or summit." Radav stepped out onto the terrace carrying fruit cordials. "But we won't talk about it in front of the husband, if that's OK," Yaxi continued. "He's heard the story a few times before."
"I were there, remember."
"Oh yeah, hon, and you were a terrific help."
"Tried kissing it better, didn't I?" Radav said over his shoulder as he stomped indoors again. Morran received the impression of a couple who expressed their love mostly through bickering and mockery, and warmed towards them.
"That the sort of thing you normally do then?" she asked cautiously.
"No, not out of habit," Yaxi smiled. "And I think I can definitely declare us retired from the castle demolition business. You know, for a while at least." She took a long draught. "Orange and lime with just a touch of ginger. Say what you want but I think the man's a genius."
Morran sipped her cordial and rather agreed. "What you planning on doing here then? For a living, I mean?"
"Kind of not a lot for a while. Chilling. We've only just got up and, while we won't be going to such extremes every day, I don't think this'll be the only one."
"Yeah? Nice if you can afford it."
"Well, we can for a while. We've got a few savings to live on. So I guess for the next month or so we'll be kind of the idle rich."
"Don't get many of them settling here in Jakks Way."
"I know, but you sort of don't have to be as rich to live here, do you? So you can get away with being so, so more idle."
Morran studied Yaxi's face for a moment. Though illuminated perfectly by the harsh noon sunlight, it was impossible to read. "Well, when you're done with that…" she began carefully. "My husband Dryden works at the Zierlona carpenters up in Forgar. When his back lets him, that is. Lots of the folks round here are at one or other of the Forgar workshops. They treat you like shit but the wages are steady. So that could be summit your Radav might look into. I need to be home more, got kids to look after, the flat to clean an' so on. So I take in stitching, lacework mostly. There's always contractors looking for new seamstresses. Brings in a decent living if you can make the time. You with your leg like that, could be summit you take up. This the sort of thing you two have done in the past?"
"Conveyor belt assembly work and seamstressing?" Yaxi asked, raising her eyebrows. "Well, no, frankly. But hey, we're not ones to block off new avenues without having a peer down them first."
Morran laughed. "Fair enough. Your bloke's a local boy but you're from East Zabrial, I hear. That right?"
Yaxi nodded. "City of Mermaids, according to our landlord. Nice to hear some still calling it that rather than, you know, City of Psycho Headbanging Rebels or something."
"Yeah, we're getting more an' more coming here from East Zabrial, running from the troubles down there. That why you leave too?"
"Well, not so much. I left a way long time before that wagon had really got up to speed."
"Because of your man in there then?"
"Hm." Yaxi frowned. "Not really. I guess it would be because of 'my man in there' that I've not really missed it and so not wanted to go back to live."
"What made you first leave then? Work?"
"No. Force."
"What?"
"Force," Yaxi repeated in the same neutral tone, "Made me first leave." Morran blinked at her.
"What kind of force?"
"Well, that would be physical force."
Morran made one more attempt to interpret the calm, still figure. She failed; and, almost unprecedented for her, she was unable to find the courage to pry any further. Her laugh this time was a nervous one. "OK, I'll shut my gob for now. Good answers, by the way. Not really dodging but still leaving me wanting more."
"Hey, thanks. And thanks for a pretty civil interrogation too. There was some seriously subtle stuff going on at times there."
"Well, this is the Cities. We do stuff civil here. Sometimes. By the way… You got my husband's name. Dryden. He were my first husband but not my first love, buy me a few drinks one night an' I'll tell you about the others. I've three kids still alive, one age fourteen, one ten an' one eight now. I were born in the Cities, my folks were too but I think the family's from up Sharsaw way originally. We worship the Goddess Ella but I just mean go to temple once a week, I don't mean worship worship." Morran paused. "Right, that's the basics. Owt else you want to know."
"Is there anyone we shouldn't be making fun of in your presence?"
"Foreigners," Morran said instantly. "Especially Notrufans. Not that they are foreigners but they might as well be here. The old bloody one about the only reason Notrufans come to the Cities. Sick to my stomach with it all."
"Well, I've so never felt tempted to make fun of the good Province of Notruf, but I'll make sure I resist if it comes."
"Not that I'm Notrufan myself, like I said. But my mate Zesheyek, is an' she's treated like shit sometimes. I'll introduce you to Zesheyek. Lovely lass. I'd have brought her here today but I wanted to check you weren't a couple of psychos. No offence."
"None taken. And let's be honest, you've kind of not really found out that weren't not, have you?"
Morran abruptly exploded into laughter, the strangeness of the situation and the deadpan wit of the answers making something erupt inside her. Yaxi laughed for a second too, she noticed, but no longer. "Naw, I reckon you're all right. Owt else you want to know? About the neighbourhood?"
"Do you guys really stab each other at the Last Drop Inn every Saturday night?"
"You got that from Delpess too, I'm thinking. Well, I dunno what his mates get up to an' I don't want to. The Last Drop's OK. Worst thing that happens most Saturday s is a bunch of drunks singing bloody awful folk songs an' pinching the barmaid's bum."
"Sounds like my kind of place."
Morran stood up. "I'd best be off, if you don't mind. Tons of stuff to do, like always. Glad we did this. You two likely to accept an invite to dinner sometime soon? Say no if you want. My kids can be pretty rowdy."
"You know, you'd be seriously amazed what conditions we'd put up with if there's free food involved. See you later then. Radav'll see you out if you don't mind. Radi!" Yaxi hollered, then when he appeared, "You fancy doing the good host deal, showing our guest out and check she hasn't lifted any spoons."
Radav glared down at her. "Aye. OK. You hurt your leg by any chance?"
"Good guess. Hey, did you see that?" she crowed after Radav had escorted Morran out and returned to the terrace. "And don't pretend you didn't. I so know you were eavesdropping like a nosy old woman. Do I rule or what? The neighbourhood hath spake and it said: I'm all right. I'll tell you what else I am. I'm a goddess."
"You're a bloody headcase, that's what," Radav countered churlishly. "What were all that about knocking a castle down?"
"Well? We kind of did, didn't we?"
"That's no bloody reason to… We agreed. We'd slip in an' live quietly for a bit. Sometimes that seems like the only bit of the stuff we agreed that makes sense. An' now you-"
Yaxi sighed theatrically. "You know, I'm going to buy us a mirror tomorrow so you can take a good look in it and decide if we'd, you know, ever look like a couple of normal dudes. We could burn my bow and all my arrows instead of just hiding them under the bed, we could melt down your sword and all your knives and that card was never coming up. We look like a couple of highway bandits. Deal with it. My way of dealing is to get us some allies. That Morran woman looks like she could be one and I've made one hell of a start and that, hon, is why you should be worshipping at my feet right now." Yaxi paused, then added, "Hey, what is the old one about the only reason Notrufans come to the Cities?"
"I dunno. We're in the Province of Dorlaf here, ain't we? Notruf is the Province to the south-west-"
"Yeah, thanks, I kind of was still in school when I was five. So I don't need the lecture about how Notruf and Gesund are in the south-west, Zabrial's to the south-east, Dorlaf, Elsey and Kratz are the central Provinces and Schall's up to the north. And how they all used to be separate kingdoms before uniting to form the shiny, smiley Confederacy of Christoté. Just tell me the old one about why Notrufans come to the Cities."
"I dunno, do I?" Radav said. "Notruf's got no money. Place always has been a shitehole. Maybe they all come here to get work."
"That's the joke? Economic factors, arf arf arf?"
"You're in a hell of a mood all of a sudden."
"Well, you're not worshipping at my feet," Yaxi pointed out."
"You'd only be whingeing about me hurting your bad leg if I were."
"Did you hear, they've got a kick-ass herbalist here only he can't cure his own bad leg? I so want to meet him. Find out if he goes around crying 'Oh! The irony!' as much as me."
"If you find someone to swap bad leg stories with, that's it. I'm bloody leaving you. Actually, that could be it. Divorce. Women can't divorce men in Notruf, I hear. Only the other way round. So they all charge up here to do it."
"Yeah? Still not the greatest gag in the world, is it."
"That kind of joke ain't meant to be funny." Radav frowned at his wife. "'What made you leave East Zabrial?' 'Force.'"
"Well? It did, didn't it?"