Chapter 353

Layali kept her head down and her fingers moving, the silk fabric she was working with was nice enough at least. It was soft to the touch, but her bottom ached, she shifted on her stool while the old man droned on. "It is always important to listen to your elders, as adults we have seen more, know better than you do, and our guidance, firm though it may seem, is always for your well being…"

Even having never been to a 'school', Layali recalled serving tea to her human half siblings while they were being taught their lessons by their tutor. As 'education' went, the difference was clear enough to the cynical half-elf.

The smell of little droplets of blood from needle pricked fingers was thick to her sensitive nose, but she did her best to ignore the scent and focus on her work.

"Faster." Hazeh said, and cracked his cane over his desk with such force that the class all but jumped out of their skin.

Layali however, did not. 'I have your measure now.' She did speed up, but even though there was a burning, thudding pain on her behind and it hurt to sit, it was nothing compared to the tearing of monster flesh, the feel of a sword across her throat, or the battering of Cerebrate or the waters that carried her to the man she now called 'Papa'.

The hours passed her by, the old man's droning voice became as much background noise as the babbling river she'd spent so much time in and beside. She ignored him while her deft little fingers worked needle through cloth, and a little game formed in her mind. 'It's not a needle piercing red cloth, it's my sword shedding blood, fighting back… and winning…' She worked and worked, every plunge of the needle through red fabric felt like another victory until the door opened.

"Time to eat." Lady Grel said two older children with dirt streaked faces where bruises were already starting to form, wheeled a cart into the room. They were young males, and walked with a limp, hobbling on sprained ankles, their eyes down, and their clothing obviously a size too large for them both, and torn in places.

The cart they pushed held a potato, an apple, and a small hunk of cheese that had seen better days.

Layali felt her belly rumble in spite of the pitiful fare, but beyond her focus on hunger, she focused on what she saw. In front of some children… the cart pushers simply slapped down a potato. In front of a few more, they slapped down a potato and an apple. Almost never did they add the cheese.

The girl seated beside Layali leaned over, "The ones who get the cheese met quota." She whispered, "The ones who get the apple and potato, have people paying for em. And the ones who get only a potato? They got nobody."

Layali watched as single potatoes were made the norm, and waited her turn.

The cart finally made it to her table, and a potato was slapped down in front of her by a dirty hand. The boy reached for the apple, and Hazeh cleared his throat.

The young boy looked at Layali with pity, his hands already shaking as he looked over his shoulder to the old instructor.

"That one is a discipline problem. If she behaves, she can start getting her apple when the bruises are gone." He tilted his chin up in the air and looked down her nose at her, his beady eyes were focused like a hunter on his prey. 'Test me.' He seemed to say.

Layali glared back in return.

She realized then what he wanted. She stretched out her hand and took the brown oval lump, and holding it up to her mouth, she took a bite and began to chew.

Only then did he turn away and bring his cane down on his desk again. "You have five minutes to eat, then you will sew for two more hours before you sleep again."

'Patience. They're coming… I just have to be patient… they won't leave me here.' Layali told herself, and when she finished what passed for her meal, she returned in silence to her work.

Brain's limbs weighed on him like lead, and from the look of it, so did Zesshi's. They moved with slow steps as if half dead when laying camp. They barely spoke, only little by little did the work get done, and it was well into the night when they lay their bedrolls down.

"You forgot to cook." Zesshi said as she pulled the cloak over her body.

"It's Layali's job to do the cooking." Brain replied while looking up at the stars.

"Layali's not here." Zesshi replied without turning to look his way.

"I know that." He answered her while watching the twinkling lights in the distance.

"So why didn't you do it? You know I'm hopeless at that stuff still…" Zesshi asked him and rolled onto her side to look at him.

"Because it's Layali's job to do the cooking. And she's not here." Brain said, his voice was more hollow as a drum and soft as a whisper, his eyes blinked several times and he added when Zesshi said nothing more, "And would you have eaten if I had?"

Zesshi poked at the ground with one finger and for a few seconds at least she was unable to say anything. "No… no, probably not. I just don't have my appetite anyway."

"It doesn't help that there's no fire to cook with." Brain pointed out.

"That's-" Zesshi closed her mouth when Brain finally looked her way and said…

"Layali's job."

"You're sure we did the best thing?" Zesshi asked and looked back down the road they'd traveled by.

"Given what's already happened? She'd be dead twice over if she didn't have that talent. If we kept her with us, how long will it be before we have to protect her from the Theocracy? How long will it be before the Agante take her hostage, or she gets injured by a monster…?" Brain said it in as pragmatic a fashion as he could, but he wasn't looking at her when he said it. He was looking down the same road.

"Is something bothering you?" Brain asked, "Other… other than the obvious, I mean."

"Just… look… I'm a screw up. I fucked everything up for you, her, and me, and more besides, from the moment we started traveling together… I'm… I'm sorry." Zesshi said, it wasn't her first such apology, but the way her lips were moving, he could see she had more, her eyes went from him to the road and back again, and she went on, "So I didn't want to say this, but I don't know."

"Don't know what?" Brain raised one eyebrow and lowered the other while she exhaled a deep breath as if she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"When I was living in the Theocracy, before I started hiding these," she ran a hand over her left ear, "I would get 'looks' from humans. Sometimes disgust, sometimes hatred. I didn't know what they were at the time, but now that I do, I recognize them. But the looks I got from the Cardinals, even way back before the current crop were even born, was different. They looked at me like… like people looked at the elves we saw being auctioned off. Like I was just useful to them, do you know what I mean?"

Brain shook his head, "No, not really, I've never been really useful to anybody before."

"Well, there's a look for it, and now that I think about it… that woman was really focused on the coins I gave her, she didn't ask anything about Layali, she didn't even talk to her while we were there." Zesshi pointed out to him, and Brain's brow began to deepen as a frown spread over his face.

"So… what are you suggesting?" Brain asked.

"I don't know. Maybe nothing, but… I think we should go back, we can take a closer look at the place, we don't have to let her see us, just look, if they're treated well then we can rest easy. If not?" Zesshi let the statement hang.

Brain partially drew his sword, then sheathed it loud enough that the snapping noise was accompanied by a burst of air that moved his hair and hers alike. "That's a good point. I don't know about you but… suddenly I'm not nearly as tired as I was. Should we head back now or do you need a minute?" Brain asked, but before he finished speaking Zesshi was already up and rolling her bedroll.

"Are we going, or what?" She asked, and for the first time in hours, Brain's eyes lit up as he moved to follow her lead.