Aftermath

There are several things in here for people who have read Partners. For those who have not: in answer to Durth's question at the end, yes, yes they are.

I thought about writing the next chapter from inside Una's trailer. But that would be impossible as this story is only from Durth's perspective which is so annoying at a time like this when I want to write inside the trailer. If it seems odd, I apologise.

I had to look a good deal for the hair colour of the mentioned female.

While writing this morning I thought back to something that was told to me several times through various interviews I've read about authors. The first thing you are told, it seems, is that you will not make any money if you write for a living. The second thing you are told is that you can't have a life because you have to write at all times.

I thought this as I finished the new Adaptation chapter. It took six hours to write three and a half pages. Then I switched to this and it took about an hour to write it. The reason I thought of this was because it was a bright sunshiny day outside, gorgeous and lovely and there I was, sitting inside going "I'll go out when I'm done writing" By the time I finished Adaptation it was raining.

Stupid Murphy.

So I wrote this and got quite excited about Aftermath, adding in all the little bits that Partners readers would see and might enjoy. But my head started going on me so if the sentences feel stuffy, it's because that's how my head was feeling as I tried to finish this.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





The fire spread quickly. By the time Raya and Durth got out of the estate most of the first floor was engulfed in flames. Their packs were sitting by the highway, fully packed and ready to go. Durth and Raya shouldered them quickly. Raya made a small motion to Durth and took into a jog. Durth made after Raya, rushing to catch up to the younger man’s stride. Their days of walking did not prepare Durth for the jog.

Overhead the clouds scudded across the moon, darkening their path randomly. The highway was flat enough that the moon disappearing didn’t really affect their movement. As the sun began to rise, and actual light spread over the land, Raya pulled them to a stop for a rest.

“Holy. Mother. Of. God.” Durth hit the highway and sighed out, huffing and puffing. His legs hurt, his back hurt, his chest felt like it was going to explode at any moment.

“Get up,” Raya snapped, “or your muscles will cease up and then start eating themselves.”

“Lovely image,” Durth groaned, forcing himself to stand up. His legs hurt so badly.

“I won’t bore you with the details,” Raya responded, stepping off the highway, “but running causes chemical reactions and those things settle in your muscles. If you stop moving immediately after running the chemicals will seep into your muscles and cause damage.”

“Fun,” Durth muttered, stepping off the highway and following Raya along some unmarked path that only the Cousin could see, “so. There was no storm last night. Of the rainy kind or you.”

“Or me?”

“Stormy like, when you tore a guy’s head off.” Durth stepped around a groundhog hole and sped up to catch up to Raya, “in hand to hand combat.”

“I didn’t actually tear his head off, just snapped the last ligaments,” Raya shrugged, “I was going to attack with my broadsword, but Tah took it with her, the evil woman that she is.”

“Maybe she just didn’t want to clean the blood out of your clothing again,” Durth said quickly, “how are we not caught up to Tah yet?”

“Tah is a scout and a runner,” Raya responded, “she has a longer leg than you.”

“Where are we meeting her?” Durth asked.

Raya stepped into the shade of a tree and looked over his shoulder at Durth, “With Una’s troop. The man is stopped in a village just over the hill. A place he stops regularly. It’s called. Uhm. Pawville. I think. I’ve never tried to go there, as Una stops in regularly and the Aniege tend to avoid the man.”

“Wait. You knew about Una?”

“All the Aniege know about Una!” Raya snapped back, picking up the pace, “he was the first travelling merchant, the only respectable one about at the moment and the only mail route about. The Aniege have a line of scouts to deliver our messages but everyone else uses Una.”

“At the meeting…”

“Trust me, at the very least Edno knew, which meant Father knows about Una.” Raya said over his shoulder.

They walked a ways in silence, under the tall trees that grew alongside the highway. Up the hill, Raya walked slowly until they hit the top of it. Down the other side the forest continued, but Durth saw the smoke rising from somewhere along the bottom of the hill.

“How are we going to get into Una’s thing?”

“Easy enough,” Raya said, “Una is looking for entertainers, always for entertainers.”

“So…”

“You’ll see.”

Down the other side of the hill, Raya moved to the road that led to the village and turned towards the huts and log house that made up the small community. The huts made a circle, at the center of which a tree grew. Around the tree were several wooden trailers pulled, set up for the night. The horses, presumably the ones who had pulled the trailers in, were out to pasture to the side.

As the pair entered the little village, children rushed to greet them, giggling and holding out their hands for offerings. Raya reached into his pockets and pulled out a bag of nuts. He handed one of the shelled little seeds to each of the children before he passed through the crowd. The children, having gotten a nut from Raya, stuffed the treat into their mouths and turned to Durth for something else.

“I’ve nothing, I’m sorry,” Durth said, sliding through the crowd as the children made small sounds of disappointment.

Past the children, Raya led the way to the trailer that was carved on the outside with vines and flowers. Tah was standing by the trailer, Shirn in her arms, bouncing the baby on her hip. She smiled at Raya and greeted him as she would if he was her actual man. Raya looked at the steps of the trailer.

Durth stepped up beside Tah and looked towards where Raya’s attention was directed.

There sat a man in a loose shit and pants, with a brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes. The hat did nothing to hide the bright, blond locks that stood as if they had a mind of their own. Smooth skinned hands tugged through the long locks of the tall, thin female that was sprawled at his feet. The man himself was tall, but not as tall as the female, not as thin either.

The female also had blonde hair, her brown eyes turning to Raya and Durth lazily. She grinned at them, showing off an impressive, perfect set of teeth.

“Hmm?” the man turned towards Durth, Raya and Tah, “Lillow, go play with Ashun.”

“Awww,” The female stood and adjusted herself, not her clothing, not her hair, she adjusted herself, moving her breasts inside whatever contraption held them up before she leapt atop the trailer and away. Durth watched her go, not quite understanding what he had just witnessed.

The man stood and pulled his hat down over his eyes, “Who be you?”

“Who be you?” Raya responded.

The man reached up and very slowly removed his hat. Covering his face for a long instant. Durth, in that moment, pictured a hundred deformities the man might have. But a perfectly made, rather handsome face had been hidden by the hat. Bright, purple eyes narrowed in the bright daylight as the man looked from Raya to Tah. To Durth. And up and down and back up again. The man’s eyes settled on Durth’s face for a long moment before he looked back to Raya.

“I am Raya.”

“Of course you are,” the man muttered, taking in a breath and then huffing it out, “ and I am Una. I suppose you also think you are worth something. What is it that you think you can do?”

“Do?” Tah asked.

“I am assuming that you want to travel with my troupe,” Una said, motioning to the other trailers, “So. What can you do?”

“Tah is a healer,” Raya said, “Durth. Has no talent as of yet, but I am trying to teach him. And I. Well. I sing.”

“Sing? The last person who thought he could sing gave me a headache for three days as he butchered a traditional song. What can you sing?”

“I am well versed in the Game. As well as several mythological songs, traditional pub music and,” Raya paused for a moment, “the Moon line’s whole academic song list.”

Una stiffened and turned his full attention to Raya, “Then. Sing The finale of the published list created by the twins just before the war of the daemons.”

“That requires a orchestra accompanying me,” Raya muttered, “and. A second singer. One person can hardly be expected to sing that song by themselves and… you’re going to make me sing it, aren’t you?”

“Sing it, or leave.”

Raya let out several curses and slid his pack off, dropping it to the ground, “fine.”

“Who are the twins?” Durth asked Tah.

“I don’t know,” Tah responded as Raya spread his feet and took in a small breath.

Una turned his attention to Durth, “the twins were the foremost singers of the Moon line’s academy. They sang duets, perfectly timing their similar voices so that they could sing the utmost complex songs together. Their published list included twelve songs and the finale was the most difficult song, so difficult that the twins themselves only sang it properly four times. It requires a full orchestra to cover any mistakes made by the singers.”

“And the Moon line?” Durth asked.

“Like the Blood line. The lands were divided amongst seven lines of kings and queens : Blood, Mountain, Sun, Water, Air, Moon and eventually Life. Moon was,” Una glanced at Raya, “destroyed when they made a foolish mistake and when Illuva became a full goddess she re-instated the line. They came to stand for knowledge and intelligence. Their academy, with the most difficult curricular and most expensive fees existed for over three thousand years. Most know at least part of the finale of the twins, but very few who claim to know the Moon line’s song list actually know the full song.”

Una turned to Raya, who stood with his hands folded before him, “you may begin.”

Raya opened his mouth and began to sing. Durth had heard nothing like the song before, oh he was familiar with a few of the lyrics, knew from school that the lines implied that the twins were fed up with the gods and the kings who ruled at the time. Yet he had never heard of the Moon line, he had never heard of any of the lines.

Though that did explain the Blood bible of Illuva. Durth had always assumed that it was just the title of a book. Apparently not.

To Durth’s ears, the song was sung well. But he had never heard it before and saw Una wince several times. As Raya stopped singing, the other man sighed out.

“Better than I expected you to do,” Una muttered, “but don’t you ever sing that song again.”

“I can sing the Lover’s line better.”

“Don’t you dare,” Una snapped out in a tone that made Durth and Tah both take a step back and away from the purple eyed man, “you will sing ballads on my command, you two,” he motioned to Tah and Durth, “go see the older man over there who is trying to gut you with his eyes. He will show you to the spare trailer, you can set up there. You,” Una jabbed a finger at Raya, “I need to speak to alone about the rules and routine and such.”

“Alone?” Raya muttered.

“In my trailer,” Una motioned.

Raya waited until Una turned towards the door before he grinned and dismissed Tah and Durth with a flick of his hand. Tah looked upset. Durth wondered. When the woman glared at him and marched off the way a pissed off woman does when her man did something stupid Durth realised what it was about. The idea was to get into the troupe and they got that. Tah was upset because Raya and Una were going to be alone. Inside Una’s trailer.

Tah was mad because she thought they were going to have sex. Durth considered arguing otherwise, considered reassuring Tah that there was nothing happening behind the closed door. But when Tah turned and snapped for Durth to come he changed his mind. There was no way he could bring up the fact without preventing himself from being beaten black and blue.

There was no way they were going to having sex. Was there?


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