Consorting with Enemies

[Jay Carpenter]

Jai

He woke the next morning feeling fresh as rain. It was a bloody unsettling sensation, this lightness in his limbs, the quickness in his step, the sharp edge to his thoughts. Forget the bloody Tower Guard—he should have signed his name to the Warders’ training log the second he sprouted a bit of facial hair if this was what a bond meant.

While Nythadri slept, he poked through her supplies, appraising her food and provisions with idle curiosity. For a woman supposedly locked up in the Tower for most of her adult life, she’d prepared well enough. He shouldn’t have been surprised, really. She had a habit of being three steps ahead, even when he’d thought he was the one leading.

He cleaned his clothes and tended to his weapons, letting the familiar ritual ease his mind. Today, for once, it wasn’t a desperate attempt to scratch an itch under his skin; it was just… nice. Like the quiet before a storm.

Nythadri was a lighter sleeper than he’d expected. Though she appeared calm, he could feel the restlessness simmering beneath her composed exterior, a keen urgency to tackle their many errands. Somehow, though, in the fresh light of morning, those tasks didn’t seem quite so pressing. Perhaps that was the effect of a full night’s sleep—a rare enough occurrence for Jai that he almost didn’t recognize it.

They ate quickly and were ready to leave soon after. While Nythadri finished up her last arrangements, Jai found himself by a window, watching the workers moving about the courtyard below. He glanced idly over the scene until something caught his eye—Arikan, emerging from one of the side doors to speak with a man who, to all appearances, looked like an ordinary laborer.

Jai frowned, watching the interaction. Neither man seemed aware they were being observed, and he couldn’t make out what they were discussing, but it struck him as odd. What business did Arikan have with a common worker? And why so openly, here of all places?

“Nythadri,” he called, his gaze still on the courtyard. “Do you know who that is?” He nodded toward the man with Arikan. There was nothing especially remarkable about the scene—except that it was happening at all. She’d been here longer than he had, after all. Maybe she had some idea what this was about.