The Hunt

[Jay Carpenter]

And the wolves danced. They taunted one another as much as their prey As far as Jai noticed. Including Nythadri, it seemed. Now, as he had when listening to wolf song in the past, he made no gesture to indicate wanting to do anything about it. He had a feeling she'd be fine, anyway. It was Tamal he was worried about. Nythadri would eat him alive.

"Friend of yours?"


Nisele's ringing voice reminded him where he was. He grit his teeth and put her curious face back front and center.

"I can't say the Lord and I are on such good terms."
Jai stretched, obviously trying to catch a glimpse of the creature Tamal had found, but his narrow frame blocked the view. Jai gave up and settled on studying the closer woman. "It seems he has good taste."
Nisele accepted the comparison to Nythadri well, but by the slow way she rolled her lashes their direction, Jai knew his reach struck some sort of chord. And he wondered what thought flashed behind her dark eyes that she wouldn't say.

Thankfully a slick-cheeked manservant clipped short any rebuke by offering the seated guests something to pass across their lips. Nisele plucked one colorful stack from the paper wrappings and devoured it rather aggressively. Apparently she imagined Jai was the dark, lustful, passionate type? He nodded appreciatively, but waved the smell of heat away yet again. A good meal would be welcoming, but he preferred waiting until evening before melting his face off.

"Might I suggest this one, sir?"
The young man's tenor voice drew Jai's surprise up to the lad's face. The servant, decked in the royal house colors, smiled suggestively and pointed to one colorful morsel. Jai learned his first day in country that the Domani were fond of heat, but something in the way the lad met his eye convinced him to set aside his usual evasive measures and partake.

His mouth filled with blessed water. But not with spice.

"Excellent suggestion."
He flashed the lad a grateful smile. Light, his stomach could have smiled. Both men nodded and for the remainder of the reception, the same young man brought other trays, always angled just so to separate out the bland incognito pieces from their boiling counterparts. From afar, Daryen noted his messenger was well received.

After, Nisele, who herself curiously watched the lad toe quietly into the crowd, and Jai drifted. Their conversation was slowed by all the activity, but Jai had no desire to spark anything back to life. In fact, as Nisele leaned and toyed with anything she could on him, Jai was beginning to wonder when the call outdoors would come. He imagined the sun on his face. Waited for the wind to rise.

"You look about as fed-up as I feel." Nythadri's voice.

Thank the Light.

"I was just thinking about our ride."
His relief wafted as strong as those dangerous spices. But just to ram the knife in a little farther in Nisele's back, he roamed the folds of Nythadri's white dress on his other side as though it weren't his first exploration there. The hope that it wouldn't be his last made him think perhaps it was he who'd been too free with the wine. Not that he was going to do anything about it either.

He waited for recognition, but Nisele clammed up. Unfortunately, the brunt of her ire seemed directed at Nythadri rather than him. He didn't expect that. That one would probably come back to bite him. Or her, given the tone of her greeting. "Do you need some water, my dear? You look positively faint."
She smiled as the mature woman admiring the overreaching hand of the young and brave. "Domani wine is not for everyone."
She spoke in Jai's ear, but looked directly into Nythadri's foreign eyes.

He laughed. Loudly. Dropped his head back, greeted the painted ceiling like an old friend, and laughed. The buzz did not react, but more than one pair of eyes glanced their way. What a strange place to be. He was up to his neck in people he hated and considered abandoning his promise once again as he had three days ago and disappear through a gate.

He studied the painted shapes of long horned deer prancing about the ceiling. It really was a beautiful depiction of the land around them. Arad Doman wasn't all that bad. Heat included, besides people tended to wear little in such weather. Remaining clothes could be shed and watery pools were easy to find in noble circles. Although he wouldn't want to be here as a poor man. The salty waves of the Aryth Ocean was worth the wait when came the rare time to wade in it. If only Daryen would abandon this treaty, Jai could slip back into the way things were. Not that it was that great before, but facing a future without it, he wasn't sure he knew what to do if he actually found what he was looking for.

The feminine banter, one in each ear, had ceased, he realized. How long had he looked at the ceiling? He supposed he should do something useful. He had nothing better to do anyway. And a Razor was still waiting.

"Ladies."
He smiled, and flashed each woman the same hinting charm that first caught Daryen's attention. Just to seal the deal, he emphasized Nisele's comments about wine by reaching into Saidin, wrenched forth difficult wands of its fury, and used it to steal glasses off a passing tray. The woman who bore it only realized they were gone when the weight on her wrist shifted.

Once the pair of crystals were safely wrapped in feminine fingers, and a third in his own, he concealed a shiver when Saidin rushed free of his grasp by pouring the liquid down his throat in one acidic throw.

"Councilwoman Nisele Kedar. Allow me to introduce you."
The Councilwoman's taut expression did not take lightly to being ranked second in introductions. Surely it would offend her enough to leave. "To Nythadri."


No surname. Because he did not know it. Nor any of her titles if she had them, beyond Accepted, but it seemed wrong to brand her so. Introductions complete, Jai swung his head between the two women, but stopped on Nythadri. His cue that he was about done playing.