The kettle began to gently whistle on the stove as Elisa stood watch. Her father, Eden, threw another log on the smouldering fire and stoked it with the twisting metal poker that leaned against the stone hearth. He kept looking across, as if to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. "It certainly is fantastic to see you again Zan. I don't know how you managed it, but –." He stopped as he sat back in his chair. "Well, I'm just glad the searches that I pushed for were not pointless as some said."
Elisa rummaged around the kitchen. "The search for you was down to Papa," Elisa said. "Not many other people saw it as a worthwhile cause. You see, when the fire died down, only ashes remained and it was impossible to tell what had perished." Zan's eyes were teary and Elisa stopped talking momentarily as she looked across. "What happened?" She said.
"I don't remember much," Zan said. "I recall very little of that night, or the time leading up to it." He looked down at the floor. "I just know that I had a hold of Zami's hand, and I remember running. We ran for the longest time, and I don't know that I had any destination in mind. I thought that someone must have wanted us dead if they had alerted the authorities to our home."
"But yours wasn't a diseased household Zan," Elisa said.
"I know, that's what I mean. It could have been anyone, and I didn't want to risk living there anymore. I was frightened," he said. "Do you remember that night?" He looked towards Eden.
"Yes I remember it," he said, with a pained expression. "The whole place was lit like a beacon, and the house collapsed down around itself. We thought it had taken you as we didn't see you run away. A crowd had gathered, and it was the middle of the night. But later we heard someone say that they'd seen two kids running away from the area. They roughly matched your descriptions, but it wasn't reliable – the darkness can play tricks you know. Not to mention the drink, and at that time of night. The witness was in the vicinity of several ale houses further up coast," Eden said. "Nevertheless, we did search for you, but to no avail. Many said it was a futile action; that we were trying to pinpoint a blade of grass in an enormous meadow. We never looked across the bridge to the upperlands as it was felt that you couldn't have gotten that far from home. Certainly not in the time you'd been missing. Your legs must have given out!"
The fire was now roaring, spitting out embers onto the stone floor and warming the room. It had been a long while since Zan had felt such warmth, and the glow made his breathing easier.
"Why have you chosen to come back?" Eden said. "I only know that Elisa burst through the door yesterday and was fraught with excitement before I could coax the news out of her that she'd seen you. We were debating whether to come and find you again before you knocked on the door."
"I wouldn't have come," Zan said. "Since that night I have found it better to trust only myself, and even that has become more difficult recently. But I need to find somewhere safe for Zami, and I can't stay where I was."
"Why not?" Elisa asked.
"I just can't," Zan said. "And I have to go away for a short while. I can't take her with me." He looked across to Elisa and knew that she understood.
"Where are you going?" Eden said.
"I can't tell you," Zan replied.
Elisa and Eden shared a glance. "What kind of work have you been doing?" Elisa said, changing the subject.
Zan fidgeted in his chair and gave a nervous cough. "I...I have..er...been working the market," he said. "There is always a chance to earn there." He didn't make eye contact, knowing full well that he'd been refused any work for his rough appearance and his outsider tag. Not to mention that traders assistants were positions that were surprisingly scarce, and had mostly been taken. "This thing might not be anything, but I have to find out. And it's only for a few days, a week at most," Zan said.
A few minutes passed during which the only sounds were a spoon stirring a cup, and a crackling fire.
"We can't keep her here," Eden said, without looking towards him. He strained to lean far enough to prod the ashes, and the heat of the glow highlighted the sweat upon his brow.
Zan sat on the floor a little across from him, while Zami sat in the chair behind.
"Here you go," Elisa said as she walked over with two cups in her hand. Zan grabbed one and handed it carefully to Zami, ensuring she'd taken full grip of the handle before he let go. He then took the other one for himself. "You can take down your hood now Zan, it is quite warm in here now."
Zan looked up towards Elisa. "I'd still prefer not," he said, pulling it tighter around his face.
The steam from the hot cup of Ska was never a welcome smell. But it provoked a rare happy memory tucked away in his mind, of his mother making him a cup in the early morning.
"She's diseased Zan, she cannot stay here for long." Eden slurped his drink before placing a tissue towards his mouth and coughing into it.
"Don't talk about her like that," Zan snapped, displaying a furrowed brow.
"Well, what do you want me to say? She is!" Eden replied, shuffling in his chair awkwardly. "You put us all at risk the longer she is here."
Zan looked across to Elisa, who looked down at her drink and gently blew on it before taking a tiny sip.
Tears welled up in his eyes. "Then I really am alone," Zan said. He slammed his cup down on the floor and stood up. "Come on Zami, we're leaving." The thought of going back to his old life was dreadful. It seemed ok when there was no alternative, but now it included the thought that maybe his only opportunity would pass by, and with it his last shred of hope had gone. The invitation could mean anything, but not being able to try was heart-breaking. Not only that, he could face death if news of his deeds reached the wrong hands. The letter did threaten him with the truth.
Zami stood up and took Zan's hand. "Storm," she said, pointing toward the rain lashing against the window.
"Wait!" Elisa said. "Papa, couldn't we do something? He needs us. It isn't his fault what happened." Elisa looked toward him, her face radiant and soft and her beautiful grey eyes wistful, as if she blamed herself for not finding him.
Eden stared at the fire as if in deep thought. The light flickered across his thin green face and he sighed. "She can't stay here," he said. His chest wheezed chronically and he coughed and spluttered. "There is an old stone storage house not far from here, up by the quarry. You know the one Elisa, the overgrown one that I used to work at before it closed? It's shuttered now and there are no stockpiles stored there any longer. We could keep her there."
Zan look across to Elisa, who smiled back. "Would she not be discovered?" Zan asked.
"It's the only place I can think of. You'll have to take it or leave it Zan because that's all I've –." He began to splutter again.
Suddenly there was a tinge of light on the horizon. "Can we go there?" Zan said, pulling Zami towards the door. She tipped her cup and dribbled some Ska across the floor as she followed.
"Now?" Elisa said.
"Yes, now! We can't take her there in broad daylight," Zan said. Zami dropped her cup and it crashed onto the floor, shattering into hundreds of pieces. She clapped her hands together. "It's raining, it's pouring," she said, singing a little rhyme in her innocence.
Elisa looked at her father, who sighed. "I'll get my coat. Wrap up tight Eli." His skinny body lurched across the room and he grabbed his coat off the hook, before opening a kitchen drawer. His hand rummaged around in it for a few seconds until he pulled out a key. "We'll need this," he said.
Zan pressed his face to Zami's ear. "We're going for a little trip, so hold on to my hand and don't let go," he whispered.
Comments (0)
See all