Once they had said their goodbyes to the Dukes and left the Shana’s palace, Rae finally had the chance to catch Gaori up on what had happened the night before. 

“Bejuk has an adopted son? Was it recent? I’ve never heard anything about that,”

In Camp Kaolin, news of the affairs of other camps trickled with the comings and goings of merchants, trappers, musicians, and dancers. They had heard that Bejuk’s eldest heir, Rok, had slain a stag in the previous year’s great hunt. They heard that the minor camps had begun sending proposals for the hand of Etti Bejuk and the Duke was not tolerating it well. Sebi must have been camp Bejuk’s best-kept secret, so striking in appearance and advanced in skill. 

They gossiped about Sebi for a little while. Rae left out how after his treatment, he had fallen asleep more peacefully than any time since his mother’s passing. Then Rae started telling Gaori about what the serving girl had told him. 

“Wait! A girl? Was the girl pretty?” 

Rae didn’t know how to answer that. He hadn’t been particularly taken with her, but Gaori was able to find beauty much more readily than he was. When he thought back over their conversation, her toothy grin and pink cheeks, he thought she was someone Gaori would take to.

“Yes, I’d say so,”

“Our age?”

“I think so,”

Gaori let out a groan, “You’re so much luckier than me. I was woken up by some old crone,”

Rae didn’t grace that with a response. They were walking out into the forest. This area was still part of the Shak’s palace and if you walked far enough, you would eventually find a boundary wall patrolled by sentries. However, unlike the landscaped gardens and courtyards, this vast area had mostly been left wild, with little paths snaking across the terrain to places of interest. Most of these were grave sites. Eight Shak’s had been interred here, along with a number of Shana, Shakje, and Shali. 

Until now, Rae had never thought of the back-mountain forest as a particularly sombre place. As a child, he had played here. Even when his mother’s headstone had been raised, he hadn’t thought of the forest as a place of death. It was a happy place, the closest thing to being free Rae had experienced in his most innocent days.

Now it could hardly compare to the true wilderness he and Gaori had wasted their boyhoods in, the undergrowth cut back to create trails, or to frame stunning vistas. There were great beasts, no bears or wolves that dared get so close to the palace, but on spring mornings one might spot deer grazing.   

“The crone asked me about you,” Gaori said, once it was clear Rae wasn’t going to say anything else.

“What?”

“She asked me how you were, and when I told her you fell and hurt your arm, she was quite upset. I was wondering if she was someone you knew,”

“Did you ask her name?” Rae asked. It had been so long. He didn’t know what had happened to his mother’s servants, perhaps some of them still worked within the palace.

“No. I’ll ask her next time. She was old and had a mole right here,” Gaori poked himself just above the lip, on the left-hand side, “she really seemed very-,” 

Before Gaori could finish, Rae had realised who the woman was.

“Nana! How dare you call my Nana a ‘crone’?”

Nana had been a maid to Rae’s mother and had taken care of Rae whenever his mother was unwell, or with the Shak. For both Rae and his mother, she had helped them dress in the mornings, combed their hair before bed, she had spoon-fed them when they were so sick they could barely move. 

When Nukaim was born, Rae’s Nana had held his little body to her breast when his mother was too weak to. She never left her side until her spirit had departed. For the few weeks Nukaim lived, she had cared for him as if he were her own. 

She had stood by Rae as they watched his mother’s grave be erected, and shed tears with him. 

“My Nana, did she look well?” Rae asked once he had calmed down.

Gaori was rubbing his arm where Rae had hit him, “She seemed healthy enough. I didn’t realise anyone loyal to Auntie Shana was left around here,” 

Rae hadn’t either. But just the prospect of seeing her friendly face after all these years lightened the load he was bearing a little. 

As they walked, Rae caught sight of a copse of maple trees, lined up along a gentle slope. One could hear the rushing creak, drowning out any sounds of the palace that might have carried this far. If one cleared the brambles and levelled the ground…

“How about here?” Gaori asked. 

“Hmm… this looks good,” Rae said. He could see a royal tomb in this spot. When the sun set in autumn, the glow reflecting off the maple would make a moving sight. There was a slight chill in the air, but Rae thought it would be a pleasant place to visit in fine weather.

“So… we’re done? We’re done for the day?”Gaori asked, already turning back down the slope back to the palace. Looking forward to a good meal, and seeking out that pretty maid, no doubt. 

“Do you think you could go tell Bejuk about this place for me?” Rae said, fixing his eyes on those maple trees. 

“You alright?”

“Yeah… I just want to go see my mother. I don’t want to talk about the funeral anymore until I’ve been to the grave,” 

“You’ll be okay going alone?” Gaori used that quiet, gentle voice that always made Rae… frustrated. 

“Of course” 

Of course. He had been alone there much more often than he had been there with Nana. Or his father. Or anyone else. It was his place, all alone.