SSCS 04: Installment 2 of 34
The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress
This is Installment 2 of this year’s SSCS. If you want to start at the beginning of ‘The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress’, go here! If you want to know what the heck an SSCS is, go here!
(And the character list is here.)
Previously…
Though today they had walked the full spans of twenty-two bridges, now they were brought to a stand-still, their purpose pulling them, but no openings marked out to follow next. They were Last-Seekers, and could not be unbound.
…The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress
Installment 2: 21.0129
“Shall we search below, then, or shall we rest?” Blue-skinned Lot spoke the words in a breathy whisper that never-the-less sounded, too, in a feeling like shudders beneath one’s fingernails. Amidst the storm of the day, her words were private. Depending on her mood, her raised voice would have been felt before it was heard, would have shivered and hurt.
“Rest first.” El’s voice was firm and plain, and the other four nodded together. They wanted to hunt their quarry, but they didn’t yet know what it was, and, immortal or not, they needed to listen to the needs of their bodies, needed to not let themselves be too careless. They were vulnerable each time they were young. They could be separated for a long time if too many were killed at once or close together.
“Ah, but we haven’t coin for a proper rest,” Du sighed, black eyes glancing along the bridge they now stood on. The nearest shop-fronts showed silver glinting amidst the ironwork, and round windows made of glass that was tinted golden or greenish-silver, like fish scales. There were almost certainly fine things near at hand, but not enough time for Du’s charm to get them for him.
“And that is good,” Ki answered. “Your proper rests have a way of lasting all the night long. Even when you mean them not to,” they added, before Du could speak again. Ki’s colorless eyes would have made some shiver, but Du knew well enough they held mostly tolerant amusement, and he smiled back into them like a fire-flash.
“Then that stair down should do.” Du pointed. “I smell savory and cheap practically below our feet.”
“And tar-smoke and hash,” quick-fingered San agreed. But he was already down the rusty spiral before the rest of them, ready to warn them back if they’d misunderstood this city and it wasn’t the sort of place they expected. That rarely happened, though. None had been to this City of Bridges in a lifetime they remembered, but there were others like it, in other places and other times.
And so, the den they came to was just right. Trickiest was easing El inside. But Du picked her up, like a father on holiday, so the folk inside saw the seeming-girl-child as kept-safe and looked away. Looked at Ki, who in this body was always the most striking (as long as Lot’s hair was not let down). If they’d looked closer they would have seen San standing just behind Ki, one hand on their wrist, but as ever San looked too much like one of the crowd to really register.
“Do you have a place that’s a little quiet?” Ki asked at the bar, and the barmun nodded to an inside stair that lead down again. Whatever was down there would be below the line of the water, but that was probably neither here nor there. Ki’s delicate, thin lips curled softly in thanks as the group headed down. “A hot meal for the five of us?” Ki passed across some coin along the way.
Below was indeed quieter. And even better, the smoke smell wasn’t as strong, though the air tasted faintly of the iron the walls were made of. But there was an empty alcove sized just right, with a low table and mats. For all his complaint of a moment before, Du settled back against the wall with a contented sigh.
“Are your feet still not used to walking?” Lot lifted an eyebrow as she whispered her shuddery words, before settling beside the half-djinn. “You shouldn’t baby them.” But then she stopped whatever she would have said next and tilted her head as though listening.
“Here, San.” She plucked at San’s sleeve who’d sat on the other side of her, and pulled him back toward the back wall, pressing an ear against it. San mimicked her, though as ever he left one arm stretched back to keep his fingers twined with Ki’s, his skin warm and smooth brown against Ki’s white. But his eyes were on Lot, waiting. “Listen.” Lot stroked one finger down alongside her face in explanation. San nodded and took a long, slow breath, letting that part of himself shift toward a mimicry of Lot’s features. In another moment he heard it too.