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k_a_webbPart 1
Part 9, continued
Landing Page
Sini sat in the kitchen, sipping gratefully on the tea her mother had made, and tried not to think too much about what the first attack might mean. Hereward had sent her a message, telling her about the attack, because of the help she’d given him, and she was grateful that he thought enough about her to warn her that she might be in danger too. Even though she’d always done her best to make sure that no one knew she passed on information to the guards the time she’d spent with Lucille, Peric, and Bertram was a problem. The counterfeiters would think that she was helping them no matter what she was actually doing.
When her sister walked into the room Sini knew she didn’t regret any of the choices she’d made. Kielo’s injury was still a problem, the healers still didn’t know if she’d be able to fly again, but Lucille’s monetary fund meant that Kielo had been given a chance at making a life for herself even with a damaged wing. She made herself a bowl of tea, with a different mix of herbs, as Sini watched, before sitting at the kitchen table.
“Morning, Sini,” Kielo said, sipping the tea.
“Morning, Kielo. How are you feeling?”
Kielo shrugged. “My wing’s still useless and I have no idea what I’m going to do. I know I have more options now, but…” She shook her head. “None of them feel like they’re the right one for me, so my thoughts are going round in circles, which makes it even harder to work thinks out, and some days the hardest thing to do is leave my room. It’s safe in there.”
Nodding, Sini tried to work out what she should say, but she had no idea what Kielo was going through and everything she thought of seemed wrong. “We are working on catching the counterfeiters.”
“That’s the one thing that convinces me to leave my room. You’re out there, with Lucille, Peric, and Bertram, trying to stop the people who hurt me, and so many others, and showing the counterfeiters they haven’t won is the only thing I can do to help.” K smiled, even though it was a very sad smile. “Your courage makes me feel stronger.”
“Maybe we could talk with Lucille, when she’s got some free time, about you travelling to another world for a short time. I think having a holiday would be good for you.” Sini sipped her tea. “She helped Seona travel to one of Kniroch’s sibling worlds, so I’m sure she could do the same for you, and if I have a chat with Kai he might be able to make you a charm, which will give you more choice.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just think about it. If I had a chance to travel to another world I’d take it, but right now I’m needed here and you aren’t.” Sini glanced at the message she still had on the table next to her, before choosing to tell Kielo the real reason she thought it would be best to leave. “Last night the raccoons were attacked. Hereward’s worried the counterfeiters might come after me and I’d feel more comfortable if I knew you weren’t in Seahorse Port for a couple of weeks.”
“Are you really that worried?”
“Right now I don’t know how I feel, Kielo. It only happened last night, Hereward sent me a message this morning, and none of us are really sure how far the counterfeiters will go. There is a chance it was an unconnected attack, but I don’t think any of us really see that as a viable possibility. Lucille has done her best to mitigate the damage the counterfeiters have done, which I believe would be enough for them to feel they need to do something more.”
“I’m not promising anything, but I’ll think about taking some time to travel.” Kielo sipped her tea. “What do you know about the counterfeiters?”
“Not as much as I wish we did. It was mice who attacked the raccoons, a raven who was importing the counterfeits into Sheepshank, and that makes me think that finding out who’s behind the counterfeits in Seahorse will be another surprise.” Sini shook her head. “There are greedy people in all the hames who’d do anything for some more money and importing counterfeits was an easy job that would get them a lot of what they wanted quickly. Lucille, being an outsider and someone who wanted to help us, has got us to work together in a way we never would before, and that’s made everything more difficult for the counterfeiters.”
“I would have thought they were already difficult as no one wanted to buy charms, just in case they were counterfeits.”
“They probably were. I’m not saying that things weren’t difficult for them before, but Lucille’s actions have made them even more difficult, as have Hereward’s.” Sini thought for a moment. “Ever since Lucille, Peric, and Bertram came here, bringing news of the arrest of one of the importers, we’ve realised it’s possible to bring an end to the counterfeit ring. Until then it seemed like an impossible job. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t feel like we might have a breakthrough at any moment.”
“Which scares the counterfeiters.”
“Exactly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the importer, or importers, have very little contact with the rest of the ring, because the best way to keep these things going is to make certain that no one knows too much. That’s why the raven in Sheepshank was given a code name for her contact in Seahorse.” Sini shrugged. “If we managed to arrest someone here I’m sure they won’t be able to give us any names either, but it might give us an idea of where the counterfeits are coming from.”
“How do you know so much about this?”
“It’s something I’ve been talking about a lot with everyone who’s involved. Lucille especially. She knows a lot about the history of the other worlds of the Web and how other crimes rings have worked.” Sini sipped her tea before smiling at Kielo. “Honestly, Lucille is a font of knowledge and really worth spending just an hour with. I know the storyteller she visited during one of her afternoons wants to spend some more time with her, so he has some more stories to tell the people of Quiar.”
“Sini…” Kielo trailed off, sounding unsure. “I know that you’re really close to Lucille now, but she is a Moonjumper. Her first loyalty will always be to the Council.”
“Why do you say that?” Sini asked, trying to keep her voice even, but it was a surprise to hear Kielo share her worries.
“I know there are a lot of people here who pretty much worship the ground she walks on, because she had done a lot for Seahorse, but I can’t help thinking she’s going to end up stabbing us in the back. We’re lesser creatures and we all know the Council wants to exterminate us so they can take control of Quiar. Her knowledge of this world will make things much easier for them.”
“Lucille isn’t going to betray us, Kielo. Her first loyalty is to Quiar.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Sini.” Kielo shook her head. “It would be easy for her to lie to us all about what her plans are.”
“She’s been helping us.”
“In an attempt to make us all believe in her. I’m grateful for the monetary fund she created, but I think you’re too close to her to see that she might be a danger to Quiar.”
Sighing, Sini tried to work out how she was going to convince Kielo that Lucille wasn’t someone they needed to worry about, but Sini wasn’t surprised that some people were still uncomfortable with a Moonjumper helping them. “I’m not going to argue with you about this. I know Lucille and I trust her. If that’s not enough for you, if you want to be afraid of someone who’s done nothing but help us with out problems, then that’s up to you.”
“Sini…”
“I’m sorry if I seem harsh. Right now we have enough problems to deal with without making up a new one and I want to focus on the counterfeiters rather than some conspiracy theory.” Sini finished her tea. “Quiar wouldn’t have accepted Lucille as her Moonjumper is she believed for a moment that Lucille was going to betray us.”
Standing, Sini left the kitchen so she wouldn’t get any angrier than she already was, because she didn’t want to yell at Kielo. Kielo had already dealt with enough and it wasn’t really a surprise she was beginning to believe in conspiracy theories. One of the newer stories Sini had heard was that Lucille had given someone the counterfeits so she could travel to Quiar and save them all from them, which was something Sini had found amusing, but she was beginning to think she was going to need to warn Lucille of the rumours people were passing about her.
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.
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Date: 2013-07-08 11:35 pm (UTC)That should say "things" above.
I like the attention to Kielo's challenges in dealing with a damaged wing and not wanting to leave her room.