LITMIR.BIZ

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We had our share of nights serving meats that hadn’t quite turned, hard cheese, boiled potatoes, and day-old bread.’ She took another long look around the room, slowly turning as she added, ‘Some things you can buy easily, but others …’ She again let out a sigh. ‘You’ll manage as long as you don’t run out of ale, wine, and whisky, but a well-stocked larder and clean beds will have the regular travellers always stopping here.’ She smiled. ‘Adding those two new rooms upstairs was … Da talked of more rooms for travellers, but never quite got around to it. Too much interest in finding the perfect whisky.’

      Hatu nodded. ‘That whisky takes a bit of getting used to.’

      Gwen laughed, for the first time since Hava and Hatu had met her. ‘Did Declan give you that first taste?’

      Hatu nodded, and tears gathered in Gwen’s eyes. Then she laughed again, squeezing her eyes so the tears fell – but they were those of joy. ‘My father did that to him, leaving him to swallow that first taste without warning. The coughing and watery eyes, red face, and the rest seems an odd rite of passage, but there it is.’ She took another deep breath and said, ‘Now you have a legacy to carry on, Hatu.’ Then she turned and left. Hatu thought it was before he saw her weep in earnest.

      ‘I’ll do my best,’ Hatu said softly.

      After she left, Hava said, ‘I find it strange.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Having feelings … for a place.’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t think I understand.’

      ‘It’s all she knows. Her parents both died here.’ Hatu reflected for a second that he had never known his parents, so he could barely imagine what it must feel like to have such bonds of affection. ‘I guess that leaves … memories? It seems important to her that this inn returns to what it was.’

      ‘Which is a good thing for us,’ admitted Hava. Looking around the empty common room she added, ‘There are too many things we know nothing about …’ She chuckled. ‘More things we never could have foreseen.’

      ‘Bedding,’ said Hatu, and Hava broke out laughing. ‘Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to welcome our first traveller and have no place for him to sleep?’

      ‘Well,’ said Hava, ‘what about …?’ She left the question unspoken, knowing he’d understand.

      ‘Let’s see what they do in the next few days. I can always claim to need something down in Marquenet.’

      She nodded agreement and the two of them set to work on those tiny details neither had anticipated. After the sun set, Hatu spent a quiet evening with Hava talking about mostly unimportant things – not having to constantly confront life-and-death issues was welcome – before she fell asleep in his arms.

      Hatu had never been one to chase every girl he saw, unlike his friend Donte, and it had been Donte who had paid a barmaid to initiate Hatu into sex. Since being with Hava he had felt no desire for other women; he could admire them, admit they were attractive, even have a passing thought that he might have been interested had Hava not existed, but Hava was his world.

      It was a love he could hardly understand, let alone explain. He knew she cared for him too, but he had lingering doubts that she was able to feel for him what he felt for her. One moment it was because he felt unworthy of her, and the next it was because of how she was trained to deal with men. And at other times he had no idea how she felt. Neither of them was prone to speaking of feelings, as it was not the way of Coaltachin. He had been taught that feelings could interfere with duty and as a result, he had rarely mentioned to the woman he loved – who now lay tightly against him, slowly breathing as she slept – how he felt; not since his first protestation of love. And she had spoken of feelings even less than he.

      Was he still serving the Kingdom of Night, and didn’t know it, or was he to be a simple innkeeper until fate demanded otherwise of him? Or was he a prince of a fallen kingdom with duties and obligations to that heritage he couldn’t remember, let alone understand? As sleep began to overtake him, he wondered which part of his life now was an act and which was real?

      Questions without answers swirled around his head as he finally drifted off to sleep.

      THE NEXT DAY SAW THE hanging of the repaired and repainted sign, a black square edged with white, with three stars set at the top and lower left and right.

      Gwen nodded her approval. ‘I wasn’t going to say anything, but I was worried you might wish to change the name.’

      Hava put her arms around Gwen’s shoulders and squeezed. She felt no genuine urge to comfort the daughter of the former owner, but she knew it was the sort of gesture people in this part of the world expected.

      ‘There was no good reason to change it, Gwen,’ said Hatu. ‘It’s a familiar name, with a good reputation built by your father.’ A slight nod of approval from Hava led him to add, ‘Now all we have to do is live up to it.’

      Gwen smiled. ‘Thank you.’

      ‘Bring Declan over this evening and the first meal is on us.’

      Gwen grinned and headed back to the house behind the forge where Declan was working.

      Hava said, ‘Well, we are now innkeepers.’

      ‘Given some of the places you and I have slept, this is a palace.’

      ‘Never seen a palace,’ replied Hava, ‘but I agree it’s better than most of the inns we’ve seen.’

      They went back inside. ‘I guess now we just need some customers,’ Hatu said.

      ‘I’ve made a list of a few things,’ said Hava, holding out her hand.

      Hatu removed the coin purse from his belt and handed it to her. ‘Such as …?’

      ‘A loaf of bread, and some of those beef sausages Parter the Butcher sells.’

      ‘We already—’ Hatu interrupted himself. ‘Ah, yes, of course.’ He knew she was going out to sniff around about the man who’d arrived yesterday with the escort of soldiers. The baker they used was close, but the butcher she mentioned was on the other side of town. As she was the ‘new woman’ in town, the other women were interested enough in Hava to want to stop her and ‘gossip’. Hatu wasn’t sure what the difference was between gossip and rumours, but he assumed it was something the women of this barony did, or just another word for the same thing. Either way, it was useful for gathering intelligence on odd comings and goings.

      Hava left and Hatu suddenly felt abandoned. He found that very odd, then realized that it wasn’t so much abandonment, but that with Hava here he had someone to talk to, something to do. Now he found himself presented with two choices: either sit and do nothing while waiting for a customer or repeat every inventory check, room inspection, and the other tasks he had seen to repeatedly over the last two days. For the first time in his memory, Hatu found himself wide awake with nothing obviously needing to be done. He found the situation wryly amusing. Most of his life had consisted of studies, work, or trying to sleep. He moved behind the newly restored bar and once again familiarized himself with his array of bottles and kegs. In coming to learn the innkeeper’s trade, he realized that the previous owner, Leon, had stocked a wider variety of wine, spirits, and ale than most tavern keepers. It had not occurred to him to ask Gwen about that, and his best surmise was that it would attract travellers with varying tastes.

      Well, he thought, best take advantage of the opportunity to rest. Hatu moved to a chair at the table closest to the open end of the bar and sat down. After a moment, he reached forward, pulled another chair out and put his feet on it.

      HATU WAS DOZING WHEN HAVA returned. He sat up and pushed away the chair on which he had placed his feet. ‘Sleeping?’ she said, obviously amused.

      ‘No,’ he said. ‘Just resting my eyes a little.’ Coming to full alertness as she put the bread and large sausage on the bar, he asked, ‘Discover anything?’

      ‘Nothing important, though we seem to be the subject

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