The Continent (The Continent #1)(56)

“He’s not?”

“No. They see the handsome itzatsune, the adept warrior. Noro is easy on the eyes and, truly, there are few more skilled than he—but the assassins rarely wed. They are encouraged to be alone.”

“But…surely not all of them…”

Yuki cackles. “I had you pegged your first week in the cottage.” She widens her eyes in imitation of me, and says, in a singsong voice, “‘Yuki, do you know how long Noro usually stays away? Yuki, do you have any romantic books I might borrow? Yuki, I thought we might bake a loaf of bread for the Zensuke boys.’”

“He’s my friend,” I say stubbornly. “He’s helping me adjust to life in the village.”

“I’m helping you adjust to life in the village. Noro is… what is Noro doing?” She chews on the tip of her finger, then points it at me. “Watch yourself, little Vaela—there are at least four archers, a swordswoman, and one itzatsune who have eyes on him.”

I look up, my eyes wide. “You don’t really think—”

Yuki erupts into giggles. “You needn’t lock your doors just yet. But I can’t imagine you’ll be too popular if I’m right about you and Noro.”

“You’re wrong about Noro,” I insist, “and I’m already unpopular. Most of the villagers look at me like I have two heads. And two of every three traders won’t sell to me.”

“The Aven’ei are wary of the unknown,” she says.

“I am only a girl—one who can barely use a knife on a loaf of bread! What do they fear?”

“You are one of an entire nation of others, Vaela—the outworlders who sailed away and left our people to the fate we carry now. The villagers do not trust you. They think you are a harbinger of the end.”

“Oh, only that?” I say, and Yuki laughs.

“You do need to get acquainted with more than a butter knife at some point. You know this, right?”

I stiffen, and my head throbs involuntarily. “I really would prefer not to have a weapon in the house.”

“A weapon in the—” Yuki gapes at me. “You need a weapon on your person, Vaela Sun, at all times. Do you think you are still in the Nations Beyond, where life is about maps and savory foods and servants to pluck the chickens?”

“The Spire was not devoid of danger. There was crime, as I told you.”

“Take my point, Vaela, and do not change the subject.”

“The Topi do not venture into this region,” I say. “I have heard it said many times.”

“‘Every day is new,’” she quotes, “‘and in its corners dwell dangers yet unseen.’”

“That’s very encouraging, thank you.”

“Get a weapon.”

“I’ll think about it.”

She gets up, strides over to the copper basin, which I use to clean my clothes and dishes, and begins to bang on it with a wooden spoon. “Get a weapon.”

I cover my ears, the clang clang clang of the pot reverberating in my head. “Yuki! Stop!”

“Get a weapon,” she calls, over the clatter of wood and metal.

“All right, all right,” I say. “I’ll buy a broadsword if it pleases you. Only stop with the noise.”

She sets the spoon back in the basin and smiles.

“You will learn, friend, that I rarely speak out of turn, and I don’t waste words. When I tell you to buy a weapon, it is because that is what you must do. When I tell you that wine is not a particular friend of yours, you must believe me. And when I tell you that there is something going on between you and Noro, you must remember that I have said so.” She leans back and gives me a smug smile. “I am never wrong.”





CHAPTER 19





ONE FINE AFTERNOON IN LATE SPRING, I AM SITTING in my garden with a book when Keiji—who has been rolling marbles around in the dirt for half an hour and complaining that he is bored—asks me to play kiko with him. It’s a game of ringtoss, similar to horseshoes, but with a simpler scoring method: one point for each ring to encircle the peg, two extra points if you can land—or kiko—all five of your rings.

“I don’t know, Keiji,” I say, absorbed in my book.

“Come on, Vaela.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Two fingers appear over the top of the page, and the book vanishes. “Come on, Vaela,” he says again. “It’ll be fun.”

“What will be fun?” asks Noro, stepping through the doorway onto the small patio. He’s been in Hayato for a full week now, but I suspect the council will send him out again before too long. Normally, scouts would first be deployed to seek out any Topi who have crossed into the territory, then the itzatsune would be dispatched as required. But as of late, with so many enemy sightings, the assassins must also play the role of scout. This is how Noro found me; he was patrolling the area south of the mountains.

“Kiko,” Keiji says. “But you’re not invited to play.” He turns to me and makes a face. “He always wins.”

“That’s all right,” Noro says, sitting down beside me. “I’ll just watch.”

“You can go first,” Keiji says. “But stay behind the line. No cheating.”