Karma, Part 10 - Spite

The air was wrong. Again.

Tikka had been tense the entire morning and well into the afternoon. According to her, whoever it had been wasn't following them anymore, but Ruune got the feeling that that made her even more wary.

"The only thing worse than seeing a wasp in your room," her older brother had once told her when they were still children, "is no longer seeing a wasp in your room."

She hadn't quite understood it at the time -- after all, she could think of a lot of things worse than a wasp in her room -- but now that she was older, she could appreciate the sentiment.

"It was probably just some bandit," she said to appease herself just as much as Tikka. "They were hoping for an easy mark, but lost interest when we got to the inn."

"Sure," was all Tikka said, as she continued to scan the treeline. She clearly didn't believe it, but also didn't want to argue. Which was just as well, because Ruune didn't really believe it either, and certainly didn't want to argue.

"We should get a move on," she said instead. "We're almost at Lautee, and while it's not a big place, I do know that the House of Grace of the Neighbourhood is there. I can offer my services and we can stay the night there, before heading to Karinne."

Tikka groaned dramatically. "We're going to Karinne?! Do we have to?"

"Yes, of course," Ruune said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "I go where I am needed, and that is in Karinne."

"But Karinne sucks," Tikka whined, dragging her feet. "Even more than the average City-state! The bureaucrats there love their red tape so much I'm surprised they don't--"

"Well then," Ruune interrupted, and she huffed, "aren't you glad you have proper papers now, so that you don't have to deal with any of that?"

Tikka muttered something under her breath. "At least it's not as bad as Kostava," she grumbled, but left it at that. And it had been enough to get her mind off their phantom stalker, so Ruune counted that as a win.

***

"My, what good fortune!" exclaimed the Matriarch at Lautee, clapping her hands together. "That such talent would grace our humble Neighbourhood!"

"Please, ma'am, there's no need for all that," Ruune said, bowing her head. "We are passing through, so naturally I wished to offer my skills should you need them."

They had been met with great enthusiasm at the doors and promptly shown to the prayer room, where the Matriarch had been in the process of setting up for service the following day. She was a middle aged woman, with a kind, round face, and dark eyes that creased gently at the corners. Motherly, in the way that the Matriarchs of communities like this usually were and the ones at City-states weren't.

"We do, yes, though it's nothing dramatic," she said, waving for them to approarch the rya hanging behind the altar. "As you can see, our main rya is slightly frayed at the bottom here, and there are a few smaller ones where a thread or two has come loose."

"Indeed," Ruune said, surveying the damage. Compared to the situation at Paraaja and the one that no doubt waited for her at Karinne, this really was nothing dramatic. "I'll have to see the other ryas to know for sure, but I don't think this will take me longer than a day, especially if I start now..."

"Oh, nonsense, it's so late already," the Matriarch cut in, placing her hands gently but firmly on Ruune's shoulders and turning her around. "We'll gladly put you up for two days or ten if you need, but I wouldn't presume to ask you start immediately! It's supper time, and you look like you've been on the road for a few days. No, no, tonight you must rest, so that you can start with a fresh mind and eyes tomorrow."

"Ah, I..." Ruune started, as she was pushed along out of the prayer room. Whatever protests she was about to make were interrupted by her stomach growling. "I suppose food wouldn't hurt," she agreed sheepishly.

Tikka didn't even try to hide her laughter as she followed them towards the dining hall.

***

"They all look the same, don't they?" Tikka said, drawing Ruune's attention away from her journal. She was laying on her bed with her hands tucked under her head, staring up at the ceiling. It was beginning to be a rather familiar view. "The Houses of Grace, I mean."

Ruune stayed silent for a moment, gazing at her form for a while longer, until Tikka looked down and they locked eyes. She smiled.

"They don't just look the same," she said and stood. She made her way to her own bed and dropped down onto it. It was not as nice as in Paraaja, but that was to be expected. "They are the same. At this point no one knows who designed the first House, but now every time a new one is built, they use the same layout; the prayer rooms, the inner sanctum, the administrative rooms, the acolytes' quarters... All rooms laid out exactly the same."

"But the House in Paraaja was so much bigger," Tikka said with a frown. She was staring at Ruune now, who tried to not falter under the intensity.

"It was," she agreed. "I suppose you could say that there's really two layouts, depending on the size of the House, but actually they're the same layout." The frown deepened and the stare intensified. "Look, I'm not an architect, I don't know how to explain it! But if you saw the blue-prints, I'm sure you would understand what I mean."

Tikka hummed. "Okay," she said and turned back to the ceiling.

Ruune took a deep breath, now that she could breathe again.

"You, um, don't have a lot of experience with Houses of Grace, then?" she said to distract herself from the flush on her face.

"Not really," Tikka said, a little noncommital. "I had no real reason to visit them before." She let out a short laugh. "In fact, you've doubled the amount of Houses I've been to in my entire life in just a week."

"Doubled...?" Ruune started, before something clicked in her mind and the words were out of her mouth before she had the mind to consider them, "You never explained it."

"Explained what?" Tikka asked, sitting up.

"Karma."

She grimaced.

"When we arrived at Paraaja," Ruune insisted, "you were going to explain what exactly this life-binding business is all about."

"Right," Tikka muttered. She pushed her hand into her hair. "It's..." She blew a raspberry. "I don't really know where to start."

"You can start by telling me why you bound your life to mine," Ruune suggested.

"Right," Tikka repeated. "Well, the short answer is... spite."

"What?!"

She had the nerve to laugh at Ruune's disgruntlement. "Well, maybe that's not entirely correct," she said with a grin. "But as I've told you already, I had... given up on life." Her expression softened then, the smile turning melancholy. "I didn't want to die, really, but I also didn't really care if I lived. When that wyvern attacked me, I basically accepted that that was the end of my path. So when you saved me, I had the thought 'it's your problem now'."

"I... really don't think you should consider your life a problem," Ruune tried, but Tikka just shrugged.

"Nevertheless, that's how I felt," she said. "The magic itself is old, ancient even. It's something my... mother taught me, though I have no idea where she learned it from. Probably passed down with the sword."

As she said it, she glanced to the side, at her sword resting against the side of the bed.

"It's the name of the blade, you know," she continued. "Karma. It's magical, bound to my life, and with it I can bind my life to other people. To give them what they deserve."

And then her eyes were back on Ruune, burning with the same auburn fire she'd seen in them during that first night when they had become intrensically linked.

"A life... for a life."

Ruune opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out was a small, "Oh."

Tikka blinked, and with that the moment broke, the intensity disappeared, hidden behind a nonplussed grin and a easygoing attitude.

"But don't think about it too much," she said, waving a hand. As if that was possible in any way. "You don't need to worry about me, I'm just here to make sure nothing happens to you. And if you really can't be bothered with me anymore, you can always just kill me."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

"That's not something you should joke about," Ruune said flatly, and Tikka immediately sobered up.

"No," she agreed. "I suppose it's not."

They were quiet for a moment, before Ruune sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"In any case, we should sleep now," she said, and Tikka nodded silently. "I do want to get all the work done tomorrow, so that we can leave early the following morning."

"Right, to Karinne," Tikka said and made a face.

"Exactly," Ruune said. "Now, good night."

She ignored the uncomfortable churn in the pit of her stomach and turned to her side. She did not dream that night, which she would soon learn to be thankful for.

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Whoooooo I got it done in one!! Things are really happening, huh? Let's see where things go~

Next topic isssssss "Card(s)"!

Pede out.