Karma, Part 7 - Close

The rya was in worse condition than she'd been led to believe. How the Matriarch of Paaraja of all people had allowed it to get so bad in the first place was beyond her. Ruune would have imagined she would have stepped in ages ago and called her in.

Her thoughts must've been rather visible on her face, as the Matriarch cleared her throat and said, "There was an incident." She looked almost embarrassed when Ruune turned to stare at her. There was a first time for everything, she supposed. "With two of the shrine boys, a huge wild cat, and some old donated boots."

She stared for a moment longer before reverting her attention back to the rya.

Yes, she could see how a large cat could do damage like this. But boots? For a moment her curiosity almost took over, but quickly she decided she didn't actually care enough to know.

"Why the boots?" Tikka's voice came from behind her. She could practically hear the Matriarch stiffen.

"I believe that is all the explanation you need. It will not affect the restoration process."

"You're right," Ruune said, before Tikka could start an argument, and turned back to the others in the room. "This will take a few days to fix."

"Yes, I expected so," the Matriarch said. "In the meantime, we should get started on your friend's papers."

"Not my friend," Ruune muttered under her breath, but her mind was already focused on the restoration process, cataloguing which of the threads would need renewing and where to start. "Yes, you two go get that done, I will get started on the rya. I won't get much done anymore today, but there's no reason to wait until morning."

She would need to replace a good chunk of the rya with new yarn and it looked like she might need to do some stitching on the base fabric as well. There was a shuffle behind her. Then the Matriarch spoke up again.

"This way, miss Metso."

Ruune glanced up, trying to decide the best stitch to use for a specific spot on the side where some of the warps were damaged, when she noticed Tikka was still glued to the spot. Her hands were behind her back, and she rocked back and forth on her toes, looking very much like she wasn't about to go anywhere. Ruune glared at her.

"Go," she said. She should re-enforce the edge while she was at it. It wasn't in a bad condition yet, but this was an old rya, and it would need to be done eventually. "I apologise," she added to the Matriarch. "She likes to stay close to me."

Tikka still didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"You're not going far. Go," Ruune told her with more force, and this time Tikka gave her a resigned grimace and went to follow the Matriarch out of the room, dragging her feet the whole way.

The lower corner had the worst damage. All of that would need to be... Wait.

"Do not," Ruune said, catching Tikka's attention just as they were about to disappear through the door, "cause trouble. Just give them what they need to make you new papers. Don't be difficult. Just do as they ask. I have work to do." She held Tikka's eyes for a few tense seconds. And then, to not sound like she was giving her commands, added, "Okay?"

Tikka simply nodded and vanished behind the door frame. Ruune sighed and finally shifted all her attention to the rya.

***

A few hours later, her eyes hurt. She looked up from her stitching, blinking at the wall, and put down her work. Again, the stupid darkness. It was being kept at bay by so many lanterns, but it was still nothing like working with daylight streaming in through the windows, which she'd only had for a moment today.

Her stomach made a loud growl. She hadn't noticed how hungry she was. It made sense, though; they'd only had a small bite before coming to see the rya, and since then she'd been at work. But she couldn't quite help it. When she was given a rya or tapestry to fix, it was hard to not simply keep working on it. Her hands always itched to do just a little more, just this one last bit. And before she knew it, the whole day had passed.

She stretched as she stood up and folded the rya neatly onto the table next to her equipment.

She didn't know where Tikka or the Matriarch were, since neither had come back after they'd left to take care of the papers. However, she did know where the main office was, so that's where she headed. It was as good a place as any to start the search.

As she rounded a corner, she heard appraching voices in the distance. 

"...would she do that?" one voice asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem to make sense," another one answered.

"Sure, he screwed up, but I would have probably just sent him to copy texts for a day, this was..."

"I know, like I said, it doesn't make sense."

The voices were close now, just around the corner.

"Maybe she's gotten too old? Maybe we..."

And then they noticed her, as they rounded the corner to the same hallway she was on, and immediately fell silent.

They passed each other without a word, the two acolytes nodding at Ruune awkwardly. She smiled and nodded back. The whispering started almost as soon as they'd gotten past her, now quiet enough she could no longer make out the words.

A few more turns and she was at the Matriarch's door. She knocked and waited, but no one answered. She heard nothing from inside either. Luckily, a passing shrine boy knew to tell her the Matriarch and her special guest had been in the hall for dinner, after which they had left in the direction of the dormitories. She thanked him and headed off, her feet taking her through the inner labyrith of the House on automation. They were all laid out the same, after all, on the inside. Every single House of Grace.

And she was always set up in the exact same room whenever she stayed at one.

She was this time too, and found Tikka lying on one of the beds, staring at the ceiling.

"I thought you would have made your way back to me immediately once you got the papers sorted," she noted, dropping to sit on the edge of the other bed.

Tikka just shrugged.

"You told me to do as they asked. And they asked me to go to the room to settle our things. And you told me to stay our of trouble. So I did."

Okay, then. Odd, but sure. At least she was able to work in peace.

"And everything went well with the papers?"

"Well, so far. They asked me a number of questions that are none of their business, and sent an information request out to the Kaskia House of Grace."

"You're from Kaskia?" Ruune hadn't really spent much time in those parts. She'd been through there once or twice, but generally tended to stay on This side of the River.

"Born there." There was a moment of silence, as Ruune expected Tikka to elaborate. She was slightly disappointed but not necessarily surprised, when the only thing she said after was, "They're expecting a bird back tomorrow."

That was good. Getting one thing about Tikka sorted out, at least. And then they'd never have to worry about this paper thing again.

The air was still so tense.

"You had dinner already?" Ruune asked to break it.

Tikka nodded, but said nothing.

"Well," Ruune continued as she stood up. Something was off, she truly had assumed Tikka would make life difficult for someone while she was working, even if she had told her to stay out of trouble. "I haven't eaten, so I will go find myself some dinner."

Tikka immediately sat up. "I'm coming with you."

"I thought you'd already eaten."

"I did. But rather go with you anyway. I," she hesitated, "don't like this place."

Yeah, that seemed about right. But Ruune was too hungry and tired to argue about whether she actually wanted to have someone stare at her while she ate.

"Yes, you've made that very clear. Come on, let's go then."

___________________________________________

This has been the longest project, and we're barely started. It has been approximately forever since I wrote the previous part. So we'll see how this goes.

The topic for tomorrow is Lake.

~matleena