Karma, Part 9 - Confidence

Ruune knocked on the Matriarch's office door.

"Come in."

The light flooding the room through the windows blinded her for a moment as she pushed the door open. She had been in a room with plenty of natural light finishing the repairs on the rya, but the hallways were dim on the way, and the house was quite large.

"I am finished with the rya, Your Grace," she said as she stepped in.

"Ah, excellent," the Matriarch said. "I presume the work is of your usual quality."

"Of course. I wouldn't do it any other way," Ruune told her, trying to decide if the Matriarch was praising her, or insulting her by even asking if she did a good job this time. "It shouldn't need new repairs for a few decades." She paused. "Assuming there aren't other incidents involving cats, boys, and boots, was it?"

The Matriarch waved the question away. "Yes, yes, it was very unfortunate. Have you been shown the others that could use your eyes?"

"Not yet."

"I will have Johannes show you to the correct storage."

"Yes, Your Grace."

She began to turn away, but the Matriarch's voice pulled her back.

"As for the other matter," she said, lifting a cream colored envelope off her desk and turning to Tikka, who had trailed into the room behind Ruune. She held out the envelope. "I have your papers here."

Tikka seemed uncertain for a moment, then glanced at Ruune, who raised an eyebrow at her. Maybe she was imagining, but it almost looked like Tikka's hand was shaking, just a little bit, as she took the envelope.

She opened it, pulled out the papers. Unfolded them.

A wave of relief washed out of her, though it was almost imperceptible on her face. Ruune glanced at the paper. Tikariina Metso, it said.

"Thank you, Your Grace," Tikka said. And then she bowed.

For a moment Ruune was stunned. The Matriarch gave Tikka a small smile, and motioned for them to leave.

They did, following Johannes towards the storage with more tapestries in need of attention.

***

"Here."

They had gotten to their room after a late supper, Ruune's eyes tired from looking at the small stitches in fabrics all day, for too many days in a row. But today was the last day. Other than the main altar rya, the rest had only needed a few stitches mended here or there. She had managed to go through all eleven of them during the afternoon and evening. And tomorrow, they would be on their way. As much as she loved her work, after a few days she started to wish she was on the road, looking all the way to the horizon instead of something in her own hands.

Now she lifted her arm from over her eyes and turned to look at what Tikka was handing her.

"Why are you giving it to me?" she asked. "They're your papers."

Tikka grinned. "My life is yours. And thus are the papers, as well, for you to do as you please."

Ruune made no move to take the papers, or even to sit up. They stared at each other for a moment.

"And I'm sure you're much better at keeping them safe and in a good condition," Tikka finally added.  "Seeing as I do not have anywhere to put them but my pockets."

She wasn't wrong. They would probably stay in much better shape if Ruune put them with her own papers than if Tikka held on to them herself. Besides, she didn't quite trust Tikka to not intentionally lose them just to cause trouble at the next City-state. It wasn't like she actually cared whether she had papers after all. At least she knew they wouldn't have to face the same problem again if she held on to them herself.

"Fine," she said, and took the envelope from her. It was thick, nice paper, completely smooth. Surprising, considering Tikka had been clutching it all afternoon. To hold it for hours and not crumple even one corner...

Something shifted inside of Ruune.

True, Tikka hadn't cared about whether or not she had papers. But these papers, these she clearly cared about.

They were official proof she was still who she was, no matter what the records back at her hometown said about that.

"I will take good care of them for you," Ruune said. Tikka looked at her for a moment, then nodded and lay down on her own bed.

***

The following day opened bright and clear, though cold. The days they'd spent in Paaraja had seen snow, so the road ahead of them was a glistening, blinding white in the winter sunshine.

That put Ruune in a good mood, to be out on the road, in such a lovely weather, going somewhere new, not being stuck in a small room all day.

Tikka started the day her usual self. Loud and unfiltered, talking about anything and everything that wasn't herself. Like she didn't matter. But as the day turned towards the afternoon, she started to get quieter.

"Someone's following us."

She hadn't said anything for a good while, and neither had Ruune. She preferred it that way, travelling in silence and enjoying the road.

She turned to look at her companion, opened her mouth to disagree. She had been on the road alone a lot. She had a good sense for when someone was following her. You had to develop that, if you were going to spend your life as she did. There was no one following them. But the look on Tikka's face stopped her. She was completely serious, in a way she rarely was.

So she held her tongue and focused her senses. From the angle her head was, turned towards Tikka beside her as they walked, she couldn't see anyone behind them on the road. But that didn't mean anything. Her view wasn't good, and someone following them might not be visible right now, even if they were in a relatively open area. She hadn't noticed anything, despite the fact that she almost always did, but it wasn't impossible she'd missed something.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright." There was a large stone by the side of the road just ahead. She stopped, put down her bag on it, and dug our her water.

"What are you doing?" Tikka asked.

"Taking a break," Ruune said. "You should drink something too, you know. Also, this way I can actually take a look without tipping anyone behind us off."

She rolled her neck, her head, her shoulders. Even if this stop was an excuse to see if there was someone behind them, it was nice to get the pack off for a moment.

"You don't believe me?"

"I want to see them for myself. I like having as much knowledge as I can of people following me."

But she still couldn't see anyone behind them. She looked in the direction they'd come from for a good moment, sipping her water, seemingly enjoying the view. There was no one there.

"I don't see anyone," she said as she shouldered her pack again. Tikka hesitated for a moment.

"There's someone there. They're just farther behind us."

"You know what, let's walk a little more and then stop for a proper break. Sit down for a meal. Our follower should go past us in that time, even if they are farther behind. If you spotted them, they will catch up with us eventually."

Tikka nodded.

So that's what they did. After a while, they stopped by the side of the road, not directly visible from the direction they came from. Maybe whoever was following them would just stumble into them by accident, not realising they were there.

They stayed for longer than they would normally stop for a meal break. Four people went by in that time: two women, one probably the other one's mother, and two individual men, one with a cart pulled by a donkey.

The two of them looked closely at all of them, trying to not be too obvious about it. Every time, Tikka shook her head. Not this person. They're not the one following us.

"You're sure someone is following us?" Ruune asked as they got back on the road, still no one visibly behind them.

"I'm sure."

She said it with such confidence Ruune couldn't help but believe her, even while her gut told her to doubt.

"When did you first see them?"

"Well... I..." Tikka started. Ruune hadn't expected that. "I didn't see them, exactly."

Oh, heavens.

It must have shown on her face.

"There is someone following us. I know there is. I can feel it. It's my warrior's instincts. Traveller's instincts. Do you know how much time I've spent on the road. You..."

"...learn to notice there things. I know. I have it too. And I'm not seeing it. I can't find anyone following us."

"They're just farther behind us," Tikka said, this time with much less confidence.

"Okay. I believe you. We still have some ways to go today if we want to spend the night indoors, and the sun won't be up much longer. So I say we finish our day trip. Whoever it is, even if they're quite a bit behind us, should be staying at the same inn. There aren't that many of them on the route that they'd be able to stay somewhere else without losing us. So we'll either find them among the crowd in the morning, or we're rid of our follower."

Tikka thought about it for a moment, then agreed.

***

It was tense, in the morning, going through the faces in the main room as they had breakfast. Eventually, Tikka shook her head.

"They're not here, whoever they are," she said.

"So we've lost them, then," Ruune said. "You can relax, now. Finish your breakfast. I want to get going before we start losing daylight hours."

Tikka turned back to her food, not looking much more at ease.

_________________________________________________________

The topic for tomorrow is Spite.

~matleena