though she and Maleva had saved his life twice. Still, his feelings toward the clergy of Selune had mellowed since his meeting with Dhauna Myritar, and he was curious why Feena had returned. He met her at the rail.
'Well met,' he said, hoping the common greeting would hold true this time.
'Well again,' she said, glancing at his face only briefly before casting her eyes down at the rail. She did not seem shy so much as uncomfortable, and Tal was pleased to know he wasn't alone in that. 'Sorry you didn't get the part you wanted.'
Her reminder of his failure annoyed him, especially since he found it hard to believe she was truly sympathetic. 'It's good not to get everything you want,' he said. 'We spoiled rich children have trouble with that.'
'I didn't say a thing!' said Feena. She turned to Chancy for corroboration. 'Did I say a thing?'
'She didn't say a thing. I'm pretty sure she didn't.'
Tal took another of the deep breaths that were becoming the punctuation marks of his life. As he let it out, he said, 'You're right. I'm sorry. I must be a little more disappointed about the audition than I thought.'
'That's no reason to be sarcastic.'
'No,' he agreed. 'It's no reason at all.'
'All right, then,' she said.
'All right.'
'This could be a long conversation,' observed Chaney, 'if the two of you keep repeating each other.'
They both turned to glare at him.
'Of course, I could help by butting out, couldn't I?'
'Are you-hungry?' asked Tal. 'Care to join us for dinner?'
Feena shook her head and opened her mouth to decline, but then she changed her mind. Perhaps it was as difficult for her to be civil as it was for Tal. 'Yes, please. I would like that.'
They made an unusual spectacle as they strolled west down Sarn Street, two of Selgaunt's most eligible bachelors on either side of an uncultured young woman who might have fallen off a milk wagon. Tal wore Perivel's sword at his side, and even Chaney went armed with a slender blade. After the fight on the High Bridge, they were both more careful not to travel alone. Going armed made them look like bravos, especially when they swaggered down the streets in mockery of their more popular peers.
After a whispering group of Soargyl girls sniggered at them as they passed by, Chaney gallantly offered Feena his arm. He was always quick to defy the mores of his class. Feena looked at his crooked arm and shook her head. Chaney looked hurt, and Tal could tell his reaction wasn't just in jest.
'I thought you and Maleva had gone home,' he said to her.
'We did,' she replied. 'Mother wanted to see whether there was any sign of Rusk near the wood. Besides, the people there count on her for help.'
'Was there?' asked Tal. When Feena looked at him blankly, he added, 'Any sign of Rusk.'
'No,' said Feena. 'Not for certain, at least. His pack still roams the forest, but one of the other nightwalkers might be leading them.'
'Are they all nightwalkers?'
'Yes, but Rusk also leads a wider congregation on festival days. Even the good folk are afraid to turn him out of their villages at festival.'
'I don't understand that,' said Chaney. He crooked his fingers above his head and capered like a goblin.' Tm the great bloody monster of an animal god, here to devour your children. Please come to my ceremony, and don't be stingy at the offering box.' '
'You have no idea what you're talking about,' said Feena.
'No,' agreed Chaney, 'you're right. I might be ignorant in the ways of rural beast gods, but it seems ludicrous to invite some barking madman into town when you know his people turn into wolves and eat folk.'
'That's not all they do,' said Feena. 'They're hunters, and they don't prey on the villagers.'
'Why are you defending them?' asked Tal.
'I'm not defending them,' said Feena. 'I'm explaining why the people pay their respects to their god. You live in a port city. Don't your sailors pray to Umberlee?'
'Sure,' said Chaney. 'They pay tribute so the Sea Queen doesn't sink their ships.'
'Ye-es?' drawled Feena, encouraging Chaney to make the connection.
'They're warding off evil,' said Tal. 'Like paying off bandits to leave your caravans alone.'
'Ha! You sound like Thamalon when you put it that way,' said Chaney.
'You take that back!' said Tal, capturing his friend in a headlock. They wrestled in mock combat for a moment before realizing that Feena was staring at them impatiently.
'How old are you two?'
'I'm one-and-twenty,' said Chaney, squirming out of Tal's hold. 'This big lout's the baby, though you wouldn't think it to look at him.'
'You're both behaving like ten-year-old boys.'
'We were just having a bit of fun,' said Chaney. 'You could stand to have a little fun yourself. In a few years, they'll be calling you an old maid.'
Tal winced at Chaney's crass remark. Feena was probably still a few years shy of thirty, but she was in no danger of appearing past her prime. True, her round hips and unrestrained breasts were not noble Selgaunt's feminine ideal, but Tal doubted she cared about city ideals.
'I'm not here for fun,' she said, turning her back on Chaney and stabbing a finger at Tal. 'I'm here to look after you.'
'I don't need looking after.'
'Besides, that's my job,' said Chaney, puffing out his chest. 'I watch his back.'
Feena snorted derisively. 'Why do I have the feeling you're the one who gets him into trouble?'
'Hey!' protested Chaney.
'Hm,' observed Tal. Remembrance of the attack on the High Bridge darkened his thoughts, but he was too pleased that Feena had turned her sharp tongue back on Chaney to dwell on it. 'She's more perceptive than she looks.'
'Hey!'
'Let me guess,' said Tal, voicing a thought he had been considering since the moment of Feena's return. 'You're the one Dhauna Myritar sent to help me.'
Feena lifted her chin. 'That's right,' she said, 'and she also told me you promised to cooperate.'
Tal laughed. 'We'll see about that,' he said. 'Now come on. Here's the place.'
He nodded at a small shop whose sign depicted a pie through which poked the heads of three singing blackbirds, and through its door came the savory odor of chicken pies. They went inside and found a vacant table, where the proprietor took their orders and left them with a steaming pot of the hot black tea Sembians favored.
'Mother says she's sure Rusk is alive,' said Feena. She poured for Chaney and Tal before filling her own cup.
'How does she know?' asked Tal.
'I don't know,' Feena answered. 'Sometimes she just knows things, and it does no good to ask how.'
She looked down at the table, and Tal realized she must be as frustrated with her mother as he had been with Chaney.
'If that ambulatory carpet comes back here,' said Chaney brightly, 'Tal's going to lop off his other arm.' The table rocked as Tal kicked him in the shins. 'Ow! Well, you said so yourself, didn't you?'
'You were lucky last time,' said Feena, fixing Tal's eyes with her own. 'You realize that, don't you?'
'Maybe,' said Tal.
Feena's face flushed as she raised a finger to berate him.
'Yes, I was lucky,' Tal added before she could speak. 'I know, but I also didn't know he was coming. Now I'm better prepared.'
