"You always did have a hard time making friends." He winked. Then his expression grew serious. "Except for Comfort. You always got along with your sister."
"How would you know that?"
"I've known you since you were born, Repentance. How would I not know that about you?"
"But I don't know anything about you. You didn't even go to school with us."
He put his arm around her shoulder and walked her back toward the benches in front of the Hall of Justice. "I did go to school with you for a couple of years. I still remember your first day." His face softened as he spoke. "You burst into class, a muddy little girl with a possum under her arm. You'd caught him on the way to school. And that smile. It lit up the swamp like a thousand torches."
She had a smile? He was confusing her with some other muddy little girl. She was not much for smiles.
Sober sat on a bench and patted the spot beside him. "Sit with me."
"Don't you have to work?"
"Calamity's busy. He'll let me know when we have to go."
"Why is he talking to those people? Aren't they ones that help slaves escape?"
"They buy slaves. They don't break the law. They buy slaves and set them free."
"Is Calamity hoping they'll buy him?"
Sober looked at the old man and smiled. "He'd never leave the Mistress. He's not talking to the Deliverance Day people. He's talking to the mistress. See her there? She walks with them, holding her sign once a week."
Repentance frowned. "But she owns slaves. How can she protest?"
"She pays us. She lets us work off our debt. Then, if we want, we can leave."
Praise Providence! How wonderful for Sober.
A carriage edged around Calamity's potato wagon, slowly.
Repentance sat next to Sober. "So you remember me from school? Why don't I remember you?"
"We remember what's important to us. No one was important to you but Comfort."
She remembered many things besides Comfort. She remembered the other kids whispering about her. Calling her cursed. She remembered that they teased her because she was different. She remembered that she never fit in.
She watched the skim carriage turn in the circle and head back their direction, and wondered if a rich overlord was in the carriage and if he might come back and yell at the Deliverance Day people. But there were carriages coming and going regularly and they mostly seemed to ignore the crowd in front of the Hall of Justice.
"When you were in your sixth year you lost that smile of yours," Sober said. "The overlords took your brother and you changed. You didn't play with the other kids anymore. You hung onto Comfort like she was your only friend in the world. And when you were in your eighth year, I left school. There's no reason you should remember me."
"Then how do you know so much about me, if you left school when I was so young?"
"I kept an eye on you as the years went on."
"Sober," Calamity called. "We're late for our rounds. You should have had this chignet over to the Fin and Feather long afore now."
Sober rose and turned to give Repentance a bow.
She couldn't believe that she hadn't seen how handsome he was before. Surely she should remember something about him from school. But there was nothing.
He remembered her, though.
You remember what is important to you, he'd said.
He met her gaze and she tried a smile on him. Maybe it wasn't as bright as a thousand torches. Maybe it was more like the small, flickering stub of a candle. But it was a start.
And he smiled back.
Repentance wandered back toward the museum and sat on the bench in front, thinking about Sober, trying to remember what he looked like back when she'd first gone to school. Skoch and the young princes finally came out.
"I'm sorry we took so long," Skoch said. "The boys wanted to go out on the roof, and when we went out, the door locked behind us."
"And guess what we saw from up there?" Gaylor asked. "We saw you talking to the Deliverance Dogs."
She ignored him, keeping her eyes on the ground. He always got tired of taunting her when she didn't respond.
"You're better?" Skoch asked.
"The fresh air has done me much good, thanks," she said softly.
"We'll see the Hall of Justice, next."
Skoch had barely gotten the words out when a skim carriage pulled to in front of them. Favor, the palace footman, jumped out and approached them. "The king bids you to return to the palace," he said.
"The king is back?" Repentance asked.
"Just now arrived," Favor answered.
"We are having a tour of the Hall of Justice," Baylor said. "They have old swing frames in there. And," he gave Repentance a horrid grin, "they have the axe that Fawlin the Dragon Slayer used to cut off his lowborn button mate's head."
"And after we see all of that," Gaylor added, "we are going for lunch to the Fin and Feather."
"I'm told to bring you straight back," Favor said.
The princes continued to protest, but Favor was unbending. The king had given orders. Finally Gaylor and Baeler gave up their complaints and climbed into the carriage.
Repentance got in behind them, glad to be heading back to the palace. She had no desire to see The Dragon Slayer's bloody axe. Besides, she was anxious to see the king. She wasn't sure how much she'd tell him, but she was sure of one thing: having the king home would save her from having to go out to any feasts with the prince. As they swished out of the circle, Repentance looked back at Calamity and Sober's potato cart, which stood
