“What?” Sath asked, his mouth full of food. Gin grimaced.
“You said that only your Gin could talk as much as I do. I suppose that means that I am part of your household, right?” she asked before taking another bite of the sandwich. Her fingers hovering so close to her lips were driving Sath to distraction.
“What?” Sath realized he sounded foolish, so he swallowed what he was chewing on and beamed a toothy grin at her. “You are my Gin, aren’t you?” he said, deciding that trying to hide what he had said would do no good with her. Gin was nothing if not tenacious when she thought someone was keeping something from her.
Gin blushed to the roots of her hair. “I suppose I am, being called Clawsharp and all,” she said as she popped the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth and then took a long swig off of her skin of water. “Part of the royal family, right?”
Sath’s face fell. “Yeah, part of the royal family,” he said. “So, there’s a cave over there, see, in the treeline? I think that we should make our way there today. If it isn’t a cave, it might be a tunnel—which might lead back to somewhere we recognize.” He took the last bite of his sandwich and chewed for a moment before he spoke. “All we know is that we are somewhere near the coast because I can still smell the salt in the air, can’t you?” Gin nodded. Sath stood and surveyed the landscape. “This reminds me of a lot of the Grasslands, down by Calder’s Port. The western side, where the actual port is and around to the north toward Qatu’anari. I can almost imagine the stories that the nanny told us coming to life here—the myths told by the other races about their gods and goddesses.” Gin narrowed her eyes at him.
“Myths? You think that my All-Mother is just a character in a story?”
“Well, to be fair, Gin, I’ve never seen her. But no, settle down.” He held up his hands to her before she started talking. “These were not about your Sephine and Kildir. The one that comes to my mind now concerns Ikara and his daughter, Eh’soi, the so-called Princess of Ikedria and their sworn enemy, Guardian Eleinnagh of House Calder,” Sath said.
“Eleinnagh Calder, right? The very first hybrid born on Orana, well, after the dragonkind that is. Oh, Cursik would be shocked that I remembered that, I was so lazy at my history lessons.” She smiled at the memory of her brother for the first time in a long time.
Sath nodded. “The Ikedrians and the Guardians were fighting over the rights to the northern trade routes under the Great Forest and into the Outlands—this was just after the Forest War, and it was originally thought that Eh’soi had been killed in the final fight that took Ikara’s magic. But she returned, weakened, and with very little magic and set off after Eleinnagh. The Princess did not perish because her father used sorcerers, who opened a portal to the battle to save her. This place just reminds me of how the nanny described the scene of the battle, a barren coast.”
Gin was watching Sath with the wide-eyed innocence of a child. “That’s right, I remember some of that story, anyway,” she said. “Go on, Sath. I used to love it when you would tell Khuj the history of Qatu’anari as bedtime stories.”
“How did you know that I did that? I guess he told you, didn’t he?”
“No. I used to sit out in the hall and listen,” Gin admitted. “I needed to know more about my new home, didn’t I? I didn’t ask to stay because I was afraid you would stop telling him the stories. You are an amazing story-teller, Sath…and an amazing father.”
“I tried my best,” Sath said with a shrug. “Once I got him back, I never wanted to let him out of my sight again. I still curse that bard for stealing those precious first months with him from me.” A low growl formed in his chest until he noticed a slightly wary look cross Gin’s face. “I’m sorry, but it just makes me so angry. But those times had nothing to do with you, not directly, and I need to let them go.”
“I have an idea, Sath,” Gin said quietly. “Part of this journey is getting to know each other again, right? Well, how about we table all of this talk for the moment…shut it! I can be quiet when I want to be!” She pointed her finger at Sath’s grinning face. “We go out and see how far we can get—and how much we can learn—during the day time, but at night we tell stories.”
“Stories? Like the history of Qatu’anari, the one I told Khuj, you mean?” he asked, puzzled.
“No. The history of Sath and Gin. I want to know whatever you are willing to tell me about yourself, and I will promise to answer any question you put to me about my past,” Gin answered. Her bravado was slipping, but she held the neutral expression on her face as best she could. “What do you think?”
“Gin, there are things you don’t want to know about me,” Sath muttered, the growl again present in his voice. He hoped that she couldn’t feel his shame through their bond, but had a feeling she could.
“There are things I don’t want you to know about me as well, Sath, but if you are to know me and trust me, you have to know the bad and the good.”
“What do you mean, trust you? I trust…”
“Don’t lie to me, Sath,” Gin said, again raising her finger to stop him from talking. “I know that you don’t trust me completely, and I don’t blame you for that, but I think that if you know me better, you will be able to trust that I would never hurt you on
