chapter twenty-six

"So, we're sure about the route?"
"Completly, there's no faster way to hit all four towns without dividing forces."
"What if we.."
"With all due respect milady, I've been shipping in this region for the past eight years. If there was a route that would get me more time at home than this one, I'd have found it by now. This isn't even my normal route. Traffic here and here would slow things down normally."
Kiera and their guide, a middle-aged man who called himself Chuck, were examining a map that Tressa had found in a basement storeroom.
"Alright then, we'll use your route. Go get some sleep, we'll need you alert when we start driving in the morning."
"Yes ma'am."
"You wouldn't be condemning the operation to go get some sleep yourself Miss Kiera."
"I still haven't figured out what to do with any survivors we find. Could you just go get another cup of that tea?"
"I have it right here."
Tressa held out a chipped stone mug.
"Have you never served tea before? You're supposed to use a tea cup, not some kind of stein."
"If you insist on a tea cup I might as well be pouring it right into your hand. They're all broken, little bits of porcelain all over the floor."
"Porcelain, really? That would have been perfect too."
Kiera took a sip from the warm stein. It had a definite effect on the taste, but if this was the best there was it would have to do.
"Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Aunt Allistari was very fond of tea. It was a required recipe in her house."
"Not what I meant, but interesting to know anyways. How did you do that thing with the warrior this morning?"
"You mean the will-binding? Also a required skill in Aunt Allistari's house."
"What kind of person would teach a child how to take control of someone else?"
"Someone who didn't like squirrels."
"Seems like an abuse of power to me, couldn't just shoot them?"
"Only if you wanted to clean up the mess; mind control just makes it cleaner. Not to mention how much you save on fertilizer."
"This conversation is over, I'm sorry I ever asked."
Tressa giggled, "At my age you probably had servants to take care of whatever you needed."
"Yes, and it was clean, warm, and safe; the way a child should grow up."
"Seems to have worked out just fine for everyone else in the empire."
"Did it really? I pity them then, It's shameful that children should still have to struggle to make it through childhood like that."
"We can't all be nobility. Magic and fighting were a game to you; for some of us it's a way of life."
Tressa walked over to the door.
"Maybe it is shameful that we can't chose to do what we enjoy, but I think it's just as shameful that my living is your sport."

Kiera sipped her tea. Something she'd said must have struck a nerve. She made a mental note to apologise in the morning and turned back to the charts before her.