The pain and fatigue from the previous day and a poor night's sleep forced Maya to call for Selah’s help dressing. She preferred to tend to herself these days. She was a grown woman, and Selah was a new mother again years after she believed herself past childbearing. However, the stiffness in Maya’s back and arms prevented her from reaching the buttons up the back of her dresses this morning.
She endured Selah’s lecture and apologized for frightening her friend and surrogate mother. She bit her tongue and tried not to wince as Selah tugged her hair into a knot of braids. In all the years Maya had known her, Selah never mastered dealing with Maya's hair texture. It was another reason Maya preferred to let her lady’s maid sleep in.
Once she was prepared for the day, Maya thanked Selah and asked her to have two breakfast trays sent to Chantal’s rooms. Although she understood her testimony was crucial to bringing Ralic to justice, Maya doubted the girl fully understood how the court system worked if she hadn’t heard about the talent groups. It fell to her to inform the younger woman. She didn’t relish the thought, but Chantal seemed calmer after their talk yesterday.
Maya made her way to Chantal’s door. When the door opened, Maya wondered if Chantal had slept at all. The younger woman was wrapped in several blankets pulled from the bed, but she still shivered nonetheless. Her hair lay in mussed and frizzy ringlets, and there were dark smudges under her eyes, which were bloodshot and watery.
“Oh dear.” Maya stepped through and closed the door behind herself before laying the back of her hand against Chantal’s brow. She was running a slight fever, but it wasn’t scorching. “Your ordeal caught up with you overnight, didn’t it?”
Chantal nodded. “I feel horrible.”
“I’ve asked the kitchen to send up two trays,” Maya said as she led Chantal to the table near her window. “So, we can eat here instead of the dining hall this morning. When our food arrives, I’ll ask the servants who bring it to fetch something to set you right.”
“Thank you,” Chantal answered and yawned as she eased into one of the chairs.
“Were you able to sleep at all?” Maya settled into one of the chairs by the fireplace.
“I slept well enough, considering,” Chantal answered and tugged her blankets tighter. “I hadn’t realized I’d become accustomed to sleeping during the day, and then I started getting the chills.”
“It’s likely the sunburn causing those,” Maya said, settling into the opposite chair. “I’d wondered how you managed three days out there without burning more than you did, given your complexion. You traveled at night?”
“Father’s soldiers searched during the day,” Chantal explained. “It was safer to move at night.”
Maya nodded as someone knocked on the door. She waved away Chantal’s attempt to get up and went to open it herself. She helped the kitchen maid with the trays. She thanked her and asked the maid to fetch an analgesic, water, and burn lotion.
“Do you need a doctor, my lady?” the maid asked.
“I don’t believe so,” Maya answered. “It looks like mild dehydration and a moderate sunburn, but I’ll call for the doctor if she does not improve within the hour.”
“Yes, Lady DuBois.”
“Thank you.” Maya closed the door once the maid left and returned to her chair. She poured cream into her coffee and wrapped her hands around the warm cup.
“I was wondering how you’d become so lost,” she said. “The Wastelands aren’t large, and the Andreias Mountains serve well as an orienting marker.”
“I left a few hours before dawn, and it was a dark night,” Chantal explained as she spooned ridgeberry sauce over her flat cakes. “Atesh and Drecia were behind clouds, but there was enough light to guide by when they cleared. I headed northwest, but I saw three avian shadows trailing me not long after I left Tembar’s catacombs.”
“Avians?” Maya asked and sipped her coffee. “Why would birds worry you?”
Chantal made a noncommittal noise as she chewed. Maya took a bite of her breakfast as she waited, enjoying the spicy taste of the chutney she preferred to the sweet sauce.
“I’m sorry,” Chantal said when she’d freed her mouth of food. “The avians I referred to are my father’s creations.” She sipped at her coffee and grimaced.
Maya grinned at her reaction. Was this the first time she’d tasted coffee?
“They’re like Brance, but they’re mixed with birds, usually raptors of some sort.” Chantal cut another piece from her flat cake. “Except they haven’t angered him enough to have their minds damaged,” she added like an afterthought.
Maya sat stunned for a moment. He’d caused deliberate damage to Brance's mind? She shivered. “Were you lost trying to escape the avians?” she asked.
“I panicked and ran in every direction, trying to confuse them.” She laughed. “I confused myself, and I kept running until I fell.”
Chantal ate in silence, and Maya waited.
“It took a while for me to wake up,” Chantal continued. “I hurt all over, and I didn’t want to move at first.” She sipped her coffee with a grimace again. She raised her eyes to meet Maya’s. “I was in a farmhouse buried over the years,” she said. “There was a hole in the roof where I fell, but Father’s soldiers never found it.”
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“So you slept in the house during the day and looked for Reiont at night?” Maya guessed.
Chantal nodded. “The visibility didn’t improve the next night. I couldn’t tell the mountains from dunes or Tembar in the distance, and I kept wandering in circles.”
“It’s amazing you found me,” Maya said before taking the last bite of her flat cake.
Chantal grimaced around another sip of her coffee and shook her head. “You walked right over my hideaway!”
“What?” Maya exclaimed. “I didn’t!”
“No, you did!” Chantal giggled. “The muffled thuds of you walking over the roof and trickles of sand falling on me woke me up yesterday morning. It scared me half to death. I thought they'd found me.”
“Why did you risk coming out?”
“I wasn’t making progress regaining my bearings. There was no way I’d be able to sleep until I found out who’d walked by,” Chantal answered once she’d finished her bite of egg. “Besides, I’d rigged a trap door to camouflage my hideaway. I figured I could duck back in and lock it if I needed. It was my one chance to orient myself, and I’d run out of food and water. I had to take the risk.”
Chantal took another sip of her coffee before shaking herself in disgust. “How can you drink this?” she asked.
“Here.” Maya chuckled as she offered Chantal the sugar. “This will help. It’s an acquired taste, but I thought you could likely use the caffeine.”
The younger girl agreed and took a tentative sip from her cup. Her eyebrows rose.
Where was that medicine? Time was slipping away from them, and it would be time for the hearing soon. Maya finished her coffee and set it aside before standing and walking over to Chantal’s wardrobe. If she knew Selah, there would be a large selection of gowns, everyday dresses, and traveling gear from which to choose. Today was an important one, though nothing unusual. Chantal would want to make a good impression on the couple adopting Roggsha, but a gown would be too much. Perhaps one of the better everyday dresses would work.
Maya pulled the doors open and began searching through the rainbow of material. Chantal watched her with eyebrows raised and an amused smile on her lips as she finished her breakfast.
“I’m able to dress myself,” she said.
“Eat your breakfast,” Maya answered. “I’m preparing for when you’ve finished, and the medicinal supplies I requested are delivered. They're expecting us in Aligh's office for your father’s hearing soon.”
“Already?”
“Did you expect us to wait?” Maya asked. “The only reason it wasn’t heard yesterday was to give Judge Marx and his assistant time to conduct research on some of our most ancient laws.” She selected a blue dress with ivory embroidery, underskirts, and slippers.
“No,” Chantal answered. “I thought it was earlier than it is, I suppose.” She set her cup aside and began dressing.
Maya looked through the available combs and jewelry. She found two simple silver combs amongst the bits and bobbles and thought they would serve her well. Chantal’s hair was beautiful and long. It would be a shame to always hide it in knots and braids. Leaving it free would accentuate her youth, which could prove useful at the adoption.
She set them aside when another knock sounded and went to open the door.
“I have the things you requested, Lady DuBois,” the maid offered with a shallow curtsy.
“Thank you,” Maya answered and accepted the tray. She bid the maid shut the door on her way out and set her burden on the table. “How much do you know about the courts?” Maya asked as she handed Chantal the analgesic and poured a glass of water for her.
“There’s a hierarchy to it,” Chantal answered. She downed the analgesic suspension in one swallow and shuddered in response to the taste. She gulped down half the glass of water before continuing. “Village judges rule over lesser crimes and suits. Regional lords handle larger things.”
Chantal stood and shed her blankets before scooping out a dollop of the burn lotion and rubbing it on her face and arms. “Ah, that’s freezing!” she yelped.
“I know it’s uncomfortable now, but it will help,” Maya promised. “Tell me what else you know, it’ll distract you.”
“We have the right to a trial by jury,” Chantal continued as she applied the lotion to her burns. “Those on trial are innocent until proven guilty.”
Once Chantal applied the lotion, which was usually laced with a topical analgesic too, Maya helped her pull on the dress. Considering how sore she’d felt early this morning, Maya was amazed Chantal was moving as well as she was. While riding dragon-back was a usual activity for Maya, it’d been Chantal’s first time, and she knew how taxing it could be.
Chantal continued once the dress was in place, and Maya worked the tiny buttons for her. “There are all sorts of rules about what is allowable as evidence and how it’s obtained. I couldn’t tell you much about those, though.”
Maya hummed a response as she settled Chantal in the chair. She smoothed a dollop of the hair softener into the younger girl’s curls before she began working a pick through the tangles.
“What of reasonable verification?” Maya asked. She knew having someone else tend to your hair was soothing to many women, herself included. She hoped it would help ease Chantal’s acceptance of the information she was about to give her.
“I don’t recognize the term.”
“Our ancestors once had machines able to distinguish truth from lies,” Maya explained. “Like many machines our ancestors once used, we don’t have them now.” She focused on removing a difficult knot without ripping Chantal’s hair before she continued. “In this case, they scrapped them because telepaths proved more effective.”
“A telepath is going to read me?” Chantal asked.
Her tone was unreadable, but Maya could feel concern. It wasn’t outright fear, but she was uncertain.
“Everyone agrees to a moderate reading throughout their questioning,” Maya agreed. “It’s deeper than a telepath will pick up just by dropping their shields. But searching beyond the scope of the trial is forbidden.”
“So the telepath will only read what I’m discussing?”
“Yes.”
Chantal was quiet as Maya parted her hair and placed the combs. She felt Chantal’s nervousness begin to dissipate and curiosity take over. Maya steeled herself for the question she was certain was coming.
“Do you know the telepath who will be helping with Father’s hearing?”
“It’s Lanre,” Maya answered. Chantal’s head turned.
“Lanre?” she asked. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her face flushed. “Lanre’s a telepath?”
“Yes,” Maya answered. She laid a hand on Chantal’s shoulder, trying to calm her. “He strives to protect the privacy of those around him,” she assured the younger girl. “You can trust him not to peek where he’s not invited.”
Chantal’s expression shifted from uncertain to determined as she absorbed the new information. She nodded and stood.
“I didn’t go through everything in the Wastelands to let my fear doom those people now,” she said.
