“No, Seferu's not poisonous. I do dance with poisonous snakes, but I left those back in Vienda. He's in a cage, so he won't bother you, although if you wish to hold him, you can. He's very friendly and loves to be admired.”

Xanadu opened the door and walked inside. Seferu's cage was on the left side by the wall, on top of one of her cupboards. He didn't even move when she entered.

Keishet and Omari glided inside. She took a wrapped package from a drawer and opened it, removing a few small slabs of dried meat and tossing them in the air. The miraan caught the jerky with their claws and flew over to her bed to eat, nibbling on it in their delicate way.

The cart's interior mainly consisted of storage space and her bed in the alcove in the back. All of her cooking supplies were in the cupboard opposite Seferu's cage. It's top served as a counter. Her table was a slab of wood that slid partially out of one of the drawers, its two legs folded beneath it. She pulled it out and extended the legs. She removed her knives from another drawer and the low table that served as her cutting board from one of the doors at the bottom.

The chairs and her three-legged stew pot was in the large compartment under her high bed. It was the only place large enough to store them, and she had to crawl halfway inside to drag everything out. She brought the chairs out first and then the cast iron pot, her muscles straining to pull it out. It was heavy, but its weight didn't bother her as much as its size. Because she was so small herself, it was a bit awkward to carry. Straightening up, she looked over to Shi. “Do you want to use this to cook in? If so, I'll go put it over the fire.” She smiled a bit wryly. “I confess the only way I know how to cook is throw everything in the pot and hope for the best.”

"If he's not poisonous, I don't mind him. Though I'm not sure I'm ready to hold him. After breakfast, perhaps."
Shi was curious. But she had never interacted with a snake before. A bit of time to get at ease with the idea would not be bad.

She looked at Xanadu retrieving her pot, while thinking about what she had said about the other snakes.
"So you dance with snakes? That's your job? In Vienda?" The witch had no idea people other than spokes were having that kind of job.

But, then, she smiled at the woman explanation of her cooking and changed subjects.
"All into the pot? That's what I do. I just like to cook the meat alone before, and add it back at the end. Avoids it boiling in the juice. Would you mind washing and dicing the vegetables while I start the meat? Do you have some oil?"

Soon, Shi would be crouching by the floor, chopping the chicken into small pieces to be thrown in the hot oiled pot. She took the time of advising Xanadu while the meat seared.
"You'll go faster if you make very small moves. Then you can use your knuckle to guide the blade." She noticed how fast the woman adjusted. She was obviously at ease with sharp blades. But she was a Black Hand after all. Though a strange one with a house in Vienda. A Black Hand tsat? That's novel!

Shi finished chopping and added the spices, and the scent of curry stung their noses.

Occasionally, she tossed her knife up into the air and caught it while she was chopping the vegetables, especially when she decided to use her other hand. Flipping knives of any sort was hard to resist.

“I dance with snakes and swords, and I do an acrobatic knife-juggling act, but not in Vienda. Only when I'm traveling.” She stopped what she was doing, and looked at Shi. “When ... when Glorie died, I nearly died as well. My injuries were so severe that I was unable to travel for a long time. My tribe left me in the care of ... a friend ... and went on without me. When I was well enough to live on my own again, I dreaded rejoining the tribe because everything about them reminded me so much of what I had lost. I decided to rent a house in Vienda and settle down. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and I was on the road again in a couple of months. I danced in some of the places I visited, but mostly I either hunted men with prices on their heads, or hired myself out as a mercenary. I kept up the rent on the house in Vienda, though, hoping I might one day want to try living there again.”

Returning to her chopping and occasional flipping, she continued. “I've been away from the Black Hand for five years. I came to the festival to reunite with them and decide if I wanted to rejoin them permanently. Unfortunately, I don't believe the life of a spoke is right for me anymore. I guess I've denied it for many years, but I'm not a witch. I'm human, and I belong with other humans. This won't stop me from coming to the festival every year ... I've made quite a few new friends and I want to stay in touch with them ... but this morning I'm traveling back to Vienda where I am hoping to build a new life.” And to help her fellow humans in their fight for freedom, but she couldn't tell Shi that. She doubted a witch who saw herself as a galdor would be comfortable with that revelation, and she was really enjoying getting to know the woman again.

She got Shi the oil she asked for and watched as she chopped the meat and added spice to the curry that was simmering deliciously on the fire outside. As Seferu was now moving about in his cage, she hauled it off the counter and brought it out so that he could enjoy the warmth.

“So what are your plans once the festival is over? Are you going to continue traveling or do you have something else in mind?”

Shi admired Xanadu's display of dexterity with her knife. Dancing with swords? I can see that. The woman was gorgeous, having apparently kept much less traces of her pregnancy than the witch. And there definetly was an aesthetic element in good sword work. Even Shi, whose sword education had revolved around simple and practical moves rather than the kind of juggling Xanadu seemed to be adept at, recognized it. But she kept silent, as Xanadu was talking about Glorie's death again. This was not something she wanted to interrupt. And commenting on it would be awkward.

Luckily, the woman finally went back to smaller talk, asking her a question about the future.
"That must be some beautiful dance you do, I'm sure. I hope you can do more of that and less of your mercenary thing, now that you've found some peace. Living on violence is not good for health." Shi didn't mean only physical health, but also state of mind. She had been taught control. She had learned, later but on the basis of that teaching, patience and tolerance. And she was sure her life her life would have been worse if she had let herself be violent. The only question was to know if it mattered, now that her former life had revealed to be only a broken dream.

"As for me, I think I'll be drifting for a bit now. But I'm not sure what for."
She put the cooked meat aside on a plate, and started pouring the diced vegetables in the pot, letting them simmer in the meat's oil while watching the snake slither near the fire.

"I thought I could become a real wick." She sighed. "I thought I had, for nearly twenty years now. But my past has caught back with me, and not in a good way. There's nothing left for me here."
She turned the vegetables a bit more.
"Don't get me wrong. Some of the best people I've met in my life are around here, in the Laughing Sky. If the high judge got it its way and Anaxas removed the wicks sovereignty, or threatened them anyway, I'd be ready to fight for them. I know how to handle a sword too, even if I've never had to really use that. But hopefully, this won't happen." Shi felt silent, and crouched in front of the fire, waiting for the vegetables to cook. Once in a while she turned them so the bottom ones would not burn.

"Before I met Noli, I wanted to become a scholar. To learn as much as possible about mona and magic. Maybe I should give Brunnhold a new try. They've never accepted wicks, but I've heard the new headmistress has progressive views. Probably not to the point of giving me access to the library, but maybe I can find someone ready to work with me?"
What am I going to give them in exchange? That was the problem. But the witch hoped she'd find something. Maybe some researcher would be interested to learn about the spokes' almanach, or the way the wicks saw the mona. Some of the high level spells within the Hacks grimoire might be of interest too, but she was wary of showing that to Anaxi galdori. What if they decided a witch had no right to own such a book?

The witch extended a hand towards the snake, looking at his mistress for authorization. The animal didn't seem dangerous, calm like that. She had never touched one, and was curious.

“I have been thinking of devoting more time to dancing. I taught sword dancing to some new friends I met here. I wonder if I might be able to teach it in Vienda as well, if there is any interest. Dancing is not near as lucrative as bounty hunting, though.” Especially when you were not above stealing from the criminals you captured. “I really don't know if I want to take the loss in income yet.”

Xanadu watched Shi cook as she listened to her talk. The woman seemed more devoted to magic than any of the wicks she knew. It was something the human dancer knew very little about, and having been on the receiving end of some rather malicious galdori spells while she was working, she wasn't too fond of the subject. She had also, most likely, been on the receiving end of a few wick healing spells, although Tal had never admitted to using magic on her while she was recovering from her injuries after Glorie had been killed. She suspected he had from what she'd been told by the wife of the doctor who had taken her in and saved her life. She had lain near death until Tal had arrived to care for her; soon after, her condition had improved considerably. He was a healer by trade, so it wasn't surprising, just a bit perplexing that he would want to keep it from her. He was an exasperating man, and she had long since stopped trying to understand him. She just wished he would leave her alone.

She turned her attention back to her new friend. What she was doing with the vegetables didn't look that difficult. She would have to try cooking again when she got home. “It seems we are both at a crossroads in our lives,” she said finally. “We have both deluded ourselves into believing we are something we're not. I wish you luck with your studies on magic. I know nothing of Brunnhold, but I do hope you get a good reception there.” Her face darkened. “Just be careful when dealing with the Anaxi galdori. In my own experience, they can't be trusted, although I'm certain that they are not all bad.”

The mugrobi smiled when she saw Shi's interest in Seferu. She opened the top of the cage and the seven-foot-long albino immediately stuck his head out and moved close to Shi's face, testing the air around her with his darting tongue.

Xanadu laughed. “He likes you. His name is Seferu. He is the snake I dance with most. You can hold him if you'd like, if you don't mind his weight.” She picked him up and lifted him out of the cage, draping him around her neck. His tail immediately wrapped around her waist. His head again undulated toward Shi. “Would you like to try?”

Shi nodded, and tensed as Xanadu transfered the snake on her shoulders. She had to remember forcibly he was not poisonous to let him taste her chin with his tongue. The reptile was surprisingly heavy, but as she get used to it, she tentatively stroke him.
"His skin's so smooth!" Like many people, she had imagined a living snake skin being all cold and damp slickness.

"I'll be sure to be cautious," she added, returning to their previous subject. "But I don't think I'm risking a lot. At worst, I get a no and will have to look somewhere else. It can be more dangerous than your mercenary thing. I thought only desperate or heartless people took such jobs." The witch frowned as she looked at her companion. It was unsettling to imagine this pretty young woman, this mother, even if her child was no more, putting her life in jeopardy or killing people just for money. That or she didn't know what was really a mercenary life.

"I think we can mix the meat and eat, now. The vegetable look cooked." She eyed the plate of meat critically. "We've made a lot of it, you'll have some left for the trip." Not daring to go directly above the fire with the snake on her, she waited for Xanadu to either take him back or finish the cooking.

Xanadu smiled at Shi's assessment of Seferu. Not all snakes were as tame or as friendly as he, which was one of the reasons she had chosen to bring him to the festival and leave the others at her house in Vienda.



Xanadu laughed again. “Oh, there are those, to be sure. Most of the mercenaries I know do it by choice, not out of desperation. Me ... well, I was raised as a Black Hand, you know. Fighting, cheating, and stealing was an integral part of my education while I was growing up. What lured me into the business at first was the money. I can command a higher price than most because of the way I look. A criminal is more likely to let down his guard in the presence of someone like me than he would be when faced with a big burly man. Eventually, I suppose I became addicted to the danger and the thrill of the chase. I have to admit, that aspect does have its appeal.

“I don't kill often; most employers pay more for a live capture than a dead one. Most of it is done in self-defense. As you can imagine, not many fugitives wish to be turned in. Generally I see it as as removing a dangerous threat so that no one else can be harmed. I don't enjoy killing, but it's part of the job.” Unless my target is galdori, and even then, he must be suitably evil for me to enjoy it.

She spoke matter-of-factly, not even realizing that Shi might be horrified to hear her describe the taking of another life so casually. She did not believe what she did was in the least bit wrong, not as long as it was only cold, heartless miscreants she eliminated. Xanadu was not an assassin ... she did not kill innocent people for pay.



“It would be wonderful to be able to take some back with me. I'll probably be arriving in the middle of the night, and won't be able to buy anything until the morning.”

Xanadu lifted Seferu from around Shi's neck and draped him around her own. The snake slithered downwards until his head was resting on her shoulder and his tail was wrapped around her leg. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I really wish he wouldn't do that. It makes it very difficult to walk.” She demonstrated. Her movements looked funny indeed. The serpent-clad leg did not bend very well. At least he rarely performed that irritating little trick while she was dancing.

While Shi finished the cooking, the small dancer bent down and gently uncoiled the yellow tail and redirected it around her waist. She then climbed back into the cart to get some bowls and utensils, bringing them back outside and handing one set to Shi. The curry smelled delicious.

“You can tell me this is none of my business if you wish,” she said, afraid that her question might possibly offend her new friend, “but I am curious about something. Earlier you called yourself a galdor, and you are more interested in learning the intricacies of magic than any wick I have known. Were you raised as a wick or did you spend a lot of time among galdori while you were growing up?”

Shi calmy listened for Xanadu's explanation on her mercenary work. It was not easy to grasp what she was talking about. Nor was it easy to approve what she described as Black Hand education. Had she be planning to give the same education to Glorie? The witch did not dare ask the question.
But the sentence about removing a dangerous threat was more positive. At least, the woman was not doing anything for money. She choose her targets.

She finished the cooking while Xanadu put the snake back in his cage, and listened to the question while she served the curry.
The Mugrobi was right to ask the question. Shi saw no secret in her past. It's just that she had learned not to bother others with personal thoughts. Even after twenty years amongst wicks, that reflex still stood. At least she now knew to talk, and she readily went into what she thought as her witch mood.

"I'm a golly. In my head. I was raised like that. Meditation and prayers, litterature and magic, manners, martial arts. The whole package.
But as for my blood, it's a quarter passive, a quarter golly, and half... Wick. Let's suppose that makes me another quarter golly and a quarter human. If the Mugrobi are right about passives being just crippled gollies, that makes me three-quarter golly. So I'm a witch. But I was raised by my gitgka, who was a full blown golly."

The older witch stopped, realizing she was jumping in the middle of the story.
"Maybe I should explain from the start. My gitgka was Hoxian. Only daughter, future head of family, who was the leading family of some isolated village in the mountains around Dessteka. So, good education, at home, in Frecks, then in Brunnhold for the last years. It was family tradition to leave Hox and travel around at 16. But she was very close with a boy who revealed to be a passive. She had promised she'd marry him before leaving for Frecks, and coming back from Anaxas, decided to hold her word. That led to a fight, and the boy, my dagka, set fire to the house with his diablerie. He also killed the rest of the family, and nearly himself."

Shi stopped to eat some curry, before continuing. "You know that passives are vroons? They have very powerful magic. But they don't control it. He didn't mean to cause such damage."

"So, he was pulled out of the fire, thanks to my gitgka. They decided to let everybody think them dead too, and fled to Mugroba border. Grandma became a healer for the wicks tribes around and had a daughter. But some olio tsuter who wanted to add a golly to his trophies managed to make her believe he was the man of her dreams, and here I am."
Despite her strong words, Shi smiled. Her grand-mother would have been so shocked to hear her call her father that. Even if she had surely thought it. But living a few years in the man's tribe had done nothing to give the Hoxian a better opinion of him.

"The question is why gitgka decided to raise me as a Hoxian princess. She must have believed this was a good education, whatever I was. I understand it, now, but it has been so frustrating when I was young!"

The witch realized she was going to continue about Noli and Neti, and stopped there. It was not polite to be the only one speaking.
"What about you? You don't look wickish. More like a Mugrobi nattle." And I sense no field on you, so you must be. "How did you end being raised by the Black Hand?" Did you plan to raise Glorie the same way?

((sorry for long post))

Xanadu ate from her bowl of curry as she listened to Shi's story. She could only imagine what the witch had gone through, being raised as a golly and then finding out that the rest of Vita would never see her that way and that she would never be able to enjoy the benefits ... such as studying magic at Brunnhold ... that other galdori took for granted. It must have been quite a shock to the young girl she had once been. Xanadu had always known what she was, although it had been a disappointment when she realized she would never be able to join the other children her age in practicing magic.

“It seems we have quite a bit in common. Both of us were raised as something we were not.” She smiled wryly. “You are right about me. I am indeed a Mugrobi nattle. I was born in the Muluku Islands and abandoned by my human mother shortly after birth. I was taken in by two wicks of the Black Hand tribe who could not have children of their own. I do not know the details of how I was given into their care ... they would always change the subject whenever I asked any questions. It bothered me at first, but eventually I just stopped asking.”

And now I may have the answer in the packet of papers my da gave me last night. If Tal had not ... kept me busy ... most of the night, I would have looked at them then. She knew she was only deluding herself. She wasn't ready to open the packet, afraid of what it might contain. Would she finally learn the reason her mother had given her up? Did her da know how to contact her? Was she dead? She would look at the papers tomorrow morning when she was back in Vienda. In the meantime, she would need to become accustomed to the idea that the truth about her past might finally be within reach.

“The Black Hand treated me as one of their own, even though they knew I was fully human. My parents did not hide that fact from me, and brought me up so that I would be able to fit into both human and wick society, both in Anaxas and Mugroba. They took me frequently to Laus Oma to visit my grandparents. One time I stayed for nearly two years.” It had ended in that frightening incident in Thul Ka, which involved a strange man, a gun, and her grandparents' insistence, when she told them about it, that she always hide her face while she was out in public. She had only been twelve and had not understood any of it. In the years that followed, she had entertained many scenarios that would have explained the event, but she had no idea if any of them were correct. None of them were pleasant. Would that occurrence be mentioned in her father's papers? She certainly hoped so.

She took a another bite of curry before continuing. It really was delicious. “Glorie's father was a golly, so she was a true witch. He took advantage of my youth and innocence and left as soon as he got what he wanted from me. I was angry at first, but later I was glad of it, for I did not have to share my daughter with anyone. I loved raising her on my own. The six years I had with her were the best years of my life. If she had lived, she and I would probably still be traveling with the Black Hand, and she would be well on her way to becoming a sword and snake dancer herself. I never wished for anything but that our lives would continue the way they were back then.

“Yet now I am going to Vienda to begin a new life among other humans, perhaps to invest some of my money in a business there.” And to join the resistance. “I am different. I have no idea what kind of reception I will receive. I could very well be traveling again in only a few months.” She looked down into her bowl, as if she could somehow divine the future in it, and then moved her gaze back to Shi. “I suppose that both of us are now facing the unknown as we both struggle to find out who we really are. It will probably not be easy for either of us. I hope we both find success.”

She smiled then and took another bite of curry. "This is very good. I know that wicks are no longer allowed in Vienda, but if you ever find yourself there anyway, I hope you will visit me. My house is much too large for just one person, and I could certainly use some cooking lessons."

The curry was good. Which had not been a given, knowing how good vegetables tended to become scarce towards the end of the Festival. Shi had always found it funny how her brain could work on several levels simultaneously. She was having another proof of it now, as her appraisal of the breakfast's taste did not mean she was not listening to Xanadu.

The woman was right, there was some similarity to their stories. Shi also had known she'd probably never have enough mona connection to move beyond the simplest spells in the Hacks grimoire, but had still been frustrating for it to reveal true. Sometimes, she wondered if her grandmother had not hoped for a miracle to allow her claim full galdori powers. After all, she had already seen a half passive daughter grow a powerful field. Why not another exception with her grand-daughter? Because Mugrobi must be right, that was not a miracle: imbali really are galdor.

It was stranger to find similarities with a woman wanting to raise her daughter as a Black Hand. But after all, what had she hoped for Neti but becoming a normal Laughing Sky?

"Of course. If I find myself in Vienda, I'll be sure to check your house. I'm leaving the kints to my husband, so I'll probably even beg for lodging!" She stayed silent for the moment, not sure she wanted to tell what was on her mind. But it felt good to talk. And Xanadu did not seem adverse to private details.
"But even if there wasn't that ban, I'd rather avoid the town for now. It would remind me Neti too much." The witch shook her head. "I had hoped for her to become a normal witch too. But she wanted to see something else. She left at 16. Like I did." She sighed, but her eyes stayed dry and hard. She had not been able to cry for her. Not yet. "Except my gitka helped me. She even managed to talk my da's Durg into forcing him to care for me. While I tried to stop Ti. As if I did not remember how stubborn one can be at that age."
There was anger in the witch's tone. Anger against herself. She took a long breath to regain control and forced a sad smile to her host. "Sorry. Can't stop thinking about that."

“I, too, was very headstrong at sixteen. My parents didn't want me to get involved in mercenary work so early, but I insisted. I can imagine they spent many sleepless nights worrying about me while I was on assignment.” And they were completely against my auctioning off my virginity to the highest bidder. “Glorie would probably have been stubborn as well.” If she'd had the chance to grow up, she added bitterly to herself.

Xanadu set her now-empty bowl on the ground and leaned towards Shi, sympathy and understanding showing in her usually unreadable dark eyes. “What happened was not your fault. Neti was old enough to be on her own and she chose the path that seemed wisest to her. Nothing you could have said or done would have stopped her.”

Her eyes grew distant. “I blamed myself for what happened to Glorie for five long years. What if I had not gone to the market that day? What if I had not let her run ahead of me? Why couldn't I have seen what was happening only a few seconds earlier, so I would have had the time to push her out of the way? Why wasn't it me who died instead of her?”

She paused for a moment, allowing the memory of those destructive thoughts free reign for a few moments before firmly pushing them away. She turned her eyes back to her breakfast companion. “Eventually I realized that, while certain decisions might have changed the outcome, I did what I felt was right at the time. There was no way I could have known she would die that day. Only if I had known would it have truly been my fault. And who is to say that, even if she had survived, that she would still be alive today? Perhaps Hulali only meant for her to live six years. That is not for me to question. All I can do is be happy that he entrusted her to me to love and cherish during the time she was here, and remember the wonderful times we shared together. I would rather have had her for six years … or even for six months ... than not to have had her at all. Since I have accepted that, I have found peace.”

“Perhaps it is too soon for you to do the same, but you will find peace as well. Moving on with your life, doing what you feel is important to you will help. Don't let the hurt fester inside you and drive you to hate even life itself. I channeled my anger into a profitable venture, but it would have been better if I had been able to let it go. Perhaps then I would have allowed myself to trust again, to love again. After all this time, I don't know if it is possible anymore. I have lost five years that I can never gain back. Don't be like me.”

"Thank you for your words." Shi put down her bowl and looked squarely at the younger woman.

"I know life must go on. That's why I'm moving. I hope that by going back to my youth interests, I will find a new reason to continue... Now, the trick will be to really persuade myself. It's going to take time." And thinking that it will eventually work isn't even relieving. I don't want to ever think of my daughter so lightly! "But remembering your words will help, thank you."

The witch went back to her curry, and asked the dancer how to find her house, in case she'd one day find herself in Vienda.
Hopefully, the breakfast would continue on a lighter subject. Shi was beginning to feel like a cry baby, imposing such intimate feelings on her host. Cooking and housekeeping would make good topics. After all, the witch only had inhabited a cabin or a kint. She could be genuinely curious about how it was to live in a town house.

Xanadu described how to get to her house, giving a good description, and relating some of the challenges she'd had while renovating it. When she had first rented it, it wasn't even habitable by the dancer's standards, which were, considering she had been raised in a kint, not as high as those who had grown up in a city. She had made a deal with the landlord to allow her to refurbish the place as she saw fit on the condition that she used her own money and would not ask for compensation for the repairs when she moved. Hiring workers from the poorest parts of the city and paying them better than what they were used to getting, she had basically gutted the interior, fixing it up the way she envisioned it to be.

Some of the furnishings had been hard to come by, and she spoke of her search for the perfect clawfoot tub and rolltop desk, and laughed as she described how her parlor simply screamed for a piano, even though Xanadu did not play. She had always intended to seek out lessons, but she had never stayed in Vienda long enough to do so, basically using her house as a temporary place to stay between assignments. Now that she was determined to make it her permanent home, she did hope to learn how to play.

She then turned the conversation to cooking, asking Shi many questions about how to prepare a proper meal. By the time they had finished the curry, she thought she had enough information to attempt cooking in a more controlled way than simply throwing everything in a pot and hoping it turned out edible.

When the conversation reached its natural end, the dancer set her bowl on the ground and stood, stretching her arms to the sky. The morning was getting on and it was time for her to be on her way. “Thank you so much for cooking breakfast for me, Shi,” she said. “The curry was delicious and I enjoyed your company immensely. I am pleased we had the chance to get to know each other again. Please do look me up if you decide to visit Vienda.” She smiled. “I will cook for you then.”

When her hostess stood, Shi imitated her.

"The pleasure was mine." She tilted her head in salute. "I'll sure let you know if I find myself around Vienda and able to enter." She smiled at the mention of being cooked for. If the atmosphere was the same than this breakfast, they'd end together in the kitchen.

The smile was short-lived, as she remembered how they'd just met. But the witch managed to keep her expression neutral, to keep the darkest thoughts at bay while still near her new friend.
"I wish you a good trip, Xanadu Aurelia." And I wish you to find a less dangerous way to live. Of course, she would not say the last part aloud. After all, Shi wasn't sure her way to live had been the best choice, she was not going to lecture anyone. Not today.

She cast a last look at Xanadu and her kint, and turned to walk away towards the tavern.

((sorry for the delay. As the thread was ending, I gave it low priority.))