TWO HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE: Snow VII

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Stopped it, thought Alden.

His mood swung all the way to excitement. For a second, the problem felt small enough to be solved by the speed and strength of his shield, as if having whipped the pig into position between flying fist and detestable face would earn him a victory notice.

Then, the next second jerked him back down into the havoc. Details burst into focus. The man who’d attacked Bash-nor shot toward the ceiling of the tent. He was roaring, arms and legs swinging, one foot slamming into the support frame so hard part of it bent and came loose.

Levitated.

Lute must have thrown himself backward away from the danger because he was now on the outside of their group, mouth open. He was holding his hands out like he intended to do something, but they weren’t actually moving.

Mrs. Nancy shouted, “No, Graham. No! Calm down!” And she threw a knitted glove up at the flailing man. It hit his back softly and landed on the grass just as softly, a merry yellow on green.

Drusi-otta stood behind Mrs. Nancy, holding the wand that was levitating Graham. The votary’s umpteen necklaces were still in motion, as if she’d just stopped after a sudden move. She was glaring at Zeridee, who was now on that side of the sales table, too, sprawled on the ground and staring up at Graham in horror.

There was a lot of shouting from within their group and some from beyond it. In the background, everywhere Alden looked, Anesidorans were frozen in place, backing away, or grabbing their kids. He saw one woman turn and run.

“Get this absurdity away from my face!”

Bash-nor’s high-pitched demand brought Alden’s attention to his own body. His right arm was fully extended. The pig’s tail was gripped in between two fingers.

His mouth was open. Maybe he’d been about to shout a warning? He shut it.

Barely made it, he realized. If I was any slower…. Way to go, reflexes.

The ambassador’s nose was almost touching the pig’s rounded belly.

“It’s a shield,” Alden explained, pulling the cotton candy creature back toward himself. “I was shielding you from that punch.”

In those first moments after the incident, he felt no anger, and he no longer had any intention of making Bash-nor look bad. He read the ambassador’s outrage about his pig shield as confusion because confusion made more sense to him than outrage. An Avowed had just leaped a table and taken a swing. People were scared. This was all terrible, and if Bash-nor was yelling about absurdity it seemed like a natural reaction to the whole messy picture they were standing in.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Alden said. “And the pig is the only thing I have. You’re all right, aren’t you?”

“If a wizard needs your assistance, they will summon you properly,” Bash-nor hissed.

“But there wasn’t any time for that. That man was coming at you fast. And what if he was a high rank? You could have died.” Alden frowned. “I don’t want you to die.”

Just be fired. Because you’re a huge jackass. “If a wizard needs your assistance….” “Do not ignore a wizard when they speak to you….”

That’s right. I was mad. I am mad. Is this piece of work really complaining that I helped him?!

“Besides. I can’t be summoned right now. I’m on leave.” Alden’s mouth hadn’t quite caught up with the reality of the situation or his swiftly shifting emotions.

What just happened?

Why?

“Please. Please forgive him, Grand Senator. Please forgive him, Ambassador. Wizard.” Mrs. Nancy’s voice trembled as she addressed the last word to Drusi-otta. “Graham lost his fiancée. In the floods. He hasn’t been well. He hasn’t been all right since it happened.”

Above her, the man stopped flailing. He hung there, arms and legs limp. If Alden couldn’t see him turning his head, he would have thought Drusi-otta had knocked him out.

This was so unnecessary.

Servin-ith was trying to talk him down.

Everyone saw the guy was losing it. Even if we didn’t realize he’d jump straight to physical violence, we saw he wasn’t okay. Bash-nor couldn’t spare a speck of effort to say, ‘Yes, your loved one was very brave. Sorry for your loss’?

Now Mrs. Nancy was begging Bash-nor for forgiveness. And Servin-ith…where was she? She’d been right beside Alden when it all went wrong, and now she wasn’t here. He looked around again and spotted her approaching. From behind the group.

Teleportation?

He hadn’t seen her disappear, but he assumed some object in her possession could allow for it. Or as a Grand Senator it might be as easy as ordering the System to relocate her immediately.

The irony of that, when the start of all this had been a request for more emergency teleportation.

This man has just put a fist through his own life.

Many things were hitting Alden at once. Like the tiny demon bugs of his nightmares, a whole storm of little pains struck him as he stepped back, making way for the Grand Senator.

Graham wore a jade hoop in one ear. Alden could see it now, with the guy’s hair hanging toward the ground. He knew what it felt like to fumble with the backing of that earring, trying to figure out how to take it from a dead woman’s cold ear without ripping the lobe.

I could have just ripped it out. She was dead, and I’m sure her body got pulverized by the next wave. It’s really impractical that I tried to be careful. Next time…

A kind grandmother who had invited him into her home was trying not to cry. Her mouth strained against itself. Her chin wrinkled.

I’d better not go to her house for Christmas dinner. I’d better make sure to tell her I won’t, so that she won’t have to worry I’ll show up. I don’t want to ruin a good thing for other people.

Lute was lowering his hands. He was trying to catch Alden’s eyes. Establishing that they were in this together.

That’s a comfort. Thanks, Lute. But you look really scared. Sorry about this.

The sounds were different now. Music and the microphone for the globie ceremony happening at the Christmas tree were suddenly coming through loud and clear because there weren’t as many voices in this area.

I liked the Christmas market. It felt like human magic.

Servin-ith looked alert. Serious. Both of her pink eyes were flitting around.

“Please,” Mrs. Nancy whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“You did nothing wrong, and you can’t speak for another person,” Bash-nor said. He almost sounded nice. Alden was sure he was trying to sound nice. But there was something else to it. Nerves, perhaps.

Servin-ith couldn’t be pleased right now.

Nobody’s pleased right now.

“Grand Senator,” said Bash-nor, giving Servin-ith a tiny bow, “if I might make a recommendation—”

“Ambassador,” Alden interrupted, giving Bash-nor a very deep bow of his own. “I…”

I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I don’t want to hear your recommendation. I want you to have to shut up.

I want you out of my Christmas market.

Off my planet.

“I…am so sorry I tried to shield you.”

I have to add something to that so it doesn’t sound like I wish he’d gotten pummeled.

“I don’t know why it made you angry,” said Alden. “But I apologize.”

“Why are you speaking right now? The Grand Senator—”

I am a stupid child.

“Because you yelled at me,” said Alden, still in the lowest bow of his life. He couldn’t see anyone’s face. He watched a blade of grass, crushed by his shoe, straightening slowly.

He wasn’t as nervous as he imagined he should be. He wasn’t sure what to call his feelings now that he’d bowed and started a conversation he couldn’t envision the end of.

“I didn’t yell.” Bash-nor sounded exasperated. “Don’t—”

“You spoke in a harsh tone. I thought you were mad about the pig.”

“I have my own personal enchantments for protection. I did not require help from a young Ryeh-b’t. Now, be silent and—”

“I hear you,” said Alden. “But it didn’t occur to me that you were prepared. I could tell you didn’t understand that that man, Graham, was upset. So I thought you wouldn’t be ready to defend yourself.”

This is all I can think of.

It isn’t that great.

But I guess it was my final bump.

“I’m very able to tell when people are upset,” said Bash-nor.

Oh? Isn’t he lining himself up for another one?

A new voice took the shot before Alden could. “One would think that was an important skill for an ambassador to have, wouldn’t they?”

Esh-erdi!

Alden wanted to look, but he had the impression that some of the people around him were bowing to acknowledge Esh-erdi’s, and presumably Lind-otta’s, arrival. Whether he ought to come out of his deep apology bow only to do a “Hello, you are a knight” bow was too much to figure out.

“Grand Senator, I offer my help with representatives of the local law,” said Esh-erdi. “We’ve met some of them. They handle things differently than we do.”

“And I offer my help with the young ones,” said Lind-otta. “Shall I take them from your care?”

“She means you.” A hand grabbed the back of Alden’s shirt and pulled him upright. Esh-erdi’s thick brows were raised. “You can apologize for risking your safety for Bash-nor’s sake later if someone wants you to.”

Alden wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was Esh-erdi mad? Was he not?

He glanced toward Servin-ith to see if she was mad or not.

“I’m sorry our time together was cut short in this way,” said the senator. “But I think Hn’tyon Lind-otta would be better company than me for now. It was a pleasure to meet you, dear. And you, Lute! Thank you for showing me your favorite places.”

They were dismissed that swiftly, and there was nothing to do but go.

Alden felt like he was leaving behind unfinished business as he and Lute followed Lind-otta, but no matter how he looked at it, none of what came next should involve him. He was worried about what was going to happen—or not happen—to Zeridee, Graham, and Bash-nor. But he wasn’t an Artonan wizard or one of the festival security people who were now converging on the area. And before the three of them had made it far down the row, a police officer wearing the Sway symbol on both her uniform and her interface tag rushed past them without glancing their way. The Brute from the High Council appeared a minute later, and he did look for a moment in their direction, giving Lind-otta a nod and then continuing on toward the scene of the incident.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author’s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

If Lind-otta hadn’t taken us it would only have been a minute or two before some other authority figure pointed out that we should go.

At best, he and Lute were witnesses, but there were more important witnesses to be had. Not to mention recordings.

“Is it all right for us to just leave like this?” Lute asked hesitantly. “General…Hn’tyon Lind-otta?”

He feels it too. They’d been lighting matches to apply a little heat to Bash-nor, but fire had suddenly leaped up around a third person they hadn’t been aware was waiting for an excuse to explode.

“Did we annoy the ambassador too much?” Alden murmured.