Mary's Path

Mary felt a little strange leaving the security of the tower. But at the same time, it felt wonderful to get some fresh air and walk around again. Many of the people who walked across the yard greeted her while looking at Kopa in amazement.

Mary steered the steps towards the gate and then down the street. As they walked, she kept telling Kopa stories about the different houses, about the streets and about the places that they could see in the distance.

They walked around for hours before finally getting back to the castle gates. Mary was happy and felt like she had spent most of their walk laughing. Even Kopa seemed unusually cheerful, and she had received several smiles from him during the day. Together they entered through the gate and steered the steps towards the tower.

“Mary?”

Mary stopped when she heard her name. She turned around and saw Zerden standing among a group of soldiers on the other side of the castle yard. He said a few words to his friends and then hurried towards her.

Before he got all the way to her, he slowed down and finally was standing a bit away from her. At first Mary didn’t understand why, but then she realized that it must have something to do with Kopa.

She glanced at the big man by her side and realized in amazement that the amused gaze she had seen on his face a moment ago, had been exchanged for one of his most fearsome. She lost focus for a second before getting over her initial surprise.

“Zerden this is Kopa, Kopa this is Zerden,” she said. The two men inclined their heads as a greeting to each other, but Mary felt tensions in the air that she did not understand. She decided not to push it and turned toward Zerden.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Good, how are you? No one has heard or seen from you since father saw you walking away with the Lady’s bodyguard,” he said, his eyes switched focus between Mary and Kopa and back again.

“Oh,” said Mary. “It’s okay, I live with the Lady in the west tower” she said.

“You do?” he said in amazement.

“Yes, it seems like it’s for the best, right now.” she said. He nodded but didn’t seem to understand what she meant, Mary hardly knew what she meant herself.

“Can we meet up? I’ have tomorrow morning off and I have something to tell you” he said. Mary hesitated, thinking back to the conversation she had had with the Lady.

“I’ll try,” she said. “Do we meet up in the abandoned tower?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ll wait up top for you,” he said. They said goodbye and Mary stood looking after him when he disappeared.

---

Kopa had lost his cheerful temper he realized as he stood next to Mary and saw the young man hurrying across the yard.

The lady had told him briefly what Mary had told her. Not breaking Mary’s confidence in her, but enough for Kopa get the idea and to have fantasies about slowly killing Zerden.

He was not fond of the idea of Mary seeing the young man again. But he knew he didn’t have the right to object to it, not yet.

He followed Mary as she began to walk towards the tower, the joy had disappeared from her face, and he seriously started to consider if he could get away with killing the soldier. No one was going to hurt his Mary again if he could prevent it.

---

Mary sat down in her normal window for a while. Kopa sat at a table a little further away and sharpened a couple of knives.

The day had started so well, but now she didn’t know how she felt. The door to the living room opened and the Lady stormed in. She said something angry in a language Mary didn’t understand, but it sounded very much like a curse word.

The Lady made an impatient sign towards Kopa, and they both went into her room together with the two other aari. Mary got nervous, it felt like she had been through this once before, but this time she was more aware of what was happening.

Where would she go when the Lady left? Mary suddenly felt unusually restless, and no position seemed comfortable. Instead, she began to walk around the room. Stopped and talked to the small groups of people that were scattered here and there.

But nowhere did she stop for long. She was thinking about taking a walk through the castle when Kopa opened the door to the Lady’s room and came walking towards her.

“Tariana wants to talk to you,” he said. Mary nodded and walked towards the half-ajar door. She knocked and went in. This time, the lady was sitting at a small round table by the window. She signed for Mary to sit down on the chair opposite her. Mary hastened to obey.

The Lady began to chat and ask how Mary’s day had been. Mary told her about the walk through the city with Kopa, but the Lady didn’t really seem to be listen. After a while, another knock was heard on the door.

“Come in,” the Lady called. There was a maid with a tray of tea and sandwiches. “I thought we could talk a seriously over a cup of tea” the Lady told Mary.

Mary nodded and waited for the tea to be served. When the maid had served the tea and walked out of the room, the Lady took a deep breath.

“You’re no longer a child, Mary, and I think you’ve noticed something’s not right” she said. Once again, Mary nodded.

“It doesn’t seem like I’m going to be able to help this time either” the Lady continued, and Mary clearly heard the pain in her voice.

“I have given the king tomorrow to think about what I have said. If he doesn’t change his mind, we’ll go home the day after tomorrow.”

Mary felt the small sip of tea sticking in her throat and her stomach was instead filled with a icy cold. She nodded without lifting her eyes off the cup in her hands.

“Mary look at me, please,” said the Lady, and Mary forced herself to swallow the tea and lifted her eyes and met the Lady’s kind gaze.

“Last time we left you here, we thought you’d be fine, but we made a mistake. This time you’re old enough to make your own decisions, so I want to talk about what your options are” the Lady said.

Mary was surprised but listened intently.

“You can choose to stay here in the city, in which case Kopa and I will try to find a guardian for you. What happened last time will not be repeated” she said. Mary nodded, although she wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

“Or we can try to find your relatives. It can be a little tricky, but nothing is impossible,” tha Lady continued.

“Last but not least, you can come with us to Salamis. It will be new to you, but you will be taken care of, and you will be close to us. To be honest, I prefer that option for very selfish reasons. It would make my heart happy to have you close to me, my friend,” she concluded.

Mary’s head spun and the teacup in her hand was forgotten. Could she go with the Lady and Kopa? Instinctively, she wanted to choose that option, security and friendship was something she was desperately longing for. But the at the same time, she realized that it would mean leaving all her other friends forever.

“Will you come back?” asked Mary.

“I don’t think so my friend, the king has denied my help twice now. I can no longer justify the long journey and all the dangers I put my companions through.”

Mary nodded, she understood.

“When do I have to make up my mind?” she asked. The lady smiled at her.

“Not until we’re getting ready to leave. Take tomorrow to think about it properly.” Mary nodded. “How about we drink some tea and eat a couple of sandwiches?” said the Lady smiling.

There was not a lot of conversation over tea. They were both happy to sit and think about the days to come.