Lissie felt drunk. Alexander had offered her a bottle before Cora set her broken arm. She watched the regret in his eyes as she drank it. She drank more than she ever had before.
If this was the pain while drunk, she wondered what it would be otherwise. Lissie bit through the wood they gave her when Cora straightened the bone. She could feel the grinding, the splinters moving.
Nikolai just watched, his blue skin dancing golden in the firelight.
She held back her cries and composed herself under his gaze.
“I’m not going to be able to climb like this,” Lissie said.
Alexander took the bottle back. “You weren’t able to climb with two arms.”
“Why were you climbing the waterfall?” It was the first question Nikolai had asked.
Riley sounded shocked. “You didn’t tell him?”
“It never came up,” Lissie mumbled. “Everything was a bit… I was injured!”
Lissie wondered what was in that bottle. It had tasted like lamp fuel. Had he gotten it in Farvue?
“It’s not our story to tell, Lissie.” Cora was trying to keep a straight face.
Riley said, “I’ll tell it. I’ve told it enough times by now.”
Nikolai held his hand out to Riley. “I’d like to hear it from Lissie, please.”
Lissie’s eyes went wide. “Alright. I grew up in Ariland Castle, far to the southwest, but my father was from the Plains. There’s a plague spreading, and my people had tales…” She reached her good arm out to Alexander. He took a quick drink before handing her the bottle.
Nikolai asked, “You grew up in a castle?”
“I was a servant,” Lissie said.
“They called me a servant.” He sounded hollow.
She took the bottle and cradled it in her lap. “My grandmother recited me poems about a curse that aligned with the disease symptoms.” She took a drink. “Cora liked them.”
“They are beautiful poems, Lissie, but I think you’re getting a little side tracked,” Cora said.
“Yeah. Yeah, I suggested we go to the Plains, and then we did. Riley did the Triad.” Lissie paused there and swirled the bottle, sniffing it. Then took a drink. “I failed it but they told me I was a Dust Woman.” She turned to Alexander. “What is this?”
“I found it.” Alexander sounded shifty.
“Lissie, I have never travelled.” Nikolai stared, his eyes like reflecting pools.
She caught his look and wondered what he saw. Lissie continued, “I never went anywhere until a few months ago. Not anywhere. We are so far away now…” Her eyes wandered to the ceiling and she fell backwards, spilling the bottle a bit. Alexander snatched it away from her. She propped herself up on her good elbow.
“Continue.” His eyes were piercing.
“We got a guide and we got to a Dust Woman. A real one. She told me I was one too, but I only had two weeks of training. She gave me a pile of tea leaves and I saw you. I saw this mountain. I saw this place.”
Riley leaned forward. “You never told us you saw a Giant.”
“I am only half a Giant,” Nikolai said.
Lissie let herself fall back again. “I am only half a Dust Woman. Do you know about the Dust Women in the Plains?”
“I know one.” Nikolai smiled.
Lissie laughed. “You know a menace. I have been half-trained, I’m half-grown. A half-blood.” She smiled and propped herself up again to look at him. “I saw this mountain in the tea leaves, so we are here.”
“But why? There is nothing here but death.” Nikolai cocked his head.
“Mushrooms!” She collapsed in a fit of giggles. “The mushrooms are in a cave and we need them.”
Cora said, “The Dust Woman Dhala told us they would cure the illness.”
“You cannot go into that cave.” Nikolai’s words fell like a pronouncement.
Lissie sat up and exclaimed, “We have to! We need the cure. The plague is spreading.”
“Only the Blind can see in that cave.” Nikolai was pacing.
Alexander said, “That’s a bit of a riddle, my new friend, if I may call you that.” He got up and started following Nikolai in his pacing. “Sounds like something that would work well in my play.”
“You haven’t written a word yet! I’ve never seen a quill in your hand,” Riley said.
Riley never lets nonsense play out, Lissie thought, if she catches it.
Cora interjected, “Nikolai, it sounds like you know this cave. We could use a guide.”
“You have to come!” Lissie insisted. “How am I supposed to get up the mountain? You could carry me. I know you could.”
“You know why I cannot touch you.” Nikolai stopped pacing and stared down at her.
“Leave that to me.” Alexander smirked.
Nikolai balled his fists. Lissie stared at them. He relaxed them, and she watched his fingers. He said nothing for a long time. They all stared at him.
He looked at Lissie alone. “Is there anything I can say to convince you to leave this mountain?”
“Is there anything I can say to convince you it’s worth it?” Lissie waved her good arm. “You already saved my life once.”
“And so I owe it to you?” He crouched near the bed now, his face was close enough to hers she could feel the cold of his skin.
“I think you’re curious.” Lissie grinned and moved her face closer to his.
“I will help you climb. You will die in the cave though. We all will.”
“The rabbits will mourn you.”