“I don’t have enough tea to share.” The inside of the cabin was scantily furnished. There was only one stool, and one cot. The Dust Woman sat on the seat, sipping from a metal cup.
Riley felt like the supplicants who stood before her mother asking for judgment. Alexander was standing behind her, as close to the short door as he could. Cora was staring at her feet. Lissie’s eyes were transfixed on the box in her hand.
The silence stretched on, until Riley couldn’t stand listening to the sound of the woman slurping at her cup. “I was riding, in the woods—”
“Yeah, I saw you. Nasty business, that. Lucky thing you didn’t touch her. Lucky for a lot of people. You showed some kindness though. More than you showed that poor beast in the pen.” The woman slurped loudly to punctuate her words.
Riley raised her eyebrows, “Well, can you tell us how to cure it?”
The woman stared into her cup and took another noisy sip. “You won’t be going back to the same place. That place is gone.”
“Please, just tell me.” Riley felt the familiar edge of anger in her voice and took a slow breath.
“No, don’t tamp it down. It’s good that you have fire in you. You are going to need every last spark.” The lady finished the cup now and plopped it upside down in her outstretched hand. “I don’t have it here.”
Cora looked up. “But you know where it is.” It wasn’t a question.
“Of course. I ride the Wind, as they say. But I cannot gather it for you.” She swirled the cup in a circle on her palm. Riley could see tea dripping on the rush floor from between her fingers.
“Tell us where it is! What it is! We have come too far to turn back.” Riley said with all the pain she had felt. All the pain she had caused. The woman looked up and whipped the cup off of her hand. Sitting in her palm was a pile of tea leaves.
“Lisandra, look at this. Tell me what it is.”
Lissie stepped forward at the woman’s command. “It looks like a mountain. A… weird mountain. There is a man standing next to it.”
“The Wind is strong in you. I watched you drop the spear.” The woman said this, and Riley’s heart broke watching Lissie’s eyes fall. The woman continued, “The only thing for a sensible person to do. Of course, I refused to cross the circle for the duel.”
Lissie looked back up, eyes wide. “You mean, you didn’t complete the Triad?”
The woman laughed, “We Women of Dust have our own trials. No need for little shows of bravery or fancy parties for us.” She looked kindly at Lissie, “You’ll see. You’ll see everything.”
Riley pointed at the woman’s hand, “Is that where we are going? A mountain?”
“Past the land your people call Westgat. North of there. Far north.” The words fell like a dagger.
Alexander spoke up from behind Cora, “It’s death there!”
“You don’t see me going.” The woman flipped her hand over and wiped the tea leaves onto the floor.
“What are we looking for?” Cora’s voice was soft, but it cut the silence.
“It is something to sever the spirit of the curse at its source! Something made of fire compressed to life, a demon of the seven hells.”
Her eyes were wild, and she gestured wings and teeth. Riley reached for the hilt of her sword, and glanced at the others. Lissie looked frightened, but Cora just watched.
Then the Dust Woman laughed, “Nah, it’s a mushroom. It grows in the caves there. But you’ll never gather enough to save them all. That’s if you survive the journey.”
Cora stepped forward, “If it’s a mushroom, we can cultivate it. We will gather the substrate and take it to Terndowns.”
“Your mind is like a clock, girl. Don’t keep it wound too tight.” The Dust Woman frowned, but she seemed to be pleased. “You will not be able to find what you are looking for without a Woman of Dust. The one in your pocket is lucky, but she is untrained. Though you may find your way to the caves, you will surely die there as you are.”
Lissie said, “Teach me, then.”
“You can start by tending the goats.”