21, Settling down

When Ayya made it home, Bettina had almost finished making dinner and Ayya helped set the table. During dinner, Ayya told her mother about her trip and Bettina told Ayya about what had happened while she’d been away. 

“What do you want us to do while you are here?” Bettina asked. 

“Nothing special. Just spending some time at home is what I’m looking forward to. I have a wolf skin I need to sort out. I have no clue what to do with it,” Ayya told her.

“You need to get it to a tanner so it can be prepared correctly. We will go tomorrow. Then we’ll take it to Cheara. She can use it for your winter clothes. It would be nice to use as trimming for a cloak or mittens, or a muff. A muff always looks nice,” Bettina said. 

“I like that idea. We can ask Cheara. She will have some ideas on how to use it,” Ayya agreed. 

The first part of the week flew by. Ayya relished in being home with her mother and the two of them visited some of Betina’s patients. They walked around in the marketplace to pick up things Ayya needed for her apartment, and Ayya tried to find the perfect wedding gift for Firlea and Jontak. She had a hard time finding one until she stumbled upon a stall selling ceramic items. The work was excellent and was painted in bright colours. Ayya talked to the woman that was selling the items. After some negotiation, Ayya had commissioned the woman to make a tea set in orange and teal colours in a specially designed pattern. It would be done in time for the wedding. 

When Ayya returned to her apartment in the Sanctum and put up the curtains her mother had made and placed the objects she had bought, it felt like home. She had decided that she wanted an armchair for her office where she could sit and read. But that could wait a little while. Her first evening back, Hinat had invited her and Firlea to dinner. They had an amazing evening with food and a lot of gossip and laughter. 

“So you brought back two men from your trip?” Firlea joked with Ayya. Ayya laughed.

“It’s not like that. Mirio is married. But yes, I think they will be great riders,” she told her friend. 

“Why can’t the two of you just get boyfriends like normal people?” Firlea said with a dramatic sigh. Ayya noticed Hinat looking away quickly.

“Hinat, anything you want to share?” Ayya asked.

“No,” Hinat answered, a little too quickly.

“There is, there is something you want to tell us,” Firlea squealed. 

“No, there is nothing.” Both Ayya and Firlea just looked at her. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But there really isn’t that much to tell,” she finally conceded. 

“I knew it,” Firlea said. 

“I’ve been working with aari Terway,” Hinat started. 

“The practical magic teacher?” Firlea asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Hinat said, looking at Ayya. “We’ve been working together and I think he is flirting with me. It’s all still innocent and maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there,” she said tentatively. 

“No way you’re imagining things. He is a hunk, and you are amazing and beautiful. Go for it,” Firlea said.

“What do you think?” Hinat asked Ayya.

“I agree with Firlea. Go for it,” Ayya said.

“What. But last time we spoke about it, you said I should forget about him.”

“Yes, but that’s when we were trainees. We’re not trainees anymore, now it’s just like two adults that like each other,” Ayya said. “I don’t think he is that much older than you,” she added. Hinat being the oldest of the three by a year. 

“No, just five years,” Hinat said.

“See, you have already done the math. You need to go out with him,” Firlea said. 

“I agree,” Ayya said, and nodded. Both she and Firlea laughed when they saw Hinat’s face. It was nice spending time with her friends again, Ayya thought.

The next morning, there was a knock on the door as Ayya was in the middle of trying to make pirogi that the women up north had taught her how to make. She had some ideas on how to combine them with flavours from Derme. She opened the door and saw a prospect standing outside. He handed her a note. 

“Thank you,” she said. She opened the note and smiled as she saw it was from Tenac’s grandfather. He informed her that the clan had settled down outside the city and he invited her to come and visit them. Since her first visit with Tenac three years ago, they had visited the clan at least two times a year when they passed by the city. But she had never gone to visit them by herself. Ayya smiled. She wanted to see him, to thank him for giving her Estrela. Ayya didn’t know when Tenac would be back and she didn’t want to have to wait until the clan passed them by during the winter. She decided to be brave and go by herself the next day. Which meant she really needed to get going with the pirogi. If they were a success, she could make more and bring them with her. When she was finished with the first batch, half of them savoury with beef and onions, and half being sweet with fresh berries, cream cheese and honey, she was happy with the result, but wanted to get a second opinion. She headed for Firlea’s apartment and was lucky enough to find both her friend and Jontak there.

“Could you please try these and tell me what you think?” she asked, and handed them the baked goods. 

“I have missed you,” Jonak said, as he almost drooled over the pirogi. Ayya laughed and waited for the judgment.

“These are divine, the meat ones taste like that meat you always get in the market,” Firlea said.

“Really? Thank you. That was actually what I was going for,” Ayya told her friend.

“Amazing, I could eat a basket of these,” Jontak said with a mouth full of the sweet pirogi.

“Then I’m happy that I can give them to others as well.” Ayya headed out to get more ingredients and spent most of the day making pirogi. She made special ones with raspberry and lemon flavour for Tenac’s grandfather as she knew he, like Tenac, didn’t like things to be too sweet. 

Ayya headed for the stable as soon as she woke up and had breakfast the next morning. The clan wasn’t that far away from the city, but she wanted as much time as possible to spend with them. She was a little nervous as she got Estrela ready. It would be the first time she would go out of the city on her own. The ride was short and uneventful, soon she spotted the herd of horses and the men that watched over them. They greeted her with the usual nod which she responded to. When she entered the formation of tents, she dismounted and saw that Tenac’s uncle and grandfather was already walking towards her. She smiled at them. 

“I have been told we need to start calling you Ayya,” Tenac’s grandfather said as he walked up to her. 

“I hear you have been writing with Tenac.”

“And Tariana,” he said before opening his arms so she could give him a hug. 

“Congratulations on your successful uptake into the aari, my lady,” Tenac’s uncle said and Ayya saw his father rolling his eyes.

“Thank you. But please, it’s just Ayya,” she said.

“Of course it is, you are family,” Tenac’s grandfather told her. “Now come and have some coffee with me and tell me how you have been.”

“One moment, I just need to get the gifts,” she said, turning around to Estrela that one of the clansmen had started to lead away.

“I have told you that you don’t need to keep bringing gifts to us, child.”

“I know. But I enjoy doing it,” Ayya told him and handed him and Tenac’s uncle each a package. They always got their own. Then she took the saddlebags with her to the tent, knowing Tenac’s grandfather and uncle would make sure to distribute her gift to everyone. 

“This is something new,” Tenac’s grandfather said, looking into his box.

“I learnt to make them up north, but I have tweaked the recipe a little. There are both savoury and sweet ones,” she told them as they walked to the tent. 

“You know what, I have changed my mind,” Tenac’s grandfather told them. “It’s a beautiful day. Would you take a walk with me and look at the herd, Ayya?” he asked.

“I would love to,” she said, waiting for him to hand his box to his son, and then they walked off.