47, Planning

“I am going and that is not negotiable!” Ayya’s father shouted loud enough to make the windows in Tariana’s office rattle. It had been a week since it was decided that Ayya would go to Dermes. The week had been like nothing Ayya had ever experienced. She had been yelled at by not only her father, but her mother, Tenac, Hinat and Firlea. Even Jontak had joined his wife in telling her what a terrible idea this was. Then there was the planning. Just trying to determine a date when they would depart from Salmis had taken them almost a day. Winter was upon them and even though the winters in Salmisara were mild, they would have to travel through a large part of Domne, where the winters often meant snow, lots of snow. Eventually they set a date, two weeks after the mid-winter solstice. That would give them a month to prepare. They had gathered in Tariana’s office to discuss who Ayya would bring with her. 

“Kopa, be reasonable. I need you here,” Tariana said. 

“I am not letting my daughter go to that place all by herself. I am going,” he insisted.

“Dad, I’m not going by myself. I will have riders and aari with me. It will be fine,” Ayya tried to tell him.

“No. As the Lady’s deputy, you have the right to have a bodyguard. I will be there to make sure no one gets any ideas,” her father almost growled. 

“Kopa, no. What if I need to travel when she is away? I’m sorry, but as my bodyguard, you will have to stay here. Besides, if I let you go with her, Dermes will be overflowing with dead bodies as you decide that the smallest offence is worth killing for. Let’s give Ayya a chance to succeed,” Tariana said. Ayya’s father looked on the verge of a meltdown. 

“I will do it,” Tenac said. They all looked at him. “I will go with her and take on the role as her bodyguard. I won’t let anything happen to her.” The last part, he said to Kopa. Kopa looked at him. They stared at each other for a long while, almost to the point where Ayya wondered if they were exchanging thoughts. 

“Fine,” her father finally said. “But you do not let her out of your sight and if I find out that so much as a single strand of hair has been broken on her, I will take it out on you.”

“I promise, and that is only fair,” Tenac agreed. 

“We will have to make him commander,” Ayya’s father told Tariana. 

“Does that make a difference?” she asked.

“It does. It will carry more weight as he is introduced,” Kopa said. 

“Then we will make him commander,” Tariana agreed. Ayya moved closer to Tenac.

“Thank you,” she said. He shrugged. 

“There was no way I wasn’t going to go on this mission. And I’m with your father on this one. You need protection and there are few people I trust with that task,” he said. 

“We will need a group of riders to keep you safe during the journey and who can guard the base camp,” Tariana told them.

“I suggest we put Sinhera in charge of them. She has done the journey once before. She knows both me and Ayya and has worked well with both of us in the field,” Tenac suggested. Ayya’s father nodded.

“Yes, she’s an excellent rider and trustworthy. I like that idea,” he said. 

“Then we need a group from my personal guard that will go with you to the city and keep you safe. Twelve, I think we took last time,” Tariana continued. 

“We need at least twenty,” Kopa objected. Tenac nodded. 

“You two know she is going there to help, not to invade?” Tariana asked. The question made Ayya laugh. 

“Are we sure invading isn’t a better option?” Kopa asked. Everyone ignored his question.

“If I’m allowed to choose, I would like Jakobi, Mirio, Hermen and Lomi to join us,” Ayya said. They were all riders in her father’s company. She knew them and trusted them, and it would be nice to have them with her. 

“It is done. Good choices, all of them. Jakobi and Mirio are new, but they show good potential,” her father agreed. 

“Good, only eight more to select,” Tariana said.

“I leave the rest to my father and Tenac,” Ayya told them.

“Then you will have two attendances with you. Two aari to help you and to support you. I’m guessing you have someone in mind?” Tariana asked. 

“I do, but I need to ask if they are willing,” Ayya confirmed. 

“Would you consider taking Mikhalie along? I think it could be good for her,” Tariana asked.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to risk it. One of the candidates should stay here, in case something happens,” Ayya told her. Tariana nodded and Ayya’s father and Tenac looked like thunderclouds after she confirmed that there was a risk she would get hurt. Ayya had only told them half the truth. It was a good policy to have Mikhalie safe. But Ayya could only think of two people she would like to have with her on this journey. Hinat and Firlea had been her friends from her first trembling steps in her new life. They had seen her grow into the person she was, just like she had seen them grow. Ayya had a secret fear of this mission. She was afraid that putting herself back into her old surrounding would somehow make her regress and become the person she had been. If that were to happen, Firlea and Hinat would notice it and Ayya knew they would intervene. But she also knew that both her friends had so much going on in their lives, she didn’t expect them to drop everything to join her on this mission. But she would ask.

Later that evening, Ayya had invited her two friends over to her apartment. They looked serious as they all sat down around the kitchen table.

“You are still going? Tenac and your father haven’t been able to talk you out of it?” Firlea asked.

“No, they haven’t,” Ayya confirmed.

“If they haven’t, then no one will,” Hinat said with a sigh. 

“So, when are we leaving?” Firlea asked.

“What?” Ayya asked, thinking she had misheard.

“When are we leaving? You didn’t think we would let you do this on you own, did you? I’m a healer. You will need one of those, and Hinat is a teacher. We can always use that,” Firlea said. 

“I was going to ask you to join me, but this is not a regular mission. It will be dangerous and most likely there will be hostility towards us from some part of the upper class of the city,” Ayya said. 

“We know, we are still going,” Hinat assured her. 

“What about Jontak and Terway? We might be gone for quite a while.”

“If Jontak can’t handle me going with you on this mission, that is his problem, and he will have to deal with it. But I suspect he will be understanding. He sees you as his little sister, after all,” Firlea said.

“Terway can wait as well. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, isn’t that what they say? If he can’t understand why I need to do this, he isn’t the man I thought he was,” Hinat told her with a shrug. 

“I have the best friends that anyone could ask for,” Ayya said. 

“Well, when you succeed in doing this, and we all know that you will, we can brag that we were a part of it,” Firlea said.

“I’m not so sure about this one. I might have bitten off more than I can chew,” Ayya confessed.

“Please, you have this annoying habit of being an overachiever, whether you want to be or not. You will do it this time as well,” Hinat told her. Firlea nodded. 

“Thank you. I will let Tariana know I have picked you two to join me. We will have a busy month ahead of us. I will go through the etiquette at the Domnean court. Tariana will go through strategies with us. We will need to decide what we need to bring with us when it comes to supplies. We will be far from home and it will be difficult to send for more,” Ayya told them. They both nodded.

“How are you feeling? I know you chose to do this. But it still has to affect you?” Hinat asked. 

“I am equally parts happy to get the chance to help, nervous about failing and scared to go back,” Ayya said honestly. Her friends each took one of her hands. 

“It’ll be okay. We will be there and Tenac will make sure that you are safe. This will be our first mission together. It will be fun,” Firlea told her. 

“Sure, and we will get to see where you grew up. That will be exciting,” Hinat added. 

“Yeah, it will be fine. We can do this,” Ayya agreed.