62, The old neighborhood

They had finished their lunch. They were lucky enough that the stall with the skewers had placed a firepit next to them. As Ayya led them to another side of the marketplace, they were all warm despite the snow. 

“Where are we going now?” Hinat asked as she nodded a greeting towards a group of women that were looking at them. 

“To my old neighbourhood,” Ayya told her and then gave instructions to the riders leading the group about how to get where she wanted to go. Tenac was walking beside her and he watched the people that they were passing by. Ayya knew he was looking for threats and decided to leave him to it. She had caused him a lot of stress and didn’t want to make it worse. She had another request to make to him in a little while, so she gave him a moment of peace. As they rounded a corner, they came into the district that held most of the shops in the city. 

“You guys can have a look around. Me and Tenac will just take a stroll over in that direction. We will be back soon,” Ayya said. 

“We will?” Tenac asked. He looked at Ayya and, as always, he knew what she was thinking. “Just stay alert and if you hear something, I expect you to arrive in less than a minute,” he told the riders before following Ayya as she showed him the way. “Why did I just leave my men behind and risk your safety?” he quietly asked.

“Because I don’t want to share this moment with the others,” Ayya said as she stopped in front of a tailor shop and looked at it. Tenac followed her gaze and looked at the shop as well. “This is where I was born,” Ayya told him. It looked a lot smaller than she remembered. The outside hadn’t changed much, except for the things displayed in the window. She felt Tenac’s arm go around her waist and he hugged her to him. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. It just feels a little strange being back. This was where all of it started somehow.”

“Do you want to go inside? Maybe we can ask the new owners if we can have a look around?”

“No. I think I would like to remember it as it was. I don’t know where my parents are buried. This will have to do as a replacement,” she told him. 

“Whatever you feel is best,” he agreed and kissed her on top of her head and then they stood a while in silence as Ayya let old memories wash over her. 

“Just one more stop and then we will go back to the castle and you can relax,” she told him after a moment.

“It’s okay, it has gone surprisingly well today. And I think it has done everyone good,” Tenac said as they walked back to where the others were windowshopping. 

“I just want to visit a shop down the road,” Ayya told them all.

“The bone shop?” Tenac asked, and Ayya nodded. 

“I need to see if a friend kept his promise.”

———

Sandra was watching the shop while her husband was out in the workshop. He had got a commission and needed to work on it. As business had been slow the last couple of months, Sandra was happy for the work. Business had been slow for most of the shops in the neighbourhood since the riots and Sandra just wanted everything to get back to normal. The little bell over the door gave off its usual clear sound as the door opened. She smiled and looked towards the door. She got the shock of her life when she saw a man in a strange grey uniform holding the door open for three women, all dressed in white. It had to be the aari that was sent to the city by the Lady, Sandra thought. She, as most people she knew, was hoping the aari would help them. But to see them walking into her shop, she would never have guessed it. One of them, a beautiful woman with flaming red hair and kind eyes, smiled at her and looked at the silver bell over the door. 

“G-good afternoon,” Sandra finally managed to greet them. 

“Good afternoon. I was hoping to speak to master Korpi. Is he available?” the woman asked. 

“Yes, my lady. My husband is in his workshop. I will get him at once if you could please wait a moment,” Sandra said. 

“Thank you, and please, don’t rush. We have plenty of time. We will look at all the beautiful objects you have on display in the meantime.”

“Yes, my lady,” Sandra said and tried to curtsy. She rushed out the back door and over the courtyard to where her husband’s workshop was. When she burst through the door, he looked up at her with one of his kind smiles.

“Sandra, what is going on?” he asked.

“You need to come right now. The aari is in the shop and they are asking for you,” she told him as she tried to pull him to stand up from his stool. 

“What?”

“I don’t have time for this. They are waiting,” she told him as she untied his apron and started dusting the bone dust off his clothes. “I should send you into the house to wash up and change, but I don’t want to keep them waiting. Can you please look a little more presentable?”

“Wait, honey, what is going on?” he asked again.

“The aari, they came into the shop and they asked for you. They are waiting. Now go, go,” she told him as she pushed him towards the door.

“I’m going, I’m going,” he said, trying to straighten up his clothes as Sandra tried to fix his hair as they were walking. “Okay, we can do this,” he told her as they stopped outside the shop door. He pushed it opened and walked inside. To Sandra’s relief, the aari and the man were still there. The aari were spread out in the small shop, looking at the different items, and the man was standing beside the one with the red hair. As they heard Sandra and her husband enter, they turned around, and the redheaded woman smiled.

“My lady… wait, Mary?” her husband said. Sandra looked at him. Wait, that Mary?

———

Ayya smiled at Erik. He looked a little older, but he hadn’t changed much. The look of shock on his face was almost funny. 

“Hi, Erik. It’s been a while. I thought I would come by to say hi when I had the chance. I can see that you have only got more skilled,” she said, making a gesture towards the pendant she had been looking at. She was happy that he had recognised her.

“It really is you. I don’t know what to say. It’s good to see you,” he told her and gave her a nervous smile. “Where are my manners? This is my wife, Sandra. Sandra, this is Mary.”

“Hello, Sandra. It’s nice to meet you,” Ayya said. 

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Erik has told me a lot about you,” Sandra said.

“Pleas don’t believe everything he tells you. This is my friends Hinat and Firlea, and this is Tenac,” Ayya introduced her friends. Erik and his wife nodded towards them all. 

“Do you have time to come into the house? My mom would love to see you,” Erik asked. 

“I would like that,” Ayya agreed. “How’s your dad?” 

“He passed away last year. His lungs got really bad,” Erik said as he opened the back door.

“I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good man,” Ayya told him and remembered the kind man that had always looked out for her.

“Thank you.” Erik guided them to the part of the house that held the residence. Ayya felt like time had stood still as she walked straight into a part of her childhood.

“Mom, we have a surprise guest. Mary has come to visit us,” Erik said.

“What?” Erik’s mother came walking from the adjacent room. Ayya could see the sorrow in her eyes, the loss of her husband had been heavy. 

“Hello, Mrs Korpi,” Ayya said. 

“Oh my. Come here and let me have a look at you, child,” Mrs. Korpi said, waving Ayya forward. Ayya smiled and walked over to her. “You have always been beautiful, but now it looks like you are glowing. I can see that you are happy, that is good. It has been far too long since I saw that in you,” the older woman said. 

“That is very kind of you, thank you. And yes, I’m happy,” Ayya agreed.

“Good, good. Sit down, have some tea with us. We want to know all about how you have been, don’t we, son?” Mrs Korpi said. 

“Yes, you are right, mom. But Mary might not have the time. She’s an aari and must have better things to do,” Erik pointed out. 

“Mary?” Mrs. Korpi asked.

“We don’t want to cause a disturbance in your day. But if Erik and his wife need to get back to work, I would like to sit down with you and talk if you have the time,” Ayya told her. 

“We will close the shop for the afternoon and you will stay and have tea with us,” Mrs. Korpi decided. 

“I’ll go down and close the shop, mom,” Erik said. 

“I’ll join you. I need to tell the riders that we are staying a while,” Tenac said and looked around the kitchen. Ayya knew he was trying to determine how safe it was to leave her there while he talked to his men. 

“I’ll be fine, we all will be,” she told him in Heulu and placed a hand on his arm. He nodded and followed Erik as they walked back to the store. 

“Come, sit down. Friends of Mary’s are always welcome in this house,” Mrs. Korpi said. She showed the three aari to the kitchen table and when they were seated, she started with the tea water as Sandra set the table with cups. “He is a handsome one, your suitor,” Mrs Korpi said to Ayya. Ayya smiled at her.

“He is,” she agreed. 

“Have you set a date?” the woman asked.

“No. We have just started courting,” Ayya admitted and felt a blush spread across her cheeks. 

“We don’t think it will be a long courtship,” Hinat added.

“The two of them have been going around this topic for years. Now that they finally have done what we all suggested years ago, it won’t take long,” Firlea agreed. Mrs. Korpi and Sandra chuckled.

“That sounds like a good way to do things. I’ll admit that there was a time when I thought you would become my daughter. But it’s clear that God had other plans for you. It all worked out for the better,” Mrs. Korpi said. Ayya looked nervously at Sandra. Sandra just smiled at her and sat down opposite of Ayya at the table and leaned over it. Ayya mirrored her movement. 

“It’s okay,” Sandra said. “I know all about it. There are no secrets between my husband and me. I know what happened back then, and it’s okay. I know he loves me, so don’t worry about me,” she added. Ayya smiled at her and nodded. Sandra was the right woman for Erik in Ayya’s eyes. She was everything Ayya hadn’t been, and couldn’t be, when Erik had asked her to marry him. Erik and Tenac came walking into the room again. 

“The riders are spread out and are watching the building,” he told Ayya as he sat down next to her. She smiled at him and took his hand.

“I trust you to keep us safe,” she said. Just as Tenac were to answer her, a cry disrupted the calm.