82, Recovering

Tenac allowed Ayya to get up and walk around the following day. But he made sure she stayed inside her room. At her request they kept the door to the common room open to make sure everyone in the party knew they come and talk to her. She spent the morning writing reports. Tenac had sent a note to Sinhera letting her know Ayya’s condition. Sinhera had sent a note back threatening to take the reminding riders and march into the city. Ayya smiled as she wrote a note back to her friend telling her the city had enough issues without an invading force. Then she wrote a report for Tariana and the council back home and for good measure she wrote a letter to her parents in an effort to reassure them she was fine as she knew Tenac would be sending a report about what had happened to her father. 

After lunch, a rider told her that Zerden and his mother were asking if Ayya felt up to seeing them. Ayya smiled and said they could let them in. Tenac called for tea and as Anna came walking, Ayya was about to stand to greet her. 

“Oh, no, no. Don’t get up,” Anna said, hurrying over to Ayya, giving her a hug. Ayya smiled and hugged her back. Anna drew back and looked at Ayya. “Hmph, you look a little tired, but you still look happy,” she told Ayya. 

“That is a good description,” Ayya agreed. 

“And you have been looking after her?” Anna asked Tenac. 

“Yes ma’am,” he told her. Anna smiled and patted him on the arm. 

“Good work, and it’s Anna,” she said. Ayya smiled at Tenac’s surprised look. Ayya asked them to sit down, and it wasn’t long before they brought the tea up. Anna and Ayya kept the conversation light as best as they could. But it was unavoidable to eventually talk about the state of the city. “It’s chaos out there. People are paranoid. Even Ken has been called in to work,” Anna said, shaking her head. 

“The news about the source of the sickness hasn’t helped?” Ayya asked.

“It came too late. There are different fractions. Some don’t believe the water is the source, that it’s a way for the king and the council to control them. Others, mostly relatives and friends to those who are ill, are angry at the ones who tried to kill the children and the people at the clinic. Then there are those who now are afraid of drinking water. It’s almost impossible to get hold of milk at the moment, and the sales of beer and wine have skyrocketed, which creates other issues,” Zerden told them. 

“Does the king have enough soldiers, or should we offer some reinforcements?” Tenac asked. Zerden looked at him.

“I don’t think twenty riders will do that much of a difference,” Zerden said. 

“I would agree, but we do have an auxiliary force standing by,” Tenac said. 

“What?” Zerden asked.

“You didn’t think we came this way with just twenty riders? The tents and food it takes to move us demand that amount of people alone,” Ayya said. Zerden looked at her like he hadn’t considered it. 

“We could use some help, but I don’t know how the city would react to us bringing in outside help,” Zerden said. Tenac nodded.

“Let us know if you need it. They can be here within a day,” Ayya said. After talking for a while, Anna said it was time for them to leave. She didn’t want to tire Ayya out. Ayya hugged Anna and as they were leaving, Zerden looked reluctant to leave. He was hanging back. Anna turned around and looked at her son.

“Come along, Zerden. I need to get back so I can have dinner ready when your father gets home,” she said. 

“I was just going to…” Zerden said.

“Now, Zerden. Have a pleasant afternoon Ayya, Tenac. Please let me know if I can help with something,” Anna said.

“Give my best to Ken,” Ayya said, and Anna and Zerden left. 

“I should make sure she is around every time he is here,” Tenac said as they were alone. Ayya smiled. 

“A mother’s touch,” she agreed. “So what is the plan for the afternoon?” she asked. 

“I’m going to continue with my report to your father,” he said.

“You are really struggling with that. Don’t overthink it, he knows how stubborn I am. He won’t hold you responsible,” Ayya said. Tenac raised an eyebrow. 

“Have you met your father?” he asked. Ayya laughed.

“Okay, let me know if you need my input. So what is the plan for me?”

“You are going to rest,” he told her.

“But I’m not tired.”

“Don’t care. Your only two options are resting in bed or on the couch,” he said.

“Fine, I’ll sit on the couch and read,” she agreed. 

“Good,” he said. He got up and kissed her head. “You go to the couch and I will bring the two books the king brought,” he told her. She smiled, she was more than capable of getting the books on her own, but she would let him do it. She sat down on the couch and got comfortable. Tenac handed her the books and gave her a quick kiss before settling down with his report. Ayya looked at the books. They were both old but were in good condition. It didn’t look like they were well used. She read the titles. The first was an analysis of church doctrine. It didn’t appeal to Ayya at all. The second was a record of early church history. That sounded interesting, so she put the first to the side and started reading. The book was fascinating. They mostly focused on how the early church selected who would be priests. It was before the church denied the existence of magic but was in the process of twisting it to be miracles from god. The church was obsessed with having priests with natural magical abilities. Their problem was how they would test the future priests without acknowledging the existence of magic. The book was not the original text. It was a later copy that had both the original text in Old Urundi and the translation to Common. It was clear to Ayya that someone with knowledge of magic that had been trained in it had written the original text. The one translating it had not. It truly was fascinating to see how the decline of knowledge affected the quality of the text. 

“Could you read through my report?” Tenac asked. Ayya looked up from the book. 

“Sure,” she said. He walked over and joined her on the couch, and handed her his report. She read through it. It was an excellent report, and she told him. “Feeling better to have it over with?” she asked. 

“Yes, I will just hand our reports and letters to Jakobi. He can ride to Sinhera,” Tenac said and got up. Hinat and Firlea came in to talk about what they had been doing during the day and the rest of the evening and afternoon disappeared quickly. Ayya was tucked into bed, but wasn’t that sleepy as she had spent the day resting. She picked up her book and continued reading. After a while, she felt her eyes getting heavy and decided it was time to put the book down and sleep. As she was closing the book, she noticed something. A small symbol on the edge of the text. She skimmed through the text and felt her heart skip a beat. She reread the text, this time taking her time, then she read the translation and read the original text again. 

“Tenac,” she called.