“I am Naym,” the woman replied. “Second wife of Wayalonya. Welcome.” She indicated that Rielle may fall into step beside her.
None of the other women spoke, or showed much expression, but when Rielle looked in their minds she was astonished by how much they were communicating with quick glances and small gestures.
The stranger is very handsome.
Yes he is.
Is this woman his wife?
I don’t know. She doesn’t have the marks.
Why does she cover her head? Is she bald underneath?
He is young enough for another wife.
For you? Never!
No, I can see hair. Long, straight and dark.
He is a city-dweller. He is fat.
I like it. I want a head cloth like that.
He is not too fat. And he is rich.
How do you know he’s rich? Because he’s fat?
Because he is a sorcerer.
Rielle held back a laugh and hoped her face didn’t betray her amusement. The women’s conversation, hidden from the men because they walked behind them, was as lively as the weavers’ in Grasch’s studio.
I’ve assumed he didn’t have a wife, she mused, since there was none in the palace, but it’s not impossible. She might live elsewhere. I don’t think he’d be an easy man to live with. Or love. He hides so much of himself, and what he’s shown me hasn’t exactly been all sweetness and kindness.
“Where are you from?” Naym asked.
“Another…” Rielle paused, not seeing the word for “world” in Naym’s mind. She made a vague gesture at the horizon.
“From the north?” Naym suggested.
Rielle shook her head and made the same gesture a few more times, each time in another direction.
“All over the world?”
“No. Another world.”
The woman did not understand. She had no knowledge of other worlds. Rielle considered trying to explain, then decided against it. She could not guess how the woman might react to the idea. Besides, Rielle was not here to teach the Limn about the worlds, but to learn about the Limn.
Naym did not mind her questions, and asked plenty. She was so scandalised that an unwed young woman and man were travelling together that she began to herd her guest out of earshot of the younger women, until Rielle told them she was his niece.
Rielle kept her questions to matters of trade and customs. Though the women made no decisions openly, in trade or the path of their own lives, in private they had more influence in the family’s affairs. It was permissible for women to ask questions of another man’s wife or female relative, but not of men. For men it was rude to ask questions of other men, so the men were now caught up in an elaborate constrictive game of extracting information from their guest, and he from them, without anyone asking a direct question.
And he was not making it too easy for them, which Wayalonya was thinking could indicate Valhan truly was a Limnan man. Anyone could have been told about Limn ways; only a Limn understood the intricate frustrations of their method of conversing.
Their surroundings darkened suddenly, then brightened. Looking around in surprise, Rielle saw that the tiny speck of sun had vanished. In its place was a sky glittering with stars, making night as bright as day. The Limn did not stop, but she read from their minds that they were nearing the well they would rest and sleep beside tonight.
As the family crested a dune and began to descend into the valley between two bigger dunes, Naym’s thoughts became anxious. The well was covered with sand again. They’d have to dig it away, taking great care lest one of them fall through to their death. In the near future the northern dune’s advance would cover the well completely, and the family would have to carry more water or pay a tithe to use another route until, generations into the future, the dune released the well again.
Wayalonya slowed as he neared the spot the well ought to be, gauging where to dig. Valhan strode forward, past the leader.
The Limn caught their breath, or opened mouths to call a warning, but their leader gestured for silence. He had guessed what Valhan was about to try. He would rather the stranger didn’t, but then, it was impossible to stop a sorcerer when he had determined to do something.
Head bowed, Valhan halted somewhere near to where Wayalonya reckoned the well’s opening was. Black lines flashed outwards, but none of the Limn could see them. All looked to the ground, expecting to see sand shifting.
Instead, the entire northern side of the valley buckled, lifted and flew over their heads to pour down atop the southern side.
The minds around Rielle froze in astonishment and terror. The Limn stood with mouths agape, eyes moving from the place the northern dune had been, to the now higher southern ridge.
Valhan was not finished. He moved to the hole in the ground he’d uncovered and looked inside. As he took a step back, then another, the hole widened and smoothed, edges glowing red. Rielle felt heat wash over her. Then steam shot out of the hole. Cooling in the night air, it condensed and fell as droplets. The Limn grabbed at their heads and ducked. They had never seen rain before.