It was unutterably delicious. She was starving. She ate quickly. Her arm, the sore one, worked fine. No lingering tremors. It looked puffy and was dotted with angry red spots, but it worked. She kept staring at it. No ants. Every so often she’d twist it around to make sure of that.
When her bowl was empty, Ah Hai offered her a damp rag to clean her hands and some salt to go with the wet willow twig. Apparently you were supposed to scrub with the salt as well as chewing on the twig. Lily did that, then glanced at Cynna and said in English, “Ah . . . she’s been here all night?”
“She won’t leave. She says she’s yours.”
Lily jerked. “What?”
Another voice came from just outside the cell, speaking Chinese. “Zhu Kongqi told her to care for you. She may consider herself on loan to you.” Alice stood behind Cynna. Since she was nearly a head shorter than Cynna, Lily couldn’t see her well. Alice switched to English. “I have waited patiently, Cynna, but it is time we finished our discussion.”
“Yes, but . . .” Cynna frowned at Lily.
Ah Hai had taken advantage of Lily’s distraction to take one of her hands and start rubbing it with scented soap, combining cleaning with massage. It felt really good. “Go on, Cynna. I’m all right.” That was at least half true. Physically she was much better. The food had helped clear away the lingering effects of the drug.
Cynna grimaced. “I was hoping for some input from you. You’re good with questions.”
Ah. “You know the sort of things I’d ask for.” As she spoke, Lily poked at the sense coiled up in her gut. Its ready response surprised her. She might be a mass of aches and weakness temporarily knitted together by sticky rice, but her mindsense felt springy and powerful. I’ll listen in, she told Cynna.
Cynna nodded and followed Alice out of the cell. Lily could see one end of the wooden table through the cell doorway; Alice sat at it. Cynna probably did, too, but she’d moved out of Lily’s line of sight. This wasn’t a problem for her mindsense, which followed Cynna’s glowing kiwi mind easily.
Ah Hai released Lily’s hand and whispered something Lily didn’t catch. She looked at the little woman and, reminded, brought her mindsense back to touch Ah Hai with it. “Pardon?”
“If you would put your hand in the bowl, please?” Ah Hai held out a wooden bowl filled with water.
Bemused, Lily rinsed her hand. The water was tepid and made her want more of it. A bath. She needed another bath.
Li Hai set the bowl down and began drying Lily’s hand with a scrap of linen. She whispered so softly that Lily barely heard her. “The honorable Báitóu Alice Li is wrong, honored lái.”
“What do you mean?” Without intending to, Lily had lowered her voice, too.
For the first time, Li Hai looked up, looked Lily right in the eye—and her uncolored eyes shone with fervency. “You took my pain. The pain intended for me. The pain the Zhu would have given me, not for any wrong I had done, but because he wished to. I am yours now.”
Well, shit. What did she say to that? Did she try to explain? How could she, when she didn’t understand herself? She’d had to keep saying no. Even when she couldn’t pluck the real bits out of the hallucinatory ocean, even when she couldn’t remember what she was saying no to, much less why, she’d had to keep saying it.
“All right,” Cynna said in the outer room. “We’re agreed about the first payment. You’ll tell me all you can about the wild dragons. For the second payment I’ve asked for several things, but you keep turning me down. Why don’t you make me an offer?”
Quickly Lily sent her mindsense back to the other room. Cynna, she sent, her lips moving soundlessly, I want to know why Alice is here. And then, as Ah Hai began washing her other hand, changed her mind. Cancel that. I’ll find out elsewhere.
“Very well,” Alice said. “In return for your honest effort at translating the spell, I will give you your freedom in three years. If you succeed, I will free you in one year.”
Silence. Here in the cell, Ah Hai finished washing Lily’s hand and retrieved the bowl of water so Lily could rinse.
Cynna spoke slowly. “You think my freedom will mean much to me without my baby?”
“I cannot offer you your baby. I can offer you freedom.”
“No deal.”
That’s what Cynna said. It was not what Lily’s mindsense “heard.” Go fuck yourself came through loud and clear. Lily’s eyebrows lifted. That hadn’t been directed at her. Maybe Cynna wanted to shout that at the whole world, wanted it badly enough that she broadcast it in a way Lily could pick up.
“You still believe you’ll be able to affect what happens when the children arrive,” Alice observed with all the emotion of the airport voice that warns people “unattended baggage will be removed immediately.”
You better damn well fucking believe it.
Another really clear thought. Before Cynna could shout out loud what she was screaming mentally, Lily sent another question. Ask her what day and time it is in our realm right now.
“What day and time is it in my realm now?” Cynna asked. “And does a day here equal a day there? If not, how does the time rate differ?”
Good addition, Lily applauded. They needed all three answers. If time here passed faster or slower than it did on Earth, knowing the current day wouldn’t tell them how long it would be until the children arrived.
“That is three questions, but you have only two payments remaining.”
“I want all of that answered as my second payment. Translating the spell is going to be difficult. It deserves ample payment.”
A longish pause. “I am unable to answer the first question, as simultaneity across realms that are not congruent in time is not a rational concept. I believe, from the nature of your questions, you are attempting to determine how time passes here in relation to your home realm?”
Cynna hesitated.
Yes, Lily sent.
“Yes,” Cynna said.
“I can tell you that a day here does not, at this time, equal a day in your home realm. The amount of variance is itself variable, however, so any answer I give you today would be inaccurate tomorrow. I could tell you what the general range of variance is.”
“How general?”
“It will be based on sixty-seven years of data. For the first fifty-five years such data was obtained through an imprecise mechanism, but we believe it to be accurate to within seven minutes. The data obtained in the past eight years should be accurate within three seconds.”
That works, Lily sent, if she’ll also tell you every day what that day’s variance is, starting today. This way they’d get some idea right away.
Cynna relayed that, adding, “And you need to tell me all of this—the general range and the daily variation—in terms I understand. Hours and minutes, that is.”
“I am accustomed to using those units, so that will not be a problem. However, I will not always be available to give you the daily variation. I can see that you receive the information.”
“Agreed,” Cynna said.
“Agreed,” Alice said. “And your third payment, should you earn it?”
See if she’ll let you save that one for later.
“I’d like to settle that later. I want a chance to talk to Lily about it. The translation will take time, so there’s no rush.”
“I prefer to settle it now.”