“You two need to meet,” Sasha said. “Di can talk for hours about things likesediments.”
Micah thought he might like that. People in the village knew how to make glass—it was time-consuming, but it was an old skill left over from the empire, and they’d held on to it—but they weren’t usually interested in making anything that wasn’t practical. And if he could meet Di on his own terms, not in a crowd, maybe it would be okay.
He looked down at the messages in his hands, written by kids whowantedimpractical things, who called himtoymaker, and blinked tears out of his eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, that would be good.”
* * *
Viv was itching to weave again. The worst part of a relapse—beyond the fear that the fever wouldn’t break, the vomiting, and the sweating—was boredom. It always took her ages to recover, and she couldn’t stand being idle. But the most she could manage was a lap loom, so she grumpily made squares of cloth while Micah muttered to himself and scratched marks on the slate he’d started carrying around.
He was up to something. She knew that much. He kept looking at her when she was trying to weave, and at one point he carved little wheels out of scrap wood, fidgeted with them so much they broke, and tossed them in the fire.
“You know, they usually work better when they aren’t on fire,” she said.
“At least they’ll keep us warm.” Micah pushed the slate away, looked at his whittling knife, and sighed.
Well, that wouldn’t do. Viv knew how to handle frustrated doms—after all, she was one. “Put that down. We’re going outside. Sasha’s chopping wood, and you can help.”
“Don’t see how that’ll fix this… thing I’m working on,” Micah said, even as he got up from the table. For all that her dominance didn’t affect him the way it would Sasha, he was very agreeable and didn’t seem to mind being bossed around. “Do you want me to carry you up?”
Viv almost asked whether he’d be able to. He was a skinny man, without the bulk most Lukoi favored, and he didn’t give off the impression of someone who could lift more than himself. Viv had figured a few swings of the axe would be enough to wear him out, but if he wanted to pick her up, too… “Why not?”
She expected him to offer her his back, but Micah stepped in front of her and lifted her into his arms. She could feel muscles moving as she swung an arm around his shoulders, and she realized that they were broader than she’d thought—she was just so used to Sasha, everyone else seemed diminutive in comparison.
“We should make this a ramp instead, maybe,” Micah said as he pushed open the door and headed up the stairs. His gaze was flicking back and forth, as though he was measuring the stairway. “It’ll be easier to go up and down.”
We, he’d said. For all that Micah still inched around them, sometimes,weslid off his tongue so easily.
It was a cold day, even with the sun shining, but Sasha was stripped to the waist and gleaming with sweat as he chopped wood on a stump a little ways out. The woods were close, and Viv couldn’t bring herself to look at first, wary of what strange creature she might see lurking in the shadows.
When she turned her gaze to the trees, everything looked normal.
Micah set her down in a patch of herbs she liked to use for spells, and Sasha grinned at them both. “Come to watch?”
“Came to help, actually,” Micah said, and oh my, he was already stripping off his coat. He offered it to her, and she draped it over her shoulders while he started pulling off his shirt.
She raised her brows. So hedidhave muscle.
“Nice” Sasha said the quiet part out loud, as usual. “Where’d you get those?”
“I hunt when I need to,” Micah said, going pink. “And a kiln needs wood. Give me the axe.”
“Sure thing, boss, whatever you say.”
This had to be Viv’s best idea yet. She lay back in the sun while Micah’s muscles bunched and sweat gleamed on his bare chest as the axe came down again and again, the crack of wood echoing over the field.
Sasha whistled as Micah tossed the split wood into the pile. Then, as Viv had expected, he picked out a heavier log. “Three strokes,” he said, and Micah stood back, hands on his hips, as Sasha swung the axe.
“You can throw your weight around if you want,” Micah said, as Sasha triumphantly added the new pieces to the pile, “but it’ll tire you out.”
“Yeah? Wanna bet? How many do you think you can do?”
“Oh no,” Viv murmured. “Don’tcompeteover wood chopping, what anawfulsight that’ll be.”
“I don’t have anything to bet,” Micah pointed out.
“Okay. Winner gets the girl.”
