The snickering from near the bar almost definitely came from the prisoner.
Zelli would get to her in time. “Now,” he said pleasantly, “some of these people have been waiting for more than a year, so we should move on.”
Six
Zelli did not get a break for some time after that, although Tahlen and the mayor must have exchanged a look over his head, because midway through listening to what ought to be done to repair and improve the mill, biscuits and a pot of tea had been placed next to him.
He handed a biscuit to the miller’s assistant for gazing at them longingly, and made it through a cup and a half of tea before some of the audience drifted away. Many of them had chores waiting, and Zelli, apparently, was less of a spectacle then they might have expected him to be. That was a relief. It meant he wasn’t doing anything too outlandish or unacceptable.
For the most part, the process of the judgments was not too different from handling household business, except that it was condensed into one day, and most of the petitions presented to him were done so out of tradition and a show of respect more than a need for advice, so he didn’t have to take long to consider them.
Kat Ryssa did not bring anything before him or even seem to be present. Zelli didn’t know if he should be pleased or not, but decided not to think of her unless he had to. Anyway, even with chores needing to be done, plenty of people stayed, some taking the time to eat a midday meal while they watched. Zelli fought the urge to kick his feet during the speeches of some of the more longwinded petitioners, handed a biscuit to Tahlen, who ate it despite not having asked for one, and reflected absently that if more relatives understood the tedium involved in being The Tialttyrin, they might not want the title.
It was after most had eaten that Zelli turned his attention to the prisoner still waiting for her fate to be decided, as she had been waiting for weeks.
“No outguards have been in this area?” he asked the mayor, his eye on the prisoner who had sat for hours with barely a fidget like Tahlen might have. Like a trained guard would do while on duty. It was probably a difficult habit to break.
“Not for years,” the mayor corrected him, but glanced to the prisoner as well. “She was seen in a few fields, finally caught sleeping in one, and suspected of stealing eggs and a shirt drying on a line. Not enough for anyone to summon any outguards who might wander this way, but people are scared and didn’t want to let her go, either.”
“You might have sent her on to us,” Zelli remarked, “though I suppose no one wanted to travel. What has she done in the meantime?”
“The thinness was not our doing. We’ve had her working here and in the stable to make up the cost of her room and board, but she wasn’t stealing eggs to play with them.” Mayor Sar sighed. “I’d say she was hungry long before she reached us.”
“Did she have weapons? Armor?” Zelli put his chin in his hand thoughtfully.
“Knives and leather gloves, but not even a horse to carry her.” Mayor Sar paused, then continued slowly. “Though she handles horses well. She hasn’t spoken of her past, not a word to anyone. You think she’s a guard.”
Zelli shrugged. “She watches the world like Tahlen does.” Although her face revealed much more than Tahlen’s did. If she hadn’t come into the valley by the roads or the river, then she had trekked over the mountains. If she wasn’t familiar with them, it was remarkable that she’d made it across them alive.
He turned toward the rest of the room. “I think it’s time I address the prisoner.” He turned to her. She had gone very still, almost Tahlen-still. “I don’t know your name, I’m sorry.”
“Bree,” Mayor Sar informed him discreetly.
“Bree of no family you need to know,” the prisoner volunteered. “At your service, Mizel of the Tialttyrin.”
That remained to be seen so Zelli waved it off. “It sounds to me as if you have more than earned back the cost of some eggs, although I hope you caused no more damage that has yet to be discovered. But that isn’t really why you’re being held here.”
“No, I suppose it isn’t,” Bree answered. Her tone was smart but the downward turn of her lips was bitter.
“I’d like to know what a guard like you is doing in this valley.” Zelli did kick his feet a little, but didn’t think anyone noticed. Everyone was too busy turning to stare at Bree in shock.
Even Bree seemed thrown. “I didn’t say I was a guard.”
“Not an outguard,” Zelli observed, although he had last laid eyes on an outguard more than five years ago and they might have changed in that time. But they were generally prepared for hard travel and knew enough to come to the holdings of any beat-of-four for food or shelter while on their palace-assigned rounds. They didn’t need to sneak about in fields or steal eggs. Innkeepers offered them at least a space in their stable for the night if the rooms were all taken.
“I doubt a palace guard would end up out here, for any reason.” Zelli did not understand palace guards. Serving one family made a sort of sense. Serving whoever happened to be on the throne at that moment made no sense whatsoever. Too many rulers did not reward that loyalty.
“That makes you a former sworn guard to a noble family or a hired guard who is out of work.” Zelli glanced back to Tahlen for his opinion. Tahlen, fae bless him, looked at Bree for several moments, then said, “Family,” and nothing else.
“Thank you,” Zelli told him before swinging back to Bree. “Did you work for Adifer Tialttyrin? Perhaps for the Rossick?” The Rossick tended to defend themselves, but they did have some sworn guards.
“Lyralinah,” Bree answered, then snapped her mouth closed as if she hadn’t meant to say it.
“Lyralinah?” Zelli repeated in astonishment. Their holdings were along the sea, a great distance away.
“I was last with them in the capital,” Bree explained tensely. “I am with them no longer.”
Since a guard asking to be released from service was not something that needed to be concealed, Zelli imagined other reasons for her hesitation in naming them and raised his eyebrows. “If there are Lyralinah somewhere in this valley who have not announced themselves, I would very much like to hear about it, Bree of no family I need to know.”
