Under the tiny hints of moonlight through cracks of wood, and the occasional step of a pair of boots on the deck, amber eyes shimmered in the dark as his arm wrapped around his sister’s shoulders.
“You are safe,” were the quiet words in Qunlat he murmured to her. In his tone, there wasn’t the slightest hint of the fright that was eating him up inside since she’d shown him the flames that licked her small, youthful fingers without harm. That had been months ago, and he’d concealed his fears ever since that moment, when he made up his mind about one thing: he’d do the impossible to get his sister away from the clutches of those who would take her away from him.
He kept his grip on her firm, steadying his breath to the rhythm of the waves he could hear crashing agains the ship. Once again, he whispered his words of encouragement.
“You are safe. They will not take you.”
Nameless they’d been since they’d left, nothing but imekari. The man that had dragged them out of the ship’s cargo deck, touched by compassion for the two kids who’d not seen the light of day since sneaking aboard, had taken them in. Food and a place to sleep. They worked and learned in exchange. He was teaching them new words: Antivan, he’d said. They’d learned the Trade tongue under the Qun, but never Antivan. He was teaching them how to defend themselves, too.
The man said he couldn’t keep calling them ‘kids’ forever. But they’d never received their role under the Qun: they had no names to give to him.
But they were free now. No one would assign them a name. They would choose their own.
He let her choose. Kashaadi was her choice for herself: one of her invention. “And you’re Kahen.” He saw her smile, and saw the pride in those eyes that were identical to his. That was now his name: a gift from his sister that he would embrace from that moment on.
He was nineteen the first time he faced one of them. Kash was chatting up the sailors; he guarded the crates while their mentor signed the papers by the pier, discussing in Rivaini with a man of dark skin and colorful clothes. Alert as always, he knew someone was watching. He felt the eyes on him sharp as nails.
He ran into him later that night, in a dark alleyway. Years of working the ropes and sails had made him agile for someone his size. He pinned him to the wall, felt the snap of broken bones when he slammed his opponent’s hand against the stone to force him to drop the blade– the same he used to open his throat.
“Bas” was the last word he spat at him, mixed with the gurgling of blood as he drowned in it. Then he became silent forever.
He made no mention of it to Kashaadi. She needn’t know. All he said when they departed that morning to return to Salle, was that he was glad for their swift departure. There was work to get done.
He quietly decided he couldn’t allow them the chance to ever get that close again. For Kash’s safety.
“The Free Marches. Work will not lack there.”
That was his decision when they left Salle. Their mentor had breathed his last that afternoon. They’d taken what little was theirs, and some more. The man had no offspring, no wife, no family of note: no one would miss a thing or two. Coin for the road, couple of books, the two swords that hung atop the fireplace: decorative, he always said, but he kept them sharp and polished, and even hung them from his belt when they were at sea. Good steel. He’d protected his mentor with a sword in hand several times: he would quickly learn to handle two.
They were skillful for more than just carrying cargo. Kashaadi had fire, both in her magic and attitude, and more strength than three men together. Kahen, a mind as sharp as a fox, and a silver tongue: a way with words and manners that no one could deny. They made a good pair– they’d get by selling their skills to the right people.
They left while the night was still dark, when the folk were deep in sleep and the sailors spilling their drinks on the bossom of some lass in a brothel... Never to return to Salle again.