Beneath the Ever Trees

The Divided World series

Chapter One

Malenie swung on the gate to her yard, idly watching a dust devil spin down the dirt road and waiting for the girl who used to be her best friend. After a few moments she was rewarded; Nes came out of her house with all the sibs she had left, after that terrible day four moons ago.

One hundred and nineteen days since their friendship fell apart.

“Nes!” Malenie called. She didn’t think Nes would answer, but that wasn’t going to stop Malenie from trying. Nes needed a friend. Malenie was that friend, even if Nes wasn’t talking to her. After all, Nes wasn’t talking to anyone much these days. “Steph’s sow had fourteen piglets! Do you want to go see with me?” Nothing much happened in Trader Town, so even an overlarge litter was interesting. No one’s sow had had so many that she could remember.
Nes’s younger sister said something, pointing to Malenie, and Nes looked up, catching Malenie’s eyes. Malenie held her breath, hoping her Papa was right, and this time Nes would be ready to speak to her again. That her grief would give her room to let some words out.

Nes looked bad. Her hair was done up right, in the little knots she wore all over her head, but it looked dull, and the brown skin on her cheeks and her lips was chapped. She’d grown too, stretched out to adult height but without making up any weight so she was all thin, ropy muscle.

Nes turned away without saying anything and Malenie felt it like a slap. Her cheeks burned, and her eyes. She bent her head, letting her long, loose black hair hide her face while she sniffed back tears. The rough wood of the gate seemed to bite the palms of her hands. Suddenly, swinging on a gate felt stupid and childish. She still wanted to see those piglets, though, with or without Nes.

She jumped down, made sure the gate was latched and hurried around to the back of the little adobe house she lived in with her Papa. Because he was a physician, the only one in Trader Town, they had their own well. Everyone else had go to the pools in the market place and carry theirs back in buckets. When she uncovered the well, it breathed cool, wet-smelling air at her. First she made sure the chickens had enough water and then checked the herbs Papa grew for his medicines. The dirt was so dry around the heartcure, bloodstrong, numb-root and purgewort, it had cracked open. The herbs weren’t drooping yet, but they would be soon. She should have watered them in the morning, before the desert sun started burning everything, but she could give them a little now and then water them for real at the end of the day.

Inside, Papa was bent over a mortar and pestle, releasing a bright green scent into the air. His white turban was still slightly askew from that morning’s emergency. All he’d say about it was that one of Gravin’s men had had a heart attack but would live. Papa didn’t approve of Gravin, and he didn’t approve of Malenie’s interest in Gravin’s caravans, so he didn’t talk much about the merchant who was also probably a bandit. Gravin employed half the men and women in Trader Town, so it was kind of hard not to talk about him.

Malenie was interested in Gravin’s caravans. Trader Town was a tiny little place, and the caravans brought in pieces of the rest of the world: horses with shiny coats, camels that really had crossed the desert, and all sorts of trade goods. Spell stones better than Trader Town’s one shaper could make, spices that smelled of mystery and faraway places with lots of water, and fabrics that Malenie was never going to get to wear.

She took the shiny black and red water pitcher from its special shelf and poured herself a mug and then one for Papa. A traveling shaper had given it to them in payment for Papa’s healing. Its magic kept water fresh and cool. Malenie suspected it did more than that, because water from it always tasted better, without the dirt taste their well water sometimes had.

“Papa? Have you had anything to eat or drink?” She stood where he would see her whenever her words got through his concentration.

“Hmm?” He looked up and she handed him the mug.

He took it automatically. After a moment, sharpness came back into his eyes and he focused on Malenie. “Thank you.” He drained the mug and handed it back for more. “I did eat. Gravin fed me. Or rather the sick man’s relatives did. But I needed the water.”

“You’re welcome, Papa. Do you have any medicines ready?” It was her job to deliver them when the instructions were familiar and Papa didn’t need to see the patient. She used to love doing it because it meant she got to run all over Trader Town and talk to people. Lately, she didn’t love it as much, but it was her problem and she was determined to fix it on her own. Papa didn’t bring things up when he thought she could figure it out on her own.
“Not yet. I have to get this heart medicine done first. The rheumatism and dropsy ones can wait until tomorrow.”

“Do you need me for anything? Or can I go see Steph’s piglets? Did you hear—”

“That her sow’s a prodigy?” He laughed. “Fourteen piglets at once. Yes, I heard.”

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, crossing her arms to hide her relief that he was there. Sometimes he was so far away in his head she wondered if he was going to come back.

“Or I can stay, help you with something.”

“No.” He circled the table and smoothed her hair away from her face. She leaned on him with a contented sigh, breathing in his familiar scent: lemon soap, green herbs, the nutty smell of the oil he used on his skin and hair, plus something that was just him. “Go out and play.”

She groaned in protest.

He laughed. “If you’re too old to play, go out and enjoy yourself. I think we’ll be busy the next few days, so you should take a break now while you can.”

“What about you, Papa?”

He drew away, his eyes already looking at something she couldn’t see. “I have to finish this…” He sat and ran a finger down his notes.

“Yes, Papa.” Malenie sighed and stood in front of the only mirror in the house. It was about as big as Papa’s two hands together and just for her. But not because she was vain. She used it to make sure her collar stood up straight and then ran her hands down each arm of her tunic and leg of her loose trousers, checking for holes or split seams and that everything still fit right. She’d had a growth spurt three years ago, and that had been a real problem. She’d had to wear Papa’s extra clothes until new ones could be made that covered all her skin. That covered the secret she had to hide from everyone. Not even Nes knew. Not that it mattered anyway.

She flicked her hand down her sleeve on that thought and Papa looked up at the sharp motion. “Good, Mellie. Always—”

“—keep your sleeves down.” Malenie joined in and finished with him. “Yes, Papa.”

For one hot moment she wanted to shout, “No, Papa! Why? What is this secret and why can’t you tell me about my own body? It’s mine! I should know!”

Her face flushed hot and all her muscles cramped tight, like one of the bullies was breathing threat in her face. Shaking, she hunched her shoulders, sucked in a breath and shoved down the hot anger and sharp annoyance, the need to get away from Papa’s rules.

She couldn’t. He was her protection and she was his. It was her and Papa against the world. She couldn’t be angry and annoyed at him. She needed him.

And he needed her.

So she shoved those feelings down, down as deep and dark as the well, and decided she didn’t feel them. She couldn’t feel them.

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