Wayfarer (Wanderlust 2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They spent the night in Morie Caro, and left the following afternoon after sleeping away the morning. The trip back towards Till went smoothly enough. The weather held, and the biggest problem they dealt with was Tanden's inability to use his left arm. Jale, who had been giving strict instructions by the healer in Rald Caro, was equally strict with Tanden. Sometimes during the day she would let him do careful exercises with it, but mostly his arm remained strapped to his chest underneath his thick jacket. In the evenings, when Jale and Soren drank nutritious traveller's tea, Tanden was given the healer's tea that dulled his pain and sent him straight to sleep. He found himself looking forward to the drink and the relief it provided, although he hated that it made him so tired.

Krier Till was a welcome sight. Their first glimpse of the city was from quite a distance, as their road veered close to the edge of a cliff. There was still about a day's worth of forest between them and the endless ocean. The city was sitting right on the edge, just a dark clump of buildings. They lost sight of it as the road dipped into a valley, and that was where they made camp for the last time.

It somehow didn't seem possible. There was a celebratory air to the camp as they settled into their routine of caring for the kyloe, making a fire, and cooking dinner. But there was an underlying feeling of disappointment. As Tanden carefully stretched his elbow, he found himself really thinking about the end of their adventure. If the Wanderlust was in Till when they arrived the next day, that would be it. No more bantering with Jale, no more flirting with Soren in front of another person so openly. He was going to miss the dynamic between the three of them. Jale felt like the closest thing to a sister Tanden had ever had.

She broke into his thoughts by sitting on the log beside him. "I'm going to try something new for your arm. Here..." Instead of the usual sling, she held a long strip of clean cotton. She rolled up his sleeve, then got to work gently wrapping the cloth around his arm, starting about halfway down his forearm, and continuing to about halfway on his upper arm. She spoke as she worked. "I think this will still support your elbow enough, but you'll be able to move it around more. Soren, how's the stew?"

"Almost ready," Soren replied from his post by the fire.

"You'll still have to be careful," Jale said. "No climbing up those ropes on your ship, or lifting heavy things."

"Yes, ma'am," Tanden said, smiling when she shot him a look. "Jale, if the Wanderlust isn't here, I was thinking. Could we stay with you? You have a house, right?"

"I have a very small house," Jale agreed. "I guess you could stay. For how long?"

"I don't know. Hopefully Ivern sent letters ahead so we'll have some idea of where they are, if they aren't back. I'll pay you rent, of course. I'll just add it to the fortune I owe you."

She smiled. "You do owe me a fortune. Well..." She gave his shoulder a firm pat. "We'll give this a try for tonight. And maybe you can have traveller's tea."

Tanden held up his arm to inspect her work. "Maybe we should still put it in the sling overnight, to make sure I don't move it too much."

"All right," she agreed after a pause.

"It's ready," Soren interrupted.

Jale and Tanden moved closer to the fire as Soren ladled the stew into three bowls and passed them around. Jale plucked her kettle out of the fire and started brewing the tea. Soon, they were comfortably sitting around, eating and drinking. They talked about plans for the next day, and joked about things that had happened on the trip.

When it was time to settle down, Tanden was annoyed that he hadn't drank the healer's tea. His arm ached, and it was hard to fall asleep. For a long time he lay on his back next to Soren, just thinking about the next day. Maybe there would be time to explore Krier Till. Certainly they would have to pay Ara a visit. Hopefully there was room in Jale's house to store their personal belongings, as well as their crates of syrup and irdka.