Daniel Polansky - Low Town

“Why Celia-that sounds like something I would say.”

She blushed again, faintly ashamed.

I took a few steps toward a towering plant in full bloom, stripped from some distant corner of the globe. Its odor was cloying and heavy. “You’re happy here, following in his footsteps?”

“I’ll never have his skill, nor be capable of his mastery of the Art. But it is an honor to be the Crane’s heir. I study day and night to be worthy of the privilege.”

“You aim to replace him?”

“Not replace of course, no one could ever replace the Master. But he won’t be here forever. Someone will need to ensure his work continues. The Master understands that, it’s part of why I’m being raised in rank.” She lifted her chin, confident bordering on imperious. “When the time comes I’ll be ready to safeguard the people of Low Town.”

“Alone in the tower? Seems like a lonely pursuit. The Crane was past middle age when he retired here.”

“Sacrifice is part of the responsibility.”

“What happened to your clerkship at the Bureau of Magical Affairs?” I asked, recalling the position she had occupied the last time we had spoken. “You seemed to be enjoying it.”

“I realized I had ambitions beyond spending the rest of my life shuffling papers across a desk and arguing with functionaries and bureaucrats.” Her eyes iced over, unhappy contrast to the sweetness she had heretofore offered me. “It’s an aim you would be more familiar with, had you bothered to speak to me in the last five years.”

Hard to argue that one. I turned back toward the greenery. The anger leaked out of Celia, and after a moment she was her jovial self. “Enough of this-we’ve years and years to catch up on! What are you doing with yourself these days? How is Adolphus?”

There was no good to be found in prolonging this, not for either of us. “It’s been good seeing you. It’s a comfort to know you’re still looking after the Master.” And that he’s still looking after you.

Her smile flickered. “You’ll return tomorrow then? Come by for dinner-we’ll set a plate for you, like old times.”

I tapped at one petal of the flower I had been staring at, sending grains of pollen wandering through the air. “Good-bye Celia. Be as well as you possibly can.” I walked out before she could respond. By the time I reached the bottom of the stairwell I was practically sprinting, pushing open the tower door and fleeing into the early evening.

A half block past the Square of Exultation I leaned against an alley wall and fumbled in my pouch for some breath. My hands were unsteady and I found I could barely open the top, finally forcing out the cork and shoving the vial to my nose. I took a slow, deep draw-then another.

It was a shaky walk back to the Earl, and I would have been an easy mark for any thug who cared to make prey of me, if there’d been any around. But there weren’t. It was just me.

The boy was sitting at a table across from Adolphus, whose wide smile and broad gestures told me he was in the middle of some exaggerated anecdote before I could actually hear him speak.

“And the lieutenant says, ‘What makes you think that way is east?’ And he says, ‘ ’Cause that’s the morning sun in my eyes or I’m blinded by your brilliance, and if it was the latter, you’d know how to work a compass.’ ” Adolphus laughed uproariously, his huge face wagging. “Can you imagine that? Out there in front of the entire battalion! The lieutenant didn’t know whether to shit his pants or court-martial him!”

“Boy,” I interrupted. Wren slunk slowly from his chair. “How well do you know Kirentown?”

“I’ll find whatever you need me to,” he said.

“Follow Broad Street past the Fountain of the Traveler and you’ll see a bar on your right beneath the sign of a blue dragon. At the counter will be fat man with a face like a beaten mutt. Tell him to tell Ling Chi I sent you. Tell him to tell Ling Chi that I’m going to be snooping around his territory tomorrow. Tell him it isn’t related to business. Tell him I’ll consider it a favor. He won’t say anything to you-they’re a cagey bunch-but he won’t need to. Just deliver the message and return here.” Wren nodded and slipped out the exit. “And get me something to eat on the way back!” I yelled, unsure if he’d heard me.

I turned on the giant. “Quit telling the boy war stories. He doesn’t need his head filled with nonsense.”

“Nonsense! Every word of that story is true! I can still remember you smirking as he walked away.”

“What happened to that lieutenant?”

Adolphus lost his smile. “He slit his wrists the night after he forced that charge at Reaves.”

“We found him bled out when he didn’t show at reveille-so no more about the good old days. They weren’t any fucking good.”

Adolphus rolled his eye at me and stood. “By the Firstborn, you’re in a mood.”

He wasn’t wrong. “It’s been a rough day.”

“Come on, I’ll pour you a beer.” We adjourned to the bar and he drew me a tall flagon of ale. I sipped at it while we waited for the evening rush to arrive.

“I like the boy,” Adolphus said, as if he had just realized it. “He doesn’t miss much, for all that he keeps quiet about what he sees. Any idea where he’s sleeping?”

“In the street, I assume. That’s where street urchins tend to live.”

“Don’t be so sentimental-you’ll get tearstains on the counter.”

“You have any idea how many lost children there are in Low Town? There’s nothing special about this one-he’s no kin of mine. I didn’t know he existed until yesterday evening.”

“You really think you believe that?”

The day wore heavy on my shoulders. “I’m too tired to argue with you, Adolphus. Quit beating about and tell me what you want.”

“I was going to invite him to sleep in the back. Adeline has taken a liking to him as well.”

“It’s your bar. You can do whatever the hell you want. But an ochre says he makes off with your bedroll.”

“Deal. Tell him when he comes back-I’ve got work to do.”

Customers were trickling in and Adolphus returned to his trade. I sat drinking my beer and thinking maudlin thoughts. After a short while the boy returned, holding a small cup of beef with chili sauce. He had sharp ears-I’d remember that. I took the crock and began eating. “Adolphus feed you?”

The boy nodded.

“You still hungry? When I was your age I was always hungry.”

“I’m fine. I lifted something from off a fish cart on the way back,” he said, as if this was something to be proud of.

“I gave you money this morning, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“You spend it already?”

“Not a copper.”

“Then you don’t need to be stealing food. Degenerates steal when they don’t have to-you want to go that route, you can get the hell away from me. I don’t need to give errands to some freak who snatches purses because it gives him a thrill.”

To judge by his grimace, he didn’t much care for my comparison-but he didn’t say anything in response.

“Where you bedding?”

“Different places. I was sleeping under the quay when it was warm. Lately I’ve been bunking in an abandoned factory near Brennock. There’s a watchman, but he only checks once after dark and once before dawn.”

“Adolphus says you can sleep in the back. Adeline will likely make up a bed for you.”

His eyes contorted into little blips of fury, domestication the ultimate insult to a feral youth. “I asked for a job, nothing else-I don’t need your charity.”

“One thing you ought to know about me, kid, if you’re too dumb to figure it out-I don’t do charity. And I don’t give a shit where you sleep-go nap in the Andel if you feel like it. I’m passing on an offer from the giant. You want to take it, go ahead. You don’t, I won’t remember we had this conversation tomorrow.” To prove it I went back to my drink, and after a moment he slipped off into the crowd.