Shadow joined the last few stragglers in the queue for the food counter. Most of her companions had already taken their dinner and sat down at the rough wooden benches, chattering amongst themselves. Blessing caught her eye from their usual spot in the far corner, and waved. “What did you get?” he mouthed.
She waved back, and signalled for him to wait. Coming up to the cooking pots, she picked up a deep clay bowl from the stack, and held it out as Cobbles, the under-cook, ladled out a generous portion of stew. His pale blue eyes looked at her inquisitively, contrasting with his raw-skinned face and white-blonde hair. “I hear you got your apprenticeship today. Not going to be one of us, I suppose?”
Shadow laughed. “You know I'd eat all the food before it got anywhere near the table. I'm the new messenger!” She grinned at the young man and carried her steaming bowl carefully between the benches to the space Blessing had saved for her.
Tartan ceased her conversation opposite and stared at Shadow, as did the other children further down the table. “So?” Her sparkling dark eyes fixed curiously on Shadow's face.
She grinned, drawing out the suspense.
“Come on!” Blessing said impatiently.
“At least let me eat dinner first. I'm famished. What is this, anyway? It smells delicious.”
Blessing rolled his eyes. “Bean soup, same as usual, and you know it. Just tell us!” He grabbed the rim of her bowl and dragged it out of reach.
She couldn't hold the excitement in any longer. Besides, her friend had stolen her dinner. “I'm going to be working with Morning. I'm a messenger!”
A congratulatory babble ran along the table. “That's great!”
“I know! Now, give me back my stew.” She snatched the bowl back and began to scoop up mouthfuls of warm, rich vegetables. The animated chatter resumed around her, and she glanced around to see if Morning, her future mentor, was in the dining hall. She could only see the school-children and their teachers, with a few other assorted adults. Most of the adults and apprentices waited until after the children had eaten to get their own food, as the room was small and could only comfortably fit about half of the clan at once. She'd give him enough time to finish working and eat his own dinner, then look for him in his apartment.
It was difficult to concentrate on the games they often played after dinner. Normally Shadow won two out of three wall-races, but Tartan beat her to the top each time they tried, once with Melody coming in second when she'd missed an outcrop and fallen off. After about two hours, she gave up, and, saying goodbye to the other children, hurried through the interweaving passages and up narrow wooden stairs to the messenger's room.
She rapped on the rough wooden door.
“Come in!”
The door creaked slightly as she pushed it open and pulled it to behind her.
“Ah, Shadow, of course. Katja told me to expect you. Why don't we sit down?”
She couldn't see any seating in the small room apart from a low bed half-hidden by a curtain, but Morning passed her and pulled open the door. She followed him outside, and he seated himself on the edge of the unfenced balcony, patting the wood beside him. She joined him, swinging her legs over the drop.
The summer sun was just starting to head towards the horizon, lending a warm mellow tint to the air. The scent of baked dust reached them, and Shadow drew a deep breath, basking in the heat on her skin. It was rare to be in direct sunlight in most areas of the clanship, built as they were in layers upon layers of themselves, as they tried to build an entire city in the space of a small street. Up here the sky was untrammelled, and she could see, through gaps in the buildings, all the way down to ground-level. She even fancied she saw Tartan and Melody chasing through gaps in the walls, and heard echoes of Blessing's shouts urging them on.
Morning smiled, running his hands lazily through his wavy blonde hair. “It's really something, isn't it? You can see nearly everywhere in Westgate from up here. I've always thought, why hide indoors when you could sit out here?” He laughed suddenly. “Once I even tried sleeping out here. It's so peaceful, on warm nights. But then I turned over and nearly fell off. Strictly inside for sleeping, now.”
Shadow looked down. It must have been at least thirty feet to the ground. “That's probably a good idea.”
“Which reminds me,” the young man stood up again, “Your room. We've had it built especially. I know you don't mind heights, so...” He started along the balcony, which she realised now snaked around the corner of his hut. She followed him, stepping gingerly on the fresh raw planks to try to avoid splintering the soles of her feet. A ladder was set into the back wall of Morning's hut, which he gestured for her to climb first. Peering upwards, she saw that the rungs led into the floor of a new room.
As her head entered the space, she looked around. A multicoloured woven woollen rug carpeted the centre of the floor, and a small bed sprawled in the far corner. Someone had already taken her bundle of spare clothing from the dormitory and placed it on the bed for her.
“Well, what do you think?” Morning called up to her.
“It's wonderful!” She clambered the rest of the way up the ladder, and stepped aside as he started to ascend. She gently pulled aside a patterned green curtain, to reveal a washstand, chamberpot, and even a small mirror propped on top of the stand. “All this is really mine?”
“All of it.” Morning laughed at her excitement. “You can hardly stay down there with all the children any more. Besides, it's tiny, even smaller than my room. And it still needs shutters on the window, and we should really fix up some kind of trap-door for the entrance-”
“It's perfect.” Shadow interrupted. She crossed to the window and gasped. “The view's even better than from your balcony – I can see all the way into Greyminster from here!”
He joined her at the opening, and peered over her shoulder. “So you can. You'd better be careful, or I'll get jealous and decide to steal your room instead.” It was a truly spectacular view, with the sun emitting rich russet light which made the town below them glow as though in a furnace. “It's getting late, though, probably too late for me to explain everything I meant to. Meet me downstairs just after dawn. We'll get some breakfast and I'll show you everything tomorrow.”
My chapter numbers won't make much sense, as my plot has numbered sections, which don't exactly correspond to sections of text. Just follow them in order and it should work out ok...
Once again, any comments, corrections or ideas are very welcome indeed.
