Demon Child Ch. 15

Surprised, Aylanna reflexively caught if and after a curious sniff, bit into it. Her eyes widened as the crisp bun crumbled in her mouth. The outside was rich and crunchy, but the inside was light and airy. It was totally new, and wonderful. She rapidly ate the whole thing and licked off her fingers. Shyly she smiled at the old woman and mouthed the words of thanks. The grandmotherly woman cackled and nodded in acknowledgement, her aged and knobby hands surprisingly nimble as she kneaded the dough and dropped another batch to fry in the hot oil.

The general movement and energy in the room seemed to be building into a crescendo. Aylanna noticed that there seemed to be one man in charge, bustling about, looking in pots, tasting, directing others. He was old and heavy, and his loud voice reminded Aylanna of Kwal'kek. She tried to shrink back up against the wall when he marched past, picking up one of the warm brown fried things, breaking it open and taking a bite. He smiled and spoke with a full mouth, "Momma Deena, no one can fry a dumpling like you. The warriors will know they are truly home when they bite into these." As he turned to move on, he seemed to see Aylanna for the first time, pausing for a second, frowning slightly to see a stranger in his kitchen. But he did not speak, just moved on to his next task.

It was not much longer when he began to direct various large bowls and platters begin to be carried out to the square. The cooking area seemed even more chaotic with everyone transporting the food out the door leading to the square. Even the old woman painfully pulled herself to her feet and began to hobble toward the door, carrying one of the platters of fried dumplings. Aylanna's trained eyes could see that the old woman suffered from what Kharthmah had called 'stubborn knees'. The old witch doctor who had raised her asserted that after a lifetime of too much work, the joints had accumulated a lifetime of rage at being used too hard and were punishing their owners.

There was no thought of being told to stay out of the way, Aylanna was instantly by the old woman's side, trying to take the large tray of food from her hands, "Please let me help."

With surprising strength the old woman kept her grip on the heavy dish, "Girl, if you want to be of assistance, go and get the other platter of dumplings." Her eyes were narrowed and stubborn. Sensing the wounded pride of the grandmotherly woman, Aylanna nodded quickly and hurried back, lifting the second platter of fried dumplings and joined the parade of workers carrying food out to the party.

It was dark outside, the square lit with dozens of lanterns and fires flickering in stone braziers. Aylanna froze for an instant, confused by the huge crowd of people milling about. Here and there she could see a knot of people around the familiar form of one of her warriors. She could see the kitchen workers carrying the food in a steady stream to a long row of tables and she followed quickly, putting down her platter and turning to hurry back to her quiet corner in the kitchen. Suddenly, the mass of people around the serving tables was so thick that Aylanna had to squeeze between the unexpected crush of hungry diners. The plaza wasn't only crowded with bodies, Aylanna fought to keep her mind clear as she sensed so many different emotions swirling around her. Still unused to crowds and strangers she struggled to close her mind to the confusion of feelings.

Over and over she found herself bumped and jostled. More than once a helping hand reached and steadied her as she reeled, then a steel hard hand gripped her arm, supporting her, steering her away from the thick of the crowd. Blinking she looked up into Jhardron's face. He had a happy grin on his face and a fried dumpling in his hand. His eyes danced and he spoke over the noise of the crowd, "Pretty demon, dumplings are most popular. They disappear almost as quickly as they arrive. It is a dangerous place to stand; you could easily become trampled by the stampede as we fight for a share."

Still a little disoriented, Aylanna nodded and tried to find the door that led back to her refuge in the kitchen. "My Khan, I was told to stay in the kitchen but I forget where it is."

He laughed softly, pulling her out and around the crowd, "You have found yourself in a strange world, little demon. And you have already lost your way."

As they left the lighted square, the buffeting winds of too many people, too many feelings eased and Aylanna found her mind calming. Completely malleable in his hands she let him lead her off into the darkness. Her only protest was a soft, "I was told to stay in the kitchen, to stay out of the way."

"So that is why I could not find you. You were hidden."

A soft rush of emotion made her feet pause and stumble, "You were looking for me?"

Jhardron's voice was neutral, "You are ha'akh to my regiment. It is my duty to know where all my people are." But Aylanna sensed that was not all, behind the screen of duty there was more and she remembered his unguarded words of love spoken so long ago, words of love and warning that love would never supersede duty.

Swallowing down her own emotion, she spoke carefully, "I cannot help but wonder what my duties are in this strange place. Here everyone has a name, a rank and a place. Here everyone is busy with their duties and I stand and watch with nothing to do. I feel very much like a stranger here."

"Have you been treated well?"

"It has all happened so quickly, so many strangers, too many curious eyes. I miss my warriors. I fear I will never see them again."

Jhardron's hand smoothed back her riot of scarlet curls, "Little demon, you will see your warriors once more. The regiment will be proceeding to Bak Pan Amara in the morning. It will be another week of travel before we enter into the city. We will present the Khan with his share of the loot taken on campaign and the Ramaldi treasure. Only then will the regiment disband for the winter." Aylanna leaned against him, breathing in his scent, forgetting for an instant all the uncertainty of the future. His arms tightened around her but then there was a swell of noise from the party, a blare of horns and then all fell silent.

Jhardron quickly released her, "My uncle, Khan Lann is going to speak. I must be there." He quickly gripped her hand and ran back toward the party. Taking a short cut through the kitchen, he released her and disappeared through the door without a farewell.

It was much less crowded in the kitchen; almost all the workers were gone. Aylanna smiled to see the old woman back at her place still frying dumplings. She made her way over to the sit beside her, "Greetings, I am Aylanna ha'akh Bak Tai Twisted Dagger."

The old woman's voice was warm and good humored, "I know who you are. There is little that happens in our house that I do not know of. I am Deena, everyone calls me Momma Deena."

"The dumplings are good. I have never tasted anything like them."

"They are a favorite."

Sitting with Deena was warm and comfortable, and it seemed that, now that the party was well underway, it was customary for people to sneak back into the kitchen and beg for fried dumplings fresh and hot from the oil. Aylanna found herself smiling a happy welcome at the familiar faces as her warriors would come in and beg a dumpling from Deena. Tiny and brown skinned, the old woman was clearly a member of the northern races, but just as clearly she held a special place here in House Twisted Dagger. Everyone treated her with love and respect. Even Sindalla seemed to speak to her with deference when she came to retrieve Aylanna and bring her back to her sleeping cubical.

Several people were moving around the room, tired workers grateful to finally finish a long day. Sindalla spoke briskly, "The regiment will leave at first light, be ready." Someone had put a sleeping mat and blanket in her space, and Aylanna nodded silently. She was tired. Too many strangers, new sights and sounds, the repeated sense of confusion had worn her out. She wrapped up in the blanket and curled up on the thin mat. She lay there, intensely aware of the other people around her, low voices in conversation, the sounds of sleep, snoring, coughs and movement intruding on her thoughts. She realized she hated this, surrounded by strangers, yet so alone. Softly she swallowed down her tears, and reminded herself she would be on the road again, away from this strange place and once again with her warriors. Deliberately she turned her thoughts away from the fact that this might be her last time with them.

)===(>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<)===(

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

For those of you new to this story, I have included many words of the Bak language. The meanings of most are easy to determine from context

Please do me the kindness of leaving me feedback and comments.

Special thanks to Dani for her wonderful editing help.

Enjoy, xantu