In the other corner of the room was a kind of hot tub with flower pedals strewn on its surface. It bubbled quietly to itself and the steam rising from its surface was fragrant and sweet. There were towels as well and I wondered why I hadn’t been sent here to take a bath instead of Jalli’s private bathing chamber. Maybe because only Ari’s mother could assign the guest rooms? I wasn’t sure and Jalli didn’t offer to tell me.
Ari’s little sister was busy hobbling around the room in that surprisingly quick way of hers, showing me the features and luxuries like the hand-milled soap, which had been carved in the shape of chimelings, and the basket of brilliant blue hooplah fruits which were said to be good for digestion.
Since I wasn’t up to digesting anything but blood at the moment, I simply nodded politely and smiled. I didn’t have to fake my amusement at her antics, though—Jalli was impossible not to like and her high, sweet voice took my mind off my own worries.
“And here’s the best thing about your room!” she exclaimed, pointing to a huge, arching window which was covered by a carved wooden lattice. The sunlight from outside came through its carvings and threw strange-looking shadows on the marble floor.
Jalli threw open the lattice, revealing a breathtaking view. Just outside the window—which showed me that we were apparently on the second floor of the palace—was a lovely garden. There were beautiful trees, filled with blossoms and strange but sweet-smelling fruit I had never seen, flowers of all colors and descriptions arranged in beds, and even a little brook flowing through the center of the garden, gurgling quietly to itself.
“Oh, it’s gorgeous!” I remarked, coming to the window to see. There were dozens of insects sampling the multicolored flowers and Mr. Seahorse chimed once in my ear and flew out to hunt.
“Look—there he goes!” Jalli exclaimed, delighted as my new pet targeted a large green insect and shot out his miniature tongue of flame to fry it before chowing down. “Oh, he really does roast them first, just like you said!”
“He certainly does,” I said, smiling as I watched him go hunting for the next one. “You were right, Jalli—this is the perfect room for me.”
She shot me a shy smile.
“Well, I wanted you to be happy. If you’re happy you’re more likely to stay.”
“Of course I’m staying,” I said, though I couldn’t help the twinge of anxiety I felt as I spoke. “Only…I’m not sure your people are going to like me very much.”
“They’ll get used to you,” Jalli said with confidence I didn’t feel. “Like they got used to me. Why, most of the servants used to fork the evil eye at me, every time they saw me.” She held up her first two fingers and made a warding gesture with them to show me. “Because they thought I was bad luck, you know—like what happened to my foot would happen to their children too, just by me being around.”
“What? That’s awful!” I exclaimed. But it also explained a lot of why the Drake people hated deformities and scars. If they were so superstitious that they thought such things were catching—the same way you could catch a cold—it was no wonder they shunned people who were different.
Jalli shrugged philosophically.
“It’s just the way people are, you know? But after they got to know me and several other babies were born and none of them had a twisted foot, well, they all decided that my bad luck ended with me. And then they started being friends with me. So the same thing can happen for you,” she ended, smiling. “You just have to be patient—that’s all.”
I doubted that patience was going to be the answer for me that it had been for Jalli. But it was nice of her to encourage me, I thought.
“Thank you, Jalli,” I said, giving her a smile. “It’s really sweet of you to want me to be happy.”
“Well, you’re my brother’s L’lorna,” she said. “Of course I want you to be happy! We—”
But I never heard what we were going to do because at that moment, a loud rapping sounded at the door of the room.
“Oh!” I jumped and put a hand to my heart. “Who could that be?”
“It’s probably just Saint coming to check on us,” Jalli said. And before I could stop her, she hobbled quickly to the carved wooden door and threw it open.
But it wasn’t Ari’s dark cousin standing outside the door. Instead, I saw a much stranger sight.
84
Kaitlyn
Standing outside the door was a bent old woman with wild gray hair dressed in colorful rags. Over a long, tattered, dirty robe, she seemed to have scarves and sashes of every possible shade of the rainbow tied all over her—including a scarlet one which was tied around her eyes. In her hand she held a long wooden stick, which she apparently used to find her way around.