no less than the other links! Even despite their, um, oddities. Don't worry, I'm without a trace. As soon as I got the emeralds, I immediately left them."
She pulled out a kiln as proof – a scratched silver cylinder with a bright green glow on one side. Capsules like these held the means to power many of the devices that kept the city (along with the small pockets of life outside Sol) running. Each link was willing to fill such kilns with emerald drops in exchange for completing their side of the contracts. Information, infiltration, surveillance, substitution, sabotage – the lives of shadows were rarely boring. Anyone could become a shadow. Any shadow could become alight.
Vish didn't say a word about her contract's target – usually she found it curious to dissect every detail. Cates stared blankly at the kiln in her hand, trying to remember where he had left his own.
"Impressive. Then why are you here? There are cozier places where your dribs would be most welcome."
"Oh, don't be cross! The Fires won't even dare to peek in here, it's too high! And if they try to…"
"They won't, and you know that. They erase their stories the same way they burn through contracts and will soon forget about the need for taboos…"
"No need to blame all of the Fires for what has happened. They won't forget taboos, otherwise everyone will forget. And then what will happen, can you imagine?"
Cates imagined and looked down at the city, over which the departing sun gleamed in a crimson sky. Several inquisitors had been staining the streets more often lately. They were looking for something – just like Cates. Everyone is looking for something here, and when they don't, they wait. All that remained was to figure out what Vish is looking for. Cates thought that he'll fix the stained glass if he comes back…
But he won't come back if he won't depart, and now he simply waited until Vish would reveal everything on her own. The most important thing was to pay attention and listen. She tightened up the straps that held her claws and continued the interrogation.
"You didn't hear anything about the lord's arrival?"
"Is it because of him that the inquisitors are hanging around?"
"Sures. They and the other followers of the lord returned with him a week ago from… Mmm, I forgot from where. Their expedition was far, far from here, anyway. You've never been there? I mean, outside the circles?"
"I'm not one of the followers or a part of any other links, you know that. I couldn't care less about their affairs."
Vish had distracted him from thirst long enough with her interrogation. She continued to look for his involvements with the links, but she didn't dare to simply ask him. Was she worried about his answers? Did the truth scare her that much? Maybe she simply needs time. But where on earth had his flask gone…
Cates took a glove out of his pocket and put it on. Rugged fingers snapped against the heating rod, and a spark stirred the dried drops from the kiln on the end of it. A tiny flame appeared and shared itself with the candles in the corners of the room. The dim light revealed Vish: a corset of dark patterned fabric clasped her waist, beneath it a loose tunic with long sleeves in which she hid her wall-climbing claws. Tall boots with a riveted platform served the same purpose. She wrapped her arms around her knee and tilted her head.
"It's cozy in here. Safe. I can see now why you stayed here."
"Clever girl. You can climb down from there. I only need to find one thing…"
Strangely, the flask was nowhere to be seen. Cates searched the room and checked the pockets of a belt that was hanging on the wall, yet instead of the flask he found his kiln. Its emerald glow, unlike Vish's kiln, was almost completely gone, and the pitiful crackling sound meant that it was nearly drained. Nevertheless, it would help quench his thirst.
"Cates! Is that why you switched to candles? Your kiln is almost gone! Do you want me to share a few drops with it?"
"No, it's got enough drops to cover my needs. Are you hungry? I had something tasty… somewhere. Relatively."
With a candle in his hand, Cates approached a glass container with water in the middle of the room. Another container was inside it – closed and without water but with edible things. A piece of whale fat languished at the bottom along with a dozen pieces of shark (delicious) and a bunch of shrimp. Cold water in the dark did a good job of preserving food this way. Vish was not leaving the window's curve, as if she was very cautious. She watched as Cates scooped up water from the first container into a jug with a heating rod and he said:
"There's some whale, even shark meat, would you like some? Maybe shrimp? I can make a soup."
She shook her head with her tongue out. Cates wasn't too hungry either.
"Then just coffee?"
He prepared two cups, poured a handful of black powder and a pinch of dried herbs from small boxes on the shelves into the jug. The names of the spices did not find themselves in his anxious memory, but he remembered their taste, identified them by smell – he could never fail at identifying the smell, it was unmistakable. Shaking the jug, he touched the rod with its glow, and it turned red from the heat, boiling the water in the jug in ten seconds. Vish looked at it with little to no enthusiasm.
"Don't you have anything stronger? Don't bother, I'll manage without. I shouldn't have woken you up, now I feel guilty. Go back to bed, Cates. You look like you haven't slept in an eternity. Or maybe even two."
He didn't listen to her and finished brewing the coffee. The cool calm of the evening air mingled with the scent of sweet fire. Cates took a few sips, quenching his thirst with the strong taste of spicy tartness. Vish gulped.
"You're being too shady, Cates, your kiln wouldn't last until the Wolf. Still, answer me this, why don't you take contracts anymore?"
He understood now why she was so cautious – he was being shady indeed, but he could not reveal absolutely everything she wanted to know. He didn't need the contracts because he didn't need the drops. He hid the fact that he had broken one of the taboos.
"I had contracts when I was remembered."
"Ha, really? You and forgotten? Don't flatter yourself. You're not that great of a shadow yet."
"I'm just a shadow, like any other. In games of the links, we are the drops for exchanges and recharges. There should be another way instead."
Vish fought the urge to make a heavy sigh.
"I… You know, I also thought about that. But nothing ever happens the way you'd expect. What are you planning to do, if not the contracts? Gray jobs?"
"No, without contracts there are no shadows. And I'm not against them, it's just… There's nothing to grab on to… I can't sleep, and when I do, I dream of danger, unstable ground, exposure. As if everything is turning against me. It's funny that even wanting to leave the shadows, I'm afraid to expose myself, and when I look back, I only see mistakes."
He tried to drown the excuses with the warmth of coffee. Vish eyed him warily.
"Do you know what your problem is?"
"I don't know."
"You see yourself as a problem. You are a shadow – just like me – only you like to build towers in your head and bang yourself against them endlessly. Believe me, contracts are not the worst thing you could do."
Cates was sipping coffee and listened attentively as Vish continued.
"Stop seeing problems in everything. Especially in yourself. What happens to a rabbit when there is no more carrot? And to the wolf when there is no rabbit?"
"I know only that in the city, all that is left for me is to wait until I end up in hiding or worse."
"It