There come times in one's life when one's only wish is to find a place of silence and solitude, where one can throw up in peace. It proved a wonder for Ederra that even secluded at the very back of the Sebek estate garden, that ideal eluded her still. She had been forced to retreat here after the decorative shrubbery at the side of the house proved insufficient cover when half the servants scurried outside to welcome their master's late arrival. She had ducked past the flower beds, the herb rows, the meat smoking sheds and the icehouse before she'd come upon a narrow and poorly mended path. After five minutes' worth of trudging across treacherous terrain by the light of a fortunately generous half moon, she had settled at last with her back against an overgrown hedgerow, encased on either side by tall juniper trees, of a variety she hadn't seen before. The night air brimmed with unfamiliar fragrances, which she'd probably find subtle and enticing under normal circumstances. Now, however, every whiff made her abused guts protest even louder, and she'd let out a few muffled retches along the way. She could have stayed in her room and emptied her stomach in the chamber pot, but there would have been too many people around. Too many prying and inconsiderate people, who had no notion of personal space. So she'd dragged her protesting body all the way here, hoping to be truly alone for the first time in weeks. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

After settling down on a bed of prickly grass, she'd barely had time to coax the semi-digested contents of her dinner back up before she had to clamp down on her sickness. Someone was approaching, fast and in a foul mood, judging by their discontented mutterings. Ederra tried to shimmy her way even deeper into her hiding place. Her heartbeat was deafening now, but her eyes alone enabled her to identify the rigid form of the housekeeper Nazar; the woman's ridiculous haircut alone could have screamed her name in a crowd. Upon seeing it again, Ederra wanted to chortle, but stopped herself when her abdomen heaved again. The swift reminder of her plight made her oblivious to the other woman's purpose in this part of the gardens at this hour of the night. She appeared to be carrying some parcels, but Ederra was in no mood to pay attention. She felt an acid slither come up along her throat, and after waiting for the housekeeper to retreat, she busied herself with the activity at hand.

She was barely halfway through when she started painfully as a hurrying man tripped over an exposed root and tumbled headlong into the dirt path. A string of impressively creative curses followed his retreating figure. Now Ederra was really eager to be done with her own ailment, lest Lord Sebek himself discovered her and made his wife feed her another one of those wretched fish rolls. That thought alone elicited a vigorous retch that left her reeling.

And now, after she was finally done, head pounding, tears drying on flaming cheeks but stomach blessedly empty, she wiggled her way between protesting branches, mindful of the wide puddle she had made. When she was at last standing upright on the narrow yet deceptively busy path, righting her apparel, she became aware of a third intruder. And this time, it was different. There were no footfalls, nu creaking foliage and no cursing. All that gave this other person away was a most unnatural progression of a sound Ederra had gotten used to for the last few minutes.

There must have been a wishing well on the other side of the hedgerow. She had heard the bells, softly clinking as they swayed in the wind. But now some were muffled and the ones that still moved sounded different. A lovers' tryst, perhaps? Certainly not an opportunity to be missed. The only question was, did Ederra have the nerve to go through with it?

In the end, it didn't prove a matter of nerve as much as necessity. Before feeling the first intimation of nausea, Ederra had been making ready to get on with her plan. She had suffered a minor delay, yet here lay her chance to get back on track. She could only imagine how she must look, and the thought made her smile.

Untroubled, she rounded the corner as if she had just been out for a stroll, taking care to swish the layers of light cloth enveloping her as ominously as she could. She both looked and felt half dead at this point and was ready to wager whoever happened upon her now would be in for the fright of their lives. However, as she came upon the wishing well, it was Ederra who suffered a shock. Instantly, incredulity overruled any other consideration.

"For Aratti's sake, what are you doing?," she asked breathlessly before she could stop herself.

The wide-eyed young woman leaning precariously on the very edge of the tall enclosure around the pit made no answer. She made no movement, either, one hand clasping the brickwork, the other holding up a delicate bell dangling on a white string from the beamed overhang of the structure. As Ederra approached, she noticed the narrow padded box by the woman's right knee, and the pliers next to it. A glance at the contents of the box shed light on the situation, but she still scoffed in disbelief.

She'd recognized the woman, of course. She'd been sitting across from her at dinner, but the mere memory of the meal sent a jolt through her midsection and she hastily returned to the present moment. And now that she'd seen what a court minister's daughter occupied herself with, there remained the most important question of all.

"Why?" she whispered.

"I could ask you the same thing," came the sharp retort. Tahni disentangled herself from the wall of the wishing well and stepped lithely onto the ground, barely making a sound.

"Very well then, ask. We can trade."

Tahni eyed her suspiciously before moving to place the pliers in the box and flipping the lid to cover the tongues she'd taken out. Solid gold, by the look of them.

"It's perfectly obvious what I'm doing. There's no point in trading if there's nothing to gain."

"Are you poor?" asked Ederra, a touch too hopefully. Tahni pinned her with another hard stare.

"If you're asking why I need the money-"

"No, I mean your family. Are they poor?"

"No, not by a long shot. Mother buys new crockery every other week and father has a weapons collection to put the Armed Conflagration Museum to shame. I like nice clothes and I don't know what Steppo likes, but it's expensive. Meyo is by far the most economical. He goes through a lot of books, but books are cheap. As a whole, we've been stricken with a severe and hopeless case of massive wealth and not even our most dedicated efforts can cure it. Quite tragic, I know."

She must have meant it as a joke, but all Ederra could see was yet another avenue leading to a dead end.

"Oh."

Her disappointment must have shown, as Tahni frowned at her in puzzlement.

"Surely, you wouldn't want to marry into a poor family."

"No, but it would have made a good excuse for my uncle," she sighed. She then took a steadying breath and resolved to satisfy her curiosity. "So why are you doing this?"

Tahni shrugged.

"Sometimes I just want to see if I can do it. But mostly it's about money. Now, why are you wearing a wedding dress? Do you sleepwalk?"

"No, I just wanted to frighten the wits out of anyone I met out here."

"Well, you're on the right path. You almost made me fall in." She nodded towards the well, picked up the box and placed it firmly under one arm.

"Sorry. I thought I'd come up on a pair of lovers and stare at them until they ran off screaming."

"Solid plan, that. But it wouldn't work here. We just can't be bothered with that sort of stuff. And sorry to ask, but would you mind taking that veil off? It's freaking me out."

Ederra immediately clasped the thin gauze and flung it back over her head. Instead of showing relief at beholding a human face, Tahni swore quietly and staggered back a few steps.

"What the hell? Is that makeup? I don't want to sound rude, but you'd have a surer bet of scaring people off without the veil."

Ederra chuckled lightly and felt a slight pressure give way in her chest at the sight of Tahni's own hesitant grin.

"There was no need for makeup. The tutuma roll did most of the work, along with some of the other dishes."

"But you barely had anything to eat!"

"I had enough."

Tahni sighed in commiseration.

"I wish I could tell you that was a one-off, but mother has a thing for disgusting weird stuff."

"I thought this was supposed to be your traditional food."

"So it is. And I've always hated it." After a pause she added hesitantly "Is this a special dress you had made? The needlework is so detailed, but now it's stained and shredded. Does your wedding dress look the same?"

"This is my wedding dress."

Tahni frowned, tilting her head to the side.

"Well, how many do you have?"

"Just this one," said Ederra cheerfully.

"But you can't get married in that, it's ruined!"

"I won't be getting married."

"Oh." Tahni pressed her lips into a thin, straight line and she appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I see. Does Meyo know?"

"No one knows. But trust me, there won't be a wedding. At least not with me as the bride."

"You've got someone else waiting?"

"Yes. Me."

Smiling at the other woman's confusion, Ederra opted for the honest explanation.

"I just don't want to get married in the foreseeable future. Not to your brother, nor to anyone else. I accepted this offer simply to get away from home."

"And what will you do after you break off the engagement?"

"I can't just break it off. I'll never hear the end of it, especially from my father. This union must be seen in a nefarious light, and if a ghost bride won't do the trick, there must be other bad omens. And after that... I mean, this is the capital! I haven't planned that far ahead, but there must be more chances for me here than if I'd stayed up north. I'll figure it out."

Ederra noticed the other woman watching her with a new light in her eyes and was surprised to recognize it as appreciation.

"Well, hell," said Tahni, smiling. "I was not expecting that. You're really something else. Now, I'd like to hear more, but we should probably head back. And since neither of us is fit to be seen, I'll break a much revered family tradition and show you the secret way in."

***

Peeking under the ornate frills of the tablecloth, Meyo watched his sister and a bedraggled-looking bride slink out of the passageway behind the westernmost bookcase and quickly cross the floor to the door proper. He knew of the passageway of course, though he'd never needed to use it. The library was in a remote part of the house and that door led directly to the servants' quarters next to the kitchen, so Nazar had him served directly here. Meyo appreciated her tact, as he had no wish to leave the library, especially since he'd taken up full residence under the desk. It was surprisingly comfortable, and he doubted anyone in the family had minded. Or noticed. Or cared. Not that it bothered him to be left alone, especially now, with so much work to be done.

Yawning, he stretched out on the pallet, fingertips brushing the smooth aged surface of the table legs. His natural inclinations led him to adopt a nocturnal schedule, the silence of the house proving a valuable stimulant for new ideas, scientific breakthroughs, and general peace of mind, though he'd struggled with the ladder recently. He'd never been driven by urgency before, but now everything appeared to him in a different, frantic light.

Belatedly, he wondered about the strange woman, and seemed to recall his mother mentioning a betrothal, though he couldn't say whether it concerned him or his brother. Not that it mattered. He'd go through with whatever his family demanded of him, and then he'd go right back to the important stuff.