She could help.
She would just need to find the best way to do it. And the least obvious.
Chapter 27
Luc found Ava after the columns had ground to a halt for the evening, in the back of the store master’s cart.
He had received a request earlier for permission to allow her access to the stores, and he had given it, even though Rustef, the store master’s clerk, had seemed disapproving when he had waved him away with an ‘anything Ava wants’.
She was sitting beside two lit lamps, head bent over her work, humming.
Pearl, the store master, watched her from her seat on a wooden bench, chewing on a piece of dried meat. Rustef was nowhere to be seen.
Luc reached up to grab the side of the cart and haul himself inside, but Pearl caught his eye and shook her head. She moved toward him quietly, and dropped down to the ground beside him.
“Wait until she’s finished.” Her voice was hushed.
Luc stared at her, because Pearl usually had no time for anything except buying more stock and bulk bargains.
She must have realized how out of character it was, because she shrugged. “I’m not one to coddle, but that girl is a master at her craft. And while maybe I think it’s a waste of her time to spend so much effort on items that’ll just get bloody and torn, it’s her time to waste, isn’t it?”
“What is she doing?”
It was Pearl’s turn to stare at him. “Didn’t Rustef come to you and ask if she had permission? He was certainly grumpy enough when he came back.”
“He asked if she could have full access to the stores. I told him yes.”
Pearl’s face went smooth and blank, and Luc wondered if Rustef would be looking for a new job come tomorrow.
“That wasn’t what was being asked. She asked whether I would let her work some designs into the padding the scouts wear when they go out on patrol.”
“He asked for a lot more than that, hoping I’d say no.” Luc was happy for Pearl to do as she wanted with him.
“She asked politely. Didn’t assume I’d say yes, even though I know she’s your lady.” Pearl turned back to look at her, and Luc did the same.
The lamp light illuminated her cheekbones and the curve of her brows. Her hair was growing out, but it was still short from when it had been chopped off by her captors.
She was caught in her own world, unaware of anything around her as her needle flashed in and out.
“This is what she’s already done.” Pearl leaned into the cart and took out one of the vests. It was constructed to be sleeveless, with ties on the sides to secure it in place. It was made from a layer of silk, a thick layer of felted wool and then another layer of silk. It didn’t stop an arrow or a sword, but it helped the wearer survive longer, even if just to get to a healer in time.
Luc held it in both hands, and had to angle the fabric toward the lamp light to see.
Ava had used thread that was a similar color to the raw silk, a pale yellow, and down one side of the vest she had embroidered a soldier holding up a shield to a field of arrows flying toward her. On the other side was a soldier blocking a sword blow with a sword of his own. Along the edges, he recognized patterns from the wall hangings from his village hall before the Kassian had raided them and taken him away.
Cervantes heritage.
Pearl traced the edge with a finger. “She spent the morning talking to Kali and others about our ways, and then she came and incorporated them into the protective vests.”
Now Luc knew why his taciturn stores master was letting his lover have everything she needed. Pearl had joined the Rising Wave, left her people, because she wanted to personally have helped bring down the Kassian for what they had done to the Cervantes. The stealing of an entire generation, the loss that meant to the traditions and history of their people.
And Ava was trying to work a little of that back into their lives. As well as work some magic into it, too.
The humming stopped, and Ava looked up at him, then rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Time for dinner?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve done four, Pearl. Thank you for letting me play.”
“It’s been a pleasure watching you work.” Pearl watched as Luc lifted Ava down to the ground and gave an approving nod when he slid his arm around her shoulder. “You’re welcome any time.”
Luc gave her a wave and then steered Ava away. She was a little unsteady on her feet and rubbed the back of her neck.
“What were you doing that’s drained you so much?” He had never thought of the toll working magic must take.
She leaned in close. “Protection against weapons. Maybe more.”
“Maybe?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes the working does more than I thought it would. It takes on a wider interpretation of my original intent.”
“Like?” He thought of his own improved reflexes and the way arrows bent out of his way.
“Like I worked a protection into my old cloak to warn me of people who meant me harm, but then I began to know what everyone thought of me, like or dislike. The working grew in scope.”
“Like a handkerchief that was given to protect me, as a broad measure, but ended up making me able to anticipate the moves of three assassins almost before they struck.”
She was silent, and he stopped, reached out to turn her to face him.
She worried her lip a little. “That might be from . . .” She looked up at him.
“From . . .?”
“From how I sewed strength, agility and health into you when I stitched up your wounds.”
He studied her face. “That was two months ago, Ava. That surely couldn’t still be in place, although, thank you for that. It has saved my life a few times.”
“I think maybe my workings last more than a few months.” She lifted her shoulders. “I’m not sure. But the general says something my grandmother made her lasted two years.”
“You are at least as strong as your grandmother?” He asked the question softly, and she hesitated. Shrugged.
“I didn’t realize the general knows your secret.”
She turned, sliding her arm around him and tugged him forward. “She’s known all along, but I only discovered that she knew last night. I offered to make something for her.”
“I’m sure she was thrilled to accept.”
She stopped, bringing them to a halt a little way from the campfire near his tent, out of earshot. “I said I’d create a working to help her find the two Grimwaldian spies in the Venyatux column. I’m the reason they’re there, so I felt it was right to help find them. The general is going to wear what I’m making herself and hunt them down. Do you want something similar for the spies in the Rising Wave?”
He did. He really did.
He nodded.
“I’ll work it into your shirt when I get a chance.” She hesitated. “The general thinks I can only work magic into my embroidery if I use black silk thread. That’s all my mother and grandmother used. But I don’t need it to be black silk to work.” She touched her hair. “I used strands of my hair once, that’s why they cut it off. I can use anything I find. It works with canvas, with any cloth, and even with skin.” She touched his arm, where once she had sewn up his injury, before he knew and loved her. “But that is a secret between only you and me.”