Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
“Alas, I cannot spend the night under the roof of another god,” Varina interrupts with a reluctant expression. “Belara is a jealous goddess. Surely Kalos has told you all about my Lady. I am afraid I will have to copy it here.”
“Sure. Belara. Of course.” I know more about Belara than I would like. Namely that she’s the goddess of beauty and she’s Kalos’s ex-lover and that he was furious when she spurned him. That was millennia ago, but it’s hard not to be a little fixated on stuff like that given that she’s a goddess and I’m a mortal with chipmunk cheeks. It makes sense that she’d be a jealous goddess, but that doesn’t mean I’m eager to hand my book over to a perfect stranger.
Metta’s gaze is trusting, though. And I suppose I must cut the cord at some point.
Reluctantly, I close the book and hold it out to Varina. “It’s information to be shared. Of course you can borrow it.”
“Fabulous! You know, we have something very similar back at our temple in Eagleton.” Varina beams at me. “Not nearly as well organized as this, but still worth a look. If you’re ever in that area, you should visit and see it.”
“Oh, you do?” I’m surprised—Metta had seemed so confused about a book of cures when I’d pitched the idea. I look over at her, and Metta’s still smiling, her gaze equally bright. “I wouldn’t mind, no. How far is Eagleton from here?”
“Just a few hours’ walk,” Varina says. “You head north until you hit the river and follow the road along it. You truly can’t miss it.”
A similar book to mine. With more symbols, I wonder? Perhaps they’ll have ideas on how to handle some of the trickier ailments that defy my ideas on how to boil them down to easy-to-understand pictures. “I’ll check it out. Thank you.”
We talk for a bit longer, but Varina wants to get started on the book. The priestess immediately commandeers the largest table in Metta’s small house and lights several candles. She pulls out a bound journal of her own and flips it open, setting it next to my book and picking up a feather quill. Varina frowns down at the small pot she pulls out next, eyeing it with disdain. “Where’s your ink, Metta? Mine’s gone and dried up.”
“As if I’ve got ink.” Metta snorts. “I’m a simple woman, not a scholar.”
Varina gives a gusty, beleaguered sigh and pushes the books aside, nearly knocking a candle over. “I guess I’ll have to wet this and make do. Got any water pulled up or do we need to head to the well?”
I try not to get too nervous at the wobbling candles near a flammable book. Surely candles are safe around Varina and Metta, or they’d have burnt up the place a dozen times over, right? They’re used to candles. I’m just being a nervous nellie because I’m attached to my book. I watch as the two women bustle over to a washbasin, thinking about the other book in the next town. If it’s a walk of a few hours, we could see it and be back before sunset, I think. It’d be a lot of walking, but Kalos is having a good day, and we don’t have Dingle with us.
There’s no better time, really. And since I can’t go back home and work on my book, I have a lot of free time.
“I think I’ll see if Kalos wants to head over to Eagleton after all,” I say as Metta and Varina start arguing over the water bucket.
“Go to the temple and tell them Varina sent you,” the priestess says merrily and shoves her hand out to Metta. “They know why I’m here. Now Metta, hand over that dipper.”
Metta glares at her, holding the dipper away. “Not if you’re going to get ink all over it!”
I head outside, shutting the door behind me. Kalos looks up from under the floppy brim of the hat. “Done already?”
I do my best to seem casual. “How do you feel about visiting a village just up the river? Eagleton?”
“I could care less, but you already knew that answer.”
“There’s a temple to Belara there and they have a book like mine,” I blurt out. “Are you still okay with visiting?”
He eyes me, pulling the hat off. “A temple to Belara, eh?”
I can’t suppress a wince. “I know. Not ideal.”
“I’m just wondering why she would have a book like that. It’s more Riekki or Anali’s purview.” He shrugs. “Then again, Belarans will take any kind of bribe. It might be that someone owed them and they paid for favors with a few books. You want to see this book bad enough? Doesn’t Omos have enough of a library for you?” Kalos gives me a crooked smile.
“If it’s going to bother you, I understand. It’s just…Metta’s friend is going to borrow my book,” I gesture at the cottage the women are currently inside. “And I figured if I had some free time, I wouldn’t mind seeing how this book compares to mine. What if someone has already done the same thing I am? But better?”