The Tales of Tarya, Books 1-3

Chapter 8 - True Seeing-3

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The sun’s first light revealed how close the wagons were camped from the outskirts of the town of Pirini. Uberto was adamant they wouldn’t stop or play, despite Mina’s plea to practice the stories that spun like a mess of thread in her thoughts. He commanded Dario and Roberto to fetch bread and apples from the town, and set the others to rehearsing lazzi, the pieces of comedy their audiences so loved. Mina fell into the rehearsal as quickly as any, and realised she was starting to know many of the stock scenes and speeches well. It was a thrill for her every time she entered Tarya during the playing, watching her words create magnificent houses or fragrant gardens for the players to wander in.

Each time she rehearsed, it became easier too. She no longer had to chant out loud to slip into Tarya. The other players were comfortable with her additions to their performances now, and she joined them in dissecting the rehearsals afterwards, deciding what had gone well or poorly. Feelings of being an outsider were long gone. The troupe was Mina’s family now, though she still sensed undercurrents that made her uneasy.

Over the next few days travel was interspersed with rehearsal whenever the horses began to flag. After bypassing Pirini, the wagons rode across increasingly lush land, green and well treed. In the distance, looming mountains rose up, distant sentinels through the night. They spent two days skirting gentle foothills, and the mountains never seemed to come any closer.

On the second night, they neared glittering Lake Rosa, which, Isabella whispered with glee, was named after a king’s mistress. The lake was so large the other side was invisible, and Mina could not be sure whether to believe Isabella when she said there was an entire city over there. Sunset turned the lake to a majestic palette of colours, and they traversed its perimeter until the stars appeared. The following morning they all bathed in the warm waters. Uberto, of course, called their impromptu bath short as the sun rose and another day’s journeying began.

The road was better kept now. After a short time they reached a river with a broad, solid bridge. As they neared a second river, with an even wider bridge, the roads became a lot busier. They crossed the river and entered the biggest town Mina had ever seen.

‘Is this Aurea?’ she asked excitedly.

‘This little town?’ Isabella giggled. ‘I’d forgotten you’re from the provinces, Mina!’ She smiled to take away the sting of her insult. ‘No, no, this is Baritz. It’s nothing compared to Aurea. It’s about a day and a half away now. Soon you’ll see my future home, I mean, the future home of our troupe!’

Mina ignored Isabella’s barb. As they passed through a great gate she took it all in, awed at the sight of this new city. Buildings rose high on every side, their windows clean and clear. The people looked clean too, their clothing more fitted and fussy than Mina had ever seen. Some even had sleeves tied over their shirts and chemises, though in the heat of summer most did not. None of the women were bareheaded, as in Andon. Some wore little caps, while others had bundled their hair into crocheted nets that hung at their necks, though they still looped their skirts up into their belts as at home, to keep them out of the dirt.

The wagons soon stopped in another tavern courtyard, and Uberto gave the players leave to find their own breakfast and have a quick visit in the large town.

‘Those of you who have been here before stay close to those who have not,’ he exhorted. ‘We must be on the road again as soon as we re-provision. Do not wander far!’

Mina hoped to catch Lisette alone, to resume their conversation about lost family. Paolo was playing on her mind. With every new town they approached she wondered whether he might be living there, and every time they moved on, with scarcely time to see the buildings, let alone the people, she felt a stabbing fear that if she had longer, she might find him. But despite the many days in each other’s company, Isabella grabbed Mina’s arm.

‘I’ll make sure you don’t get lost,’ she declared, grabbing Jal’s arm also, so she would have a handsome man close by.

Vincenzo and Ciro both hurried off in different directions. Luka hovered uncertainly, until Dario beckoned for the sandy-haired boy to join him. He and Roberto led the way, with Isabella, Lisette, Jal and Mina following. The streets near the tavern were broad, but so crowded Mina was glad of Isabella’s tight grip on her arm. Roberto joined Isabella in teasing Mina and Luka for their open-mouthed gaping. He laughed out loud when they reached a town square so large both Mina and Luka gasped.

‘Provincials! What will you do when we reach Aurea? This is but a taste of that bejewelled, blighted, magnificent city.’

It was market day and the square was filled with people shouting and laughing in the sunlight. Bells tinkled and animals squawked or lowed. Raw animal smells formed a pungent base note to the heady scents of roasting meats and fragrant fruits. Pouches, toys and wooden bowls sat side by side with fresh produce on market stalls from which pennants made jagged slashes across the sky. Children delighted in running around the legs of adults who stood frozen by the serious business of bargaining. It was a space so vibrant and busy the players grinned at each other, feeling the energy rising as it would after a performance.

Isabella pulled Mina forward through the endlessly shifting crowd, her rosebud mouth open in a broad laugh far removed from her usual tinkling giggle.

‘Let’s find tasty goodness for your breakfast!’ she declared. ‘You’ve never been to a market like this, have you? I’m sure there’ll be some surprises!’

The players all carried their wages, one coin per performance, but Uberto had also given them a bonus after their recent triumph in Irsha. Even Mina carried a heavy bag of coins in a pouch looped over her wrist, and she looked around with excitement. But Isabella wouldn’t let her spend her earnings, buying treat after treat until Mina was burdened with a pile of what she could only guess was food.

‘Stop!’ she laughed. ‘Isabella, I can’t eat this much. Let’s find somewhere to sit and you can tell me what to try. I’ll share the rest with the others.’

Dario put a hand on Mina’s elbow. Her stomach lurched. It had been days since they’d been able to spend time alone, and she’d missed the feel of his warm skin on hers.

‘We have to get back to the wagons,’ Dario said, leading the players out of the marketplace. Mina fell in beside him, her arms full of Isabella’s purchases.

‘Mina,’ Dario whispered, pointing to a meatball amongst her stash. ‘I’d pass that treat on to one of the locals unless you have a particular taste for dog flesh …’

Mina raised an eyebrow and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Shuddering, she stopped and offered the ball of fried meat to a passing child, small and ill-dressed. Dario kept walking. The child smiled a gappy smile, and bowed, biting into the meatball hungrily almost before it had left Mina’s hand. Walking backward to watch him devour the strange morsel, she bumped into someone. Before she could turn to apologise, a strange, guttural voice began chanting.

‘Innaroi, Innaroi, sweet as any lover boy

Bring your gift of wondrous plays

We soon forget the dreams we crave

Make us despair and hide at night

Give up hopes that once had flight.’

The speaker roughly pulled strings of red hair off her face to stare at Mina with swollen, red-lidded eyes. Mina saw with horror that raw pink scalp showed through the woman’s hair in jagged circles.

‘You,’ the woman said, and the strange, harsh sound made Dario turn and hurry back to Mina’s side. Something about the woman’s staring eyes reminded Mina of Uncle Tonio’s occasional struggles to reconnect, briefly, with the real world.

‘It’s okay, Dario … I think,’ Mina uttered softly.

‘You,’ the woman began again. She spoke each word slowly, as though it were a great struggle to form a complete sentence. ‘You … are … not … a … thief.’ With a sudden jerk, she reached for Mina, who stepped back quickly, fearful the woman was going to tear at her hair. Dario put his arm around Mina and swiftly led her away. Mina barely caught the red-haired woman’s last word.

‘Yet.’

Mina looked back over her shoulder to watch the woman hurry off, head down, sniffing her fingers like Uncle Tonio used to whenever he was upset. Ahead, the other players looked back in puzzlement. Dario signalled for them to go on ahead. Isabella grinned knowingly and hurried off with the others.

‘They know about us,’ Mina said.

Dario raised an eyebrow in query.

‘The troupe. They know. Mama Tina mentioned it last night. She’s fine with it.’

Dario smiled and leaned in to kiss her. Mina closed her eyes and let herself feel the turbulent excitement his kiss aroused. She reached her hands up to his neck, and all Isabella’s food fell to the ground. They pulled out of the kiss after many minutes, their breath slightly ragged, and realised a crowd had gathered. A few cheered or jeered.

Dario looked down at Mina, his grin sheepish, and slid his arm around her waist, leading her quickly from the town square. Once they were walking the less peopled streets beyond the market, they slowed their pace, walking in time with each other without realising. Dario stopped walking, brushed a tendril of hair from Mina’s face, and kissed her again. His hand slid down her back and over the curve of her buttock. Mina leaned in to him, forgetting everything. She found it hard to catch her breath. Once again they became lost in each other, but Dario pulled back first as a thought came to him.

‘You’ve taken the oath,’ he said. ‘I can answer your questions now.’ His eyes were suddenly inexpressibly sad. ‘Maybe you can live with what you learn. Some do. But some of us struggle.’

Mina tried to gather her thoughts, but she was hungry for the taste of Dario’s lips. Then she recognised the inn that marked the road to their encampment and realised time was running out. They might have a few more seconds alone before someone came to hurry them up.

‘Before Aldo died, he told me the players steal the dreams. It’s worried me ever since. And I think you tried to tell me the same thing, before I went to Tarya the first time. Uberto says taking dreams stops people being confused by them, but that’s not right, is it?’

Isabella emerged from the laneway just ahead. She hadn’t seen them yet, but it would be a matter of moments.

Dario spoke quickly. ‘We all wish we didn’t have to take the dreams. It feels wrong. I tried to warn you, on the beach, before it was too late, but I’ve taken the oath. I couldn’t.’

‘But …’ Mina’s thoughts crushed in upon her. ‘What’s so wrong about it? Why do you still do it? What happens when people lose their dreams?’

Dario leaned in close. He breathed in the scent of her skin, then shook his head, as if shaking away the distraction.

‘I don’t really know, Mina. But I’ve thought about it a lot. What if you lost all hope? What if you thought your life was never going to get any better? Or if you wanted to achieve a goal and knew you never would? Would a life without dreams be worth living?’

~

With the wagons re-provisioned they set off again. Mina sat quietly next to Isabella at the front of the wagon, overwhelmed by thoughts of Dario, and of what he’d just told her. Isabella kept trying to start a conversation but eventually gave up. Fields and houses bracketed the road now, so they were never far from other travellers. Mina barely noticed the people they passed, who nodded and waved, excited to see the players. She was trying to fathom what could be so terrible about living without hope.

She thought of Paolo, and imagined how she would feel if she knew she might never see him again, and a terrible ache sprung to life within her. She realised how much hope kept her going in the face of the strangeness that had become her life. Yet new things were beginning too. The thought of never finding Paolo was terrible, but Mina knew if this was to be the case, she would keep on going, telling her stories, finding a way.

Then a thought struck her. Or rather, an image. She saw Lisette’s eyes. There was a sadness in them, and a desperation, which never disappeared. Lisette had lost her daughter, in the most terrible way, and nothing would ever change that. She would wake every morning, feeling that emptiness. And there had been nothing right about Liliana’s death. It should never have happened. It couldn’t be undone. A child who would never grow up. Could that loss be enough to drain one of all hope? Lisette must have had dreams for her daughter, thinking of what she might become when she reached adulthood. Those dreams were lost now.

For some reason Mina thought then of the ship she’d seen in Tarya, and the brave, bold girl who had dreamed that dream, then screamed when Mina touched her cord. What might the girl become, with such dreams within her? And yet, if those dreams were taken away … Mina began to understand. Without dreams there were no possibilities. Without dreams, that bold, cheery little girl might become … sad, lost, even despairing?

An image flashed into her thoughts: Katriela, the girl from Clusone, a walking skeleton with her dead eyes and pale skin. Mina had seen similar faces in other towns, dark shadows like purple fingerprints edging their eyes. Could the players have caused that by taking the dreams? There had been no one like that in Andon. But what if they only ever took dreams in the bigger towns and cities, where the effects would be less noticeable? Yet they would only do that if they were trying to hide the consequences, and that thought was too terrible to contemplate.

‘You know,’ Isabella said, unable to stand the silence any longer, ‘when we first found Lisette she was almost crazy. She didn’t speak Litonny very well, and she looked terrible, her hair half torn out and her clothes ragged.’

Mina looked at the other girl, perfectly groomed as always. ‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Mina, I know she’s your friend, but be careful.’

‘Why did Uberto take her in if she was so crazy?’

‘We’re all outcasts, aren’t we? Why is a murderess any different than an orphan or a thief or …’

Mina’s eyes widened. Isabella sighed, a great, elaborate stage sigh and spoke rapidly.

‘Dario’s mother abandoned him when he was three. Mama Tina found him on the road and took him in. Roberto was to have his hand cut off for thievery when the troupe visited Toano, on the coast. While he was awaiting the axe, he kept the crowd entertained pretending to be this person or that person, a wealthy merchant, a lascivious priest, a hungry child. The crowd’s laughter was so great the axe man couldn’t interrupt for fear of being dragged away. Uberto had time to find the seneschal of the city and pay for Roberto’s release. When we visit Toano now, Roberto dresses in costume the whole time. He’s not supposed to go back!’

‘And you?’

Isabella tossed her hair and giggled. ‘My father was the wealthiest man in Pedon. That’s near the border of Rien, beyond the Laoro Mountains. A dreary place, though I was queen of the town. Until my father decided to marry me off to a farmer from Ilsa. I mean, a farmer! Me! My father didn’t realise what a match I could make. I had no intention of staying in that miserable town.’

‘Wait!’ Mina interrupted. ‘You tease me about my humble home!’

‘But I never belonged in Pedon. I was born to live in a great city. Some are born to live in the exciting places, others are born to live in the boring little towns.’

‘And you think that’s the difference between us, do you?’ Mina demanded.

Isabella laughed her musical laugh. ‘Oh Mina, forget what I said in jest when we first met. You should know by now I say things quickly, without much thought, but I don’t mean to hurt anyone. I may talk about me, but what more fascinating topic is there? Your playing makes you different, and I could be jealous of that, but I’m not. I am Inamorata, admired by all, and I’ll always be the star, no matter what. Oh, I know beauty fades, but time’s on my side, and I intend to secure my position.’

She linked her arm through Mina’s and they sat together watching the road disappear beneath the wagon wheels.

Chapter 9