The Children of Calm (4 page)

“You are safe in Calm,” she said. “My name is Penephoni Releson, and I’ve been taking care of you ever since one of our men found you just outside the village.” She paused to give him an encouraging smile. “You were nearly frozen through, but it looks like you’ll recover just fine.”

The man gave a faint nod and smiled. “Thank you,” he croaked out. “I’m really hungry, but I need to talk with someone in charge here – your mayor or chief or elder or whomever it may be.”

“That may be so,” she said, “but I am your health provider, and I say you need to gain some more strength before you go traipsing all about town playing cahoots with our village council. You just relax there while I go pour you some peppernut tea and dish you up some potato and cabbage stew.”

“That does sound wonderful,” the stranger said, his voice strengthening. “I suppose I could stay a bit longer before I tend to business.”

Penephoni rushed off to the kitchen. “Well then, now that’s settled,” she called out to him, “I’ll be back in half a moment with a steaming bowl and mug!” She returned soon enough, just as she promised, with a tray carrying the fragrant stew, a spoon, a cup, and napkin. “Now, go easy, don’t overdo it. You haven’t eaten anything solid for quite awhile, so I don’t want you getting sick from being overanxious.”

The man began eating, and after a few bites, he looked up at her and said, “You know, it may merely be my hunger talking, but I do believe this just may be the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.” He looked down at his belly and began laughing. “And as you can see,” he added, “I’ve tasted a great many things!”

After a few minutes of quietly eating with Penephoni waiting on him, the man stopped abruptly, let out an “Oh!” and said, “Forgive me, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Tannen Lacranore, and I hail from Arcenoth where I serve on the city’s council. I am afraid I come bearing unfortunate, terrible news, news that has put all of Calabranda in a great state of turmoil. But I must wait till I speak with your leadership before I divulge any more information.”

Tannen was certainly speaking with more life now, and it seemed to Penephoni the food was not taking very long to replenish his oratory skills. She observed him sitting by the fire, wrapped in a blanket and delighting himself with more stew. He was a pleasant, jolly-looking middle-aged man, with a thick bushy moustache that practically hid his mouth. She could not help but think of the moustache as a filter whenever the stew passed into his mouth, especially since some of the vegetable chunks had decided to stay on it. His thinning hair was dark but beginning to gray, and he had small beady eyes that sat close together on his face. Overall, Tannen’s face was very pear-shaped, exaggerated even more by his round puffy cheeks. A kind man, Penephoni concluded, a kind grandfatherly man.

He finished his bowl and let out a contented sigh. “Penephoni,” he said, “you have done a great mercy by caring for me. But now you must take me to those with whom I should speak. Perhaps afterwards I may share another bowl with you?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling. “It would be my pleasure.”

After helping him get into his coat, and bundling Tresten and Selenor, she led her little troop down the street until she reached Caenar’s house. The sun was setting, and most of the snow had started to melt as it had begun to warm up over the last couple of days.

Caenar was outside his front door sweeping away some of the melted snow from his walkway. He looked up as Penephoni and Tannen approached and called out to them, “Good evening! I see you have thrived under the care of our most skilled physician.”

Tannen patted his stomach and said, “That I have, that I have! I understand you are the man with whom I am in need to speak.”

“Well, I would be one of them,” Caenar said. “My name is Caenar Tocelen, and I am the elder of the town council. We all happen to be gathered here in my house this evening, preparing to start our weekly meeting. Would you care to join us inside?”

“It would be my honor, sir,” Tannen said. He turned to Penephoni. “You will keep some of that immaculate stew waiting for me?”

“Of course I will,” she said, laughing. “I’d hate to keep you hungry!”

Tannen roared a bellow of a laugh as he followed Caenar into his house.

***

Penephoni had been home for a few hours and was thinking of going to bed when the bell in front of the Public Hall began to ring. Sighing, she picked up the sleeping twins and, after dressing them cozily for the chilly night air, took them to the Hall. It was a short walk away and the little streets were busy with all the townspeople making their way to answer the call of the bell. After finding a seat in the back, Penephoni gently rocked the twins in their carrying baskets to lull them back to sleep. Kelni sat down next to her.

“So does this mean we finally get to find out what that man’s business is?” Kelni asked.

“That’s what I would assume,” Penephoni said. “I wish they would have just waited till the morning, though. It’s not the easiest thing to get the children dressed for the weather after they have been put down for the night, just to sit in a noisy room with everyone. But I suppose that’s the way this place operates.”

Kelni looked at Penephoni worriedly. “It must be awfully important, don’t you think?” she said. “Otherwise I don’t believe the Council would call us this late.”

“We’ll see, I guess. Our new friend gave the impression it’s dire,” Penephoni said.

By now Caenar was standing and motioning with his hands for quiet. The rest of the Council was sitting in a half circle behind him. Penephoni did not see Tannen anywhere.

“Good evening to you all,” Caenar began once everyone had been seated and silenced. “We beg your forgiveness for assembling you at so late an hour, but some rather pressing news from The Outside has come to our attention. As we all know, a few days ago Ronas found a man unconscious and half-buried in snow at Solemn Pass. Our excellent Penephoni has looked after him and mended him back to health, and now he has come to tell us things of great importance to us.” Here he paused, and gestured towards the front row of the assembly. “I now introduce to you the man named Tannen Lacranore, a councilman from the city of Arcenoth. Please give him your undivided attention.”

From the place where Caenar had gestured stood Tannen, and as Caenar turned to be seated with the rest of the Council, Tannen took the floor.

“My utmost thanks to Caenar and the Council,” Tannen said, “to Ronas for finding and saving me, and to Penephoni for caring for me and nursing me back to the healthy man you see standing before you.”

He paused and slapped his belly, which caused a faint reaction from the village.

“But on to more pressing issues than my waistline,” he continued. “There is no easy way round about the matter, so I will jump right into it. A little over seven months ago by now, great tragedy fell upon all of Calabranda in the form of savage and cowardly traitorship, as most of the members of the Royal Family were either murdered or kidnapped.”

A great whispering and muttering immediately began in the Hall.

“Yes,” he went on, “it is true. Somehow, by what has been pieced together, a small group of people – we are unsure how many were involved – snuck into the royal sleeping chambers and proceeded to murder Lord Regent Endwor and his elder son Aenin – in cold blood, right there in their own beds as they lay sleeping!”

The din continued to grow, but Tannen went on, raising his voice so as to be heard.

“The Lady Amilla has disappeared without a trace, either murdered and body promptly hidden or more likely kidnapped, since it would naturally be ludicrous to suspect her of any wrongdoing. And their younger son, Moltaer, by some miracle survived his attempted murder, but now bears the misfortune of being completely paralyzed from his waist down. The boy is only eleven years old, but now is burdened with being Lord Regent.”

Myriads of questions and exclamations were jumbled together in the Hall as it lost all form of organization; everyone was talking at once. One unidentified voice rose above the others: “But how can a boy rule over all of Calabranda?”

Tannen raised his arms. “Friends, friends,” he bellowed out in a loud voice. “Please, we must contain ourselves.”

The noise gradually quieted. Penephoni thought it strange that Caenar and the rest of the Council sat in their chairs disaffected by the chaos that had erupted. The room grew eerily silent.

Tannen continued. “For those who may not have heard, someone asked whether a boy as young as Lord Moltaer was fit to rule over Calabranda. The Grand Council has already taken this into consideration, and has unanimously appointed High Chancellor Ontelymon to rule alongside Lord Moltaer until he is fit to…take the reins, as it were. The Grand Council will keep its system of checks and balances to ensure that Chancellor Ontelymon does not overstep his bounds by usurping the Royal Line, though I believe we can all rest assured no such thing would ever happen.”

A general murmuring of agreement ran through the Hall. Ontelymon was a well-respected man, having served as High Chancellor on the Grand Council for nearly thirty years. He had championed certain tax breaks for the poorer population of Calabranda and had donated large portions of his family estate to those who could not afford housing in the Imperial City, Maeon Plenneth.

“That sounds reassuring, doesn’t it?” Kelni asked Penephoni, who merely furrowed her brow.

“I am sorry to bring you this news so late,” Tannen continued, “but we all know how far away Maeon is from us and how long it takes for news to reach us this far in the northwest. Especially considering the Grand Council delayed in releasing this information for four months as they conducted their own investigation, and in the process grounded all Xephyr flights to improve security conditions. Therefore we in Arcenoth only found out the news two months ago. And now of course we are all aware of the treacherous winter we had and how impossible it was for word to be brought to your fine village. Many attempts have been made by me to inform you this month, but nature had her way, as it were. And apparently, I probably still shouldn’t have braved the pass even now…”

Caenar stood from his chair and joined Tannen on the floor, placing his hand on his shoulder. “But we do greatly appreciate your formidable sacrifice to bring us these tidings at this time,” he said. “We, of course, stand behind the decision of the Grand Council and will support High Chancellor Ontelymon as he rules alongside Lord Moltaer. And if we discover any information leading to the whereabouts of these murderous traitors, we will send word. This area is very profitable for someone wanting to hide from authority, after all. Tomorrow I will organize a group to patrol the land surrounding us for anything suspicious. Until then let us all go back to our homes and sleep in peace and comfort knowing we are
perfectly safe
here.” As he said this, Caenar looked directly at Penephoni and then at someone else. Penephoni assumed it was Clarina.

Soon afterwards everyone was dismissed. As Penephoni was gathering up the sleeping twins she leaned over to Kelni and said, “I told you it could have waited a few more hours. What was so urgent that we couldn’t have learned all of this in the morning? It’s already been – what did he say? – a handful of months since all this took place; what are a few more hours? Knowing how slowly news travels up here, they’ve probably already found Lady Amilla and the murderers.”

“I don’t know,” Kelni said. “Caenar must have had his reasons.”

As if on cue, Caenar approached Penephoni. “Kelni,” he said, “will you allow me a private word with Penephoni?”

“Of course,” Kelni said.

Once he was alone with Penephoni, he said to her, “I want to assure you that no matter what happens to me or to the village, you and the twins will be safe.”

She gave him a puzzled look, and then out of her memory recalled a conversation they had shared the night the twins were born. She decided to push it. “I’m sorry, I guess I don’t understand,” she said, “but what is that supposed to mean? Is the village in some sort of danger?”

The old man’s eyes grew very bright. “No, I do not believe so,” he said, “but all the same, one cannot know for certain what the future may hold for us
here
. In the meantime, I do know that you, Selenor, and Tresten will be perfectly fine.”

Penephoni looked hard into his eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“My dear daughter, all I need from you is your ongoing hard work in raising these children as well as you can. That is all this old heart can request.”

“Okay, I can certainly do that,” she said. “Goodnight, Elder Caenar.”

“Goodnight, Penephoni,” he said and quietly walked away.

***

Tannen escorted Penephoni and her children back to her house. As she went inside he said, “Would it be cumbersome for you if I had some more of your stew? Just one more bowl will tide me over before I venture to Caenar’s house to spend the night.”

Penephoni smiled. “No, of course not,” she said. “Come right in and I’ll warm up a bowl for you.”

“I could not at this moment imagine a more beautiful sentence than what you just uttered!” Tannen said, and followed her inside.

True to Caenar’s word the night passed peacefully for the village of Calm. Penephoni spent most of the night seated by the fireplace, watching the flickering dance of the flames and thinking about the events of the evening. Contrary to what Caenar had told her, she could not help but worry that he knew something he was not telling anyone else. Were they really safe there? He kept stressing how important the four children were. If someone with evil intentions believed the same thing, could something happen there in Calm like what happened in Maeon? How could Caenar be so sure that she and the children would be safe, no matter what else would happen to him or the village?