I wake to someone pounding at the door. “Zefra? Zefra?”
It’s Hanun’s voice. He’s desperate.
As I get to my feet, I realize I must have been in rough shape last night. My coat’s still draped around me. “Hanun?”
I can’t hear his response through the door, but the pounding stops.
I unlatch the bolt and pull back the door.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, why?”
“The altars!”
I head out to the balcony of the loft. There are a couple windows that let light in, giving the place a warm feel.
But something’s off. I have to look closely to see the cracks in the altars. “Who could’ve done such a thing?”
“You didn’t hear it?”
I shake my head. “I was up during the night and they were intact.”
“The same dream again?”
I nod.
“Maybe the gods did it.”
“Smash their own altars?”
“What did the elders say to you before you left Odun?”
I wasn’t supposed to tell him what they’d said, but I did anyway. Now he always brings it up. “That Ehram is a wicked place with no love for the gods.”
“Maybe they don’t want to be here.”
I can’t think of anything to retort, so I just lean over the railing. “I’ll have to head to a mason, get some new altars made.”
“And how will you pay for it?”
I shrug. “The temple has plenty, thanks to the king. I’ll talk to them and get permission.”
“They’ll just believe you when you said the altars broke?”
“They’ll probably send some bureaucrat over to look at them. Then in the end I’ll have to steal it from their coffers in a daring feat of grace and skill.” I grin to let him know I’m not serious.
“Careful now, you know who I work for.”
“I know. Maybe you’ll have to carry me away.”
He wraps my arms around me, and I melt into him. His body is strong, and he holds me off the ground. It’s better than flying.
“As soon as my term’s up, we’ll go back to Odun, right?”
I sigh. “I can’t just leave the shrine.”
“How many people came here last week?”
“Three. And Menir.”
“And how many of those three were beggars?”
All of them, but I won’t let Hanun win so easily. “I can help beggars, at least. Better than standing guard for the Glassmakers. What do they even need protection for?”
“It’s not the Glassmakers who put guards in their district. It’s the king. They’re under scrutiny right now.”
“Why?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you as much as I have, my love.”
I nod.
“Do you need to do anything right now? Or can we eat? I had a long night.”
I don’t know. There was nothing in the elders’ teachings about what to do with a broken altar.
“Let me check.”
I look over the stone altars. Each broke into two parts relatively neatly, all things considered. If someone were in a hurry, they wouldn’t even see the cracks. I look for any graffiti or filth that might have come from a vandal. “Doesn’t look like they’ve been desecrated, Hanun.”
“So I was right about the gods?”
I look at him and he gets the point.
“Sorry.”
“This is serious.”
“I know. Do you have to do anything?”
“Nothing special. I’ll just do the morning rites.” I pour out a water offering at each altar.
“Akkun, we thank you for the blessings of the night and a safe waking.”
“Heja, we thank you for the bounty of spring and our birth.”
“Neiro, we thank you for the heat of life and the light that guides us.”
“Olipha, we thank you for the shade that shelters us and your cool water.”
I look at Hanun. For all his jesting earlier, he’s bowed his head as I say the prayers.
That’s why we’re lucky. The elders and our families made the right choice for us.
I take his hand and he lifts his face. “Ready to go?”
I nod.
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