Page 146 of The Tainted Cup

He leaned forward and kissed me. He smelled of leather, and oil, and the frail curls of fretvine leaves.

“This is Talagray,” he said. “Nothing is certain.”

I took him by the hand, and together we returned to the city to find what sweetness we could in the few days we had.

CHAPTER 42

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I STARED BACKWARD ATthe towers of Talagray as our carriage rumbled along, the Plains of the Path and the massive sea walls slowly retreating into the morning mist. I counted the remaining months of the wet season and grappled with the knowledge that in a mere handful of months more another season would come.

“Will it hold?” asked Ana’s voice softly.

I turned back around to her, sitting blindfolded in the seat across from me, with her hands folded pleasantly in her lap.

“Pardon, ma’am?” I said.

“Will it hold—that’s what you’re thinking, yes?” she said.

“Do you read thoughts now, ma’am?”

“Oh, no. It is the obvious thought one might have upon leaving Talagray—or coming to it. Will all those artifices and structures, built from the blood and toil of so many and planned by so many brilliant minds…will they hold in the face of what’s coming?” She cocked her head, grinning. “I wish Icouldread your thoughts, Din. Instead I’m forced to ask you stupid questions.”

“You’ve the rest of the trip to torment me, ma’am,” I said wryly. “No need to start early.”

“Mm. But I’m curious about one particular question I have for you.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’d like to ask you—what is the Empire, Din?”

I blinked as the carriage bounced along. “Ah…pardon, ma’am?”

“I’ve heard your reports, after all,” she said. “I’ve noticed many people made claims to you that the Empire was this, or that, or functioned in this way…It’s strange, isn’t it? Perhaps the existential nature of the canton provokes it. But I am curious what your conclusions are. Whatisthe Empire, Din? Can you describe it?”

“You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you, ma’am?”

“I’m still your commanding officer. I could order you to do so. But that’d be rather boring.”

I thought about it. “Well…before I came here, ma’am…”

“Yes?”

“I would have told you the Empire was might, and mass, and strength, and scale.”

“And now?”

“Now…now it feels frail, and imperfect, and improvised, and…and coincidental, ma’am. The wrong wind might blow it all apart, should it go untended.”

“Accurate. And I somewhat agree. But I have always rather thought the Empire was wrought in the image of that which it was made to fight.”

“A…a titan, ma’am?”

“Oh, yes. For the Empire is huge. Complex. Often unwieldy and slow. And in many places, weak. A massive colossus, stretching out across the cantons, one in whose shadow we all live…and yet it is prone to wounds, infections, fevers, and ill humors. But its strangest feature is that the more its citizens feel it is broken, the more broken itactually becomes.Just look at Uhad. It must be tended to, as you said. For without this tending, the Empire shall fail. Yet it’s rather tricky to tend to something from inside it, yes?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “And…what is your role in tending to this colossus, ma’am?”

“Oh, I told you, Din,” she said, smiling dreamily. “When we last rumbled down this very road. It’s themaintenancefolk who keep the Empire going. Someone, after all, must do the undignified labor tokeep the grand works of our era from tumbling down. I simply perform maintenance, in my own little way. And you have ably assisted me in that, of course.”