ZaiWin held Snow's face between his hands and tilted his head back, so he could clearly look at him.
"You're safe here. Do you believe me?"
Snow stared up at those bright-blue eyes and nodded. Which seemed to be enough to appease him.
"The places you've pointed out, they're all far away from here. It would take them many days to reach Nox."
"You … believe me?"
Snow had been caught so off guard by ZaiWin's open acceptance of what had sounded as incoherent words even to his ears, that the question escaped his mouth before he could stop himself.
"I believe you."
Snow blinked in disbelief, and then felt his cheeks heat up beneath his warm hands.
"We all believe you," VinWei declared, stepping into the small cave that had become their sleeping quarters.
ZenTar followed her inside, dragging Storm with him, who'd remained uncharacteristically silent the entire way there.
ZaiWin released Snow's face but held his hand instead, making sure he kept him by his side.
Crossing the room, ZenTar placed the map on the table that still held what was left of their breakfast.
"You say it's here, right?" he wanted to make sure, and Snow approached the table, taking a look at the map before nodding a confirmation.
"This is Tei," he told the boy, outlining the Province's borders with his finger. "To the north is Wei, VinWei's Province. To the east stands Pon in the north, and Sur to the south. And here, further east, is Nox, where we are."
Snow followed ZenTar's explanation attentively. This was the first time he ever laid eyes on a map of the Empire.
East of Nox there was only the sea.
"Here?" Snow asked, pointing a piece of land further south, surrounded by sea by all sides except one, and ZenTar showed him the border.
"This is Far. North of Far is Hao."
"And here?" Snow went on, pointing another part of the map, this time to the west.
"This is Ven."
Snow stared at the map with a pensive expression.
"Is something wrong with Far and Ven as well?" VinWei asked and the boy crooked his head to one side, his gaze becoming distant again as if he were trying to recall something.
"Not wrong. Not right, either. Just … empty. Here is much, much worse," he went on, pointing Tei again. "Here is wrong too, though it's just … dissonant," Snow tried to explain, now pointing the piece of land ZenTar had told him was called Hao.
"Dissonant?" ZenTar asked, trying to understand what he meant by that, and Snow nodded.
"Like a song. It's not like it sounds bad. But there are already some mistakes. You notice them immediately when you hear it."
"You mean Tei's song sounds bad?" ZaiWin asked and Snow's shoulders tensed as he shook his head.
"Not there. There it's no longer a song. It's … all wrong. So much so that it hurts."
"How can that be?" ZenTar muttered to himself.
VinWei stepped closer to the boy, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Are there any more places like that?" she asked and the boy shook his head.
"But the wrongness is moving here, and here."
"You mean it's spreading," ZaiWin corrected and Snow nodded.
"What about places with wrong songs, like Hao. Are there more?" VinWei insisted and Snow nodded.
"Here," Snow pointed the map again, this time on the western side.
"That's Ren," ZenTar stated.
"Here," Snow went on, and no one was surprised when his finger landed on Nox.
"And here," he finally pointed the center of the map and everyone went deadly silent. "Here is the worst place, after Tei."
"Holy shit! Isn't that Wen?" Storm finally blurted out, suddenly reminding them of her presence, and they all turned to look at the young woman. "That's Wen, right?" she insisted and ZaiWin immediately grabbed her arm, pulling her closer.
"Never, ever! say those words again!" he practically hissed and Storm immediately nodded, her dark eyes wide in surprise. She'd seen him dangerously angry several times, but he'd never used that tone of voice with her. "You understand, right? They would torture and kill you. You and everyone else in this village! You cannot repeat any of the things you saw and heard here to anyone else! Not even to Rain!"
"I-I understand."
"You're scaring the poor girl, ZaiWin," VinWei tried to appease him but his frown only deepened.
"She should be scared! There are certain things that one is better of not knowing!"
"You know you can trust me. Right?" Storm declared, placing a hand over his, that was still painfully squeezing her arm. "This is hardly the first time I've learned something I shouldn't know. And I've never said anything to a single soul."
"This is different, Storm! Those other things, even if you told them to other people, I'd be the only one to suffer the consequences! This will befall on all of you instead!"
"I get it. I won't say a word. I promise."
ZenTar sighed and placed an appeasing hand on ZaiWin's shoulder.
"She's already promised," he stated.
What else could they ask of her? Unless they were willing to kill her, there was nothing else they could do, except hope she would really keep her word.
"Why don't you let her go? I'm sure Storm has more important things to do, than to stand here listening to our talk," he added, clearly hinting that it was best if they sent her on her way, and ZaiWin finally released her, even though he was obviously having second thoughts about that.
"The old man is right," Storm declared with an obviously forced smile. "I better get going. I'll see you later," she still dared wave at ZaiWin and then quickly made her way out the door.
"We were kind of careless," VinWei sighed.
"You think?" ZenTar retorted, slamming his foot on the ground. The same air bubble from before enclosed the entire room, leaving Snow with that uncomfortable feeling of being trapped inside a transparent prison.
"Well, what's done is done," VinWei retorted, which didn't do much to ease ZenTar's annoyance.
"I told you they were coming from Tei," ZaiWin declared, ignoring the other two's exchange. "They're already crossing to Wei."
"I'm not doubting it. But I'm sure you can see how unbelievable this is. Not only Tei has a Governor, it's also the only Province to presently have two Tien'Elhar. That Nox still has its issues is nothing new to any of us. We still have four contaminated areas in the Province. Well, now three," ZenTar corrected, glancing Snow's way. "But Tei? Every time we hear the common people talk about Tei, they can't help pointing out how doubly blessed they are. And you're saying that Tei is in worse shape than Nox?"
Snow immediately nodded, even though the question hadn't been directed at him.
"They all are," he whispered and VinWei bent forward to stand at the boy's hight.
"They all are? Hao, Ren, Wen as well?"
Snow nodded.
"And here. Here is not good either," Snow added, pointing the piece of land between Nox and Wei, where Pon stood.
"But here, here and here are better," ZenTar wanted to make sure, pointing the ungoverned Provinces of Sur, Far and Ven.
Snow nodded.
"You see how that sounds, right?"
"It only means that they are doing a shitty job of governing their lands," ZaiWin sarcastically declared. "To the point that ungoverned Provinces are faring better than governed ones."
"But if Tei is in such a bad shape, aren't their Tien'Elhar supposed to get sick?" ZenTar asked, turning this time to VinWei, and she straightened her back, taking a deep breath.
"From what I've learned, assuming that their lands are infested with feimao, their Tien'Elhar should be dying, if not dead."
Snow couldn't help shudder at that.
"I read accounts of such sad events, and the Tien'Elhar start to show symptoms of sickness way before the feimao start to appear. In fact, the Tien'Elhar sickness is the first symptom that the land is not being governed as it should, and that its Governor is straying from the righteous path. Some even conjecture that the land only becomes corrupted because the Tien'Elhar get sick, as if the land and the Tien'Elhar were one and the same. And that the actual disease is a result of the suffering of the people, brought upon by a cruel and unfair government. As if the Tien'Elhar could somehow absorb the people's pain, which eventually makes them sick."
They all looked at Snow as if expecting a confirmation.
"I … wouldn't know … All I know is that the land … speaks to me," he muttered, clearly feeling intimidated by their stares.
VinWei's purplish eyes immediately came alight.
"That! Can't you tell me more about how that works?" she asked, enthusiastically placing both hands on Snow's shoulders as if to stop him from running, and Snow cringed, forcing himself to smile at that scary, voracious expression.
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What do you need spies for? when you have a Snow by your side? 😉