For a Year (A Greatest Thief Novella)

Months - Part Two

My lie about feeling unwell the evening before meant that Tandrin didn't believe me when I said it the next morning, but it was true. I woke with a pounding head and a sore throat. I hadn't drunk nearly enough wine to explain how I was feeling. When I didn't come out of the room at a reasonable time, Cail tentatively called through and pushed open the door. He had clearly been warned about my bad temper by Zoyen.

But I must have looked sick. When Cail came closer and saw me, he said simply, "I'll get a physician," and left.

Tandrin burst in not long afterwards, already talking. "I can't believe you would try to get away with this. You can't just avoid the prin— oh." His righteous indignation disappeared when he saw me. "You actually are sick."

I said the first words I had that morning. "You thought I lied?"

Tandrin settled down on the edge of my bed. "I know you don't show it as outwardly as I do, but we Tandrans can be a dramatic lot." He gently held the back of his fingers against my forehead and sighed. "You feel hot."

When the physician arrived, Tandrin shuffled out of the way. After asking me questions and prodding me, the physician opened his box of medicines. I watched warily as he mixed a few different liquids and finely ground herbs into a bottle, which he pressed into my hand and told me to drink. It smelled strange, but I knew better than to argue with a physician. Obediently, I swallowed every drop. The physician said I had to rest and he would return to check on me in the afternoon.

It only took a few days for me to feel better, but the physician, being overly cautious, insisted I stay in my room. A week later, when he finally agreed that I was well enough to leave, he suggested I visit the church to thank the Goddess for my speedy recovery.

It hadn't felt like a speedy recovery, but with little else to fill my time with I agreed. That afternoon I took Daene with me and we rode into the upper city. I had visited the church multiple times over my four years at the Order, when there were special celebrations. I hadn't visited it much on my own time. Plenty of other students had, but something about the church had always felt off to me.

In West Draulin, we had two large cathedrals and countless smaller churches. One cathedral sat in the fortress, and the Tandran catacombs were beneath it. The second cathedral was not far from the fortress, but it was outside and frequented by the richer citizens of the city. Zianna's church was different, because it wasn't really a church.

West Draulin was a Teltish city from the start. Zianna was a crowded Zian walled city. When our ancestors took it, there had been no room to build an enormous cathedral. So instead, King Edarius I had decided to convert the Zian temple. The idea never sat quite right with me.

Daene looked equal parts uneasy and awed as we tied our horses outside. I had never seen another Zian temple, but my understanding was that this one was fairly typical. It was a rectangular building. To get inside, we climbed steps onto a wide porch that was surrounded by thick stone columns. I knew at one point in time there had been decoration on the outer walls, but it had been chipped away and the stones ground until they were smooth again.

The doorway opened into one large room. Along the walls, hanging tapestries covered the niches that had once held statues of the lesser of the Zian deities. Windows that had probably just been open to the air how held intricate stained glass. At the end of the room, where larger statues to the main Zian gods had once stood, there was a huge painting of our Goddess—dressed in white as she always was. A stone podium had been built on the dais where the statues would have stood.

A few people sat on the wooden benches, quietly praying. Daene left me to go light a dedication candle. I slipped onto one of the unoccupied benches. I wasn't good at praying. It always seemed like it had to be done too formally for it to feel natural. Still, I whispered a few of the traditional verses, as I was supposed to, before starting my actual prayer.