The Orphan of Saint Olette

Thirteen

"I didn't mean to disturb you," she said, sitting herself down on a bundle of hay near her half asleep friend. "I just couldn't put up with those two any more."

"They seem friendly enough," Rin said, propping himself up on his elbows and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"They keep talking about marriage, and asking if you're an eligible bachelor. I think they're devils in disguise," Aoife joked, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Rin, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Rin sat up properly then. He'd known something like this was coming, but he hadn't expected it to be so soon. He wasn't entirely sure what it was even going to be about, either. Had she finished grieving? No, of course not. It would be stupid to assume she'd be over something like that so quickly. Had she seen something else? Did she know who it was?

"Rin, I spoke to Lord Trowbridge before... before it..." She stopped, tears threatening to bubble forward again, and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself. "He told me you'd left for Olmaea. That was in the morning, and by all accounts you should have been all the way to Northfair by the time I got back to the Cathedral."

"Aoife, whatever you're thinking—"

"Why were you there, Rin?"

The question was pointed, and though she couldn't quite look Rin in the eye, the accusation was ripe. It didn't need saying out loud, they both knew the conclusion she'd reached. Frankly, it was insulting. That she could assume he'd murder all those people? That she could assume he'd murder anyone? But Rin knew he needed to be patient. He had a lot of explaining to do, after all. He just had to hope she was willing to hear him out.

"I can explain everything, Aoife, I promise."

"Why were you there?" she repeated, managing to look him in the eye that time.

"I was looking for you. Please, let me talk," he said, seeing Aoife's mouth open to interject him. "I asked my grandfather about that book, about the possibility of there being a missing page, and he said it was possible and that he thought he knew where it might be."

"What does this have to do with the Cathedral, Rin? What does this have to do withanything?" she asked, exasperated.

"He told me that he thought he'd seen something like it at Lord Trowbridge's estate last time he visited. He said he was very cagey about it, and wouldn't let him see it, but he thought he saw the same wolf that was on the cover." He could see the interest in Aoife's eyes mixed in with impatience. "I thought maybe I could sneak in there and try to find it, but I needed an alibi. So Grandad and I made a big fuss about me leaving for Olmaea, and I snuck in."

"You expect me to believe you just snuck into a Lord's estate?" Aoife asked, brows raised.

"They know me there, sort of. I do repairs on his wife's needlework sometimes—don't ask—so I pretended I was there to take a look at something, and I raided his study, and—" He hadn't wanted to unveil it in the middle of the night in a stuffy old barn, but if push came to shove he supposed it would have to do. He reached for his waistcoat, which he'd discarded somewhat carelessly, and pulled a folded sheet of paper from the pocket. He hadn't wanted to fold it, considering how old it was, but he'd needed to make a quick and inconspicuous exit and hiding it in his waistcoat had been the only option.

Aoife was silent as he handed the page to her. "You promise what happened at the Cathedral was nothing to do with you?" she asked, earning a nod in response. "Have you read this?"

Rin shook his head. "I wanted you to see it first."

Aoife laughed quietly in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he'd found it. She couldn't believe it even existed, whatever it was. And knowing that he'd waited all this time to show it to her, when he'd wanted to see it more than anyone else? It made her feel bad for doubting him, and for accusing him. She rose from where she was seated, settling herself a little closer to Rin, holding the page delicately in her hand, fingers shaking ever so slightly, though whether it was with nerves or excitement she wasn't sure.

With a sharp intake of breath, the girl unfolded the page, seeing the wolf etched behind the script almost identical to the drawing they had seen on the cover. They only had the light of the moon to read by—the miller had permitted Rin to keep a lantern lit for the night, but Rin had decided an open flame near so much combustible material seemed too much like tempting fate—but they made do, the words before them spinning a tale of Wolf and Man. Rin didn't recognise it, given that he hadn't studied scripture, but the orphan would recognise it anywhere. Details had been changed, such as the inclusion of an animal in place of a woman, and the war claimed to be between the two instead of the common people and the wildsmen, but for the most part it was the first story of the Holy Book. The story of how the world came to be, and what part the Maker played in it all.

The Maker in this version of events scared her, quite honestly. She knew she had her doubts that He truly cared, and whether He was really watching over them, but she had never pictured Him capable of such malice. Rin, on the other hand, was simply trying to understand how a human could copulate with a wolf. He had read books on mating patterns and the laws of nature and, aside from bestiality being cause for execution by the church, he didn't see how it could physically be possible. Man and the apes he had read about in the East, perhaps that would be plausible, but something as different as a wolf? It had to be a farce, surely.

The two spent the rest of the night in silence after that, both lost in their thoughts until exhaustion caught up with the both of them again.