Winterfinding by Daniel Casey

the same as our contracts with your city. One
cannot simply subsume them at will. We make sure that our end of
the exchange is always upheld.”
    “ Well, while we appreciate
that, it appears that you don’t quite understand the
situation…”
    Umma cut Soren off, “That your city is under
siege by Silvincia. That doing so is not necessarily legal or, at
least, isn’t expressly illegal. That your city has no allies.”
    “ We have allies.” Qala
asserted.
    “ Oh? Whom might that be?”
Silence fell. Umma was in no rush to speak, she looked at Qala with
an expected innocence. Qala again reddened. She broke her gaze with
Umma, which then allowed Umma to turn back to Soren. “We cannot and
will not take any side in this dispute. We look upon it as an
internal matter for your lands to deal with. However, while we are
maintaining the same volume of trade as before, only now with the
Spires, we can’t help but feel we are being robbed of a
partner.”
    Umma rose from the throne slowly coming down
to the level of the Rikonese. She gestured for the two to follower
her as she meandered behind the silver throne. Soren shot Qala a
confused look as they followed behind Umma. Rava stayed where he
was pivoting as he watched the trio. When they came around there
were two high, narrow consoles. One table held a bright copper bowl
in which small cutouts were made to hold single drinking glasses.
At the center of the bowl, was a deep basin filled with a cloudy
liquid. On the other table rested a large object wrapped in grey
cloth.
    Stopping between the two consoles, Umma
turned to face Soren and Qala resting her hand on each table. “We
have surmised that this siege of Silvincia’s has caused a severe
crisis in your city.”
    Qala snorted, “Our city is a husk. Between
The Blockade and the simooms, we’re being choked to death.”
    “ The simooms?” Umma
asked.
    Soren nodded, “Yes, The Blockade coincided
with perhaps the worst drought we’ve ever experienced. I’ve not
read about anything as bad in our histories and those go back to
before the founding of The Cathedral.”
    “ We had not known.” Umma’s
voice was softer as she took in this new information. “And it has
caused huge dust storms?”
    “ The ground is poisoned.”
Qala said offhandedly. Soren gave her an annoyed look, then turned
back to Umma nodding.
    “ Our fields soured in
quick succession. The soil drying out and turning to a fine grey
dust. Some farmers tried to sow but it would just let loose a great
cloud. We tried a more refined bithumin to dampen the fields and
coax the crops but it didn’t work. Over the days, lack of rain, a
withering sun, and the winds striped the fields. Where there were
once leagues of cereal, there is now just greying
dunes.”
    “ The people?”
    “ Some tried to stay the
course.”
    “ They got a black cough,
hacking up what looks like tar.” Qala added.
    “ Yes, the simooms make it
nearly impossible to see or breathe. The dirt is in everything out
there.”
    “ So they came into the
city.” Umma surmised.
    “ It put more stress on our
stores, and soon many didn’t have enough supplies to survive. With
the fields fallow and the port cut off… Well, it’s been rather
horrid.”
    “ But you two don’t appear
to be suffering.” Umma said.
    Soren blushed and Qala looked away. “We
tried to bring as many as we could into the emergency shelters in
the hills. They were designed as a last refuge, a place our leaders
could go to.”
    “ So you’ve been hiding
from the people, keeping yourself fat and healthy.” Umma had to
test the two and her barb did just that. Again, the hotheaded Qala
shot her a fierce glare. Umma concluded that if Rava hadn’t been
present, Qala would have already tried to kill her. Soren, who had
been rather meek thus far, twisted his face and his blushing from
shame turned to a clear rage.
    “ We found all we could and
shared all we had. Many and most in our city have turned