Skarsh Waterscale's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

The woman waits until the forest swallows the hunter completely before she turns back to the gazebo. She gestures for Skarsh and Artur to follow. The drake circles once in the water, then settles near the boardwalk where it can watch the tree line. Inside the gazebo, the woman sits on the stone bench and pulls a folded paper from her coat pocket. She spreads the parchment flat on the stone. The golden filigree catches the light. Skarsh sees ornate script and a pressed seal, identical to what the hunter showed them. At the top, words he cannot read. But the woman traces her finger down the page and stops at a phrase written larger than the rest. She looks at Skarsh and speaks the words slowly, then draws a symbol in the air — two figures joined by a line. Marriage. The hunter holds a betrothal contract. If she cannot pay the debt in coin, the contract requires her to marry the man whose seal marks the bottom of the page. Skarsh stares at the parchment. The woman signed this. Her name sits above the seal in careful letters. Artur leans closer and asks a question. The woman answers without looking away from Skarsh. She needed money to leave a place that would not let her go. The contract offered enough, and she believed she could repay it before the deadline. But the hunter found her too soon, and the sum has grown beyond what she can gather. The contract gives her thirty days. After that, the hunter returns to collect her. The woman folds the parchment and meets Skarsh's eyes. She makes the symbol for "together" again, then points to him, to herself, to the contract. She is asking him to help her find a way to pay the debt. Not to fight the hunter. Not to run. To earn what she owes so the contract loses its power. Skarsh understands what she is not saying — she will not let him solve this with violence, and she will not disappear into the marsh to hide. She wants to face the debt on terms she chooses. He looks at the folded parchment in her hands and thinks of the carved eggshell he showed her, the history he carries that cannot be changed. Then he reaches out and touches the paper, accepting the weight of what she asks. They have thirty days to find enough coin to break a contract that was designed to be unpayable. The woman exhales and nods once. The question is answered. They will try together.