Miriam had convinced Mrs. Wayteel to let her complete the midterm exam early. It hadn't been difficult, she just had to tell the truth. Then she left her 7th period as soon as she finished the physics test and spent her last hour cooking Alajan favorites. Charlie and Mat's other friends from Westwood house had agreed to let her make use of Westwood's kitchen. Key showed up as she was pulling the first batch of cherry cookies from the oven, and Ayan arrived shortly after. Miriam was glad that she had been forced to tell the other two, even if she had mostly done that to cover up her plan with Tilli. It made the preparations easier. As Miriam prepared the herbed rice and lamb, Key finished the cookies and Ayan dyed hard boiled eggs with tea. Then they carried the dishes back to Victoria House.
On their way back, they bumped into the last person she wanted to see on the final day of school--her cousin. She'd expected Jo to shout at her to watch where she was going, but instead, the older girl only jumped out of the way, a surprised look on her face.
"Hi," Miriam said warily.
"Hi." Jo paused and looked at the rice and lamb dish that Miriam held. "Is that what I think it is?"
Miriam had chosen it for its ease of cooking. She'd forgotten it was one of Jo's favorites. "Yeah." Miriam tried to sound causal--the way she spoke with Ayan, Key, Tilli, and Mat. "We're... we're having a bit of a celebration. For Messengers Day. You... can join us if you like."
Miriam offered Jo the invitation out of a sense of obligation, but secretly hoped that Jo would refuse. She got lucky. "Actually," Jo said, "I'm going to the party at Hawthorne House. I just have to get my gift for the exchange." She looked at Key. "I'm surprised you're not there."
"Kaylee and Ketu aren't," Key replied smoothly.
"Well, see you later, I guess." Jo nodded to Key. "Say hello to your brother for me."
"I... don't know how I feel about that," Ayan told the girls once they were out of earshot of Miriam's cousin.
"We don't have to say anything to him. It's not like she'll know." Miriam said, "Come on. I'm not going to let Jo ruin this holiday."
They hurried to Miriam and Ayan's room, and Key gasped audibly as they opened the door. She and Ayan had decorated the night before by hanging strips of greenery tied with leftover ribbon from Ayan's sewing kit. They had also pushed their desks together to serve as a makeshift table to put the food on. "It's so festive!"
Miriam smiled as she set the rice on the table. "I hope Tilli and Mat like it too."
"I'm sure they will." Ayan helped Miriam collect the dishes she had bought and lay them out, along with some napkins Ayan had made earlier that week, to use up some leftover fabric. Key left to find Tilli and Mat.
"Are you sure these napkins will clean easily?" Miriam asked Ayan as they laid a place for everyone. They didn't look any different from other napkins, aside from some fancy stitching at the hem.
Ayan rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Miriam. Do you think I don't know my magic patterns well enough to know to make a napkin that will clean in an instant?"
"Then why don't you do that to all your clothes? I would."
Ayan looked down at the skirt she wore. "I don't mind the dirt as much as the creases. In Antarand, dirt gives you social standing."
"Seriously? You fell asleep in the common?" They heard Tilli's voice from down the hall. "Didn't you get out of your last class like... thirty minutes ago?"
"I was tired. I was up late studying." That was Mat.
"Well, you can sleep all day on the train ride tomorrow," Key said.
"All day long." This was punctuated by a yawn. Mat's crutch thumped just outside the door. Then it swung open. Key smiled at her brother, who looked just as stunned as Tilli. Miriam's plan had worked.
"Wow." Tilli almost whispered the word as she looked around the room at the branches. "It reminds me of my grandfather's. Except for the eggs."
"You made this?" Mat said.
Miriam pointed out that Ayan and Key had helped. Tilli pulled Ayan's chair a safe distance from any bird-related food while Mat settled himself on Ayan's bed and removed his leg. Key passed him a plate of food, and then took Miriam's chair. Miriam sat on her own bed, next to her roommate.
"I've wanted to try shiyuzh since Simon Farrow told me about it," Tilli admitted, pointing to the rice dish.
Key shook her head. "Why am I not surprised that you talk about the head of Farrow Industries like he's your best friend?" Ayan stifled a laugh by stuffing a peeled egg into her mouth. Mat said something, but it wasn't quite clear, as his mouth was full of food.
"Manners!" Tilli lightly kicked at him from her chair, and then drew back as if worried he might pelt her with the egg in his hand.
Key nodded to Matsias. "Mat would know. He's quite the cook himself."
"In that case..." Ayan started listing off Pelan foods she wanted Mat to make for the next dinner, and Key gave a yelp of delight. Miriam stopped her long enough to ask what one of the dishes was.
"Baked eggs," Matsias said, and Tilli crossed her arms and the mention of yet more eggs. "You cook it alongside roasted meat, or you can cook them in the juice that's leftover. It's a winter dish, so you leave it in the oven all day, and it heats the house. But that's a different holiday."
"Not here," Ayan said slowly. She was looking at Miriam's calendar, hanging on the wall. Miriam looked at it too, expecting to see some unfamiliar holiday printed there, but there was nothing but the symbol for a full moon.
But Mat also followed her gaze, and a slow smile spread over his face. "You're right. We're in the northern hemisphere."
"Well then, do you have a scary story?"
"Of course I have a scary story." Mat proceeded to tell the story of a general from Diamondheart whose spirit wandered the Atlinthaian desert half the year and drowned in the monsoons the other half.
"Please, I can do better than that," Ayan scoffed.
"Fafabo tsu!" Mat said in the language he and Ayan shared.
So Ayan told a story about a monster that ate people's shadows, shredding them apart in the process. Mat followed with one about a canyon that called the names of people who were soon to die, and Ayan countered with one about a mountain spirit that brought food to lost travelers, but slaughtered those who found its home.
"That reminds me of a Danos story my uncle tells," Miriam said, "He says that there are spirits made of darkness that bless the towns they live in, as long as no one looks them in the eye. If someone does, they'll leave the town. Or maybe kill everyone, depending on the story."
"Wait." Key had a cookie halfway to her mouth. "Is that why you never look anyone in the eye?"
Miriam felt her face get warm and she tried to explain. "It's very rude in Alaj. Most people there think it's a curse."
Miriam slowly raised her head and met Key's eyes for just a moment before the other girl dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry," Key said, "I... thought you had no manners."
There was a lull in the conversation until Tilli said, "If we're telling scary stories, why has no one mentioned Fire Hollow? It's the most haunted place in Nefrale."
"Why are we telling scary stories at all?" Key asked.
"It's Avahetsu," Ayan said.
"It's tradition to eat sugared fruits and tell scary stories," Mat added.
"Wait, I've celebrated Messengers Day with your family. Multiple times. I've never heard of this holiday."
"That's because it's the last full moon before the winter solstice. In Ethion, Messengers Day is in the summer."
"so the calendar changes, depending on what hemisphere you're in?" Miriam had never heard of such a thing.
Matsias nodded. "That way the holidays stay seasonal, no matter where you are."
"What do you do if you live at the equator?" asked Tilli.
Matsias shrugged. "Pick one."
"How do you know so much about it?" Miriam asked Ayan.
"The winter solstice is a big holiday in Antarand--way bigger than Messengers Day. All the temples get involved. And since Avahetsu has just passed, we usually end the night at the Pelan temple."
There was a knock at the door. Tilli, who was closest, answered it to reveal Reed.
"Um... I was looking for Ayan?"
Ayan bounced up and went into the hall, closing the door behind her. No one spoke until she came back in, and Mat asked, "what was that about?"
"He's commissioning something from me," she said casually as she took her seat again. "I need something to work on over break."
Miriam didn't need her magic to sense the tension in the room. She knew Mat wasn't fond of Reed, though he hadn't talked much about it. Regardless, she didn't want her first friends fighting on their last day, so she changed the subject. She picked up a box she'd set nearby. "Before I forget, I have a gift for you all. Happy Messengers Day!"
The conversation turned to surprise as she passed out bags of Alajan candy that her uncle had sent from home. Key and Mat agreed to open one to share with everyone right away and save the other for the trip home. They passed it around, and as Mat began another scary story, Miriam tuned out the words, letting the chords of her friends' voices wash over her. They rang like a symphony of bells. She wasn't focused on truth or lies, just the music. She was sure that she was hearing notes she hadn't heard before, but she decided she could worry about what they meant later. For now, it was enough to listen to the harmonies of friendship.
The End
