[i]“She would say it is her honour that you give this gift, Miria messi.”[/i]

Miria could not help but smile to this, as she did any time a customer bothered to pay her a compliment. It was not the prospect of payment that made her smile, though that, of course, was welcome. Even the simplest tapestry held a part of Miria, however small—memory woven into every pattern. To compliment her work was to place value and meaning on her life, even if the kind patron was not aware of the history of each of Miria’s items. The memories woven in this particular tapestry meshed well with those of the Lady Gerun’s in Miria’s opinion, and it pleased her to know that Curdle’s late master would have enjoyed the gift.

Curdle’s reaction, however, held Miria back from doing more than smile, and just a flicker of one at that. The old jinni seemed troubled, nervous, uneasy, and she listened to his gradual explanation with growing unrest of her own as she carefully draped the proffered tapestry in front of him.

When Curdle had finally finished, she leaned forward, her gaze locked on him as though she could unmask all of his secrets and intentions with just a glance. “Just so that we’re clear,” she began slowly, her voice low as though someone in this waking dream could possibly overhear them, “your master was arranged to be buried under Renna tradition in a tomb. Instead, you burned her body, contained it in an urn, and hoped you could actually make the journey on your own all the way to Sherahd, where you intended to release her ashes in the highest point possible.”

She leaned back, contemplating the absurdity of it all. “You wouldn’t have gotten very far. Even if you managed to make it to Sherahd, I doubt you would have been able to step foot onto those cliffs. Your task seems an impossible one. But that’s why I’m here, isn’t it.”

Miria’s expression hardened, that lovely ghost of a smile gone, replaced by years of pain and caution. “Somehow, I wonder how coincidental all of this—“ she gestured around them with both hands—“is. Did you bump into me by happenstance, or did you choose me for this task? I don’t know much about Jinn tradition or why your master would pit you against such an impossible task, but if anyone finds out that I am illegally carrying the ashes of a deceased noblewoman whose jinni had gone missing, I’d suffer dire consequences. So convince me why I should help you on this task. Convince me not to wake up and immediately abandon the urn at the first convenient place.”