The box that was the carriage shook wildly when Sal awoke. She held on the carriage like an anchor as it rocked back and forth and sped through the road. Sal caught glimpses of of the woman towered over her like a tree. She was a tall, thin figure whose swaying braid looked like branches of a tree. Sal knew she should know better than trust the cheery smiley words of hers. 

“As long as you help me find what I will tell you, I will keep your secret. I will not speak a peep about your relation to the Signor Cuorre.”

 Sal paused for quite some time, gathering her whole breath. “No?”

 “Look, it is easy to rat you out. Look at you! Fair skin that has never touched housework and long hair. Everything screams Mercantile. Besides, not even the caretakers can read like you do”

The rough calluses in the woman’s hands. The ashy tan of the children’s faces and the careless abandon in their accents. The eyes that to her look a lot different from the dainty eyes of the princesses and ladies in fairy tales

Sal glanced at the letter on the table. And these people cannot read as good as she was? 

“Only you can read the letter. “

She felt herself like a prince chosen to lead the armies to defeat a villain, but this braided woman is a troll

“You lied earlier.”

 “Well, yes but” 

“Lies?”

 The woman put her hands on her waist “Look, I’ll explain things, see if I’m lying. It is hard to lie with a longer story and don’t have the patience to think up long stories like these. “She then dragged the chair and sat in front of her. “The sender of this letter is my brother. My brother, you hear? He was here in the city for quite some time and I need to meet the people who knew him. He left a heirloom which I must bring back.”

 Sal inched a foot out of the door, what was that woman saying? 

“The Signor Cuorre!” 

Sal snapped the door closed at the woman’s shout. 

“As I was saying, the Signor Cuorre was the man my brother was working for. As the Signor is out of the picture, I was hoping you can help me read this letter out to someone who might know my brother. See? You come with me. We meet the other person who might know my brother, see if he knew about the heirloom. If not, we ask him for other people who might. Is that clear?”

“It sounds like the plot of the adventure story I read.”

When the woman approached with heavy steps, Sal held on for dear life until her cheeks were squished by this tall, waifish woman in front of her

The woman closed her eyes for a while and held a deep, breath. “You’re stupid, but I need you

She slumped back onto the chair and flung 

Sal kept on her seat, despite the discomfort of being in the same space as the woman who just invaded her cheeks for no reason. It was more discomfitting to see the woman sitting still and quiet. The woman was cradling the letter to her chest like a baby. And somehow, Sal knew that although she was scared at the mention of the Signor, the idea of a Signor through the eyes of a different person intrigued and scared her.

“Business. No names.” Sal said.

Lea looked at her in confusion.

 “It was talking about business.And something about the North.” Sal reiterated. Perhaps she would not need to be by this woman’s side to venture outside. 

“So that was it. I’d expect your help then.” 

Sal took a deep breath, thinking what she might say might be rude or impolite, but she did anyway. “Can’t your brother bring the heirloom herself?” 

There was quite a moment of silence. The woman then began to laugh hoarsely. “If his ashes could answer, maybe I would have tried.” 

Sal froze in her seat, repeating the statement in her mind. Suddenly, her tongue rolled to the back of her mouth. She tried to imagine the idea in her head. Brothers and fathers and princesses would be dead in a story, in a fairy tale, but they never died in real life until now. Sal curled the mattress unto herself. 

“ I’m not angry at you. After all, whether the Signor Cuorre had my brother killed or not, it changes nothing. It does not matter anymore.” 

Sal remained face down, wrapped in the blanket, kneeling .