“Sounds reasonable,” Costin said with a wink.
The sound of Titus yelling caught their attention. They turned and saw him walking next to Jen.
“Aunt Jen! My name is Titus.”
“How do you know your name is Titus?” Jen challenged. “Your mom and dad could just be calling you that and your real name could be Toledo.”
“Why would my name be Toledo?” Titus asked.
“Duh, because you’re destined to be a traveling preacher who will become known as Holy Toledo.”
“Really?” Titus asked, his eyes growing wide.
Jen ruffled his hair. “No, not really. You just learned your first valuable life lesson. If it sounds like nonsense, then it probably is nonsense. There’s no hidden meaning or valuable truth. It’s just nonsense.”
Sally groaned. “She’s going to give him a complex.”
Costin held up his hand. “Wait for it.”
“Aunt Jen, I learned another life lesson too.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that, Mitis?”
He sighed and shook his head at her. “You speak an awful lot of nonsense.”
Costin laughed. “That’s my boy.”
“Okay,” Sally said, smiling. “Maybe he’ll give Jen a complex.”
Jen trippedover the fifth log of the day and cursed under her breath. “Why the crap couldn’t we ride horses?” she asked no one in particular.
Peri flashed into being right beside Jen, causing her to jump. “Dammit, Peri.”
Peri chuckled and then answered Jen’s question. “Because, while I can cloak our group, cloaking animal droppings isn’t really my thing,”
“A few horse droppings wouldn’t be a big deal,” Jen whined.
“There are a hundred and fifty people on this trek right now. Were you planning on giving them each a horse? Because that would be more than a few horse droppings.”
“Ha! Absolutely not. I just mean me. Why couldn’tItake a horse? And Thia. Thia would need one.” Jen frowned at the look Peri was giving her. “What?” She huffed.
“Why would your one-year-old need her own horse? Why couldn’t she just share with you?” Peri asked.
“Have you shared a horse with that little saddle hog?” Jen asked.
“Have you?” Peri challenged.
“Well, no, but I know her, and she, without a doubt, would be a saddle hog. I mean, when she curls up to sleep, she wraps that blanket around herself without any thought to whether her stuffed wolf is warm. Just leaves him to freeze in her crib.” Jen sighed. “It’s sad really. I thought I raised her better than that.”
“Speaking of your horribly selfish child, where is she?” Peri asked.
“Zara’s carrying her. She looked like she needed a pick-me-up.”
Peri’s brow rose. “And you thought letting her watch your blanket-hogging selfish child would be a pick-me-up?”
“Hey, I never said she was selfish. A little single-minded when it comes to meeting her own needs, yes. But she is a very fun child.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better, Jen.” Peri sighed. “I’ve got to talk to Rachel. Try not to break anything while tripping over the logs. I don’t have time to mend bones.”
