“Nervous, more like.”
Nervous was an understatement. Anxiety tensed her stomach, and had been doing so all day. Melody had picked at her dinner, unable to summon up any appetite, no matter how much Sophie teased her. The rain and wind had died down, but the air was still icy, the ground muddy and spongy under their feet.
She’d chosen a plain, dark blue gown to wear today, simple and unobtrusive, and Kat wore her usual green healer’s dress with the hem lifted up as usual. Melody found herself wishing thatherhem could be lifted up in such a way as they trudged through muddy puddles and twigs caught at her skirts.
A handful of guards followed them, talking in low voices and barreling carelessly through the trees. Melody didn’t know any of them, but Kat seemed to know them all by name, so that was reassuring. They were armed, but nobody seemed tense or alert.
They aren’t expecting trouble.
Overhead, stars were beginning to appear, glittering one by one into view. The trees obscured most of the night sky, but tendrils of moonlight were now glimmering through the branches, offering a little light to supplement the lantern Kat held.
They had left the wide, paved road about ten minutes ago, and now their path was a narrow dirt track, knobbed with roots and stones sticking out of the soil.
“If we were goin’ to the village proper, we’d take the paved road,” Kat explained. “But the festival is always held in a large clearin’ about half a mile from the middle of town. It’s quicker to cut through this way.”
“I see. It’s very dark.”
“Aye, but that means the lights will only look more beautiful.”
“Lights?”
Kat looped an arm through Melody’s grinning. “Aye, ye will see.”
They walked on in silence for perhaps another ten minutes, the distant sound of chatter and laughter getting closer and closer. Quite abruptly, without any warning, they stepped out of the trees and into a wide, well-lit clearing.
It was almost like stepping into a fairy feast.
Long tables stretched across the space, mostly grassy, interspersed with bare ground where countless feet had worn away the greenery over time. Planks had been laid across the muddiest parts of the ground, providing narrow, rickety pathways.
The tables were full of food. Roast meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese, cake, and more. A few people already sat at the tables, eating and talking, but most were on their feet, mingling.
Amid the noise and chaos, nobody even noticed when Melody and Kat stepped out of the trees. A handful of musicians played at the opposite end of the clearing, with boards laid together in front of them to make a proper dance floor.
“Is that a fiddler up in the tree?” Melody whispered. “How can she even play like that?”
“I believe she thinks it makes the music drift to more ears,” Kat laughed. She turned to the soldiers, who’d followed them out of the trees, and gave a nod. “We’re here now. Ye can all mingle, if ye like. Eat, drink, have a wee dance. I’ll let ye ken when we wish to return.”
There was a murmur of acknowledgement, and the soldiers dispersed, moving off into the crowd.
Kat hooked her arm through Melody’s. “Well? Where do ye want to go first? Want to eat? Have something to drink? There’s homemade wine and cider to buy here, and I can vouch for how good it tastes. Or do ye want to dance?”
“I want to do all of it at once,” Melody laughed. A few people turned to look at her, visibly curious.
“Is that the English lady the Laird is going to marry?” a boy of about six piped up, tugging at his mother’s skirts. “She talks funny.”
The woman flushed and threw an apologetic glance at Melody.
“Wisht, Matthew! Ye cannae speak that way. Forgive me, me Lady, he… he does nae understand.”
“It’s all right,” Melody laughed. “Idospeak funny. It’s Matthew, isn’t it? Well, Matthew, back home just about everybody speaks like me, andyouwould sound unusual to them.”
The boy’s eyes got very large. “Really?”
“Oh, yes. In fact, everybody sounds strange when they venture from home. It’s entirely ordinary. There are more accents in the world than you could ever imagine.”
He considered this. “How many? Ten?”
“More.”
