And unlike Stellon, I wouldknowwhere Raewyn was. That was dangerous for her.
Perhaps I could find someone with memory-altering glamour to erase my experiences from this trip.
A flash of unwillingness blazed through my body. I didn’t want to lose my memories of Raewyn.
Idiot.
“Look! Puppies!” one of the girls cried, jerking me out of my hazardous thoughts.
Turi was pointing to a fox trotting across the moonlit field, followed by five kits.
“Those are red foxes,” I corrected. “About eight weeks old, I’d say.”
“Can we play with them?” the child asked, looking over at me with big, hopeful eyes.
I actually felt some regret having to tell her no.
“I’m afraid not. They’re not tame,” I explained. “At their age, the babies aren’t dangerous, but their mother is. She’d attack us if we tried to touch them. Foxes are cute, but they can be vicious when provoked.”
“I thought all Elves were vicious,” Tindra said. “But you seem tame.”
I barked a surprised laugh. It was the first time in my life someone had referred to me as “tame.”
“Tindra,” her father began to scold, but I interrupted.
“No, it’s fine, Wyll.”
To the girl, I smiled and said, “You’re right, little one. You have nothing to fear from me. I think your big sister is something of an Elf-tamer.”
Tindra laughed, and the sound was joined by the tinkling laughter of the younger girl.
“You’re funny,” she said.
“Funny,” her little sister echoed.
Now that they’d started speaking to me, it seemed as if they’d never stop. The girls peppered me with questions as their horse walked alongside mine.
“Why are you so big?” Turi asked.
“I’m a full-grown man,” I said.
I felt a shiver pass through Raewyn’s body in front of me—she must have been cold, though the night air felt pleasant to me.
Drawing the ineffective blanket from between us, I unfolded it and draped it over her shoulders.
“And Elves are larger than humans in general,” I explained to the little girl.
“Are you very, very rich?” Tindra asked.
It wasn’t something I ever talked about, but there was no harm in answering the little human.
“Yes, I suppose I am. Or at least my family is.”
“Do you live in a castle?”
“I do, yes,” I said. “In Merisola. And we have a few others scattered about that we visit occasionally. I even have one of my own, north of here not far from the Nordica border. I have my own staff there, my own private space.”
Raewyn turned back to look at me over her shoulder. “I didn’t know that.”
