Halithe stood beforethe Lady High Baroness, drenched, covered in mud, her hair in tangles, filled with leaves and twigs, clutching her torn tunic together.
Yfin, standing beside her, wasn’t in much better shape.
The Lady High Baroness had one eyebrow arched and her mouth quirked.Halithe really hoped she was fighting the urge to laugh.It wasn’t her fault that—
“It’s not Leeda’s fault, A’mum,” Yfin blurted out before she could open her mouth.“See, we were fishing, but the eels kept stealing our bait and not taking the hooks, and then Cirda heard a honey bee and we went looking for a colony, but Graily got stung and jumped in the river and Moreta said to put mud on it, and he threw mud at her and well, that started it, and well…” He shrugged and wiped more mud off his face.
“I see,” the Lady said.To Halithe’s relief, there was laughter in her voice.“Did the others head off to their homes?”
“Yes’m,” Yfin said with a grin.
“Well, you’d best go get cleaned up.I’ll see to Leeda.You’ve time before supper.”
“Yes, ma’am.”Yfin bobbed his head and raced off.
“Come, Leeda,” the Lady said and gestured for her to follow.“Take off those shoes and set them to dry by the hearth.I’ll show you where you can wash up and where you will be sleeping.”
Halithe hastened to obey, leaving shoes and socks by the kitchen hearth.“My tunic tore,” she admitted.
“Nothing that can’t be mended, by you, of course.”The Lady smiled and led the way, out a door and down a corridor to back stairs.
Halithe followed.“I’m not very good with fine needlework.”
“Embroidery, you mean?”The Lady shook her head.“I don’t understand the Xyian obsession for stitching flowers on everything.You can probably sew a seam well enough.Come along.”
At the top of the stairs, the Lady turned right, walked down another hall, opened a door, and stepped in.
Halithe followed, into a wide room, with bed, desk, and chair, and a shuttered window.Halithe’s saddlebags and pack were on the floor by the bed.
“This should serve, yes?”The Lady went to the window and opened the shutters, revealing a view of the fields beyond.“The bathing chambers are down the hall.The cisterns are full and the water sun-warmed.Your Aramal thinks he can fix the heating system, but I have my doubts.”
“Like what they have in the Palace?”Halithe asked.
“Supposedly.”The Lady opened a clothes press.“Here are towels and soap.Mind, we have no servants, so clean up after yourself and if you don’t know how, just ask.”She frowned at Halithe’s small bags.“You’ll need more tunics and trous,” she mused.“We’ve cloth enough, I think; if you haven’t the skill, you can take a turn at the dishes instead.Rosalind is quite good at sewing, probably from working on tapestries, and would be willing to trade duties.”She gave Halithe a kind look.“You had fun, this afternoon?”
Halithe grinned.“Oh, Lady, I’d never fished before, and it’s hard and worms are disgusting.The others teased me, and then each other, ’cause no one caught anything, and then the bees—” Halithe took a breath as the Lady’s smile grew wider.
“We tried to chasebees,” Halithe exclaimed in a rush, trying to explain the craziness of that idea, and now the Lady did laugh, a warm and happy sound, with no mockery.
“Get cleaned up and come down for supper.”The Lady said, heading out the door.“This is the women’s hall, just you and Rosalind have rooms here, so you will have privacy.”She cast a look back before closing the door behind her.“We’ll see to the tunic after you have washed and dried it.”
The door closed and Halithe blinked in shock.
It had a bolt.
The door, it had a bolt.She could close out the world, be private, for the first time in her life.
She took a deep breath.She was worn out and tired from laughing and running and her face hurt from smiling so very much.She had bruises and scrapes, and she was pretty sure she had mud where mud had no place being.
It was all so very good.
Something squelched in her breastband—her keepsake—and for a moment she feared she had lost it in the fun.But it was there, wet but safe.She took care to wrap the hair in a fresh, dry cloth and set it aside, as well as the spoon in her pocket.They’d be safe in her pack.
Her skin itched from the drying mud and suddenly warm water sounded like the perfect thing.She dug out fresh clothes and took towels and soap and headed out.Best not to be late for food!
She returned to her room after supper, her head filled with plans for the next day.There were chores, certainly, but also lessons with Ritathan, and with the Lord High Baron, and Captain Roth.And none of it involved manners or deportment.She was to learn history, and magic, and how to protect herself, and help with the babes and the meals, and it all sounded so different, and so wonderful.
She was clean and warm and fed and her bed looked so comfortable.The moon was rising, soft light streaming through the window.
