I followed her out to the kitchen, where I found Birdoswyn waiting.
“Is this better?” he asked. He’d changed out of the ridiculous doublet and pretty but impractical slippers and into a far more sensible shirt and breeches and a pair of well-worn boots. His rucksack was stuffed so full that it was in danger of tipping him over backward, and his hair was still loose, but he looked more prepared for a three-day walk than he had before.
The fingers of one hand twisted nervously in the hem of his linen shirt, and I felt a stab of something like sympathy for him. I flashed him an encouraging smile and said, “Much better. And it’s a pleasant enough trip to Everend Market.”
“I’ve never even been outside of Hillstowe,” he said, “so it will be an adventure.” Then he grinned widely, and with his face wreathed in smiles he was nothing short of adorable. I wondered if maybe the princewouldbe interested in him after all.
We stood there awkwardly until I cleared my throat and said, “Thank you for your hospitality, but we should be on our way. We do have quite a long journey.”
“Of course,” Birdoswyn’s mother said. She leaned in and gave him a quick hug. “Just think, next time we see you, you’ll be marrying the prince!”
Something like doubt flitted across his features, there and gone again in a second before he squared his shoulders and said, “Of course, Mother.”
His parents both bid him farewell, and we walked through the small wooden gate at the end of the garden path, where a cluster of villagers was still watching and waiting. It wasn’t quite a crowd, but some enterprising fellow was selling roasted chestnuts all the same. I got the feeling this was the most exciting thing to happen in Hillstowe in a long time—perhaps ever. The not-quite-a-crowd parted for Birdoswyn and me to pass.
He paused as we started walking along the path out of town and cast a glance backward, and I prayed he wasn’t going to insist I fetch a carriage after all. But when I followed his gaze, I found the villagers were all smiling and waving him farewell. He waved back one last time, then fell into step beside me and we began the long walk back to Everend Market.
We’d been walking for less than an hour when I became aware that Birdoswyn was struggling to keep up. He was doing his best to hide it, but his rucksack was bouncing against his back, the leather straps creaking with every step, and when I glanced back he was a good ten feet behind me.
“Alright?” I asked him.
He wiped his sweaty brow with his sleeve. “Yes.” A valiant lie. “Will we be walking much longer before we take some rest?”
I looked back down the road we’d come. Long grass waved in the breeze between the old wheel ruts left by carts. Trees dipped their leafy branches toward the ground. “Ithink if we went back to the last bend, we’d still be able to see Hillstowe.”
Birdoswyn blinked at me. “Oh, I see. You’re saying that we still have some way to go before we can stop, is that right?”
“If you’d like to get to Everend Market before midsummer, then yes.” Midsummer next year at the pace we were making. “Your rucksack looks very heavy.”
“It’s fine.”
“And you’d be cooler if you tied your hair back.”
His jaw dropped. “I am a genteel elf. My hair might be plain brown, but I do not wear it tied back like a common laborer! I am a Cranhawc-Hazelthorn, and the Fyreham Lathian!”
“I remember,” I told him with a sigh and closed the distance between us. I could see the straps of his rucksack digging into his shoulders. “What in the goddess’s name have you packed in there?”
His fingers tightened on the straps. “Just necessities.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Show me.”
Wrinkling his nose, he eased the straps off his shoulders. His rucksack hit the ground with a heavy thump. He crouched down in front of it and unfastened the flap. When he opened it, I caught a glimpse of colorful fabric. “It’s my good clothes.”
“And what’s under your good clothes?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.
Birdoswyn’s face grew pinker as he lifted a stack of clothes out of his rucksack to reveal a book. And then he lifted the book out to reveal another book. And another. And another. By the time I could see the bottom of his pack, six very large and obviously heavy books rested on the ground. Birdoswyn looked up at me with wide, pleading eyes, as though he was afraid I wasgoing to tell him to leave his books in the middle of the road.
I stared down at him and really wished I’d asked to check his rucksack before we’d left. As I watched him, a sparrow fluttered down from a nearby tree to inspect Birdoswyn’s belongings. His face lit up with a smile, and he held his hand out to the sparrow. It hopped fearlessly into his palm. Its brown feathers were the same shade as his hair, the ends of which currently brushed the ground as he crouched.
“Pack it back up,” I said, and Birdoswyn reluctantly farewelled the little sparrow. When he was done, he rose to his feet again and reached for his pack. “No. I’ll carry it. You can take mine.”
My pack, with one change of clothes and a couple of bags of nuts, dried peas, and cheese for the journey, was a lot lighter than his.
“Thank you, Elowin!” he exclaimed, his eyes bright and his smile even brighter. “I know they’re only books, but they are my favorites!”
I gave him my rucksack and hefted his onto my back. I’d be feeling the strain in my shoulders by tonight, I was sure. “It’s alright, Sparrow.”
His eyes widened. “Sparrow?”
