Lunamae (15 page)

I assumed that I would find Lunamae at
Brynna’s house so I made my way there. The construction of the
house was similar that of my own. Well, it wasn’t my own anymore
really since I was in the apartment and it was owned by my parents.
When I entered, I found Lunamae sitting in the main living area
reading the Text of Illumination with Flurry on her lap.

“Lunamae?” I asked quietly, not wanting to
startle her. She didn’t notice me when I entered so I assumed she
was deep in concentration. At the sound of my voice she closed the
book and looked up at me.

“What is it? Shouldn’t you be at the keep
with my mother?” she asked me.

“I asked to be dismissed. The prisoners have
been set free. I thought you would want to know,” I said calmly.
Lunamae jumped out of her chair, scaring the cat. Lunamae coddled
her pet, saying she was sorry and asking for forgiveness—like the
cat would reply. She ran out of the house and darted for the keep.
Unfortunately the ground was quite saturated as it had rained the
day before so she was making an utter mess of herself.

“Not that way, and stop running!” I called
after her, breathy from the chase.

She stopped abruptly and turned to ask me,
“Where is Marcus then?”

“He’s by the bridge. For heaven’s sake, don’t
go on it in your state,” I said. There was no doubt in my mind
Lunamae would have issues crossing. The last thing I needed was for
the bridge to vanish and her to fall down into the depths.

“I’ll be fine,” she stated, head held high.
She marched towards the bridge and caught the shape of Marcus in
her view on the other side. I heard her repeating the words of
command in the Text of Illumination as she crossed. It reminded me
of when she was little; going over things she had learned to keep
her thoughts occupied. I followed her, of course, to make sure she
was safe and that her encounter remained appropriate. The rest of
the Kyrians were some distance away, on a hill about a half a
meeley away, waiting for him.

Lunamae ran over to Marcus and threw her arms
around him, a completely unexpected gesture and not proper, but I
let her do it anyway. I knew how much she cared about Marcus and
they might not ever see each other again.

“I am so glad to see you not all locked up in
that cage,” she said. She looked into his face, and I realized we
had never really seen him without the dim light of the torches in
the dungeon. He was quite good looking. He was tall, with a broad
chest. He would probably have had more musculature if he could
leave the cell, but you could tell he used to, even as a boy. He
had brown hair and hazel eyes and his hair was cut haphazardly. The
guards were afraid to give the prisoners anything more than a dull
blade which in the right hands could still be a deadly tool.

Marcus pulled from her embrace, studying her
for the first time. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her delicate
shoulders. Her blue eyes smiled at him.

“You are amazing,” he said in awe. She looked
at him, her otherwise pale face turning red in an obvious blush.
“You are.”

“Do you have to go home?” she wondered, her
eyes welling with tears. “Perhaps you could visit another clan
close by and we could visit each other. You could be a keeper of
the King’s Pass and act like a nomad. You could —”

Before she could say another word, he put his
finger to her lips, although not directly touching it. “Hush. You
know my father and the rest of Kyrie are wondering where I am. It
is my duty to report back home. He needs to know I’m alive. But I
will promise you something.”

“What would that be?” Lunamae asked, her
voice barely more than a squeak.

“I will come back to you. I don’t care if you
are married. I don’t care if you have an army of children. I don’t
care if we are at war. I will come back. If just to see your face
once more, I will come back.” Marcus took her into his arms again,
kissed her, and then left to join his people.

I looked at Lunamae, who was wiping her eyes.
“Will you be all right?” I asked her softly.

“Not if I have to marry a stranger. But …
it’s for the good of everyone in our village. So I must do as I
must. At least I know in my heart that I will see him again. I only
wish I knew when it would be,” she told me solemnly. It took a lot
of courage for her to say that.

“I need to go back to the keep,” I told her.
“Your mother might need me and I want to be there if she does.”
Lunamae nodded in understanding. I am sure she had to go back to
her studies as well, although I don’t know if anyone would have
noticed her disappearance. She had a tendency to wander around the
village quite a bit. She was a free spirit, not wanting to be fixed
in one place for too long.

I left Lunamae’s side to head back to the
keep. My feet kicked up some pebbles from the bridge and after I
crossed I had to watch my footing because some mud had developed. I
looked down at my skirts and giggled. I hadn’t looked at them in a
while since I was otherwise preoccupied. Running after Lunamae had
left them completely soiled.

I went into the keep, mindful to keep my
dress lifted so nothing would drip on the floor. I tried to be
quiet and unnoticeable going to my apartment but I couldn’t get
past Tegan.

“What in the Creator’s green earth have you
been doing?” she asked, flabbergasted at my condition. Luckily it
wasn’t actually raining or I would have looked so much worse.

“I’ve been running in the mud. What does it
look like?” I retorted smartly. She didn’t like my reply and
huffed. Tegan and I didn’t get along so well. She always acted like
she was better than everyone else—save the chief dame as that would
cause issues.

“Why do you always have to be so maddening?”
Tegan asked me, her voice arcing in anger. I took in her fiery red
hair and green eyes. Her pale freckled face was turning
scarlet.

“You should ask yourself the same question,
Miss High-and-Mighty,” I shouted back. I wasn’t going to let her
get the upper hand in the argument. She didn’t deserve it.

“One of these days, I will report you to the
chief dame. I don’t care if she’s your aunt. You need a good
whipping,” the woman snapped back. I just stood there, stunned.

I still wasn’t going to let it end with her,
so I hammered back, “I should go into the sewing room and request
that your mouth be sewn shut!” Tegan’s mouth gaped in horror and
she promptly marched off in a fury to her own apartment. I entered
mine and Brynna was there, reading a book.

“Where did you get that?” I asked, surprised
on its construction. It was smaller than any other book I had seen.
It didn’t look like the Text of Illumination either.

“There was a merchant from Pinor that had it.
He said the Kyrians were trading them. It was made with that new
printing press. They have so much more in Kyrie, but few people of
Pinor can afford it. The Kyrians are too afraid to trade here,”
Brynna explained, putting the book down. She looked me over and her
jaw dropped. “You are a mess! Don’t come any closer.” I was still
on the wooden planks of the apartment and hadn’t yet crossed onto
the rug in the room. The rug on the floor was just between two
beds—Brynna’s and mine. We had a wooden table with a pitcher of
water and bowl and towel off the doorway with a chair nearby. I had
planted myself there.

“Well
I’m
not actually dirty. It’s
only my clothes,” I said, a smile forming on my lips.

“Oh good grief, let me help you,” Brynna said
with a motherly tone in her voice. She helped me out of my muddy
vestments and wet boots and took out some fresh ones from a chest
near my bed. “We need to get your feet clean. It looks as though
some of the mud got between your stockings and the boots, though I
don’t know how it would be possible.”

“I was chasing after Lunamae,” I
explained.

She giggled and told me, “That explains a
lot.” I took off my stockings as well and deposited them nearby. I
didn’t want to track the dirt all over the room. At least we had
servants that could take them out for washing.

I sat down on the chair so Brynna could help
with the aftermath. After the stockings were off, she poured the
water from the pitcher into the bowl. I stuck my feet in and she
helped get the rest of the mud off. We’d have to figure out a way
to craftily dispose of the dirty water. Dumping it down one of the
common privies in the keep was the first thing that came to
mind.

“Are you excited for your wedding?” I asked
Brynna. She smiled heartily and nodded.

“Oh yes. We don’t intend to make a great
scene, but with your brother being the chief dame’s nephew she
demanded we have a lovely wedding in the gardens of Bexweth Abbey.
I wish the chapel was done here, but it will probably take another
few years before they finish construction. I think it’s nice that
the people of the village have been contributing their time so much
in helping with it,” Brynna told me. She helped me into the clean
clothes that were laid out on the bed.

Once I was fully dressed I inquired more,
“Have you received all the help you need in arranging it?” I
wondered. I had never seen a wedding before and it all was new and
exciting.

“I think so. Your mother and aunt both
volunteered their time to help. We have already asked Barri to
officiate. The other monks are too quiet and I’m afraid to talk to
them. They seem like they are perfectly fine being quiet and
reclusive. They don’t want us to do anything with flowers and such,
being it at the abbey. They want it simple. We have been given the
ability to have the feast afterward in their abbey so that will
help. I didn’t want to delay it and have it here. As much as I like
living in the keep, I’ve seen enough of it. All I want now is to
spend the rest of my life with Logan.”

“What will you do?” I inquired. “The only
thing you’ve known is how to be a maiden. I know you would be a
housewife, but surely you had more in mind.”

“I decided that I would sell my knits and
needlework to the merchants. For the men who have lost their wives,
they have no one to sew for them. I was thinking I could even set
up a small shop to darn socks and make clothes. You know I’m really
good at it,” Brynna answered. I agreed with her. She was quite
adept with her hands. Another reason why she was a good fit with
Logan. Although he only had one hand, he made up for it.

“I better be off to find the chief dame. I’m
sure she has more work in store for me,” I said, hopping off to the
door.

“What about any men in your life?” she asked
me. “You aren’t exactly getting younger.” I stopped in my
tracks.

“There is one. I don’t know if I’ll see him,”
I said, my mouth suddenly dry. Shivers raced up my arms and my
heart rate increased as I thought about Theron.

“What do you mean? It’s not as though the
people in the village are hiding.” Brynna giggled. I couldn’t join
in her joviality. Instead I shook my head.

“Nevermind,” I said as I walked out of the
door. I went to look for the chief dame in the keep. As I did, I
couldn’t help wondering about the last letter I had received. It
was the one where Theron said that he was interested in the
apothecary job.

Talfrin was in bad sorts. The chief dame,
knowing I was capable with herbs, told me to help him in his shop
until an apprentice or replacement was found. She had put a request
out to the neighboring clans as one of their apprentices might be
able to carry on here.

The old man could barely lift his arm to
place the bottles and leather pouches on the shelves in his store.
He would have to hand them to me and I would have to stretch
sometimes to reach, or enlist the assistance of a stool. I was glad
that it was Joyai, for summer months didn’t take their toll on him
as much. He had more energy now, but the arm didn’t want to
cooperate with him. I was helping him in the store and Eclipse was
curled up in a corner, being a good and quiet cat.

“If only you were my apprentice,” the old man
told me, handing me a pouch full of chamomile. With all the new
growth in the village it was always good to have plenty of extra to
ease the pains of childbirth.

“It could only have been in secret, but I’ve
already made my choice. I’m a maiden now. I couldn’t imagine what
my parents would think of me taking on a male role in the village,”
I said, putting the pouch made by Logan on a shelf next to the
comfrey plant, imported from Fanarion.

“Don’t you feel trapped? You always have to
be at the chief dame’s side, don’t you?” he asked me.

I nodded, “It could be worse. I’m hoping it
will help me after Lunamae gets married—to be matched up with a
suitable husband. I would like for my aunt to get to know me
better. I think if I was very serious and asked her if I could
leave the service, she might let me. I don’t want to touch that
subject unless I would absolutely have to,” The chief dame was not
as crass as she used to be. She had softened up quite a bit since
Mawth. Still, being a maiden was considered quite a high honor and
one not to be disposed of lightly.