Lunamae (7 page)

The next day we did the same routine—going to
the cook house to request a meal and then working on the tapestry
while we waited for it to finish. There were other ladies in the
sewing room so we didn’t openly discuss what we were doing and had
done the day before. I figured I could tell my mother at night when
we were all home.

“That Gaius character,” one of the ladies,
Brynna, started. “Do you think he has a wife back in Kyrie?” Brynna
was about the same age as my brother Logan and she had always been
a helpless romantic. Unfortunately she was a little pudgier than
others so I don’t know how well she would do at attracting a man,
but she did have a pretty face that compensated for it.

“I would hope not,” another called Morwenna
said. “Poor thing.”

“Rather handsome man like that—would be such
a waste to let him die here,” a woman near Lunamae said. It looked
like that was Tegan. She was a conceited sort. I saw Lunamae’s face
turn a lighter shade of pale.

“Who said anything about dying?” I said
(loudly too, I might add). “
No one
is dying.”

“No one survives long in the dungeons either.
Dear
,” Tegan said, overly sweetly.

“That’s what you think,” I said
defiantly.

“That is what I
know
,” she retorted. I
got up, furious, and stomped out of the room, Lunamae following.
She roughly shut the door behind her.

“They won’t really die, will they?” the girl
asked me, worry conquering an otherwise complacent face.

“Not if we see to their survival,” I said
with a sigh. “It isn’t as though we can tell the maidens that.”

“I don’t like Tegan,” Lunamae said coldly. “I
wish my mother would get rid of her.” She followed me to the cook
house and we gathered the food and started our way back to the
keep.

“I need to go ask one of the servants for a
large amount of hot water. If you could follow me until I find one
…,” I said, my words trailing off as I noticed Lunamae was as well.
“Where are you going?”

“I figured that they might like something
nice to drink too. I was looking for lemongrass to add flavoring to
their water,” Lunamae said, looking around the sides of the keep.
The plant was used mainly in decoration around the village.

“You’ve kept the knowledge from your years of
following Talfrin around,” I said proudly. “Good job.”

“Yes, yes. Can you hold my plate while I
gather some?” she asked me, although not waiting for an answer
because she loaded hers on top of mine before I could speak.
“Thanks.” When she had a few strands in hand she took her plate
back and we went in the keep. Luckily there was a servant there
dusting so while they went to get hot water we went back down to
the dungeons. When we arrived, we told the guards of our business
and saw to the prisoners. As before, Marcus was served most of the
food.

“So is your father important?” Lunamae asked
him while his mouth was full. He didn’t really seem to notice that
he was still eating and replied,

“All the Dominars are important.”

“Why did you come here then? Shouldn’t you be
at home?” she questioned.

“Because, my dear girl,” Gaius interjected
while Marcus ate more. “He would like to become an ambassador
rather than a Dominar like his father. He would like to use his
status as an enabler to be more at the same level with those he is
initiating profitable conversation with.”

“Oh,” Lunamae mumbled. The servants came down
with the hot water and I told Lunamae that it would be best if we
departed for decency. She nodded and handed over the lemongrass to
Gaius who took it with appreciation. Apparently they have
lemongrass in Kyrie because he knew what it was.

We decided to continue our work on the
tapestry instead of going back to the house, so once emerging from
the depths of the keep we turned and made our way up the tower
staircase. When we arrived in the sewing room, Lunamae changed her
mind.

“I want to do something more exciting,” she
said.

“Like what?” I asked curiously.

“Oh I don’t know. Perhaps we could see what
Logan is doing or check up on Talfrin’s progress in labeling
bottles,” Lunamae answered. Talfrin had gone through his inventory
of dried herbs and was working on the sorting and labeling of them
for sale.

“You think labeling bottles is exciting?” I
laughed.

“Well no, but I don’t want to weave anymore
today,” she mumbled.

“When I was your age I didn’t want to either.
You will need to be skilled in it eventually. I suppose if you try
at least a few days a week you’ll be fine,” I said, relenting.
Lunamae smiled in satisfaction.

“So does that mean we can do something else?”
she asked.

“When is the last time we went riding?” I
inquired. She shook her head and started to run our house to get
changed. I followed her yelling,

“Running is
not
ladylike!”

We got dressed in our riding gear. We both
were wearing trousers, blouses, and riding hats. With the length of
our hair it would be too long to wear down so we pulled it up into
our hats. It also helped keep down matted or tangled hair. We went
to the stables. My father wasn’t there but I noticed him across
from us in the ironsmith’s shop making a few new tools.

“What are you two up to?” he shouted from the
forge. We walked over to where he was and watched as he worked the
billows and took some metal out of the forge with tongs and then
slammed it on the anvil and started tooling. It made more sense to
walk over than to shout back.

“We are going out for a ride,” I stated. I
looked down at myself. “Can’t you tell?”

“Be safe,” he said, worry was evident in his
voice. “How far do you plan on going?”

“Not far,” I said. “I think it would be a
good idea to collect some herbs. We will stay close to the King’s
Pass where it is safer.”

My father nodded, hammering on a piece of
metal. “That would be a sound idea. How long are you going to be
out?”

“We want to be back for the midday meal.
Lunamae is just getting restless being cooped up in the keep
working on that tapestry for Angharad,” I said. We waved goodbye
and went back to the stables. I picked a solid brown mare called
Leedaheden and Lunamae chose a gentle pony they called Schoeveo who
had a beautiful white and brown coat. I had ridden Leedaheden
before and she always took my lead well. We urged the horses out of
the village grounds and over the Humble Bridge. We made sure the
horses were equipped with packs for us to store the herbs before we
left. With all our years of learning herb lore from Talfrin we were
quite adept at recognizing beneficial plants and so in no time at
all we had collected an ample amount of herbs.

I decided to put some eventually in my herb
chest in the house and I thought it would be a good idea for
Lunamae to add to hers as well. We had given her the chest last
year for a Winter Feast gift.

We headed off for the midday meal and then
after that we decided to get the herbs prepared for proper drying.
We had our evening meal and went to bed. I wondered how many more
days would be like this. How long could my aunt keep those Kyrians
imprisoned?

In the autumn of Lunamae’s thirteenth year,
388 in the New Orindan Calendar, her mother decided that we should
all journey to the southern region of Fanarion into the capital
city of Midonia and meet the king and queen there before Lunamae
was given to another family for raising. I would miss her but that
didn’t mean I wouldn’t see her anymore. My aunt was scheming.
Lunamae was getting older and was a prime age for engagement. We
had always been in good trade relations but nothing solidified an
alliance like a marriage. Because of the issue with the Wuriven,
Angharad did not want to have her daughter marry a neighboring clan
unless she absolutely had to.

My father and mother helped with the
preparations. Logan had taken over the duties of the cordwainer as
Myrvin had some arthritic issues that couldn’t be eased by
Talfrin’s many poultices. It made me proud to see Logan making his
way in society. His work was revered and many traders coming into
the village bought his work over other clans. It seemed like all
the shoes I had seen lately had his seal.

Another bit of good news was that Logan and
the maiden Brynna were courting. She didn’t seem to mind him having
one arm and he didn’t seem to mind her having a little extra
weight. He would say it was all the more to love. Personally I
thought everyone in the village could use a little insulation for
the winter coming up. Since our summer was so mild I was worried
that we would have a terribly cold one.

I knew Lunamae was both excited and sad. She
had grown quite fond of Marcus who was now fifteen and she wouldn’t
be able to have her daily chat with him once we left. I would sit
in a corner of the dungeon and listen to them talk to each other
like old friends. I could tell that other bonds were forming.

The Kyrians were in very good health since we
had been monitoring them daily but we were worried about leaving
them for so long without help. I asked my mother to find one of the
maidens that would be trustworthy and sympathetic to make sure
their care continued. She suggested Brynna’s family. Brynna had an
apartment in the keep but she had a younger sister that was about
ten so she visited her often. In addition, they were going to be
Lunamae’s new foster family. The chief dame considered Brynna and
her family very trustworthy and knew she was capable of finishing
up the girl’s learning.

I still hadn’t found male companionship.
Because of the battle, there wasn’t really anyone in the village my
own age. I didn’t want an old man and I didn’t want a child.
Perhaps this trip to Fanarion would open up courting opportunities
for me as well. Being twenty-four I was edging out of the age of
proper childbearing.

“Have you packed everything?” I asked Lunamae
who was sitting next to me in the loft. It was early morning on the
tenth day of Aust. We decided that this would be the best time to
go because we wouldn’t have to worry about storms as much. Logan
had made us leather bags for our journey as something we could use
to pack extra things that wouldn’t be included in our traveling
chests. We were both already dressed and Lunamae decided she wanted
to also wear an apron—heaven knows why. I suspect she wanted to
engage in needlework while we traveled to make the time pass more
quickly but I thought that would be a little dangerous with all the
jerking of the horses.

Lunamae tousled her hair and drew out a
strand. “All but my comb,” she replied. “Where is that blasted
comb?” She crawled around and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“You are sitting on it.”

“Oh,” she said, plucking it from the wooden
planks.

“Would you like me to arrange your hair?” I
wondered. While the journey was going to be made with us in a
coach, it was so much easier to travel with our hair out of the
way. My mother, aunt, Lunamae, and I would be in the coach and
Father was going to be steering it. They had planned a course to
Bexweth Abbey, Harper Wood, then down south to Moir Awin where my
aunt was going to pay her respects to Chieftain Leofric’s family.
Then we would head south to Terrinia in Fanarion and then travel
through the Oycos forest. We would go west after that and enter the
city of Midonia. I expected it to take at least five days so we
made sure we had plenty of fresh clothes. I looked back at Lunamae,
who was deep in thought. “Lunamae?”

“I’m thinking about how I’d like it done. Can
you do a Felyn plait? I saw your mother a few weeks ago with one
and it was lovely. Perhaps one on each side of my head and then
connect it at the nape of my neck so it forms into one? Or you
could follow it in bands above my forehead.
That
would be
pretty.”

She handed me her comb. “Very well.” I took
the comb in hand and began untangling her hair. My mother didn’t
often do her hair in the style of her kin but it was always special
when she did.

“You’ll do mine too?” I asked Lunamae. It was
something she enjoyed doing, experimenting with different
hairstyles using me as a model.

“Yes, of course,” she replied as I tugged on
a stubborn knot.

“I think you are due for a haircut. It’s
getting unmanageable at this length,” I stated. She just huffed. I
knew she preferred her hair as long as possible but she didn’t want
to be walking on it. It would be troublesome that way. “Do you mind
if I take off a few inches?”

“I suppose,” she said mournfully. I took out
a pair of thread cutters and began working on her hair, making sure
not to take off too much.

“How much longer are you two going to be?” my
mother called from below.