by Dana Davis
Servants bustled this way and that, nodding greetings to him as they passed. Most younglings were at midday meal but a few had finished and milled around the area. Several kin sat near the lake, practicing on flutes, drums and other instruments, an old traveler’s tune. A group of new-oathed sat nearby and sang. Xiath smiled despite several missed notes.
He caught one of the runners and handed over the note for the laundry mistress. Then he spotted Haranda at a table with Wren, his bedfriend of many seasons, and headed that direction.
“Afternoon, ladies,” he said with a slight tilt of his head. The two women responded in kind and offered him a seat. “Thank you but my half-eaten meal still waits for me.” He caressed Wren’s fingers briefly. Private affection around younglings wasn’t permissible, but most Gypsies learned to touch in friendship and kinship and practiced that closeness each day.
Haranda cocked her head and squinted up at him. “Nym?”
“How did you ever guess?” He chuckled.
“Does he still hate bathing?”
“More than laundry duties.”
The three laughed, and Wren twisted her head at the sound of squeals from one of the girls’ tables.
Haranda had been one of Xiath’s brightest students many decades ago and he was proud of her accomplishments. He told her Nym’s recent vision and the boy’s worry about Adelsik’s punishment.
“Oh, Xiath.” Haranda sighed. “Those younglings are a handful. Why didn’t you give me more warning before I took on this work?”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Now, that wouldn’t be fair to the other Gypsies, Haranda. Besides, it pleases us older folk to watch you lot struggle with Gypsy-children. Makes up for all the trouble you gave us. Almost.” He smiled.
Wren laughed. “Yes, except that we’re still teaching classes. And you’re a father all over again.”
Haranda chuckled and patted Xiath’s hand. Hers looked small in comparison. “You taught me well, Xiath. I’m certain I didn’t give you that much trouble.”
“You were a handful, Gypsy Haranda Banwidden,” Wren told her. “The best always are.” The younger woman beamed at the compliment.
Several squeals and then screams came from one of the girls’ tables and Wren stood. “I’ll go. Looks like that little treewalker is getting amusement with stick bugs again. Excuse me.”
Xiath bowed slightly toward his bedfriend and offered a sly wink to get the smile he always sought. Wren didn’t disappoint him and he longed to get her in bed tonight. She had promised a visit to his cabin. He pushed those thoughts away and focused on Haranda again. “Eletha is quite an unusual girl.” In fact, several of Haranda’s younglings came from interesting root families.
“That one has improved since we arrived here. She loves the trees, obviously. But the trip here—” Haranda shook her head. “I’m certain I would’ve had a permanent headache had we not arrived when we did.” She chuckled.
“You’ve done well with them, Haranda. There’s a lot of work still to do.”
She gave a wistful sigh. “Yes, I know. I only wish I had the patience of the Goddess.”
He patted her hand and nodded his understanding. “Don’t we all. Until later.” He headed toward his clan, where three of his younger boys were pelting rolls at each other. Suddenly, two others engaged in fisticuffs and a crowd gathered to watch. Xiath quickened his steps, along with the other fathers.
Great Goddess! Younglings will be the death of me, yet!
Chapter 27
Adelsik jerked awake when something pressed down on her chest. She started to fight the shadowy person that pinned her to the bed, when her ears rang with a sharp slap across her face and she cried out.
“Stay out of my dreams.” Cass. The woman gave another slap. Adelsik brought her leg up, trying to force the woman off but she was too strong. “You hear me, girl?” Cass flipped her onto her stomach and proceeded to pummel her backside like a child.
Adelsik slapped and kicked but the woman sat on her and held her arms still. Where were Maesa and Henny? Why didn’t someone help?
She looked toward Maesa’s bed. The sharp-eyed girl was tied to it, a scarf stuffed into her mouth. Henny must be restrained too. “Get off me, Cass!”
“Shut it!” Adelsik found her face shoved into her pillow.
She couldn’t breathe until she finally managed to turn her head again. Her nightdress provided little protection against the raining blows. She tried to get away but the woman smacked her mercilessly. Suddenly, the weight was gone and she struggled off the bed. Haranda, Wren and Predula stood in dim light the cabin. Haranda focused on Cass, while the other two Gypsies untied Maesa and Henny. Cass stood stiffly, eyes unfocused, in the grasp of Haranda’s urging Energy.
Adelsik rubbed her sore hide and wiped her wet face on the sleeve of her nightdress. Her backside and legs felt bruised and her cheek burned where Cass had slapped her.
“You all right, youngling?” Wren’s white braids hung freely behind each ear now, no longer looped.
“She hit me, Mother Wren.” The shocked rang clear in her voice.
Cassbet Legrange stayed to herself mostly and grumbled on occasion. She was bawdy but never violent. Until now. And how did she find out that Adelsik walked in her dreams? Cass never saw her. Never. Since they’d found out it was Cass who’d been sending the childhood nightmares, Adelsik had kept that information to herself. Only a couple of younglings, those training in mind-healing, knew. But the mothers ordered them all to keep quiet.
“I know, youngling.” Wren turned to Predula. “Adelsik will need healing.”
The short, disheveled mother nodded. “The others are fine. Just rattled a bit.”
“Adelsik?”
“Yes, Mother Wren?” Her eyes moved back to Cass. Calmly, she walked to her immobile clan sister and gave her a swift slap across the face. The woman grunted but stood still, eyes burning.
“That’s enough, youngling.” Wren yanked on Adelsik’s arm. “You let us take care of her.”
“Yes, Mother Wren.”
“Now, why did Cass attack you?”
“She told me to stay out of her dreams. I didn’t reveal myself, I swear it. I don’t know how she found out I was there. She can’t see me in the Netherworld.” She started to say that Cass couldn’t see her footprint but the others didn’t know about those Netherworld secrets. Cass wasn’t a slumberer. “Anyway, I wasn’t slumbering tonight. How did she find out?”
Maesa squeaked and all but Cass turned to her.
“What did you do, youngling?” Wren backed Maesa against Henny’s bed. “Were you trying to mind-heal without my assistance?” Maesa’s sharp eyes widened. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. “Answer me.” Wren shook her.
“No, Mother Wren. I didn’t use the Energy. Honest. I just tried to talk to her. See if she would tell me anything. I just talked, that’s all.”
“That was stupid, youngling.” Wren shook her again and she started to cry. “I’ll take care of this one, Haranda. You see to Cass.”
“Yes, Wren.”
Predula turned to Henny and Adelsik. “You two wait outside. Away from the cottages. I’ll see to you in a bit.”
Adelsik grabbed Henny’s arm and the two fled. They didn’t stop running until they were in the village circle. No one else was outside but the guards. The fire pits sat cold but the full moon gave off enough shadowy light to see everything nearby. The light rain had stopped for the night and the wet ground was cold against Adelsik’s bare feet.
A guard walked up but saw Predula near the cottages and continued on his watch.
“I couldn’t help you, Adelsik,” Henny said in a low voice. “She shoved that scarf in my mouth and tied my hands before I realized what was happening. She’s so strong.”
Her younger clan sister was weeping and she pulled her close. “I know, Henny. Thank you. Cass is strong. I couldn’t even push her off me. I still hurt.” She pursed her lips a heartbeat. “I would like to
thrash her. Maesa too.”
Henny pulled away and wiped her face on her sleeve. “Take no offense, Adelsik, but the mothers will punish them much better than you could.”
Adelsik fought a shiver at her own experience with Haranda’s sparking blanket. She had been surrounded by that painful blue light only once but she vowed never to forget. She wouldn’t learn how to do it herself until she was oathed, much to her disappointment. Especially now. “Yes, but I still want a swing at them.” She chuckled despite her bruised hide. Henny smiled and sat on one of the benches but Adelsik had no desire to join her on the hard wood. She gazed toward her cottage.
“Adelsik. What happened to Cass?”
She brought her attention back to the girl. “I’m not at liberty to say.”
Henny flicked a hand at her. “That’s all right. I think I know. Cass has nightmares. I don’t know what she dreams about, but it must be hideous for her to react the way she did. I suspect something very bad happened to her.” This girl had become so observant.
“Yes. But don’t tell anyone what you suspect.”
Henny made a cross over her lips and held her palm up. “On my honor.” Though her body was marriage age, her mind hadn’t caught up completely, and she still did childish things on occasion. “Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Other than a few bruises, Cass didn’t do me any harm.” She leaned close. “It’s meddlesome Maesa with which I’ve a crow to pluck.”
A slight chuckle pushed from Henny’s lips. “She was trying to help.”
“Perhaps. But she knows how fragile the situation is. I won’t give her any sympathy this time, Henny.” The girl looked up at her the way she did with the teachers, and Adelsik wondered what she was thinking.
There was a noise near the cottages and Predula marched toward them. “I’ll heal you once I get you to back to bed, youngling.”
“Yes, Mother Predula. Thank you. How did you know to come? Did you hear me call?” It was late enough that all the Gypsies were inside now, even if they weren’t asleep.
“We’ve been keeping an open ear for trouble.” Predula smoothed her wild hair.
The short woman was always doing that but it made no difference. Her dirt-brown hair was just unruly. Even when she put it up, stray frizzes framed her face. And her bodice always seemed to be hanging to one side or the other just slightly. Even her nightdress seemed an ill fit, quite a contrast to her expectations of others. The only time she seemed put together was in front of the Vedi.
“I don’t understand, Mother Predula.”
“We knew you and Cass would get into a scuffle. Eventually.”
That angered her and she stiffened as she gazed down on the short mother. Thad’s visions? Or Nym’s? “You knew and you didn’t warn me?”
Predula planted her hands went to her hips as she gazed up at Adelsik. “Guard your tone, youngling. And keep your voice down. For all we knew, you could have been the one to start the fight.” She stood only as tall as Adelsik’s chin but the woman was a Gypsy. Size had no bearing on how much Energy a person could wield. And her eyes were as intrusive as Haranda’s, even in the moonlight.
“My apologies, Mother Predula. I’m upset.”
“I know. Apology accepted.” She turned to the cottage. The door stood open now. “Haranda’s finished. Let’s get you healed.”
Adelsik hooked an arm in Henny’s and the two followed the small mother back to the cottage. Cass passed them with head down and Haranda on her heels. The clan sister didn’t even look up. Then a crying woman came toward them. Maesa. Wren had her by one arm and hustled her inside just ahead of Adelsik and the others.
“You get yourself to bed, youngling.” The white-haired Gypsy waggled a finger at Maesa. “And you had better show up at my cottage before morning meal.”
“Yes, Mother Wren.” Maesa sobbed as she stood on the grass mat and washed her feet. When Wren left, she threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into the pillow.
Adelsik had no sympathy for her. Maesa had messed everything up. She hoped the girl got an entire moon cycle of laundry duty. Or better, in the stables or the privies. Cass knew Adelsik was coming into her dreams and might never trust her now. She wanted to curse, something she never would have done before coming here, but held her tongue with Predula in the room. The small Gypsy was very old-fashioned in that way. Even the Elders didn’t curse around her very often. Adelsik and Henny washed their feet just inside the door, followed by Predula.
“You get to bed, Henny,” the short mother said in a soft tone. “I’ll take care of Adelsik.”
Henny nodded and crawled under her covers. Adelsik climbed into bed and turned to her side, while Predula sat on the edge of the straw mattress. She placed one hand on Adelsik’s forehead and the other on her neck. Very similar to the way Thad healed, except he always found the blood in the wrist. Feeling the blood was important. Adelsik had learned that much about body-healing, though she didn’t have that aspect of the Energy and probably never would.
“Don’t fret, youngling. You’re not in trouble.”
“It’s not that, Mother Predula. I’m afraid Cass won’t trust me now. How am I to help her?” Despite Cass’s bawdiness and low birth status in the mundane world, Adelsik was determined to do her job as a Gypsy. Regardless of their differences, Cass was her clan sister and she needed help. Funny she should think that way after the woman had attacked her.
“You let your clan mother worry about that. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”
“It still upsets me.”
Of course she was angry with Cass, but the woman’s root father had abused her. A connection, one that Adelsik wanted to ignore in the mundane world, had been created between Cass and her, and she still felt a need to rid the woman of the awful nightmares. Maesa was another problem. That one, she would gladly pummel, despite her upbringing. And in the woman’s dreams if she could get away with such a thing. But Maesa had slumbering Energy, however slight. Not enough to go about on her own in the Netherworld but possibly enough to discover Adelsik if she did such a foolish thing. Though they were good friends as well as clan sisters, Adelsik felt betrayed. A knot formed in her stomach and she fought tears.
“I know you’re concerned, youngling. But you can’t do anything tonight. You won’t slumber either. You hear me? Don’t even attempt it.”
“I won’t, Mother Predula.” No, not tonight.
The Gypsy nodded. “Relax. You know how this works.”
Soon Adelsik felt the woman’s lilac scented healing Energy surge through her. Her skin began to tingle and sleepiness welled. All attempts to stay awake failed and she drifted into a troubled sleep.
Chapter 28
Cass took her place at the table for midday meal across from Adelsik. Anger still fumed in her. If the mothers hadn’t been watching now, she would reach over the table and smack the flaxen-haired girl again. Coming into her dreams and eavesdropping. Blazes! Did the girl have no shame? She wouldn’t even have known if Maesa hadn’t opened her mouth. Cass owed that woman a debt. And these bloody youngling dresses—all the swirls of color made her eyes hurt, adding to her fury.
Zarenia took a place on Cass’s left and Taniras sat on her right.
Most of the women in her clan were civil to her, even kind. Taniras still talked to her but neither spoke of running away now. Cass still planned revenge on her father but running away wasn’t the answer. Once she took her oaths to the Goddess, she would have much more freedom among the Gypsies, and the man wouldn’t have a chance against her powers. She took a keen interest in her studies here, envisioned just what she would do to torture her root father before she killed him. She looked forward to that day with enthusiasm.
Kal had become a friend to her. Well, as close a friend as Cass would allow. She felt no malice in the girl, or in any others here, but she couldn’t afford anyone learning too much about her. Trust simply didn’t come easily. Kal had been quiet when s
he first arrived but talked quite a bit in private to Cass, even though they weren’t cottage mates. The tall girl with the braid-wrapped head made her laugh too. Kal hated dresses and constantly stitched her skirts together between her legs, much to the Gypsies’ dismay. She even took punishments for it. Younglings didn’t choose their clothing until they were oathed. And all youngling females wore dresses that revealed much of their bare calves, just as the male younglings’ shorter breeches exposed theirs. Elder-Mother Siri seemed to amuse the listener for some reason. Cass couldn’t imagine anyone antagonizing the large Gypsy on purpose but Kal had taken that chance, on several occasions.
There was Zarenia Va’pash too, who occasionally talked with Cass and Kal. The girl held herself like a queen, or at least a noblewoman, and Cass wondered just how much gold her root father had left behind. The man had been wealthy—she’d learned that much—and a swamp witch had trained Zarenia in the Energy, but Gypsies didn’t speak in great detail of their root families. This was their home and these people their kin now.
Adelsik was a different matter. Cass wanted to thrash her again for spying. The girl’s meddlesome nature brought up the life Cass simply longed to forget, and she kicked the girl under the table, daring her to call out to the mothers.
“Ow.” Adelsik clenched her rounded jaw. Large, brown eyes widened then narrowed. “Don’t do that again, Cassbet.”
She bristled at the use of that name. “Oh, certainly not, eavesdropper Adelsik. You probably knew I was going to do it in the first place, since you’ve been spying on me in my dreams.” The girl might soften men with her innocent looks but Cass wasn’t impressed. The other women at the table watched the exchange but she kept her focus on Adelsik.
