‘It’s enough to get your throat cut, if you’re foolish enough to show it to strangers on the road,’ Vandien growled.
Willow’s eyes grew wide, and Elyssen leaped to her feet.
‘Oh, sit down,’ Ki told them both. ‘Vandien was trying to warn you, not threaten you.’
Ki met Vandien’s eyes, read his silent comment. ‘They’d only try to buy passage with someone else if we told them no,’ she said.
His dark eyes lit. ‘I suppose,’ he agreed. He turned to Willow, who still stared at him anxiously. ‘That’s Ki’s way of saying you can ride with us.’
‘Oh, Willow!’ Elyssen sighed, while Willow began to scoop up the money and thrust it at Vandien, as if she feared he would change his mind at any instant.
‘Thank you. Oh, thank you. I promise I won’t be any trouble to you. I promise. Oh, I can’t believe I’m really going. Elyssen said I’d never get older people like you to understand how much I need to be with Kellich and how much he needs me!’
Willow looked into her sister’s face, and saw Elyssen’s dark eyes mirroring her own joy. She flung herself at her sister, hugged her wildly. ‘I’ll never forget how you helped me, Elyssen, never! And when your time comes …’
Elyssen squeezed her tight, her eyes near closed, her face between laughter and tears. Suddenly her dark eyes flew open. ‘Goat,’ breathed Elyssen.
Willow broke from her arms. She followed her sister’s stare, and a strange silence fell. Ki and Vandien exchanged glances, puzzled at the sudden dampening of the girls’ spirits. They were poised as if a wild beast threatened them.
Goat stood at the outer edge of the fire’s light. His arms were laden with something. His expression was something between delight and disbelief. He came on haltingly, as if uncertain of his footing. He glanced from face to face, searching for an answer to whatever question was in his mind.
‘Oh, Willow,’ Elyssen breathed in dismay.
‘I’ll be all right,’ Willow said in a soft, fierce voice. ‘I told you I would. I know how to take care of myself, Elyssen.’
‘Be careful anyway!’ Elyssen whispered. She stood, saying hastily, ‘Well, all is settled, except for Rud and me. I promised Tomi I’d have him back in plenty of time to be rubbed down and rested before morning. Good-bye, all!’
‘Wait, Elyssen!’ Willow called, and hurried off after her sister into the darkness.
Goat came on, first glancing after the girls and then back to Ki. His arms were heavy with small, fuzzy brown objects. He carried them to the edge of the quilt, where Vandien and Ki sat. Stooping down, he asked in a hoarse whisper, ‘What did she say about me?’
Ki met Vandien’s puzzled glance. ‘Nothing, Goat. Only that she had heard you were going with us to Villena, and she wanted to know if we’d mind another passenger.’
Goat’s eyes widened. ‘She wants to go to Villena with me?’
‘No. Only as far as Tekum. I understand her lover is there, and she goes to join him.’
‘Kellich.’ A wealth of disdain was in his voice. And disappointment? Ki couldn’t be sure.
‘What’s that you have?’ Vandien asked the boy.
‘Burr-fruit. From the Gwigi trees. You know.’ Goat seemed subdued, almost shy. He glanced to where the two girls stood, heads bowed together. Willow had taken her bundle from Rud’s back. The two sisters hugged suddenly, tightly.
‘No, I don’t.’ Vandien reached and took one from the boy’s armload. He turned it curiously in his hands. ‘I’ve never seen one before. Are they edible?’
Goat started at Vandien’s question, as if he didn’t remember they had been talking. He glanced at the burr-fruit in Vandien’s hands. ‘After you singe them in a fire, you can crack them open. They’re sweet inside. I picked them to share.’ Rud’s retreating hoofbeats drew his attention away again. He stared at Willow, who stood in the semi-darkness watching her sister ride away.
‘One might almost guess you were trying to make up for the way you behaved earlier,’ Vandien observed heartlessly.
The boy’s eyes jerked back to Vandien. ‘I suppose,’ he muttered. He glanced from the approaching Willow back to Vandien’s set face. He didn’t want to be rebuked in front of her.
‘Good. I was afraid I’d have to reason with you about it later tonight.’ Vandien’s tone made it clear to Ki that his ‘reasoning’ might not be conversational, but the inference went right past Goat. Worry furrowed his brow as his eyes darted surreptitiously toward Willow and then veered away. Vandien looked at the approaching girl. ‘We won’t say anything more about it now. But I’m better impressed with you. A boy who can apologize when he’s been wrong isn’t that far from being a man.’
The note of approval in Vandien’s voice suddenly had Goat’s full attention. His face lit up, not into his fool’s grin, but a tentative smile. ‘There’s enough here for all of us. Even Willow,’ he added cautiously. ‘I’ll show you how to cook them,’ he offered, speaking more to the girl than to Ki and Vandien.
She stared at him across the fire. Her eyes were as unreadable as a cat’s. Then she came smoothly into the circle of the firelight, flowing like water. She resumed her place on the quilt, took up her mug of tea and sipped from it. The slight was obvious, and Ki winced at it. Goat blushed deeply.
‘So how do you cook them?’ Vandien asked curiously, as if he hadn’t noticed anything amiss. But he had, Ki would wager. Probably only she could detect the sympathy in his voice.
‘You just … put them close to the embers of … the fire and leave them in there awhile.’ The boy’s voice kept hitching.
‘Well, while you two are doing that, I’ll get the main part of the meal going.’ Ki filled in the silence with her voice.
‘Let me help,’ Willow volunteered instantly, her voice as disarming as her smile.
‘I can manage,’ Ki told her coolly.
‘Please let me, I love to cook,’ she begged, her face so innocent that Ki wondered if she was unaware of how she had humiliated Goat. Willow’s fingers were quick and her smile easy as she sliced dried meat into chunks that simmered separately from the pot of vegetables and roots that Ki prepared. She exclaimed about the tidiness of the wagon when she put her bundle inside, and was generally so charmed and charming that Ki could not hold a grudge against her. Together they set out bowls and travelling bread while Willow told her ingenuously of her Kellich. He was, Ki heard, an excellent trainer and handler of horses, and had been offered a fine position with a wealthy man in Tekum. He was, she told Ki, a young man who was handsome, witty, chivalrous, and merry, a graceful dancer and a skilled swordsman. He was also, Ki surmised from the way she spoke, a bit of a dandy and apt to be quick-tempered. But Willow plainly considered those facets of his character as virtues. Ki smiled to herself.
‘Food’s done!’ Vandien announced, taking the pots from the fire. The savory smell filled the night. Ki poured more tea while he ladled out a generous serving into each bowl. Conversation lagged as the four became aware of their hunger. They ate, spoons rapping softly against bowls. ‘Tastes funny,’ Goat said once, and then hastily amended his words to, ‘I mean different from what I’m used to.’ Vandien dipped his head to hide a small smile, and Ki nodded. But Willow stopped eating and stared at him for a long moment.
They were wiping the gravy out of their bowls with travelling bread when Goat suddenly stood. ‘These should be done,’ he told Vandien, and, picking