A Woman In Trousers

(Was: Kit's Journey)

A/N: Well. I have to apologise for the horse riding in this chapter. I have never ridden a horse in my life, and have probably written an appalling description of such an activity. I also got a bit enthusiastic over the bow stuff later on in the chapter – that is something I have experience with.

Once again, thank you to people who have read/reviewed/added this story. You all make me feel very loved indeed.

~ Ela

A/N2: Yes, well, I would like to point out that I did finish this before the weekend. And sat up until Monday to try and post it. XD But never mind. The good news is, that I've taken the chance and started chapter eight – I'm 500/4000 words already, so you might not have to wait two weeks for the next update!

~Ela

Chapter Seven
Third Time Lucky

The next day, Kit woke late. She could tell instantly, just from the content feeling that a natural waking gives you. The quiet that surrounded her was a hint as well. While people were waking up and getting ready for the day they were noisy, she had discovered.

After getting herself up, washing and attempting once again to tame her hair, Kit set about looking for the others. Leola's orange hair should have been easy to spot, but amongst the villagers it was by no means unique. Eventually, she spotted Mae rather than one of the members of her makeshift family. The older woman was talking with some of the other villagers. Kit made her way over, and Mae spotted her approaching.

"Good morning. Do you want something to eat?" Kit was starting to get the hang of working out what had been said from what she knew, and so was able to guess most of Mae's question.

"Good morning. No, I was to look for Algar."

Mae frowned slightly, and something that ended in 'Edoras'. Had Algar left already? The cheeky bugger! No wonder they'd left her to sleep: he'd probably told them to so he could sneak off alone. It was no comfort to Kit to notice that Lola had been left behind too when she finally spotted the teenager returning from somewhere with Leax. If anything, it annoyed her more to think that Algar had abandoned friends and family and taken off by himself.

The some irritable anger that had plagued her yesterday rose again. Where these people completely devoid of common sense? She didn't let it culminate in rudeness today though, pushing it down so that it wouldn't say something that she regretted to Mae.

"Will Algar be gone long?" She asked, speaking in English while she tried to work out the best way to say it so that Mae would be able to understand. "Algar Edoras long?"

"All day." Mae replied, adding something more which aside from Algar's name made no sense to Kit. It probably wouldn't have placated her anyway.

"All right. Do you need me for anything this morning?" Once this had been explained, Mae shook her head. "I'm going for a walk then. I'll be back in a while." Kit had to again explain herself.

Mae frowned slightly, but didn't try and discourage her. "Don't go too far." She explained, mostly though sign language, and Kit nodded. Mae then pointed to the horses, where they were lying nearby, and asked a question.

Did Kit want to take one of the horses? She thought it over. She didn't know how to ride, so it wouldn't be much use if she wanted to just get away. But then again, if she really was going to be stuck here for a while then it would probably be useful to be able to ride, and it would be sensible to use the time while she had it. Eventually, Kit gave a nod. "Thank you."

Mae smiled, and gave a gentle nod, which Kit took as her leave to go. She left Mae and went over to the horses, looking at the two that had carried their luggage for so many days. Eventually, she picked the smaller one, who looked a little less skittish, and set about trying to saddle it up. Kit had watched, and helped, Mae and Gisa unload the horses, but she was yet to try putting the kit on, so it took a while and a lot of false starts before the girl thought that she was done. Eventually, she decided that she'd done as best as she was going to manage, and led the horse away from the campsite. She had no intention of making a fool of herself in front of all of the villagers.

Once she was out of eyesight, Kit stopped, and turned to look at the horse. She eyed it wearily, looking in the great beast's brown eyes. "Okay, so here we go. Please be nice. I'll make sure you get something good to eat tonight. Or at least, I'll make sure I'll try." She paused, and then carefully patted it's nose. "Please be nice."

Moving to the horse's side, she eyed the saddle, trying to work out the best way to get into it. This wasn't going to be graceful. Thank goodness she'd decided to try now rather than later. Putting one foot into the foot straps, she tried to heft herself up high enough to push her other leg over the saddle.

It didn't work. She was too short, and not agile enough to manage to get her knee up onto he saddle. Falling back down with a huff and a pout, Kit stood still for a moment, gathering her strength, and then tried again, putting more push into it this time. She managed a little better this time, catching her knee on the saddle, but lost her balance and fell back, loosing her footing, and landing (painfully) on her arse. The horse turned to look at her, and Kit glared at it. "Don't you dare laugh." She warned, unnecessarily, as she scrambled back to her feet.

Placing herself at the horse's side again Kit put her forehead on the saddle for a moment as she gathered her strength again. "Okay, third time lucky." She reassured herself as she readied herself to try again. Third time lucky indeed: she managed to get her leg over, but almost immediately lost her balance, falling back onto the ground.

Once she'd managed to get up once, the second time became easier. She managed to seat herself, clinging on tightly with her legs and to the horse's main. Shifting into a more comfortable position she became more comfortable, and surer. Slowly and carefully, she loosened her grip on the horse's long mane and took up the reins instead. Unfortunately, while she'd been smart enough to pay attention to how a horse was saddled, she'd never had the chance to look at how to ride – or at least, more specifically, how to make the horse do what she wanted it to.

Looking at the reins in her hand, she considered them for a moment, and then gently pulled, her fingers curled tightly around the leather as though it was a lifeline. The horse shot off, and a shocked Kit managed a startled yelp before she was unseated. She lost her hold on the reins, and hit the ground hard.

Laughter prevented her from wallowing in pain and misery for long. Picking her head up, she glared in the direction of the laughter, and wasn't surprised to see that it was sourced from Leax. Leola approached her and offered a hand to help her up, which Kit refused, pushing herself up by herself and brushing herself off. She noticed then that the two had horses with them: the other horse that belonged to Mae and a third one that they must have borrowed off someone.

"Don't laugh, I've not ridden before." Kit said, moodily, before jogging over to where the horse had gone (luckily not too far, since it had stopped once she had fallen off). Leading it back to the other two, she let Leola take it from her. She watched the younger girl as she adjusted one or two of the straps, but Kit was gratified to see that it didn't look like she'd done too badly.

Leax had stopped laughing by now, and came over, offering to give Kit a hand up onto her horse's back. Kit, still a little peeved by his laughter, scrambled up herself. Had she been by herself she would have fallen back when she failed to get her knee up far enough, but determined not to make a fool of herself any more than she already had, she dug it in and used it to lever herself up the last few inches until she could clamber into the saddle again.

When Leola came and stood beside her, Kit realised just how tall the girl was. Kit was a good head or so shorter than the horse, but Leola was, if anything, a little taller. The girl leaned over to adjust Kit's hold on the reins, and then showed her how to nudge the horse into a slow walk. Kit, clinging on desperately, copied Leola, but was having to focus more on keeping her balance.

Quickly, clearly expecting Kit to be able to take it up easily, Leola showed her how to turn the horse left and right by poking her until she understood. Then, before Kit had a chance to complain, both Leola and Leax climbed into their saddles, and brought their horses along side Kit's.

Kit wasn't particularly happy about this, but she was so busy concentrating on not falling, or doing something wrong to even think about trying to tell them to get lost. She didn't even react when Leax leant over and pulled on the reins, although when the horse set off at an uncomfortably fast pace she most certainly did.

Clinging on tightly, Kit struggled to stay in the saddle. Keeping an eye out on where they were going, or even steering the horse became too difficult. For a while, she let the horse take her wherever it wanted to, while she got used to the movement. She trusted Leax and Leola not to allow her to drift off too far.

After a while, she began to feel more comfortable. Shifting around, she had found the most comfortable, and most natural, way to sit, and she began to adjust to the rhythm of the movement of he horse. Possibly noticing this, Leax came over again, but Kit had learnt her lesson, and quickly directed the horse away from the boy.

He smirked, and Kit hoped that at least he was impressed with how desperation had taught her how to keep out of his way. Unfortunately it turned out, she'd just ridden into Leola's path, and at an instruction from Leax, Leola grabbed the reins instead, yanking on them and then letting go.

The horse shot off, and Kit was unable to adjust her hold on the reins from where she'd slipped when Leola had caught them. She was sent flying, head over heels, ending up flat on her back in the grass. Pain shot up her back, and she let out a whimper before even attempting to sort herself out.

Sitting up, she checked herself over. Once the shock of the landing had gone, she felt a lot better, but she would have a new array of bruises in the morning.

Leola and Leax arrived, crouching close, Leola in particular looking very worried. Kit waved a hand. "I good." She reassured them, as she started to struggle to her feet. "Please not many. Not again."

Leax gave a relieved laugh, and petted her shoulder. "Not again." He promised her.

After that they took a lot more care to let her learn at her own pace. Even though they were clearly irritated by her speed (or lack of it), even Leax kept to her side, letting her lead and set the speed. Kit began to feel more comfortable, although almost as soon as she did, her body started to ache, telling her that this wasn't comfortable at all.

When they arrived back at the camp, Kit copied Leola and Leax as they took the saddles and rubbed the horses down. It took a while, and they still had to correct her, but Kit was at least starting to feel more comfortable around the horses. She still didn't feel completely at ease, and would flinch sometimes if they moved suddenly, but she didn't feel as dwarfed, or as scared.

Algar was seated at the fire next to Erna, and Kit frowned when she spotted him. She was still annoyed at the boy, but not as annoyed as she had been that morning. As she walked over to him, she leant over. "After night, Leola and I Edoras with Algar." She told him, calmly and frankly, and then very carefully ignored him for the rest of the evening.

*~*

With the sleep she'd got the night before, Kit woke fairly early the next day. However, as soon as she looked around she saw that it wasn't early enough. Algar had gone, and he'd either taken Leola with him or she'd gone off somewhere by herself. Irritated, but not as annoyed as she'd expected, Kit pushed it away for now, and just settled for getting up.

By the stream, she found Leax, who looked more than a little irritated himself. "Leax to go Edoras with Algar?" She asked, as she washed her face.

Leax nodded, and said something too fast for Kit to even try to understand.

"Sorry. Not as fast?" Kit asked, with a slight frown.

He repeated it for her with hand signals to help, and Kit managed to translate it as something like 'he left early this morning. Again'.

Kit smiled dryly. "He likes doing that." She muttered, and then attempted to translate it for Leax.

When he understood and gave a laugh and a nod. "He's very stubborn." Leax said.

Kit washed her face, thinking about this. She didn't want to go up to Edoras alone, but perhaps Leax would come with her. Would he want to disobey his brother like that though? Or had he not been told specifically to stay behind. She asked him anyway, or at least attempted to in bad Rohirric. "Leax and I to Edoras?"

He frowned, digesting this. "Today?" He asked, clearly unsure.

"Yes! Let's find Algar and tell him he's a bastard."

Leax guessed what she'd said from a few words that he'd learnt of English – bastard in particular had been covered in their swearword-fest a few days before. Grinning, he nodded. Seems like he wasn't the dutiful brother Kit had assumed. This was promising.

"Yes?" She asked him again, pressing the issue.

"Yes." Leax agreed in English, looking and sounding enthusiastic about it.

Wetting her hands, Kit slicked back her hair in an attempt to neaten it up a bit. "What about Mae?" Kit asked, trying to make sure that Leax didn't want to warn his mother about their plan.

Leax shrugged slightly, and then shook his head, a grin still on his lips.

'What a cheeky git,' Kit thought. 'He's looking forward to walking off.' Mind you, she hadn't been any better at his age, and his enthusiasm was rather catching. She was looking forward to it more and more by the minute.

Standing up, Algar indicated for her to come towards Edoras, but Kit held up a hand for him to wait a bit. Jogging off, she headed towards somewhere private to go to the loo. When she returned, Algar was walking back from the camp, holding a wrap of fabric, which he opened to show her breakfast.

"Excellent!" Kit exclaimed, happily. "Thank you!"

He handed her a bread and an apple which Kit took a hungry bite out of before the pair took off towards Edoras, munching happily.

"Leola with Algar in Edoras?" Kit asked, after swallowing a mouthful.

"With." Leax corrected, absentmindedly, before replying in a way that Kit translated to 'I think so'.

Kit pouted at this. Mind you, Leola had probably given him an earful last night. She was that kind of girl and she'd been incredibly frustrated to be left behind.

"When I woke they were gone." Leax added, although it took quite some explaining before Kit managed to understand what he'd said.

When they reached the gate Kit suffered sudden, acute shyness. Her brain reminded her violently how little of the language she actually knew. It was horribly tempting to hide behind Leax, like a child does behind it's mother, but managed to hold herself back by reminding herself that not only was she pretending to be a man, and that was one of the least manliest things she could think of doing, Leax was also a good five years younger than her. It would just be embarrassing, more so than the language barrier. When the guards spoke to Leax, Kit didn't have the wits to try and translate, but she did at least have the sense to keep her mouth shut. Opening it and revealing her strangeness, and accent, which was so very obviously English (although luckily not Chavish, despite being Kentish), might have resulted in a very short trip.

She wasn't quite dumb enough to miss a question clearly directed at her, though. Leax didn't wait for her to make a fool of herself and answered for her. Kit just hoped that he wasn't saying that she was a retard. They didn't laugh, so it looked like it was nothing too rude, and then they were allowed past, into the town.

Realising that this was her first chance to look over a proper, working town in this country, she tried to take it all in as they walked through the streets. She'd seen the wooden houses from outside, but up close she realised that they weren't quite the crude huts she'd assumed them to be. They were simple: mostly single story and thatched, and she was yet to see a glass window, but they were also beautiful. The carvings and paintings that adorned them were stylistic, bright and bold, but in a firm, familiar way that reminded Kit of the medieval and Anglo-Saxon paintings she'd seen in history lessons at school and in the museums and castles she'd visited. Even the thatch was arrayed in great, sweeping waves, with delicate plaits and twists decorating the corners. Kit was impressed.

Trying to take in other bits of the town, Kit moved her attention to the people. Everyone except for the children seemed to be busy with tasks that they were obviously familiar with. Some of which Kit would guess at (she was amused to see a fletcher at work, and interested to see what he was using to line up the fletchings, but didn't want to stare) and some of which she couldn't. It wasn't that she shouldn't know: they were obviously things that weren't completely alien; she just hadn't come across them before, or hadn't seen them in practise. This whole place was like a blast from the past: one of those olde worlde museums where they'd have actors playing out the roles of the people that used to live there. Everything was different, but at the same time, comfortingly familiar.

There was an ever present motif of horses, and Kit was glad she'd taken the time to at least try ridding yesterday as she realised that they really were that important in this culture. But since she was yet to see a car, that didn't seem so surprising.

At the pinnacle of the town was a great hall: the olden shimmer that they'd seen from afar. It wasn't just the gold star of the thatch, but also the tawny brown of the wood that made up the walls, combined with the painted gold leaf on the carvings that covered it. The door was the most elaborately detailed of all, covered in the horse motif that she'd seen elsewhere. The sheer detail was impressive. Kit could see different horses and riders curled and entwined like in Celtic art, combined with flowers and trees and other animals, although none so prominent as the horses.

Algar was sitting on the stairs, talking with Leola. As they approached, he stood up, shocked.

Leax grinned at his brother. "Surprise." He greeted him, or Kit assumed that he did. It was certainly something similar. He and Kit sat down either side of Algar and Leola, Algar returning to his seat at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" With the guards so close, Kit didn't dare ask for a proper translation, and just guessed from the words she knew and Algar's tone what had actually been said.

Leax's response was too complex for Kit to guess at, so she had to sit back and struggle to follow. Noticing this, Leax began to use more words that they'd covered with her, although he was clearly trying to draw the guards' attention to the problem. "Will they not let you talk to the King?" Leax asked, finally, and Kit was glad to be able to understand most of it.

Algar's shake of his head as a reply was as clear as day, but his elaboration wasn't so easy to follow. He clearly hadn't realised what his brother had. Kit began to regret suggesting that they should come. She was too shy to try and press her point and ask for someone who could speak English: the language barrier suddenly seemed impossible to cross, and she just couldn't imagine that someone really could speak English here.

Leaning back, she zoned out of the other's conversation and began to people watch instead. There were constantly people moving around, and this seemed to be a military hub as much as a normal capital. Once again, she noted the lack of technological advancement. Most of the men had swords, and there was also a vast array of spears (or she assumed they were spears: kit knew just about as much about pole arms as she did about horses). She was most interested in the fact that people were carrying bows rather than guns though. And not just any bows either: for a race that seemed to have a strong reliance on horses, she would have expected recurves, or at least short bows, but she'd seen longbows. Not many of them, people definitely seemed to prefer short-range weapons, but she was yet to see anything else. This didn't concern her since she had no intention of fighting again. Once had been quite enough, thank you very much.

If she would admit it though, the bows had caught her attention, and she really did want to examine them more. She was curious, and five years worth of archery had returned from a two-year gap to bite her in the butt. What strength were these guys pulling? Her own bow was a 40 pounder (was it? It'd been so long since she'd had the chance to shoot she couldn't properly recall) and her dad's modern recurve must have been a good lot stronger, but the technology to build, and the strength to shoot the 100-120 lb longbows had been lost with the Elizabethans, back when muskets had started to become a useful weapon. Kit wanted to get close enough to at least see if they were a single piece of wood or laminated.

The day passed quicker than Kit would have expected. Dozing and people watching her way through it, it was nice to just sit around for a day and let her aching muscles relax. The others would get up and walk around every now and again, and she probably would have too if her brain hadn't been telling her to make a point. Remember how nice it was to sit in front of your laptop all day, it reminded her. Kit could remember, but found that it didn't mean that she still wanted too. Her foot tapped almost constantly through the day to an inaudible beat, just too keep up motion.

As midday passed, the shadows moving and the sun moving to half blind them, Kit became aware that the amount of activity around them increased. Riders were disappearing, and weary ones were coming back. They were moved off the stairs, although Algar led them to the side of the door and they sat on the wooden boards there instead. A bloodied man was helped past by two of his friends, and both the guards and Algar, Leola and Leax's conversations became hurried and worried. Kit chewed on her lip, and wondered what was happening, and whether she could risk asking one of the others to explain it.

Some time around two or three, they were finally told to move completely, or at least, after a talking too by one of the guards, Algar led them away from the great hall. Kit kept glancing back as they were walking back to the villagers, and as soon as they were out of hearing range of the guards on the gates, Kit turned to Algar. "What happened?" She asked, hungry to finally learn the answer.

Unfortunately, Algar simply shook his head. "I don't know." He explained to her. "They wouldn't say exactly."

It wasn't much comfort to Kit to know that they were just as much in the dark as she was.

The camp seemed strangely calm, and Kit realised that they'd set it far enough off the main path to Edoras, that they probably hadn't noticed the influx of people, if they even were coming from outside and it wasn't just caused by some sort of ruckus in the city. They ate and went to bed as night fell, and Kit curled up in her now normal position against Leax.

Sometime in the night she was woken by the sound of many horses on the main road, enough even that the sound would travel to waken her, but falling back asleep almost immediately, she didn't remember it in the morning.