It's so good to be back! My apologies for the delay in updating and many thanks so all my wonderful reviewers—you've encouraged me to keep writing—one of the best things in my life--through a rough patch of Reality. (Note to fellow history buffs: taking Irish (starvation and oppression) and Russian (starvation and oppression on a larger scale) history courses simultaneously is rather depressing,) This episode takes place 6 weeks after the last and the real estate belongs to Tamora Pierce!
"Stop ogling the Own," Penelope ordered Rissa. "Gregory's only been gone one week and he probably hasn't spent it eying other girls."
"Only because he hasn't had the opportunity," Rissa said, reluctantly pulling her gaze away from the handsome young men filing past their practice court. "And for all I know someone better might be walking by. Just because you kissed the right one on the first try doesn't mean I will. Some of us need to go through several men to discover our preferences."
"And others don't," Vina remarked, sounding slightly choked.
Penelope let out an exasperated growl. Bandit echoed it from his post at her feet.
"Quite right," she muttered. "I really shouldn't be defending him."
Bandit whined again and rolled over, exposing his belly for scratching in order to set her priorities straight. Penelope sat down beside her dog and nodded at her squires.
"You can look on your own time. Now I want to watch you run through one more duel before supper."
They were still almost perfectly matched and good at anticipating each other's movements, so the fight lasted a long time. But Vina's arm eventually tired and slipped, giving Rissa a window to disarm her and knock her to the ground.
"Sorry," Rissa said, helping her up. "Your injury—I shouldn't have—"
Vina shrugged. "I'm just a little sore." She forced a smile. "Really, it's fine. I'll see you at supper."
Rissa nodded and carried away both of their weapons. Vina sat down on the other side of Bandit and buried her fingers in his fur.
"Penelope?"
"Yes," she murmured, glancing up briefly to smile at Dalton as he joined them.
"Did you ever think about quitting?"
Penelope hesitated and Dalton pressed his knee reassuringly against her shoulder.
"Everyone does sometimes, Vina. It doesn't mean you will." She reached out to grasp Vina's arm.
Vina flinched. "I was just wondering."
Dalton squatted beside both of them and tugged at Vina's braid. "Your arm's going to get better."
"It's been six weeks," Vina mumbled.
"You were sliced open almost to the bone," Dalton said. "It might take longer."
"I know," Vina whispered, but she sounded uncertain.
"Just ask yourself if you can imagine anything you'd rather do more," Penelope told her.
"Not really," Vina said, lifting her chin. "Thanks."
PDPD
Mindelan caught Dalton's eye as he was leaving after afternoon practice the next day. "Would you mind doing me a quick favor?"
"Not at all." Dalton reached out to take Wilda before she could wriggle free from her mother's grip.
"Thanks," she murmured, sounding slightly frazzled. And Dalton realized he'd accidentally volunteered for something more, but didn't really mind.
"I'm planning on running a joint training exercise with some of the Riders, but I want to talk to Tobe about it," she explained, readjusting her grip on Peregrine and her armful of gear so that she could take Wilda back. "Could you just ask him to swing by my rooms tomorrow morning? And I'll take these two up for their nap."
Dalton dodged Wilda's attempt to rip off his ear and passed her back to her mother, feeling that he'd gotten off easy.
He reached the Riders' barn quickly, but hesitated when he recognized the murmurs of a private conversation, punctuated by sighs and kisses.
"…don't want to do that. It isn't always easy for women, even in the Riders."
"I know." Dalton thought there was something vaguely familiar about this voice. "And we wouldn't see each other any oftener."
"Goddess, I'll miss you."
"Promise me you'll come back safe."
"Or what?" Someone chuckled darkly and they kissed again. "Try to be here when I get back then."
Feeling that it wasn't right to eavesdrop any longer, Dalton stepped around the hay and realized just how familiar the voice was. Vina's face was angled away from him as she lifted her head to kiss the Rider who embraced her, but Dalton recognized her profile instantly and hissed in involuntary surprise.
Both women startled apart. Vina cursed softly and shot up the ladder into the loft.
"Excuse me, sir." The Rider, tall and beautiful with mahogany hair and grey eyes, stepped past him with a businesslike nod. She led her saddled pony from his stall and stepped outside to mount and ride away, strong and unashamed.
Which left him alone with his embarrassed squire—his favorite squire too (if he were absolutely honest with himself) because her quiet, private determination matched his own—who'd been injured and keeping a serious secret.
"Vina?" Dalton called.
A few ponies snorted quietly, but Vina didn't answer.
"Vina, we don't have to talk—we should but we don't have to—but I need to know we can look each other in the eye." He paused and stepped away from the ladder to the loft. "Unless you're serious about quitting."
PDPD
"There goes the smiths' slut."
Selena didn't bother turning to see which of Marcel's cronies had shouted, but she didn't slam the door shut behind her either—mostly because the smithy was particularly smoky that afternoon.
"Want to hit something?" Jason offered her his hammer.
"I'd rather hit someone specific."
"Me too," Jeck muttered.
Selena swallowed and stepped towards him. "Please don't—"
"I know better than to challenge my betters," he snapped.
Selena flinched. Jason stretched, yawning theatrically, and made a tactful exit.
"They aren't," Selena murmured. "This won't last forever. It will stop once—"
"Once what?" Jeck said grimly. He set his hand on her shoulder, careful to touch only her practice clothes with his blackened fingers. Then he brushed his lips against her temple and sighed into her hair. "There's only on thing that would truly end it."
Selena swallowed to keep her heart from crawling into her mouth and turned her face towards Jeck.
"And I'm not nobleborn." He glanced down at their boots. "So you know I can't ask you to marry me. I'm sorry."
"I know," she choked, although she hadn't known until that moment. Just as she hadn't realized how much she wanted him to ask. It was terrifying to contemplate, but Jeck shrugged to let her know she didn't need to say anything more. And that small gesture of understanding was suddenly too much for both of them. Selena nodded and spun away.
She ran blindly and was rather astonished to find herself outside Penelope and Dalton's door when she stopped.
PDPD
Dalton was just trying to decide whether or not he should climb up and find her when Vina's tearstained face appeared overhead.
"Are you that disappointed sir?" she cast her eyes around the stables and would not look at him.
"What?"
"Are so disgusted you want me to quit?" Vina snapped.
"No, I'm not. I jus—"
"Then I won't quit." Vina set her teeth and glanced nervously down at him.
"Good. Climb down and come for a walk around the pastures with me."
Vina hesitated a moment but then slowly descended and followed him out to the Rider pastures. They began a slow circuit around the fence. The afternoon was threatening rain and they were alone.
"I'm not at all disgusted," Dalton repeated. "I was surprised, but I probably shouldn't have been."
"Is it that obvious that I'm—" Vina bit her lip.
"No." Dalton stooped to pick up a pebble. "I only meant that I'd told myself I'd stop letting you and Rissa surprise me. That's all."
"Oh," she muttered, "sorry."
PDPD
"Come in," Penelope called, recognizing Selena by her knock. She gratefully threw down the shirt she'd been unsuccessfully attempting to mend and stood up. Bandit whined and hopped off the bed.
Selena crept in, pushed the door closed, and promptly burst into tears, bewildering both of them.
Penelope tiptoed over and wrapped her arms around her friend. Bandit came over to lick her knee and chew tenderly at her bootlaces.
"What happened?" Penelope asked.
Selena blinked. "I'm not sure." She lowered her head to Penelope's shoulder and muttered something incomprehensible. It contained the words "Jeck" and "marry."
"Already?" Penelope murmured. "Don't worry about it. I was completely paralyzed the first time Dalton proposed."
"But he never told you he couldn't ask, did he?" She rubbed her eyes.
"Not that I recall?" Penelope murmured, suddenly understanding and feeling guilty for her thoughtlessness.
But Selena smiled involuntarily. "First? You turned Dalton down?"
"No I just sat thinking confused thoughts and praying it wouldn't be the last time I ever watched him get dressed." Penelope shrugged. "And then it took a little fortuitous hypothermia to give me the courage to hint that he should bring it up again." She grinned. "The brandy probably helped too. But courage isn't your problem, is it?"
"No. Just Jeck's thick skull." She bit her lip. "I didn't mean that," she muttered. Then she explained her difficulties with noble-commoner cohabitation. They sat on the floor as she spoke and she found her fingers stroking the space between Bandit's eyes.
"Well," said Penelope. "Do you want him to ask you? Do you want to marry him?"
"Yes—no—I don't know." Selena took a breath. "Not quite yet."
"Then don't worry about it until you're ready. And in the meantime enjoy what you have together. You're both happy, right?"
Selena thought of the way Jeck had understood she couldn't speak and nodded.
"Good." Penelope thumped Bandit's side. "Then go back to him. And eventually—"she paused to catch Selena's eye—"you might have to ask him."
Selena swallowed.
"You are the knighted noble, after all." Penelope squeezed her shoulder. "I can throw you in a cold creek first if you think it will help."
PDPD
"So," Dalton said once they'd walked in silence for a long nervous stretch, "she's beautiful. What's her name?"
"Karyna." Vina smiled, and Dalton realized it had been ages since he'd last seen her so vibrant. "She's seventeen. She's been with Riders a year. She was stationed here all winter. The twins—the ones in the Riders—introduced us after one of our epic snowball fights."
"Ah, and may I ask how long—"
"Six weeks." Vina glanced involuntarily at her arm, which rather diminished her not-that-I've-been-counting smile.
"You've been distracted longer than that," Dalton muttered, thinking back to her apparent anguish as she watched Gregory and Rissa and the stray smiles that had crossed her face at other moments.
"Well, we went through an extensive awkward watching phase. It is rather confusing realizing you aren't like your—"she twisted her lips angrily—"aren't like everybody else," she finished calmly.
"Oh." Dalton frowned thoughtfully. "Is that why you didn't go to the ball?"
"Sort of." Vina crinkled her nose and then sobered. "We—I hadn't realized yet that I was... I just knew I'd rather have supper with her than sit around watching Rissa and Gregory. Not that we had a particularly pleasant evening since we were both too scared to actually say anything or even look—"
"at one another," Dalton finished sympathetically.
Vina blinked at him, her eyes shedding their wariness. "How would you know?"
"Penelope was far shorter than me. It gave her a distinct advantage in the looking away game." Dalton smiled and then set his own gaze on the pasture fence, leaving Vina free to continue.
"But then she kissed my cheek as I was leaving—like it could have been nothing—only it wasn't—and then I had to look at her—and we both kind of knew. Only the next day—"Vina stopped suddenly with a sound that was almost a whimper.
Dalton carefully reached around her shoulders to squeeze her good arm. "That was a rough day."
"Afterwards." Vina swallowed. "When you left me in the infirmary—that was when I really thought about quitting. I hadn't been killed. I hadn't been raped. And Queenscove promised that my arm was going to heal. But I felt so fragile—"Vina blushed—"like something inside had shattered—that I couldn't really appreciate the fact that I was still in one piece." She smiled crookedly. "Thanks for that, by the way."
Dalton shrugged. "You saved my life. Just returning the favor at an inopportune moment." He swallowed. "I should have been there sooner."
Vina shrugged and shot him a how-would-you-have-managed-that look.
"But you didn't quit," Dalton said gently.
"No. Queenscove let me out of the infirmary and she was waiting for me and I realized I really was alright. Or, I wasn't alright, but after I kissed her I knew I was going to be."
"I see. What was yesterday afternoon about then?"
Vina blushed and Dalton looked away, setting his eyes on the fence again. "I had thought of quitting to join the Riders. To be with her. But I—we decided that probably wouldn't be a good idea. I wouldn't see her any oftener and I want this." She sighed. "It's just hard—complicated trying to balance everything." She lowered her voice, but her words came clipped and angry. "I—we can't afford to spark any gossip. But 'being discrete'—not that we've really managed it"—she shrugged awkwardly at him—"feels like lying to—"She stopped and took a sharp breath.
"You haven't told Rissa," he realized, turning towards her.
She glanced miserably at him and shook her head slowly, her face and shoulders crumpling.
"Vina." He opened his arms and instinctively pulled her against his chest.
The warmth and acceptance of his gesture loosened the chokehold she'd kept on herself and Vina wept, sobbing out all the tears that should have come after the bandit attacked her, crying because Karyna was riding away and because her twin sister was slipping out of their shared understanding. And with relief at having finally told someone her secret and not having been rejected for it.
Dalton sighed and lifted a hand to stroke her hair, smoothing away the single tear he'd dropped onto her head.
Eventually Vina let out a final hiccup and raised her head. "Sorry." She blinked and scrubbed her face dry with a handkerchief. "Thanks."
Dalton shrugged and gestured for her to continue walking. They'd nearly completed their circuit of the pasture.
"Her group—the Tricksters and they definitely deserve the name—was called out to deal with the flooding in Yellowrock Village." Vina smiled grimly. "She won't be facing anything dangerous. But I—it's not easy watching people ride away."
Dalton shook his head slowly. "You should have said goodbye."
Vina nodded, blushing, and studied her boots.
"You can't hide forever. Especially not from the people who care about you. For one thing, she's absolutely stunning and--"
"You aren't her type," Vina said, somewhat smugly. Then she bit her lip. "I—could you not tell Penelope? I'd rather talk to her myself. Tonight."
Dalton nodded and decided he could come back to find Tobe later.
PDPD
Selena was just leaving as Vina and Dalton reached his room, and he was shocked by her swollen, tearstained face.
"Thanks," she told Penelope. And then she managed to exchange dignified nods with Dalton and Vina (who looked just as frayed and tearstained) before hurrying away.
"She'll be alright," Penelope said, her optimism sounding mostly unforced. "She and Jeck just had a conversation they weren't quite ready for." She shot Dalton an I'll-tell-you-everything-later smile and kissed his chin.
"Could I have a word?" Vina said quickly.
Penelope nodded, conveniently deciding that the gods were set against her mending her shirt. Then she glanced at Vina's tightly clenched jaw. "Let's take Bandit out then."
Dalton retrieved Penelope's mending after they'd gone, but saw that she'd sealed the end of her sleeve shut, concluded that he wasn't willing to cross the line between love and slavish devotion, dropped the shirt back to the floor, and went to find Tobe instead.
PDPD
"Glad you're back," Jason said, smiling at Selena when she returned to the smithy. "Jeck's upstairs," he added, but he grabbed hold of her to keep her from rushing up immediately. "What you two are doing," he murmured, "is very complicated. It's a good thing you're both brave."
"Uh. Thanks," she muttered, feeling decidedly terrified as Jeck descended the stairs. She swallowed and watched his Jeck's feet as Jason stepped back towards the stove.
"Selena." Jeck's whisper forced her to lift her eyes and meet his gaze.
"Just because I'm not supposed to ask"—he took one of her hands and wrapped it in both of his—"doesn't mean I don't want to."
Selena nodded and pulled him close to kiss his jaw. "I think I knew that too." She tried to whisper an apology, but he lifted his hands to cup her face and kissed her breathless.
Jason clapped in slow, ironic applause as they broke apart. "Is there going to be an encore? Or shall we have supper now?"
"I could throw something at him," Jeck offered, "but I'm afraid he might spoil the soup."
"Best to let well enough alone then," Selena muttered. She kissed him once more before grabbing three bowls for the table.
PDPD
Dalton was just setting a supper tray down on their table when Penelope and Bandit returned.
"She's gone to tell Rissa," Penelope murmured as they stepped inside. "Why is love so complicated?"
"I hope that was rhetorical." Dalton took her shoulders and tried to rub the tension from her neck.
"It wasn't a complaint." She sighed happily. "All the worthwhile things in life are." She tilted her head and grinned up at him.
"I don't know." Dalton turned her around. "I can think of a few that are wonderfully straightforward." He kissed her in demonstration.
"Oh." Penelope glanced around the room, taking in their hastily made bed, their simple supper, and their dog, who was happily chewing his way through her botched mending job. "I suppose so."
So, hope you enjoyed! Assuming that Real Life cooperates, I hope so have the next chapter up in a week or so. And then we'll have some special guests:
"Just because I'm infertile doesn't mean I'm indifferent," Grania muttered, eyeing Jason once more.
Dalton coughed and Vina reached around Arielle to pound him on the back.
In the meantime, many thanks to all my readers and reviewers!
