The day was warm, warmer in this place where Iona dreamed than it had been those many years ago. A small orchard grew at the back of the house, and trees with pink blossoms reached into the cloudless azure sky. Iona walked alongside her father, her small hand swallowed in his grasp. On their father's other side her brother. He walked with his head bowed, clinging tightly to his father's rough hand. A breeze sifted through the boughs of the trees, stirring the leaves and petals. It strengthened, tugging frantically until the branches could no longer hold to their wards. Soon they were surrounded in a storm of green leaves and pink petals which the wind whipped against them in circling drafts.
They continued to walk, three figures garbed in somber black, their white hair catching the waves of the wind. The orchard accepted them deeper into its embrace. When all they could see in every direction were seemingly endless lines of trees, her father stops them. Iona and her brother moved in unison, turning towards their father to look up at him. The breeze persists, playing with their hair, tossing and twisting it with abandon. Very softly their father tells them how much he loves them. He releases their hands and takes their chins. Iona sees tears forming in her fathers eyes and she is frightened by this. Neither child speaks, allowing their father to keep talking. He says that his love is endless, and that nothing could ever change it or how proud he is of them.
Mutely Iona absorbs every word, cementing the moment into her memory so that she can return to it whenever she wants. The breeze strengthens, tugging at the fabric of their clothes now and the leaves and petals no longer dance but are thrashed about viciously. Her white-haired father begins to repeat himself, falling to his knees before them. He seems suddenly frail to Iona . She reaches up to take his hand from her chin. When her fingers brush the back of his hand she feels him shudder.
The wind catches him; Iona tries to grab at his hand but misses. His hand has turned to leaves and petals. Before she can even draw in a breath her father is gone, blown away by the wind. She stands alongside her brother and together they watch as he becomes lost amid the rest of the debris, where they tumble and spiral and then are gone as the wind carries all it beyond the boundaries of the orchard.
-+-
Iona woke suddenly, pitched out of unpleasant sleep being tossed into space. Poth, the maid who had been sitting beside her was falling forward as well, crying out in surprise. Together they landed in a tangle on the floor of the carriage.
From outside the walls of the carriage came the panicked nickering of the horses and two gruff male voices. Iona struggled to sit up, but the carriage was sloped at a sharp angle that made it difficult. She reached for her maid who was crying and trying to sit up. Gently Iona patted the girl's leg, hoping to calm her.
"Are you two okay?"
"I think so," Iona called back to the voice outside. "What happened Baurduna?"
"Rut in the road was too deep," Baurduna replied. His face appeared in the window beside the carriage door. "We've broken a wheel."
"Broken a wheel?" Iona echoed. She shook her head and pressed her lips together in disapproval. The door to the carriage opened and Baurduna filled the frame. "Are you sure?"
Beyond Baurduna came a sharp laugh and her brother, Vesban, was dismounting his horse at the side of the road.
"Pretty sure, unless you requested the carriage to tilt at this angle," Vesban called to his sister. Baurduna reached into the carriage and gently took Poth by the waist. Iona helped her slide to the edge where Baurduna lifted the young maid from the carriage and set her in the road. Iona was next and once outside she went straight to the broken wheel. As Baurduna had said, it was indeed broken, more then half the wheel lay in pieces in the dusty road. Iona , who knew little about carriages or wheels looked at Baurduna over her shoulder.
"Can you fix it?" she asked.
Baurduna bent and swept up a piece of the broken wheel. He sighed and held it up for Iona . "Not a chance. We need a replacement."
Iona huffed, crossing her arms beneath the swell of her breasts.
"We cannot suffer a delay," she protested.
"The wheel can't be repaired," Baurduna explained gently. He touched a finger to the remainder of the wheel that was still attached to the carriage. Iona leaned forward to look. "It's fractured all the way around, see?"
"What about a skid?" Vesban asked.
"Yes! A skid!" Iona exclaimed, clapping her hands. "What a skid?"
"Like the flat part on the bottom of a sleigh," Vesban said to his sister.
Baurduna was shaking his head.
"It's not going to carry us as far as Cimmura," he told the twins. Frustrated Iona threw her hands up in the air. She turned away from the carriage and its broken wheel. "I cannot be late! Why does Queen refuse to attend to these highways?"
Vesban turned away from his sister then. He went to Poth who had not moved from where Baurduna had put her down. Angrily Iona turned on the rut which was responsible for the situation. It was deep enough she thought her arm would fit to the elbow. She pointed at it exclaiming, "Look at this! It's a disgrace; this highway is relied upon by farmers isn't it? No wonder we end up paying so much at – "
" Iona ?" Vesban said softly.
"- market for produce. I'm going to have to work this into the – "
" Iona !" Vesban shouted her down. His back was to her, but he was looking over his shoulder, scowling at her. Iona snapped her mouth shut at the sight of her brother's flushed expression. Still glaring at her he added, "Did you even bother to look at Poth?"
Iona's eyes went wide. She stepped away from the rut to see Poth looking intently at the dirt and blushing deeply. The maids cheeks were damp with tears. Gently Vesban was holding Poth's wrist in his hands.
"Poth? What's wrong?" Baurduna asked.
"It's nothing sir," Poth said.
"Don't make light of it," Vesban said, tenderly rebuking her. To the other two he said, "Her wrist is hurt. It may be a little more serious then a sprain."
"Why didn't you say something," Iona asked, her brow creased with concern though her words rang with exasperation. Vesban scowled at his sister again.
"I'm sorry milady," Poth was saying. "I was only thinking it would pass after a few moments."
"Don't apologize," Vesban said. Iona turned to her brother but before she could retort Baurduna spoke.
"Alright children, here is what we're going to do. Vesban you are going to ride back to the city of Lenda with Poth, bring her to a doctor and find a man to supply us with a new wheel. Tell him to pick up the carriage from here and install it in his shop, where we will pick it up a weeks time. We'll unhook the team pulling the carriage and ride onto Cimmura with them."
Vesban was nodding but Iona blanched.
"This is going to cost a fortune," she moaned looking back at the broken wheel. The carriage sat to the side of the road where it tilted like a drunk.
"Why not just leave it here then?" Vesban asked her. He was going to his horse, leading it back to Poth. "You don't like riding in them anyway, what's the problem?"
Iona's jaw dropped and she regarded Vesban with horror.
"Do you know how much that thing cost me?"
Vesban rolled his eyes and said nothing. He mounted his horse and Baurduna lifted Poth, handing her up to the young man. Taking a moment to wrap his cloak about the maid's shoulders Vesban addressed Baurduna.
"Will we be catching up with you in Cimmura then?"
"Probably best," Baurduna said. He lowered his voice, "You know how your sister is about her plans going awry."
Vesban smiled softly and said farewell, lifting a hand to Iona who fumed at the side of the carriage. She waved dismissively at her brother. He shook the reins loose in one hand, turning the horse and called back, "Don't be mad at me darling sister, I wasn't the one who said it."
As Vesban and Poth returned up the road they were obscured by the dust kicked up from the horse. Iona stared after him, absently helping Baurduna to unhitch the horses from the carriage. The team of four still seemed a bit wild, rolling their eyes and tossing their heads with angry snorting. Taking a few minutes Baurduna calmed each horse down. With his gentle touch, and the soft words he offered, Iona watched the animals settle down.
"Am I really that horrible?" Iona asked, looking at Baurduna over the back of a horse. He looked at her, wagging a finger in her direction.
"You aren't going to catch me like that," Baurduna said.
"Oh, come on Baurduna," Iona pouted. "Am I difficult?"
"You can be," Baurduna said finally. He looked at the young woman he had watched grow from a baby. Iona, her black hair pinned back from her face, bit her lower lip growing nervous beneath the intense gaze focused on her. Just before she was about to say something Baurduna continued, "We've done this a half dozen times in the last five years. You haven't been this stressed by it since the first one. Do we really need the title of Lenda?"
"It would save a bundle in taxes," Iona said quickly.
"The current taxes we pay on bringing goods into and out of the district aren't that bad," Baurduna pointed out. "They certainly aren't cutting into the profits."
"Nooo," Iona drawled, turning away from him. She went back to the carriage, opening the door and leaning inside. Quickly she began to gather the papers which had fallen from her ledger in the accident.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with-" Baurduna broke off quickly, turning towards the sound coming down the road, the thunder of approaching riders. Iona joined him, clutching the ledger to her breast. "Vesban?"
"No," she said quickly.
"Maybe they'll pass," Baurduna suggested. He put a hand on Iona's back and escorted her from the road. They tried not to pay any attention to the group quickly approaching. Iona stuffed her ledger into a bag as Baurduna began to load their other bags onto the horses. Twice Iona found herself holding her breath, and she had to force herself to exhale. Looking for assurance from Baurduna, Iona saw him tensely gripping the hilt of the axe. Three riders came out of the dust, pulling their mounts to a stop at the broken carriage.
Iona looked up at the man in the middle, smiling at her and Baurduna, and she felt her stomach knot up.
"Seems like you have a problem there," the rider with the broken nose pointed out. "Need a hand neighbor?"
