Set the day after the previous chapter.

Clary opened the door to see Tom's smiling face. "It's not even raining," he told her, and the corner of her mouth turned up.

"You don't have to work?"

"Da gave me the morning off. Well, all day really, but I have to do chores this afternoon because I'm going out dancing this evening."

Clary scowled. "It's not fair. I want to be old enough to go out dancing."

"You'll get there." Tom grinned at her. "You're getting older every day."

"Not helping." Clary rolled her eyes. "Everyone gets older every day."

"Well, I wouldn't buy something like this for a little gixie." He brought his hands out from behind his back and held out a small wooden box. The top was carved in a swirling pattern and inlaid with a silvery metal.

Clary's eyes widened. "It's beautiful, Tom." She leaned in closer to admire it and then suddenly straightened. "Are you sure you don't want it for yourself?" she blurted out.

Tom's mouth twitched. "It's not really my taste," he said. "And it's supposed to be for jewellery." He pushed it into her hands. "Have a look inside."

Clary carefully opened it up, and saw a pair of eardrops sitting inside one of the little sections. To her great embarrassment, she felt her eyes suddenly welling up with tears.

"Clary, are you all right? I don't mind if you don't like them."

She wiped at her eyes, but the more she tried to stop crying, the more she did it. "I really like them," she managed to say. "I'm happy, and I don't even know why I'm crying but I can't stop."

Tom chuckled and stepped forwards, wrapping his big arms around her. "My ma said it's a mot thing. Leena burst into tears last year when Mama said she'd make her a new dress, and I remember years and years ago, my oldest sister started crying on her birthday when she got overwhelmed. Same with when she got married, actually. And my other sister always gets teary before her monthlies start, well, according to Mama. But she knows all about things like that."

Clary stepped away from Tom and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I'm fine now," she told him. "You have to forget this immediately, or else."

"Already forgotten," he told her, and grinned. "So, am I safe to ask if you like it?"

Clary nodded. "Thank you, Tom, they're really beautiful. And I didn't have a jewellery box before, and I only had the pair of eardrops the mot put in when she put the holes in my ears for me. So they're perfect. Thank you very, very much."

"Am I going to get another kiss on the cheek?"

Clary blushed and frowned at him. "Is that why you gave me these things? I didn't mean that other one like a kiss kiss."

"Relax," he told her. "I was just teasing."

"Mama always makes us kiss people on the cheek when we say thank you," Clary explained. "She says that it's sweet and affectionate."

"Am I not deserving of sweetness and affection?"

"Yes," said Clary. "But shouldn't Hanna be giving it? Although there's nothing sweet about her, really. I don't know why you'd want her for a sweetheart, she's more like…a sourheart."

"Clary-"

She stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I decided I could suffer for a few moments in return for these," she told him, indicating the jewellery box with the eardrops inside it.

Tom chuckled and raised a hand as though he was going to ruffle her hair, but he hastily dropped it again. "Sorry," he said. "I almost forgot. Why don't we go and do something fun?"

………………………….

Clary stopped swinging the purse abruptly. "Klee, you know how I told you about Tom's new sweetheart?"

"She can't be that bad, Clary. Are you jealous or sommat?"

Clary elbowed him. "I'm not jealous and she really is that bad. And now's your chance to find out, because that's her over there." Hanna saw them approaching in her direction and frowned. "Hello!" said Clary brightly.

Hanna looked at Klee. "There's more of you. How delightful."

"This is my brother, Berkeley," Clary told her. "Klee, this is Hanna, Tom's new sweetheart."

Klee held his hand out for Hanna to shake, and she sneered at it. "You're probably covered in mud. Isn't that what little boys like to do?"

Clary crossed her arms. "He's not little, and neither am I."

"Lovely as this little chat is, I have to go," Hanna said haughtily. "I'm going out dancing with Tomlan this evening and I have to get ready."

"I'm so sad that you have to leave," Clary replied. "Meeting you here unexpectedly was the most glorious part of our day." Klee giggled, and Hanna stuck her nose in the air and walked off.

Clary watched Klee staring after her. "I told you so," she said smugly.

Klee nodded. "We're going to have to do something about her."

……………………………….

Clary opened the door just as the sun was setting. "Hello again, Tom. What are you doing here? I thought you were going out dancing with Hanna."

"I was going to," he answered. "But she's hurt."

"Hurt?" asked Clary. "Klee and I saw her at the markets this afternoon, and she was her usual healthy, nasty self."

"This only just happened," Tom told her. "She came out the front door to meet me, and fell right over. Turns out some of the lads and gixies around her house had played a prank on her or sommat, they'd tied a piece of string at ankle height across the doorway."

Clary shook her head as she struggled to hide her smirk. "Children these days," she said, making sure to sound innocent and disapproving. "I'm sure I never did anything that nasty when I was little."

"I'm sure they didn't mean to harm her so badly, just trip her a little and give her a fright."

Clary's eyes widened. "What do you mean 'harm her so badly'? She's not dead, is she?" She didn't want to have a murder on her hands.

"Dead? No, of course not. She did break her wrist and her nose though, and she was covered in mud. Why are you so concerned? I thought you didn't even like her."

"I don't," she hurriedly assured him. "I just thought that the, the children who did it wouldn't have meant to kill her, just give her a few scratches as a joke. I'd have felt bad for them if they'd killed her when they hadn't meant to, that's all. Maybe they just didn't like her very much."

"Well, their joke means I can't go out dancing with her tonight." Clary fought the urge to grin. "So," Tom continued, "I thought mayhap you and Klee could come and play cards in the barn with me and Leena again."

Clary crossed her arms. "So we're your backup plan? The second best lot to fall back on?"

"I didn't mean it like that, Clary. It's just that now that I have a sweetheart-"

"Sourheart, you mean." Clary had decided she liked that word.

"With Hanna around now, my time is more divided. Now that she's hurt and I am no longer with her for tonight, I thought you might like to have an extra portion of my time. I know you were mad about yesterday."

Clary let her smile spread out over her face. "Cards in your barn, then? I'll fetch Klee, that sounds perfect." She started to turn back into the house, but stopped. "How long's she going to be hurt for?" she asked hopefully. "A week?"