This chapter took quite a bit longer than intended. Many thanks to everyone that kept nudging me into remembering that this story needed work.
Chapter Four
Every Rogue in Corus had heard the news, and the more sociable had heard tell of it at least three times in a night. George had taken on another noble as a friend immune from all theft, and this one a lady. There was the usual amount of gossip, however improper when Lady Alanna was barely introduced and still deeply in mourning, but none of it was vicious. The girl might be a noble, but she was studying healing with Mistress Cooper, and Eleni Cooper had no long patience for fools and layabouts. Within two days of her rumored duel with Marek Swiftknife, the Court of the Rogue as a whole had decided to give the red-headed lady a chance to earn what respect a noble could hold. It went unsaid that no one would dare trying to lift a coin from her purse, when she was under George's explicit protection.
Most nobles never had the chance to be a friend to George, let alone after being in Corus for under a week, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise that Stefan kept an eye on the lady when she made her way through his stables. She kept to the center of the aisles, and kept herself away from the biting range of his stallions with the ease he often found in country nobles. The city nobility and the Book of Gold folk looked down on the remote little fiefs, but the proper city folk always had higher hopes for the rural sorts.
Lady Alanna of Trebond had asked directions twice as she made her way through the maze of stables, but there was nothing uncertain in her steps. She even had the sense to find her quarry at a glance, and Stefan couldn't fault any lady that would recognize her pony after six years without a single visit.
"Chubby!" Word had it that she was usually solemn, in the palace, but the smile brightened her eyes to a wholly unnatural shade of purple. The effect was even worse with the purple-eyed cat twining around her ankles, but Stefan had never been the best judge of that sort of thing. Duke Roger looked charming enough, but not one of the horses in the stables trusted that man. Lady Alanna looked odd, with purple lit by sunlight, but the pony nuzzled at the girl's shoulders and neck without nosing after a treat. She supplied one after several minutes of praising the pony, and that was more than enough to make up his mind.
George liked her, Mistress Cooper called her a gifted student, the horses liked her, and not one person besides Stefan himself had known the correct spot to rub on that pony's neck. Stefan was rather deliberate about climbing down the ladder, to keep from startling her, but he had the feeling she was the tough kind. Next time she'd have fewer issues with a man dropping from the loft above.
"Lady Alanna, I'd think?" Stefan bowed shortly, but for once didn't mind the courtesy. She dipped a shallow curtsy in return. There was no one else to see such a thing, perhaps, but it was no wonder she had a way with animals. Someone had taught her manners for meeting anyone, not just peers and betters.
"It seems that everyone knows my name, but I certainly don't know yours," she said, one hand still finger-combing the pony's mane.
"Stefan, milady. If you've a mind to buy your beast back, he certainly likes you well enough." By the look in her eyes, she hadn't realized that Chubby had spent the last three years belonging to the Crown. "Your brother's knightmaster bought the lad a proper horse, and the pony's a good'un. I kept him on so he'd not go out pulling carts somewhere. I've had a few of the nobles' children out on him, and of course milady is free to borrow any of the free Crown mounts at her leisure."
"He's always done better with children," Alanna said, absently brushing horse hair from the black sleeve of her dress. "I'd rather keep visiting, I think. From the look of him, he hasn't run across anyone to make him less tolerant, but he did let Thom ride all that time." Stefan wasn't sure if the lady realized the significance, setting Thom up as such a tribulation, but she fed the poor pony a sugar cube as she spoke. He rather thought it was only fair compensation for so much time with Squire Thom.
"Well, y'might like one of our mares, then. The stallions aren't worth bothering, and I've not had a good gelding this year. You could take one with a little spirit, and I save the docile horses for ladies that like holding reins proper, not running."
The purple looked far less off-putting when he was the direct recipient of a smile, and he could start to see that she'd be a striking woman. Not one of the conventional pretties, like that horror Delia and her heavy hand with the riding crop, but she put him to thinking about one of the warm-blooded little fillies from the Bazhir. "That would be wonderful," she replied, laughing when her pony lipped at her ear. Chubby was a good animal, and the lady knew that he wasn't the type to shift straight into a bite. "I've missed riding, even if I haven't the time for it today. I've been all around the palace trying to find him, and as long as I was in the stables I thought I'd come visit this handsome fellow."
Stefan glanced over to the practice yards unwillingly. "Squire Thom's out at the ring now, milady, and like to be there a time. His Grace set out an hour of exercises, and one of my boys is on hand to supervise." The lady looked pleased with the news, for worse luck, but he'd do his part. "I'll walk you over that way, if you like. It's a tricky few turns to get to the squires' practice yard."
The lady thanked him quite nicely, but through their entire talk of horses and convenient trails, Stefan couldn't help but think of what would come after. He might be ill at ease around most folk, but he liked Lady Alanna. She had a way with horses, which was quite enough to earn his attention, but she also had passed on the pretensions most of the grand ladies had in spades. He'd make sure George told her about the messenger pigeons up in the barn's loft, as he'd not mind playing errand-boy for the lady. She wouldn't ask such favors lightly.
He'd already composed the first letter before they reached the squires' practice ring. This talk wasn't going to go well, as Master Thom was an unholy terror with no compassion for anybody that didn't have something left to offer him. Stefan could at least be sure someone would look on after Alanna, with her current maid heading back to Trebond the very next morning.
"I'd expect you'll find your way back to Chubby, if y'like," Stefan suggested, just before they came in sight of Squire Thom. "He's a good'un when you've had a bad day, and there's not much wrong with a lady spending her time in the stables. If folk fuss at you, they know that some of th' knights like a lady what knows her horseflesh."
Alanna smiled, touched by the offer. "Thank you, Stefan." She had the feeling that the shy man wouldn't give an open invitation lightly, and knew that Myles would be pleased. Sir Myles had introduced Stefan's chief assistant at the second meeting of his little poetry society that never cracked a single volume of literature. Asan was a friendly man that didn't mind the palace, and he always came prepared with painstakingly neat notes describing Stefan's requests for the stables. Myles had told Alanna that befriending Stefan was the best that a body could do to have good help in the stables, though he had thought it would take weeks for Stefan to approach her. Myles had been very apologetic when saying that Thom might have left an impression, but Alanna couldn't decide just why Myles had been serious. Her brother might be strong-willed, and maybe he'd been a bit lazy when it came to his horsemanship before, but surely he'd have learned better while training to be a knight.
Alanna quickly realized just how wrong she had been. Thom was riding a beautiful dapple-grey gelding, but that was the best that could be said about the arrangement. Alanna could see at a glance that the gelding was only kept in check by the crop in Thom's hand, and she winced along with the stablehand when Thom slapped the crop along the side of the horse's neck. His posture was bad, leaving him unsteady, and there was no way that Thom would be able to work a weapon from horseback even if he was more impressive with a sword.
She stayed just a step inside the stables for the next half an hour, wondering just what had happened to her brother. He scowled after every correction from the patient stablehand, and didn't seem to notice that he'd worked the horse to frothing. Thom was still trying to work the horse to a gallop, but Alanna thought that was more to say that he could than to master any part of the necessary posture to stay solid through the very fast gait.
The fourth time her brother ignored the stablehand's suggestion to stop, Alanna walked up to the fence. "Brother!" she called, as if she hadn't been watching him for quite some time. "I heard that your lesson would be ending soon, if you'd care to have tea with me. Maude wanted to see you before she left." It was only a little lie. Maude was spending the entire afternoon in Coram's suite of rooms, and they planned to share an entire skin of wine while talking over the logistics of running a fief without Lady Marinie's assistance. Lord Alan did his best, but he could never be called an active participant in the financial matters. Such work would take him away from his research.
"If you insist, sister dear." The words were right, if they were taking cues from prior teasing, but the tone wasn't right at all. It really sounded as if Thom was humoring her, and not taking their first chance in years to talk. That feeling didn't change in the walk back to her rooms, after Thom pushed his gelding's reins into a stableboy's hands.
Alanna tried to ask about any friends, but of course there was no one but Roger. Alanna liked him no better from indirect conversations, when all mentions seemed to involve extremely complicated spells that weren't worth describing to Alanna, or some matter of policy she wouldn't understand. She might have written off that first conversation if Thom hadn't broached a topic of his own at the end.
"Father already sent over pocket money to last until Midwinter, and it's in my care. Here's your part of it," Thom said carelessly, pushing two silver nobles across the table. A maid-of-all-work would make more before Midwinter, and she couldn't buy a dress fit for a palace lady with twice that much.
"Just how much was yours, then?" Alanna asked, shocked that her own brother would try to gyp her. She and her father had talked in that week before she left, and Lord Alan had given her quite a bit of advice about how much a lady would need to spend to keep up a comfortable existence. It had been the first time either of them talked about her mother, and Alanna couldn't possibly have forgotten the particulars. Her father had told her all sorts of little stories she hadn't known before, like the time that her mother ripped out an entire layer of petticoats at a dance without anyone realizing. They'd only found out when a servant spotted the neat roll of fabric under her chair, and when the rest of the table marveled at such a neat line at the edge of the tear, Marinie had admitted that it was entirely too hot for fashion, so she'd adapted as she saw fit.
Thom hadn't stayed for any such stories, so maybe he didn't know that even a frugal lady of means would keep to a budget of six silver nobles per month. The most inexperienced lady's maid could expect one silver noble a month in expenses, and hosting parties and buying new dresses and having any kind of trip to the market took cash on hand.
"I've already bought the books that I need, Alanna, and what could you possibly need so much money for? You're living in the palace, and if you insist on wearing black a full year, it's not like you'll need any new clothes."
Her brother was entirely serious. Alanna was not going to yell about something like money, when she was comfortably warm and well-fed without any expense on her part, but she did have the strong urge to box her brother's ears. He couldn't have asked Coram or Maude about the best way to divide the money, when Alanna knew for a fact that their father would have sent ten gold crowns over from his creditor in Corus.
Alanna controlled herself, somehow, because she loved her brother. She knew that he could be impossible when he didn't stop to think about other people. "Next time, I will insist on speaking to Master Nethen myself," she warned. "Father and I had planned a different distribution, as you know. I should have had two fifths of that, even making allowances for your books."
"Fighting over money, sister?" He had the audacity to look disappointed in her, and maybe that was the last straw. He looked so sanctimonious, so self-righteous, that she didn't want to stop at boxing his ears. She didn't recognize anything in her twin's calm, dismissive expression, and that made her angriest. He looked like Roger, all cool grace and no speck of kindness that wasn't an exchange.
They were in her rooms, but he had far too much dignity to go rifling through her things in case she'd brought any extra pocket money with her. "No. I'm stating a fact, brother, because obviously you can't be bothered to start a discussion with me." Alanna was too angry to fight with him, and he already looked too smug for it to do any good. He'd never admit that he was wrong, or that he could be wrong, and that old arrogance that she'd kept in check through teasing and horseplay had reared into something beyond her control.
Alanna wasn't thinking as she walked away from her rooms, stride purposeful enough that even servants that she liked gave her a respectful distance. She'd usually ask Liore how her baby was doing, or check with Gilda about any meetings Sir Myles had called suddenly, but she didn't want to talk to anybody. She saw no sign of Stefan when she reached the stables, or any other human, but that suited her just fine. She let herself into Chubby's stall with no care for the hem of her dress, and she could apologize to the maid in charge of removing such stains later. Maude was leaving the next morning, and Alanna would need to fend for herself.
She wasn't sure just how much time passed, but Chubby didn't mind the company. He seemed to realize that she wasn't in the mood for much company, or maybe he'd had his fill of sugar cubes, but he didn't lip at her hands and he stayed obligingly near the wall and let her work the curry brush until the dusty old pony was gleaming as bright as a newly-washed yearling.
"In any sort of mood for two-legged company, m'lady?"
Alanna was startled enough to blurt the first thing that came to mind, which wasn't entirely flattering to her unexpected companion. "George? Why are you in the palace?"
He chuckled, not looking the least offended. "Stefan keeps doves up in the lofts, as many hobbyists will, but his fly straight t' me. He said that you planned a talk out with that brother of yours, and that it wouldn't go all that well."
"It went terribly, actually. It's like dealing with another Duke Roger." That was a risk, perhaps, but it was a very small risk. A self-proclaimed King of Thieves wouldn't tattle on her for disliking the king's brother.
"That'd put any body in a mood to deal with horses. Stefan said you'd want t' talk, but that your companion's headed home tomorrow." George said all of that quite calmly, for someone talking about affairs that definitely were no part of his business.
Alanna scowled at him. "I suppose you have spies all through the palace, to tell you such things. I don't like people looking into my business, George."
"Hazard of bein' interesting, my lady," he said, no hint of apology in the voice. Unlike Thom's complete lack of remorse, George's was almost charming. He was admitting what he'd been doing ahead of time, and it wasn't like he was trying to hurt her. "I'd be alone in stopping, if you catch my meaning. So far, you've had Sir Myles taking a close look, as you know, but there's also been attention from Duke Roger himself. You're the twin to one of the most Gifted students in all Tortall, and that draws his notice. If you play that your gift's just Healing, he's like to leave you alone without putting a few obstacles between you an' your magic."
"I'll keep that in mind. I still don't know why you're in the palace."
"We're friendly, now, and Stefan thought you could use a friendly pair of ears that aren't pointed." George rubbed Chubby's head for emphasis.
Alanna had come up with a plan somewhere during her long commune with Chubby, but it seemed the height of selfishness to ask. Still... she needed help, and didn't know if Myles would let her accept help on her own terms. "I could use a favor," Alanna admitted, studying one of the few remaining tangles in the pony's mane.
She didn't see the small changes in George's expression, turning friendly concern to a more neutral look several other nobles would recognize. His voice, however, was unchanged. "What'll it be, then?"
"If I asked Myles, he'd pay and that'd be the end of it, but that almost feels like losing. Thom has to know that I'll need to lean on someone, and I think that Duke Roger could have put him up to this stunt." It wasn't like Thom to be so selfish when it came to sharing with her, but Thom wouldn't have done it with some larger motive than books he really wanted. Alanna knew she should explain from the beginning, but she'd just found the start of an idea. "You already have people all over the palace, so maybe someone out of your Court would be interested in working for both of us. I need a maid."
George was visibly taken aback, and Alanna didn't understand. "You could have at least waited to know what I was going to ask," Alanna said, letting her hand slide down Chubby's shoulder. "Your spies might also have been able to say that I have two silvers to offer any interested party, and I know that it isn't much."
George shook his head, as if clearing something out of his ear. "You don't want your brother to have a talking-to?"
"I doubt that any of your men could talk sense into him," Alanna began, only belatedly understanding what he meant. "You thought I'd ask you to have sense beaten into him," she said flatly, reading the confirmation in George's eyes. "My own brother. I'm not like that, George." Alanna tried to push past him, and strongly considered kicking him when he caught one of her wrists in his hand.
"Forgive me. I misjudged you," he said, hand still curled around her wrist. Alanna could have stayed angry, she supposed, but those five words had more sincerity than most nobles would use in a week. "I heard that your keeper was leaving, but your talk with your twin's so fresh I hadn't heard word just yet. You've a good plan, and I know several girls that'd like to be a lady's maid. The palace will keep them cleaned up, fed, and rested in a proper bed." George slowly released her wrist, perhaps because she was going to hear him out. "If you're sincere in saying that the lady in question could keep on giving me hints about goings-on, then I'd insist on paying her a salary as well."
"Half and half?" Alanna suggested. Someone of his wealth could easily afford two silver for such information, after all. If he paid the girl more, then she'd be deserving it, and it wouldn't mark Alanna as a cheapskate. "Four silver nobles is enough money to spend until Midwinter, and I'm not going to be that time-consuming. My hair's not worth the fuss and I won't even be wearing colors for several months."
"You're a generous soul. Send word about when you'll be at my mother's for your next lessons in healing, and I'll have a few candidates come by for you to interview. I have someone in mind, but other girls might be interested."
From the way George was watching the corridors, it was time for the meeting to be over. "That would be wonderful. I have a lesson tomorrow night, if that isn't too soon."
"Not at all." George spent a moment staring at her, coming to some decision, before slinging an arm around her shoulders in a half-hug. "I am sorry I misunderstood so bad about your twin, lass. Anyone else in the castle, that's what they'd've wanted, but mayhap he just needed this kind of chance. He better use it well."
Alanna compared the cold-eyed squire to the absent-minded, hot-tempered brother she had known, and couldn't help wondering if Squire Thom would care about any opinion from his sister. "I hope he will, George. Safe journeys."
George laughed, squeezing her shoulders one more time. "Not too safe, or a thief'd be bored. My mum will send word when you're there, and we'll be along in time for your usual break."
He vanished in the time it took to latch Chubby's stall door behind them, but Alanna couldn't be angry about that. It only meant that he could avoid the Lord Provost just as well. She felt no more irritated on the long walk back to her rooms, even when she noticed that Thom had left his teacup set out so that a ring of tea would stain the bottom of the cup. George might have had the wrong idea, but it had been easy enough for them to come to an understanding. Why couldn't it be that easy to win her brother back?