Chapter 2

Katherine strode into her beloved cottage, while Allie took the horses to the back, to the stables that doubled as a barn for the cattle. Allie had kept the house working, and there was even a pile of chopped wood by the hearth.

"Praise the Mother, I've missed you." She felt like hugging the nearest wall.

The house could have kindled the fire if she asked it to, but Katherine would rather do it herself. Grandpa had always taught her not to be lazy and to learn how to do things without having to turn to magic every time, specially when fire was… well, they didn't get along much. The fire licked at the carefully arranged wood, scenting the room with the smell of home.

She could have cried at how good it was.

"I've already kindled the oven, do you want me to start making the dough?" Allie´s voice came from the kitchen.

"No, darling, you've already done so much. You didn't have to chop the wood."

"I wanted to get it ready for when we came home." She appeared on the doorway, travel bag on her shoulder.

"Don't overexert yourself, darling." Katherine took the bag from her "Go rest a while, will you?"

"I'm not a child, mum." Allie smiled.

"You're my child."

"Fine." She laughed "I've already fed the horses."

"Thank you darling."

Katherine set to work in the kitchen. The neighbours would come by to return the livestock that had been in their safekeeping and the sprouts and seeds that were to be planted in Spring, and the least she could do was to have some cookies and tea to receive them when they came, even when, in her head, she was counting every penny it would cost her.

Katherine tried to convince herself that it didn't matter much, they were poor but not hungry, and she had saved some of the salary she got from the municipality. They would rest in winter, and then, when spring came, she would set to work with all her might, and if it all went well there would be no need to sell any more of her beloved jewellery.

It was delightful to have her neighbours and friends coming to her and it not meaning trouble. Katherine smiled sincerely, for the first time in years, as she saw them coming up the path to the cottage.

"The bell's still working?" Old Duncan asked, watching Allie lead the livestock to the stables.

"Yes, all is in order." She shifted the bag of beans from one hip to the other.

"Good. If anything looks wrong you ring the bell and I'll be here."

Old Duncan had become a treasure in their community, and Katherine valued him above any of the townsfolk. If she had ever managed to grow a single plant from the ground, it had been thanks to him, but (bitter)sweet Old Duncan couldn't reconcile the idea that the time had passed. Having been too old to go to this last war, he still swore he would be the one to protect them, should anything go wrong, bless his soul.

"Thank you, Duncan."

"It's not right, the two of you alone out here..."

"Has He been seen around?" Katherine asked the question around which their lives seemed to revolve.

"Not here. Still, anything looks wrong you ring for me, promise?"

"Don't worry, we'll be safe here."

Old Duncan hummed, not looking much convinced.

"I'm all but hiding from her!" Marguerite insisted, stirring her tea.

Katherine laughed, putting a taste of milk to her cup.

"I wish Lilly would be wed tomorrow and spare all of us." She picked a muffin from the basket Marguerite had brought.

"Of course not, Liz is going to milk every last drop of it. If I ever become like that with Daphne, please push me into the river." She insisted.

"Do you think Lorna has fled to Town to escape her bragging?"

"Would you stay in the same house as her?"

"Absolutely not!" Katherine laughed, licking the jelly off her fingers.

"Oh, sister dearest, shouldn't we be searching for husbands for our girls too?" Marguerite sighed.

"Oh, stop that, Maggie, for the Mother´s sake, everyone has already hinted that at me. Is it a crime that I want my daughter with me for a little longer?"

"Not at all." Marguerite smiled over her tea "They are still so young."

Katherine chuckled.

"It's… rather shocking to think that we were even younger."

"Our mothers didn't like us very much, did they?"

They shared a laughter. Katherine´s mother, Clara, didn't like her at all, and Angeline was… not very warm to say the least.

Through the kitchen window they could only see the pasture and the treeline, not the back of the house, where Daphne and Allie were bound to be huddled on the swinging bench talking their own gossip. Katherine and Marguerite had been fresh youths, just out of their childhood, when they had been introduced, the week before Katherine´s wedding to Marguerite´s brother. The first thing Marguerite ever said to her was "Oh, thank the Mother, you're so pretty!" and that's how Katherine found out that she had been planted there as a spy to make sure Katherine wasn't ugly, since Kiril couldn't see her before the wedding.

They were only girls back then. So much had happened since.

"Do you remember when this silence would make us panic?" Marguerite broke the thread of her thoughts, lost in her own memories.

"I still get worried if everything is too quiet for too long." Katherine admitted "Do you want to go check?"

Marguerite chuckled.

"They're adults now, Kate."

Katherine shook her head with a smile. Of course they are.

"Do you need any help here in the farm?"

There it was. She knew Marguerite hadn't come by the very day after they had dinned at the Wyatts´ only to commiserate about Elize´s bragging.

"I should be the one asking you this."

Marguerite waved her hand dismissively.

"Charle has taken over, we have nothing to worry about. I can come here to help if you want."

Katherine reached over the table to take her hand, but remembered her fingers were still sticky with jelly.

"We're doing fine, darling. But thank you for offering."

Marguerite didn't seem much convinced. It was no easy job to run a farm by oneself, but if Kiril had managed, so would she.

"Well, if you need anything, just let me know."

"Don't worry, I will."

The Wyatts had been the light of her life, especially ever since Kiril had passed. Jules had taught her all about managing the cattle while Marguerite cared for Allie alongside with her own Daphne and Charle Wyatt, making small gifts of food every now and then, that were often the only thing preventing her from going hungry in those dreadful first years of widowhood.

She knew Charle Wyatt would have taken over Jules´ part of the work, but that meant that some of his work would have spilled to Marguerite and Daphne, and Katherine didn't want to add to their load by asking them to come to her aid. She would manage it by herself, as she should.

"I've fed the beasts already." Allie strode in the kitchen, a sullen air about her.

Katherine would surely have hoped so, the girl had spent the last couple hours in the stables, as she had taken to doing when she was feeling upset and wanted to be alone, which was becoming alarmingly common. Far be it from her to judge, the company of the beasts was sometimes the only company one needed, but she was starting to get worried that there was something more serious going on with Allie.

"Thank you, darling." She served her some chicken pea and smoked beef soup "Is anything the matter?"

"Thanks, mum." Allie tested the temperature of the soup on her lip before putting it back down "No, nothing."

Katherine served her own plate and sat down, facing Allie.

"I'm not going to pry on your private business." Says every mother, before proceeding to pry on their children´s private business "But you've been very withdrawn, and you've grown rather thin. If there's anything wrong, you know I'll do all I can to help you."

Allie stirred the soup, chewing on her cheek.

"I know mum." She tested the temperature of the soup again and deemed it safe now "You know the thinness runs in Dad´s family."

Allie had always looked more like Marguerite´s daughter than Katherine´s, dainty, fair and freckled, but she was looking really thin now.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Allie. If you don't want to tell me, then just say it."

Allie blushed.

"I'm sorry, mum. It's silly, really."

Katherine waited.

"Did aunt Maggie tell you Lilly is getting married?"

She nodded.

"I've learned it from her as well, through Daph." Allie took another spoonful of soup, suddenly hungry in her righteousness "We've been friends from the cradle and she didn't even take the time to write me a line about it, I had to hear it from the Wyatts."

"That's inconsiderate." Katherine agreed, parting the beef in her plate with the spoon so that it would last longer.

"Do you know her mother is sending her all the way to Fair River?"

Katherine nodded. Elize must be mad for all but banishing her only child to the very end of The Alliance in that peace as stable as a newborn calf. The less-than-enthusiastic newest partisan town had finally decided to stop playing hard to get and sign their bloody name to The Book, after it became clear that no one was much inclined to try their hands at regicide just now.

"I found that very odd."

Allie scoffed.

"There were suitors closer by, but none with as handsome a farm as Anthony Collins, it seems."

Their dinner was finished in gossip, and Katherine made some spiced milk to cheer Allie up before they sat by the fire to work.

"Thanks, mum."

The hot spiced milk had brought a touch of colour to Allie´s face, as Katherine knew it would. The tried and true recipe from Grandpa Titian had never once in her life failed her.

"You know you can count on me."

"I know." Allie smiled down at her embroidery.

Katherine sat down on the big couch to work on Allie´s new dress. The ones she had adjusted to fit her had belonged to Daphne before, and Katherine was eager that she would have at least one nice dress of her own, even tough Allie had never minded the hand-me-downs. She was a smart, practical girl, and there was no ill feeling between the cousins for it, but Allie had grown taller than Daphne, and a girl must have her own dresses.

"You know, I shouldn't stay cross with her for it." Allie didn't look up from her embroidery "There's freedom in forgiveness."

Where did that come from? Katherine had never taken Allie for a spiritual female, and, if the child´s temper wasn't as ruthless as the mother´s had been, forgiveness wasn't a concept Allie was much familiar with.

"I assume you're right. But you don't have to feel obliged to forgive her just because she is your friend."

Allie went on working.

"Shouldn't I? She has done good by me all of our lives, should I hold one wrong against all of that?"

Katherine couldn't help smiling.

"You are your father´s daughter, you know?"

Allie looked up from the work, smiling back at her.

"Am I?"

"Thoroughly."

"Are you sure?" Elize arched her sandy eyebrows at Katherine.

"Yes, you go on. I don't have a mind for cards tonight."

What she didn't have was a purse for it. Perhaps after the harvest she could indulge a little, but that was almost a year away now.

"You deal, then." Elize determined, handing her the pack.

Katherine dealt the pack with half a mind, watching Lilly playing the piano alongside Daphne, while Charle Wyatt stood close by enjoying the music.

Katherine wondered if Allie had managed to forgive Lilly in her heart as well as in words. It was one thing to declare that she wasn't cross with her friend, but a whole other thing to actually feel it, and Allie hadn't wanted to come to dinner at the Lewis´, even though she insisted that Katherine attended.

"Antoinette says you're not even looking for a suitor for Alanis yet, how comes?" Elize´s voice caught her attention back to the card table.

"She hasn't expressed any interest in marriage yet." Which Katherine was immensely grateful for. She never understood the Spring custom of marrying girls off as soon as they have their blood, Allie hadn't even started wearing her hair up yet.

"You should prompt her." Elize insisted "You know girls that age, always one step away from ruin."

Katherine shook her head, trying not to laugh. At Allie´s age, she had already been neck deep into ruin and reformed to a good and honest life, but her rosebud of a child was all of Kiril and none of her, and so she had nothing to worry about.

"Not Alanis."

Elize looked very serious.

"Don't trust that."

Having found a suitor for her daughter had turned Elize into an expert matchmaker, it seemed.

"Leave Kate alone!" Marguerite came to her rescue "Alanis is an angel, and I'm sure there will be no lack of suitors when the time comes."

"You know, you don't even have to be parted from her." Old Duncan started, and Katherine braced herself "Young Charle is going to need a wife soon."

"They're cousins, Duncan!" Marguerite laughed.

"What of it? The most ordinary thing in the world."

They had already been through that a dozen times. Katherine tried not to laugh alongside Marguerite.

"You know my parents were cousins!" He went on.

"I thought they were second cousins." Jules noted.

"All the same." Old Duncan huffed "And they were mates even!"

Katherine had always found that very suspicious, and if she were Old Duncan she wouldn't keep repeating that story around, for the only way she could make sense of it in her mind would imply some fault of one of his grandmothers, but it seemed the thought never crossed his mind, and she'd rather not be the one to voice it.

Not that she was in the place to judge much. Everyone knew there was some blood in her family that didn't quite belong there, and, even though it would skip a generation or two, it always ended up resurfacing.

The ride back to her cottage was rushed by the cold. It was still early winter, and still early in the night, but this year was promising to give them one show of a winter. Katherine could see the steam coming up from her mare.

"It's going to be a harsh winter."

"Aye. You know I don't like the two of you staying alone in that farm. What are you going to do when the snow comes?"

Katherine smiled.

"We're going to be fine."

"The bell still works?"

"Just fine." She placated him.

"If you need anything just ring and I'll come to your help on a hound sleigh if I have to."

They didn't even breed the right dogs for that in Spring, but she wouldn't contradict him.

"You're a treasure, Duncan. Don't worry, if anything happens, we'll call for you."

They really would. The Lewis were the nearest neighbours to their farm, there wasn't much of a choice there.

"Are you sure you don't want to come in for some tea or a glass of spiced wine?" Katherine offered, jumping to the ground.

"I'd rather not leave Elize and Lilly alone for long. But if you need anything..."

"I know, I know." Katherine laughed "Thank you for bringing me home, Duncan."

"Aye. You're welcome, Kate."

She rushed into the warmth of the stables, the smell of the beasts enfolding her.

"There, there. Let us brush you now." She cooed at Rain "It's so cold out there, isn't it?"

"Mum?"

Allie´s voice came from the loft.

"Hello there, darling. How are you? What are you doing up there?"

Allie all but jumped down the ladder.

"Just spending time. You're back so early?"

There was an odd edge to her voice and her excessive smile.

"I didn't want to leave you alone late in the night. How is your headache?" That had been the reason she had given for not attending the dinner party.

"Better now." If Katherine were a hound, her ears would definitely be up at that exaggerated merriness "How was dinner?"

"Same as always. Old Duncan is about to set a date for your wedding to your cousin."

Allie giggled, and that was all Katherine needed to hear. Allie would never laugh at that normally, she detested that Old Duncan kept insisting that she should be married to Charle Wyatt.

Katherine went to the wall to hang Rain's saddle, and Allie shifted lightly on her feet, keeping between her and the ladder.

"Can you pick the brush for me, darling?"

Allie checked for a moment. She would have to leave her post for it. It was only a second, and then she went to the cabinet to fetch the brush. Katherine gave two steps to the side and put her hand on the ladder. Allie was white as a sheet when she turned back and saw it.

"Do you need anything up there, mum? I can fetch it for you."

Katherine drew in a deep breath. She had raised Allie to trust her, and she would never break that trust.

"Allie, is there any reason why you don't want me to go up to the loft?"

Allie pressed the horse brush to her chest, twisting at the bristles with one hand. Perhaps she had some of Katherine´s blood in her after all. She knew what, she only needed to know who.

"I..." Allie tried to breath in, looking panicked.

"Allie, no matter what, I love you." Katherine would never be the kind of mother to be appalled at her adult daughter taking a lover, she had more than a handful of them herself back in the days of her girlhood.

"Mum, strike a bargain with me." Allie extended her arm to Katherine "I'll tell you everything, but you have to promise not to harm anyone over it."

Katherine put her cool hands to her face.

"Allie, I know there is a faerie in our loft." Allie looked into her eyes for a moment, as if assessing if she should deny it "Don't lie to me. There's no need of a bargain, you have my word, I'm not going to harm anyone over anything."

"Aren't you angry?"

"Of course not."

If Allie knew half of what she had done...

Allie stood there with her arm half-extended.

"I'm going to the kitchen." She announced loudly "So that this faerie can go home and we can all pretend I don't know anything about it."

Allie frowned.

"No, mum, he's staying with us."

Katherine checked. It was one thing to take a lover, but another thing entirely to bring someone home.

"Do I know him?" She asked in a whisper.

"In a way." Allie looked about to cry "Please, mum, you promised."

"You know what my word is worth."

Allie nodded with a swallow.

"You… you can come down now."

If Katherine were the fainting type, she would certainly have fainted then. The male was taller than anyone she knew, and broad as a bull. She had never seen him in the flesh, but everyone knew what he looked like, Kiril had gone into extensive description when he came back from the tithe.

"Madam." The High Lord greeted her with a respectful bow of his head.