to take lightly, given what you went through yesterday. You survived."
"I get the feeling that when I get back home, I'm going to wish I hadn't," Tavi said, his voice choking, wry. He blinked away the tears and summoned up a smile for the young woman.
She returned it. "Can I ask you something?"
He shrugged. "Sure."
"Why endanger what you'd been working toward? Why did you agree to help this Beritte if you knew it could cause problems for you?"
"I didn't think it would," Tavi said, his voice plaintive. "I mean, I thought I could have done it all. It wasn't until nearly the end of the day that I realized I was going to have to pick between getting all the sheep in and those hollybells, and I'd promised her."
"Ah," said the slave, but her expression remained dubious.
Tavi felt his cheeks color again, and he looked down. "All right," he
sighed. "She kissed me, and my brains melted and dribbled out my ears."
"Now that I can believe," Amara said. She stretched her foot toward the water, flicking idly at its surface with her toes.
"What about you?" Tavi asked.
She tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged and looked up at her again, uncertain. "I've been doing all the talking. You haven't said a thing about yourself. Slaves don't usually wander around this far from the road. Or a steadholt. All alone. I figured that, uh, you must have run away."
"No," the young woman said, firmly. "But I did get lost in the storm. I was on my way to Garrison, to deliver a message for my master."
Tavi squinted up at her. "He just sent you out like that? A woman? Alone?"
"I don't question his orders, Tavi. I just obey them."
Tavi frowned, but nodded. "Well, okay, I guess. But, do you think you could come along with me? Maybe talk to my uncle? He could make sure you got to Garrison safely. Get you a hot meal, some warmer clothes."
The slave's eyes wrinkled at the corners. "That's a very polite way to take someone prisoner, Tavi."
He flushed. "I'm sorry. Especially since you probably saved my life and all. But if you are a runaway, and I don't do something about it, the law could come back to hurt my uncle." He pushed his hair back from his eyes. "And I've done enough to mess things up already."
"I understand," she said. "I'll come with you."
"Thank you." He glanced up at the doorway. "Sounds like the rain's stopped. Do you think it's safe to go?"
The slave frowned and looked outside for a moment. "I doubt it's going to get any safer if we wait. We should get back to your steadholt, before the storm gets bad again."
"You think it will?"
Amara nodded, the motion confident. "It has that feel to it."
"All right. Are you going to be all right, walking?" He glanced at her and down at her foot. Her ankle was swollen around a purpling bruise.
Amara grimaced. "It's just my ankle, not the rest of the foot. It hurts, but if I'm careful I should be all right."
Tavi blew out a breath and pushed himself to his feet. All the cuts and injuries twinged and ached, muscle protesting. He had to brace his hand on
the wall for a moment, until he got his balance back. "Okay, then. I guess it isn't going to get any easier."
"I guess not.' Amara let out a small, pained sound as she got to her feet as well. "Well. We make a fine pair of traveling companions. Lead the way."
Tavi headed out of the Memorium and into the chill of the northern wind blowing down from the mountains in the north and the Sea of Ice beyond. Though Tavi had kept the scarlet cloak from the Memorium, the wind was still almost enough to make him turn back inside and seek shelter. Frozen blades of grass crunched beneath his feet, and his breath came out in a steamy haze before his mouth, swiftly torn apart by the winds. There could be no more argument on the subject: Winter had arrived in full force upon the Calderon Valley, and the first snow could not be far behind.
He glanced at the slave behind him. Amara's expression seemed remote, distracted, and she walked with a definite limp, bare feet pale against the icy grass. Tavi winced and said, "We should stop before long, to get your feet warmed up. We could strip one of the cloaks, at least try to