fine. But he was so tired, I thought it would be better to stop. I'm bringing him some hot bran mash and Rinnie's giving him a rubdown so he's not so stiff and sore tomorrow." He frowned. "Jes, who is this?"
Jes frowned back, though he knew his frown wasn't as impressive as Lehr's. "This is the one I was sent for," he said.
Lehr smiled suddenly and shook his head. "All right, Jes. Good afternoon, lady. I am Lehr Tieraganson. You've already met my brother Jes."
The stranger he'd brought back with him tugged at Jes's hand gently and he released her.
"I am called Hennea," she said. "I am looking for the Traveler called Seraph."
"This one went to where Father was killed," said Jes, because the Guardian reminded him that it was important. "The forest king followed her and then held her for us. He thought she was coming here, which was fine with him."
"So why did he send for you?" asked Lehr after a moment, and the woman, Hennea, looked as if she'd like to know, too.
Jes sighed. "I'm not sure." But it was something Mother should know, and Lehr would remember to tell her. So he prodded the Guardian, who could make a better answer.
Lehr took a step back when the Guardian came, and that made Jes sad. The Guardian didn't like frightening his family.
"The forest king said that she had dark magic and power and he didn't want her in his territory."
Jes came back quickly, because the Guardian was unpredictable and might decide that the woman could be a threat to his territory, too. Jes didn't want him to scare her because... because he liked her.
"Dark magic?" asked Lehr, with a look at Hennea.
She put out her hand and showed him her wrist and tapped on the bracelet there. Jes didn't like it, nor did the Guardian - it smelled wrong.
"I expect that he's talking about this. Who is the forest king?"
Lehr smiled suddenly and shrugged. "I don't know, actually. I thought he was a story that Jes made up until I met him today." He turned to Jes. "Who is the forest king?"
Jes squirmed, uncomfortable with all the attention that they had been paying him. The Guardian didn't like people looking at him too much. "He's the forest king," he mumbled, almost forgetting the question in his discomfort.
Lehr seemed to sense how Jes was feeling because he said, "Come with me," picked up the bucket, and continued out to the barn.
Depressed and weary of both grief and anger, Seraph almost didn't notice that there was something wrong as she walked up to her cabin.
Alinath had already heard about Tier - Forder had stayed overnight in Redern and spread the news. She'd approached Alinath expecting to deal with shock and grief, but found Tier's sister waiting for her with anger and blame, instead.
It was only when Gura didn't greet her that Seraph set the stress of the unhappy meeting she'd had with Alinath aside and looked around. The boys weren't in the field, and Rinnie wasn't working in the garden.
She whistled and was rewarded with a bark, and Gura dashed out of the barn to welcome her with a wuff of apology for his tardiness. He followed at her heels as she headed for the barn.
Something must have happened to Skew, she thought.
The interior of the barn was dim in comparison to the afternoon light, so she was still half-blind when she heard Lehr say, "Here she is, now. Mother, we have a visitor."
As her vision cleared, Seraph saw Skew with his head buried in a grain bucket. Rinnie was standing next to him with a brush in her hand. Jes slouched against the barn wall a few feet from Lehr and a woman: a Traveler woman wearing a solsenti dress who stared at Seraph with pale eyes.
Seraph felt her eyebrows climb in surprise and instinctive dismay. She had enough trouble on her hands, and a lone Traveler could only be bringing more.
"I am Hennea," the woman said. "Raven of the Clan of Rivilain Moon-Haired."
"Seraph, Raven of the Clan of Isolda the Silent," replied Seraph. She waited and Lehr obliged her.
"Jes's forest king came this morning," he said, sounding a bit bemused. "He told us that there was a child loose in the woods and asked Jes to fetch her. Jes brought Hennea back. He told me that the forest king didn't want her in his territory because she held dark magic and power."