***
After another exhausting dance practice and a quiet supper with the team, Neste trudged to the fountain. Her thoughts weighed her down. Hoel’s jealousy would never allow a discussion of Adam’s plight. Glynis wanted her to spend more time at home, but this was the busiest time of year at the barn. Marc would put his riders in the air all day and night if the horses were strong enough.
Elen arrived before her, bristling with happy energy. She handed the white flower over with a dramatic flourish. Her joy glowed next to Neste’s despair.
"Neste, the most wonderful thing!" Elen’s arms swooped over her head, her eyes alight.
Of course it was wonderful. Elen's life never seemed anything but wonderful Neste twirled the flower stem and tried to summon a smile.
"Morgan asked me to marry him! His father will announce the betrothal tomorrow!"
Tears welled in Neste's eyes. “I’m so happy for you.”
“You don’t look very happy. What’s wrong?” Concern drove the jubilation off her friend’s face.
Neste turned away from her friend and wiped the tears off her cheeks. Neste remembered racing Elen up the little hill behind the barns, laughing and shouting. As children, they often escaped their mother’s eyes and ran off to the fountain or the hill. They lay on their backs in the grass, hair streaming out behind them, and watched horses fly. If no horses were in the sky, they told stories about the cloud shapes and dreamed.
Neste took a deep breath and walked slowly around the fountain. "Do you realize what this means?"
"It means I will be united for life with the man I am passionate about! Why do you sound so sad?"
Neste completed the circuit around the fountain and leaned against the stone Aer. "We are marrying men who are sworn enemies. Do you think they will welcome our friendship?" The two men’s families had feuded over barn politics long before their grandfathers were born. When Elen and Neste each married, loyalty would have to be to husband first. Their friendship would be difficult to maintain if their husbands were bitter enemies.
Elen fell silent for a moment, the light gone from her eyes. “I don’t think Morgan will forbid it.”
Neste felt a perverse relief that the happy bubble had burst, then immediately guilt washed over her. "Elen, I am happy for you, I really am. I know how much you love Morgan." She let the unspoken question hang between them. She suspected that Hoel would indeed forbid her to see Elen.
"I know you are,” Elen whispered. “We’ll find a way to remain friends.”
Neste took Elen’s hand in hers. If they continued to meet at the fountain every night, would they spend time in discussion of everything but their husbands’ feud? She knew they had to try, and smiled at her friend. Elen enveloped her in a hug, and the two friends held on to each other as if tonight was their last night on Earth. “Nothing will part us, Elen. You’ll see. We will find a way.”
“We will find a way,” Elen echoed.
Wings Over Tremeirchson Page 6