by T J Muir
That earned Diya a small nod. At least Diya thought it was a nod. At this point, she was hungry enough that she almost didn't care. The child wasn’t shrieking or attacking her. At this point, silence felt like a tiny victory. While she sat there, she realized she should have spoken to someone in charge. Who was in charge anyway? The mother was ill, and the father was traveling. She was sure it wasn’t the surly maid. Maybe Korina was the estate manager? Maybe Korina could explain her responsibilities to her.
“Maybe we can take this book with us and go find some lunch? I don’t know my way around here, so maybe you can show me?” Tilly didn’t say anything, but after a moment, she stood and took a few steps toward the door.
A small triumph, but Diya took it gratefully and hurried after the tiny waif before she lost her again. With any luck, she might even be able to convert Tilly into an ally.
Tilly stayed a few steps in front of Diya and led them down a short hall to the kitchens. The scents of sweet herbs and spices greeted the tired pair— rosemary and garlic. Diya moved over to the cook stove, lifting the lid to peer into the large pot. Over on a stone bench next to the fireplace, a grey tabby cat lifted its head lazily and stretched briefly before returning to its nap. Tilly walked over and pet the cat, chewing the side of her thumb in silence.
“Put yer hands into my stew and yer fingers will regret it.”
Startled, Diya jumped back, and the lid clattered loudly against the stove. She spun to see a wooden spoon waving in front of her face. Once she was satisfied it was not going to whack her, she looked at the woman brandishing it. Korina.
“Excuse me?” she asked, caught off guard by the change in attitude. Then she caught herself. She wasn't the so'har's daughter here. She wasn't anyone. By the look on the cook's face, she was close to making another enemy. “I'm sorry. You startled me,” Diya said. “I was hoping to get some lunch—for Tilly,” she added hastily. She hoped Korina would be sympathetic to the young girl. “I’m sorry if I disrupted your kitchen. I’m still learning my way around.”
She used her best, ‘Don’t be mad, I’m just a dumb girl’ routine. “The stew smelled wonderful and I don’t think Tilly had breakfast…” her voice trailed off. She decided not to mention the earlier commotion. “I’m not really sure,” she said, lowering her voice a notch. “She hasn’t said anything all morning.”
Korina cast a sideways glance at Tilly who stood silently by the prep table, watching the two closely.
The cook turned to Tilly. “Go set the table in the solar for two. Plates and bowls for soup. I’ll bring you both a hot lunch in there.”
Tilly turned and left, silently, with none of the boisterous energy a child would normally show. Once she was gone, the cook turned back to Diya. “A sad story, that one. H’aint spoke a word in close on two years.”
Diya replayed the morning’s events in her mind and realized Tilly hadn’t said anything the entire time. “Nothing? Not a single word? How horrible! What happened?”
“She come home that way, two years back” Korina shrugged, looking wistful. “She manages just fine, but she don’t speak a single word.”
“Not a single word?”
Korina shook her head. “Not a one.”
“What happened?”
“Two year back, Ashok took Jinna down to Vanteyn to see a special doctor, down on the peninsula. They decided to bring the children along. So they hired a nursemaid to go along with them. They rented a house for the family. Ash was mostly with the doctors, leavin’ the little ones with the nursemaid. As you can imagine, they were all stressed and anxious. Little Tilly was cryin’ for her mama. Turns out you don' know someone as well as you think. When they found out what had happened they were furious. The nursemaid was sacked on the spot, but the damage was already done.”
Diya listened, her dismay growing deeper as the story progressed. “What did the governess do to Tilly?”
“Well, it uz most the way she handled them like. Too stern and strict. At home, it didn't happen but in a new house and all of them uz scared for their mama. Well, it's no surprise Tilly cried for her mama. Cried and cried, she did. Where's mama? Where's mama? Finally, the nurse locked her in an empty storage room as punishment til she stop cryin’, like. She cried and cried til she wore herself out. Come out and start all over again. Right back into the room. The twins tried to go to her and got a spankin for their efforts. They kept tryin anyway but that only make it worse. Finally Tilly got told that if she didn't stop carryin on, the twins be punished too for all her fussing. After that, it got quiet. And stayed quiet every since. No one noticed at first.”
Korina sighed and shrugged, wiping her hands on a towel. Then she looked at Diya, a concerned frown on her face and nodded. “And Marrick explained your situation to me. Such a considerate and devoted man,” she said, but her tone was a bit more friendly now. “I know it was late when you come in last night. You were a right tired and a bit fevered. I’m Korina. My husband Chak, he’s the one manages the property and the animals. Our nephew lives with us too, a good lad, Benua, lost his family years ago. Helps out wherever he’s needed. Don’t be afraid to ask him for help. If you let him know, he can bring wood into the room for you.”
“Will he also light the fires?” Diya asked. The question earned her a strange look. “Am I supposed to start my own fires?” She had no idea how. “Does it stay this cold up here?”
Korina laughed. “It's not even cold now. It's almost spring after all.”
Diya cringed, hearing that. “Do you think he could start the fire for me today?”
“It needs starting? Didna you--” Then Korina shook her head, “Oh, right, you're from the south. Warmer there, eh?”
“Much! Much warmer.”
“I'll be sure to tell Ben to keep plenty of wood in your room and he can show you how to tend the fire and keep it going. Oh and there's also Letta, the house girl- she also looks after Jinna. And there's Hadrin the twins’ tutor who comes in several times each week.”
Diya nodded. She had a feeling Korina would prove to be a valuable ally and source of information.
“Can I ask you,” she began and then paused, uncertain how to frame her question. “What exactly am I supposed to do? No one told me anything.”
“This is your first real job, hain’t it?” Korina asked.
Diya bit her lip, feeling guilty for being privileged. “Yes, I guess it is my first real job, and it wasn’t what I was expecting, so far.”
Korina nodded.
Diya wondered if the cook had heard the fight or heard about the morning’s incident with the twins.
“Well, Tilly will be your main concern. The twins have lessons and keep ta themselves most times.”
“What does Tilly require? What do I do with her?”
“Just the regular daily care. Getting her up and washed an dressed. Most mornin’s, she come down to breakfast in here. Then she goes off for a bit until late morning.”
“What happens at late morning?” Diya asked, hoping the child went to school or had some regime she followed. It would be nice if all she needed to do was get the child up and dressed.
“Tills likes to spend time with her mama. They snuggle up together, read books and nap.”
“How sweet,” Diya said, relieved.
“Then you’ll have her for the afternoons. After dinner, the twins may take her to play. They’s been right good at lookin after the wee un.”
This was sounding like it was going to be easy. Her biggest problem might be getting bored with too much time on her hands. “Thank you. That’s very helpful. I’m sure I’ll have more questions, but this is a good start.”
Korina nodded, acknowledging Diya’s response. “Now go, scoot. Find that little un afore she gets her hands into something. I’ll bring lunch in ta tha pair of yers.”
Diya turned to go then stopped, looking back over her shoulder. “Where did she go? How do I find her?”
Korina laughed and rattled through a quic
k layout of the house. Diya nodded, catching enough to find her way around, and then headed off to recover her littlest charge. Distrusting Tilly not to take off, she hurried down the hall and narrowly missed bumping into the housemaid again. The two eyed each other for a moment, and their mutual dislike solidified. The girl snorted in annoyance, and Diya rolled her eyes as she passed the insolent servant. She found Tilly back in the children's playroom- quiet now. Stepping over the wreckage of the kite, she spotted Tilly sitting in a window seat and staring outside. Diya didn't know what was so interesting, even in bright daylight everything was drab. The snow was already melting so everything was greys and dull browns--dead leaves, mud and dirt, bare trees. The scenery did nothing to lift her depressed spirits.
Korina bustled into the room a few minutes behind Diya and set out lunch at the table: a hearty stew with lentils, carrots and some kind of meat along with fresh baked buttered rolls and a plate with cheese. Watching the cook lay out the plates, she paid attention as Korina talked to Tilly and observed Tilly's reactions. Tilly's expression changed slightly as the cook spoke. She was listening. “A nice rabbit stew for ya today, sweetums. Your bread’s all buttered, and the cheese is sliced thin. Letta will pick up the dishes later.”
“Clean your plate up before you have any sweets,” Korina told Tilly. Then she set Diya’s plate out as well before disappearing back to the kitchens.
As soon as Diya started eating, she realized how hungry she was. At first it tasted strange- a different meat with spices she wasn't used to. Rabbit was not a common dish in the south, but she found herself enjoying the western cooking and helped herself to seconds. It was hot. That was the most appealing part. She liked the ball of warmth in her belly, dissipating the cold chill she had felt all morning.
After she’d emptied the first bowl, she began to pay attention to Tilly who focused on her own lunch, but there came the occasional glance out of the corner of a wary eye that told her she was keeping her guard up, one eye on Diya’s every move.
Everyone else had been there long enough to have a way of dealing with the child. Diya had no idea how to deal with normal children and even less idea of how to deal with Tilly. Tilly didn’t fall into any neat little box. Diya was used to social chatter from adults and friends and having servants around that she didn’t need to interact with.
She looked around their table. “This is a lovely room with all the plants and pretty flowers.” She didn’t actually recognize any of them, but it gave her an excuse to keep talking. “And the morning sun must be pretty. Do you know this flower here?” she said, looking to a desert violet she recognized.
Tilly neither looked nor shrugged. She only held her bread and listened.
“It is said that Iyana wept for her missing brother for so long that her tears spread across the world until she had no tears left, and all the land became dry. All the crops failed and the land forgot it had ever been green. But this one flower, it remembered.” That earned her a quick glance.
“This little violet collected the tears and saved them. So if you go out in the morning you can find tiny little dewdrops on them, sometimes called Iyana’s tears, that are thought to have magical powers.”
Running out of small talk, Diya remembered the book she’d carried down from the library. “How about we finish up the story?” She reached over and opened it, leafing through to find where they’d left off.
Before she could find her place, Esha and Pasha burst into the room.
“Oh. You’re here,” Pasha said with a look of annoyance that matched the dry tone in his voice. “Still.”
Esha went over and hugged Tilly who wrapped her arms around her sister. “Don't worry Tills, she won't be staying long, okay?”
Pasha shrugged and snorted. “Two days, tops.” Then he took a bowl, helping himself to the stew.
Diya pretended not to hear them as she flipped through the pages of the book. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of a reply.
Esha looked over to her brother, dropping her voice but it was intentionally loud enough for Diya to hear. “Where's your snake? I haven't seen it for days now. Did you ever find it?”
Snake? What snake? Then her brain caught up with what Esha had said just before the bit about the snake. Diya was shocked. They were counting down how long it would take for her to fail. They were trying to play her for a fool. She was better at this game than they were.
“Snake? Well what kind of snake is it anyway? Maybe I can help find it, especially since it's so chilly. You wouldn't want it to crawl into some cubby to hibernate.”
The twins exchanged glances, both of them caught off guard. “Well, it was brown, with spots.”
“That sounds like a barn snake.”
“You know what a barn snake is?”
“When I learned how to draw, I had to practice drawing things in motion. Snakes were a good example.” In truth, she had been assigned snakes as her project and hadn't liked it, much preferring birds, but she had learned a few things about snakes during the process. Snakes biting. Snakes swallowing live rodents. Snakes curling up in the sun, that part she could relate to now. She remembered handling one and recoiling at the strange sensation of the reptile coiling around her hand and wrist.
She enjoyed watching Pasha's smug expression fade.
“Oh, I'm sure he's around. We'll find him.”
“Well, when you find it, I'd love to meet him.”
The twins scowled when she said that. So she decided to make her exit before the situation turned into a disaster. “Well, since it is such a nice day, I think I will go outside for a walk. Tilly, would you like to come along?”
Tilly looked back and forth between the twins and Diya, then she slipped off the chair and followed Diya to the door.
On her way out, she ran into a crisp looking man who was slightly older than she was. Must be the tutor, she realized, and offered him a smiling bow.
“Hello. You must be Hadrin.”
She was met with a sniff of disdain but the man didn’t say anything. Why was it everyone hated her before she’d even met them?
“Would I be able to see what you have been working on with the children? I might be able to help them with their assignments if I have an idea what they’re covering.”
Another sniff. “They are perfectly capable of completing their studies without supervision. And, if you please, do not interfere with their work.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. First the housemaid and now the tutor. Hadrin made it abundantly clear that this was not the easy comfortable reception she had been expecting. She scowled at the man, knowing the type. She wasn’t going to win him over, but that didn’t mean she intended to let him treat her like one of the servants either. Before turning, she said simply, “Good morning, sir.”
Best to avoid him altogether.
She walked down the hall to double glass doors that opened out onto a veranda. She yanked it open harder than she intended and immediately slammed it shut when she was hit by a cold blast of air. Taking a quick trip back to her room, she layered on another shirt, a vest and a sweater and then grabbed the coat she found in the trunk.
The second time she opened the doors, she was prepared for the bite in the air. When the wind blew, it bit at her cheeks, but it felt good to be outside. At least she wasn't going to run into anyone. She pulled her coat close around her. As she did, a movement caught her eye. Tilly was standing just inside the door, struggling to pull on a jacket.
By the nine hells! She had totally forgotten about the girl. Things were not starting off well. She opened the door again, stepping back inside.
“Here, let me help you,” she said, but Tilly shrank away from her. Still feeling the tender spot where Tilly had kicked her on her shin, she took a step back. After watching her for a second, she managed to grab the problem sleeve just enough so that Tilly could get her arm into it. “Is that going to be warm enough?” she asked, noticing how thin the jacket was. Even though it
was lined with fleece, it didn't feel very heavy, but Tilly just twisted the door handle and marched past her.
CHAPTER Eight
Deciding it wasn't going to help if she argued, she followed her charge outside. It was brisk but bearable, she decided. She looked out over the area. The view would be stunning if there was any color. Most of the snow had already melted, leaving white lumps speckling the yard. She looked to her right as a strip of black glistened, cutting through a low spot in the fields. At first she thought it was a stream but then realized it was a lane. She could make out a gate crossing it, about halfway down where a hedgerow divided the fields. The lane stretched off down the slopes to Dunwood village. At least, she supposed it must be Dunwood. A handful of roofs broke through the treeline which probably constituted the town. It looked like it was within reasonable walking distance. There wasn't anything else in the area, just trees, more trees, and hills. Besides that, she couldn’t see anything significant.
Tilly had gone down the steps and was poking a stick around in a mud puddle. Diya walked up close enough to make sure she wasn't doing anything wrong, like stabbing a frog to death. Tilly was just poking at a leaf through. Nearby was a small mound of snow. Curious, she reached out with a finger. Cold. Soft. Wet. She scooped up a handful. Really cold! Raising it to her face, she sniffed it. It even smelled the way she imagined cold would smell, crisp, sharp and tangy. She touched it to her tongue. It tasted like ice which she liked but only when it was hot out. She pressed the snow between her hands. It was almost like clay. She could shape it and pack it but then her hands started to burn with the cold. She dropped it to shove her hands inside her coat. Snow was not as much fun as she thought it might be.