by T J Muir
Later that night, after all three of the children were asleep, she snuck down into the playroom and set up a practice maze. It was harder than it looked, learning how to change the direction of pushing and controlling the speed. Her brain was exhausted from concentrating long before midnight and she fell into bed without changing. Magic was more work than what she was doing outside, and she hoped that it would get easier.
CHAPTER Nineteen
By the end of the week, she knew the eight Beddo who came in every morning to work. At least they weren't staying on the grounds. From what she understood, there was a p'hatra just on the other side of the village. Diya knew those were designated lands where the Beddo had camping rights. That kept the Beddo from infiltrating local areas and causing trouble. At the end of each day, they all piled into a wagon to trek back and forth.
There were two couples. Shanuk and L'harr had been working the manor for over fifteen years- in both spring and fall. They looked to be around forty. Tagrit and Bashar were related to Shanuk and seemed to be married, based on Tagrit's round belly. Added to the bunch were four cousins, Garmin and Roekan who were brothers along with Javin and Finka. All four were just slightly older than the twins.
Seeing the twins socializing with people their own age confirmed Diya's suspicion that the two needed to make some friends. Proper friends.
It was getting dark by the time they finished putting up the fence in the lower sheep meadow. They would repair the gates tomorrow. The bonfire was already going and instruments had come out. Finka came by and offered Diya some cold cider.
“Thank you,” she said, but she couldn't help glancing down to make sure the mug was clean before taking a sip.
It didn't take more than a moment for them to start singing, a song about a drunk man and a goat that was funny. Watching them, she saw an open and friendly side of the Beddo that contradicted everything she had ever been taught. They laughed and danced and sang. They sang beautifully. There were a lot of songs about animals getting the better of foolish people and drunk people, and there were songs about work, harvesting and the seasons. There was one that caught Diya’s attention in particular, about a young man whose heart was broken. According to the song, Beddo girls generally stayed with their families while boys must be invited to travel with their caravan. For a tiny moment, she wondered what her life would be like if she was able to make that choice.
Thinking about that hurt. She forced herself to think about anything else. She looked around to check on the children. Tilly had already gone back to the house and was in bed. Pasha was sitting with Bashar and bent over the lap harp. Bashar was showing Pasha how to play it. Where was Esha?
She thought back to the last time she had seen the girl but couldn't remember. She was nowhere around the bonfire. Maybe she had gone back to the house? Diya wanted to make sure the girl was safe, and since Pasha looked fine, she headed back to the house. When she got near the barn, she thought she heard a noise from just inside the door. Worried that Zaylin might be drunk and hiding out in the barn, she decided to investigate.
“Esha!” she cried, surprised. Just inside the door, sitting on a hay bale, she found Esha and Roekan, kissing and cuddling. “Esha!!!”
Esha jumped back, leaving a space between she and Roe. Diya looked back and forth between the two of them. Deal with the easier one first. The situation with Roe was simple and straightforward. “You!” she said, turning to Roe. “This is completely unacceptable. You and your family are here to do a job. To work. Not-- this,” she said, waving a hand towards Esha who was looking angry and embarrassed. “You are not to show your face back here again under any circumstances.”
Roe stood there for a moment, looking truly terrified as though the gravity of what he had been doing was hitting him. “I'm very sorry, missus. It will not happen again, please, I am very sorry.”
“You're absolutely right it won't happen again because there won't be another chance for that. Now go!”
She pointed out the door and down the lane, indicating that Roe should go straight back to the p'hatra. Roe kept his eyes down on the ground and ducked out the door without looking back, disappearing into the gloom.
Then Diya turned back to Esha. Now that it was just the two of them, Diya felt less sure about what to say. Am I over-reacting?
“What were you thinking?”
“What? I like Roe and he likes me! What is so horrible about being with a boy you like?” Esha asked, challenging Diya.
“First, that isn't just any boy. That is one of the workers. And he is older than you are. He should know better.”
“This has nothing to do with his age. You’re just angry because he’s Beddo!” Esha argued back, accusing Diya of being a snob. “There’s nothing wrong with the Beddo. They’re just different than us, but Roekan is a really nice boy. You’d know that if you spent any time with them or even spoke to him.”
No, I am not going to let her twist this around. “This has nothing to do with him being Beddo!” Diya said. “You’re too young to be--,” her voice trailed off, remembering her own escapades at the same age.
“Oh, so you’ll just banish every boy my age? Are you going to lock me in my room?” Esha threw her head back and laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. Acting like you’re a da’har making royal decrees.”
I do not sound anything like Pavan! Diya ignored the jibe. “This,” Diya said, waving her hand back at the hay bale, “is not okay. That boy,” she said, trying to hide her distaste for the Beddo, “is older than you are.”
“He’s only two years older than I am, and so what if he is older than I am?” Esha said, becoming argumentative. Then she squared off, fists on her hips, “and besides, you're not my mother!”
Diya felt the force of the accusation. How long had Esha gone without a mother to guide her into the adult world? Was it any surprise that Esha, being strong-willed and independent, was going to forge ahead on her own? Diya paused for a moment, allowing the moment to diffuse. She watched Esha, angry and defiant. Then as the silence stretched out, a flicker of uncertainty appeared. Diya took a breath and deliberately calmed her own voice, as she had watched her father do. “No. I am not your mother. Would you like me to have this conversation with her then?” Diya imagined how that conversation might go and dreaded having it.
“No! Don’t. Please.” Esha's defiance wilted, replaced with a look of genuine worry. “Please, Cassie,” Esha begged, even calling Diya by her name which was strange. “We're not to cause mama any additional stress.”
That hadn't occurred to Diya but at least now she had some leverage. She paused intentionally, waiting, pretending to think, even though she was secretly relieved. Esha had just given her a valid reason to avoid telling Jinna.
“Alright,” she said, as though she was still undecided. “We can keep this between the two of us and not tell your mother.”
The relief on Esha's face was undeniable, even in the dark.
“I do understand, you know,” she motioned for Esha to sit down on the hay bale as she sat down on another one across the aisle. “I understand. You're growing up and curious about boys. And I know I am not your mother. I won't try to be, but it is still my job to keep you safe.”
“But it was just kissing,” Esha said, protesting but without the defiance now.
“It was just kissing for now.” Diya said. Kissing a Beddo boy! “But that boy was older than you are. What if it was more than ‘just kissing’ for him? Eh? What if he was expecting more?” Diya saw a worried look Esha’s face. “I know it was just kissing and with the right boy, that’s okay. But you also have to understand that it might just be kissing for you right now, but then we can get feelings that get in the way. And we can want a boy to like us so much that we do things that we shouldn't. More than just kissing.”
Diya tried to see Esha's face. From what she could tell, the girl was listening. “You think I don't understand. But remember that is why I
am here. I liked a man. I thought I knew who he was and I had feelings for him. It started out a lot like this,” she said, wiggling her fingers towards the hay bales where they sat. “He was kind and wonderful and I was reckless and foolish. Then there was also the other man who felt that I had led him along and suddenly became dangerous. Very dangerous. I had to leave everyone I love because of it.” That drove something home to Esha. Well, that lie finally came in handy. “Come on. It's been a long day. Let's get you to bed, okay?”
The following afternoon Diya wandered outside, while Tilly was with her mother. She took advantage of the warm sun and walked around the property. When she came to the lower field, she saw Javin and Finka repairing the gate. Benua and Zaylin were helping, holding a post steady while the gate was adjusted and aligned.
Zaylin leaned down and grabbed a piece of jerky out of a pouch by his feet. Tearing a piece off, he chewed it and then picked up his glass. He looked over at her.
“So, doin some real work?” Zaylin asked, glancing sideways at Diya.
Diya inhaled sharply. “Why do you say that?” she snapped back. “I’ve been down here all week.”
“Pfft,” he said, “a couple of days, not even full days. Planting flowers.”
Diya stared back at him. She didn’t understand what Zaylin’s problem with her was, then she decided she didn’t really care. She would just do her best to avoid him in the future.
That evening, after the children had settled for the night, Diya felt restless. She stepped outside into the cool evening air. The only light she could see was in the distance from the evening’s brush fire.
Diya could see the Beddo were still tending to the remnants of the fire. Zaylin and Benua were drinking with them. Finka was playing music while someone sang along softly. She wandered closer to hear the words of the song but not too close. She knew this song, it was a love song. She had heard it several times by now and it had a sweet melody. Humming along softly, she leaned back against a tree.
After a moment, her hand began to itch. It spread onto the back of her wrist. not a bug bite. She scratched frantically at the growing patch on her wrist. She remembered Esha warning her about nettles. Holy Hadra! The girl hadn’t stressed the intensity of the warning. She clawed at her hand and wrist. At least, if Esha had been telling the truth, it wouldn’t last very long. How long did Esha mean? She hoped this agony wasn’t going to last for days. Her wrist and arm stung. Then she stopped scratching, alarmed.
Where’s my bracelet? Diya examined the ground around her feet. no bracelet. Diya thought back to when she last remembered having it. Had she put it on that morning? She thought so. Maybe one of the Beddo had found her bracelet?
She approached closer and noticed that the couples were still dancing around the fire. “Have any of you seen my bracelet? It’s a nice silver, with a sapphire on the top.”
All of the Beddo shook their heads, looking at her.
“Where’n ya see it last, missus?” Garmin asked.
“I had it earlier. Maybe I dropped it when I went for a walk.”
“Are’n ya sure?” Javin asked.
Diya just shook her head and shrugged. “I can’t be sure exactly when I lost it.”
With all the work she had been doing the last several days, she knew there was a good chance that it had fallen off. If that was the case, she would probably never find it.
The next morning, she walked the path again, hoping she would be able to spot it in the daylight. After breakfast, the Beddo wagon pulled up and the crew got back to work.
She passed Javin when she took Tilly ouf for a walk. He nodded politely, asking, “Have ye found yer bracelet, missis?”
She shook her head. “No. Not yet.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for it,” he said. That was nice of them. She realized that they would probably want it to be found since they got blamed whenever anything disappeared.
She came back outside after lunch to find three of the Beddo huddled by the barn, talking among themselves. From the sound of their voices, they were having a disagreement. Curious, she walked up.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, suspicious because they had been speaking in their own language. That made her feel like they were trying to hide something.
Javin looked up, a worried expression on his face. “I found this pouch behind the horse barn,” he said. He ducked his head, avoiding eye contact.
Diya wasn’t interested in someone’s leather pouch and began to turn away. Javin walked over to Diya, looking nervous. “This was in the pouch,” he said. “I think this is the bracelet you lost,” he said, holding it out for her inspection.
A beautiful dark sapphire was set in a sterling silver bracelet with scrollwork along the sides. The clasp appeared broken.
The bracelet had been found in the pouch.
“Whose pouch is this?” she asked, looking at each of the Beddo in turn.
Two of them shook their heads, looking uncertain. She looked back at Javin. “You know who this belongs to! If you want to keep your jobs, you’d better tell me. Now!”
Javin looked down at his feet, shifting his weight. He chewed his lip and then sighed. “I’m not sure, but I think--”
“Whose?!”
“Zaylin’s,” he said, mumbling. “I think it’s Zaylin’s. Least I think I saw him with a pouch like this a week ago. I can’t be sure. So I didn’t wantsta get him in trouble without askin him first.”
Zaylin! She could just believe it. When had he found it?
“Where is he? I’ll bring the pouch back and ask him about it.”
“Down in the lower pasture again.”
Diya clenched the pouch in her hand and marched down to the lower gates.
“Zaylin!” she called out to the group.
The men looked up with worried expressions, staring at Zaylin.
“Is this your pouch?” she asked.
Zaylin shuffled his feet and wrung his hands, staring down at them. “I found it on the ground. I didna kno it were yours. I woulda returnd it to ya.”
Well, well. Sounds like someone has a guilty conscience.
“I was gonna get it to ya. I h’aint no thief,” he said, but it sounded half-hearted. “I swear it. I wanted to clean it up first, is all.”
Sure he would have returned it to me, more like it would have ended up at the pub, paying for his tab or a gambling debt.
“Well, which is it? You didn’t know whose it was, or were you going to return it after you cleaned it up?”
Zaylin blinked, looking confused. “ Like I said!” he said, getting angry. The Beddo looked at each other, trying to be busy with the fence. “Both! I didn’t know it was yours but I was going to fix it up before I tried to find out whose it was! What? You accusin me of stealin it?”
As Diya opened her mouth to accuse him of exactly that, Bashar stepped forward, and looked over Diya’s shoulder. “Tis broke. Looks like it got snagged on something.” He tsked as he continued to look, “and tis awful dirty.”
Diya sighed and felt a pang of regret. She should have taken it off while she had been working.
“I c’n fix it right up for ye,” he said. “Make it good as new.”
For a moment Diya was reluctant to give up her bracelet. But she realized Bashar would be unlikely to steal it when there were several witnesses. From what she could tell, they all appreciated the yearly work and she doubted any of them would have risked their employment.
“That would be nice. Thank you,” she said, handing the bracelet to Bashar.
He smiled at her as she handed him the bracelet and then proceeded to head to the wagon where he had his tools. She was tempted to follow him, but she decided he would get it back to her when he had finished repairing it. She turned around to see Zaylin glaring at her and muttering to himself.
CHAPTER Twenty
By the end of the month the outside of the manor had transformed. It was far from the lush green paradise of Tatak Rhe but the seasons had fin
ally changed and the entire countryside was bursting with life. Diya watched as the Beddo’s wagons lumbered down the long driveway for the last time. She had to admit that the Beddo worked hard. One look around the country estate was proof of that. It also turned out that Bashar was an exceptional craftsman. She wouldn’t have believed the clasp on her bracelet would be easy to fix. Not only had he fixed it, but she couldn’t even tell where he had made the repair.
She turned and saw the twins waving goodbye to their friends looking a bit sad. Tilly stood back, finger in her mouth, but didn't show any other outward signs of distress.
Watching the twins, she was determined that they should have their party. They needed it even if they didn't think so. What kind of party would they like? If it was a large event she might need to hire outside help to prepare. The area between the barns and the orchards would be perfect. It was flat and grassy with a few nice shade trees. It looked large enough to set up a field for polarity. She wasn't exactly sure since she had never played it herself. She had only watched. To be precise she had watched the boys who were playing it rather than the game, she admitted to herself.
“So you two have a birthday coming up?” Diya asked the twins. “Wouldn't it be nice to have a party? Especially since the Beddo are gone it's so quiet here now.”
“No.”
“No way.”
The speed and finality of their response made Diya blink. What child didn't want a party? From the looks on both of their faces clearly it was these two.
“What? You aren't serious. You can't be. It's your fifteenth year. That's important, the second best milestone besides your dodecca ” That was the age when most girls would be formally courted and formal alliances might be made. But nothing was ever official until after the dodecca.