After an awkward evening, Edvard, Mina, and Yuila continue to the village with Bersi.
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Bersi was oblivious to Yuila's leaving that evening, having dozed off by the fire shortly after their late supper. Edvard allowed the Crone to distance herself a little farther from camp than usual, unsure how acute the old man's hearing really was.
Bersi had been content with the supper of rabbit and sausage stew, roasted pumpkin and the last of the hard loaf of bread. The bread was so hard, in fact, they all had to soak it in the stew to eat it.
When Yuila returned, the girls settled to themselves within the fire's light by a stand of raspberry bushes and Mina combed the Crone's long hair. She pulled the comb through, detangling the raspberry brambles and few leaves caught in it.
"You meditated in berry bushes?"
Yuila nodded and looked shyly at the blind man, watching his half open eyes lolling as he snored. "I don't like him. He smells like the woad pots."
Mina shrugged, casting a glance at the old man. She hadn't known what the smell was, but there was a definite acrid odor clinging to him. She supposed at one time his clothes had been blue, but now were more of a dust-covered dark gray. "Well, he does transport the stuff."
"He smells like he rolls in it."
Mina divided the girl's hair into two parts. "How many braids tonight?"
"Six."
Mina sectioned her hair into three strands on one side of her head and began a braid with one. "Do you live on the ocean, Yuila?"
The girl nodded, nearly jerky her hair out of Mina's hands.
"You miss your fish?"
Yuila pouted at the word. "We have such big fish, Sapo. Ones that you couldn't even get in the large pot. Not a lot of bones, not like the trout in the river."
Mina sighed, looking to where Edvard had gone to check on the horses. "You'll be home soon, and you'll have all the fish you can eat."
"And I'll never leave home again."
Mina felt the same way. "Home is best."
"But my turn will come. In a year. Maybe two years," the girl said with a sigh. Her violet eyes went to the where the blind man slept fitfully against a tree. "I can't concentrate with him here."
Mina nodded. So that was why Yuila hadn't done her usual collapse after her meditation. She watched as the girl plucked off a few berries from the nearby bush.
"These are sweeter than the ones I ate earlier."
She finished the braids on one side of the girl's head and began on the other. The moons broke from the clouds and offered more light into their encampment. She saw Edvard return and build up the fire as a coyote yipped from afar. At the sound, Bersi jolted upright, then mumbled and sagged against the tree again.
"Let me do yours, Sapo," Yuila said, her mouth full of berries.
"Can you braid?"
"Of course. I am a girl."
"All right."
Edvard had said they needn't wear their hoods, not when it was dark and Bersi was blind. Yuila had discarded her shawl at the first moment she could. Mina had kept hers on until the fire had gotten too warm. She had watched the old man's eyes, sharing Yuila's feelings of uneasiness about him. She believed he was truly blind, but he did have an oddness about him she couldn't quite figure.
Probably from traveling alone for so long, she told herself, finishing Yuila's hair. "All set."
"Now I'll do you."
"Only if you stop eating raspberries."
"I will."
They switched spots and Yuila took the comb. "How many braids, Sapo?"
"One."
"But that's so boring."
"Maybe two tomorrow."
"Okay."
Mina felt a tug on her hair as the younger girl settled in for a thorough combing. Edvard glanced at them and shook his head when he saw Yuila sitting behind her.
"You sure you want to do that, Mina?"
She nodded slightly. "So far." She watched him take a seat nearer the fire and spread the rabbit snare before him. The rabbit that had made the night's dinner was a particularly aggressive buck that had torn the snare in two places. It was also an older rabbit, and had needed extended cooking before being tender enough to eat, even without consideration for Bersi.
A considerable tug pulled at Mina's head. "Ow, Yuila."
The girl sighed. "Sorry, Sapo."
It wasn't until a few moments later of strange comb movements that Mina realized there was a problem. "Let me have the comb, Yuila. I'll do it."
Yuila's eyes grew wide as Mina turned and looked at her.
"Where's the comb?"
Yuila's gaze went to the back of Mina's head. "It got stuck."
"You what?" Mina's hands went to her hair, feeling something unusually weighty at the back of her head. Sure enough, the comb was lodged there. "Well, get it out. Easily, Yuila."
The younger girl nodded and set to work again when Mina turned her back to her. Mina sighed, fighting the urge to yank the comb from her hair. She felt Yuila's fingers pull, then wiggle the comb. After a moment, she felt nothing at all.
She turned to her. "What did you do?"
Yuila shook her head, a look of dread covering her face. "I didn't mean to, Sapo."
"Yuila..."
"It won't come out." She scooted back as Mina reached for her. "I'm sorry!"
Bersi stirred and both eyes opened, unfocused. "Trouble?"
"No," Mina said through gritted teeth, trying to reach the comb behind her head.
Edvard dropped the snare he was working on and joined the girls. Yuila moved away at the glare he threw her. "Go fix the snare," he told her.
She hurried to the noose trap.
Mina felt Edvard turn the comb, the wood tight against her head now.
"How did she do this so quickly?" he asked.
"How bad is it?"
"Well," he paused, then sighed. "It's pretty bad, Mina."
"You can get it out, right?" When he didn't answer, she turned to look at him. "You can, right?"
"I'll try."
Mina sat as still as she could, glowering at Yuila across the fire. For a few long moments Edvard seemed to do barely anything. A few tugs and turns, and she was about to ask, when she felt a bit of give. "Is it out?"
"No, just looser."
She saw Bersi look their way, then in Yuila's direction.
"How bad you got her knotted up?" he asked the girl. When Yuila said nothing, he continued. "You did knot up her hair, didn't you?"
"I was trying to braid it," Yuila defended.
"You can't braid," he said, leaning against the tree again. "Can you?"
"I thought I could."
"You told me you could, Yuila," Mina said, then settled closer to Edvard when she realized she had pulled the comb out of his hands. "Sorry."
"I didn't mean it, Sapo." Yuila dropped the snare and pulled on her shawl, then rolled up beside the fire and hid her face in her hood.
After ten minutes Mina began to have serious doubts about her hair. Edvard hadn't commented in a while, and she was beginning to think he was nearly finished, or something was very wrong.
"Mina," he finally said, "I can make you another comb."
She turned to him, disappointed the comb was not in either of his hands. She felt the back of her head. At least the knotted part was lower in her hair, but still firmly lodged. "But I like this one."
"This one," he said, reaching around her to it, "is going to have to be broken out."
"No."
"It's either that or cut your hair." He sighed. "I'd rather break the comb."
Her fingers toyed with the comb, feeling the frazzled knot of hair wedged in it. "Could you please try again, Edvard? Just a few more minutes?"
He nodded. She turned before him, glaring at Yuila's still form near the fire. Bersi was sleeping already at his tree.
Edvard's voice was resigned. "Don't let her braid your hair again."
"I won't."
"Don't even let her comb it."
"I won't."
It took almost half an hour for him to work the comb free from her hair. Her scalp was sore and the hair bunched in a frizzled knot, but at least she had avoided losing the comb or her hair. She felt her head where the comb had been stuck.
"It's a little nappy," he said.
She nodded, sighing. "I'm just glad it's out." She looked at the tangle of hair still stuck in the comb. "Just wait until the next time I braid her hair."
He chuckled, using his fingers to try to get her hair to lie down at the back of her head. "If she has any sense, she won't let you near her hair for a while." He cleared his throat and withdrew his hand. "It might be all right in the morning."
She felt the back of her head where a tangle was still evident. "Like a tumbleweed."
He smoothed the knotted strands with his hand. "I think it'll be all right."
Mina was glad Edvard was right. The next day her hair was a bit more relaxed from its torment the night before, and Yuila was contrite and apologetic. The Crone looked on as Mina combed her hair carefully, grimacing a little at the older girl's damaged tresses.
"I'm really sorry, Sapo," she said softly. "I thought I could braid."
"Don't you have any younger sisters?"
"No. I don't have any brothers or sisters. Only a cousin, and he's half Unrecht."
Mina frowned, glancing to where Bersi stood near Edvard as he saddled the horses. "Half? How can he be half Unrecht?"
"He just is. And he thinks I'm just a troublemaker."
Mina was inclined to believe, but didn't say so. "Is he your age?"
"No. Much older. Older than Edvard even." Yuila eyed Mina's hair. "I'm sorry."
"Well, it's okay now. I'll braid from now on."
Yuila put a tentative hand to Mina's head, then smiled. "It's still soft. And he didn't have to cut it."
Mina managed a smile at the younger girl's attempt at consolation. "Or break the comb."
The road to Ditimar was empty as they made their way down it that morning. A humid day lay before them, and they made good time. Bersi rode the gelding, and Yuila the mare, but Mina was satisfied to walk at Neito's head with Edvard. At a bend in the road before the village, Edvard halted them and had the girls pull up their hoods. Bersi dismounted despite Edvard's assurance he could ride, waving off the younger man's comments. He walked beside Neito, one hand on the gelding's saddle, the other on his walking stick.
"There's a well near the village center," the old man told them. "If you could lead me there, my nephew's wife or daughter will along shortly, and they can take me home."
"It's no trouble to take you to their house," Edvard said, glancing behind him at the man.
"I've been trouble enough." He brightened. "Say, there's a place on the other side of the village you could stay the night. Well, maybe you could. My nephew has no room, but the place on the other side of the village, they rent rooms, and have a delicious lamb stew. But they're a popular place, and may be full. It's well worth a try, if you're tired of sleeping on the ground."
Edvard looked to Mina. "We may." He glanced to where Yuila was quietly riding Sova.
"Did you forget the little one?" Bersi asked, his head turning in Yuila's direction. "I haven't heard from her lately."
"She's here," Edvard said as Yuila pulled her hood tighter.
Mina was surprised Ditimar was as large as it was. Nearly a town, she thought, as they entered the village. The main thoroughfare was alive at noon, the street packed with vendors and marketers who were anticipating the auction to be held over the next few days. She kept close to the gelding, as did Yuila to the mare, having dismounted at the village pillars. The streets swarmed with pack animals laden with bamboo and teasels, cartloads of flax and wool, and bags of aromatic patchouli, lavender and eucalyptus fronds. Yuila went into a sneezing fit when they passed a string of donkeys carrying the last item, and Edvard quickly moved them away from the scent.
Mina watched the street activity with amazement, wondering how so many varying products could find their way to one location, and especially that there would be a market for the items nestled among the hill road. She kept herself hidden with the hood, as did Yuila, and no one paid them any mind as they passed through the village.
They paused at the commons well as the crowds continued to move about them at a frenzied pace. Bersi smiled his toothless grin, seeming perfectly at home among the bustle.
"You're sure your nephew will come for you?" Edvard asked him as they watered the horses.
"Ah, yes. Would you care to come for dinner? I know they'll be pleased," Bersi said. He felt around for the well's stone edge. "He has a houseful of children. May give your young one here a companion."
"No. We should move on." Edvard looked to Yuila, who was doing her best to be unnoticeable without disappearing. "But thank you."
"And you." Bersi turned to where he thought Mina to be. "Milady. A pleasure to hear your voice."
Mina looked uncomfortably at Edvard. "Thank you."
"And you," he said, turning to Yuila, "no more combs."
"I won't," the girl said almost inaudibly.
"Edvard," Bersi said, offering his hand, "good fortune on your journey, wherever it may take you."
Edvard shook his hand. "And you also."
PG13, saga; teen, fantasy, fantasy world travel, teen romance, clean romance, realm, magical realism, shadow world, school/new school, high school, fiction, serial. #ReadFree with free signup. ♫♪
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Thanks to P.G. Waters for the use of her story!