HE hadn't actually felt tired—that had only been an excuse to be alone with his thoughts—but the walk back to the bed really did take the last of his strength. Kellen was half-asleep before Idalia helped him out of the leather clothing. He was only barely aware that she had pulled the covers up over his shoulders, and was completely asleep only moments afterward.
He half woke later, hearing her moving around in the room, and tried to speak, but found he couldn't make his mouth form coherent words.
'Go back to sleep,' she told him as he stirred sleepily. 'I'll make up a bedroll here on the floor.'
Well, if that was what she wanted to do… it was her home, after all. Kellen gave no further thought to it, and let sleep take him.
WHEN HE WOKE again it was morning, and wonderful food smells filled the air. For a moment Kellen was disoriented, unable to remember how he'd gotten here and why the Morning Bells hadn't woken him, then everything settled into place as memories came flooding back. Banishment, the Hunt, awakening, discovering he had a sister. This was Idalia's cabin, outside of City lands. And he would never hear the bells of the City of a Thousand Bells again.
Reflexively, his hand went to the Talisman around his throat.
It was gone, of course, stripped from him the night of his Banishing, and its absence made Kellen oddly uneasy.
It's gone. That means you're free now, he told himself sternly. But without it he felt more naked than he did without his clothes, despite the fact that now that he knew what it was, he hated the very thought of it.
He put the thought from his mind, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Idalia had left his new clothes where he could find them, and he was able to don the unfamiliar garments without too much difficulty. He was much stronger than yesterday, though still a little light-headed, but he was able to walk to the other room unsupported.
'Good morning, sleepyhead,' Idalia greeted him cheerfully from where she knelt at the hearth. 'I thought you were going to sleep the day away!'
Kellen looked around, puzzled. From the position of the sun, it wasn't that much later than he usually woke!
She laughed, seeing his baffled expression. 'Country ways, little brother! Up with the sun; no Magelight here, and you can't do chores by candlelight. But don't worry; I don't plan to put you to work right away. Come on, sit down. I baked this morning—in your honor, I might add— and I want to see how these boots fit.'
When Idalia had mentioned boots, Kellen had been expecting something like the horsemen's boots he'd seen in the City—knee-high gleaming high-heeled things of brightly polished hard-finished leather—but what she brought him was something more like leggings with feet. They were identical to the ones she was wearing, and Kellen realized he should have expected that, but he still hadn't fully come to terms with what living outside of the City truly meant.
No shops. No merchants. No one to buy things from—it was either make it yourself, or do without. Unless you could find someone who would trade with you for what you wanted. Would anyone traffic with an Outlaw?—Two Outlaws?
The boots were flat-soled, with several thicknesses of leather pierced and sewn to heavy deerskin uppers. A long wide tongue of leather came almost to his knee, and the long outsides of the boot wrapped over that. Flat buttons, made of disks of polished antler, were sewn up the sides of the outer flap; at first Kellen had thought they were for decoration, but Idalia showed him how to take a long narrow piece of heavy buckskin and wrap it around the boot, using the horn buttons to keep it from slipping. At the top, she tied it and tucked the trailing ends under neatly.
'Now you do the other one,' she said, getting to her feet.
As his sister busied herself by the fire, Kellen struggled with the other boot. He couldn't seem to keep the sides in place as he wrapped the garter around it; though the leather was thick, it was soft enough not to stand by itself. It was evident, however, that Idalia intended to let him work it out for himself, and after several frustrating tries, Kellen finally managed to secure his second boot.
As he straightened up again, Idalia set breakfast on the table in front of him—hot stew and tea. There was a flat loaf and stone crocks of butter and honey already on the table.
'Go ahead—I ate hours ago.' Idalia sat down opposite him, carrying her own mug.
It was good food, and Kellen was hungry, but it wasn't what he was used to seeing at breakfast, and somehow that just seemed to underscore what a big change there'd been in his life. He wasn't ill-mannered enough to complain, but Idalia seemed to have no trouble sensing his thoughts.
