Owlsight

upside down, and left again.

But, oh - it felt so good!

Ten

Keisha decided that the most important things to pack were her books - the ones that had baffled and frustrated her for so long. Hopefully Nightwind would be able to explain them as well as she had explained shielding She wrapped them carefully, then packed up enough of her clothing for a few days, and as an afterthought, added her workbasket. She doubted that she’d have any time to do any fancy work, but if she found herself with time on her hands and nothing to do, she’d be angry at herself for not bringing it.

That didn’t take very long, and she looked around for anything else to take with her. Plants? Seeds? Presumably the Hawkbrothers had plenty of medicinal plants of their own -

The Herbal. We can compare notes, and if they don’t have some of my plants, we can get young plants out of the garden when they bring me back.

So into the bag of books went the Herbal, and she considered bringing a gift with her. After all, that was the only polite thing for a guest to do, bring a guesting-gift. But what could she bring that they didn’t already have and plenty of it? “

The scarlet dye! After all, everyone liked a good, strong scarlet, and she had a brand-new cake, bought at a very generous discount, besides the ample portion left from her experiments. She wrapped the cake carefully in paper then in a scrap of cloth, and tucked that in with the rest.

With nothing more that she could think of, she went out to set up the garden to take care of itself for a few days. She and the potter had an arrangement. All of the big storage jars that came out of the kiln with hairline cracks became hers, and she tested them to ensure that the leaks were very slow indeed. Then she moved them into the garden and placed them at intervals along the rows of plants. Normally she kept them covered and empty, but if she knew she was going to be busy for several days running, she filled them with water and left them. The slow leaks would drip water into the ground, keeping the plants watered without her needing to ask someone to tend them.

Tedious as the job was - well, it was time to fill the jars, then transplant all the seedlings she had in the cottage into the garden. At least it would fill the time and keep her from chewing her nails, waiting.

The jars were full, and she was mindlessly arranging and rearranging her shelves when Nightwind finally tapped on the door again.

“Are you ready?” the woman asked as Keisha turned to face her. Keisha licked dry lips and nodded.

“It’s almost sunset. Are you really going to travel in the dark?” she asked, not quite certain of the journey ahead of her.

“Darkness doesn’t make much difference to the dyheli,” Nightwind replied, as Keisha took up her bundled belongings and hurried outside.

“Are we going to follow dyheli?” Keisha asked, right on Nightwind’s heels.

“No, dear, we’re going to ride them,” the woman said, managing somehow not to sound patronizing. Keisha halted abruptly when she realized that the entire group was right at her doorstep, patiently waiting for her. Her usual hesitation around strangers came back redoubled. She felt too frozen to move with all those eyes on her, but Darian came to her rescue, taking the bundles from her hands before she could drop them, smiling encouragingly at her. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to your dyheli,” he said, taking her hand and giving it a little tug to get her moving. As soon as she took the first step, he dropped her hand again, as casually as he had taken it. She followed him to one of the horned animals, who looked at her with interest from intelligent brown eyes. “Keisha, this is Meree,” he said, exactly as if he was introducing two people. “She’ll be taking you to k’Valdemar Vale.”

:You have a quiet mind,: said a clear voice in her head. :I shall enjoy bearing you.:

Keisha felt her eyes widening. “She talks!” Keisha blurted without meaning to.

Darian, bless him, did not laugh at her. “Just like a Companion,” he said cheerfully, “though dyheli talk to anyone that they choose to, and Companions normally only talk to their Heralds. You’ll like Meree, she’s very interested in herb-Healing. You might know some things growing around here that she doesn’t, and vice versa. You’ll have plenty to talk about as you travel, at least.”

The notion of trading herb-knowledge with a deer almost made her laugh nervously, yet she kept it back. But after all, why not discuss herb-knowledge with someone who happened to have four feet instead of two? Certainly she ought to warn Meree about the sheep-sorrel fungus.

Darian made a cup of his hands, and boosted Keisha up into the saddle; there were stirrups, though they