The Robin And The Kestrel

them that she had no idea that the street preachers meant their sermons for her.

When Kestrel finally showed up, she greeted him with such enthusiasm that the customers were startled, flying to embrace him, and take some of his burdens from him.

And as she greeted him with the words, 'Husband! You're back! I don't know how I managed without you!' the preacher who had been spewing forth a particularly vehement and vituperative version of the corruption and folly of women who attempted to manage themselves alone, choked off his sermon in mid-word, coughed violently, and vanished into the crowd.

Well, she thought with satisfaction, as Kestrel returned her enthusiastic kiss with one rather startled, but just as enthusiastic. They won't make that mistake again. I just made them look like fools.

And they would probably hold that against her, too.

She dealt with the remaining customers, then, before any new ones could arrive, she put the rest of the Stars away and closed up the wagon, waving off any potential customers with a smile and a cry of 'come back tomorrow!' Jonny was already inside, unloading his packages, and she joined him there with a sigh of relief, closing the door behind her and lighting one lantern to relieve the gloom of the interior. The inside of the wagon was warm compared with the wind-swept square.

Her feet throbbed with pain, and she had been more nervous beneath the steady barrage of the street preachers than she had realized. Her shoulders ached with tension, the corners of her mouth hurt from smiling so much, and she had a headache. Right now all she wanted was a hot bath, a good meal, and bed, the last with Jonny in it.

Jonny greeted her with a smile and a hug, and went back to his work. She took the materials for the miniature Stars from him, and put them neatly away in the trays they'd used to hold the finished products. He'd managed to get turned dowel-rods for the larger Stars, and toothpicks and thin brass rods for the miniatures. After they stowed the contents of his various packages away in the wagon, they took another accounting of their stock.

'We don't have enough for tomorrow,' she said, reluctantly. 'Good gods, and I thought we'd made enough Stars for a week!'

'B-by t-tomorrow there'll b-be others out here with S-Stars,' Jonny pointed out. 'P-probably not the j-jewelry ones, though.'

'Which is why you concentrated on jewelry supplies; that was a good idea,' she told him, standing on tiptoe to kiss his nose. 'Well, I guess we're going to have to make some more stock, which means we take tomorrow off.'

'Except f-for g-going to s-see about that j-j-job,' he reminded her, a slight frown on his face. 'I'm n-not sure I l-like th-the idea of w-working in a H-House.'

Just what I needed. Being brought up in the Guild Hall must have made him a prude. She was exasperated, but she knew that her temper was probably more than a bit short. She decided not to say anything rather than retorting with a sarcastic comment. Which was rather a new thing for her_

But after her brief stint as a bird, caused by flinging insults at a lascivious Priest, she had kept a closer curb on her tongue than she had even done before. It only took one painful experience for her to learn her lessons!

Instead, she told him all about the street preachers who had surrounded her as soon as he'd left, and what they'd had to say.

'S-sounds to m-me as if th-the next t-targets are w-women,' he said when she had finished, quickly coming to the same conclusion she had.

She nodded. 'That was what I thought. And_I'm torn. The money we are making here is amazing. On the other hand, we've already learned almost everything we need_and certainly enough to warn Harperus of what's happened. If we return to him, we can warn the Free Bards and he can warn the other nonhumans. You heard what he said; I really think that given enough warning to get out, the Deliambrens can protect all the other nonhumans who care to accept that protection and themselves. I'm not sure we need to stay here....' She shivered, as the shrill rants of One of the street preachers penetrated the wooden walls of the wagon, and a chill went up her back in reaction. 'I don't like it here, love,' she said in a small voice. 'It was a Priest that caused me all that trouble before. Padrik has all of the Church and the Bishopric here behind him. There's just the two of us. Shouldn't we leave?'

Kestrel looked down at her, his eyes brooding in the half-light of the wagon. 'Y-you w-were th-the one who w-wanted t-to find out wh-what Gypsies were helping him,' he reminded her. 'W-we still don't kn-know wh-why Padrik is d-doing all this_and I d-don't th-think he's even b-begun t-to fulfill his p-plans. And wh-what about th-those Gypsies? Sh-shouldn't th-they b-be dealt w- with?'

We have responsibilities, whether you like them or not, his eyes said to her. We have to live up to those responsibilities.