Hanathafressa was a guest in Hill Guard Castle…and a guest of House Bowmaster, not its daughter.
Nobody actually stopped and stared as they passed, but Leeana was aware of scores of watching eyes, and she wondered what sorts of comparisons some of those eyes’ owners were making between her and Sharlassa when they saw her striding along in her supple leather trousers, plain linen shirt, and sleeveless leather doublet at the younger woman’s elbow, an identical short sword riding at each hip and a dagger sheathed horizontally at the back of her belt. At least she wasn’t in chari and yathu, and she tried not to feel too much like a coward for having avoided that traditional garb for this visit…so far, at least, she reminded herself wryly. She’d have plenty of time to outrage everyone before she left.
And it’s not as if you don’t genuinely prefer trousers when you ride, she scolded herself. You only wear the chari-and the yathu-to Thalar to make a point to Trisu and his idiots. No need to rub anyone’s nose in it here.
They ascended the steps up into the great keep with Leeana following one stairstep below Sharlassa. Which, given the difference in their heights, meant the top of her head was only a few inches higher than Sharlassa’s all the way up. Then they stepped through the great double doors and crossed the vast, cool entry hall where the banners of Bowmaster and Balthar hung from the beams far overhead, with servants bowing to Sharlassa as they passed, and started up the inner stair towards the family’s private quarters. Sharlassa waited until they’d climbed halfway to the first landing, then stopped and looked at Leeana.
“And now that we’re inside,” she said, pitching her voice to reach only Leeana’s ears, “I’d better not hear another ‘Milady’ pass your lips.” Leeana started to smile, but the smile faded as Sharlassa glared at her with what looked like true anger. “I understand the rules,” the younger woman said, “and I suppose I actually appreciate them. But I’m not your lady and this is your home and I’m a visitor in it, not you!” Her eyes softened and she shook her head, reaching out to lay one hand on Leeana’s elbow. “I’m sure I can’t really imagine how difficult it is for you to come home on a visit, Leeana. I know it has to be hard, though. Please don’t make it any harder on yourself-or on me-than it has to be.”
She may not have gotten any taller, but she has grown, Leeana thought, reflecting on the confidence and assurance in that scold. Of course, she’s wrong…but she’s right, too.
“All right, Sharlassa,” she said. “At least when we’re in private.”
“Good.” Sharlassa gave her elbow a little shake, then smiled. “In that case, I believe your mother is waiting in the solarium.”
“Look who I found, Milady!” Sharlassa announced as she opened the solarium door and waved Leeana through it.
Hanatha Bowmaster was tall, although not remotely as tall as her daughter, and her back was straight as she leaned on her cane, despite the right leg which had been crippled so many years before. But there were streaks of silver in her long, black hair, Leeana realized. Streaks which hadn’t been there before, still tiny enough she might not have noticed if their flicker hadn’t caught the sunlight pouring in through the solarium’s windows. And there were lines in her face which hadn’t been there before Leeana ran away from home. But her eyes-those green eyes, exactly like her daughter’s-lit with delight as she saw Leeana at Sharlassa’s shoulder.
“Leeana!” Hanatha started towards her, but Leeana dropped her saddle bags and blanket and crossed the solarium in three long strides before her mother could move. Her arms went around Hanatha in a crushing hug, and she felt a pang as she realized how much taller she’d become. Her cheek pressed the top of her mother’s head, exactly as Hanatha’s cheek had once pressed hers, and she felt those pesky tears burning in her eyes once more.
“Oh, it’s so good to see you, love!” her mother half-whispered, and then gasped as Leeana’s arms tightened even further. “Mind the ribs!” she scolded. “Your father already broke them once!”
“Sorry.” Leeana’s voice was husky, and she cleared her throat as she released her mother and stood back. She held Hanatha’s at arms length, hands on her upper arms, and smiled a bit mistily into her eyes. “Did he really?” she asked after a moment. “Break them, I mean?”
“Yes, he did, love.” Her mother reached up to touch her cheek. “The morning you were born.”
Leeana swallowed hard, looking back into her mother’s face for a moment, and then nodded.
“Well,” she said in a more normal voice, “I’ll try not to follow in his footsteps-in that regard, at least. But it’s wonderful to see you, too.” She gave Hanatha’s arms a brief squeeze, then stepped back. “Your letters are wonderful, but it’s just-”
She broke off and shrugged, and it was Hanatha’s turn to nod.
“I know,” she agreed. “I know. But you’re here now, and that’s what really matters.” She looked past Leeana to where Sharlassa stood just inside the door, smiling at them both. “Somehow I have the feeling someone is playing truant again,” the baroness observed, raising one forefinger in an admonishing gesture. “Under the circumstances, however, I’m inclined to let it pass…this time.”
“Thank you, Milady,” Sharlassa replied meekly…and dimpled.
“Well, since you are playing truant, and since we have a guest, why don’t you ask someone to send up a light tea for the three of us?”
“Of course, Milady,” Sharlassa agreed, turning back towards the door, and Hanatha waved her daughter towards the window seat along the solarium’s western wall.
Leeana started to stoop and pick up her saddle bags, but Hanatha shook her head.
“Time enough for that later,” she said, shooing her daughter towards the window seat. “I don’t doubt that war maid code of yours is going to demand you carry them to your chamber yourself instead of relying upon the labor of some hapless servant like a properly decadent aristocrat, but there’s no rush. Besides, much as I’ve come to love Sharlassa, the girl is unnaturally neat.” She shook her head. “You can’t imagine how much I’ve missed having a proper teenager’s clutter around the place!”
“Was I really that bad?” Leeana smiled. “I tried to keep it out of your sight in my room, you know.”
“Yes, you were that bad,” Hanatha said firmly.
She settled into a comfortable chair, facing the window seat, and studied her daughter intently for several seconds. Then she nodded.
“It suits you,” she said simply.
“I beg your pardon?” Leeana arched an eyebrow, and her mother snorted.
“Leeana, I practically had to rope and tie you to get you into a gown before you ran off to the war maids. And while it’s probably highly improper of me to say this, I always actually sympathized with you a lot more than you knew. But this”-a wave of her hand gestured at Leeana’s trousers, shirt, and doublet-“suits you far better. And at least it’s not as scandalous as that chari and yathu-if I got it right-of yours!”
The words could have been biting, but instead they were almost teasing, and Hanatha’s eyes flickered with what certainly looked like genuine amusement.
“I hope they aren’t too scandalous for you, Mother,” Leeana said after a moment in a rather more serious tone, and Hanatha shrugged.
“I won’t pretend I wouldn’t really rather not have you showing your belly button to all the world, my dear,” she said dryly. “And it would probably be as well for me to keep my opinion of other aspects of traditional war maid attire to myself, as well. For that matter, I strongly suspect you never want to hear your father’s reaction to the first time he ever saw you in it.”
She rolled her eyes, but then her expression sobered.
“Nonetheless, Leeana, it’s part of who you are and who you’ve become, and I expect you to wear those scandalous, overly revealing, appalling garments with style, grace, and composure.” She squared her shoulders, resting her folded hands atop the cane braced upright before her. “I doubt you can truly understand, even now, how terribly it hurt when you ran away to the war maids, but most of that hurt of mine was about what I knew it was going to cost you. No mother wants to see her daughter pay that kind of price, especially for something which was never her fault in the first place. But what it’s taken me quite a long time to fully understand from your letters and those fleeting visits of yours is how much you’ve gained from it. You were always a falcon fighting its jesses, even when you didn’t know it yourself. Now you’re free to fly, and I want you to fly high, love. Stretch those wings and soar.”
Leeana looked back at her, then swallowed hard.
