Page 152 of The BoneKeeper's Daughter

Her voice is quiet in response. “What a small thing to give such joy. There are hardships in your home that I don’t even have the questions to figure out.”

“The pure water in that tub is enough to fill five families' wells for a week.”

“Perhaps…perhaps during the quiet times in our days, you’d be willing to tell me more about your home. Not tonight. I can hear the sleep pressing against you. But sometime.”

“Of course. I’d be happy to.”

The comb catches on my necklace, and she huffs slightly under her breath. “Are you sure, Keeper?” she asks again, changing the subject, and I reach up quickly to pull Lorcan around to drape down my front.

“I will not remove it, Ellie. It is not worth asking again.” The caution in my words is enough to silence her protests; she asked during the bath if I would take him off, and was surprised at my firm refusal. There is a warning now that she heeds immediately.

“It’s fine. I’m done now anyway. Would you like me to leave your hair, or braid it in the manner of our people?”

Her words are cut off by a knock of sorts at the tent door.

“Yes?” I call out, pulling my blankets tighter around me, but the answer is respectful and no one pushes inside.

“It’s Teo,” his deep, warm voice answers back. Ellie stills behind me. “I have the items you requested, and have been told to report to your tent for the purposes of educating your barbarian mind.”

“Come in,” I invite. Ellie’s hands flex briefly in my hair as Teo enters, dropping the door flap awkwardly behind him. His arms are full of a jumble of items, which he dumps unceremoniously by my sleep roll.

“Ah. Extra dry rations for this week,” he starts cataloging the pile. “Extra fresh rations will be delivered with yours daily. Extra set of traveling clothes. Some odds and ends that everyone is given when they join our camp. Soap, though I can see I’m late for that. A second flask. A pack. Well, you have Ellie. She’ll guide you through it all.”

“It all goes to Ellie’s bedroll, please,” I murmur quietly, ignoring the startled silence in the room, before he finally replies in a choked voice.

“Yes, Keeper.”

Ellie has started combing my hair again, lulling me into a dreamlike state. “Have you decided, Keeper? In the manner of yours? Or ours?” she asks, and I sigh.

“Can you just call me Wren, Ellie?” I ask. “And I think braids like yours, please. If it’s not too much trouble. Just…leave the stands with the bones alone, perhaps.”

She doesn’t answer, but begins twisting and sectioning my hair, so I know she hears.

“And me? Should we have our first session tonight, or are you too tired? I can leave and come back tomorrow.” Teo is studiously polite, but longing edges his words like the first touches of burnt orange on autumn leaves.

From behind me, Ellie makes a small sound of distress before catching herself. “I’m sorry, Kee…Wren. I just bent my fingers strangely.”

“Mmm. Would you stay, Teo? I’m far too tired to participate, but maybe if you and Ellie just tell stories, I’ll pick up on something. I’ll…make a mental list of what to ask you for tomorrow. You two talk and I’ll listen, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Again, silence, and then again, Teo’s warm voice, like a sunlit patch of grass in the Harvest Month. “I’d be happy to, if Ellie doesn’t mind. Should I start with the story of when she tried to save two abandoned kittens by hiding them in her dress pockets?”

“Don’t youdare!” Ellie answers, laughter bubbling bright in her voice, echoed moments later in Teo’s.

“Too late, Lolly-girl.” What is clearly a pet name slips without either of them noticing. “She was six, and already a hellion?—”

Ellie roars in protest, and the three of us dissolve into uncautious laughter, even if mine is muted by exhaustion. They bicker back and forth within the relative safety of my tent walls, far from the rest of the camp where few can hear, and I drift off to sleep in the comfort of quiet voices and affectionate amusement.

I am rousedto a heavy darkness by quiet voices.

“Is she safe, Teo? This seems a dream.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. But life can’t continue like it was, Ell. This is…this is a chance. At something.”

A pause.

“Perhaps if she leaves…we could go with her…”

A pause.

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