Page 107 of Tiger's Trek
“Very well. I’ll keep it for now. But I plan to return the gift someday, my friend.”
The knight nodded his head. “As you wish, my lady. Good luck to the two of you. Fare thee well, my friends. Dos vedanya.”
“Dos vedanya, Polden.”
He took his leave and Max leaped onto Veru’s lap as Danik dished out a heaping bowl of hot porridge for both of them. They ate and considered the two jars of sesame seeds.
While Danik cleaned the bowls, Veru reread the contract and asked, “Why do you think the black knight needs to hold the jars while we’re harvesting the wheat?”
“I don’t know,” he said over his shoulder. “Maybe it’s a toll thing? We can only harvest while he’s holding on to something in exchange?”
“Maybe.”
Veru shook the jars, listening to the seeds roll around inside. Max stared at her with his big cat eyes. Opening her bag, she dug around inside until she found the flask Kadam had left for her. Uncorking it, she emptied the water into a mug and then dumped all the black seeds into it, then did the same with the white sesame seeds and Danik’s water flask. He came over as she was finishing up.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Hedging our bets. Now, I need something small. It would have to sound like the sesame seeds.”
Max jumped off her lap and headed over to a bin in the corner. He meowed and tapped it with his foot. When Veru opened it, she found rice.
“Interesting. I can’t recall rice being here before. But it’s perfect, Max. Thank you.”
She filled both containers with approximately the same amount of rice and closed them up again.
“I’ve been meaning to ask how your scalp is healing,” Danik said.
“It’s better,” Veru replied. “Still a little tender in the back, but the doctor said the sutures he put on my scalp would absorb on their own and promote quick recovery. Apparently, it’s not made of catgut or silk like in our world but spun from some rare tree-dwelling spider creature found in this place. I tried not to ask too many questions. And honestly, I prefer not thinking about it too much. When I do, it makes me want to scratch.”
“Interesting. May I take a look?”
Veru nodded, forcing herself to keep her hands at her sides, and Danik stepped behind her chair and gently parted her shorn hair. “There’s a scar, but it looks very good. Mostly healed, I’d say. There’s still blood on your hair though.”
“He wanted me to wait another week until I got it wet again,” she explained. “I figured most of the hair was so new anyway it probably didn’t matter that much.”
“It’s been that long. I can help, if you like.”
Veru sputtered. “Help? Help me... bathe?”
“No. Not that, of course. I meant wash your hair. It’s so short now that it wouldn’t take long, I should think—that is, unless you’d rather bathe. I’m not sure we have the time, but if you want to...”
He trailed off, and Veru could see his neck turning red.
“No, I think it’s a good idea. My hair, I mean. Not a bath.”
“Okay. You just sit there. I’ll get what we need.”
Danik bustled around the cottage, opening the closet to find clean towels, a basin, and soap. He poured hot water into the bowl and mixed in some cold water from the pump outside, then had Veru turn in the chair, plumping a pillow behind her shoulders so her head hung over the side. He draped a towel around her shoulders and gave her another for her face.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
He shrugged. “My mom had sores on her feet on occasion and I bathed them, tending to the wounds to keep the infections at bay from the time I was young,” he explained.
“Do you know why?” she asked as he carefully poured water over her head and began to lather in soap.
“The doctors didn’t know. Something to do with her blood and the circulation. She always complained that she had ghost pains in her toes and ankles. Then she stopped feeling anything at all below the knee.”
“I’m sorry. Is that how you know so much about herbal medicines and poultices?”
