Page 21 of Kiss Across the Universe
Taylor was dressed in the closest to fifth century clothing that Sydney and London had been able to procure with zero notice. The trews were modern tartan, and the leather strapping below Taylor’s knees was too well cured and too smooth. The tunic over the top looked like a cheap, badly made cosplay garment and was whiter than any real fifth century garment could aspire to, thanks to modern chemicals. The belt holding it in around her mother’s waist had shiny rivets that made it anachronistic, but not enough to make anyone suspicious.
The cape she wore wasn’t really a cape. It didn’t have a hood or shaped shoulders. It was a flat, hemmed piece of thick woolen fabric, a dark green that probably also had never been seen in the fifth century. But the brooch holding it around Taylor’s shoulders looked utterly authentic—a beaten silver moon shape with a blue stone.
Her mother had wound her hair into a knot at the back of her head and pinned it.
“Not braids?” Alannah asked, trying to recall illustrations she’d seen of costumes in the fifth century.
“Saxon women wore braids,” Taylor said. “The last thing we can afford is to be mistaken for Saxons, especially with Veris’ coloring.” She tugged at the trews distastefully. “These will mark us as strangers, anyway. I’ll have to find more clothes as soon as we get there.”
Alannah nodded. Blending in with the locals was a survival axiom Veris often repeated. “If they rub blue paint into their bellies, you do it, too,” he would say. “You follow their faith, speak their language at all times, and obey the local laws, even if that means you have to sleep with the ugly head wife to avoid offense. And you’d better, by the stars, leave the head wife smiling afterwards, too.”
Taylor rested her hand on Alannah’s shoulder. “We won’t be gone long, from your perspective. A week. Maybe two. I don’t want to arrive too close to when we left. It helps us orient back to the present time if some time has elapsed.”
Alannah nodded briskly. “Especially if you do spend years back there.”
“I wonder…would you mind popping back here to check the house, while we’re gone?” Taylor asked diffidently. “I can’t ask Aran and these migraines of Marit’s worry me—I don’t want her to exert herself with big jumps from Australia.”
“I can just stay here, if you like,” Alannah offered.
“But…your job,” Taylor said, puzzled.
“I got fired, Mom. A week ago. And I can job search from here as easily as I can from my apartment. It’s all email and phone calls, these days.”
“Fired! Oh, Alannah!”
Alannah shook her head. “It feels completely unimportant now,” she said truthfully. “Besides, I need to rethink my priorities. I don’t know if I’ll be heading back to L.A. after this.”
Taylor held her at arms’ length, her gaze roaming over Alannah. “It’s been too long since we talked.”
“We talked last week.”
“I meanreallytalked,” Taylor said. “I know I upset you last week. Did…does that have something to do with why you’re thinking about a change of careers?”
“Our phone call was a catalyst, Mom, not a reason. I think this has been building up for a while. I have a complicated…well, it’s difficult to live a completely normal life.Youknow.”
“I do,” Taylor admitted. “Well, if you’re staying here, that will let me relax a little more about everything at this end.”
“I’ll be chewing fingernails the whole time you’re gone,” Alannah said bluntly. “It’s not going to be fun at your end.”
Her mother nodded. “It’s not,” she said. “But I’ll be with two of the most capable and ruthless survivors I’ve ever met. They know the time, the place, and how the people think. They even know the language.” She grimaced. “I’m going to have to learn it the hard way.”
“You’ll have years.”
“I’ll have days to not sound like a suspicious stranger,” Taylor amended gently.
“True,” Alannah agreed. “But you’re good at languages.Faris the one who willlooklike a stranger.”
Taylor’s smile was knowing. “He’ll trade services as a physician. They can pass anywhere and be accepted readily.”
“Atharwill be the singer,” Alannah guessed. Singers in those times were entertainers and could find ready coin in any inn, tavern or village firepit, if they could tell a good story, play a lively tune and pass along fresh news.
“And I’ll be the dutiful, silent wife to one of them, as needed. Plus I’ll collect the money.” Taylor winked.
“Because women didn’t carry coins back then,” Alannah guessed.
“Robbers would look for a purse on Brody or Veris first,” Taylor agreed.
Alannah shivered. “I pity the stupid robber that tries.”
