Beneath by Gill Arbuthnott Page B

their bags, stiff with cold, and Arnor drove off to stable the horses.
    Anna fussed round them as they walked into a wall of heat inside the house.
    “Gavin and Magnus won’t be back from work for a couple of hours, so you can have some peace and quiet to warm through and unpack before they come thumping in. It’s good to see you, Jess. We’re all so glad you could come with Freya. We don’t see nearly enough of you any more. How are your parents? And Ashe? He always looks to me as though he’ll turn out a handsome lad when he’s a bit older.”
    If Anna paused for breath as she talked, Jess didn’t spot it, and there was certainly no chance of finding a gap in her words to answer any of the questions she asked. Jess contented herself with smiling instead, as she unwound the layers of clothing that had kept her from freezing solid on the cart, and got out the present she had brought.
    She and Freya followed the still-talking Anna into the room at the front of the house. There was a fireplace all right, large enough to satisfy Jess’s most optimistic imaginings, and in it roared a fire so perfect that she thought perhaps she’d just stay in this room until spring.
    Anna was still talking.
Maybe she breathes through her ears,
Jess thought.
    “Oh Jess, that’s very kind but there was no need, no need at all, it’s a treat for us to see you. Smoked eel, oh lovely! One of my favourites, I do miss it, you can’t catch them in the river here – did you know that?”
    Arnor came in blowing on his fingers and Anna disappeared, still chatting, into the kitchen.
    Arnor rolled his eyes and Freya giggled.
    “One night of it’s fine, but more than that… I wonder how Gavin copes?”
    “Magnus said once that Gavin pretends to be deaf. He said it just rolls over you like the noise of a stream after a while, and you stop noticing,” Freya said, with the air of an expert.
    “… don’t you think so, Arnor?” said Anna, coming in witha laden tray.
    “Definitely,” said Arnor.
    Anna distributed scones and butter to everyone, and a nip of whisky to Arnor.
    “To keep the cold from your bones,” she said.
    For some moments, everyone’s mouths were full, and peace settled on the room. As soon as the girls had finished, they escaped to unpack, leaving Arnor to smile and nod in appropriate places.
     
    Smells of cooking and occasional laughter drifted up from below.
    Freya sniffed. “Venison?”
    “Could be. Shall we go down?”
    “Mmnn,” said Freya, checking her appearance in the mirror and pinching colour into her cheeks. She held out a comb to Jess.
    “You might want to comb your hair first.”
    Jess sighed as she took the comb, but when Freya stood aside from the mirror she had to admit her hair did look like something designed to trap birds. Grumbling, she hauled the comb through it under Freya’s disapproving gaze.
    “That’s better,” said Freya. “Now let’s go and have another scone before Magnus comes home and finishes the lot.”
    Gavin came in not long afterwards, tall and dark and smelling pleasantly of cut wood.
    “I see the hunt’s been out,” said Arnor.
    “The wolves? Aye. That was a fortnight or so ago. I took Magnus along, but neither of us got one. There were a good few taken though, and the crown’s paying a decent bounty.”
    “We saw the heads on St Mary’s.”
    Gavin fidgeted in the room trying to make conversation with the girls for about ten minutes, then took Arnor off out with him.
    “We’ll be in the Black Bull,” he said. “Tell Magnus in case he wants to join us.”
    “Just make sure you’re back for supper and remember Arnor doesn’t want to be driving back to Kirriemuir tomorrow with a sore head,” said Anna, kissing him goodbye.
    They met Magnus on the doorstep.
    “Hello Magnus,” Freya called. “Stay and talk to us instead of going to the inn.”
    Jess got to her feet and Freya started towards him.
    “No, no,” He waved them away. “Don’t come any closer.