[Books of Bayern 1] The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

later that afternoon where their path merged into a green way pressed with wheel ruts. The trees there thinned into lighter woods. Ani looked back and surprised herself with a longing to stay in the true forest. Gilsa's house, small and lost in a ponderous ocean of trees, seemed more like a home than all her memories of her mother's palace. She found that she had little desire to return to that palace, except for the comfort of a bed and food and knowing her place. But, she reminded herself, Kildenree is no longer my place.
    Nor is Gilsa's house. She looked back to the road.
    Through the whispering forest noises came the distinct sound of a horse's hooves. Finn stood up, straining his eyes down the road, and Ani backed away to a tight group of trees. Her heart quickened her breath, and she did not dare even call out to Finn. But when she listened to the clomp and rhythm of the hooves, she realized that this was a horse with a short gait, and alone, not likely one of her pursuers. When the brown nose of a cob rounded the corner, there was recognition on Finn's face.
    "Hello, hello," said the driver, a boy younger than Finn. In the wagon sat another boy and a girl, her hair wrapped up in a red scarf. All their clothing was dyed in bright colors like Ani's, for which she was relieved, having felt quite loud in her bright yellow and blue among the simple green and brown of the forest. The wagon halted beside them, and the rider stood up. Ani touched her head and made certain the headscarf was pulled low over her light brows.
    "Hello," said the driver. "Finn, who's she?"
    "Mother sent her to help me at market," said Finn. The others looked at her, waiting.
    Ani had decided to use her grandmother's name until she was sure she was safe from Ungolad, but there in the woods before that weather-beaten wagon, Isilee seemed too grand.
    "I'm Isi," said Ani. "It's nice to meet you."
    Finn turned and looked at her. Ani had spoken with the quick vowels and smooth slurring of the Bayern accent, practiced for days while hunched over hunting for roots near Gilsa's house. Finn frowned but said nothing, and she smiled at him gratefully.
    The wagon riders continued to stare.
    "Well, hand me a rotten apple," said the driver.
    "What's all this?" said the other boy. "She sounds like she's from around Darkpond, but she's not from around Darkpond, or we'd know her, you hear me, Finn?"

    "Yeah, you'd best tell where she came from."
    "Forest," said Finn.
    The driver shook his head. "Well, I don't like it, and neither does Nod, and Nod's not used to pulling five, and we're not used to cozying up to strangers. We can take her pack in t he wagon now, so she's useless to you, and I think she'd best be on her way."
    Ani was not surprised. She waited to feel her shoulders lighten as Finn lifted the pack from her back and to be left alone in the woods that she was beginning to know.
    Finn said, "All right, then," touched Ani's elbow, and began to walk down the road.
    "You can go with them," Ani said softly. "I don't mind, Finn, and you can't miss marketday."
    Finn shrugged and kept walking. Ani could hear the groan of the wagon as Nod pulled up beside them at a slow pace.
    "Don't be stubborn, Finn," said the driver.
    "Yes, get in, Gilsa-boy."

    "Look now, you dolts," said the girl, "Finn's sure to be carrying a seedcake from Gilsa, and we can't get a crumb of it like this."
    "Come on, Finn," said the boy, "we just want to know who she is."
    Finn kept his pace. The driver reined and groaned.
    "Get in, both of you, you goat brothers."
    She and Finn clambered into the back of the wagon. There was little room, the large sacks taking up the floor space. Ani followed Finn's lead and sat on her sack, like children winning individual games of king-of-the-hill.
    Finn reached into his pack and pulled out a small cake wrapped in a scrap of basket weave.
    "Fresh yesterday," said Finn, and handed it to the girl to split. Ani smiled at her, sure she had made the protest from