considered that she might be the young man in disguiseâbut that didnât keep it from being a very real fear.
The first village she encountered made her tense up all over, but nobody paid any attention to her, except for the handful of women who looked startled and offended at the sight of a woman
riding astride
even though she was probably less prone to showing ankles, or even (gasp!)
calves
than someone riding sidesaddle.
By the third village she felt as relaxed as she was ever likely to get, and then she could think. Lebkuchen was being very well behaved; she wondered if Tante Gretchen had had a âwordâ with her. It was Earth Magicians who were good with animals, and Earth Masters the best of all. Giselle had always found Lebkuchen a handful, but maybe that had been because the mare had belonged to Mother, not her. Perhaps Tante Gretchen had âexplainedâ the situation to her in a way she understood.
I have food for a few days,
she considered, as Lebkuchen ambled along the quiet, narrow road.
Water I can get from the rivers and streams. Itâs probably not wise for a woman alone to take a room in an inn. So my biggest problem between here and there is where am I going to sleep? I canât ride day and night; Lebkuchen needs the rest even if by some miracle I donât.
The easiest thing to do would be to make rough camps in the forest. It wouldnât be hard; Joachim had taught her how to camp ages ago. But if she could find a farm that still had haystacks in the fields, that would be preferable. She had a distinct advantage over most travelers and gypsies and tramps; she could ask an Air Elemental to stand guard for her and wake her before sunrise so she could get out and away before the farmer could catch her.
For that matter, she could ask her Elemental allies to scout ahead and
find
a field with haystacks. Then she could wait until dark, slip in before the moon rose, and have herself a cozy little roost without anyone the wiser.
Iâll do it,
she decided, and felt a good bit better. Lebkuchen would be taken care of too; the amount of hay the mare would eat overnight would be negligible to the farmer, but it would cost more than Giselle liked at a stable.
She whistled the odd little spell-tune she used to summon the friendliest of Air Elementalsâthose were usually, though not always, sylphs. This time she got one that
wasnât;
an odd little creature with the face of a girl and the everything else of a scarlet-feathered bird. Sheâd gotten Elementals like this one before, and they were a welcome sight when she needed a helper that was steady and not flighty. The bird-creature flew along beside her and listened as she explained what she needed: a farm near the road with haystacks still in the field, somewhere near where she and the horse would be at around sunset.
The bird-girl listened intently and whistled her agreement when Giselle was finished. Off she flitted, leaving Giselle only concerned as to whether or not such a thing actually existed.
Well, if it doesnât, Iâll camp in the woods,
she reminded herself. It wouldnât be as nice a bed as a haystack . . .
But itâs preferable to a gaol.
By the third day she had finally relaxed some of her vigilance and begun to enjoy the journey. Even sleeping in haystacks wasnât so bad; Mother had taught her how to chase away insects so she was able to burrow in and sleep peacefully until a sylph or a sprite awoke her.
And since she was, quite literally, seeing more people than she had ever seen in her entire life, even the most mundane things were entertaining. Sometimes it was all she could do to keep a straight face at some of the goings-on. Were the village beauties
really
so unaware of how absurd they looked, mincing about the way they did? Were the handsome lads not the least conscious that they acted just as absurdly? The prosperous also put on ridiculous airs, men and women both,
The first village she encountered made her tense up all over, but nobody paid any attention to her, except for the handful of women who looked startled and offended at the sight of a woman
riding astride
even though she was probably less prone to showing ankles, or even (gasp!)
calves
than someone riding sidesaddle.
By the third village she felt as relaxed as she was ever likely to get, and then she could think. Lebkuchen was being very well behaved; she wondered if Tante Gretchen had had a âwordâ with her. It was Earth Magicians who were good with animals, and Earth Masters the best of all. Giselle had always found Lebkuchen a handful, but maybe that had been because the mare had belonged to Mother, not her. Perhaps Tante Gretchen had âexplainedâ the situation to her in a way she understood.
I have food for a few days,
she considered, as Lebkuchen ambled along the quiet, narrow road.
Water I can get from the rivers and streams. Itâs probably not wise for a woman alone to take a room in an inn. So my biggest problem between here and there is where am I going to sleep? I canât ride day and night; Lebkuchen needs the rest even if by some miracle I donât.
The easiest thing to do would be to make rough camps in the forest. It wouldnât be hard; Joachim had taught her how to camp ages ago. But if she could find a farm that still had haystacks in the fields, that would be preferable. She had a distinct advantage over most travelers and gypsies and tramps; she could ask an Air Elemental to stand guard for her and wake her before sunrise so she could get out and away before the farmer could catch her.
For that matter, she could ask her Elemental allies to scout ahead and
find
a field with haystacks. Then she could wait until dark, slip in before the moon rose, and have herself a cozy little roost without anyone the wiser.
Iâll do it,
she decided, and felt a good bit better. Lebkuchen would be taken care of too; the amount of hay the mare would eat overnight would be negligible to the farmer, but it would cost more than Giselle liked at a stable.
She whistled the odd little spell-tune she used to summon the friendliest of Air Elementalsâthose were usually, though not always, sylphs. This time she got one that
wasnât;
an odd little creature with the face of a girl and the everything else of a scarlet-feathered bird. Sheâd gotten Elementals like this one before, and they were a welcome sight when she needed a helper that was steady and not flighty. The bird-creature flew along beside her and listened as she explained what she needed: a farm near the road with haystacks still in the field, somewhere near where she and the horse would be at around sunset.
The bird-girl listened intently and whistled her agreement when Giselle was finished. Off she flitted, leaving Giselle only concerned as to whether or not such a thing actually existed.
Well, if it doesnât, Iâll camp in the woods,
she reminded herself. It wouldnât be as nice a bed as a haystack . . .
But itâs preferable to a gaol.
By the third day she had finally relaxed some of her vigilance and begun to enjoy the journey. Even sleeping in haystacks wasnât so bad; Mother had taught her how to chase away insects so she was able to burrow in and sleep peacefully until a sylph or a sprite awoke her.
And since she was, quite literally, seeing more people than she had ever seen in her entire life, even the most mundane things were entertaining. Sometimes it was all she could do to keep a straight face at some of the goings-on. Were the village beauties
really
so unaware of how absurd they looked, mincing about the way they did? Were the handsome lads not the least conscious that they acted just as absurdly? The prosperous also put on ridiculous airs, men and women both,
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