As she twisted again to find a more comfortable position, her hair fell all over her face. Amazing how much her hair had grown in nine moons! She wasn’t sure that long hair was worth the bother, but it was a sign of womanhood, and she wore it proudly. Leeb liked it. She tickled him with it, sometimes, and that roused him almost faster than anything. Perhaps that was why mothers wore their hair long and kept their daughters’ short. Oooo!
Kaif, you are too impatient! Or maybe not. Thaile had been dozing again. The window was quite bright now. And the rain had stopped. Good.
Oooo-ooo! Getting serious, are you?
Thaile rolled over with a grunt and munched on her goodman’s ear. Leeb did not have nice, flat, pointy ears like pixies should have. He had big, round, stick-out ears, very suitable for munching.
“Mmmph?” Leeb said, brushing her hair off his face.
“Darling?”
“Mmmph.”
“Baby.”
“Mm? What?” Leaping up from the bed, Leeb missed the doorway and ran straight into the wall. Disregarding his goodwife’s shouts, he regained his balance, found the exit, rocked the house again as he tore open the front door, plunged out into the dawn, rounded the chicken coop too closely, lost his balance, and sprawled headlong into the mud, narrowly missing the woodpile.
She Felt his emotions—confusion, panic, shame . . .
A few moments later he followed the sound of laughter back to the window.
“How long have I got?” he asked sheepishly.
“At least enough time to put some clothes on. Boosh is quite a prim old dear, you know, and may not want to get in a boat with a naked man—beautiful though you are.”
“You are very cruel to, mock me!”
His eyes were twinkling, though. No matter how clumsy or inept he might be on occasion, Leeb never took himself too seriously. That was one of his better qualities—not that any of his qualities were inferior.
“Mock you? I am completely serious, my darling man. If I did not think you beautiful, would I ever have consented to let you sire this baby that I am about to, er, produce?”
Thaile passed out his breeches and a kiss, and he accepted both. “Go and wash off the mud before you put them on,” she said, preparing to close the shutter. “And you don’t want your shoes, do you? They’re not dry yet from yesterday. You don’t need hat and cloak yet. And don’t forget . . .”
“Yes?” he said urgently.
She smiled. “To milk the goat and let out the chickens and then come back and have something to eat. After that, we’ll decide whether you have to leave yet.”
Then she said, “Oh!” and sat down hurriedly as Kaif rattled the latch again.
There was a watcher in the woods. There were two watchers in the woods. ”No complications?” asked the newcomer.
“Perfectly normal,” the first said. “Good-size boy. I’m tempted to do something about its ears before anyone sees them.”
“I was reminded that the child is also precious.” The other sighed. ”So was I—several times.”
“Her Faculty is as strong as they said?”
“It must be. She can Feel those families up on the ridge. Keep your guard up.”
“Go and have your break, then, and I’ll stay here. Bring the body back with you.”
There was only one watcher in the woods.
Rain began falling again as Leeb departed in the boat. It did not wet the watcher, though.
3
Leeb was poling the boat across the wetlands in the drizzle. Thaile could Feel his nervous urgency—poor Leeb was much more worried about what was happening than she was. Women had been having babies since the world began. She was healthy, barely sixteen. The younger the better, the old women always said. Lying contentedly on the bed, she could even Feel old Boosh herself, rousing to her morning chores, grumbling amiably at Neeth as she always did. Thaile could Feel his tolerant amusement.
If she tried hard, she could Feel other neighbors in the remote distance, several families—on the hill, and downriver. Boosh must have told them about the newcomers, out none of them had ever come to pry. When the dry season arrived, she would go visiting to show off her baby.
Oooo! That was a bad one. Patience, my darling! Wait until Daddy returns.
A beautiful home, she had. Near her feet was a hamper with her spare dress and some other clothes. Along one wall was a shelf Leeb had made for her, loaded with her precious things, the few she had been able to bring—colored shells, bright stones, the stuffed dragon that had been her plaything when she was tiny, a man’s elbow carved in stone. In the next room was a wickerwork cradle, with fluffy cotton blankets she had made herself, all ready for Kaif. Or possibly Frial.
How wonderful to have a real baby of her own, to suckle and cuddle . . .
Ah! Leeb had reached the Neeth Place, or else he was within shouting distance. She Felt excitement and impatience from him, surprise and joy from the two oldsters . . . The river was running very swiftly, she knew. That boat would be back in no time.
Oooo . . . Ouch! Despite herself, she whimpered. Already? she thought shamefully. She had promised herself she was not going to make a scene over this. Poor Leeb would be terrified if she yelled and screamed, the way some women did. Two years ago, when Hoan was having her first, Thaile and some of the other girls had crept close to the Jurg Place to listen. Such a fuss about a perfectly normal business! It couldn’t possibly be as bad as Hoan had pretended.
Leeb would be back soon with Boosh. Maybe even Neeth, also, to keep Leeb company. Soon. The rain was really pelting down. They would be cold.
The outer door creaked.
For one instant, Thaile felt a wild surge of panic. Who could be there? Who could approach without her Feeling them? Jain of the College, of course! He was a mage, and she could not Feel him if he did not want her to.
Then a strange calm fell over her, washing away her rising anger, and she remembered that Jain could do that to her.
She stared up without a blink as two women came into the room—one tall and elderly but not really old, the other shorter, younger, but not really young. They wore frilled pure-white blouses and long skirts of smooth cloth, brightly striped in greens and yellows, all very grand. Their hair was neat and shiny, and their faces seemed smooth and unweathered, their expressions stern. They were not wet.
They stood at her feet, towering over her. “Recorders?” Thaile whispered.
The younger woman frowned. “Certainly not!”
“She doesn’t understand,” said the elder. “Thaile, my name is Shole; I am an analyst. Mearn, here, is an archivist. We are more important than recorders, but we are from the College, which is what you meant, wasn’t it?”
Thaile nodded. And they were both sorceresses. Black horror howled somewhere in the depths of her mind, kept at bay by that sinister calm.
“Go away!” she said. “It is very rude to enter a Place when you are not asked in.”
“Rude?” the younger visitor snorted. She had very ugly eyes, sort of muddy brown color. “Child, you have no idea how important this is! The whole world is in danger of—”
Shole snapped, “Mearn!”
“I am having a baby!” Thaile shouted.
“That’s why we came, of course. We shall help you have it.”
“I don’t want your help. Go away!”
The younger woman made an impatient noise and knelt down beside her. ”Don’t be foolish, child. The other way is messy, and exhausting, and we need you healthy and fresh. This will be very easy, quite painless. It’s a boy, you know, a little early, but fine and healthy. Pull up your gown.”
“No!” Thaile protested. She tried to rise. Her arms went limp and she sagged back. She stared up at the roof, wondering if she had gone mad.
Her cover and clothes vanished, leaving her naked. She whimpered.
“Not too far along,” said the younger. “Good.”
Thaile was ashamed to feel tears in her eyes. “My goodman is on his way. I don’t need your help. Leave our Place!”
“Foolish child!” the older woman snapped. “Do as you are told, for once! This unpleasantness is entirely your own fault. Had you obeyed the law, all this sorrow and pain would never have happened.”
“Just relax,” the younger woman said. “Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.”
“But I must clear the ferns and squat on the earth!” That was the way it was done, the way a pixie must be born.
“Stupid superstition! Just relax.” Then a very odd sensation . . . Ooops! “Fine baby,” the woman said.