“It is not urgent, not at this moment,” said the Ridenow lord, “But if you could awaken her, Carolin has sent orders that we are to ride as soon as possible. I have orders-”
“I will need no more than thirty minutes to be ready,” said Ruyven, “Romy, you are ready for riding? Awaken the Lady Maura, and tell her.”
His offhand assumption of authority nettled Romilly; so, for this arrogant lowland lordlet, she was to become errand-girl to some plains lady? “It’s not that easy,” she snapped, “the birds must be fed, and I’m nae servant to the lady; if ye’ want her fetched and carried for, me lord, ye’ can even do it yerself.” She realized with horror that her strong mountain accent was back in her speech when her year in the plains had almost smoothed it away. Well, she was a mountain girl, let him make of it what he wanted. She was a swordswoman and no lowlander to bow and scrape before the Hali’imyn! Ruyven looked scandalized, but before he could speak a soft voice said;
“Well spoken, Swordswoman; I, even as you, am servant to Carolin and to his birds..” A young woman stood at the door of the small tent, covered from neck to ankle in a thick night-gown, her flame-red hair loose and curling halfway to her waist. “I did not have the pleasure of meeting you yesterday, Swordswoman; so you are our bird-handler?” She bowed slightly to Ranald. “I thank you for your concern, cousin, but I need nothing, unless Carolin has summoned me – no? Then, unless you wish it; lace up my gown for me as you used to do when you were nine years old, you may tell Carolin that we will be ready to ride within the hour, as soon as the birds are properly fed and tended. I will meet you in good time, kinsman.” She nodded in dismissal, and as he turned away, she laughed gaily.
“So you are Romy?” she said, “Ruyven spoke to me of you on the way here, but we had no idea you would be our handler. Perhaps while we are on the road, you can get leave from your Swordswoman company to share my tent, so that we can both be near the birds at night? I am Maura Elhalyn, leronis, monitor in Tramontana to the Third Circle, and my mother was a Ridenow, so that I have some of the Serrais Gift… do you know that laran?”
Romilly said, “I do not. I know little of laran.”
“Yet you must have it, if you can handle sentry-birds,” Lady Maura said, “for they can be handled only with laran; they are almost impossible to work with otherwise. You have the old MacAran Gift, then? In which Tower were you trained, mestra? And who is your Keeper?”
Romilly shook her head silently. She said, “I have never been in a Tower, domna.”
She looked surprised, but her manners were too good to show it. She said, “If you will excuse me for five minutes, I will go and put on my gown – I was only teasing my cousin Ranald, I can perfectly well dress myself – and I will do my part in tending the birds, as I should do; I had no intention of leaving all their care to you, Swordswoman.”
She went quickly to the tent, her fingers already busy at the fastenings of her night-gown, and pushed it shut behind her. Romilly went to examine the bandages of Temperance’s leg, seeing with approval that the sore spot was smooth and not at all festered. While Ruyven went to tend Diligence she said, with a frown, “Are we to have this lady to rule over us, then?”
Ruyven said, “The leronis knows better than that, Romilly. She is not familiar with sentry-birds, so she told me; yet you noted that they did not scream at her approach either. She helped to care for them on the trip from the mountains – surely you did not think I handled three birds alone?”
“Why not?” Romilly asked, “I did.” Yet Maura’s frank friendliness had disarmed her. “What is this Serrais laran of which she spoke?”