The silversmith was accurate.The deep red garnet did resemble her hair’s hue, and the idea of giving William something that reflected her hair, a significant reminder of her, was one she liked.Smiling at the smith, she nodded.
Without hesitation, Mairi handed over several coins, dropping them into Theodore’s hand as Ailith took the brooch.She couldn’t tell how much money exchanged hands.
“Thank ye,” Alight said in a low voice so only Mairi might hear.“’Tis generous of ye.”
“Generous of your brother,” Mairi answered.There it is,Ailith thought,that grim nature.“He’s the one who wanted to assure everything was in place for this wedding, including a gift for William.”
Be the bigger person, Ailith,she reminded herself.“Well, thanks to him and to ye for bringing me here.”
Mairi had no retort.Her lips thinned into a semblance of a smile, and she turned around.
“Daniel should have met us already.Do ye see him?”
Ailith’s eyes searched the crowd, but the bustle of people made it difficult to locate anyone.She stepped away from the stall and moved down the thoroughfare, stopping by the herbalist stall.Wasn’t the wheelwright just past –
“Ye must be joking,” an unfamiliar voice behind her said loud enough to overhear through the crowd’s clamor.
Ailith spun to see who owned that voice for two reasons.First, the accented English sounded odd, almost like her friend Angelina from America.Second, the phrasing,ye must be joking,was something she would have said in her old life, 1100 years in the future.It was not a common phrase in 900 CE.
So strange,Ailith thought as her eyes fell on the voice’s owner.
It was a slender woman with bright orange hair, very curly.Curlier than her own, and bound with a creamy white strip of linen.
“And what of carline or bog myrtle?I cannae find it on my own,” the strange woman said to a man behind a table.
The herbalist clutched his hand to his gaunt chest.“Carline?Only witches use such a thing, or the English.”The herbalist spat as if he’d just cursed.
So we know how the Scots feel about the English, even this early.Ailith surmised with an entertained smile.Carline?Did the woman mean Carline Thistle?Witch’s thistle, if Ailith recalled correctly.
And witches?This orange-haired woman had gumption to risk being called a witch.
“Never ye mind,” the woman said, waving her hand as if to wave the thought away.“The bog myrtle?”
The tension in the herbalist’s face lessened.“Aye, I have that.Anything more?”
“Nay,” the woman answered.Then she turned to the side, surveying the crowd as she waited for her herbs.Her gaze landed on Ailith.
The look they shared was heavy, full of questions and presumptions.The woman’s hair curled around her pale, freckled cheeks, and her light green eyes leveled at Ailith.
To gaze upon a stranger so boldly – it was not something Ailith had seen any other medieval woman do.Most wore wimples or kerchiefs to cover their hair and dropped their gazes to hide behind those diaphanous fabrics.This woman was bold in her speech and behavior, and reminded Ailith so much of ...
Of me.The thought struck Ailith like lightning in her brain.Could she be ...?Could she be a voyager like me?It seemed ridiculous, but was such a thing possible?
Eladon, the self-proclaimed Romani witch, had known what she was doing when she sent Emilie back in time to become Ailith.She had sent her back for a reason.A purpose,Eladon’s voice echoed in her head.If Eladon knew what she was doing, a skill handed down from one generation to the next, then Eladon, her mother, or her grandmother could have easily sent others back, and probably had, for any number of reasons.
Had Eladon or one of her predecessors sent this woman?Or were there others – either witches or fae or whatever they called themselves – like Eladon with the same skill?
A hand clasped her arm, jerking Ailith from her thoughts.Daniel was at her side.
“Are ye ready to leave?Mairi says ye found your wee gift.”
Ailith looked down at her hand.She had gripped the brooch so hard the back pin punctured her skin, drawing a pinpoint of blood.She loosened her grip.
“Aye,” she rasped out.“Aye, let’s return to Glenbervie.”
As they walked to their horses, Mairi strode beside Ailith.“Dinna get too close to that woman,” she said in a tight voice.“I’ve heard she’s a peculiar one.The last thing ye need is to be seen near her.Ye are odd enough, lass.”
Mairi said it as though she was protecting Ailith, but she couldn’t hide the bite behind the words.
