Her light green eyes widened a bit as she studied Ailith in return, her freckles standing out in stark relief on her pale skin – almost as pale as Betris’s.Her strong forearms filled the fitted sleeves of her léine, and she was slender.Pink cheeked and healthy slender, not underfed or undernourished slender as Ailith had seen of some of the people here.And the way she held herself, full of confidence.
She was, well,peculiar.
The same thing people said about her.
The woman gave her a kind smile.“Can I help ye, lass?”she asked in a slight Irish lilt.
Typical Irish, a modern Irish.Ailith noticedthatright away.Not what would pass for Gaelic Irish today.
“Do I know ye?”Ailith asked in a hushed voice.
How would she know this woman?She didn’t, of that Ailith was certain.But something about this woman was so shockingly familiar.
“Ailith, do ye need to speak with this woman?”William asked.His voice was level, but she heard the underlying worry in his question.
“I- I -” She did not know how to answer, but Ailith felt like she wascompelledto speak to her.
“I’m Teagan O’Connor,” the woman said, leaving an opening for Ailith to give her name.
“I am Ailith Gordon MacDougal,” she said, glad she remembered to include her new last name.She gestured to William.“This is my husband, William MacDougal, of clan MacDougal.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed slightly.“Och, the wedding?Ye were just wed, aye?”
Ailith nodded.“Were ye at the wedding celebration and I did no’ see ye?”
Teagan shook her head.“Nay.I fear I keep away from things such as that.I keep to myself.”
“Do ye live nearby?”Ailith asked.She had to, or at least close enough to ride if she had been here twice in the past week.
“Close enough.‘Tis an easy walk.”
A tightness pulled in Ailith’s chest.Teagan answered questions as she had and still did, with everyone but William.Vague, with only the merest impression of an answer.
Ailith only spoke differently with William because he knew she was a voyager through time.She had told him before they were married, and though he seemed to accept it, it was a difficult concept to grasp, traveling through time.How did he presume to be a husband to that?
Not now.Now ye have this woman before ye …
Eladon’s voice spoke in her head:I have done this many times.
Could this woman …?
Nay.
But, what if ...?
“I- I- saw ye in the market a few days past,” Ailith said, searching for a reason to have asked the question.“Ye were buying carline thistle and bod myrtle.Might I ask why?I have an interest in plants myself.”
Or rather, mushrooms.
“Aye.My wife has been planting puddock-stools,” William added, giving voice to her thoughts.
Her heart flipped at his calling hermy wife.When would that stop?Never, she hoped.
Teagan raised a slender orange-brown eyebrow.“Carline?‘Tis good for stomach upset, better for treating scars or cleansing wounds.Bog myrtle has …” She drifted off, flicked her gaze to William, then focused back on Ailith.“Several uses.It can help with breathing, stomach upset, or fever.”
Ailith nodded, focusing more on how the woman spoke than what she really said.
“Have ye a need for the herbalist?”William asked Ailith.
