As William dismounted in the clearing, Teagan stepped out of her doorway, wiping her hands on a cloth.Her deep, orange-red hair contrasted with her pale skin and the muted tones of her croft.
“Welcome, visitors,” she called out, and, for the first time, a smile crossed her lips, exposing a set of strong teeth.
She appeared older than Ailith, yet younger than her father, and Ailith found herself trying to guess the woman’s age again.Trying to guess who this womanwas.What was an Irish woman doing living alone in the Scottish Highlands?
“Thank ye,” Ailith answered as she climbed off the horse.
She noticed William’s face as she dismounted, how he scanned the area, the set of his jaw, the way he evaluated their hostess and surroundings.He might have indulged her in this visit, but he remained cautious.
“Did ye find your herbs?”Teagan asked, getting right to business.She waved them into her croft.
Ailith looked at William and tipped her head toward the door.William joined her and ducked inside the cruck house after her.
Teagan’s house was one long, narrow room, with neat bedding and a woven trunk at the far end – her bedroom.In front of her door sat a table, two tall stools, and shelves, all filled with food, herbs, and kitchen implements – platters, cups, bowls, and a bucket.Additional herbs and flowers hung to dry from her rafters, adding pockets of color and a heady scent to her dun-colored interior.
Ailith dug out the tiny leather pouch from the herbalist.
“I have bog myrtle, but I did no’ ask after the carline.”
Teagan shrugged one shoulder.“Smart.‘Twould raise eyebrows for certain.”
“Ye live here alone, then?”William asked, his eyes scanning the room.
Teagan turned her perceptive green gaze to him.“Aye.‘Tis far enough away from most things that I am no’ troubled by people.”
“Ye dinna have a clan to help ye?”
Teagan snorted.“An Eire lass?With the name of O’Connor?And what use are the Keiths to anyone?”
It seemed she shared Ailith’s opinion of the Keiths.
“What of other clans?”Ailith inquired.“The Grants and MacDougals border these lands.And the Gordons are a wee bit to the south.”
“I do quite well on my own.”
Ailith and William shared a look.Teagan was right – she did indeed appear to be doing quite well.
“Did ye want to see how ye might use the bog myrtle?And did ye bring me the mushrooms?”
“Och, aye,” Ailith responded, stepping towards the woman’s table.
She set the bog myrtle on the tabletop, then dug into her satchel and withdrew a handful of the tiny mushrooms.
Teagan’s eyebrows twitched.“I have no’ seen any like these before.”
Ailith put them on the table with the bog myrtle.“No’ many have.They are rare, and I am working to repopulate the Highlands with them.In fact, I was going to ask ye if ‘tis a place near your croft, one of stones, grass, and heavily damp and shadowed, that these wee puddock-stools might grow?”
Ailith studied Teagan’s face and noted how her eyes flicked from William to Ailith.
“Let us start with the bog myrtle, then ye can tell me about the stools.I have an idea of where these might grow well.If your man would like to check it for ye?”
Ailith licked her lips.Teagan was trying to get rid of William.Mayhap Ailith could learn Teagan’s truth if William were not present.
William, God love him, got the hint.
“Where is this shadowy place?I know what type of place Ailith prefers for her wee plants.”
“Continue toward the standing stone,” Teagan said, pointing north.“Ye will find a rowan overgrowing onto the path at the start of the glen.Turn at the tree, and ye will find a collection of moss-covered stones.It might work for ye, and ye shall be gone but three-quarters an hour at most.”
