Page 48 of Wind Rider

“No. It means you accept that I’m courting you.”

Danita drew in a deep breath, and as she loosed it she said, “Yes. I will accept your oath. Though this might be the longest courtship in Earth Walker history.”

Antreas’s smile blazed. “That’s fine with me. Bast taught me patience a long, long time ago.”

***

“Antreas, you have officially made my morning,” Sora said after spooning the last of the eggs into her mouth and then letting little Chloe lick her spoon. She’d scrambled the eggs the Pack had gathered and served them with the leftover stew. “You were completely right about these eggs, and I hope we can find more tonight.”

“If we’re lucky we will! Gulls only lay eggs for a short time once per year—and that time is now,” Antreas said.

Mari smiled at the group of happily eating canines. “Rigel sure seems to love the shells added to his food. I thought you were kidding when you told us about putting them in their food, but you were right about that, too.”

“I’m not sure why canines—and my Bast—like the shells so much, but they do,” Antreas said.

“Must be good for them, and your Bast is certainly in excellent health,” Nik said.

“She is!” Antreas agreed. “And now that everyone has eaten a warm breakfast, it is time to cast off again. Is the Pack good with the boat assignments?”

Mari’s eyes scanned the Pack, taking in all forty-two people. She and Sora and Nik had worked with Antreas on the rearranging of the boat assignments, so she was especially relieved when no one spoke out or looked upset.

“Okay then—let’s bury this fire and stow the rest of the bowls and get on our way. Looks like we might not get rained on today, which is nice,” Antreas said.

“Why does it sound like there is a ‘but’ coming next?” Sora asked, making the Pack laugh nervously.

“Because you are wise, Moon Woman,” Antreas said. “We have about two hours of paddling before we meet our next obstacle. As long as the light is good the broken bridge won’t be much of a problem, and as it looks to be a clear day that is excellent news. The second obstacle, Bonn Dam—or rather what is left of it—is trickier. So my plan”—he paused and nodded to Mari and Sora—“if okayed by our Moon Women, is to travel a mere six hours today and then stop early and get a solid night’s rest so that we can be ready for the dam crossing tomorrow.”

Mari and Sora shared a glance, then Mari spoke up. “That sounds good. The break will also help with our hands.” The Moon Woman addressed her Pack. “Today everyone must wrap their hands, and if your blisters break call either Sora, Jenna, or me immediately. We’ll dress your wound and see if you need to be relieved from paddling or rowing—depending on the severity of your blisters.”

“I would like to help with the dressing of the wounds, too,” Danita said. “I’ll be in Antreas’s boat, and the two of us can maneuver a lot quicker than the bigger boats. I’ll take some salve and bandages, and if someone needs more than just a dressing change I can bring them to one of our Healers.”

“Wecan bring them to one of our Healers,” Antreas corrected gently.

“You’re right—wecan.” Danita shot Antreas a sassy smile before tickling the top of Bast’s head. “Right, Bast?”

The big feline chirped and rubbed against Danita’s legs while Antreas looked on with an amused smile.

“That’s a good idea,” Sora said. “And remember, all of you, keeping your wounds a secret—anywound—is not helping your Pack. If we don’t know about it we can’t fix it.”

“And individual untreated weaknesses only make the entire Pack weak,” Mari added. “Antreas, I would ask that we camp somewhere tonight that is not on the water. It’s a Third Night, so Sora and I will be Washing the Pack, and even though I called down the moon last night while we were on the water, I vastly prefer feeling land under my feet.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Antreas. “And I have a task for the weavers in our Pack that will probably be easier for them to begin on solid ground.”

Mari thought she could almost see the ears of the Earth Walkers perking at the mention of weaving. Before they’d decided to join as a Pack, they had been part of Clan Weaver, and had grown up tending plants and weaving beautiful and functional things made from those plants.

“Remember I mentioned that we would be traveling past different types of peoples on our journey?” Antreas asked.

Intrigued, the Pack nodded.

“We will meet those peoples as we cross through Bonn Dam. They are called Tribe Saleesh and are mostly a peaceful people, but they completely control the land around the dam, as well as the river from the dam all the way to Lost Lake. In order to pass safely we must pay them a token at each of their villages, though the first is the most important.”

“A ‘token’? What does that mean?” Mari asked.

“A gift. For a group this size a couple of our travel cocoons and perhaps some hair decorations should suffice.” He paused and then added, “They do love fragrant smoke. I forget what they call it, but they use it in their religious practices.”

“I could wrap some of the dried herbs together. Lavender and sage make sweet-smelling smoke,” Mari said.

“That would be perfect. Actually, their senior priest would especially like the herb sticks,” said Antreas.