Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“I am grateful, May,” Elsie said, and after she took her leave, Elsie pulled her hood down far enough so no one could see her face and waited impatiently.
Cavell was pleased with the way Rory had cared for Quinn, though surprised he had little to say about Elsie and even less about Sky. Leora, however, he had no trouble praising.
He found the same with other people he spoke with, telling him how pleased they were that he would become chieftain, and said little of Elsie. And when he did mention her, all agreed that she was a dutiful daughter, and she would make him a dutiful wife. None had the courage to ask him why Elsie was not with him.
The people he talked with did not stare at his face, they smiled, pleased to meet him, pleased he was there, and after a while he was no longer conscious of his scars.
He was about to return to the keep when he felt a tug at his cloak. He was surprised when he turned and saw a young lass no more than seven or eight years standing there. Her dark hair was braided neatly, and she had pretty features.
“When will Mistress Elsie return home?” the lass asked.
Cavell was even more surprised that the lass had the courage to ask what no one else would and that she didn’t run in horror when seeing his face.
“Soon,” he said.
“How soon?”
“Soon enough,” he said surprised she continued to ask.
“That’s not an answer,” the lass said.
“It is the only answer you are going to get,” Cavell said, impressed with her tenacity but letting her know she was to ask no more of him.
“Why? Don’t you know?”
He was struck silent for a moment, expecting the young lass to be too fearful of him to continue to question him.
He crouched down in front of her. “Do you not fear me?”
“Why would I?” she asked, scrunching her small nose as if the question confused her.
“What is your name?” he asked, curious as to why this young lass was so curious to know when Elsie would return home.
“Kara.”
“Why do you ask about Mistress Elsie, Kara?”
“I miss her. She was teaching me about numbers. I love numbers,” she said and counted to ten on her fingers. “And if I go twice, I reach twenty. Mistress Elsie knows a lot about numbers, and I want to learn all that she knows so I can keep count like she does.”
“Keep count of what?”
“Everything,” Kara said, her inquisitive eyes turning wide as if surprised he didn’t know. “If you don’t keep count, how do you know if any animals go missing or if enough crops are planted to feed the clan or if too much coin is spent? Knowing numbers is very important. So, soon enough is not an answer. I need a number.”
Cavell had to keep himself from laughing, the lass seemed as logical as Elsie.
“Kara!”
Cavell saw a woman, her features similar to Kara’s, racing toward them, and he stood.
“I am sorry, sir, so sorry that she troubled you,” the woman said.
Cavell defended the little lass. “Kara is no trouble, just curious.”
“Too curious at times, I fear,” the woman said and turned a scolding eye on her daughter. “Bless you, sir, for being understanding and bless you for leading our clan. Kara will disturb you no more.” She grabbed her daughter’s hand.
“But he didn’t answer my question,” Kara protested as her mum tugged her along.
When Kara turned her head to look back at him, he held up two fingers.
“Sunrises or moon cycles?” Kara called out.
Cavell didn’t get a chance to respond, Kara and her mum both disappearing around the corner of a cottage. He turned and headed to the keep, pleased he had learned two things about his wife. She was skilled when it came to numbers and she had been right when she had mentioned that people paid her little heed, though he had not expected that from her clan.
“Your people are very accepting of me,” Cavell said when he joined his wife at the table in the Great Hall a short time later.
“They respect and appreciate your strength and courage, fearful of what could befall them with my da being so weak.”
“Of course, they accept me out of need,” he said, “just as you do.”
“They accept you for who you are, a great warrior, and I accept you because I care—”
Cavell grew angry at the voices growing closer, causing his wife to hold her tongue.
I accept you because I care—
What would have followed her words? he wondered. Would she have said I accept you because I care for you? I accept you because I care to? I accept you because I care for my clan? And why did it matter so much to him?
May stopped in front of the table while Alda stood behind her with two servants. “I will take you to Lord Norris, sir, but I ask that you please wait a few moments outside Chieftain Norris’s bedchamber while I wake him and let him know you are here.”