Some of the feeling of a feast day might have been because the others had known they neared their destination… or at least their destination on the path to another one. Fen was not sure which it was, but at about noon the following day, new faces appeared on the path, streaming past Fen in search of friends or family. Cries of “Welcome!” carried through the trees, and those traveling around him began to walk faster.
Then, with no other warning, he walked into a large settlement in a vast clearing surrounded by even denser forest.
He slowed in surprise, noting several cookfires, organized lines of tents, and some bedrolls out in the open air. Several of the tents were big enough to make Fen wonder if they had been taken in past campaigns against Earls.
He didn’t get long to stare. Ati beckoned him over to help raise his tent again, although then when he asked for help unloading his cart, none of his supplies went into his old tent but instead a much larger one. His travel tent would go to someone else here now that he was back, he explained. Which meant this was some sort of permanent settlement Ati often returned to, although it did not contain an army. Not quite. Perhaps, notyet.
Fen caught sight of Heni as he finished carrying armfuls of dried and drying plants into the new tent. Heni had a small child on one shoulder and a child younger than the first in her arms, and a short man and another woman on either side of her. The woman looked similar to Heni, both in hairstyle and in hair color. But she was slighter, and possibly younger, and wore no weapons or armor. The man had the same dark curly hair as one of the children and gazed at Heni so adoringly Fen nearly blushed for him.
Fen was not the only one who noticed.
The slighter woman cackled loudly. “Look, if you two want to be alone, I get it. You can give me the kids for a while and I’ll take them over to let them tackle their uncle.”
Their uncle, Fen realized a stunned moment or two later, was Lan. The small group walked to where Lan stood talking with someone by one of the fires and the child on Heni’s shoulder immediately demanded to be let down.
“I see how it is,” Heni complained mildly. “What’s a mother to an uncle who can lift you up even higher?”
“Bridie likes to fly,” the short man answered, but took the opportunity once Bridie was on the ground to reach for Heni’s arm and curl it around his waist. Heni, who must be Lan’s sister, which seemed obvious to Fen now, squeezed the man tight even while turning to say something to Lan.
Lan, who was raising Bridie onto his shoulder. He kept her tiny hand firmly in his.
Ati sighed somewhere behind Fen. “You’ll be useless now, I expect. But I should clean up and then sleep for a thousand years. Wouldn’t hurt you to do the same.”
He was gone by the time Fen tore his gaze from Lan and turned around. Fen supposed he ought to clean himself as well, while the sun was still somewhere overhead. But there was probably something he ought to do first. Find out where he could help, or where everything was, for a start. Yet his attention drifted back to the small family by the fire.
The other woman was likely a sister too, or a cousin. He wondered if they were all also unclaimed like Lan, or if they’d left an established family to be here. That would affect the children, but the sisters might not care if they were anything like their brother. Although Lan might choose another name eventually, if Fen helped him secure a real alliance with a powerful house and perhaps then also a marriage. Then the whole family could use the new name.
Bridie pointed her finger at Fen then waved one chubby hand. Fen was one of The Acana’s youngest, so he had never been around small children and wasn’t certain how to guess their ages. He at least knew enough to wave back when waved to.
The child let out a squeal to be heard across the clearing. Fen jumped, then froze when Lan, his sisters, and Heni’s partner all turned in his direction.
He quickly bent over to peer inside Ati’s cart but it remained distressingly empty.
“Did you need any help, stranger?” asked someone with a voice Fen did not recognize.
He straightened to consider a man who must have been about his age or maybe a fraction older. He had skin darker than Bridie’s or her father’s, and wore a beard as seemed to be the style in some of the other territories, although he had short hair and no ornamentation except for the pretty red color of his tunic.
He blinked twice when Fen met his eyes. “Well,” he said around a slow-growing smile, “hello, beautiful.”
“I was about to ask if anyone here neededmyhelp,” Fen explained, then jumpedagainwhen Artil came out of seemingly nowhere to sweep past him and grab a handful of the man’s red tunic and use it to spin him around.
“I would not recommend it,” Artil told the man in red, as serious as he always seemed to be, and linked their arms together before leading the other man forcefully in a new direction.
Fen frowned after them, and then at the cart, but jerked his head up at the sound of his name.
“Fen, is it?” The speaker was the smaller of Lan’s probable-sisters. She wore her hair like Lan did, in a knot at the crown of her head, although she had one tiny braid hanging down by her ear and no jewelry. She stopped in front of Fen to give him a brief but thorough study, then smiled. “You seem a bit lost.”
Fen glanced over but Lan was gone and would likely not have saved him anyway, so he faced her with a helpless shrug. “If you could direct me where to go, I’m happy to help anywhere.”
“Oh.” She waved dismissively. “Everyone is catching up or resting. The cooks might need some extra hands but they’ll get that in an hour or two after the,” she winked, “reunions are over.” She pushed out a sigh before studying him again. “I’m Tellan.”
“From the morra?” Fen wondered, then gave a start. “If that’s hurtful, I’m sorry.”
“Depends on who you’re speaking with, to be honest.” Tellan leaned in to tell him that, her eyes sparkling with amusement as her brother’s did not. “Killan hasof coursepicked up more people than we expected on his journey back here. It’s more and more each time. So, what really needs to be done right now is looking over our supplies and getting a better sense of what will be needed both immediately and in the future. Can you help with that?”
Fen nodded eagerly. “I think so. I was never officially trained in how to run the holding, but I observed a lot. I’m sure it must be similar.”
“Excellent!” Tellan walked off immediately, then paused and gestured for Fen to follow. She talked as she moved. “So itisFen? Not flower? Not cub?”
