Ozark Fantasy - Twelve Fair Kingdoms Part 3

"And a fine one," I agreed. "That's a likely young woman, and I plan to keep my eye on her in future. I wager she'll go a considerable distance in this world."

"Silverweb," Anne said again, "is fifteen years old. And you, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter, you remarking on the habits of these 'young people' like a blasted Granny, have had precisely fourteen birthdays, and the fourteenth not more than six weeks ago!"

It wasn't often I stood rebuked lately, not since we'd finally managed to pack my sister off where she couldn't do any harm to speak of or leave me holding the bag if she was bound and determined to live up to her name. But this was one of the times, and I had it coming. Not that we are given to considering only the calendar years on Ozark, we know many other things more worth considering. But my speech had not been genteel. It was the sort of thing my mother would of said, and I wished, not for the first time, that I had the skill of blus.h.i.+ng. That, like the ability not to fall over my own big feet, had been left out of my equipment. And the more ashamed of myself I was, the more I looked like I didn't care atall - I knew that. I only wished I knew what to do about it Anne of Bright.w.a.ter was not as tall as I was, and she had a usual habit of gathering herself in that made her seem even smaller, but she was making me feel mighty puny now, there mid the music and the boom of thunder, A trick like a cat does, puffing herself up to be more impressive.

"It is hard for Silverweb," said my kinswoman, spitting sparks now along with the syllables, "seeing you come here, dressed like a young queen and treated like one, off on a Quest before all the world and it taken seriously- oh, they are, don't you worry, they are taking it very seriously! While she stands aside and must hear herself called 'one of the McDaniels children.' Had you thought of that?"

I had not thought of it, obvious though it surely should have been. I looked at the tall grave girl who was a year my senior, moving easily through the squares in a simple dress of gray silk sprigged with pale green rosebuds, and her only ornament a shawl of dark gray wool in a Love-in-the-Mist knotting, with a pearl fringe... and perhaps the single wild rose in her yellow hair. I remembered the way I had sat that afternoon, "watching the children," with a pretty fair estimate of the expression that must of been on my face at the time, and I felt a fool. Had I called her "one of the children" in her hearing? Surely not... but supper had been boring, as expected, and I'd not paid a great deal of mind to curbing my tongue.

"The mother lion defends her young," I said lamely, and the nearest Fiddler got me back of the ear, making me jump.

"And a st.i.tch in time saves nine!"

I winced and stared at the floor, and Anne drew her skirts around her with a swish like ribbon tearing and went off and left me standing there all alone as she headed for the ballroom door, managing to tangle herself up with two couples in a reel before she sailed out into the corridor and slammed the door behind her.

She would be back later to apologize. After all, I had not chosen to be Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter. It was none of my doing. A Granny had chosen that role for me and I filled it as best I could, and no doubt there were good reasons. Some of them I knew, and some I could guess, though there seemed a kind of fuzz between them and my clear awareness; others I would learn in time, and some I would be told. When I was buried they would be written on a sheet of paper narrow as my thumb, in the symbols of Formalisms & Transformations, and tucked between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and buried with me. Somewhere, if she still lived, there was someone who knew every one of those reasons at this very moment, and no doubt the knowledge lay heavy on her shoulders; I hoped they were broad.

I was behaving like a fourteen-year-old, I realized, and I smoothed my ruffled feathers and set my quarrel with Anne aside, along with the futile lamenting about my lack of elegances. Spilt milk, all of it, and I'd spill gallons more before I saw my own Castle gates again. The only important question I needed to concern myself with was: could there be mischief here, if not treason, despite the fact that the McDaniels were close to the Bright.w.a.ters as our skins?

I listened, then, with more than my ears-my ears were too full of fiddle and guitar and dulcimer to be useful in any case-and only silence came back to me. Here I might be annoying, and I might be read up and down, but here I was loved, and here the Confederation was seen as a worthy goal to be worked toward. I found no small thing that I could worry about, and I worried easy; nor would I be spending this night casting Spells to troll for echoes that I might of missed hearing through the music.

Thunder boomed again, less intimidating than Anne, and I poured myself another gla.s.s of punch and retreated further into the protection of the tall white baskets of flowers and ferns that surrounded the bandstand. And seeing as how the McDaniels set as fine a party table as was to be found anywhere, I had another plate of food. I would be off in the morning early, I decided, and skip the breakfast. That way I wouldn't have to face Silverweb of McDaniels again and risk putting my foot deeper yet in the muck than I had already, from being self-conscious over slighting her so today.

My pockets were deep and my skirts full enough to hide plenty of lumps. I made sure I had both a midnight snack and a breakfast squirreled away before Anne came back to tuck her arm through mine and tell me what a crosspatch she'd been over nothing.

"It wasn't 'nothing,'" I said resolutely, "and I had every word you said coming to me, Anne. But I want you to know it wasn't meantto be the way it looked, and I wish you'd tell Silverweb that once I'm gone. And I thank you for bringing my manner to my attention here and now, close to home; it would not be so easy if you were the lady of Castle Traveller."

"Just use your head," she said, and tears in her eyes because she saw I was truly sorry. Anne of Bright.w.a.ter had a quick temper, but a heart that melted at blood heat, nearly. "And watch your tongue."

"I'm trying," I said. "Ill get the hang of it."I had for sure better get the hang of it, and that with some speed."You'll tell Silverweb?" I asked her. "Promise?""I'll tell her. And she will understand. Silverweb is a deep one."

CHAPTER THREE.

The next day I was able to be a little more sensible. Leaving, I still wore my spectacular traveling outfit, but the minute I was well over the water and out of sight of the fis.h.i.+ng boats I brought Sterling to a full stop in midair and changed into something that didn't make what was already misery doubly so. Balancing on Muleback for that kind of thing takes practice, and properly fastened straps and backups, but I was more than up to it-I'd had lots of practice. Mostly it requires pretending you are flat on the ground, while at the same time not exactly forgetting that it's a good ways down.

I took the Ocean of Remembrances at a leisurely pace; it was a three-day flight from Castle McDaniels to the first landfall on Oklahomah, and since I'd done Castle to coast in about fourteen minutes flat I had time to make up over the ocean.

I cut the Mule back to half her regulation speed, and I balanced a very small dulcimer-all I'd been able to fit in my saddlebags, but not all that bad-over her broad neck, and I sang my way dry through a steady wind and plenty of rain by way of a Weather Transformation that it was fully illegal for me to know. Sterling disliked the dulcimer, and she probably disliked my voice even more; it was a good deal like her own. Just as I was never called upon to dance at parties, I was never called upon to sing (anywhere), and I reveled in my opportunity, here at a height where there was n.o.body to clap hands over their ears and beg me to leave off tormenting them. I do know a lot of ballads, not to mention every hymn in the hymnal, and I enjoyed myself tremendously.

There is some inconvenience, of course, to making any lengthy ocean voyage by Mule, our oceans being almost completely empty of islands or reefs. A person could get through one day without too much ha.s.sle, provided you neither ate nor drank the day before nor during the flight itself. But once you went beyond that single day the inevitable happened, and considerable gymnastics were required of both rider and Mule. (This was not the least of the reasons why Ozarkers for the most part went by boat from continent to continent, and it made it unlikely that I would meet any other citizen on Muleback as I went along, which was all to the good in the interests of modesty.) Only for the sake of a symbol would anything so unhandy be undertaken by a reasonable person, and few had that sort of symbol to deal with.

I had ample time to think about the distances and times of flight that would be expected of me, when my throat and my fingers got tired. Bright.w.a.ter to McDaniels, one very long day, and then three more to Oklahomah. Three days roughly for each leg of the triangle from Castle Clark to Castle Smith, Castle Smith to Castle Airy, and back again almost to Clark for the best take-off across the channel to Arkansaw-that a day's flight only, and a short day. Three days' travel for Castles Farson and Guthrie, a day's flight to Mizzurah; two days there and two to Castle Purdy. Four days across the Ocean of Storms to Kintucky, provided the ocean didn't do too much living up to its name and force me to put in an extra day for the benefit of the population. Ten days from Kintucky to Tinaseeh. Then the longest leg over water... the McDaniels children had not been too far off in their estimate of the flight time from Tinaseeh's southeast tip back to Oklahomah; it was a good five days, even with fair weather and a tailwind. And then four days home. Fifteen days, even cutting it very close, I'd be expected to spend flying over water. And far more than that for the land distances, with stops at the same intervals expected of anyone else.

Since I was all alone I indulged myself, and turned the air blue to match the stripe between Sterling's ears, which were still laid back in protest against my concert. I could of done the whole trip, the actual flying time, in about an hour total, just the amount of realtime involved in take-offs and landings, and there was no time to spare with the Jubilee coming in May, and February almost over. But whereas a Magician of Rank could have done it that way and n.o.body would of done more than maybe fuss mildly about people that felt obliged to show off, having a woman do such a thing would cause about the same amount of commotion as a good-sized groundquake. And the damage would not be repairable by stone and timber. I could shave an hour here and half an hour there and get away with it, but not much more, not without causing more trouble than I could conveniently put an end to. The word would be well out by now, and people in the towns and farms-and on the water along the coasts, too-would be expecting to look up and see me fly by all in emerald and black and gold and silver and scarlet, at reasonable points of time. Aeronautically reasonable.

I could think of no cover story that would get me out of any of that time, except that (the Twelve Corners be praised) I would be able to do most of my make-up time in the Wildernesses instead of over the oceans. The likelihood of anybody observing me in mid-ocean once I got away from the coasts was too small to be worth considering; I would do a decorous few miles in sight of land, SNAP to a suitably remote spot in the nearest Wilderness, and camp there to wait out the time it "should" of taken me to fly that far. Enough was enough. Muleflight was fine for formal occasions, for short-time travel, and for racing and hunting, but it was one of the most boring ways ever devised for going long distances. Sterling, like any other Mule with a sense of self-respect, refused to go through the completely superfluous leg movements in the air that travel over ground or in the water would of required... it was a lot like sitting on a log (a small log) floating through the air, and if it hadn't been for the wind blowing past you it would of been easy to believe that you weren't moving at all. Over the water even the wind wasn't all that much diversion. It wasn't tiring, and twelve full hours of it was no great strain on either Mule or rider, but, law, it was boring. I intended to keep it to a minimum.

The coast of Oklahomah is peaceful land. Pale golden sand sloping gently down to the water on one side and gently up into low green hills on the other, and the weather always easy there. There were boats out, farther from the land than I had really expected them to be, and I made my arm tired waving at their pa.s.sengers before I began my descent. And managed to drop my poor dulcimer into the Ocean of Remembrances in the process. New motto: never try to balance a dulcimer across a Mule's neck, keep from falling off the

Mule, and wave to a boat captain below you at the same time.

Sterling and I settled down toward the land, and I saw that my expectations were correct; the word had gone out. Although Castle Clark was no more than three miles up from the sh.o.r.e, where it had a view that melted both heart and mind as it faced out toward the sea, there was a delegation of some sort waiting to meet me. I wouldn't have to hammer on the gates of Castle Clark as I had had to do at Castle McDaniels; we were going in in a small, and I hoped a tasteful, procession.

The Clarks' Castle staff wore dark brown livery, trimmed at cuff and hem with yellow and white. Four of the staff were there on Muleback (all, by their insignia, Senior Attendants), the Clark crest embroidered on their right shoulders. I had always liked that crest; two stalks of wheat, crossed, yellow on a field of brown, and a single white star above the wheat-nothing more. It pleasured the eye and was a credit to the Granny that'd devised it when the Castle was built.

"Good morning, miss," they said, which was a great relief, and I good-morninged them back again. And then they told me that dinner was waiting for us at the Castle, which pleasured me even more. I hope to outgrow my appet.i.te one of these years, but I was hungry again.

"And a message from Castle Smith waiting, miss," said one.

"What sort of message, Attendant?"

"Don't know, miss. I was told to greet you, ask you to dinner, and

say the message was waiting. That's all." We turned the Mules, and they followed me, four abreast and a mannerly four Mule-lengths behind, across the sand and up the hill ahead of us. The Mules had no objection to the hard-packed beach, but floundered once we were above the tideline; I was pleased to see that none of the animals following me took the all too common Mulish tactic of stopping dead and refusing to move, sinking deeper all the while into the sand. They were well trained, and they struggled through the powdery stuff without hesitation, though I'd no doubt they'd of said a good deal if they'd had the chance. Not one brayed, a sure sign of good management in the stables, and once we reached the road their hoofs tapped smartly along the white pavement. Very orderly, and I liked order. I was in a good mood, and prepared to be in a better one, as we went through the gates and dismounted in the courtyard, and I was led straight on to a long balcony on the second floor that looked out over the hills to the sea.

There sat the Clarks. Nathan Terfelix Clark the 17th, with a beard like a white bush tr.i.m.m.i.n.g up his burly chest, and not a hair on his head, in compensation. His wife, Amanda of Parson, the one with the chins. Their three daughters, Una, Zoe, and Sharon, and the husbands of the two eldest at their sides. Let me see...it was Una that had scandalized her parents by marrying a Traveller, and gone on to scandalize the Families nearby by loving him far beyond what was either decent or expected, and that would be him, Gabriel Laddercane Traveller the 34th, in the suit of black. The Travellers were unwilling to give up any of their ancient trappings, and they dressed still as they had the day they stepped off The s.h.i.+p in 2021.

Zoe's husband was a kinsman, Joseph Frederick Bright.w.a.ter the 11th, and looked pleased to see me. And an a.s.sortment of babies, all of them beautiful. I've never seen an ugly baby -but then I've never seen a genuinely new one, either-I'm told that might dent my convictions.

And there sat Granny Golightly.

She gave me the s.h.i.+vers, and it pleased me not to have her where I had to see her oftener. She stood not quite five feet tall, she weighed about as much as a Mule colt, and she was an Airy by birth, which had been an astonis.h.i.+ng long time ago. If my reckoning was right, Granny Golightly had pa.s.sed her one hundred and twenty-ninth birthday recently; next to her I was a flyspeck on the windowpane

of time. I intended to go lightly near her, for sweet prudence' sake, and as befit her name.

"h.e.l.lo there, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter," they said to me, and

waved me to an empty chair in the suns.h.i.+ne. Dinner was chowder - I counted eleven kinds of fis.h.!.+-and dark ale, and cornbread properly prepared and so hot the b.u.t.ter disappeared when it touched it, and a fine pair of salads, one fruit and one vegetables. And a berry cobbler that I knew n.o.body at Castle Bright.w.a.ter could of brought off, including my own self.

Finis.h.i.+ng that cobbler, and thinking back on the rest of the meal, I understood fully how the Clarks acquired their bulk, and I forgave Amanda her chins. What I did not understand was the trim waists of the daughters, especially Una, who accounted for five of the children. Perhaps since they had grown up eating this way they had developed a natural immunity. Or perhaps this was a company meal

and they usually ate like the rest of us at noon; I had, after all, been

expected here."Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter," said Nathan Terfelix, "there's a message here for you from Castle Smith. Man arrived with it this morning almost before we had the gates unlocked, and what he was in such a hurry for I have no idea. Or interest. Knew you couldn't get here before noontime."

"Took off as fast as he arrived, too," Amanda added. "He wouldn't

even stop for a cup of coffee."

She raised her head and nodded at a young Attendant standing near the door, and he brought me an envelope and laid it in my hand without a word. He looked to be about eleven, and if I was any judge his livery collar itched him; this must be his first year in service.

"Amanda," I said as he backed away, "the young man's collar is badly fit. Someone should see to it."

Granny Golightly cackled, which was trite."Not going to miss a trick, are you, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter?" she demanded. "Going to see that our livery fits the servants right, are you? You plan to inspect the stables while you're here, and run your little white fingers up and down the banisters?"

"I beg your pardon, Granny Golightly," I said. "I did not mean to

criticize.""Lie to me, young missy, and you'll rue it," she snapped. "Criticism you gave, and criticism we got, and I'll see to the tadling's collar myself, this afternoon. And to the careless seamstress that made it too tight in the first place, whoever she may be! All we need is sloppy staff giving Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter bits to add to her long list!"

This was ordinary behavior for a Granny, and I paid it no mind; it had been years since I'd made the mistake of getting into a wrangle with a Granny bent on public performance. She went on like that for quite some time, under her breath, while I turned the envelope from Castle Smith over in my hands, and the young husbands disappeared one at a time on mumbled errands.

Creamy white paper, thick as linen, and an envelope that ought to of held something of importance-which it had to hold, if it could not of been sent by comset in the ordinary way but had to be carried here by human hand. Seven inches square if it was one, and the Smith crest stamped on it both front and back, and an official seal! And inside it, all alone in the middle of a sheet of matched paper like lonely raisins in a pudding, the following words: We regret that Castle Smith will be unable to entertain you at this time, due to a family crisis. Any questions you might have can be asked there at Castle Clark, and well answered.

In cordial haste, Dorothy of Smith

The eldest daughter of the Castle, Dorothy of Smith... carrying out a minor social duty? Or what? Dorothy was a pincher; I remembered her as a child at playparties and picnics, always quick with her wicked little fingers, and running before you could get a fair chance to pinch her back. She would be fourteen now, just about three months older than I was. And since she'd bid me ask questions, I asked one.

"Begging your pardon, Granny Golightly," I said, and the Granny stopped her nattering and looked up from her cobbler. "Amanda, do you or Nathan either of you know of any 'crisis' at Castle Smith?"

Amanda looked blank, and Nathan frowned, and Granny Golightly forgot her pose long enough to give me a sharp look between bites.

"Crisis," said Nathan.

"What kind of crisis?" asked Amanda.

I waved the note. "Doesn't say," I said. "Just disinvites me.""Now that won't do, young lady," Granny Golightly jumped in, "for you invited your own self on this particular traipse-about! There was no call sent out from the Twelve Castles, demanding the drop-in of Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter at her earliest convenience, not as I know of-and I would know."

"Gently, Granny," said Zoe of Clark, and leaned over to pick up a baby. For ballast perhaps. "Gently!"

"Flumdiddle," said the Granny.

"I withdraw the accusation," I said, "and you are quite right-I had no invitation. Not here, either, but you've seen fit to be hospitable and I thank you for it. I will remember it."

"On your list!" said Granny. "See there?"

"And," I added, "I will remember the way the Smiths set their hands to the same plow-what to do with Responsible of Bright-water, all

inconvenient and uninvited. Unless-unless there truly is trouble at

Castle Smith to back this up."

Silence, all around the table. Mules braying in the stables, and seabirds crying out as they whirled above us, but no words, nor did I really expect many. Ozarkers do not talk behind one another's backs, excepting always the Grannys, who do it only as part of their ritual and are careful that it leans to harmless nonsense.

"Anybody sick there?" I asked finally.

"Might could be," said Zoe. "It's that time of the year. We have a