Adrift in the narrowing waterways of Havilah, Anemon lulled through the daylight and into the sunset which blessed the skies with sheens of pink and orange. The vessel was nearing a place that Thomas insisted they stop before Lilya’s arrival at her new home.
“There are people that I must visit before I return,” Thomas had told her as they ate lunch upon the deck, gulls swirling above their ship. “A man and his wife live there with their daughter. I promised I would meet with them on this journey.”
“Meet with them to consider their daughter to be your wife?” she asked him.
He smiled. “On my father’s death bed I promised him that I would consider her. The girl’s father, a man named Oston, was a great friend and confidant of my father’s. It was his wish that I look after this man’s family and that I also consider the girl. But I have found my queen in you, or at least I hope I have, if you will have me.”
“Won’t this be an awkward meeting then?” She wondered why he didn’t just send message that he had already found the girl he desired, or at least visit the family without her.
“I promised that I will see her on this voyage,” he said. “And I am a man of my word, even if I cannot consider her for my bride.”
The reeds along the riverbank rustled as Anemon pulled into a small dock. A long boardwalk stretched from the dock over a vast plain of tall grass.
“Is this the place?” Lilya asked Thomas as his men busied themselves with tying the sails down, weighing anchor and lowering the plank from their ship. The boat rocked as the plank connected with the boards of the walk below.
“I have only been here once.” Thomas peered out into the beautiful sunset. “Once when I was a child we had come to visit Oston and all I remember from that time is the sound of crickets in the grassy fields. This is where my guards say he lives.”
“I’ll go first, sire, to make sure the boardwalk’s planks are sturdy,” Pine said and descended the ship’s plank, with Thomas, Lilya and the other two guards following soon after.
It was growing chilly, Lilya realized as she walked the boards between the tall grasses. And what Thomas had said was true. Crickets chirped all about them as the pink hue of the setting sun skimmed the world.
“Ribbit, Ribbit,” the song of frogs and croaking toads came and every now and then one would jump above the grass or across the walk and startle them in the near dark.
Slowly they came upon a thatched house with torches lit with vibrant flames. The light danced and licked the air. The bane of a dog’s howl sang from inside.
Thomas put his hand on Pine’s shoulder. “Are you sure this is the place?”
Before the guard could respond the house’s front door opened to reveal a thin man dressed in tattered clothes. “Thomas?” the man called unsurely. “Is that you?”
“Oston?” Thomas called back.
“Step into the house, boy, and out of the night’s cold air. We’ve a wood stove to heat your body and soul.” Oston waved them onward and into his well lit home. “Don’t mind the smells in the air. We use them to keep away the critters.”
Lilya sniffed and indeed there was a pungent scent wafting through the room. A girl just slightly younger than her caught her eye as she entered, with beautiful red wavy curls and eyes of deep green. She wore common clothes like Oston himself, but there was something far from common about her. Will Thomas choose her now that he has met her? Lilya wondered to herself. Then she wondered if she even cared. Hopefully Thomas would permit her to live in his kingdom if he decided to marry the girl.
“This is my daughter, Clare,” Oston said as the girl rose gracefully to shake Thomas’s hand.
He embraced it warmly, blushing and bowing his head. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Clare. Before anything else I need to tell you something. I have already found my future queen. I know that I said I would come here on this journey but I have already found the girl I hope will be my bride one day and I do not wish to make you think otherwise.” He reached his arm out for Lilya to join him. “This is Princess Lilya of Cush.”
She could see the disappointment in Clare’s eyes, but the girl tried to hold her composure as she shook Lilya’s hand.
“It is wonderful to meet you,” she said. “That is alright, my king. She is a beautiful choice. I haven’t truly thought there was a real possibility you would choose me for your queen. It is an honor in itself that you would come here.”
Lilya felt a pang of guilt for coming with Thomas and having no intent of being his bride. She could see in the girl’s face how much she wanted to be Thomas’s queen. There was an awkward silence. “Would you like to come with us to the castle as one of my maids?” she asked. “It would be nice to have a girl who knew the land and the people here.”
“I would be honored.” Clare curtsied. “Father?” she asked his approval.
“It would be a wonderful opportunity for you and if it is what you desire then you have my approval to go.” Oston patted Thomas’s shoulder. “It is good to see you again; you have grown into a strapping young man. The way you have treated this country since your father’s passing assures me he would be proud of his son.”
“I am honored that you say such things. Would you mind if we warmed ourselves?” Thomas made his way across the room.
They sat by the stove and its flames wove about each other, heating the room as the royal company shared stories from their lives, with Clare, Oston and his wife Evon. They drank a sweet tea of spiced roots and as the night passed on, the world outside the hut became somber with its darkness.
“Would you honor me by spending the night in my home?” Oston proposed to Thomas as the night became late.
“Do you have the room for us?” Thomas asked.
Oston smiled. “At first glance this looks like a small home but we have rooms in the back of the house for people when they come. There are no inns for people to stay in out here in the grasslands so we have room for our guests.”
Clare and Evon shook his and Lilya’s hands before retiring to the back of the house and Clare made a point of specifically thanking Lilya for inviting her to the castle.
“Then we would be honored.” Thomas put his arm around the man’s shoulders.
҉
That night Lilya lay in a cool dark room all her own, snuggled up warm under many layers of cover. For long hours she lay awake, listening to the crickets outside. This is so different from the castle in Cush, she thought. And for the first night in a long time she felt relaxed and safe as she went to bed.
She trusted Thomas, she realized, and even trusted his guards too. Is this how life will be for now on? She could not know what was to come, and would not spend this relaxing night in pondering it. Lilya’s breaths were deep as she closed her eyes and relaxed into sleep.
Outside in the marsh fields a little ways off Alexander’s strong winged body rested in their grasses. Water rippled around his wings, he did not sleep as he listened, alert.