Hunger was also gnawing at him—supper would have been long ago and he missed it with an intensity that surprised him. He hadn't gone without a meal before—Corent and Redbird always made sure he was fed. Fear also kept him going—he knew that eventually he'd have to stop and rest, and in the falling temperatures, it could be fatal. Many times over the past few hours, he chastised himself for running away.
He should have stayed. Nissa would have gone to find someone who could bring him back inside the boundary. Now, he wasn't sure which way the boundary might lie. Toff was in alien territory and completely lost. The leaves he slogged through were so completely soaked with rain that they no longer crunched beneath his feet and he hadn't seen a nut tree anywhere since leaving the boundary line. He knew the deer ate the acorns he'd passed through earlier, but he'd never thought of them as a food source. He might have to rethink that if he found another oak grove.
Toff was nearing exhaustion later, his mind wandering. He realized at times that he was muttering to himself and considered more and more often finding a large tree to huddle beneath and sleep for a while. His steps were slowing, the cold and dampness were taking over and he was ready to succumb to the temptation when he heard something. Thinking at first he was imagining things, he trudged on for a few more weary steps.
"How in the name of the skies did you get in here?" The voice was right in front of him as a hand reached out and grabbed his arm.
* * *
Toff huddled inside the blanket he'd been given after the woman ordered him to remove his wet clothing. She'd taken him to a small house that was so warm inside compared to what he'd been walking through, it felt like the sun on the hottest of days. He'd been given soup with small chunks of meat in it and Toff was blowing on the hot broth before sipping it carefully so as not to burn his mouth.
The woman sat at the tiny table inside her kitchen, watching him eat. She looked older to him, with the beginnings of gray in her auburn hair. Her eyes fascinated him, however—they were nearly gold and he'd never seen anything like them before. The house was cluttered and not very clean—what he could see of it, anyway, but the woman appeared to live there by herself.
"Where am I?" Toff ventured to ask, happy that his still-chattering teeth didn't cause him to stutter on the words.
"You are here, inside my little island of solitude," the woman replied. Her tone made Toff blink—she wasn't happy to be on that island, he could tell.
"How big is it?" he asked, sipping more soup.
"About half a day's walk, one end to the other, in every direction."
"Are there any others here?"
That question caused the woman to hmmph and clear her throat. "There's nobody until you get to the Green Fae boundary on the south, the Elemaiya village to the east and the comesuli farms west of us. The comesuli bring me food once a week, but I've had to learn to cook. How's the soup?"
"Good. I like it." Toff nodded and took another bite. It might have been a bit too salty, but he wasn't about to complain.
"How did you get in here?" The woman repeated her first question to Toff.
"I don't know," Toff hedged. "An explosion came and knocked me right through the boundary."
"Probably had some power in it—you wouldn't fly through a boundary any other way," she muttered. "What's your name?"
Toff hesitated for a moment, deciding not to make something up on the spot. "Toff," he replied. "What's yours?"
The woman stared at him for what seemed an eternity to Toff before she came back to herself. "I'm Narissa," she told him. "Do you know how to cook and clean, or do anything else of value?"
"I can clean. I cook a little, but I only know how to prepare vegetable dishes."
"You would," Narissa breathed, causing Toff to look up from his food. It had cooled enough that he could eat it without blowing on it or burning his mouth. "Go on, eat your food before it gets cold," Narissa pushed her wooden chair back and stood up.
"Tomorrow is laundry day. I hope you know how to wash clothes since it looks like you might be here for a few days. And wash your dishes when you're done." She nodded toward the sink. "I'll see if I have anything you can wear." Narissa disappeared through the kitchen doorway. Toff heard her walking down a narrow hall into another portion of the house. He ate while he pondered just what it was he'd gotten himself into.
* * *
Do not fail me again. Zellar's words came to Gren as he lay miserably on his bed. Mother Rose had removed the headache, but his body still felt the aches and pains from the blast. How had the little eunuch managed to do that? Gren was too frightened to say anything about it to Zellar, who'd sent mindspeech, asking if Toff had been eliminated. Gren had been forced to say no, though he and his disciples had made the attempt. Zellar cut off the communication, too, after telling Gren not to fail next time.
Gren had carefully planned this attack and now the little ground crawler would be looking over his shoulder, watching for the next try. Gren ached and wanted to call for his mother to help but thought better of it. This should have been accomplished already. Zellar told Gren on several occasions that Gren had more power and ability than anyone else in the village. One day, Gren planned to be the one taking Tiearan's place. Gren was looking forward to that day with an anticipation bordering on obsession. "I'll get the baby," Gren whispered the promise to himself and painfully rolled over on his bed to sleep.
* * *
Narissa hated doing laundry. That was the only conclusion Toff could come to as he hefted another basket of clothes into the wash water. He'd already done four loads by hand and was now starting on the fifth. Narissa sat near the fire inside her little laundry shed, sipping hot tea and watching Toff work. He was glad he'd helped Redbird with laundry from the time he was tall enough to bend over the washtub.
He scrubbed the sheets and towels with his hands in the soap Narissa handed to him. Toff hadn't seen anything like it before—the soap was a powder instead of the cut blocks Father Bark made. The soap was in a container Toff hadn't seen before, too. Narissa looked at him as if he were ignorant, called the container plastic and told him to get on with the washing. Toff got on with the washing.
It was a clear day, thankfully, and warmer than the day before as Toff hung the latest load to dry. Every line that Narissa had strung across her backyard was filled with clean laundry. Redbird didn't have half as many lines up, but then she tended to do laundry more often, Toff figured. Narissa cooked meat later, setting Toff to peeling potatoes for mashing and snapping green beans for cooking.
"What is this?" Toff cut a bite of meat with a knife as he'd seen Narissa do.
"Pork. The chops are good if you broil them," Narissa said, taking a bite of the meat. Toff watched her chew for a moment before putting the bite in his mouth and chewing.
"This is good," Toff said, busily cutting another piece.
"Of course it is. What have you been eating? Don't those humanoids you live around cook meat?" Toff couldn't decide whether Narissa's words were meant to ridicule, but they sounded as if they were.
"I've only been allowed to eat vegetables." Toff's reply caused Narissa to hmmph annoyingly.
"It's a good thing you're the way you are—eating meat after so many years of eating only vegetables would make anyone else sick." Toff jerked his head up at Narissa's words, but she didn't elaborate. "Tomorrow, you'll clean the house and put some things in the storage shed out back," she said instead. "I haven't been able to do it for myself and you look strong enough." Narissa was already planning his day.
Toff had been thinking about going back toward the boundary to see if he could get through it again. He'd been foolish to run away like that. Unfortunately, Narissa didn't seem to have any plans to let him go and didn't seem concerned that he'd been separated from his family. He missed Corent. He might have missed Redbird a little, but Corent was the one uppermost in his mind.
* * *
Nissa was bored the entire morning. Classes were woefully behind her current level and parts of the geography lesson had been incorrect. She was afraid to offer suggestions—that would only make her stand out, which was the last thing she wanted right then. Instead, she worked on mindspeech. Her father had muted it, true enough, but then she shouldn't have been able to fold space, either. Nissa practiced mindspeech, sending out messages to her mother and both her brothers with the small hope that she might get through to them. When she received nothing in return, especially from her mother, she knew she'd failed during this attempt. Perhaps if tomorrow's lesson were just as boring, she'd try it again.
"There's the little eunuch now," Gren had a nasty smile on his face as he blocked her path outside the school building. The other two—Nissa had learned they were called Laral and Clover—stood behind Gren. They almost looked frightened, though, and that gave Nissa some satisfaction—her protection jewel had made them afraid. Good. The more afraid of her they were, the better off she was.
She didn't want any of them coming after her with a knife again, either. She had permission to protect herself, but she'd taken an oath at Grey House never to use her power to attack anyone except in defense of her life. These three could certainly push that oath to the limits, however.
"And there's the little bully," Nissa retorted at Gren's gibe. "Stay away from me." She marched away from them.
"Better keep looking over your shoulder," Gren taunted as Nissa hurried away.
* * *
"Sweep out the pottery shed," Mother Fern handed Nissa a broom the moment she walked inside the shed. The other apprentices were giggling as they turned plates on potter's wheels. The wheels were foot-powered and Nissa wanted to watch how pottery was made, but Mother Fern was keeping a sharp eye on her, so she began sweeping the floor as she'd been told.