Melisend met them on the living floor. “There you are... you lost the boys?”

“Still bathing,” Aelfeva said. “Is something wrong?”

Melisend heaved a sigh and held up a scrap of parchment. “I’m not sure how to take this.” She handed it to Aelfeva.

Literacy wasn’t common, but it made keeping records of extensive property and sending in reports to the Crown much easier, so all three families had made certain their children learned.

It was a scrawled note, in what Aelfeva recognized as Leofeva’s hand.

I’m sorry. I’m pledging myself to Fritha. I don’t want anything to happen to my family, but I just can’t marry any man. Leofeva

“Well, that confirms where she is,” Aelfeva sighed. “But I still don’t know what to do.” She passed the note to Teoda, who held it so Ilduara could see it too.

“I think you need to talk to her,” Melisend said. “You need to, yourself, since you’re the one being forced into her place.”

“I think you’re right. But I need to think about what I’m going to actually say to her, because I really don’t know. I think maybe tomorrow? Once I have time. Everything has been... fast.”

“That sounds quite reasonable,” Teoda said. “Rich and both Denisots can spend tomorrow shopping without us, and we’ll ask Guillen to go with us to visit Leo.”

“A good plan,” Ilduara said.

Melisend nodded. “It’s good to know that she’s safe, that’s an enormous weight off my mind and heart. I will feel better still when she gives up this madness and comes home. Right is better than hasty.” She took a deep breath. “So, how was your bath?”

“Amazing.” Teoda said. “I might be there every day while we’re here.”

“It’s beautiful and peaceful and very clean,” Aelfeva added, knowing her mother’s priorities. She bit down on adding, possibly cleaner than Rosebridge’s public bath, since she wasn’t supposed to have ever been there.

“Oh, lovely,” Melisend said. “I’ll certainly have to drop by. Perhaps I’ll ask Vituccia if she’d like to join me.”

“I’m sure she would,” Ilduara said. “And I think she’d like the company as well. Our father plans on handling a few business matters while we’re here so she’ll be alone.”

“Oh, of course he can’t just try to enjoy a little time with his family. I’ll talk to her. Enjoy your shopping trip!”

Aelfeva wondered, just for a moment, what her mother was telling herself, to stay so casual and natural about her “niece,” but it was probably best not to rock the boat she was precariously balanced in.

Upstairs, Teoda handed Ilduara Aelfeva’s comb, and gestured to the arm chair. “You start on that, I’ll find something better to wear, and that way we’ll waste as little time as we can.”

Ilduara nodded. “What if we did two half-length braids and coiled the upper part, and left the rest to hang loose? If we can find any hairpins, that is.”

“We’ll manage,” Teoda said. “And that sounds perfect—no fussing and it will be out of Aelfeva’s way, but it should look striking.”

“I’m going to leave it in your hands,” Aelfeva said. “I’m... not feeling very certain about what’s appropriate.”

“Understandable,” Teoda said. “Here, this one would be just right for a shopping and exploration day.” She laid a dress on the bed that was a pleasant light blue with wide dark green borders on the sleeves and skirt hem.

“I’m not sure how to say this delicately,” Ilduara said. “So I’m sorry in advance. Any family can have a turn of fortune. Josceran stands to inherit quite a lot, and your inheritance is irrelevant in this situation, which is unusual. You could do worse than marrying Jos.”

“Dara!”

“It’s true! And it would be one solution.”

“That’s not fair!”

That... that actually made sense as a conclusion based on what Ilduara knew: Aelfeva wasn’t just a cousin, she was a cousin from a more distant branch of the family that had fallen on hard times, sent to the Rosebridge Glaedwins for whatever support they could offer. That would explain her abrupt appearance and the need to borrow Leofeva’s clothes, Aelfric’s grooming kit.

She could deny it, but it actually was a good cover.

“I... I’d rather not talk about it,” she said quietly. “Please don’t argue.”

“We aren’t,” Teoda said. “Not really. Dara’s going to drop the whole idea right now so we can concentrate on getting ready.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Ilduara said. “I won’t bring it up again.”

The sisters were efficient, Aelfeva had to give them that: faster than she would have believed, they finished her hair between them, and did each other’s while Aelfeva changed her clothes, Teoda’s in a thick braid with a ribbon threaded through it, Ilduara’s in a bun with two long decorated copper pins speared through it.

While the weight of her hair, half of it wrapped into a crown and secured with Leofeva’s fancier bronze pins rather than the more basic carved antler ones, the other half loose down her back, was unfamiliar, she had to admit that it was surprisingly practical. One overdress fit much the same as another, once adjusted properly, but the extra colour on the sleeves of this one kept drawing her eyes to it when she moved, and the sleeves trailed a handspan longer. She hoped she’d get used to both and be able to ignore them before long—she had enough to keep track of already.

They found Richold, Guillen, and the Denisot brothers all relaxing in the ground-floor reception room.

“Did you hear about Leo?” Teoda asked.

Richold nodded. “Mother showed us the note, and said Aelfeva wants to visit her tomorrow.”

“I’d be happy to go with you,” Guillen said. “Even if I have to wait outside. Just tell me when you’re ready.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” Aelfeva said. “I want very badly to talk to her, but I need time to think about what I want to say.”

“That’s understandable,” Josceran said. “For today, I think we could all use a fun distraction.” He stood up and offered Aelfeva his hand. “Shall we?”

Hesitation could be taken in several ways, most of which she didn’t want.

Aelfeva laid her hand over his, and let him draw her close enough for a chaste kiss on her cheek.

That... that felt... it should have felt wrong, but it didn’t. If anything...

She buried that thought, and left the house with the others.

It could have been a fun day for the eight who had grown up together. They had Josceran back, and they were in the capital, with no current responsibilities.

The upcoming weddings loomed large in the immediate future, and they were, as Ferrand joked, missing two Glaedwins and had a new Glaedwin to get to know. Teoda and Richold stepped in frequently to distract or deflect when attempts were made at the latter.

There were a lot of distractions, though. Thirty thousand residents meant that there were a lot of shops, and they often specialized more narrowly than anyone could afford to do in Rosebridge. Living in the city also appeared to make households less self-sufficient: instead of virtually every household having milk or eggs or similar staples to barter with the neighbours, everything was coin-based and came from impersonal shops because there was no space for a cow or goat, or poultry, or much of a garden.

They came across shops that sold nothing except herbs and spices and cooking oils and exotic ingredients, others that sold clothing exclusively for men or for women or for children, shops that sold only tools and materials for sewing and embroidery along with fabric of varying quality, leatherworkers that made only shoes or only saddles. The variety seemed endless. Teoda bought a set of brass needles in a matching case and pins in another, Ilduara a set of tinned copper measuring spoons and cups that gleamed like silver; Guillen bought a large flexible basket with handles for both his sisters to put their various purchases in, and carried it himself.

Whenever they passed a place they could sit down for a few minutes, share around two or three cups of cider or mead or ale and whatever the establishment’s signature snack was, they did. Compensating for Ferrand’s bad leg had always been a given, and Aelfeva doubted any of them really thought much about the fact that it helped him rest, reducing the strain, as much as it gave Ilduara a chance to sample treats.

Oddly, by the time they stopped to buy a late midday meal in a tavern, Josceran was apparently protecting Aelfeva from questions as well, and Aelfeva had no idea how to take that.

“Rich and I got you something at that last shop, Aelfeva,” Teoda said. “Stand up, please?”

Puzzled, Aelfeva obeyed.

Teoda deftly untied her belt for her, threaded a shiny coppery item onto it, and re-tied it. Richold passed her a second shiny item, and Teoda hung it from the first, making sure that the latch caught so it couldn’t slip free.

“There. Losing yours is a nuisance, at least this way you’ll have essentials.”

Aelfeva looked down, and ran her fingers over the girdle-hanger and matching chatelaine. It was clearly new, and while not extremely elaborate, it was gracefully symmetrical with delicate punched holes forming a simple pleasant design. It had only five short chains, holding the bare basics, tweezers and toothpick and nail pick and earspoon, and in the centre a clip for a handkerchief with a square of pale linen already in place.

Of everything, that was the most unequivocally feminine thing she’d been faced with yet. Clothes had been easy, since there were parallels; bathing had been a variation on her experiences, but not fundamentally different. There was, however, no social equivalent for men.

The physical weight was slight. The mental pressure, the sense of the world wrapping around her to fit her into a different role... that was another matter.

She managed to say something that she hoped sounded like thanks, at least, before moving towards the table to sit down.

Guillen choosing the seat next to Ferrand, leaving the seat next to Josceran free, was probably meant to be thoughtful and diplomatic, but all it did was increase the pressure further. Richold was already sitting and Teoda of course took the one next to him, so they were no help.

On the other hand, Josceran wasn’t asking any of the sorts of questions she feared. Was it because he didn’t want to talk about himself? Or a kindness to her? Was she showing her tangled emotions that visibly?

Aelfeva’s nerves aside, the meal was a merry one: they tried everything on the menu between them, sharing it freely around the table, with Ilduara making observations and mental notes for things to buy and to try.

They did more wandering after lunch, but the meal and the morning added up to less energy all around; when they came across a well-kept space at the side of the river, bright with flower gardens and painted statues and even a fountain or two, they decided to pause there before heading back towards Redsmith Lane.

“Aelfeva?” Josceran said, while the others settled themselves on benches and on the short grass. “Would you come for a walk with me? It looks like there’s a rather striking fountain down that way.” He tossed his head in the direction he meant.

There really was no polite way to decline that.

“Yes, of course.” She let him draw her to her feet from the bench she’d perched on, trying not to think about how his hand felt around hers.

“We’ll be here,” Teoda said, which might have been reassurance or might have been a warning to Josceran or might just be a simple statement of fact.

This time yesterday, it had been easy to be a lot more confident about, well, everything. Motivations and meaning and where she stood... everything felt slippery and ambiguous.

She fell into step beside Josceran, following a trail of stones that wound its way along the water.

He was silent until they were well out of hearing of the others, and then, very casually, said, “Did Herlinde hit you with a silence curse to keep you from telling, or are you just pulling the usual Aelf nonsense and not asking for help?”