The next morning, Eleanor woke slowly. She was in a comfortable bed and toasty warm. The warmth at her back shifted and became Cadan. “Morning Nora.”

She checked down her body. She’d slept in her dress, again, although her stockings and boots had disappeared somewhere.

She mumbled a greeting and wondered what to do. Was there etiquette involved in waking up with a man? She’d never been taught it if so.

Cadan sat up, dragging the covers with him, then slid out of the bed.

“I’m in for a long few days coming. The rain’s created problems in a few places so we’ve a bunch of jobs to do and a fair tramp between most of them. You’ll be well enough here though.”

Eleanor frowned. What happened to being beside her every step?

He proved to be a mind reader as well as irritating. “It’s not fair to abandon you on your first day I know, but you and Sarah seem to have started a friendship and she’ll look after you just as she did me when I was fresh and scared in a new place.”

She huffed. “So you’re allowed to delegate are you?”

He gave her a worried look, sleep-scruffy and sweet. She wanted to straighten the tunic he’d pulled over his head and mess up the hair he was trying to finger-comb into place.

“I’ll stay if you need me to.”

She sighed and slid out of the bed as well. “No, you’re right, I need to do this myself. With Sarah.”

She spotted her pillowcase on a chest by the door and tiptoed over to it. The floor was cold, bare wood, no rugs. Turning back to the bed, she found the reason she’d been so warm. Her fur-lined cloak had been added to the blankets and she had a feeling that’s where it would stay.

Cadan followed her gaze. “Best use for it, least until we find a way to water proof the outside. I’ll go and get you some washing water. You won’t want to front up to all the questions in the bath house this morning, we’ll deal with them together tonight.”

He vanished out the door before she could do more than squeak, giving a glimpse of the cottage’s main room from beside the fireplace. The bedroom was tucked behind it, pulling heat from the fire-warmed stone. Presumably Matthew and Sarah at a room at the top of the tiny set of stairs she’d spotted on the other side of the hearth the night before.

The door banged open again. Cadan being annoying with a jug of water, a bowl and a cloth. “Here you are.”

He turned, but she spoke before he could retreat. “Did you just say I have to wash in a communal bath house?”

His grin was a little forced, his voice a little too jovial. “Women in the morning, laundry during the day, children after the clothes and men in the evening. The water’s pumped up from the river next to the wood mill. It’s very well set up.”

Eleanor wished her glare could burn him like a cockatrice’s spit. “I don’t care how wonderful your little roster is, I’ve been subjected to bath houses before, they’re vile.”

Cadan said. You need to fit in, Nora. Go along with Sarah tomorrow morning, I think you’ll be fine.”

Go along and bathe in a dank, smelly room full of women watching and whispering? She would not be fine. Turning her back on him so he couldn’t see the tears, she said. “Just go. Go and do all those desperately important things. Your version of support is useless.”

She heard him leave the room and close the door softly behind him. He didn’t even care enough to be upset by her words. She choked on a sob.

There was a murmur of voices in the main room. Had Sarah and Matthew heard them? Probably. Why not bring half the village into their disagreements? It was probably the done thing around here. Splashing her face with the water Cadan had brought helped push down the urge to bawl. She washed, dressed, then sat on the edge of the bed to finally comb out her hair.

The braids had kept the full length from getting too tangled and the three bits of straw she found were at the back of her head, so wouldn’t have been immediately visible to most people. How dare Cadan make her worry about it so much.

She put her blue ribbons away and pulled out her book. It looked surprisingly untouched by its adventures. She tucked it away again with the ribbons tied around it and re-plaited her hair, keeping to a simple single braid she could coil and pin out of the way.

Finally, as neat as she could make herself without a mirror, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Sarah was the only person in the room beyond and she greeted Eleanor with a warm smile. “Come and eat, then we’ll talk about lessons.”

Over bread and honey and a herbal tea Eleanor wanted to package up and sell, Sarah outlined the range and rhythm of her days. “First thing to admit is that I’m the healer who’s looking for an assistant, so I’m afraid you’ll find yourself doing elements of that just because you’re here. I think you’ll enjoy it though.”

Eleanor nodded and finished the last bit of tea, then said. “Did Cadan say anything about how I came to be here with him?”

Sarah snorted. “He hared out of here with nary a word beyond ‘good morning’ and ‘thanks for the tea’.”

She should have known he’d drop that in her lap on top of everything else. Sarah stood. “How about I find you an apron and you muddle through it while we make up tomorrow’s bread?”

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