Page 2 of Ties of Legacy

“You’re lucky the pumpkin didn’t kill you!” Olivia cried, scrambling to her feet in disgust. “I told you not to bring it.”

“But Mistress Thatcher said she’d bake Jimmy and me a pie if I rolled a pumpkin in for her!”

Avery climbed to her feet, rubbing her sore shoulder and eyeing the pumpkin, which now lay at an odd angle a few yards away from them. “That pumpkin would make a lot of pies.”

Olivia sighed and hauled Laurie up. “Which is why Madam Thatcher keeps wheedling the local boys into bringing her one. She makes them a pie or two?—”

“Or three!” Laurie interjected.

“And she’s left with a pantry full of pumpkin jars,” Olivia finished.

“I’d rather have a finished pie than the job of cutting up that monstrosity,” Avery murmured.

Olivia paused. “You know, when you put it like that, you’re right. Maybe I’ll help you push it there, Laurie.”

Laurie grinned, his spirits already recovered from his tumble. “Mistress Thatcher likes you better than me. She’ll probably bake you a whole pie of your own.”

He dashed over to the pumpkin and tried to push it back onto its side, struggling to get it out of the divot it had made in the dirt. Olivia sighed and walked over to assist him. Together they got it rolling again, directing their path toward Avery.

“I don’t know why I’m complaining,” Olivia muttered as they drew near. “This is the most interesting thing to happen in weeks.” Her expression brightened as she looked in Avery’s direction. “Other than your arrival, of course. Have you really been to all six kingdoms?”

Avery laughed. “Yes, I have. I grew up traveling the kingdoms.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “Imagine that! How fascinating.” She spoke as if Avery was some incomprehensible oddity, but Avery just smiled.

For most of the inhabitants of the kingdoms, she was an oddity, so she’d long since got used to it. Some people romanticized her life, but more felt sorry for her, unable toimagine that anyone could truly want to spend their life on the move. But Olivia’s air of dissatisfaction seemed to indicate she was one of the few who disliked a settled life.

“Do you really want to leave Henton?” Avery asked her curiously. “Have you ever been traveling?”

“No, but I’m considering moving elsewhere,” she replied. “My extended family are famous for moving around.”

“Really?” Avery looked at her more closely. Was Olivia from a remote line of roving merchants?

It would explain her wanderlust. And it would also mean she and Avery were distantly related in one way or another. Every one of the roving merchants shared at least some blood. It was the only reason they had been able to maintain their nomadic lifestyle through the generations.

“Most of my family have only traveled within Sovar, of course,” Olivia added, and Avery’s momentary excitement waned.

Most people were content to remain where they were born, but for the more adventurous among the general population, there was always the option of traveling within the borders of their home kingdom. People moved for jobs, or for love, or for climate, or to join family—there were all kinds of reasons. But they didn’t move to other kingdoms.

“Not all of my relatives stayed in our kingdom, though,” Olivia added with a note of pride, reminding Avery that there was always the occasional person who didn’t fit the normal mold. “While my grandfather picked Henton of all places, his brother moved to Glandore. I have cousins there. For a while I even had a cousin in Oakden.”

Avery’s eyebrows rose. Family in three kingdoms was impressive. Her interest pricked again. Did the Legacy treat Olivia’s family lightly? Was that what made them so mobile?

The Legacies were the forces that shaped each kingdom around its unique history—weaving the elements of those founding stories into the environment, the animals, the plants, even the people. And the Legacies didn’t like people leaving their birth kingdoms. If Olivia did ever choose to leave her kingdom, the Sovar Legacy would enact a price. No one could predict in advance what it would be, but she would suffer a burden for living elsewhere.

Every person born in the kingdoms was bound by their kingdom’s Legacy—everyone except those who shared Avery’s bloodline. Their freedom was what had made them roving merchants, and it was what kept them in that profession through the generations. Avery liked her life and valued her ability to travel, but she had always known her family’s freedom was a bond of the Legacy in its own way. If they hadn’t spent their lives traveling, her parents might never have contracted the wasting fever that had killed them both. Avery might never have found herself alone.

She brushed aside thoughts of her parents, focusing back on Olivia. “Are you thinking of following your great-uncle’s example and moving to another kingdom?” she asked.

Olivia laughed. “I’m not that reckless. But I am considering moving to the capital.” She rushed to continue, as if afraid Avery might laugh at her. “My father has cousins there who run a successful business. They wrote that if any of us wanted a job, we would be welcome to join them.”

“You should go,” Avery said. “You clearly want to.” If she’d been heading toward the capital herself, she would have offered for Olivia to travel with her. She didn’t often feel inclined to take on a traveling companion, even a short term one, but Olivia had shown she had the potential to become a friend.

Avery wasn’t heading southeast to the capital, though. As soon as she received her order from the smith, she would bereturning in the opposite direction. Her commission had already been delayed by six months, and she couldn’t delay it any further. Lives were depending on her.

It was better that way anyway. If she did spend more time with Olivia, and they became friends, it would only make it hard to say goodbye. Avery had freedom, but she didn’t have many friends. Her lifestyle didn’t allow it.

Still, she couldn’t entirely shake the fellow feeling she had been surprised to discover in Olivia. Acting on impulse, she rummaged in the back of her cart, pulling out a small, wrapped item. She couldn’t offer the Henton girl a journey to the capital, but perhaps she could help her in another way.

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