Page 90 of Circle of Days
She looked around the fields in the starlight and saw no one. She headed up the slope to the wood.
Han was where he had said he would be, on the far side of the wood, sitting on the ground. He leaped up and kissed her.
They held hands as they walked through the trees to the thicket she had chosen. She showed him the space in the middle.
He smiled. “This is perfect,” he said. “The aroma of crushed grass.”
They pushed through the shrubbery and sat down in the middle. They could see each other by starlight. Pia felt that to the rest of the world they were invisible.
She said: “How did you do it? How is it that you’re here? Tell me everything.”
“Well, Zad thrilled me with your message, then brought me down to earth by telling me that the farmer women have been banned from the Rites. I didn’t know what to do but I had to talk to you. So I asked to be assigned to Zad’s team of herders.”
“How clever of you!”
“To tell the truth, it was my mother’s idea.”
“She’s so wise.”
“Anyway, I spoke to Keff and asked him if I could move here, and he said yes. In fact he was glad, because Zad needed another hand. He has to keep driving the herd to the river for water, and it’s a long journey since Troon plowed up the Break.”
“How did it happen so quickly?”
“Zad gave me the message after the Midsummer Rite. He and I walked here the next day. I started work with the herd today, and you appeared this morning.”
“And you can stay here indefinitely?”
“As long as you want me.”
She smiled. She wanted him forever. But she did not say so. They had known one another since childhood, and their romance had been going on since the Midwinter Rite, but in that half year they had actually spent little time together. She felt that she knew him intimately, but did she really? She wanted to talk about how she would escape, and where they would live, and the children they would have, but it seemed too soon to assume they would be together forever.
Now she felt awkward, as if she had brought a stranger to this lovers’ nest. What should she do now? Should she just kiss him? She wanted to, but hesitated.
He saw her discomfort, and said: “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know. I’m nervous. Are you?”
“A bit.”
“I’ve done things with boys, always at the revel, and I was never nervous, but I am now.”
“I’m glad,” he said.
She was surprised. “Why?”
“Because it means that to you I’m special.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t care what the others thought.”
“But you care what I think.”
“Yes. I’m worried that you’ll be disappointed.” She had not thought about that: it just came out.
He smiled. “I don’t think that will happen.”
“And you? What are you nervous about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Embarrassment.”
