I didn’t want to give it to her. I wanted to snatch it away, wrap it up in my red kerchief, stow it away in my apron pocket until she was gone. The feeling was so strong it startled me. The words, It’s mine! were on the tip of my tongue. I took a deep breath; governed my features. ‘You may borrow it,’ I said. ‘Please bring it back when you come to visit me tomorrow. The hedgehog was a gift from my friend. He made it especially for me.’

‘Oh.’ She was clutching it as if it were a talisman, as in a way it was; all of Grim’s makings had something of a charmed quality. But this was not her talisman.

‘You could make your own,’ I suggested. ‘Couldn’t you?’

‘I could try. I’ve only made birds before.’ Cara downed the rest of her tea, then rose to her feet. The little hedgehog had vanished into her pocket.

‘Farewell until tomorrow, Cara. Come in the morning, when Emer is here. If you bring Deirdre or one of the other ladies, Emer can keep her entertained while we talk. Just one more thing.’

‘Mm?’

‘I don’t want to find you in Dreamer’s Pool again.’ Odd how the girl had seemed more at home there than anywhere else. ‘Please heed my warning about the place. Tomorrow I’ll tell you a story about two brothers and a prize boar, and what befell them at that very same pool.’

‘That sounds like an old tale. Something made up.’

‘You say that, after what we’ve just been talking about? Even the most made up of stories has its roots in the truth. That one more so than many. Hear it and you’ll never paddle in Dreamer’s Pool again. I’ll bid you farewell now, and thank you for talking to me.’

Cara’s smile was like sudden sunlight on her cautious features. ‘I’m sorry I was rude,’ she said. ‘Aunt Della wouldn’t like that.’

‘I don’t suppose Aunt Della would be happy about you running away, either,’ I said. ‘But I won’t be telling her, or anyone else, about any of it.’ Grim excepted; but that was different. ‘Off you go now. I’ll see you in the morning.’

Chapter Eight: Bardán

8

~Bardán~