While Gryff entered into wild speculation about what might have transpired, Hal only smiled at the little girl and gestured to the hooded figure who stood at the edge of the street, beckoning her to come closer. He acted as though the matter had been settled.

“You are weary, and is better you take your ease now and journey to the priory when you are refreshed.” He spoke to Nan but was already turning toward the house, indicating they should all follow. “And will you deny us the story of this tanner who cannot yet stand on one leg?”

He and his wife led the girls forward into the house, the distant wail of one of their children signaling a return to order and routine.

Gryff stood looking at Nan, waiting as expectantly as her dog. She had that bewildered look again, softened only slightly by a vague relief. He thought of the moment when she had turned to him among the trees, when he had been frozen in fear at the mere twitch of a hare in the brush, and she had called him to his senses with only his name and a touch.

But his touch would not calm her. He could only wait for her to see him, and then withstand the searching look she gave him. It reached inside of him, seeking the answer to something he could not guess. She was so skilled at communicating silently, putting whatever she wanted to convey into her expression. But now he could not decipher what she meant to say, or what she wanted. It was only him – everything in her intensely focused on him for an endless, heart-stopping moment.

Then she blinked, and became only a weary woman. She looked so fragile that she might blow away with the wind.

“Nan,” he said, and watched her fight off sudden tears. It was only an instant, so quickly come and gone that he would not have noticed if she had not been looking in his eyes. But it had been there, and she had let him see it.

Nan said a silent prayer of thanks to the Virgin that the goodwife of this house was not unkind. She had warned little Cecilia – little Erma, that was – that they could not be assured of a warm welcome at this or any respectable establishment, when they came from a brothel. But the girl was so excited at the idea of working for a family, instead of living in a convent, that Nan knew she must try. Though it left her open to the scorn of her betters, she decided she must at least begin here, in hopes that if the falconer turned the girl away he might suggest other places to look for work in town.