You just ate, she reminded herself, as she was struck by the scent of fried dough and honey. And that’s just bread. You can get that for free in the kitchen. A lot of Fair food was “just bread” and no surprise there. Bread was the cheapest thing you could make. Most bread down at the Fair was fried, though, since baking took a long time and needed an oven and a lot of fuel, but frying took mere moments. Now, it was true that the bread tended to be enhanced with herbs or spices, dotted with dried fruit or nuts, stuffed with a bite of cheese or sausage, glazed with salt or honey. So it wasn’t “just” bread to most people, it was a seldom encountered treat.

Still, it’s just bread.

It was at a spot where two of the paths through the Fair intersected, and she smelled pancakes (just bread!) that she heard the sound of shepherd’s pipes playing a jig. Following her ears and nose, both led her to a booth beside which she found Lee, the Bardic Trainee she had advised a few days ago, vigorously playing her pipes to the delight of both the pancake-maker and his customers. By the nice layer of coppers in the straw hat she had put out, Lee had found a very receptive audience.

Abi smiled to herself, and faded back out of sight. Then, since her stomach protested that it was almost lunchtime, she went looking for a fruit vendor. Fruit would be food and drink and she wouldn’t have to trust to the cleanliness of someone else’s cups. If she was still hungry after that . . . well, maybe some bread after all.

By midafternoon she hadn’t consciously noticed anything she needed to bring to her father’s attention, and she’d encountered Perry twice. By that point she had the entire maze of the Fair memorized, she was hot and tired, and ready to make the trip back up the Hill. By the time she got there, it would be supper time, and she wouldn’t have wasted her money on bread.

It was a long trudge, but once she was clear of the Fair, she made sure she was taking the route that the wagons taking Trainees to and from the Collegia also took. When she caught up with one on its way back, she flagged it down, showed the driver the little brass “pass” that all the Blues had to allow them in and out of the gates, and took her seat in the half-filled wagon. She didn’t know any of the Trainees in it—they were mostly Healers—so she merely gave a friendly nod that included all of them and settled into the straw filling the wagon to rest.

After a quick wash at the pump outside the Companions’ Stable, she headed for the dining hall and literally bumped into Trainee Lee.