“The King himself sent her, Tobin,” came a laughing, girlish voice from inside. “I should think the King knows his own business by now!”

“I be nawt so sure,” Tobin muttered, but he picked up half their packs, leaving Abi and Perry to pick up the rest and follow him.

And there the mystery of Sussena Asterleigh was solved, as just inside the door they were greeted by a very pretty, dark-haired girl sitting in a peculiar chair mounted on wheels. The two in the rear were very tall, the two in the front were smaller. She wore a very plain linen gown, which showed careful darning. The antechamber was small, all of the same stone as the exterior and unfurnished. “Hello!” she said cheerfully. “Forgive me for not greeting you at the door, will you? I’m Sussena.”

Wrenmarsh spoke up. “Milady, this young scamp be Peregrine, an’ the young leddy be Abidela. I’ll be lettin’ ’em speak fer thesselves.”

“I’m Perry, and my Gift is Animal Mindspeaking. I’m going to be using my Gift to see if the animals on your property have spotted the missing inheritance. This’s Larral; if we find it, he’ll guard it. M’sister Abi has a Gift that lets her see where all the stresses and strains are in buildings, so she’ll be looking for places hidden in all the walls.”

Sussena shook her head. “I fear you will find far too many of those stresses and strains to be of much use to you, Abidela. My beloved home is in very poor repair.”

“Call me Abi. And that might actually help, milady,” Abi countered.

Sussena looked doubtful, but said nothing. “At any rate, I hope you’ll forgive the state of things. As all the bedchambers come well equipped with winds whistling through the cracks in the shutters and cold running water every time it rains, we all live in the kitchen and old dining hall. And by ‘we,’ I mean just the five of us: Tobin, his son Hob, his wife Hansa, their daughter Lori, and I.”

Abi wasn’t sure how to react to this statement, but Perry just nodded and spoke for both of them. “As long as you aren’t expectin’ me t’share a bed with anyone but Larral, that’ll be good enough, milady.”

“How we’re bein’ t’feed t’at gurt monster, much less two more mout’s . . .” Tobin muttered, looking at Larral. Sussena blushed crimson.

“If you have wild rabbits about, Larral can feed himself,” Perry said pointedly. “And we paid Master Wrenmarsh to bring the extra food you’ll need for all of us even if you don’t have enough rabbits. We thought this out carefully. We’re here to try to solve your problem, milady, not add to it.”