“Please, don’t bother them now. Let them know over breakfast. Send a message to me at the Golden Sheep Inn. I am at my leisure right now, you folks have a show to run.” She smiled; it quite lit up her face, and Giselle felt herself relaxing a little. “Shall I let myself out?” the Earth Master continued. “It seems silly for you to try and squeeze past me just to open the door in such a small space.”

“Please do,” she said, trying not to sound as intimidated as she felt.

Rosamund chuckled a little, and bade her a good night and good rest.

Giselle sat back down again and poured herself a second cup of tea, feeling even more exhausted than before. Rosamund had to be the most forceful personality she had met since Mother died! And it wasn’t as if she had tried to be intimidating, either, she merely exuded sublime self-confidence and an aura of being in charge.

I doubt anyone has ever dismissed her as being “just a girl,” she thought, with more admiration than resentment. If she had been in my shoes, Cody wouldn’t have tried to pass her ideas off as his own. He wouldn’t have needed to. She had no doubt at all that when Rosamund spoke, people listened.

Was that an aspect of Earth Magic? It might be. Certainly Tante Gretchen had commanded the respect of all those young army lads.

At any rate, after dealing with such a formidable personality, on top of the exhausting day she’d had already, she felt a bit limp. She had a quick wash, and crawled, rather than jumped, into bed.

In the morning, it might have seemed like a dream, if it had not been for the two unwashed teacups on her little table. No matter how tired she had been, there was no chance she would have been so addled as to pour herself two cups of tea.

She closed her eyes and called a sylph. One flitted in through the window over the bed almost immediately; this was a tiny little thing, with brown wings with orange spots. It hovered expectantly, orange hair floating about its naked little body.

“Would you be so kind,” she said aloud, “As to tell Chief Leading Fox that I will need to speak with him urgently over breakfast? And if you can get Captain Cody’s attention, tell him the same?”

“Yes!” the little thing said gleefully, and darted out the window again.

Goodness. That was a lot of enthusiasm . . .

She got another washup—it was getting warm enough now in the mornings that the tepid water in her pitcher was quite warm enough—and got into her canvas skirt, shirt, and soft Indian boots. After the exertions and surprises of yesterday, she was famished.