The Kingdom

44

A few weeks had passed and no one brought news from Edward. James had been busy building a strong burgh. One that could be important for trades and nothing better than creating a market. For that, he had been guiding peasants through agriculture, training fishermen and investing on cattle. Apart from that, meeting with the army, planning defenses strategies. The wall around the village was being rebuilt by the carpenters with timber from the forests nearby. James had been a busy bee and Keira couldn't be prouder. Despite the hurt, he was a leader and from her perspective, he was doing his job magnificently.

There, she also had her role. She was the lady of the burgh so, just like him, she couldn't show weakness or pain though people knew the horror they were going through. Being a ruler was being above any pain. On the outside they showed strength, resilience, expertise, and confidence. On the inside they were shattered. Every day without their baby boy broke another piece of their soul. It was at night when they were alone that they would bring the walls down just the two of them. James's plan didn't work. Akko died without saying anything helpful, but James's men kept looking for him. Hope was all they had and the love for one another that only grew stronger.

Just like she had become a Saxon in a way, James became half Celt too, finally accepting part of her culture as a benefit for his kingdom. She was his lady but he allowed her to work, just like a Celt ruler would. Keeping a village healthy was a primordial thing to him and so he allowed her to use her knowledge of herbs to treat people. People that didn't have the means to pay for a physician. With this they gained the trust and love from everyone. She also had some apprentices for if the population grew, they'd have sufficient people knowing how to heal. At first people were suspicious but looking up to James who they saw as their ruler, she gained everyone's trust. Father Rasmus tried to convince them it was a pagan thing, but James answered that pagan medicine healed him and prevented him from dying, so it was valuable medicine. Having enough herbal mixes, unguents, teas, and macerations to help everyone meant she had to go searching for what she needed every day and with the company of Tate, she used part of the afternoon to collect her healing products in the woods near the beaches.

Whenever she watched a pink sunset as the one of that day, not only it reminded her of her own land as well as how much she loved it there. After more than a year fleeing from one place to the other and living in different places, she was in her element: a place where land and sea converged. With a basket in her arm, she stopped to look at the perfection she had in front her. An orange ball, a fire ball, touching the salt water, making it burn too. A huge golden line formed in the water as the sun was so low. She adjusted her cloak around her to keep her warmer as the chill coming from the sea was now more intense, but that salty scent... Keira closed her eyes and inhaled. For her that fragrance alone could cured maladies.

"My Lady!" Tate called her and Keira looked back. Holding some herbs in her hand she pointed at the path that led to the village. A boy was coming, running.

"What's wrong?" Keira left the sunset on its own and started walking in the direction of the boy.

"My lady..." The boy bowed out of breath as he stopped in front of her.

"Do you want water?" Keira asked but the boy, with his face all smudged, shook his head.

"I work with the blacksmith." He smiled and Keira smiled back at him. "Master James asked me to fetch you."

"Fetch me?" Her heart started beating a bit faster. The boy nodded.

"He says it's important."

Keira's heart skipped a beat. Edward was her first thought. Maybe he had gotten some news. She grabbed her basket firmly in her hand and she started running, leaving the boy and Tate behind. She wasn't far, James always warned her not to go out of sight of the guards and she wouldn't, but it seemed like a long distance now that she was desperate to get to him. When she passed through the gate, she handed her basket to one of the girls working with her and run straight home.