Stranger Skies (The Borderlands Saga #1)

4. The Witch's Name

The next day saw an excursion to the market for the entire family. Scoas needed new seeds to start indoors in preparation for the approaching planting season; Natai needed new sewing supplies, flour, and other kitchen staples they couldn't provide themselves on the farm. Brinna was in search of more yarn so she could finish Silva's sweater and Alaev was just tagging along to help his dad and perhaps see some of his friends.

The purpose of this trip was twofold for the former goddess of the wild wolves. One, she needed new clothes and Natai had generously offered to buy her some. She promised the woman she'd pay her back but Natai would hear nothing of it.

"We're hardly destitute and to give charitably when one has the ability honors the gods."

You have no idea, thought Silva but she argued the matter no more. She vowed to herself that she'd find a way to pay them back, even if secretly.

The second reason she was excited to go into town was for observation purposes. She knew very little about the Minae. She was curious about their way of life, what they dressed like, what they did for a living — she wanted to know all about the marvellous variety of these humanoids. It was as much to learn how to fit into their society better as it was her own, naturally inquisitive nature — and realizing that was proof enough to Silva that she was still a wolf in her soul, no matter what her outward appearance was.

The farmstead was not too far from Heartpin Town. They were about halfway between the Steelmint Forest and the road that led west to Heartpin and east to Whitewight Coast and, if one then turned south, Daetus City. Daetus was the home of Duchess Innis, and the capitol of Min. Alongside the road to town was Heartpin River, which led to Birch Lake in the west and Latenip Sea in the east. To the north and east were other towns of Min — Fallwoman Shire and Solai Parish — and the Eronenian Mountains, which formed the border between Min and Thaen.

Brinna had told Silva all of this quite avidly on their trip from the farm.

The newly-made mortal woman could not ride a horse; she sat in the wagon. Brinna had elected not to ride so she could keep her new friend company on their trip into town. Scoas, Alaev, and Natai all rode horses.

It was not that Silva could not figure out how to ride a horse, probably, nor that she feared getting on an equine. She was perfectly willing.

It was that the horse in question had got one whiff of Silva and promptly reared up on its hind legs, whinnying a very clear NO NO NO NO WOLF GET HER AWAY FROM ME NO NO NO.

She apparently could still understand other animals, even if she couldn't change form, and it was clear they certainly recognized her as wolf.

She told the family it was just as well, that she feared horses anyway, and could she ride in a wagon perhaps? They readily agreed and did not try any other poor equine on her, which was good, for she knew each one would react the same way. Or perhaps attack her. Horses did that sometimes, when faced with wolf.

So she rode in the wagon, which was pulled by long leads from Alaev's sturdy pony. The pony looked and smelled old and did not seem to notice Silva's wolf scent. Scoas and Natai's horses were skittish around her and the two adults rode further ahead of Alaev and the wagon. They left about an hour before dawn, for the days were short in winter and the ride would be an hour long.

This placed Silva in the perfect spot to watch a Minae sunrise. She sat facing east and had a clear view of the sun as it crept over the horizon, waking the land to a new day.

It was gorgeous. She saw all the colors now she was Minae, instead of the usual wolfish range of blues, yellows, and greens. The sunrise was a brilliant red with streaks of orange, yellow, and violet. As the sun climbed up through the cloud cover and stretched its fingers over the land, the radiance of the colors faded somewhat, though they were still far more brilliant than the colors of Terran or Cetian skies.