Cataindar

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Luisa woke up at her Grandmother's kicking her feet with excitement. What a great evening she had had. They finished the evening by ordering food and some root juice to Luisa's quarters. The abbot told them stories of his time as a kitain. The pranks they used to play on runners and moppers. Clearwater harassed Finn with questions about the land above, she just couldn't imagine a place with no ceiling. Luisa and Finn had to explain about sky and clouds. It was really good to have a nice time after all that had happened.

As often happens when something wonderful occurs, they just let go of the dark events that had gone before and enjoyed their time together, in a rare, care-free way. Like an unspoken agreement that they would just celebrate Luisa opening the Chest of Royal Weapons for the night.

She had a sword!

Luisa had thought about bringing it back to her grandmother's but decided not to, as that one might be difficult to explain to her Grandmother. She imagined the conversation; "Sorry Gran, just ignore that, its just my royal sword. Part of being a princess and everything. Oh yeah, I'm also a princess – I'll explain later." She grinned to herself wrapping her self tighter in her duvet.

What a thing to own.

She thought about its sleek shape, its perfect weight, how it had felt in her hand. She couldn't wait to get swinging it around. Finn said he would find her a scabbard for it.

Luisa bounced down the stairs of the house. The smell of summer blossom poured through the windows. Her grandmother was waiting downstairs and regarded her demeanour with a disapproving arched eyebrow. Luisa smiled at her anyway and popped some bread in the toaster. The phone rang loudly and made Luisa jump. It was an old fashioned phone, one where you actually had to put your finger in and drag round the thing on the front to dial a number. It made a real racket when it sprung to life. Her grandmother picked it up.

"3491 Wynn Residence."

Luisa could hear the echo of a small voice in the phone. Her grandmother frowned and looked at Luisa.

"Yes she is, who is calling and why do you want to speak with my Granddaughter?" Her Grandmother listened to the answer, raised her eyebrows and with a slight sparkle in her eyes held out the phone to Luisa.

"It is a boy from your school, who it seems wants to speak to you, a Mr. Matthew Tomlinson."

Luisa blushed.

Matthew is phoning me! He actually did it.

"Oh, thanks, umm... Hello?"

* * *

"Hello?"

Luisa's voice went through the receiver and it hit Matthew's ear like a bolt of lightning. He mouthed a swear word silently to himself and tried to stop the flock of butterflies that had erupted in his stomach.

Act calm, talk calm.

"Hi Luisa, its Matthew, from school."

"Hi Matthew."

God, her voice sounded weird. She is probably weirded out by this whole thing. What am I doing? Focus Matthew. She wouldn't have given out her number if she didn't want you to phone! He carefully smoothed the crumples out of his map of Wales.

"Hi, so Luisa how's it going?"

"Um, good, I guess..."

She didn't sound happy to hear from him. Crikey.

Come on Matthew – you are better than this!

He put a finger down on the conversation flow chart he had created. It said 'Tell her you are going to Wales'. He launched into his prepared speech.