Songbird

Chapter Twenty - Festival

Sunlight streamed in between the curtains as Wren woke, and the murmur of voices came from the kitchen. Rolling out of bed, she dressed and padded into the other room on bare feet, where Amelia and her daughters were collecting the dirty dishes from breakfast. She smiled when Wren entered the room.

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Good morning, Amelia. A little too well, it seems. Let me help you with that."

"Thank you," Amelia said. "Would you wash these, then?"

"Of course!"

The washbasin was already full of water, and as Wren washed the dishes, Hannah brought a fresh supply from the well outside, passing the bucket through the window.

"Are the boys already working the farm?" Wren asked.

Amelia took a plate from her and dried it. "That's right. We rise with the sun, but we thought you should rest."

"I'll get used to it," Wren said. "It's so kind of you to let me stay, helping around the house is the least I can do."

"We're happy to have you," Amelia said. She smiled. "I feel as if I know you a little already, Kal talked about you so much."

Wren's cheeks warmed at the thought. "Did he?"

"All the time!" Allie said. She stood on Wren's other side, collecting dirty dishes from the table and passing them on.

"Did you really meet him in his dreams?" Hannah peered over the windowsill with a fresh bucket of water.

"That's right," Wren said. "I don't know how it happened, but I dreamt of him, too."

"It must have been fate," Amelia said. "I can see that you make him very happy."

Wren couldn't help but beam. "I'm so lucky to have met him! He's done so much for me, I can't possibly hope to repay him."

"The most sincere gratitude is often found in small acts," Amelia said. "And a steady relationship is stronger than one full of ups and downs."

Wren smiled. "You must know all about it. How did you meet your husband?"

The girls crowded around them. "Tell us, Mum!"

"We want to hear, too!"

"Not to worry," she said. "Really there's not a great deal to tell. Edric grew up here in Arbor—his grandfather built this house. I was only passing through, working as a travelling bard. We weren't much older than you, Wren."

"Was it love at first sight?" Allie asked.

Her mother gave her an affectionate pinch on the cheek. "Something like that. It was at the harvest festival—he saw me dance with the other village girls, and approached me afterward. We had such fun! Singing and dancing...he asked me to marry him that night."

Wren's eyes widened. "No! Did you accept?"

Amelia laughed. "Oh heavens, no! I told him he was a hasty fool. But I stayed in town and spent my days and nights with him, and every night he would ask, 'Will you marry me?'"

Hannah bounced on her heels in excitement. "What did you say?"

"Each time I would tell him, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" Amelia said. She laughed at the memory, her hand going to the marriage tattoo that circled her wrist. "How I loved to tease him! Then one night, I finally said yes. And here we are—my goodness!—almost twenty years later. Time certainly flies."

"Kal told me about the festival," Wren said. "It sounds like great fun."

Amelia nodded. "It certainly is. You know," she said. "You're actually just in time, the festival will be held in a few weeks."