The Safe-Keeper's Secret (11 page)

T
he year she was fifteen, Fiona spent much of her time learning herb lore at Elminstra's house. She had never wavered in her desire to be a Safe-Keeper, but her mother had convinced her that it was a good idea to have a steady source of income besides.

“Your aunt sews. I make fair copies of correspondence and compose letters for people who can't write,” Damiana said. “There's not much money in Safe-Keeping, and it's not the sort of profession that allows you to turn people away if they can't pay you. So it's best to have a second career, one that brings in a little money, and you like the herb work. You're so good in the garden.”

Fiona did, indeed, enjoy the herb work, the medicinal and sometimes almost magical properties that could be found in seed and root and petal. And she enjoyed her time with Elminstra, who was always so open and friendly, and whose house was always filled with other people.

While Fiona learned herb lore, Reed tried various apprenticeships in the village. But he was too restless to apply himself to any one of them for long. He had the strength to be a blacksmith, said Ned, but he couldn't be trusted to keep his eyes on the fire. He had an aptitude for woodmaking, said the carpenter, but at any minute he would lay down his chisel or lathe and go dashing out into the street when he thought of a more interesting engagement.

“He's smart, and he remembers everything, and I could teach him to be the best brewmaster in five counties, but he can't be relied on,” said Dirk's father, who ran the local tavern. “He doesn't seem to have a sense of time or urgency.”

Indeed, Fiona could have told any of these potential masters that Reed's sense of time and urgency were both dictated by adventurous possibilities:
You must come to the forest with me this minute, to see the moonflowers opening up…. The fish will only bite at dawn—wake up now! … Fiona, why are you so slow? The fireflies are just coming out
. Tasks that could keep, skills that could be learned over a period of time, those were not things that would hold Reed's interest for long.

“I don't think he'll be a brewer or a carpenter or a blacksmith or a farmer or anything you've envisioned,” Thomas told Damiana at the beginning of the summer. Fiona was supposed to be making dinner, but instead was eavesdropping on the conversation as they sat in the main room and sipped tea. His arrival had come as a surprise to Fiona, though Damiana had greeted him as if they had planned this visit a long time ago.

Damiana laughed a little. “Then what will he be? Where will he go?”

“Have you ever thought he might want to seek his father? Go to Wodenderry and try his fortune?”

“No,” Damiana said, and her voice was troubled.

“I am sure it has crossed his mind. It's a very lively mind he has, and everything crosses it at some time or another.”

Fiona could attest to that. She could also have corroborated Thomas's speculation. Reed
had
talked about going to the royal city to see what he could learn about King Marcus—but he'd also talked about going to Lowford and Thrush Hollow, or moving to Stilton and learning to sail a boat, or bundling up all his belongings in a bag and walking across the entire world. It was hard to know what might seriously catch his fancy.

“Well, we'll see if he likes the merchant life,” Damiana said. “And after that—well, we'll just see.”

Fiona supposed that meant Damiana might next decide to apprentice Reed to one of the merchants in town—but, it turned out, she supposed wrong. Over dinner that night, their mother laid out an entirely different plan.

“I'd like you both to go spend the summer in Lowford with Angeline,” Damiana said. “Reed, I've arranged for you to spend a few months working with Robert Bayliss in his trading business. He's looking forward to teaching you what he knows and I'd like you to be a great help to him if you can. Fiona, Angeline's neighbor Kate is an herbalist like Elminstra, but she cultivates a variety of plants there in the wetter region that Elminstra can't grow here. I think you'll both learn a great deal.”

“Marvelous! When do we go?” Reed demanded, but Fiona just stared at her mother.

“But—leave you alone all summer—we can't do that,” she said.

Damiana smiled and touched her arm. “I have some projects I'd like to get done around the house, and I won't mind at all being alone. Besides, you know there's never anything like true solitude in a Safe-Keeper's house. And if I get too lonely, I'll walk down to Elminstra's. Or she'll loan me one of her granddaughters to keep me company.”

“
I'll
keep you company,” Fiona said. “Reed can go this year and I'll go next year.”

“Oh, I think it will be much less disruptive to everybody if you both go,” Damiana said, her gaze flicking from Fiona to Reed and back again. “Your aunt isn't used to having someone in the house who's as high-spirited as Reed. You can help her … contain him.”

Reed burst out laughing, and Fiona managed a little smile. It was true that Fiona was the only one who was ever able to instill a sense of direction or purpose in her brother, and he would always do what she asked, even if he didn't like the task. Fiona might be able to keep him more focused on his merchant apprenticeship than either Robert Bayliss or Angeline. Perhaps this whole trip had been planned for Reed's benefit, and Fiona's true role was to help him along. In which case she could not really protest.

“But I hate the idea of leaving you,” she said.

“And I'll miss you,” Damiana said. “But think what fun you'll have! Angeline is so excited about having you to herself for a whole summer. I'll get a lot done here and be happy to see you when you get back.”

“When do we go?” Reed asked again.

“As soon as you can pack,” Thomas said. “Tomorrow or the day after.”

“Tomorrow!” Fiona exclaimed, staring at her mother again.

“I can pack in five minutes,” Reed said.

“Or the day after,” Damiana amended. “You might need that much time to get used to the idea.”

But Fiona still wasn't quite used to the idea when, two days later, they loaded up Thomas's wagon and headed west to Lowford. Damiana had hugged all three of them good-bye and stood at the gate waving gaily as they departed, but Fiona couldn't feel excited about the adventure. Well, she didn't much like adventure anyway. She was always willing to participate in one of Reed's escapades, but those were harmless and close to home. She had never traveled to Lowford—or anywhere—without her mother, and she had to scowl fiercely to keep herself from crying.

The trip itself was monotonous, and Fiona's sadness eventually gave way to boredom. They stopped three or four times to eat and stretch their bones, and pulled into Lowford a little after the noon hour. Angeline lived on the north side of town, on the outskirts like Damiana, so Thomas pointed out various sights as they traveled through the pretty city center. Fiona and Reed had been here before, of course, but not for a couple of years. Fiona had to admit, the bustle of the marketplace and the unfamiliarity of the street arrangements were rather exciting. Lowford was nearly twice as big as Tambleham and a crossroads as well; there was much more going on here than in her own sleepy town.

Angeline was waiting for them at the front door, and hugged them and kissed them as if it had been years since she'd seen them, instead of two months. One arm around Fiona and one around Reed, she looked up at Thomas with a smile. “Are you staying for dinner? There's plenty.”

He smiled back. “I think Fiona at least is tired of my company,” he said. “But I'll be by from time to time to check on them and take reports back to Tambleham.”

“Good,” Angeline said. “You're welcome any time.”

“Rare words for a Truth-Teller,” he commented, and they both laughed.

“Good-bye, then,” she said. “Now, my magnificent niece and my adorable nephew, come inside and have dinner. See how happy I am to have you for a whole summer!”

Despite the fact that she missed her mother a great deal, Fiona really did have a wonderful summer. Angeline's friend Kate was thin, tall, fey, and fierce, one of the oddest people Fiona had ever met, but she knew plants like nobody else Fiona had ever encountered. They would wander through Kate's garden completely at random, and the older woman would point to this flower or that herb and rattle off a description of its properties and how it could best be used to cure fever or heartache. They spent hours in her greenhouse, something that Fiona had never seen before. It was constructed carefully of glass and metal and designed to create an indoor climate that was more favorable to certain species than the outdoor one. Inside its transparent walls they would discuss soil, fertilizer, and pests. The entire house appeared to have been given over to cuttings, and everywhere stems and tubers sat in glass jars full of water, sprouting coiled, needle-thin roots. Even the kitchen table, even the kitchen stove, had to be cleared now and then so Kate and Fiona could make or consume a meal.

Kate's visitors were many and various, and they all treated the tall woman as if she were a visionary who might at any moment start speaking in an unintelligible tongue. But Fiona felt right at home with her in a matter of days. There was no subterfuge with Kate, no hidden meaning behind her plain words. She might not speak concisely or always to the point, but she never wasted time on subjects that did not matter. And Fiona learned more than she had ever thought possible.

Reed appeared to be enjoying his summer as well, though he might not have been learning as much. Every day when they returned for dinner, Angeline would quiz them on what they'd discovered that day and how they might incorporate those lessons into their daily lives. Fiona could
answer easily, tossing off the names of new plants and the ingredients for new potions, but Reed would often merely shrug and attack his food.

“It was just more logging of entries,” he would say. “Nothing new.” Or, “We walked around the warehouse and looked at the bins. Can I have more potatoes?” Or, “Did you know Robert owns fifty horses and twenty wagons?
Fifty horses!
The ostlers along the southern route keep stable stalls just for him.”

But if asked, he would say he was having a splendid time and that the merchant life might be the one for him after all. Fiona doubted it, but she was glad to hear that he was at least paying attention and managing to do more than simply be a distraction to the other workers while he was supposed to be working.

Robert Bayliss, in fact, seemed to have taken to Reed with all the fondness of an indulgent uncle. “I do enjoy that boy,” he told Angeline and Fiona one night over dinner. Angeline had invited both Robert and his wife, Victoria, to join them for the evening meal, and Thomas had arrived unexpectedly. It was quite a convivial gathering, for Thomas had brought letters from Damiana and Robert had brought wine. “He's so full of energy. Nothing slows him down, nothing stops him. Give him a problem and he'll tease at it till he solves it.”

“Or forgets about it,” Fiona said a little dryly.

Reed grinned. “I've been concentrating.”

“It's hard to be a young lad and have to sit still all day, learning dull facts about shipping lanes and freighting weights,” Robert said with a smile. “I try to give him some variety.”

“Today I helped load grain barrels into the wagons,” Reed said with great enthusiasm. “They're heavy! And they roll, unless you swing them just right—”

“And nothing ever bores him,” Robert said. “And all my managers like him. I can't remember the last apprentice I've had who seemed so promising.”

“Better hire him, then,” Thomas recommended.

“He's supposed to have another year of school left,” Fiona said with a little frown.

“I don't care if I finish school,” Reed said.

“Well, your mother does,” Angeline said. “So you can talk about your career next summer.”

Victoria, who had said very little during dinner, now touched a cloth napkin to her lips. “Angeline, such a lovely meal. You are so accomplished in all the domestic skills,” she said in a faint voice. “But I
find—I'm a little tired. Could I go sit in a quiet room somewhere for a few moments?”

Robert was instantly on his feet, bending over her and looking concerned. “Would you like to go home? I'll bring around the carriage.”

She gave him a wan smile. “Oh, no. I need to collect my strength before I try to make the journey.”

Angeline came around the edge of the table. “I'll take you back to my room so you can lie down for a while. Will that be good?”

“Oh, most excellent. Thank you so much. Robert, you sit here and talk with the others. Angeline will see to me.”

They were scarcely out the kitchen door before Reed leaped to his feet. “Thomas! I forgot! Come see my new riding wheel. Robert gave it to me and it's the most amazing thing.”

With a nod at the other two, Thomas stood up. “Yes, you must display your proficiency to me so I can go home and tell your mother how accomplished you are.”

That quickly, the room emptied out, and Fiona was left alone with Robert, to whom she had never said a word in private in her life. “Would you like something else to eat?” she asked, deciding to play the role of hostess in order to make conversation. “Or I could make some tea. There's cake, too, when everybody comes back.”

Robert smiled at her. He really seemed like a gentle man, she thought, and most agreeable. She was sorry for him, shackled to such a difficult wife. “Thank you, but I think I'll wait for that cake,” he said. “Your aunt is quite the baker. I would grow fat if I lived in her house.”

Fiona laughed. “I try to eat normal portions, but Reed just eats and eats and
eats
. Still, you see how tall he is and still so thin. I suppose he can eat as much as he wants to.”