"I know where we are," Katsa said. "There's a town not far from here, perhaps two days' walk. According to Raffin, a storekeeper there is friendly to the Council. I think we might go there safely."
"Just because he's friendly to the Council doesn't mean he'll be able to see through whatever story Leck's spreading."
"True," Katsa said. "But we need clothing and information. And you need a hot bath. If we could get to Lienid without encountering anyone, we would; but it's impossible. If we must trust someone, I'd prefer it to be a Council sympathizer."
Bitterblue scowled. "You need a hot bath as much as I do."
Katsa grinned. "I need a bath as much as you do. Mine doesn't have to be hot. I'm not going to stick you into some half-frozen pond, to sicken and die, after all you've survived. Now, child," Katsa said, as the merchant and the innkeeper shouldered bags of their own and headed for the inn's entrance, "don't move until I get back."
"Where..." Bitterblue began, but Katsa was already flying from tree to tree, hiding behind one massive trunk and then another, peeking out to watch the windows and doors of the inn. When moments later Katsa and Bitterblue resumed their trek through the Sunderan forest, Katsa had four eggs inside her sleeve and a frozen pumpkin on her shoulder. Their dinner that night had the air of a celebration.
There wasn't much Katsa could do about her appearance or Bitterblue's when it came time to knock on the storekeeper's door, other than clean the dirt and grime as best she could from their faces, manhandle Bitterblue's tangle of hair into some semblance of a braid, and wait until darkness fell. It was too cold to expect Bitterblue to remove her patchwork of furs, and Katsa's wolf hides, no matter how alarming, were less appalling than the stained, tattered coat they hid.
The storekeeper was easily identified, his building the largest and busiest in the town save the inn. He was a man of average height and average build, had a sturdy, no-nonsense wife and an inordinate number of children who seemed to run the gamut from infancy to Katsa's age and older. Or so Katsa gathered, as she and Bitterblue passed their time among the trees at the edge of the town waiting for night to fall. His store was sizable, and the brown house that rose above and behind it enormous. As it would have to be, Katsa thought, to contain so many children. Katsa wished, as the day progressed and more and more children issued from the building to feed the chickens, to help the merchants unload their goods, to play and fight, and squabble in the yard, that this Council contact had not taken his duty to procreate quite so seriously. They would have to wait not only until the town quieted, but until most of these children slept, if Katsa wished their appearance on the doorstep to cause less than an uproar.
When most of the houses were dark, and when light shone from only one of the windows in the storekeeper's home, Katsa and Bitterblue crept from the trees. They passed through the yard and snuck to the back door. Katsa wrapped her fist in her sleeve and thumped on the solid Sunderan wood as quietly as she could and still hope to be heard. After a moment the light in the window shifted. After another moment the door was pushed open a crack, and the storekeeper peered out at them, a candle in his hand. He looked them up and down, two slight, furry figures on his doorstep, and kept a firm grip on the door handle.
"If it's food you want, or beds," he said gruffly, "you'll find the inn at the head of the road."
Katsa's first question was the most risky, and she steeled herself against the answer. "It's information we seek. Have you heard any news of Monsea?"
"Nothing for months. We hear little of Monsea in this corner of the woods."
Katsa released her breath. "Hold your light to my face, storekeeper."
The man grunted. He extended his arm through the crack in the door and held the candle to Katsa's face. His eyes narrowed, then widened, and his entire manner changed. In an instant he'd opened the door, shuffled them through, and thrown the latch behind them.
"Forgive me, My Lady." He gestured to a table and began to pull out chairs. "Please, please sit down. Marta!" he called into an adjacent room. "Food," he said to the confused woman who appeared in the doorway, "and more light. And wake the – "
"No," Katsa said sharply. "No. Please, wake no one. No one must know we're here."
"Of course, My Lady," the man said. "You must forgive my... my..."
"You weren't expecting us," Katsa said. "We understand."
"Indeed," the man said. "We'd heard what happened at King Randa's court, My Lady, and we knew you'd passed through Sunder with the Lienid prince. But somewhere along the way the rumors lost track of you."
The woman came bustling back into the room and set a platter of bread and cheese on the table. A girl about Katsa's age followed with mugs and a pitcher. A boy, a young man taller even than Raffin, brought up the rear, and lit the torches in the walls around the table. Katsa heard a soft sigh and glanced at Bitterblue. The child stared, wide-eyed and mouth watering, at the bread and cheese on the table before her. She caught Katsa's eye. "Bread," she whispered, and Katsa couldn't help smiling.
"Eat, child," Katsa said.
"By all means, young miss," the woman said. "Eat as much as you like."
Katsa waited until everyone was seated, and until Bitterblue was contentedly stuffing her mouth with bread. Then she spoke.
"We need information," she said. "We need counsel. We need baths and any clothing – preferably boy's clothing – you might be able to spare. Above all, we need utter secrecy regarding our presence in this town."
"We're at your service, My Lady," the storekeeper said.
"We've enough clothing in this house to dress an army," his wife said. "And any supplies you'll need in the store. And a horse, I warrant, if you're wanting one. You can be sure we'll keep quiet, My Lady. We know what you've done with your Council and well do for you whatever we can."
"We thank you."
"What information do you seek, My Lady?" the storekeeper asked. "We've heard very little from any of the kingdoms."
Katsa's eyes rested on Bitterblue, who tore into the bread and cheese like a wild thing. "Slowly, child," she said, absently. She rubbed her head and considered how much to tell this Sunderan family. Some things they needed to know, and certainly the one thing most likely to combat the influence of whatever deception Leck spread next was the truth.
"We come from Monsea," Katsa said. "We crossed the mountains through Grella's Pass."
This was met with silence, and a widening of eyes. Katsa sighed.
"If that's hard for you to believe," she said, "you'll find the rest of our story no less than incredible. Truly, I'm unsure where to start."
"Start with Leck's Grace," Bitterblue said around her mouthful of bread.
Katsa watched the child lick crumbs from her fingers. Bitterblue looked as if she were approaching a state of rapture that even the story of her father's treachery couldn't disturb. "Very well," Katsa said. "We'll start with Leck's Grace."
Katsa took not one bath that night, but two. The first to loosen the dirt and peel off the top layer of grime, the second to become truly clean. Bitterblue did the same. The storekeeper, his wife, and his two eldest children moved quietly and efficiently, drawing water, heating water, emptying the tub, and burning their old, tattered garments. Producing new clothing, boy's clothing, and fitting it to their guests. Gathering hats, coats, scarves, and gloves from their own cabinets and from the store. Cutting Bitterblue's hair to the length of a boy's, and trimming Katsa's so it lay close to her scalp again.