The Forest at the Edge of the World(24)
He respectfully accepted her grooming, nodded a thank you when she finished, then pushed away his empty dishes and stood up, adopting a formal stance.
“I need to be getting back to the fort. It should be completed in the next few days, but there are many details that need to be addressed.” Perrin leaned over and kissed the rector’s wife on her forehead. “Thank you again for the pie, Auntie Tabbit. But can you please try to do something about your husband?”
The rector grinned and pointed at his forehead expectantly, his eyebrows bouncing up and down.
Perrin gave him a playful glare, took up his cap, put it on, and left out the back door.
The rector and his wife watched him close the door. Then Tabbit kicked her husband under the table.
“Hogal, I said be subtle! Subtle! Do you know what that means?”
The rector feigned pain at her gentle kick. “But dear, he’s twenty-eight, and we’re in our eighties—we don’t have time to be subtle! Did you notice he talked about marrying, at least twice?”
“It was three times, I’m sure!” Tabbit giggled.
---
Outside the door, Captain Shin stood in the dark listening to his great aunt and uncle. He shook his head at their banter and smiled as he left.
He walked the alley that ran behind all of the houses to the road. One of the reasons he came to Edge was because of them, but Hogal’s idea of help was distracting him from his work. No other captain had been given so much responsibility. Then again, there was no other son of the High General, who was also the grandson of a High General. He had to make a good impression early, not only with the villagers but with the army and the Administrators.
Someday, once the fort was established and the threat of Guarders was again subdued, he could see himself looking around. By then he’d be about thirty, ten years older than any available females, but there still might be some close to his age. Miss Peto seemed to be older. And fairly attractive. And smart. So why was she still single? Something must be wrong with her.
Then again, she might think the same thing about him.
If she thought of him.
He took another turn, then another. It wasn’t as if her home was out of his way. He actually needed to walk past it on his way back to the fort. After all, it was his duty to learn every road and alley in Edge, to know how to defend it against the raids that may be coming.
Still, he felt guilty when he found himself in front of her dark home. The tiny yard had no distinguishable pattern to the foliage, but maybe that was because the sun had set a while ago. The house was typical for smaller villages. Large stones for the foundation, smaller stones mortared together for the main floor, and broad planked boards for the second level bedroom and attic, with a pitched roof covered in sun-dried tiles. It was small and neat with windows of thick wavy glass. In Sands the glass blowers were developing much thinner panes to import to Idumea, but no one else besides the forts needed to go to such expense. Neither did Miss Peto, he nodded in approval. He paused only for a moment to glance surreptitiously at the windows which revealed dark nothingness.
He walked slowly to the end of the road which led directly to the fort and stopped. Where she would be at this hour of evening? He felt concern for her safety—as a captain should—and turned to walk down past her house again.
Perhaps she was home, but had already retired for the night. Was she ill? That might be his responsibility, too. He reached the end of the road and immediately felt like a foolish fourteen-year-old. He turned again to walk past her home the third time and on to the fort. But again he slowed down as he passed her yard and looked in the dried weeds for any sign of trouble.
Strangely disappointed he picked up his gait, marched past the next house, and turned on to the fort.
---
From behind a thick evergreen shrub across the road, Mahrree finally felt enough courage to step out from her hiding spot and watch the dim figure of Captain Shin walk away. She’d seen him pass her house twice. What might have happened if she hadn’t spent so long at her mother’s? Was he lost? That didn’t bode well for the safety of their community, she thought with a wry smile.
She tiptoed across the cobblestones to the corner to catch the last glimpse of him. Maybe there was actually a threat he was investigating? Or maybe he was trying to find her house?
Instantly she felt a ridiculous about the entire thing. How would he even know where she lived? One part of her wished she paid closer attention to how her silly students stalked the young men outside the amphitheater. The other part wanted to slap her on the face and send her to the bedroom in disgrace.
---
The slender man in dark clothing standing in a shadow across the road from Mahrree Peto’s house watched as she entered it. Then he quietly slipped from his hiding place and slinked down the main road to the new fort, observing the captain’s progress. The report he’d be sending would verify the captain’s arrival and apparent intent to stay, as well as his defense of the Administrators’ positions at the debates. But the report would also describe his unusual behavior tonight.