LITMIR.BIZ

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smiled at her gratefully. ‘I’m sure you are right. We’ll look for it there.’

      ‘I’ll come with you.’ I volunteered, giving Remwar a measuring glance.

      ‘Don’t be silly,’ Yaril rebuked me. ‘Carsina came out here to rest a moment from the dancing. She doesn’t want to go down to the hot houses again, and we certainly can’t leave her sitting here alone. Besides, with your great feet, you’d probably tread my earring into the sod before you saw it. Two of us are plenty to go looking for one little earring. Wait here. We won’t be long.’

      She had risen as she spoke. I knew I should not let her go off down the shadowy path with Remwar unchaperoned, but Carsina gently patted the bench beside her, suggesting I sit there, and I could scarcely leave her sitting in the garden alone. ‘Don’t be long,’ I cautioned Yaril.

      ‘I shan’t be. The earring will either be there or it won’t,’ she replied. Remwar dared to offer her his arm, but she shook her head in a pretty rebuke, and led him off into the dimness. I looked after them. After a moment, Carsina asked quietly, ‘Don’t you wish to sit down? I would think your feet would be tired after all that dancing. I know mine are.’ She pushed her dainty little foot out from the hem of her dress, as if to show me how weary it was, and then exclaimed, ‘Oh, my slipper’s come unfastened. I shall have to go inside and fix it, for if I stoop here, I’ll surely muddy the hem of my gown.’

      ‘Allow me,’ I asked her breathlessly. I went down on one knee fearlessly, for the weather had been dry and the paving stones of the garden path were always kept well swept.

      ‘Oh, but you should not,’ she exclaimed as I took up the silk laces of her slipper. ‘You’ll soil the knee of your fine new uniform. And you look so brave in it.’

      ‘A little dust on my knee will not mar it,’ I said. She had said I looked brave. ‘I’ve been tying my sister’s slippers since she was a tiny thing. Her knots always come undone. There. How is that? Too tight? Too loose?’

      She leaned down to inspect my work. Her neck was graceful and pale as a swan’s and a waft of her gardenias enveloped me again. She turned her gaze to mine and our faces were inches apart. ‘It’s perfect,’ she said softly.

      I could not move or speak. ‘Thank you,’ she said. She leaned forward and her lips barely brushed my cheek, a kiss as chaste as a sister’s that still caused my heart to hammer in my ears. Then she leaned back suddenly, lifting her fingertips to her lips in surprise. ‘Oh! Whiskers!’

      I lifted a hand to my cheek in horror. ‘I did shave!’ I exclaimed, and she laughed, a sound that reminded me of skylarks soaring into a morning sky.

      ‘Of course! I did not mean your face was rough. Only that there is a trace of them, still. You are so fair, that I did not think you would be shaving yet.’

      ‘I’ve been shaving for almost a year now,’ I said, and suddenly it was easy to talk to her. I rose, brushing at my knee and sat down on the bench beside her.

      She smiled at me and asked, ‘Will you grow a moustache at the Academy? I’ve heard that many cadets do.’

      I ran my hand ruefully over my nearly bald head. ‘Not in my first year. It isn’t allowed. Perhaps when I’m in my third year.’

      ‘I think you should,’ she said quietly, and I suddenly resolved that I would.

      A little silence fell as she looked out over the night garden. ‘I dread your leaving tomorrow. I suppose I won’t see you for a long time,’ she said sadly.

      ‘I’ll be home for Rosse’s wedding in late spring. Surely you and your family will be there.’

      ‘Of course. But that is months and months away.’

      ‘It won’t be so long,’ I assured her, but suddenly it seemed like a very long time to me, also.

      She looked aside from me. ‘I’ve heard that the girls of Old Thares are very beautiful, and dress in all the latest fashions from the coast. My mother says that they wear musk and paint their eyelids and that their riding skirts are almost trousers, for they don’t care at all that men may see their legs.’ Worriedly she added, ‘I’ve heard they are very forward, too.’

      I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Such things may be true. But I’ll be at the Academy. I doubt I’ll catch so much as a glimpse of a woman there.’

      ‘Oh, I’m glad!’ she exclaimed, and then looked aside from me. I had to smile as her tiny flame of jealousy warmed me.

      I glanced at the dim path that led toward the greenhouses. I could not see my sister. I did not want to leave, but I knew my responsibility. ‘I’d best go look for Yaril. Finding an earring should not take her this long.’

      ‘I’ll come with you,’ Carsina offered. As she stood, she took my arm, her hand light as a little bird perched there.

      ‘You should go back inside while I find Yaril,’ I said dutifully.

      ‘Should I?’ she asked me, looking up at me with wide blue eyes.

      I could not bring myself to answer that, and so we ventured down the path together. It was narrow and so she had to walk close to me. I went slowly, for fear she would stumble in the dark. Then we came to the turn in the path, and as I feared, I saw Yaril standing very close to Remwar and looking up at him. As I watched, he stooped and kissed her.

      I froze in horror. ‘He has no right!’ I gasped in disbelief.

      Carsina’s grip on my arm had tightened. ‘No right at all!’ she whispered in shocked agreement. ‘Unlike us, there is no understanding between the families. They have not been promised to one another, as we have.’

      I looked down at her. Her eyes were very big, her breathing rapid through her slightly parted lips.

      And then, without quite knowing how, I had taken her in my arms. The top of her brow came just to my nose, so that I had to stoop and turn my head to kiss her mouth. Her little hands gripped the front of my new uniform coat, and when she broke the kiss, she hid her face against my shirtfront as if overcome by what we had done. ‘It’s all right,’ I whispered into the curls and pins of her soft hair. ‘We are promised to one another. We’ve done nothing shameful, save steal a taste of what our lives will bring.’

      She lifted her face from my shirt and leaned back from me. Her eyes were shining and I could not resist her. I kissed her again.

      ‘Carsina!’ A voice hissed in rebuke. We sprang apart guiltily. Yaril seized her friend by the elbow and looked at me in sisterly rebuke. ‘Oh, Nevare, I never would have thought it of you! Carsina, come with me!’ Then, like petals blown on a sudden wind, the two girls swept away from us. At the turn in the path, one of them laughed suddenly, the other joined in and then they were lost to my sight. I stared after them for a moment, and then turned to confront Remwar. My eyes narrowed and I took breath to speak, but he laughed lightly and punched me in the shoulder.

      ‘Relax, old man. My father is speaking to yours tonight.’ Then he met my gaze as an honest fellow should and said, ‘I’ve loved her for two years. I think our mothers both know. I promise you, Nevare, I’ll never let harm come to her.’

      I could think of no reply to that, and he suddenly said, ‘I hear the music starting again. To the chase, lads!’ And he set off down the path in a long-legged stride in pursuit of the girls. I was left shaking my head, dizzied by the kiss and the perfume that Carsina had left clinging to me. I tugged my coat straight and brushed a bit of her powder from the front of it. Only then did I discover that she had tucked her tiny handkerchief into the front of my coat. It was all lace, delicate as a snowflake and scented with gardenia. I folded it carefully into my pocket and hastened back toward the lights and music. Suddenly, the thought of departing on the morrow was nearly unbearable. I would not waste a single moment of the time left to me.

      Yet the instant I returned to the dance floor, my mother found me, and suggested that courtesy

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