In Which Had Tells of Another

September 17, 1162

"So," began Had with a grin as he and Raia planted themselves on the floor of the attic bedroom; it had seemed an eternity before their mothers had finally allowed them to break away from their younger siblings, and Had had been waiting anxiously for the opportunity to tell his best friend his news for quite some time now. "You're never going to guess what I saw last week."

He paused there, waiting for a response; while it was true that she was never going to guess, he did want to see her try.

"What?" Raia inquired with a shrug. "Your papa talking to Goodman Diarn about how you're going to marry Lyraina?"

As the thought entered his head, Had shuddered. "Ew! No way--why would I be smiling about that?"

Raia frowned. "I thought you and Lyraina were friends."

"We are," he assured her, "but I don't ever want to get married to anyone."

"Amen to that," she agreed. "Anyway, what did you see?"

Slowly, Had pulled himself to his feet, gesturing for Raia to follow suit. He then leaned toward her, pushed a lock of her hair out of the way, and aligned his mouth with her ear.

"Well, I was out hunting with my papa," he started, "and we were in the forest, and my papa went chasing after a deer and told me to stay in the clearing for a few minutes. Anyway, I did, and guess what I saw in the bushes?"

Impatiently, Raia tapped her foot. "What?"

"Your mysterious naked boy!" laughed Had. "Right there, in the bushes--no clothes and funny eyes and marks on his face, just like you said!"

Raia grinned slyly. "You saw him too? Did you talk to him? Isn't he stupid?"

Had shook his head. "He seemed really shy, actually; left as soon as he noticed I was there."

Her smile then faded into a frown as she raised an eyebrow. "He wasn't shy at all when I saw him."

"I know, but he was this time. He was just sitting there real still and quiet; I only noticed him because I saw his blond hair through the leaves--"

Clearly startled, Raia blinked. "Blond?" she repeated in disbelief.

Had nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"Well, the one I saw had black hair."

"...oh."

For a moment or so, they simply stared at each other, a mutual understanding passing between the two of them. Finally, Had decided it was time to put words to their shared thought. "So... there's two of them, then?"

"At least," Raia confirmed. "Who knows? There might even be more."

"Maybe."

Silence conquered them once more. Had fidgeted; while being party to this scarce, nearly forbidden knowledge was somewhat exciting, he had hoped that sharing it would have been more fun than this.

However, Raia seemed to sense his discomfort, as she held out her hands and giggled. "Come on, Had--let's go see if your papa will take us for a ride."

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