I grabbed the handle of the basket gingerly with two fingers, almost feeling sorry for Ingrith if that was the extent of the gifts someone would offer her. It was little better than what the men in the commune got. Mother began to turn around but stopped suddenly, waving a hand at me. “And don’t cut through the fields. Take the pathway. We don’t want you getting your dress all dirty.”
I think mud would blend right in with this monstrosity just fine. “Okay. Love you.” I peered over her shoulder before I turned to leave. “Love you too, Father.”
Elbow deep in water and plates, Father grunted.
Swinging a basket around with two fingers was an excellent way to break those fingers, which was helpful if you were looking for an excuse to get out of working for a few days. But since the Returning had that covered for me, and my fingers were starting to stiffen in what looked a bit like a hook, I gave up and began to carry the thing properly. Having a hook hand was all I needed the next time someone made a comment about how no man would ever find the goddess in me.
Down and up and down and up again, among the violet lily-covered fields, I followed the dirt path that ran from the woods and the castle to the center of the village and out again in all directions. There were no houses between mine and the edge of the village, none but Jurij’s, the Tailor Shop on the eastern outskirts.
Maybe if I hide my face behind the basket I could pretend I don’t see it. Lifting the basket that high made my arms sore. But then again, it did house at least one rock-hard biscuit.
I stepped on the dog’s paw before I even realized she’d run out of the Tailor Shop to greet me. We both yelped as I tumbled.
The basket went soaring out of my arms … and into the arms of a man with a male face carved from wood, complete with exaggerated pointy wooden ears that stuck out straight sideways. It was the mask a man only wore on the morning of his Returning.
“Whoa!” The muffled voice was all too familiar. He bent forward to pick up the partially bitten cheese wedge, which had landed on the back of Bow, his golden dog. “Cheese is generally a fine gift for a Returning, but … ” He held up the wedge with one hand like it was the carcass of some dead squirrel Bow had brought him. “The fur-covered, half-eaten variety is not quite to my taste.”
I grinned and snatched the cheese from him, blowing on it to get rid of all of the hairs. “I don’t know. I hear furry cheese is an excellent cure for missing eyes.”
“Amusing.” Jurij’s creepy wooden face tilted to one side. “My eyes are here and ordinary, just like every other man’s.”
There was no way his eyes were ordinary. Not if I could have them locked on to my own, even just once.
Bow opened her mouth and panted, watching her master eagerly, probably smelling that weeks-old biscuit and actually deeming it fit for dog consumption. Jurij bent to set the basket on the ground, cooing as he grabbed Bow’s muzzle and rubbed the sides gently, preventing her from attacking the basket. Elfriede wasn’t the only golden-haired mongrel that got his attention. “You’re going to be a cute little mama, aren’t you?”
I glanced at Bow’s bulging belly as I snatched up the basket. “She’s pregnant?”
“Yup. I think it was the butcher’s dog. Because you love your sausages, don’t you? So who’s eating the disgusting old cheese?” Jurij asked, still simpering in his high-pitched baby voice.
I dropped the cheese into the basket and moved the old black cloth around until it covered the travesty of a gift I was tasked with presenting. It took me a moment to figure out Jurij was talking to me and not his dog. “Our favorite village crazy person: Ingrith. Apparently everyone conveniently forgot to invite her to the Returning, so guess who gets to do it? In case the lord decides to prove that he actually exists and comes down from the castle to say that your Returning is canceled because one old loon wasn’t asked to give her blessing.”
“No!” Jurij stood and twisted his wooden face to look over and behind me.
“I was joking, Jurij.” I rubbed my temples. His every movement let me know just how much in the way I was of who he hoped to see. “She’s not with me. She’s primping with her girlfriends in the village.” Apparently he’d just missed her. Strange. Jurij would certainly have visited his goddess had he walked past her home. Elfriede was clearly more concerned with the occasion than with the young man who was the entire reason she was the focus of the village’s attention. At least until the next Returning.
I couldn’t see his face, but the way Jurij’s shoulders slumped forward was visual cue enough to express his disappointment. Bow sensed her master’s distress and nudged his hand with her nose. Jurij pet it absently.
The Returning would be meaningless to me. We could hold the ceremony alone in the cavern for all I’d care. All I’d want is to be with you.