Una shook her head at him, a tender smile on her face. “My bighearted boy,” she said, and gave him one of her rare public kisses.
Lily became intensely aware of the weight of Tristan’s arm across her shoulders and the warmth of his body against hers. She stole a glance at him. His hair was longer, and his skin was tanned from wind and sunshine. He was leaner now, but just as strong as he ever was. He looked rougher, and she realized that somewhere along the way, her Tristan had stopped appearing and behaving like a charming but irresponsible boy. He’d stopped being the guy who’d cheated on her, and had become a man. The change suited him.
Tristan caught Lily staring at him and glanced down shyly. “Come on. Let’s give them some time alone,” he said, and led Lily back to the campfire and the chatter of friends. Over the next few nights, Tristan caught Lily staring at him over the flames, and he wasn’t the only one.
Una became particularly interested in the thickening atmosphere between Tristan and Lily, and brought it up one afternoon when they were alone and stuck with dish duty by the river.
“So, what’s up with you and Tristan?” Una asked.
Lily scrubbed a crusty pot with a little more force than necessary. “Nothing. I’m just looking,” she replied.
“He is easy to look at,” Una said with a grin. “You know, no one would blame you if they saw him coming out of your tent in the morning.”
“That’s not going to happen, Una.”
“I’m just saying.” Una raised her soapy hands in surrender.
Lily paused in her work and looked up at Una. “It’s nice to be wanted, but I’m not ready. Would you be ready to move on to another guy if Breakfast hurt you?”
“Immediately,” Una said quickly. “I find another guy and get him into my tent right away. But I’d never move on.”
Lily smiled in understanding. “I can’t do that, Una.”
They left the mountains behind and were able to travel much faster. As they rode west, they ran into other small tribes, some heading to the Ocean of Grass to hunt buffalo and others hunting for minerals and ores that trickled down with the mountain streams.
“Most of the rivers have been picked clean,” Caleb said as they parted company with a hungry tribe that was little more than four or five family groups clinging to one another. Juliet had given them a small pot of healing salve for basically nothing, as they had nothing to trade. “But no one wants to go into the mines,” he said, shifting in his saddle and stifling his compassion. “I don’t think they’re going to have much of a choice, though.”
“Where are the mines?” Lily asked.
“Back in the hills,” the other Tristan said. “They mine coal, iron, zinc, and other minerals that the cities need and that Outlanders generally don’t. Only the most desperate go down into them.”
“Are there Woven down in them?” Lily asked.
“Woven don’t go underground,” Juliet said. She looked at her and held up a hand in surrender before Lily could comment. “No one knows why, exactly. But I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“The mines are dangerous in other ways, I’m guessing. Are there a lot of cave-ins?” she asked.
Rowan had mentioned the mines once before and how the cities exploited the Outlanders by paying them a pittance for the ores they sold after all the hazardous work they did. The way Rowan had talked about the mines made it seem like most Outlanders would do anything to avoid them. Lily didn’t bring Rowan into the conversation. It had been over a month since she’d last seen him, but it didn’t matter. She still felt like he was near.