They reached the stable yard to find Shadow hitched to a post.  It seemed Jaspar had spent the entire time brushing her horse because Shadow’s roan coat shimmered in the afternoon sun.  Its sheen had a deep blue tint that, when blended with the silver grey, looked much like the Kestrian Sea during Estivale.  Kaylan gave Jaspar several gold coins for taking such pains with Shadow.  She wanted him to know how much she appreciated it without the same kind of performance that took place earlier.  Jaspar’s eyes welled up as he looked into his hand.  He went to give them back to her but she stopped him.

“That is for the time you took away from your regular chores, not for the care you gave,” she said sternly.  She had already guessed he took care of Shadow because he had a heart for animals.  That was evident in Shadow’s appearance upon their return.  It would be an insult for her to pay him for doing what he seemed to enjoy - just as much as it would have been an insult to her for him to return the coins.  She had quickly developed an alternative purpose for the payment.  He folded his fingers back over the top of the coins.

“Thank you for being so concerned for my time and my responsibilities here.  That is most gracious of you, Marshall.  I will remember you well,” he replied softly.  He saddled Shadow quickly and offered to walk him to the rear entrance for her.  She accepted the offer and, walking a few steps behind, followed him out. 

Once out of the complex and in the street, Kaylan mounted and rode back through town toward the eastern gate through which she had entered just hours before.  After her conversation with Denadyne, it felt more like days rather than just a few hours since her arrival. 

The market shops were still open but, just as had happened earlier that morning, all activity ceased once word of her approach reached the market.  Again, the owners said nothing as she passed their shops.  She stopped in front of the butcher’s shop to replenish her supply before she headed for the Fortress on the western coast of the Kestrian kingdom.  She was two days from Shackles and at least four days from the Port of Kestra.  She would not have enough meat to last to Shackles much less the rest of the trip.  She was hoping to bypass Shackles altogether if she could.  There was no need visiting that place again if she didn’t absolutely have to.  The shop owner’s hands trembled when Kaylan made her request of smoked fish or pork, whichever the shopkeeper had more.  He brought several pieces of herring and a section of pork that had been cut into smaller pieces for portability.  “Perfect, how much for all of it?” she asked him. 

She stared at the shopkeeper and saw him shaking his head.  “You don’t owe me anything.  It is a pleasure to serve my king even if it is just to supply his Marshall,” his voice quaked as he spoke but he sounded sincere. 

“Your service to our king is duly noted.  However, service to any king should never mean that you or your family goes without.  My king would be most displeased with me if I accepted something without equal compensation.  Please understand it isn’t that I cannot do it – it is that I will not do it.  I have the right by station and I have the ability to take whatever I wish but I choose not to.”  Kaylan saw the man’s eyes glisten as tears formed but he blinked them back whether because he did not want her to see them or because he did not want to admit something else to himself she did not know.  She laid three gold coins on the shop counter and picked up the packages of meat.  As she was packing them in her saddlebags, the shopkeeper cautiously approached her with the three coins in his outstretched hand.  She shook her head slowly, turned to him and said flatly, “No, those belong to you.”

“Please forgive me Marshall but I cannot accept them.  My wife would never believe me that I refused them and yet still you insisted on paying.  I cannot go to her with these,” his lip quivered as he spoke and his voice, although a little steadier, was still filled with anxiety.

Kaylan sighed to herself.  Always it is thus. Thank the Dragon’s Heart the Gods gave me brains and compassion.  It was history that provided the reputation.  Trying to balance all three is what gives me the headaches! She gave the man a half smile while she thought of something he could tell his wife.  Then she said, “Sir, I cannot take them back as they are payment more for what business you will lose in the next few days rather than what you provided me today.  I know the way of things where I am concerned.  I know you will lose your patrons for a day or so due to some ill-conceived notion that your shop is bad luck or cursed because of my visit.  Those coins should sustain you until business picks up again.  If that doesn’t satisfy her then just promise you’ll buy her a new gown that would dazzle all the women in Kestra.  There’s even a weaver in Shackles who would be pleased to supply the fabric.”  Kaylan grinned thinking of Vatia’s numerous bolts of fabric.  She remounted Shadow with a dramatic flourish of her cloak as she swung her leg over the top of her saddle.  If the townsfolk expected drama, then who was she to disappoint?  She turned Shadow and rode out of the market silently.

Kaylan left the market, the church, and Father Denadyne behind her as she rode into the hills that separated the Mountain Ridge from Capri.  She now had enough food supplies to make the six day trip back to the Fortress.  Her water stores could be replenished from the mountain streams and lakes along the way.  If she continued to use the huntsmen’s routes she would travel south of Shackles and bypass the village entirely.  If she avoided the main roads, she might even make it home in less time.  With Springtide finally approaching the mountain regions, the heavy snows were gone and the early morning snow fall turned to slush by noon.  The weather was pleasant for travel purposes with the exception of the occasional mud bogs created by melting snow drifts that had no place to escape.  When Kaylan encountered these she knew the only way around them was to get back on the main road until they passed the bogs.

She was able to ride past Shaddix keeping to the east by following a deer trail close to the Chatelaine Lake.  When she reached the point of the lake where it fed into the Trevas River, Kaylan changed her direction and traveled southwest toward the Port.  The cool air altered dramatically as she came into the lower hills of the High Seat leaving the Mountain Ridge on the horizon behind her.  As much as she enjoyed the quiet majestic solitude of the mountains, she was glad to be almost home and within a day or two of a bath.