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before I found you, so I was already
resigned to walking.”
    The cot was a small, square stone structure, mossy on the
north side, with no sign of recent habitation by shepherd or sheep. Inside it
was unfurnished and chilly, but the reed roof appeared sturdy and there was
room to lie on the packed earth and sleep. Taigna sat down at once, stretched
out on the floor with her books piled at her head, and fell asleep.
    “I’ll stay out here,” Vaun ha Tesne said. “Watch for badgers
and highwaymen and such.”
    Ellais nodded. She had not been sleepy until the possibility
of sleep presented itself; now she was exhausted. “Thank you. I’m sorry I have
been so suspicious. It’s only—”
    “Two women traveling alone.” Ha Tesne nodded. “Sleep. I’ll
watch.”
    Ellais took only a moment to wrap her cloak around her, curl
up next to her betrothed, and fall soundly asleep.
    ~o0o~
    When she woke the morning sky was milky white. Ellais
stepped out of the cot and almost stumbled over Vaun ha Tesne, who sat with his
back against the wall, breathing rhythmically. She noted creeping roses on the
side of the cottage—that had not been visible in the moonlight—and a low stone
fence on one side of the path.
    “So what is it you and your friend are fleeing?” His voice
was quiet and gentle. “If you tell me, I might be able to help you.”
    “I cannot see how,” Ellais said. But she turned back to face
him.
    “At least give me the opportunity to try.”
    Ellais found herself explaining her betrothal and the plans
she had made to escape it. “Taigna only wants to study—she said she might as
well marry me as anyone. But I—”
    “Your heart is given somewhere else?”
    She shook her head. “But it might be. Someday. Of course, Mamma keeps telling me that marriage
and love have nothing to do with each other.”
    Vaun ha Tesne nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose so. I know
that if I loved a woman I should not let a thing like a legal fiction of
marriage stand in my way.”
    “That’s very romantic. But with a husband—if I didn’t like
him, I might suffer under his dominion, but at least I’d be done with my
parents meddling. This marriage will be the worst of everything.”
    “Which one of you plays the husband?”
    Ellais wrinkled her nose. “Plays the husband?”
    “In most marriages one spouse has dominion over the other—if
one of you were a man there would be no question. A woman is passed from her
father’s dominion to that of her husband. In a case like this dominion is
usually spelt out in the Writ.”
    “I’ve seen the Writ,” Ellais said slowly. “There’s no
mention of dominion.”
    Ha Tesne laughed. “Well, then I imagine it would be up to
the two of you to decide who rules the house.”
    “We could take turns,” Ellais said thoughtfully. After a
moment, a smile quirked at the corner of her mouth. “Are you sure of this? That
if one of us has dominion that ends the other’s parents’ right to interfere?”
    Ha Tesne nodded. “I studied law for a while, until my father
died and I had to come home to manage our farms and property. But the theory
should be entirely defensible. And I doubt your parents would want to appear
before the Magistracy to contest the matter.”
    “You should have
been a lawyer,” Ellais said firmly.
    “As it happens, I like farming. I like knowing the land and
the people working it. I’m proud of my home. In fact, if I bring back a
carriage for you, would you like to see it? Before you continue your escape,
that is.”
    Ellais had no chance to answer; a cloud of dust plumed
beyond the shrubs as if several riders moving at great speed were approaching.
    “ Inside ,” Vaun ha
Tesne said.
    A man on foot rounded the shrub, wearing the livery of House
Caudon. Ellais ducked into the cot and shook Taigna. “It’s your father’s men!”
    Taigna sat up, blinking. Outside, Ellais heard the
approaching man hail Vaun ha Tesne. She turned away from Taigna to peer