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had kept the mare inside a shelter, out of the wet. As the rain turned to sleet, they plodded back to Queensgrace.
    In Kel’s room, Tobe sat dozing against the wall, afloat in her shirt. When Kel shut the door, his eyes flew open, sky-blue in a pale face. “I don’t care if you was drunk or mad or takin’ poppy or rainbow dream or laugh powder, you bought my bond and signed your name and paid money for me and you can’t return me to ol’ Alvik,” he told her without taking a breath. He inhaled, then continued, “If you try I’ll run off ‘n’ steal ‘n’ when I’m caught I’ll say I belong to you so they’ll want satisfaction from you. I mean it! You can’t blame drink or drug or anything and then get rid of me because I won’t go.”
    Kel waited for him to run out of words as water trickled off her hat and cloak on to the mat by the door. She gave Tobe a moment after he stopped talking, to make sure that he was done, before she asked, “What is that about?”
    “See?” he cried. “You forgot me already - me, Tobeis Boon, whose bond you bought tonight. I knew you was drunk or takin’ a drug or mad. But here I am an’ here I stay. You need me… to… to carry your wine jug, an’ cut the poppy brick for you to smoke, an’, an’ make sure you eat - “
    Kel raised her eyebrows. “Quiet,” she said in the calm, firm tone she had learned from Lord Raoul.
    Tobe blinked and closed his mouth.
    Kel walked over and blew into his face so he could smell her liquor- and drug-free breath. “I’m not drunk,” she told him. “I take no drugs. If I’m mad, it’s in ways that don’t concern you. I went out to get you clothes, Tobe. You can’t go north wearing only a shirt.”
    She tossed the sack on to her bed and walked back to the puddle she’d left by the door, then struggled to undo the tie on her hat. Her fingers were stiff with cold even after grooming Hoshi and treating her to a hot mash.
    When she removed the hat, a pair of small, scarred hands took it and leaned it against the wall to dry. Once Kel had shed the cloak, Tobe hung it from a peg, then knelt to remove her boots. “I have clothes,” he said, wrestling off one boot while Kel braced herself.
    “I saw,” she replied, eyeing the heap they made on the floor. “I wouldn’t let a cat have kittens on them. I ought to take Alvik before a magistrate anyway. Your bond says you get two full suits of clothes, a coat and a sturdy pair of shoes every year.”
    “It does?” he asked, falling on his rump with her boot in his hands.
    Kel reached inside her tunic and pulled out his indenture papers. “Right there,” she told him, pointing to the paragraph. When Tobe frowned, she knew Alvik had neglected something else. “You can’t read, can you?” she asked.
    “Alvik said I din’t need no schoolin’, bcos I was too stupid to learn,” Tobe informed Kel,-searching for a cloth to wipe her boots with. He was practised at this: the innkeeper had taught him to look after guests’ belongings as well as their horses, Kel supposed.
    “Lessons,” she said, folding the papers once more. “After we’re settled in the north.” She yawned. “Wake me at dawn. We’ll try those clothes on you then. And I’m not sure about the, the -” she yawned again - “shoes. I’m not sure these will fit. If we stop on the way, perhaps…”
    She looked around, exhaustion addling her brain. Her normal bedtime on the road was much earlier than this. She eyed the door, her dripping hat and cloak, her boots, Tobe.
    “Lady?” he asked quietly. “Sounds like you mean to do all manner of things for me. What was you wishful of me doin’ for you?”
    “Oh, that,” Kel said, realizing that she hadn’t told him what duties he would have. “You’ll look after my horses and belongings, and in four years you’ll be free.” A will, she realized. I need to make a will so he can be freed if I’m slain.
    She picked up her water pitcher and drank from the rim.