The Clocks

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Paolo finished his report to Sara, "Well that's everything. I hate eavesdropping, but with the situation so fluid I'm glad you asked me to 'listen in' tonight."

He rolled over in bed to catch her eye. "I don't think we're going to have any problems with her fitting in, do you?"

"Probably not. I'm absolutely certain that something we haven't thought of will pop up somewhere along the line. But it looks like there's already a solid enough foundation that when it does, whatever it is, it won't cause too many problems."

Paolo yawned. "You're probably right. Well, actually, since you're almost never wrong, 'probably' is probably too mild a word. Either way, we both need sleep. Tomorrow morning isn't going to wait for us."

She stroked his cheek. "That's for sure. So then, I'll plan on seeing you first thing in the morning."

With that they cuddled a bit closer, closed their eyes, and drifted off.

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Sunday September 23, in The Year 725 After the Founding, Metz, France

As expected the children had all stayed up WAY too late the night before due to their excitement. The result was that they were still groggy as the adults finished the routine preparations for leaving. There were more horses than usual, but they'd done the same things dozens to hundreds of times, and there were no hitches.

They got the children fed, said their goodbyes, and headed out. They had a long way to go and less time than they'd originally expected.

Once Mario, Genie, Hugh, and Thea had discussed Priss' suggestion, they decided to ignore most of it. Riding across country on the local farm lanes, even though they were dry this time of year, was going to take longer than looping south on the main roads for most of the way.

However, once they got far enough south, there was a reasonable network of secondary roads that should shorten their journey substantially. There weren't as many good inns, but, considering where the children had been living, even a so-so inn would probably seem like a palace.

But that was for later. Thea and Hugo were riding in the rear, which gave Genie and Mario time to cover one other important subject.

"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't forget Love. As it happens, Mme. Robin is quite a patriot, and she has a rather vehement dislike of the German efforts to bite off pieces of her beloved country. I've arranged for her to write to me should she hear of anything untoward happening or about to happen. What with her husband's new, larger coffee shop, I'm sure that there will be oodles of juicy gossip. Some of it will probably be useful."

Genie smiled at him. "Well, well. How about that? You're not nearly as useless as I'd heard. How delightful!"

The sound of their laughter almost woke the children riding closest behind them, but they settled back into the doze the almost soporific sound of the horses' hooves striking the road had induced. Mario and Genie were limiting their speed to a brisk walk for the nonce. Once everyone, including the horses and mules had settled down, they'd pick up the pace. With none of the animals carrying much weight, they'd likely be able to move along at an easy trot off and on.

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A few days after they'd turned off the main road and were well into Italy, they came to a surprisingly large village, which was called La Grande. As they rode in, Mario explained. The road that lead to the northwest from The City passed about a day's travel north of this particular village. Most travellers from the north, even if their destination was in the south, headed east for another two days as there was a wider road heading south there. However those in a hurry, those with animals that weren't particularly heavily laden, and most smugglers came through here. The road was narrow and had a number of switchbacks, but it was shorter, and more 'private' than the main road further east.

In the spring and at the end of autumn, in addition to the "regular" travelers, there were also a substantial number of merchants who used the road so as to save a few days. In the former case it was to get to market ahead of competitors who took the main road, and in the latter, it was to increase their chance of beating the first snows.

Combining the numbers of all the groups, there was a surprising amount of traffic, thus the unusual size of the village. Because of the smugglers and the occasional bandit, there was also a small army garrison at the north edge of town. The group espied several of the King's soldiers outside the largest of the five inns as they approached.

As they rode into the courtyard to dismount, the hostler approached. "We'll have to put about half your mounts over at the horse traders. We're a might busy right now."

Mario nodded. "Aye, so I'd thought." He flipped a small silver coin to the hostler, who caught it and smiled.

"There'll be two more of those for you when we leave if that trader doesn't sell or swap out any of our mounts 'by accident'."

The hostler grinned widely, then whistled for his helpers.

As Genie and Brigid were getting the children organized, Mario went inside. They'd probably have to bunk five or six to a room if what the hostler said about being busy was right.

He approached the innkeeper and was surprised to hear, "Ah ha! It's good to see you again Mario. I heard about you and your wife rescuing all those orphans. Good thing you sent a messenger ahead. She passed through last week and said that you'd probably arrive either today or tomorrow. Since I was forewarned, I had a couple of the storerooms upstairs cleared and cleaned. You can put the children in them. We don't have beds, but I was able to get a dozen mattresses laid down. Even those will be better than sleeping on the ground. I have two rooms free for you four adults as well."

When it came to business, Mario never showed his surprise. "Excellent! My thanks for all your extra work. The children most definitely will consider any kind of bedding an improvement. We've been on the road almost four weeks and have another seven to nine days to go to get to The City. Staying in an inn as good as yours will be quite a treat for them."

She beamed, he beamed, and then they got down to business and haggled over rates, the price of their meals, and fodder for their mounts and mules. She was a bit more flexible than usual for this time of year. She'd lost two of her own children three years earlier when the plague swept through the area and felt a great deal of sympathy for the 'poor orphans'.

Likewise, Mario was less aggressive in his bargaining because she'd already put out some extra effort, and he wanted to stay in her good graces. Especially if any of the children got into trouble while exploring their new surroundings.

Eventually they arrived at a price that, while not entirely satisfying, both considered fair.

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Dinner was hot, filling, and surprisingly good. There was even apple pie for dessert. Once they had that, the children were feeling quite mellow and calmly went upstairs to get ready for sleep, and a bit of reasonably quiet play. That is except for two of them. They were the older two of the four boys who had originally lived in Metz and had lost their parents in the plague. If Genie recalled correctly, Tomas and Geoffrey were 10 years old.

Starting right after dinner, they hovered in the general vicinity of the innkeeper but weren't getting in her way, so Genie let them be.

Several hours later, around 10 p.m., she decided that bed was a good idea if they were to be out on schedule in the morning. However said schedule was trashed when the front door banged open and two thoroughly disgusted men stalked in. They went straight to the bar. One of them shouted, "ALE!" The other didn't speak at all but rather sat there with a sour expression.

The innkeeper waved off the server and delivered their mugs herself. "What's got you two in such a snit?"

After taking a long swallow, the first lifted his head and said, "It's that damn weather witch. No, that's not right. It's not her. It's what she's predicted for tomorrow. She says that there'll be heavy rain starting late tonight and lasting through the morning. It'll be clear by late afternoon, but the roads will be mucky until they drain overnight. That means that we can't get our shipment out till the day after tomorrow!"

Genie ambled over to the bar. "You don't say? Is this weather witch really that good."

Number two slammed down his mug, causing some ale to spill out the top. "Damn right she is! Saved me and mine several times in the past eight years. Or is it nine years? Well, never mind how long it's been. Just mind the fact that, so far, she's never been wrong. Not even once. Right?"

He looked at his companion and the innkeeper, who both nodded in agreement.

Genie turned to the innkeeper and said, "We'll be staying an extra day."

"Wise choice. Fortunately, what with the rain, we likely won't have anyone else coming in tomorrow."

She turned to leave then turned back, "Name's Laura Fittipaldi. You're Eugenia Brown, right?"

"Yep. That's me. Pleased to know you. Ah. Say. While we're at it, my boys aren't bothering you, are they?"

Laura turned and looked at them fondly. "Eh? Bothering me. No, not at all. In fact I'm enjoying their company. They're just a year younger than mine would have been if it weren't for that damned plague three years back."

Genie bowed her head, both in respect and in gratitude. The City hadn't had but three or four sporadic cases when the plague had roared through the rest of Europe. The water from the spring and the skill of the physicians had prevented hundreds, if not thousands of deaths. Now that she thought of it, all those cats that suddenly camped out near the gates and rooted the vermin out of every single wagon entering The City probably had something to do with it too.

When she lifted her head, she saw Laura looking at her with a very gentle expression. "Would you mind if I spent some time with them tonight? There's some things I'd like to talk over with them."

Genie shook her head. "Not at all. Take all the time the three of you need. Since we're not going anywhere tomorrow, there's no reason they can't stay up as late as they want."

She glanced around and lowered her voice, "Just don't let any of the other children know."

Laura giggled and said, "I promise. My lips are sealed."

So saying, she walked over to some chairs in the corner, the boys following her like goslings after their mother.

Mario walked in from checking the horses and motioned toward the stairs with his head. Genie nodded and followed. When they got to their room she went first, "I think that there are two more we aren't going to have to worry about finding places for."

"What do you mean Love?"

"It's the innkeeper, Laura Fittipaldi. I have no doubt that she's completely besotted with our 10 year old twins."

Seeing a blank look she added, "Tomas and Geoffrey Lenz. It looks like they're already fairly strongly attached to her too."

She stretched, yawned, and scratched her head. "Well, we'll probably have a good idea of how the wind is blowing by tomorrow evening. In that respect, it's probably a good thing that we're going to be stuck here until the day after."

"Huh? Stuck here? What makes you think that?"

She smiled at him. "Apparently they have a 'weather witch' here who's 100% accurate in her forecasts. At least over the past 8 years or so since she arrived. There are a couple of men downstairs drowning their sorrows because she said that there'll be rain tonight that will have the roads a mess until the day after tomorrow.

"By the way, I hate to admit it, but I've lost track. What is today anyway?"

"It's Tuesday the 23rd of October."

"All right. Good, maybe. Are we on schedule?"

"Close enough. At worst we should arrive in about eight to 10 more days."

Genie grinned at him. "Good. That should get us to The City at least two days before our deadline."

Smiling coyly, she continued, "And since we're stuck for an extra day, and don't have to be up early, it doesn't matter how late we stay up tonight, does it?"

Mario let a shocked expression show. "But Honey, what if the kids hear us?"

"You mean those kids on another floor that are so busy playing, if they're not already asleep, that they don't know or care where we are right now. Those kids?"

Before he could respond, she closed the distance between them and silenced the response he was about to make in the most enjoyable way possible.