[Envinyatar]

Derufin watched as the girl wolfed down her half of the sandwich and reached for the remaining half. She looked up at him, her face coloring as her fingers touched it. ‘Go ahead,’ he lied, taking up one of the apples he had brought out. ‘I’ve already eaten my sandwich.’ He pushed the cookies and the other apple toward her, too. ‘Try these, when you’ve finished there,’ he said. ‘Cook is famous for her nut butter cookies.’

He watched her as she tucked into her meal. It was obviously the only substantial one she’d had in several days if he had the right of it. He wondered how old she was. Her thin features made her look both young and old. She looked to be a few years older than his daughter, and he wondered then, if there were parents who missed her and were worried.

She chattered on between bites, and he smiled that she should be so trusting of a stranger. A pleasant trait, but one dangerous for one so young and on the road. Her voice flowed on as he chewed on his apple, flipping the core to the ponies who had come near the railing of the corral to eye him. He realized, of a sudden, that she had become silent, and was looking up at him expectantly. He focused his thoughts back on her, trying to recall her last words.

“Could I help out in your stables? Or do you know anyone who needs a ‘prentice?” – that was what she had said.

‘As a matter of fact, I am shorthanded at the moment – but before we go discussing business, perhaps we should know each other’s names.’ He poured a cup of cool cider from the jug Cook had sent out with him. ‘I’m Derufin, the stableman, ostler here at the Inn,’ he said, extending the cup to her. ‘And you would be . . .?’