[Arry]

Wulfham

‘My goodness,’ thought Brand as he watched Vaenosa walk back toward the camp. ‘I’m going to put this down as a day to remember. We actually had a few light-hearted moments together!’ She had seemed relatively at ease as she’d shown him how to catch a fish with her hands. And she'd spoken to him in a companionable way. But now he could almost see her stiffen as she walked away, as if all the old pains and worries had her firm in their grasp again. ‘Well, perhaps tomorrow will be better,’ he said to himself. He was glad she had gone to groom the horses. She had a good way with them. And being with them, especially her own, seemed to bring her some measure of ease and happiness.

He decided it best not to brood over the 'whys' and 'wherefores' of her sudden mood change and went back to sorting out the coils of lines he’d brought. Each had a sharp little curved hook on it, and he was wondering what sort of bait the fish might take this morning. They were fussy little things, these trout, and just as apt to turn their noses up at something as to bite at it.

He heard Leod and Dorran as they crunched down the path toward him and stood up to greet them. He’d been kneeling down to secure his lines to some of the slender tree roots. Once there was suitable bait he could let the lines drift out from the bank, into the deeper pools where the wily fish gathered, resting from the current.

‘Well, gentlemen,’ he said, hands on hips as he turned to face them. ‘I suppose the fish are the same here as up north, but still, what do you think would be best to use for bait, Leod? Some of those shriveled berries on that bush there? Or would they like a little bit of dried meat on the hook, eh?’ He grinned at the both of them. Or shall we just plunge in and see about netting them?’