A Dangerous Destiny: The Pure One Book I

Chapter Eight

Manna

Manna was setting the table for dinner, when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she said, without looking up. "You're late you know. You should have been back more than an hour ago." Looking towards the doorway, Manna was surprised to see Fiona and Mina standing there. 

"Oh, Fiona, Mina, I didn't expect you until tomorrow. Please come in," she said. It was then  Manna noticed Fiona's expression. "What is it?" she paused as the realization came to her. "Where is she?"  Manna saw the head of her pupil poking out cautiously from behind Fiona's skirts

"Come forward," Fiona commanded, placing a hand on Karina's shoulder and guiding her though the door.

Manna looked her up and down. The girl was a mess. It seemed her whole body, head to toe, had been smeared in a mixture of mud and grass. Her skirt was torn in at least three places, her stockings bunched around her ankles. Her tear-stained face was streaked with brown earth, and her eyes were red. The empty basket she held was bent at the top, devoid of the herbs she had been sent to retrieve. Her head hung down, formerly plaited locks loose, in tangled frizzy clumps around her face. She looked absolutely miserable. It was all Manna could do to keep from laughing. Instead she put her hands on her hips and affected the stern face of an angry parent.

"What happened?" Manna asked.

Karina remained in the doorway, looking down at her feet, but Fiona shoved her forward. "Go on," she said.

" I...I was careless. I was running down the hill and I ran into Nita Fiona," Karina paused trying to hold back tears, " All of the herbs fell in the mud, and I made Nita Fiona drop the jar of jam she was bringing you, and..."

"And what?" Fiona snapped.

"And I'm sorry," Karina concluded with a pitiful sniffle.

Manna maintained a thin-lipped expression of displeasure. "Nita Amoral, I apologize for my charge's actions." She turned to the girl. "Karina, go clean yourself in the river while there is still light."

"Mina, go with her please and see that she doesn't get into any more trouble," Fiona added. Mina nodded her head slightly and disappeared outside. Karina shuffled towards the door but stopped in the entryway, turning around to face Manna again.

"I really am sorry," she said softly. Manna pointed a finger at the door.

"Go."

Karina hurried away. When she was gone, Manna walked to the door checking to ensure the girls were no longer within earshot of the house before she relaxed her stern façade.  She chuckled softly as she closed the door and walked back inside. "Well, you certainly seem to have put the fear of God into her," Manna said with a grin. Fiona stared back resentfully.

"The girl's actions were inexcusable. She was inappropriate and unruly."

"She is a child."

"No, she is my child. She must be beyond reproach. You know that as well as I. "

Manna did not respond but instead laid a cup of tea on the table, which Fiona gratefully took, and then busied herself setting two more plates on the table. Fiona's critique of Karina was consistently harsh, but she understood that it was the only way her former student could stay close to her daughter's presence without getting too close. Manna had learned to let it go. After all, Fiona had reason keep Karina at as much emotional distance as possible.  But Manna knew how much it hurt her.

"You are of course welcome to join our supper," Manna said, changing the subject. " I assume you will stay the night?"

"With your permission," Fiona replied with a slight nod of her head. "Even though the distance is not so far, more and more I fear traveling the roads after dark. With the King's men again populating our roads, it seems wise to avoid trouble."