The minutes slipped along slowly, but finally they began to join together to form hours.  By the time several hours had passed Ildri was even more heartedly sick of horseback riding.  She hoped that however she made her way back to Wildwood it would not be on the back of an animal.   Sarabella was a nice enough horse as far as horses went, but a nice seat in a carriage would be a definite improvement.

Ildri looked at the horse she was riding on.  Sarabella was varying shades of brown and her mane and tail were slightly darker than the rest of her body.  Ildri had limited knowledge about horses, really only the small amount that Saul had taught her, but even she could see that the animals they were riding were well tended quality mounts.

Just who were Ty's family?  They were obviously not one's average farmers.  Perhaps they were merchants or horse breeders.  They also had hunting dogs, so it was safe to assume that they likely held land in their own right.

Ildri wondered if she would have even cared if he had not been reluctant to tell her.  Probably not, she thought with a small grin.  There was nothing more interesting than discovering secrets.

She wondered where they were at.  She had long since lost track of time.  She urged Sarabella forward and the horse reluctantly obeyed.  Ty looked at her questioningly.

"How much longer now, do you think?" Ildri asked, hoping he would not be irritated with her.

"We should be there very soon.  This part of the road is quite familiar to me."  He looked happy about arriving and Ildri wondered if it was the shelter and bed that appealed to him or Maxine herself.

"Have you been here often?" she asked more to make polite conversation than for any other reason.

Ty nodded his head.  "I actually lived with Maxine for a time when I was younger."

"Oh," she said and wondered all the more about who the mysterious Maxine was to Ty.

It was only a couple more minutes when Ty turned down a well concealed road.  Ildri probably would not have even noticed it had he not been with her.

A few more minutes elapsed before she saw a building rising before them in the distance.  It was a small cottage and she could see light coming from the window even though it was barely dark yet.

Ty pulled Dark Demon to a stop and handed Ildri the reins.  "Just wait here a moment while I go and talk with Maxine."

Ildri nodded although she felt a bit put out at being forced to wait again.  She supposed it was only natural that he let Maxine know that he had brought a stranger to her home.  But...

Ty returned very quickly.  "I'll take the horses out back to the shed.  You can go inside," he told Ildri.

The last thing Ildri wanted to do was to enter a random stranger's house alone, but even less did she want Ty to think that she somehow felt safer around him.  She forced herself to walk straight to the door and she knocked on it.

The door opened immediately.  Whatever Ildri had been expecting, it was not what she saw.

"Ildri?" the woman who must have been Maxine asked even though the answer was obviously clear to her.

"Yes, I'm Ildri," she responded nicely.

"I'm Maxine.  It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Ildri intoned, feeling very thrown by the whole encounter.

The simple fact of the matter was that Maxine was the most beautiful person Ildri had ever seen.  Glorious ladies had passed through Wildwood in the years that she had been there and Lady Wildwood and her younger sister were both very attractive in their own right.  The traitorous Anya was annoyingly pretty.

But none of them had come anywhere close to the beauty that Maxine possessed.  Ildri could not even say exactly what it was about Maxine that was so stunning, because it was surely the collection of features combined that made the woman so gorgeous.

And at the same time made Ildri feel so small and unattractive.  Ildri still appeared as if she were an old woman which made her feel even worse than she would have felt otherwise, although there was no doubt that even Ildri's real appearance would have paled in comparison to Maxine even if she did look her best, Ildri thought ruefully.

It was no wonder that Ty was happy to return to this place.  She was probably the reason that he had been impervious to the charms of Rene of Valance.  Ildri would not be surprised if he was in love with Maxine.  The thought hurt, but she told herself that it was simple jealousy.  Did not Ildri feel a twinge of envy when she thought of other happy couples?

"Would you like to come in?" Maxine prompted and Ildri realized that she had been gaping.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Yes, please," Ildri responded, feeling embarrassed all over again and feeling quite like the most unattractive woman in the land.

Maxine led Ildri over to a small sitting area.  "Why don't you take a rest here?  I hear that rascal Ty has been dragging you all over the country."  She seemed very kind and very sincere and Ildri was aware that Maxine was one of those people who you could not resent properly for their good fortune. 

Ildri took a seat on a fluffy chaise.  "Here, let me get you some tea.  I doubt he's been feeding you properly."

"Thanks," Ildri said gratefully as she accepted the cup of tea from Maxine.  Maxine sat down across from Ildri with her own cup.

"So, what do you think of Ty?" Maxine asked immediately, startling so much she was, for once, at a loss for words.  Maxine smiled and looked a bit abashed.  "I am sorry if I'm too forward, but it is so nice to see him taking an interest in someone."

Ildri's mouth fell open for a long second, when a movement across the room caught her eye.  It was a little brown rabbit.  "There's a rabbit in your house!" she exclaimed and then wondered if she had sounded as ridiculous as she thought that she had.

Maxine waved her hand and smiled warmly.  "Never mind her.  That's just Abigail.  And there are two more wandering around here somewhere.  Oh, right there," Maxine said and she pointed right beside the chair Ildri was sitting on.  Ildri looked down and saw a black and white rabbit sniffing her feet cautiously.  "That's Rebecca.  She's very curious, so it's not surprising.  The other is Elizabeth, but you probably won't see her.  She's much shyer than her sisters."

"I see," Ildri said carefully.  Whoever heard of keeping rabbits as pets?  Most people who kept rabbits raised them for food and certainly not in the house.

"I suppose that it seems strange," Maxine mused.  "But they are great company."

"They are very cute," Ildri said, beginning to recover from her surprise.

"So you never did tell me what you think of Ty," Maxine prodded.

"Well, I think he's..."  Ildri could not think of anything to say that was nice and she doubted that Maxine would take kindly to the numerous insulting things that she could say about Ty.  She finished lamely, "very kind to animals."

Maxine seemed amused at her answer.  "Well, I suppose that he has done plenty to make you less than fond of him.  Dragging you forcibly away from your home was a reprehensible thing to do."

Ildri's feelings were still very mixed about everything and the idea of having a sympathetic ear to talk to was more than she could resist.  "I was so afraid.  Ty killed Saul, he was my boyfriend and then sent his wolf to hunt me down.  He suspected me of spying and that was why he brought me along.  It turns out that Saul had been selling Wildwood's secrets to the enemy."

Maxine clucked her tongue sympathetically.  "He really should have left you at Wildwood, but sometimes Ty gets a thought in his head and you cannot dislodge it for anything."

"I've noticed," Ildri said as evenly as she could manage.

Maxine laughed and the door made a noise as it swung open.

"Ty!  We were just talking about you," Maxine said cheerfully.

"How nice," he agreed but it did not sound as if he felt any such thing.

"About how awful it was of you to drag Ildri away from Wildwood," she added in the same light voice.

"Maxine!  I never said—" Ildri protested.

Maxine nodded sagely.  "She did not, really.  I was the one who pointed out how reprehensible it was.  The world is dangerous and it's bad enough that you wander alone when most men only travel in armed groups."

"Thanks for your input," Ty said dryly.  "Might I remind you that you live alone?"

Maxine smiled contentedly.  "You know better than anyone that I am hardly defenceless."

Ildri watched their interplay and wondered what it meant.  They seemed close, but hardly like people with romantic intentions.

Maxine continued speaking.  "I've decided that you will sleep in the spare room and Ildri will sleep in my room," she announced.

Ty's eyebrows shot up.  "What—"

"Don't complain," Maxine warned cheerfully.  "Originally I was going to have you sleeping downstairs on the floor, but you have been upgraded to your old room."

"I'm fine with sleeping on the floor down here," he said.  "Give Ildri the bedroom."

"That's sweet, but I'll let her have mine.  I can sleep on a cot for one day.  Is that okay with you, Ildri?" Maxine asked, suddenly turning to her.

"I guess," Ildri said and wondered just what she was agreeing to.

"Maxine," Ty began but Maxine interrupted him.

"You worry like an old woman, Ty.  I quite like Ildri already.  We'll have an excellent time talking together."

* * * * *

Ildri was taken up to Maxine's room where the bed was prepared for her.  The two visible rabbits hopped up the stairs after them.  Maxine even lent Ildri a clean nightgown and allowed Ildri to use her washing room.  Ildri felt clean for the first time in a long time.

Maxine was right about them having an excellent time talking together.  Maxine was cheerful and sympathetic.  It was also a bit odd to find someone actually talked more than Ildri did.  She wondered why such a loquacious soul would isolate herself in the woods.

"So, how do you know Ty?"  Ildri asked the question that had been burning at her mind since she met Maxine.  Ildri was sitting on the bed that she would sleep in with Rebecca sitting next to her.  Maxine was already lying wide awake on her cot with Abigail on top of her.  They could see her by the light of the candles sitting on an end table.

"He was my student," she said simply.

"Your student?  Surely you're not old enough—" Ildri began.  Maxine hardly looked older than Ildri.  It was doubtful that she was much older than Ty.

Maxine laughed.  "Oh.  Actually, I'm far older than I look.  Not nearly as old as you look at the moment, though."

"Really?  But you look so young."

Maxine smiled.  "It's all magic, silly.  I'm a witch.  I taught Ty."

"Really?" Ildri said again.  Maxine was nothing like what Ildri had expected a witch to be like.  She was nothing like Anya.  Of course Anya had not been what Ildri had expected of a witch, either, other than the lying and spying.

"Really," agreed Maxine.  "You seem surprised."

"I am," agreed Ildri honestly.  "You don't seem anything like a witch to me."

"Well, we're all different so it would be hard to know what to expect."

"I'm beginning to see that.  You and Ty and Anya are nothing alike, really."

"Anya?  Not Anya Davies?" Maxine asked.

Ildri sighed.  "Is she that infamous now?"  It made sense.  Attempting to kill a prominent lord marquis and the king of the country was hardly a common act.

Maxine's voice was soft.  "I knew her father once.  I don't really know her, however.  After his death she became little more than a recluse.  Those children all suffered greatly."

Ildri nodded.  She was getting tired so she sat on Maxine's bed.  It was soft and warm and would be a million times better than sleeping on the ground.  "Are you certain it's alright that I sleep here?  I could take the cot."

"Nonsense, it's fine."

Rebecca hopped up onto the bed and settled herself more comfortably beside Ildri.

"These rabbits are so tame," Ildri commented.

"They're my familiars."

Ildri had heard of familiars, the close animal companions of witches and warlocks.  But rabbits?  "Really?  I've never heard of rabbit familiars."

Maxine chuckled.  "Most witches and warlocks do gravitate towards more impressive animals.  Look at that half wolf Ty keeps.  Certainly it's impressive but it lacks the fuzzy snugglyness of my little rabbits."  She sat down on the cot that she had set up against the wall.

Ildri had just assumed that Farrel was a simple pet without thinking about it any further, but she supposed it made sense.  She could vaguely recall that she had heard Anya had a crow familiar although Ildri had never actually seen it.  "Don't witches and warlocks usually have only one?"

Maxine smiled again.  "That's another reason that rabbits are better.  A familiar by nature is protective and sometimes even quite jealous.  When you add that to already territorial animals you definitely can't have more than one.  But my rabbits are sisters and we all get along great."

"I wonder if that's why Farrel doesn't like me.  He growls at me and glares."

Maxine's voice was light.  "He doesn't like me either.  I won't let him anywhere near my girls so whenever Ty stops to visit he sulks in the forest."

Ildri smiled a bit.  "Why did Ty decide to become a warlock anyway?"

"I don't really know.  He's always been a bit of the odd one out in his family, I think.  But he doesn't want me to talk about that."  Maxine propped herself up on one shoulder and sent Ildri a sympathetic expression.

Ildri rolled her eyes.  "He's so secretive.  He really believes that I would blab to everyone."

"I don't think that he thinks that."

"He clearly does."

Maxine shook her head vehemently.  "You haven't known Ty for long, Ildri.  He's always been a bit secretive by nature and now that he is always running about on the king's business he is even more serious.  But there are reasons for the way he is."

Ildri could not keep the incredulous expression from reaching her face.

Maxine smiled a bit.  "As much as I like talking with you, Ildri, I suspect that you ought to be getting some rest now.  You've had a long journey and there is still a way to go tomorrow."

"You're right, I suppose," Ildri agreed.  "Good night."

"Good night."