Chapter Ten #2
But there was something more to this journey into Shrewsbury as well.
After her mother’s confession regarding her affliction being the basis behind sending her children away at such a young age, Kathalin’s resentment towards her parents had fled a great deal.
In fact, the healer in Kathalin very much wanted to help her mother and she knew of some remedies for skin conditions that she thought to try on her mother.
Of course, providing the woman was open to such things, and having lived with the condition for as long as she had, Kathalin could only imagine she had tried everything that money could buy.
But Kathalin was still determined to help if she could.
Oddly, she felt very strongly about it, strange when she’d spent so much time resenting the woman. But with time, and a plausible reason behind everything, Kathalin was willing to forgive. At least, she was willing to try.
It was something she wanted to tell Gates about considering he knew how she felt about her parents.
She wanted to explain to him the reasons behind her parents’ decision to send her to St. Milburga’s at such a young age.
She wasn’t entirely sure she would tell him of the leprosy, for Rosamund had made it clear she wanted no one else to know, but to at least tell Gates that the bitterness in her heart towards her parents had ended meant a great deal to her.
Furthermore, after the visit to the Street of the Jewelers, she wanted the man’s help in finding an apothecary.
She hoped such a shop would have the herbs she would need to help her mother.
But she didn’t speak of what was on her mind as Gates reached up and helped her down from the palfrey. She was more interested, at the moment, in relishing the feel of his big hands around her waist. When he set her on her feet, she smiled openly at him.
“So,” she said. “It is just the two of us now. It seems as if it has been years since I saw you last.”
He grinned, extending an elbow which she eagerly accepted.
“It does,” he agreed as they left the escort behind and began to walk along the street.
“How long has it truly been? Three years? Four? Whatever are you doing with yourself these days, my lady? The last time I saw you, you were healing the sick and trying to fight off a bully of a knight who was forcing you to visit your parents.”
She laughed softly; at this point, she was able to laugh at what had happened those days ago. It seemed so long ago, truthfully. She could hardly remember the animosity between them.
“I do not blame him,” she said. “He was only doing as he was ordered.”
“You did not think that at the time.”
She shook her head as a jeweler’s stall caught her attention. “Nay, I did not,” she said. “But I understand that now. I am sorry it took me as long as it did to realize that.”
Gates could see where her attention was and he turned her in that direction. “No need, my lady,” he said. “I cannot say that if I were in the same position, I might have felt any differently than you did.”
The jeweler’s stall had three elderly men working in it and two very big guards who were standing by the door.
Gates also spied another heavily-armed man by the rear of the stall, back in the shadows.
Mentally sizing up the situation, he proceeded as Kathalin, oblivious to the guards, simply stepped inside.
It was somewhat dark inside, windowless except for gaps in the wall where the wall joints didn’t quite meet up.
The old men were small, with caps on their heads, each one of them engaged in some project on their own individual tables, which were covered with black wool felt.
Even though Kathalin had walked quite boldly into the stall, she came to a halt once inside and eyed the men working.
As Gates came up beside her, she whispered to him.
“I do not know what to look for,” she said. “I have never purchased jewelry in my life.”
Gates winked at her before speaking out to one of the old men. “You, there,” he said in his authoritative tone. “My lady is the daughter of the Earl of Trelystan. She would like to look at your wares. Will you show her?”
Two of the old men stood up, prompted by Gates’ loud voice, while the third simply looked over his shoulder at Kathalin and Gates and, disinterested, turned back to what he was doing. But the other two men were quick to be of service.
“My lady,” one very skinny old man with bad teeth bowed humbly in her direction. “I am Asher. I would be happy to show you my work.”
Kathalin watched the old man with great interest as he turned to the cabinet behind him and opened the doors. There were various boxes inside and he pulled one of them out.
“Work?” Kathalin repeated, genuinely quite curious. “You make jewelry yourself?”
The old man grinned, displaying the three yellowed teeth in his head, as he opened the box. “I do indeed, my lady,” he said. “I was taught by my father, who was taught by his father. He learned his trade in Roma.”
Roma. Kathalin smiled at the mention of the name. “Rome,” she said. “Where our Holy Father lives.”
The old man nodded as he began to pull forth chains of gold and laying them upon the black wool felt.
“Indeed, my lady,” he said. “The Holy Father lives there, but there are also a million other people who live there and go about their daily lives. My grandfather’s life happened to be that of a goldsmithy.
He would take jewels, or pearls from the sea, and make jewelry with it for the nobles. ”
Kathalin was looking at the gold he was laying in front of her with wonder. In fact, she could hardly look at anything else. “God’s Bones,” she declared, lifting up a hand to touch it but, fearful to do so, lowered her hand. “I have never seen jewelry such as this. You truly made these pieces?”
“I did, my lady.”
Kathalin bent over the black felt, watching him set necklaces of garnet, of yellow stones, of green stones, and of amethyst upon it. He even had a gold and pearl necklace with matching ear bobs.
“Oh… goodness,” she said as he set the pearls out for her view. “I have never seen pearls before. They look like… like angel’s tears. They are white and shiny and perfect.”
Gates, standing behind her, was touched by her excitement.
It was as he’d thought of earlier – seeing the world through her eyes.
Who else but a woman who had never seen the finer things in life would have described something as simple as a pearl as angel’s tears? He leaned down next to her right ear.
“Beware,” he whispered. “This is evil finery. Beware that Mother Benedicta does not burst through this door and tell you how wicked it all is.”
His hot breath against her ear once again sent ripples of excitement bolting through her body, although she refrained from lifting a hand to her ear as she had done before. She did, however, tremble with the thrill of it. She looked at him with a grin.
“It may be wicked, but it is beautiful nonetheless,” she said. “I am coming to think that Mother Benedicta has never seen anything beautiful like this, or touched any fine garments, in her entire life. If she had, she would not have told me that they were wicked.”
Gates winked at her as he straightened up, fighting off a grin. “Would you like to try any of these on?” he asked her. Then, he looked at the old man. “Do you have a mirror for the lady to see her reflection?”
The little man nodded eagerly, opening his magic cabinet again and withdrawing a polished bronze mirror. It was shiny enough that the likeness was fairly true. Before Kathalin realized what was happening, Gates had put the pearl necklace on her as the old man held up the mirror.
A woman of unparalleled beauty, now with a pearl necklace around her throat, gazed back in the shiny bronze.
Awed at the sight of her reflection with the jewels around her neck, Kathalin leaned forward as if to gain a better view, running her finger along the bronze as if disbelieving what she was seeing.
Her finger left a streak across the pristine bronze.
“I… I do not even recognize myself,” she said quietly, looking down to her bosom to finger the pearls. “I cannot help but wonder who the woman is that gazes back at me.”
Gates watched her as she lovingly fingered the pearls. “A woman who has had her life opened up to her,” he said softly. “A woman who is seeing the world outside of the priory for the first time. I rather like what I see. Do you?”
Grinning with embarrassment, Kathalin removed the pearls from her neck and moved to touch the amethyst necklace.
“I am not sure,” she said. “I do like the fine clothing, for my skin has been eased by it, and the pearls are most becoming, but… but it is hard to say if I am comfortable with all of it. It is still all very new to me.”
Gates knew that. It was part of his attraction to her, a woman who had never known such beauty or such pleasure, now becoming acquainted with it all.
There was such naked joy in her expression and he liked telling her of things she did not know of.
It made him feel as if he were useful and mentoring.
He picked up the amethyst necklace because she seemed afraid to do it, holding it up so the deep purple stone caught the light.
“Hopefully, you will grow to like it very quickly,” he said. “Although I have nothing against life in the cloister, the world at hand offers so much more by way of life and love and experiences in general. I should have thought you would realize that by now.”
She nodded as he got in behind her so he could put the necklace on her. “I have realized that,” she said, once again seeing herself in the bronze mirror now with the fingerprint on it. “It is all quite… overwhelming.”