I woke groggy the next morning. I wasn’t as sore, but my head was fuzzy from not getting enough sleep. As I cracked open my eyes, I could tell by the sun that it was later than I had gotten up the last two days. I walked over to the small stream that ran on one side of the camp and started to scoop some water into a small pot we had been given for the journey. After starting a fire, I did my Tai Chi while I waited for the pot to boil. After fifteen minutes, I removed it from the heat and waited for it to cool. By the time it was only warm to the touch, Kylie had woken up and was stretching like a cat.

Stupid hormones. Stupid girl. Stupid situation. Trying to ignore her I kept cleaning up the camp and getting ready to leave.

As we were almost ready to leave, Kylie said in a coy voice, “Umm, Lord Amos, I was… well… I was wondering if I could try riding the horse.”

What! Now, she is trying to act all shy and cute so she can ride on my horse? I took a deep inhale through my nose.

“We have to get back as soon as possible, and I am not in shape enough to keep a good pace.”

“Please, I’ve never ridden a horse, and I promise it will only be for a little bit.” She wheedled.

“Fine, but only for a little bit, and I am holding the reins,” I grunted, Not trusting this girl not to do something crazy. The smile on her face was like that of a little kid who had just gotten a shopping spree at a candy store.

I helped her up on the horse, and we began our trek down the path. After half an hour, my legs were burning again. My question is, where were all the fallen logs or rocks to help me switch places with this girl? It was like they all just disappeared, and all we had was reedy marsh on both sides. Did she know that this part of the trail would be like this? She really was a fox. Every time I looked back at her, she gave me a winning smile. There was a hidden message in that smile. One that spoke of victory.

I was beginning to become grumpy when she suddenly said, "You never answered my question yesterday. Where did you learn about black powder?”

“I did answer that question,” I said stubbornly.

“But it was a lie.”

“It was an answer.”

She humphed and gave me a pouty face. Just another one of her devious ploys to get her way. What a Kitsune.

“Fine, you want the truth. I got it off the internet.”

“The what?”

“The internet,” I said slowly.

"What is the internet?"

"It's like a very large library."

“What’s a library.”

“It is like a collection of books that people can share with one another.”

“What’s a book?”

Seriously, this was getting ridiculous. “Do you know what a scroll is?”

She rolled her eyes, “No need to be rude. Of course I know what a scroll is.”

“Excellent, so a bunch of people wrote a bunch of information in books, which are like scrolls. They put all those books in one place where everyone can read about whatever they want to.”

“And you are saying you have been to this internet place, but no other noble in the kingdom has.”

“Yep.”

She looked at me, scrutinizing my face. “I can’t tell if you are lying. Where is this internet?”

“Far away. And no, I am not telling you where.”

“What, why not?”

“Because some things are better left unsaid.”

“Fine. What other things are at this internet.” she huffed.

I decided to shatter her sense of reality. “The world is round.”

She laughed. “Don’t be stupid. No, it's not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“People would be falling off.”

“Not if everything is pulled towards the center of the world no matter where you stand.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Why?”

“Because that isn’t how it works.”

“How does it work.”

She thought for a moment. “Well, we stay on the ground because we are heavy. Lighter things can be thrown higher in the air, but their weight makes them come down.”

“Why?”

“It is just that way.”

“We come back down because of a thing called gravity. No matter where you are in the world, it works the same. It is why the world is round. All things are pulled to a center point. Ok, I think the roundness of Marth would be easier to explain. Let's imagine that the shelf that butts up against the bay is not 6 feet tall but 600 feet tall. I stood on the pebble beach, and you were up on the shelf. You will see further, why?”

Kylie closed her eyes just like I do when I am trying to picture something in my mind. “I don’t know. I’ve never done it.”

“Well, others have, and you would be the one to see farther.”

After a moment of silence, she said in an awed voice, “It’s because I can see over the curving part. Like seeing over a hill, but that would mean the world would have to be... How big is the world!? If you had a boat, could you go all the way around it? Or is there other land in the way? Do people live there?" She began to mutter to herself.

Wow, she really was smart, I thought. Oh no, she is definitely going to make a bomb. My thoughts were interrupted by her sudden exclamation.

“You have to take me to this internet.” There was a passion in her eyes that I had never seen on this planet before. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for the rest of humanity, she would never get a chance to explore the internet. Having lived a month without it, I realized how much my life had revolved around the internet, how much the ability to get any information with the click of a mouse button made such a difference.

“I wish I could. I really do. But I will never get a chance to go there again,” I said sincerely.

Again, she scrutinized my face. When she realized I was being serious, her face fell. I really hated to see that look. I knew she was being a little manipulative, but I still felt bad.

“Even though I no longer have access to the internet, I want to create my own library. I want to gather information from all over and put it together.”

“That would be amazing!”

“Do you know how to read?”

She gave me an offended look. “Of course, I can read.” Then she blushed, “Well, a little. My husband taught me before things went wrong.”

I was so curious that a question almost slipped from my lips. I clamped down on the urge, however. Her life was none of my business. I was not going to insert myself into her drama.

“I can tell you want to know. It isn’t a big deal.” Her words didn’t match her expression. “I was married when I was thirteen. He was the son of a freeman wine merchant, and I was the daughter of a peasant chandler. His parents didn’t really approve, but we were in love, or at least I thought we were. It was two years before we realized that we couldn’t have children. This caused Melvin to become distant. The gap just kept growing wider. Having a barren wife was enough of an excuse to divorce me. But I constantly pleaded with him not to leave me. I found out he started to tell people I was sneaking out to places. Hinting around the fact that I was unfaithful. It was obvious he felt guilty about what he was about to do. We were divorced, and I was sent home in shame. My parents were ashamed of me. They told me about Aunt Kim and sent me here.”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

This world had a different view of women's roles than the one I grew up in. If a family in my world were not able to have children, it wasn’t a shame. Sure, the women may have felt embarrassed or ashamed, but they would often adopt rather than separate. Or was that just what I believed? I realized that she was looking down at me, waiting for my reaction.

“Just because a person is educated doesn’t prevent them from being foolish. Your ex-husband's pride made him look over the qualities that make you special and focus on a condition that you could not help."

Now, she was looking at me like I had two heads. "But I can't bear children."

"And do you really think that is all you are good for?"

There was a long pause, “That is really how you see this.”

"Look, I don’t presume to know your feelings, and this is probably a delicate subject for you, but that's how I feel. He could have adopted a child with you. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that. That’s your personal business.”

“So you would marry me.” The intensity came back to her face.

“Whoa, let’s not get the cart before the horse here!” I said. Trying and failing not to sound flustered.

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. You would marry a barren woman.”

I actually hadn’t realized she wasn’t proposing to me, but I recovered. “Well, I haven’t put much thought into it but I do have Aaron so… Hmmm… you know I guess I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t divorce my wife if it was found afterward. Besides, I have Aaron, so it isn’t like I don’t have an heir of sorts.”

“Who is Aaron?” She said curiously.

I smiled, “He is my nephew. His father, who would have become baron, died with the rest of my family due to illness in my manor. Aaron and I were the only ones to recover. I’m just filling in for him until he is old enough to take over.”

“You have a nephew who is going to become the baron? How old is he?”

“He is almost one.” Then I glared at her and said, “And if you say one word about being surprised that he is alive, I will kick you off my horse and tell you to leave. I love Aaron, and he is the coolest nephew ever. I am not going to take what is rightfully his.”

Her mouth clamped shut, and she just stared at me for a moment before nodding. “You are a bizarre man. You didn’t try and take advantage of me last night, you let me ride on your horse like I am an equal to you, and you let a competitor to your position live.”

After a pause, I said, “First, you are carrying a knife, and so even if I had the inclination to force myself upon your person, I am sure I would have had a knife in my back before I could so much get near you. Second, the difference between you and me is a difference in authority, obligation, and responsibility, not in who we as people are. Third, I am not suited to be a baron. I have too many beliefs that do not fit into the system. All I can do is hope not to ruin the barony before he is old enough to take over.”

Her eyes went distant for a bit, and then she gave a thoughtful nod. She hopped off the horse and said simply, “You can ride now.”

“Thanks for the permission,” I said dryly.

“You’re welcome,” she said with one of her mischievous smiles.

It was another fifteen minutes before I found a rock large enough to help me get my foot up into the stirrups. It was such a relief to get off my feet. I felt bad for Blaze, but at least I was losing weight. Now that I was on the horse, our pace picked up a bit. The day was pleasant, if a bit chilly. For a while, neither of us spoke, both lost in our own thoughts. I was trying to hold it together. Knowing I had left men to die was weighing heavily on me. The guilt for surviving when they had died. I was so incompetent that I couldn’t even help my men.

“Tell me more about this knowledge at the internet,” Kylie suddenly said. I grasped at the opportunity that was presented. I was tired of dwelling on the fate I had led my men into.

“Did you know that hot air rises above cold air?”

And so my random facts continued. Kylie asked a lot of questions, some of which I didn’t know the answers to. I knew that white light was made up of all the colors in the visible spectrum, and a prism refracted light at an angle that separated them. However, I didn’t know why rainbows were arched.

I found out she had an inquisitive mind, and for some reason, we started talking about boating in the cove. Or was it a gulf? How big did it have to be to be a gulf? It was probably a cove, even though you couldn’t walk around it in one day. Well, maybe that was just me. Anyways, that thought brought us to sailing. None of the boats these people had were sailboats. They were more like canoes. We discussed different concepts of sailing for over an hour. I loved that merit badge. I needed to import a boat maker. I think they were called shipwrights or something like that.

She told me the villagers' diet consisted mainly of fish, crabs, and a few other sea creatures. One that she described sounded like sea cucumbers. If the council would trade with me, these would be good trade items. When I mentioned this, she got a mischievous look on her face. I wasn’t sure, but I think they were already trading with someone—probably Melnon. I had my suspicions about what they were trading for.

Gradually, the landscape changed as we started to move upwards into the hills. By evening, we were out of the marsh and had reached a small camping area. I could hear a mountain stream that ran off the gentle slopes to the east of the camp. It looked like it had seen regular use. There was a fire pit that had half-burnt logs still in it. And I didn’t even have to ask before Kylie started to explain.

“I might as well tell you since it is already pretty obvious. This is a camp that people rest at as they are escaping your kingdom.”

Looking around, I could imagine this as a stop along the underground railroad that I learned about in US history. I shook my head at the courage of these people. “How many die along the way?”

Kylie lowered her head." We had half die on my trip. There were ten of us. We never had enough food.”

“I imagine not many can make the trip. This camp shows signs of it being used a little more often than your population suggests. Also, from what I gather, there hasn’t been a recent group. So how else is this camp used?”

She gave her signature smile and said, “You, Lord Amos, are smarter than you look.”

“Thank you,” I said hesitantly, “I don’t know if I should take it as a compliment though.”

She just shrugged, “You will probably find this out as well. We trade with Melnon.”

“I kind of figured you are getting some of my iron as finished products and grain from what I saw in the village.”

“You don’t seem all that upset.” She said in confusion.

“A little after all, resources are leaving my barony without the barony being compensated. However, I will have to look up the laws about trading with foreign cities. It may be that my citizens just have to pay taxes on what they receive. I don’t know if there is an import tax. I didn’t expect to have to deal with foreign trade. I wanted to trade with your village anyway. This means trade is already established. We just need to tweak things a bit. Whatever the law may be, I will make sure it is fair and does not restrict the flow of necessary goods.”

She tried to hide it, but her posture did relax a bit. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, Ms. Fox.”

“What is a Mizz Fox.”

“Ms. is the title of an unmarried woman in some societies of the world. Fox is an appropriate name for someone as clever as you. I kind of like the name Kylie Fox. It has a nice ring to it.”

“Only Nobles have last names.” She said with not a little shock in her voice. Point for me for surprising her for once.

“Stop thinking like a peasant. You are not a citizen of the kingdom, and there is no nobility in the village you are from. Therefore, the rule does not apply to you. You can have a last name or not. They call Johnathan, Johnathan Founder. Besides, even if you don’t want it, I will forever think of you as Kylie Fox.”

She sat there stunned for a moment. Great, I think I broke another person's brain in this world. After a while, she gave a small smug smile. I had always seen her as a confident individual but now it seemed to become even more intense. “I like it. It is a good reminder of what I have gained. Thank you, Amos Bicman. You are a very kind man.”

“Thank you.”

Her look turned serious, “Amos, you are too kind. It may be alright for a peasant or a Freeman to be as kind as you. Always thinking of others. But you are going to get yourself killed. I was not of high enough status to see the things that the nobility did, but I always heard rumors. You will either have to become more like a baron or flee your kingdom because if any noble turns their eye on you as you are now, I fear you will be ground to dust.”

This was said in a tone more serious than I had ever heard her. “I don’t want to be less kind than I am. It brings me peace.”

She frowned and shook her head. “Then you must flee.”

We ate in silence after that, both in our thoughts. Once again, we set up camp, and I slept buddled in a blanket. I was worried that the ground would be too rocky to sleep on, but I found that previous campers had built up some softer areas near the fire pit where I could sleep. I tried not to think about what she had said, but her words would not leave me. I could run, run with Aaron, or send him to his other family. But I would be fleeing my duty to all the people I had met. Their lives were not great, but I was trying to change that. Did I really have to give up who I am to survive? Could I find another way? I didn’t know enough about how my fellow nobles thought. I needed information. I needed a spy network. I needed people who could get close to nobles without them being suspicious. Without merchants coming to Bicman barony, I didn’t even have the basic information.

Kylie was once again still sleeping when I awoke. I dipped my hands into the frigid stream by the edge of our camp and scrubbed my scruffy face. As my thoughts cleared, another thing dawned on me. Shouldn’t we have been keeping watch? What if we had been attacked by wild animals or bandits?

I turned around and saw Kylie sitting up and stretching. She looked pretty, but she also looked as filthy as I felt. “Kylie, why didn’t we rotate watches last night or the night before, for that matter? Aren’t there animals out here that could attack us?”

She shrugged, “Probably.”

“Then…”

“Because I was cold and tired.”

My mouth hung open for a moment while I tried to come up with something to say. My expression made Kylie start to laugh. All I could do was sigh. This girl really was crazy. As hard as it was to do, I decided to try and not let it bother me. It was to late now.

“So, Amos, now I get to tell everyone you shared a tent with me.” she said with a mischievous grin.

“No one who knows you will believe that you actually did anything with me.” I said defensively.

“Thanks for the compliment, but you overestimate people's opinion of me. And hopefully, you aren't stupid enough to think that everybody is willing to think the worst of any noble." She said with a laugh. Before I could respond, she stretched and said. "Well, I think I am going to get going. I’ve got a long walk back.”

“You're not coming any further?” I said, a little worried

“No, the tree with the cloth is not far from this camp. Take the trail next to it, and you will get to Melnon.”

The cloth she was talking about was apparently a signal for Dwaine or a few other contacts they had in Melnon. Lisa explained that when they needed to talk with Dwaine, they would change their clothes to green and wait at a camp nearby. Now, I knew it was to trade for various things. There were only a few people who knew specifically what was going on.

“Well, Ms. Fox, do take care of yourself, and I would say stay out of trouble, but I am afraid that would be impossible for you.”

The Cheshire cat would have trouble giving as wide of a smile as Kylie did at my banter. We wrapped things up quickly, and we both parted.

“Don’t sleep with too many women while we are apart, or I may get jealous.” She said as I got up on my horse. I decided not to rise to her provocation.

“Thank you for your company on this journey, Kylie. Be safe.”

“You too Amos.”

With that, I headed down the road, only a few minutes before I found the cloth. The trail was narrow and looked like something animals would use rather than humans. It went downhill, and I decided to walk the trail rather than have Blaze carry me. I didn’t want to take a tumble on this narrow slope.