Asta turns to me and nods. I stand up, grab my bags, and walk to her. She takes my arm and guides me to the door. She bends down to grab her bag, roughly the same size as mine, and puts on her coat. Delicately, she buttons it up and pulls up her hood. I pull my own hood close to my face. She pulls open her door and cold morning air brushes our faces.

Asta leans in and whispers to me, “Pull your hood closer to your face. Hold onto me; I will guide you. I do not want anybody in the village to see you.” I obey her request and hold my hood so close that I cannot see. My feet stumble over the cobblestone of the streets of the village. I hear the rising rumble of activity in the village. Merchants preparing to move their merchandise to the market; the butcher slicing meat for the day’s purchases; store owners unlocking their shops’ doors; windows opening to let dust out from cleaning.

“Look down and do not speak. There are two men stopping people to talk with them. I will try my best to avoid them.” I sharpen my hearing to try to hear the men. I hear the two talking to a woman.

One man with a deep voice speaks. “Have you seen a girl, about the age of fifteen or sixteen? Red hair? Green eyes? Most likely with someone in this village.”

“I am sorry. I have not seen anybody that fits that description.”

The man with the deep voice continues. “Miss, it is extremely important that we find this girl. Think about all the people you have see this morning. Now, have you seen this girl?”

“Like I said before, I have not seen any girl that fits your description.”

The second man joins in with a hateful voice. “You did not even take time to think. Either you think long and hard about every single face that you have seen between last night and now or my friend and I will take you to the palace to Queen Darya herself where you can explain that you lied to her most trusted guards!”

The woman is silent, probably with fear. Asta has stopped us across the road from them to let me find out more from their conversation. The men sound familiar, but I cannot place a name to the voices. The woman breaks her silence in a shaky tone and a hint of sarcasm. “I am truly sorry, but I have not seen anyone except my husband, sons, and you two fine gentlemen.”

The men start talking amongst themselves. The first man speaks low so it will be hard for eavesdroppers to hear, but I manage to understand what they are saying. “Son, she has not seen the girl. There is no use in frightening her. We should just move on to the next person.”

The second man responds with eager passion. “Fine. I have a feeling that she is close by. I do not want any of these simple-minded peasants to undermine our authority. Half of them are related to those filthy-blooded gypsies in Meridia. I am so relieved Queen Darya sent all the ones living here back to Meridia. Now they will not pollute the blood of the true people of Catríona.” I feel Asta stiffen, probably from the comment about the gypsies. The second man continues. “Look over there. There are a couple of young girls we can question.”

“Do not lose your temper this time!”

I hear Asta’s soft voice through her teeth. “We need to move, now!” Her steps begin and move faster with each step. A voice calls from behind us.

“Excuse me, misses. We need to ask you some important questions!” Asta slows her pace and whispers in my ear.

“Pretend like you are crying. I will do the talking. Make sure your face is covered the entire time.” I obey her words and pretend that I am crying on her shoulder. The two men catch up with us.

The first man starts. “Excuse me, but where are you two young ladies going this early in the morning? And what is wrong with your friend here?”

Asta’s voice is confident and foolproof. “My friend’s mother died in Meridia last week. She was very close to her mother and losing her, as you can imagine, is very painful. I am taking her to the ports so she can attend the funeral. I have heard that it takes almost a day’s journey to get to the ports; we are leaving this early to get there by sunset. Would you mind if we sat down on this bench. My friend is very upset.”

“Of course, we just need to ask you a couple of questions and you can be on your way. Have you seen a girl, about the age of fifteen or sixteen? Red hair? Green eyes? She is most likely with someone in this village.” Asta guides me to sit down on a bench behind us. I pretend to cry harder into her shoulder.

“Red hair? I thought only gypsies had red hair and that Queen Darya put all those filthy gypsies back in Meridia.”

The second man talks. “I like the way you think, uh, what is your name again?”

“My name is Shira.”

The first man breaks in. “Shira, then, have you seen this girl? Has your friend seen the girl?”

“Sorry, neither one of us has seen the girl. My friend has been preparing for her mother’s funeral. Now, if you do not mind, we best be leaving if we want to get to the ports by today.”

The second man speaks in a flirtatious way. “Thank you for helping us out, Shira. When you get back from your trip to the ports, look me up.”

“What is your name, handsome?” Asta responds in the same flirtatious manner.

“I am Emery.” Suddenly I recognize the voices. The man with the deep voice is Holden, a sweet, older man who works as a guard for Queen Darya. The second man is his son, Emery. Emery is known throughout the palace for his quick temper and his violent tendencies.

“Emery, stop wasting time with each person we question! We have the rest of the village to search.”

“Sorry, Father. I was just enticed by Shira’s beauty. Hurry back from the ports, Shira.” I feel Emery reach for Asta’s hand. He pulls it out and I hear him kiss it.

“I will be back before next week, Emery.” Asta reels her hand back.

“Emery, there is a suspicious group over this way. Make sure you do not lose your temper or they might find out that we are on to them!”

“Coming, Father.”

Their footsteps go off in the distance. I whisper to Asta, “We need to leave before they decide to come back and question me.” We stand up from the bench and I remove my head from her shoulder. We move away from the village. Asta’s pace quickens on a foreign path to the ports; I follow with the same speed. Our feet condense the snow beneath us.

“Lia, you can take off your hood now.” I obey and am relieved for the velvet to be away from my head. The sky is free of clouds, so the sun beats down on our heads. At first, I have to squint to adjust to the sunlight. I release my arm from Asta’s and walk steadily. I look around to see nothing but rolling hills covered in fresh snow and a blue sky; the only sign of civilization is the road on which we are walking. By the position of the sun, it is about noon. Asta’s hood is also off and her bangles are clinking with joy. Her dark blue dress appears brighter in the sunlight.

“Thank you so much Asta. You did a great job thinking quickly when Emery and Holden were questioning us.”

“You know them?”

“Yes. Holden is really a sweet man, but he must follow Queen Darya’s orders. He does not know any other way. Emery, on the other hand, is horrible. He is known throughout the palace for his quick temper and violent nature. He also flirts with every single maiden in the palace.”

“He is a creep. Did you hear what he was saying about gypsies? I could not believe him. And then he tried to flirt with me. My skin was crawling when he kissed my hand.” We giggle at the thought of Emery flirting with her.

“How did you come up with the name Shira? It sounds foreign.” Asta slows down and takes a more serious face.

“It is my mother’s name. She is a gypsy. She was shipped off to Meridia a few months after Celeste was born. The three of us were not taken with her because we are only half gypsy. Our father, Avni, was born and raised in Catríona, a farmer all his life. Zarif and Celeste have our father’s looks, but I have my mother’s. I guess I am the oddball. Anyway, I go to market with our fresh produce and some jewelry my mother made and left behind. She made the locket you bought that day. She made it right after Celeste was born. I think she knew that she was going to be taken away soon.”

“I am so sorry, Asta, about your mother and buying Celeste’s locket. If I had any Asta smiles at her fond memories.

“Do not worry so much, Lia. It is not your fault my mother was taken away. She is probably living happily along the coast, selling her jewelry there. We better get moving along. We are moving like a couple of turtles!”

My face twists into confusion. “Turtles? What are turtles?”

“You do not know what turtles are?”

“I have never heard of such a word. What are they?”

“Turtles are creatures that live in and out of water. Some are so big that you can ride their backs. Others are so small that they could fit in your palm. When they are on land, they move very slowly,” She slows her speech and movements to add emphasis. I laugh at her exaggerations and she continues at her regular pace, “but when they are in water, they swim very quickly. They are all over the streets in Meridia, or at least that what my mother used to tell Zarif and I when we were younger. She also said that turtles are wise and that you should never harm them.”

“What do these turtles look like?”

“Well, they are green, like the sea. And they have hard shells that surround their bodies with holes for their heads and legs. My mother also told us that the world started out on the back of a giant turtle. The ancient gypsies lived on her back, groomed all the plants, and ate the fallen fruit; in return, she would swim around the world to keep them warm in the winter. One day, a gypsy fell off her back and the other gypsies blamed her. She was offended deeply, so she dug her feet into the bottom of the ocean and made land rise. She dumped the gypsies on the land and disappeared into the sea forever. The only way she will come back is if someone calls out her name to the sea, but nobody has ever remembered her name.”

“That sounds incredible. I really want to see a turtle now.” I jump up and down in excitement, causing Asta to smile even bigger.

“When we get to Meridia, we will see so many turtles that they will become an eyesore.”

“I do not think anything so foreign and enchanting could become an eyesore.” I hear a faint rumble and look up to the sky. No clouds. “Did you hear that soft thunder clap, Asta. It sounds like a storm is heading this way.” Asta starts an uncontrollable round of laughter. Her laughing causes me to laugh, but I eventually stop to ask, “What is so funny, Asta?”

She calms her laughter and answers, “That was not far off thunder. That was my stomach. I ate too fast and now I am starving. Maybe we should stop now to have our lunch now.” I blush in embarrassment in saying that her stomach sounded like thunder, but then silently laugh it off. We veer off the road onto the grass and open the sack containing our lunches.