Every Challenge Presents an Opportunity…

L ady Wilmiton hadn't lied about the borderland being cold.

Rhona shivered, hugging a tattered length of wool closer against her body. She'd lost count of how many days they had traveled. At times, they had needed to wait for another merchant who was heading north before they could continue their journey. Now, Rhona looked up to see a sky full of black, swollen clouds. The wind was whipping, and the trees had lost their leaves, so the thin branches slapped together making an eerie sound like bones dancing.

"Up that road."

This man who had most recently traded them a spot on his cart for a few bits of silver pointed at what might have once been a road, but it was overgrown now. The plants were as high as Rhona's chest because no cart or wagon had used it all summer. Still, there were ruts in the ground, proving that there was something—or had been something—up ahead of them.

"I can't recall ever seeing any light up there." The merchant dashed any further hopes of finding something welcoming at the end of the path. "For a few more shillings, I could take ye into the village."

"No thank you." Rhona's mother was quick to turn his offer down.

The merchant shrugged. His feet made squishing sounds in the mud on his way back to the front of his cart. A little click of his tongue and his horse started forward.

Overhead there came the ominous rumble of thunder.

It was definitely not a cheery welcome to their new home.

Her mother squared her shoulders and began walking in the direction the merchant had pointed them. Not wanting to be a coward, Rhona lifted her chin and followed. She instantly felt better, like she had achieved something by refusing to give in to her fear. Even if that was her pride talking, it was certainly better than standing on the side of the road just waiting for the rain to begin drenching her.

The reeds which had grown up on the road swayed and danced with the wind. Rhona decided she liked the idea of them dancing, for that was a merry word. They followed the ruts and then went around a bend. The light was fading, and again, the thunder cracked above them.

And then, lightning zigzagged through the mass of black clouds. Rhona blinked, blinded temporarily by the white-hot light. When she could see again, there was a house in front of her.

She gasped.

And she heard her mother sucking in her breath.

The house was blackened by moss and the stone structure was dark and foreboding. The yard was overgrown. Once there had been a road in front of the steps but now there were broken tree limbs and a tangle of vines and brambles for them to weave through before they managed to make it to the bottom step.

As they made it, her mother muttered, "At last." There was a hint of gratitude in her mother's tone, but Rhona couldn't see anything even remotely worthy of about which they should be pleased.

"Oh, Mother…will we freeze here? Did Lady Wilmiton curse us?" Rhona asked in a thin voice. "Or…is this Divine Retribution because Father was not wed to you?"

Her mother turned to face her. "Listen to me, Rhona. Lady Wilmiton drinks bitterness by choice. She has that entire, fine manor home, a healthy son, and rents to collect. Yet she rises each day to only see the things she does not have."

Rhona felt her fear dissipating but even as she began to smile, the sky split open with another bolt of lightning. It illuminated the house with its closed shutters and dark stone. The thunder boomed and rumbled as though a demon was clawing its way out of the dark mass of clouds.

"Rhona," her mother spoke again once the thunder had passed. "We shall be so very happy, for your father is watching us from Heaven." With that, her mother opened the bag the lawyer had tossed to her during their hurried eviction. Inside there was a ring of at least twenty or more keys. That meant there were things of value inside the house.

"We have a place to call home, Rhona. Each morning we will smile and see all the goodness around us."

"But it is dark and ominous, Mother." Rhona was ashamed of how fearful she sounded, but she just couldn't help it.

"It is strong, and will shelter us from the storm!" Her mother offered another way to see their circumstances.

"But this is the borderland…are there not savages and witches?" Every forbidden thing Rhona had ever heard while hiding near the kitchen door just began to bubble right out of her.

"Listen, my precious daughter." Rhona's mother smoothed the hair back from her face with gentle hands. "This is a land of enchantment. We will dance beneath the moon and listen to the song of fairies. Our hearts will be brimming full of merriment. And before you know it, you will fall in love with a fine man here on the borderland, far, far away from those nobles who lust to own every last thing that they see. Here, we shall have a full life where there is enough for everyone. We will brighten everything with our determination to live well so that your father need not worry about us."

After the long trip north with naught but fear chilling her heart, Rhona was happy to see the light of hope shimmering in her mother's eyes. Her mother shook the keys, so they jingled. It was a happy sound, for the most precious things in every house were always locked away and the ring of keys was always on the belt of the most senior staff member.

Now the keys were in her mother's hand.

Rhona followed her mother up the steps of the house. The first key would be the one to the front door. Her mother pushed it in and gave the lock a turn. The wind howled behind them, but the door opened. A crack of lightning gave them a brief look at the room beyond the door and a boom of thunder sent them both across the threshold in a hurry to be inside no matter how ominous and thick the blackness was inside the house.

Her mother closed the door against the rain. It pelted the closed shutters, rather like it was frustrated over not being able to soak them.

They would brighten everything with their determination…

Rhona forced a smile onto her lips and followed her mother's instructions.