"Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Bitterbynde 02 - The Lady of the Sorrows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dart-Thornton Cecilia)

healing of me, and my board and lodging. What is your fee?"
"My fee," said the carlin, shooting a piercing glance from her bright eye, "is whatever those who
receive my services are prepared to give."
"What you have given me is valuable beyond measureтАФworth more than all the treasure in the
world."
"Have I given it, or was it already yours by right? Do not be thankful until you have lived with your
changed appearance for a moon-cycle or two. See how you like it then."
"I cannot be otherwise than happy!"
"Ha! The measure of happiness is merely the difference between expectations and outcomes. It is
not concerned with what one possessesтАФit is concerned with how content one is with what one
possesses."
Imrhien had taken out her leather pouch. The pearls she had left in Silken Janet's linen-chest, the
ruby she had given to Diarmid and Muirne, but there remained two more jewels and the few gold coins
she had saved when she ran from the caravan. In glittering array she spread the stones and metal before
the carlin.
"This is all I have. Please, take it."
Maeve One-Eye threw her head back and laughed.
"My dear," she said, "you will never survive out in the wide wicked world if you do this sort of thing.
Have you not heard of bargaining? Such an innocent. And how would you fare with no money to spend
on your way to the City? This I shall take." She leaned forward and picked up the sapphire. "The mud
from Mount Baelfire is costly to obtain. And blue is one of the colors of my fellowship, the Winter shade
of high glaciers and cold water under the sky. Leave the emerald out of your purseтАФit is of greater worth
and will fetch a high price. It is necessary to sell it to pay for the purchases Tom shall make in Caermelor
on your behalf. But put away the sovereigns and doubloons and the bit of silver. You may need them
someday. And be more careful to whom you display your wealthтАФfortunately, I can be trusted, but not
all folk are as honest as Maeve One-Eye!"
Her thicket of albino hair bristled untidily, like a rook's nest in a frostтАФher guest suspected that it
was in fact inhabited by some pet animalтАФand she leaned back in her chair, chuckling. The needles
resumed their click-clack.
"True to Talith type, you possess the darker eyebrows and eyelashesтАФthose I will not need to alter.
What color of hair want you? Black? Brown?"
"Red."
"A canny choice. Nobody would ever believe that any clearheaded person would choose the Ertish
shade, thus they will think that you soothly are of Finvarnan blood. I take it you will not mind being
despised as a barbarian in Court circles?"
"I have had my fill of contempt! I have been despised enough for twenty lifetimes. Not red, then.
What is the fashion for hair at Court?"
"Black, or straw-yellowтАФsave for the salt-haired Icemen that dwell among them; their locks do not
take kindly to dyes, nor do they wish to alter them, being a proud race."
"It seems I must choose black. But I will not stay long at CourtтАФonly long enough to deliver my
news, and then I will be away."
And long enough to find someone.
"Be not so certain. You may not obtain an audience with the King-Emperor straightaway. He is
busy, especially at this time of strange unrest in the north. As an unknown, you will be seen as
inconsequential enough to be kept waitingтАФif necessary, for weeks, despite the fact that I am going to
transform you into a lady of means for the mission. If you successfully reach Caermelor and then obtain
permission to pass within the palace gates, you may have to wait for a long time. And if you are
eventually granted an audience, the next step must be verification of your news. They may ask you to
lead them to this treasure."
The carlin paused in her handiwork, holding it high for a better view. "Cast off, one plain, one purl,"