Anidia's gaze swept across the kitchen. Everything was in its place, except for the most important thing. She tilted her head with slight annoyance.
"Where is Casia now?" she murmured, drying her hands on her apron as she stepped into the hallway. She raised her voice slightly. "Cadin, have you seen your sister?"
Cadin left her rag doll on the wooden floor and hopped over to her mother. Then she stood on tiptoes and whispered conspiratorially:
"Mama... sister went out secretly." She covered her mouth with both hands, suppressing a mischievous giggle.
Anidia raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, really? And where did that rascal go? Come on, tell Mama where Casia ran off to." She lifted her easily into her arms, and Cadin settled in like a light sack of flour.
"I saw her through the window," she said with all the seriousness her tiny voice allowed. "She was on the path to Aunt Melia's farm."
Anidia frowned.
"I bet she went to gossip with Fania. Always meddling in other people's kitchens."
Eunid emerged from the room with his suspenders still half-up, scratching his belly as he approached.
"Let her be, let her be. She might be twenty-one, but she's still a mischievous girl at heart." He let out a deep chuckle.
"Yes, of course," Anidia retorted. "With you supporting all her foolishness, she'll mature when she's forty." She squeezed one of Cadin's cheeks and then kissed her forehead. "If she keeps this up, she'll never get married."
"And why do you want her to get married? There's plenty of space here at home." Eunid shrugged nonchalantly.
"She should have been married five years ago. Now I have to think about her and Frila. Or do you plan to live forever, you silly old man?"
Eunid opened his arms to Cadin.
"Do you want to come chop wood with Papa?"
But Cadin crossed her little arms, firm.
"Cadin wants to go play at Grandma Brila's house."
Eunid feigned an exaggerated look of distress, with a theatrical pout.
"Oh, you're breaking my heart, little traitor..."
But Cadin was unperturbed. Anidia suppressed a smile.
"Dear," Eunid said, returning to his serious tone, "don't rush them so much. I'd rather they marry someone they truly love. Haste is not a good counselor."
Anidia pulled off her apron with one hand while holding Cadin with the other.
"Do you think Master Dyan is married?"
Eunid blinked, surprised.
"The wizard? I doubt it. Why would he come so far, leaving a wife at home?" He scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I'm not even sure if wizards can marry. Aren't they like priests or something? Maybe they're even eunuchs..."
His laugh was so loud that Cadin covered her ears.
"You brute!" Anidia snapped, her eyes alight. "Do you think such a handsome man would be a eunuch?"
"It was a joke! But Edictus never married. Perhaps it's forbidden for them." He paused. "Wait... You're not thinking of him for Casia, are you?"
"And why not? He's reserved, kind, a wizard... he must have money, and he's handsomer than any of the boys in this village."
"But he's almost forty, woman. Stop dreaming." Eunid turned towards the door with determined steps, as if he wanted to leave the subject behind.
Anidia followed him, with Cadin in her arms, who tugged at her mother's cheeks, repeating in a singsong voice:
"I'm bored, Mama... bored..."
"You shameless old man! You're almost thirty years older than me..."
"Twenty-five!" Eunid retorted from the threshold, suppressing a laugh.
"Twenty-five, thirty, what does it matter! And you object? Dyan is a good match!"
Eunid stopped at the door. The sunlight bathed him from the front, and his plump figure filled almost the entire frame.
"If she wants him, I won't object. But something tells me the wizard hasn't come looking for a wife. Do you really think in the capital he wouldn't find something better than...?"
"Be careful what you're about to say!" Anidia interrupted sharply. "You're talking about your daughter. My Casia is a beauty."
"It's just a saying, woman. Stop being a matchmaker and let me go to work." He took his hat from the cast-iron coat rack and settled it firmly on his head.
"If you're not going to help, at least don't get in the way. Someone has to look after our daughters' future."
"Yes, yes... do what you want," he muttered as he headed towards the pasture, grumbling to himself.
Anidia looked at Cadin, who watched her with wide eyes.
"Your father is stubborn."
"What's stubb-orn?" Cadin asked, rolling the 'r', her head adorably tilted.
"Nothing, child... something you'll learn eventually."
The little girl put on a thoughtful face, then grinned from ear to ear.
"Shall we go to Grandma Brila's house?"
"Sure, let's go. See if Rett and Noa can keep up with your energy."
Anidia shifted Cadin onto her hip, took a basket of bread she had prepared that morning, and set off towards the southern path, under the warm mid-morning sun.
------------------------------------------
Casia bent down to place the bucket beneath the cow's udder. Her movements were clumsy, but persistent.
"You're squeezing too hard. You'll leave her with no milk and no patience," Fania said with a half-smile, watching from the corral.
"I'm learning! Not all of us were born among cows and manure," Casia joked, and both laughed.
Fania sat on a flat stone and let the sun warm her face.
"My mother wants to marry me off before the end of the year. She says there's a boy from the mill with a good back and few words. I say with that description, she should marry him herself."
"Is yours playing matchmaker too? Mine won't stop talking about the new wizard. She says he's an excellent match."
"Master Dyan? The one who talks like he has a palace lodged in his throat? Don't get me wrong... he's handsome, but he has the look of a man who's seen too many things."
Casia looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"And is that bad?"
"Depends. Sometimes, when you gaze too long into the abyss... the abyss gazes back." Fania tilted her head, teasing. "That's what a book I read said. Besides, he's over thirty-five. He probably has more secrets than teeth."
Just then, Melia poked her head out from the barn, hands on her hips.
"Fania! Don't play dumb; there's still hay to move."
"Yes, Mama!" she replied in a singsong voice. And in a whisper, she added for Casia: "If I stay here, she's going to marry me off to the donkey before the week is out."
"I heard that!" Melia retorted without missing a beat. "And if you don't stop talking nonsense, I'll marry you to him just to shut you up."
Casia burst into laughter.
"At least you're not alone. They're trying to offer me the wizard without even asking me."
Fania smiled.
"And what do you think?"
Casia was silent for a few seconds. The bucket slowly continued to fill.
"I think... I don't know. It's like everyone expects me to make a decision that isn't mine. And when I see him, there's something... not fear, but something that churns in my chest. Like I don't know if he's going to talk to me or read my soul."
Fania watched her in silence, then stood up.
"Then you're already in danger. Love sometimes begins with a warm hand and ends with a scar."
"And what do you know about love?" Casia asked, a mix of amusement and curiosity.
"Nothing. But I listen to the cows, and they know everything."
Both burst into laughter, as the sun continued its journey over the farm, oblivious to the young hearts that were beginning to burn with questions for which they still had no answers.