Fly Away Free

Lady Edith is only fifteen, but already a widow and a mother bereft of a child. She hadn't wanted to marry, anyway, but she had come to love her life at last. Everything has changed and all she loved has gone away, with the exception of her former nursemaid, Dame Joan, who is with her still, querulous, scolding, and overly careful of her comfort, as if she were still a child. Lady Edith doesn't want to be treated as a child. She isn't sure what she wants, except to escape. Her life as a widow is fraught, for she is a woman, and her only freedom in Medieval times comes through being a married woman. Lady Edith knows that an awful old man has made her father an offer for her. The best she can do for herself is to fly away -- become a Peregrine, or a pilgrim, and take herself away to the Holy Land.

A chance meeting with a strange Welsh girl in the woods allows her a strange new companion -- one who seems to be able to read her mind. But can she help Lady Edith figure out what she wants?