Caroleen woke to an empty room. She patted around the bed to make sure that Ivan wasn’t lost in the tangles and then she noticed the chair was missing from the door. She tossed back the blanket and fought the folds of her dress to gain her feet. She scraped back the tendrils of blonde hair from her eyes and then tried to still her pounding heart.<br/><br/>The voice in her head sneered,<br/>“So dependent on the man, aren’t you? Nothing independent and fiery about you. Don’t think for a moment that Ivan would ever have you, even in my perfect body. He loves me and only me, forever. He will sacrifice whatever and whoever he must to have me back.”<br/><br/>Caroleen ran to the window, pulling back the shutters to peer out the mullioned glass. The images were too distorted to make out if any of them were Ivan but the smudgy figures did not appear to be in a hurry. She relaxed a little.<br/><br/>“Come on, now. Comb our hair and wash this body. You have some of that scent. Put it on us so that Ivan will go mad with wanting what he can not have. I simply love to make men crave me. I had actually forgotten how fun it was.” The voice simpered.<br/><br/>Caroleen frowned but she realized there was sense in a morning toilette. The blonde hair was finer and straighter than her own coarse and curly black hair and it took some doing to figure out how to make it attractive. Her fingers felt clumsy as if the muscle memory of it was a trait for her soul rather than her brain. The water in the pitcher and bowl were cold but Caroleen enjoyed the fine soft soap the landlord had provided. When she was finished, she held the bottle of essential oil in her hand a long time before finally deciding that Teresa should have some enjoyment.<br/><br/>After she had dabbed on three small bits, Caroleen corked the bottle only to have the voice protest loudly. Caroleen sighed and answered her aloud,<br/><br/>“I told you. I am in charge of this body. You have scent upon it, scent you picked out, I must add. I will not go forth from this chamber smelling like a French whore. All things being equal, we can not take the chance of calling extra attention to Ivan by being an outstanding presence in this tavern. I have an idea.”<br/><br/>Going to the small valise that Ivan had brought in, Caroleen dug around until she found a large white handkerchief. Thank God it was a clean one, she thought. While not the same as a woman’s head  covering for attending Mass, it was still large enough to tie under her chin.<br/><br/>“Noooo.” The voice gasped in dismay, “You would not put that on our head? No one could see our beautiful hair. We have such lovely hair. All the men turn to look and long to touch it.”<br/><br/>“You are right. They do. The innkeeper was already having trouble believing that you/ I had not changed yet, Ivan did. You were with me in town. People are on the alert for people who are strangers and who are different. You and Ivan as a couple were remembered by the innkeeper and I fear he is a man with blubbery lip who will spill his guts at the first sign of holy inquisitors. He gossips enough  for four midwives and he always wants to line his fat grubby palms with silver. I am putting this scarf over my head and if you didn’t notice, I put this fair hair into a bun at the base of my skull to give this body an older aura.”<br/><br/>Ivan would soon be back and Caroleen wished for all to be in readiness for him. She would not go down for the speeches from yesterday were still troubling to her spirit. Her spirit that was trapped in Teresa’s body. Her spirit that would wander forever with no rest if the body were to be destroyed in the fire before Ivan gifted her with release.<br/><br/>Caroleen tied the ends of the hanky under her chin and the fabric gave her the appearance of a respectable and quite mature matron. The voice in her head went strangely silent and she was glad.  She packed every loose item back into the valise, snapped it shut and set it by the door. Caroleen paced the floor and wrung her hands. What if Ivan had run away? What if he decided that if she wasn’t Teresa that he had no use for her? Caroleen was nearly beside herself with worry. The sooner they were back on the road, together, the better she would like it.