Open | There's much more to this vagabond than the eye can see

[kadia]

WHO: Kadi Gutvinsdottir and Baby and YOU
WHAT: A woman appears out of the forest and starts yelling at the walls
WHEN: Current, around midday
WHERE: The walls
NOTES: cw: mention of past physical abuse.

Someone emerges from the forest during the midday heat, and not from the paths. Cloaked in a disheveled triangle of red hair lit up by the sunlight, she clutches a bulky bundle wrapped in wool. She carries nothing else, save for a small pan hanging from her belt and whatever might be in her pockets. Her face is sunken from hunger and pale from exhaustion, though she has gone numb to both. It is water she needs; she ran out of it last night. She marches over the long grass before reaching the village gates at last, and swaying, she looks up.

This is where she has to pray and trust that the outside world is as different as the Elders say.

"HEY!" she bellows. "HEY! HELP US!"

And if there was any question as to who the 'us' is, the bundle in her arms wakes up and lets out a piercing wail.

"HEYYYYY!" the woman shouts again, hoarsely, and will continue to do so until she has no voice left, or until she is admitted.

Comments

[infinitewatch]

Lance is dredged out of his sleep by the sound, and lifts his head groggily; where's Deron, that someone is calling for help and he hasn't dealt with it yet? On the other side of town, most likely. They need more bloody watchmen.

It's not that the shouting itself isn't enough to get him moving-- he does-- but the baby's cry is what ultimately launches him down from the barracks through the guardhouse and out to the gate in only his underclothes and swordbelt, where he hauls open the door.

[kadia]

Kadi stumbles in, bouncing and shushing the baby gently. She looks ragged--both sleeves from her centuries-out-of-fashion robe have been torn away deliberately, and she is covered in insect bites. Despite her efforts to keep clean, there are indelible blood stains on the back of her robe. The baby is a newborn, no more than a month old, and the only sign of possible ill health is a light smattering of perfectly normal acne across her face.

"I need water," Kadi rasps. "I can barter for a place to stay. Is there a healer here, or a midwife, or...?"

Her eyes venture to the rest of the town and widen. It looked big from the outside, but she wasn't prepared to see how many things are inside, and how close-together so many of them are. Her closest neighbor in the Fjords had been a quarter-mile away.

[infinitewatch]

"This way," Lance rasps, glancing over the state of the woman and the baby and deciding any talk of barter is going to be casually ignored. He extends an arm to her if she wants it, but hurries her in the direction of the inn, which is her best chance of getting all the things both she and the baby need before other things can be settled.

Once they arrive, he elbows the door open to help her inside and to a table.

[sampler]

Faro's decided to supplement his own lackluster cooking with eating at the tavern for his midday meal. He's just settled down to a bowl of stew when the door flies open and the rushing trio appear.

It takes about half a second for him to take them in and decide on action. Farogil grabs his bowl and his tankard and rushes towards the table the bedraggled guard seems to be leading the woman to. He puts them down, gives an eat-up gesture with both hands, then realizes he's still holding his spoon so he drops that in the bowl and repeats the gesture.

It's small beer in the tankard, not quite water but he figures its close enough for a gulp while someone fetches her a proper glass. To make sure that happens, Faro turns towards the bar and gives a very emphatic wave with one hand and a raising-cup-to-mouth motion with the other.

[kadia]

What kind of place is this, where people take food out of their own mouths to give to strangers? Kadi looks at Faro at once in gratitude and slight discomfort, but she offers him a smile and a thank-you before picking up the tankard of beer and downing half of it in one breath. She pants twice before downing the rest of it. Setting the cup aside, she digs into the stew ravenously. It's the greatest thing she's ever tasted.

"I urgently need to trade for clouts," she says around a mouthful of meat. Meat. She hasn't had meat since leaving home. "She has none. No clothes, neither. I have rare mushrooms from the woods."

She doesn't think watching the baby's expressions and holding her over the ground when she's about to poop is going to work here.

[infinitewatch]

Lance opens his mouth, closes it again, and looks away with a sigh through his nose. He has the solution, much as he doesn't want to think about it.
"I'll be back," he murmurs quietly, and disappears back out the door.

[sampler]

His naive generosity is one of the many reasons Nelda often affectionately called him a mark, though he'd like to think she would also offer food to a mother in need. Maybe with a warier eye than the fretful ones that Farogil watches the woman with.

And then the guardsman leaves them. Abandons the wildwoman and her newborn with the half-mute, though in his defense, he doesn't know of Faro's talking trouble and clearly has a good reason to run off. Still, Faro casts a forlorn look at the door as he slowly slides into a chair at the table.

"I'm Ffarogil. Do you..." Faro mimes holding the infant then hesitantly holds his hands forward, palms up ready to accept her. Why should she trust a stranger to hold her baby? She's managing to eat just fine with one arm. But he's not equipped to ask what's going on are you ok and, well, that's got to be better than awkward silence, isn't it?

[kadia]

Her jaw tightens in clear suspicion. She knows this place isn't like home, but it remains to be seen what this place is like. But there is no threat to this boy. He is the least threatening person she could imagine. He makes her think of Patrek, that way. And she is exhausted, and the baby is still crying.

After a moment, she sets down the spoon and carefully passes the newborn to Farogil.

"Her name is Silfa," she says, voice clearer now that she has had something to drink. "I'm Kadia." With her hands free, she attacks the stew voraciously. It's been nothing but foraged vegetables since, well, shortly after Silfa's birth. Best not to think of that right now.

[sampler]

The wide-eyed look on Faro's face as she slides the baby into his hands is equal parts terror and honor. Terror because she's a fragile little being and honor because this? This is a lot of trust she's placing in him.

He cradles the bundled baby against his chest the way his mother showed him to hold his cousins when they were little. Faro rocks slightly and gently pats her back with his fingertips, murmuring, "Hello, Silfa."

Faro glances up to cast a hopefully-reassuring smile to Kadia, just as the waitress brings over a tankard of water.

[kadia]

Kadi watches the exchange intently, and surprisingly, Silfa seems to be settling already. He has both hands free to soothe her, unlike her mother, who is busy scarfing down food and water so she can get to work making milk. Slowly, Kadi unwinds, her wariness becoming less about whether this young man will take off suddenly with her child and more about whether or not he will drop her by accident.

She's about halfway finished with her food when Silfa falls asleep in Faro's arms, and Kadi feels she can breathe again. She's eating and drinking more slowly now, but she hasn't stopped.

"What town is this?" she asks quietly, so as not to wake the baby.

[sampler]

Patting her back to give her the feeling of a relaxed heartbeat seems to do the trick. He's grateful when she falls asleep because as being stared at by a child is only slightly less unsettling than being stared at by an adult. The silence also gives him time to realize that with how young Silfa is and how disheveled Kadi is, he might be one of only a few people she's ever seen.

Kadi's question pretty much confirms it.

"Northcliff Pass," he answers just as softly. Faro pauses to make sure he hasn't woken Silfa up before risking a question: "You were llost in the...?"

He gives a quick toss of his head in the rough direction of the woods.

[kadia]

There's a long pause as Kadi has to consider whether answering that question is safe. She doesn't know anything about Northcliff Pass. She has never seen a map. She doesn't know if admitting to being in the woods gives away where she came from. But it's too late for that--she has already, foolishly, said she has tradeable items from the woods. And given that this place is practically surrounded by them, it's nigh-on impossible not to come through the woods on the way here. She gives a small nod.

"Will the Elders here try to send me home?" she asks pointedly. "What are the laws on leaving one's family? What will the punishment be?"

Reaching for the water, it may now become apparent what she means by punishment. There is a line of very deliberate burn scars all the way up her inner forearm, small circular brands to indicate which god she offended. Offending the other three gods leaves fewer scars, typically.

[infinitewatch]

Lance returns, wearing at least a few more articles of clothing this time, and he's carrying a cloth bundle that he deposits on the table beside Kadia's bowl. It contains quite a few cloth diapers and an assortment of baby clothes, little woolen tunics and caps, mostly unisex but some with a few small, handmade embellishments that suggest they were intended for a girl.

"They're yours," he says quietly, and turns to take a step away, pushing his hair back out of his face and staring out the window. He doesn't want to simply leave again, in case she needs further help, but he's clearly not at his most comfortable.

[sampler]

The Elders? Punishment for leaving? Did she mean the magistrate? There would be some that would shame her for being unwed with a child -if she's not widowed, he has no idea- but he doesn't think she would be punished by anyone. Especially not the kind of harm that glimpse of scarring suggests.

So he shakes his head slowly, though he's still obviously confused by the questions.

[kadia]

Kadi frowns when the young man can't answer her questions. She needs to know these things. But Lance appears then, and unceremoniously dumps a bundle of baby clothes onto the table. Her eyes widen, and she starts to pick it apart, admiring the handiwork on each piece. One plush cloth is extracted, and she reaches for the sleeping baby in Faro's arms.

With a glance at Lance, she reiterates, "Are your Elders going to make me go back to my village? What would it take for me to stay, and will I be punished for leaving my family?"

Before he has a chance to answer, she interrupts: "And are they going to make me marry again?"

[infinitewatch]

There's something in her tone that makes him turn. He looks at the woman-- the girl, really, now that he's seeing her more clearly-- and gives a silent, vaguely confused but otherwise reassuring shake of his head.

"You can do as you please," he says softly, a bit hesitantly: "no one is your master here."

[kadia]

The baby squawks as the already-soiled wool is stripped away from her and she is laid on the clout. That's when Lance gives her her answer, and Kadi freezes in astonishment. She looks up at the man, eyes wide while baby limbs flail on the table. Tears appear in green eyes a moment and a half before the baby starts to cry from the cold. Since her arrival, her first smile splits her face, and she turns back to the naked baby on the table, quickly fixing the clout in place before wrapping her in a knit blanket.

"Did you hear that, little lady? We made it." A sudden laugh, one she almost looks guilty about until she remembers this isn't that place anymore. She wipes her eyes with her bare arm and looks up at Lance.

"Thank you."

[infinitewatch]

Lance seems surprised by her surprise. He meets her eyes, and finds the look in them unmistakable: total relief, and freedom from whatever has been terrorizing her.
It's a feeling he once knew well, and to see it reflected back at him is truly surreal. He doesn't seem to know how to react, and instead just gives a silent nod and looks away again.

"Anything else you need," he offers awkwardly.

[sampler]

Luckily, Lance seemed to say exactly what she needed to hear. As Kadi's face lights up, Faro's does too, happy on her behalf.

"This is a good place to begin again. The rooms here are fair, and there's an- a- apothecary," Farogil lifts a hand and gives approximate directions. A straight-that-way wave and then a turn-left hook with his fingers, just enough that he hopes it might give her some idea of where to find the place besides meandering through the market. "They might give you good price for your mushrooms."

[kadia]

Kadi deflates slightly as the sense of being overwhelmed presses in at the edges of her vision, but she takes a deep breath and asks the next question.

"About prices. I don't know what's a good price. We didn't have money in the commune. The Elders just decided how much anyone got of anything we made, or found, or produced, or else we just bartered quietly among ourselves without them knowing."

She picks up the baby to cradle against her arm, the little one swaddled tightly and squirming fussily. It won't take long for her to settle.

"I don't know anything about living like this," Kadi says quietly. "I know it will be better, but I don't know how to get started."

[infinitewatch]

She's not about to go picking through the town, stealing what she can eat and hiding in gutters, and Lance feels a wash of shame that it even occurred to him. Some people do things the right way. Some aren't so far gone.

"Just ask," he says softly, and clears his throat, as if afraid of speaking too loud. "...my son's the apothecary. Finian. Kit and Ben down the way are carpenters, Waen has the general store. Colin's the baker. Most will barter." For goods, for work, for whatever. No one is going to be too big a hassle about a girl with a baby.
Well, maybe Ben, but at least Kit's there to offset him.

[sampler]

The poor woman. He might be learning about some of those things, but she's a whole different kind of sheltered. To have a smothering mother is far easier to recover from than a smothering... everything.

Faro gives a confirming kind of nod every now and then as Lance speaks, gaze flicking between him and Kadi. There's none on that list that he'd be wary of and none that he can think of to warn her about.

"I could cover room and board here for you tonight," he offers, "so you wwouldn't have to wworry over that at least. If that's alright?"

The question is mostly aimed at Kadi, but Faro also gives an uncertain or is that too much? kind of glance up towards Lance. It might be, but... she needs help. He has the coin. What kind of man would he be if he didn't at least give her the choice?

[kadia]

Kadi’s lips purse and the look she gives Faro is offended. She didn’t need his help when she gave birth alone in the woods, did she? She hasn’t needed his help since then, either, surviving on her own with a newborn. She doesn’t believe accepting help is a sign of a lack of faith, the way the Elders taught, but she has her pride and a packful of rare goods.

But she also has a newborn. They can’t stay forever in a public inn, with her up at all hours and the baby crying. She has no idea how much money she will need to find a place of her own, or whether the contents of her bag would even come close to the value of a house. What if she did pay for her own room, only to find the cost put her budget just under the price of a house?

“On the strict understanding that I will pay you back,” she relents.

[infinitewatch]

This seems as resolved as it's going to be, on his end. Lance feels anxiety pulsing from his heart to his fingertips: it's too familiar, too soon. Decades? Too soon.
But the woman is safe, as is the babe, and that's what matters.
He gives an awkward, standoffish nod of acknowledgment as he steps back out the inn door, relieving himself of the situation-- or it of him. He has to get some sleep before his shift.

He needs fresh air.

[sampler]

Uh oh, she looks annoyed, maybe it was too much? He looks back to Lance and finally notices the tension on his face, and that's even more confusing. Suggesting he cover a good night's rest for her can't have been that scandalous, or maybe...

She accepts, and Lance leaves, and so Faro is quick to nod so as to not linger on him possibly having offended them both (definitely going to over-analyze it and be embarrassed later).

"Agreed. When you're able. I'm-" Up goes his hand again, giving a sideways wave to indicate 'straight that away'. "All the way, near the chapel. The embroidery shop."

"I'll go see to," Farogil points with his thumb towards the bar, then scoots his seat back and stands. He's not going to assume she wants company, but he's certainly leaving time for her to indicate she does.