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

[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.