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

[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.