northclifflogs | Open | Some used your name for glory

I. Herbalist

The mushrooms she gathered are mostly fenced to people in the marketplace. On the way in from the woods, she found an entire ring of morels, which are both valuable and delicious. But most of the things she gathered have medicinal value, so she follows Faro and Lance's tip and heads to the herbalist's. She knocks at the door, a waif in a baggy robe with the sleeves ripped off and a baby in a sling.

II. Seamstress

In the weaver's shop, Kadi waits for Leala to finish up with another customer while browsing through the fabrics. Grubby fingers hover over each, but do not touch, astounded and awed by the variety of colors, textures, and trim. Kadi's own robe, designed to hide a woman's shape, covers her from chin to toe in a rectangular block of beige. It is in wretched shape, with the sleeves ripped off to use as wash rags during her journey. It was technically washed a few times, but without soap and only in cold mountain stream water. The short shift she wore under it was also repurposed long ago. The only clean, semi-new thing she is wearing right now is a white sling with a baby in it.

Whenever Leala finishes up with her customer, Kadi approaches, maintaining some distance because, despite bathing before coming, she is self-conscious about smelling.

"Hello," she says tautly. "I need...everything."

III. Forest

She has a house now. Her own little house with two whole rooms. She has clothing that doesn't make her look like a brick and that has color. She loves all of it more than she could possibly have believed. But it's still the forest that feels like home the most.

Silfa is bound to her back and out of the way, a small lump of sleeping baby between her shoulder blades. Kadi has no fear for her safety in this forest. This is where Silfa was born and spent the first month of her life. The Earth protected them then; why should they have anything to fear now?

IV. At night, in the village

You might be up for any number of reasons--a nighttime call of nature, hunger, or simply an early start to your day, when Kadi can be seen as a flash of white against stone walkways, dressed only in a long shift with fitted sleeves, its skirts fluttering in the wind with her long red hair. Her eyes are open, but glassy, and she seems entirely unaware. Her bare feet nonetheless find their way up the stairs at the wall, where she stands as if in a trance, face toward the forest.

V. Marketplace

There is a smile on her face and color to her cheeks. She has her very own booth in the marketplace now, where she sells whatever she could not sell to the herbalist or the weaver. Mainly these are wild vegetables, mushrooms, edible nuts, and ripe berries. If you want to pick up something special for dinner, here is where you can do it.

And yes, that's a baby asleep in a basket behind her.

VI. Wildcard

There are toesies. There are itsybitsy toesiewosies sticking up in the basket, and Detlef can't help but look at the basket from the other side of the counter. A beat later he looks at the stall owner with a smile and nods.

"How old? This one is about five months now." He gently pats his shirt pocket, which has a black-and-white tail sticking out of it. "Her name is Moose, because she thinks she's much bigger than she is."

"About a month." Kadi looks proud, but the baby does not look one month old. She is a bit too dainty for that. "But she was early."

And she was born free. That's the most important thing. She was born free, and will grow up free. Kadi considers this young man, carrying a kitten in his pocket and acting like it's comparable to a baby, and...anyone who can be that kind and sweet with an animal seems like someone she could trust. This place may actually be the village that helps to raise her child.

"A month," he repeats. A foal would be walking right away, a kitten not too long after, but he's fairly certain that's too early for a baby to be walking and that's about the extent of his baby knowledge.

"I'm Detlef," he says a few beats later, holding out his hand. "Stablemaster, cat herder, general tender of animals ill and healthy. Welcome to Northcliff Pass." She's absolutely new. She may just be passing through, but it doesn't hurt to be welcoming.

Kadi looks at his hand warily. City folk, she has heard, will take any chance to rob you. That would be easier to do if she kept her money on her person. She shakes his hand.

"Kadi. I've got some herbs that could help your animals, if you're buying."

"It's good to meet you, Kadi, and what do you have?" He doesn't use a lot of herbs. Mostly he uses him... but he can't exactly say that and he needs to put up a show of using the herbs. Sometimes they help. Sometimes he just makes tea. And then sometimes he sees what makes interesting, light-headed-inducing smoke when tossed in the fireplace.

Her wariness is noted as something to work on; Detlef is nothing if not persistent in making friends.

"Witch hazel," Kadi tells him happily. "Feverfew, skullcap, elderflower, echinacea. I'm not putting the apothecary out of business, but it's what I have left after selling to him."

"Feverfew," he echoes with interest. "I'll take some of that, thank you; I'm running low." He gets headaches sometimes, and perhaps unsurprisingly they've increased now that people know his secret and he's spoken up publicly. One day his stress level will go down, but it's not there yet.

"How much?" Detlef has to very gently reach past the kitten to get his coins out, and there's a little mew of protest before a fuzzy head pops out of his pocket. Moose tries to attach herself to his sleeve and he winds up gently (and fondly) moving her to the crook of an arm. "Sorry. She's the runt of the litter and she's being bullied by her siblings so I thought I'd remove her from them for a time and see what that changes."

Kadi grins wide and measures out the feverfew, naming the price the apothecary gave her for it. "You have a gentle heart."

The baby stirs a little and rubs an eye before settling back into sleep.

"So you take care of all the animals here?" she asks in some awe. "We didn't even have a healer for people, where I came from."

"I do what I can," he answers as he hands over the appropriate amount. "I know horses, cows, and cats. The rest I do my best with. I don't think I'll ever know every animal, but I'm starting to get to know sheep."

The baby gets another glance; he thought it had wiggled but it's gone still again. Sleeping? He's heard they have to sleep a lot. "And we've got a doctor, some of the time. He's a little creepy."

The baby's arms and legs stretch out before her eyes are even open. She goes through a range of motions, wiggling her way out of her sleep. Then her forehead bunches a little and those blue eyes open. She hasn't been asleep long enough to be hungry yet, but Kadi spots her during her waking-up process and smiles.

"Do you want to hold my baby? I'd like to hold yours." She bends and picks up the newborn, beaming down at her proudly and touching her little nose before offering her to her new friend.

"Do I..." He's never held a tiny person before. His eyes go a little wide as he sets the kitten down on Kadi's counter before reaching for the baby. The kitten mews and he whispers a quiet 'it's okay, little one,' probably to kitten, baby, and himself all at once. Cats can go on counters. Babies probably can't. And he's sure Kadi will pick her up quickly, but it's taking a lot of his attention as he carefully, gingerly brings the baby close.

"Like, um, this? And Moose would like to be picked up sooner rather than later." She's mewing again, emphasizing this.

Kadi picks up Moose, who is so much softer than she ever anticipated. Oh, what a darling little creature.

"Like that," she tells him. "Support her bottom and head." Now she is free to be entranced with the tiny kitten, who is already purring. "She is so--oh."

The 'oh' comes from being gently headbutted in the face by a kitten. This is paradise, isn't it? Having a community that isn't holding her feet to the fire, and holding a kitten.

He makes sure he's supporting the baby, who is gurgling at him now.

"What's her name?" She, Kadi had said. He's barely gotten her mother's name and he's already holding her and looking into her tiny pudgy baby face. There isn't a chance Detlef could pick her out of a lineup of ten babies, or even five, but he'll definitely confirm she's cute. A glance also confirms that Moose is okay over there, already purring and glad to be held by someone paying attention to just her. This is... nice. A little scary, but nice.

"Silfa." Kadi beams at the kitten as she scratches under her chin. "It means 'forest.' Named after my best friend."

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kadia - 2019-08-20 15:02 (UTC) - Expand

There's someone who can always be counted on for wakefulness in the middle of the night, and that's the night watchman. Lance is midway down the path when he notices the woman, and he quickly picks up his pace, only to stop when he recognizes her as the girl from before.
She wanders up the stairs, and he watches for several moments before pursuing: he doesn't want to frighten her, but if she's sleepwalking, the city wall is hardly a place she should be. He ascends the stairs after her, waiting until she's some feet away before clearing his throat and asking:

"Miss?"

She stands still as glass, unhearing of him. Unfeeling fingers rest against the stone of the wall as the wind whips around her. What she sees and feels is entirely different from what he does.

Green and green, forest reflected in water, a lithe woman with a terrible voice and a demand with no compromise. Kadi opens her mouth to speak, but the forest is finished speaking. The forest saved her. The forest saved Silfa. Now, it gives its conditions.

Kadi wakes, shuddering and gasping.

"What?" She blinks, her eyes feeling oddly dry, and she looks at Lance in bewilderment. Why is she on the wall?

Edited 2019-08-20 14:58 (UTC)

"What?" he echoes, stepping back down a stair, at least glad to see that the woman is awake now. ...probably?

"Are you... all right," comes his careful query, and he glances her up and down.

"Over here!"

A voice sounds from the open window, which, upon further inspection, constitutes a countertop as well, a full storefront for the apothecary. He's beaming from ear to ear as the woman approaches, and already holding out a packet for her.

"Dad said you'd be coming. I set aside some thistle for you." He only blushes a little.

Thistle. Kadi smiles at the word, circling back to the window and setting a large bundle of wild herbs on the countertop. Lance must have told this young man that she is a new mother, something easily confirmed by the presence of a newborn in deep sleep against her right now.

"You're very kind," she says, sorting her herbs for him. Feverfew, witch hazel, echinacea, and any number of other woodland herbs. Most of them are dried, but others are fresh, and there are a lot of them. "I've been told you can be trusted to give a fair price for these. I'm sorry, we didn't use money in the commune."

Making a little 'ooh' face, Finian begins to peruse the given items, nodding with each one. "You were told right," he replies, and looks up with a little twitch of his eyebrows at the word 'commune'-- he isn't sure what it means, but isn't about to pry.
"I can give you coin or barter, whichever you prefer."

“Coin,” Kadi responds readily. “I have to buy a place to live. Or...is that how it’s done here? Buying?”

"Or building," Finian says with a shrug, "have you talked to Kit? He helps a lot of people get set up, and I know he does it for trade some of the time." His smile falters only a little. "Just, um, make sure it's him you talk to."

“Oh?” Pale red brows lift. “Where is he, and who should I not speak to?”

The responding look is pained. "Um, real friendly guy, owns the carpentry shop and is always helping people out. His, um. Apprentice is. Less friendly. Ben." He shrugs uncomfortably, like even the act of Almost speaking ill of someone is shriveling him up from the inside.