Thread: The Ward (NobodysAngel80 x EvelynWillows)

Times hadn't been exactly wonderful since her parents had escaped the city. They'd managed to keep it very quiet, just a short trip to visit her father's people to be with his ailing mother, who wasn't ailing in the least. They had wanted her to come with them, worried that she'd be in danger because even if she didn't look it, she did have a bloodline that was far from pure human. She'd assured them she'd be fine, and even now, she received letters on occasion from them, and sent letters in return. They were careful to keep up appearances, and she kept the letters pinned up on the wall of the shop. Even after two years, enough people still came and inquired about her parents and how her grandmother was doing to make it worthwhile to show them the letters. Kline didn't stay very much later his parents ran a general goods store down the road a bit, catering mostly to travelers passing through and he had his own duties there, leaving her to handle the afternoon and evening customers alone. Fortunately she kept slow cooking soups and supper loaves in supply for the dinner crowd, mostly soldiers and laborers who either didn't cook for themselves or preferred her food to the cuisine that was served at most of the boarding houses and such. To be entirely honestly, she certainly couldn't blame them, and her food was a fair sight cheaper than the food offered in taverns, not to mention tastier as well. It was a stroke of brilliance on her part, if she did say so herself. With the king's policy of suspicion against so many non-humans and those of obviously mixed blood, a goodly number of positions were left open. Several of those positions were those of the galley cooks for the soldiers' barracks in the palace and the city guards. There were still some of course, but not nearly enough to cover everything and rather than gangpress what soldiers remained into kitchen duty, she was instead paid a surprisingly generous stipend to provide meals for the soldiers and guards of the city. It worked out well for her, making her able to keep her prices for regular customers low, and the soldiers certainly weren't complaining. The evening itself was always busy and by the end of the night, the big tureens of roasted meat and vegetable stew were nearly empty, the leftover roasted meat put over the fire in broth and water and spices to cook down over the night into the base of the next day's soup, the chicken left over boiled down into chicken stock for dumplings tomorrow. With everything set for the night, all the other pots and dishes washed and the dough for the morning's baking set out to rest under dampened cheesecloth, she locked up for the night and made her way up the stairs to the apartment. Upstairs from the shop was her and her family's apartment and nowadays it was dreadfully quiet and lonely. Aside from a cat and her mother's little terrier, the place was entirely too empty and quiet. She'd left things precisely as they were, hoping that they'd be able to come home soon when all of the madness blew over...but even then, she couldn't help but think that it was possible that she'd never see her parents again. The thought of shutting down the shop and running for the elven lands...her mother's heart would break. The shop had been open for years. This city was their home, her home, the only home she'd ever known. To leave...to leave was unthinkable. One day, things would get better. The malady that had been affecting the poor king's mind would clear and things would be as they once were. They had to be. Wesson, the little brown and white terrier her mother had loved so well, greeted her at the door with a happy little yipping bark, running around her feet in near fainting excitement. She couldn't help but smile a bit and reach down to pick up the little ball of fur and terror, cuddling him. She had been spending longer and longer hours in the shop, coming home barely to bathe and sleep before going back to work again. It had been different when her parents were here. There had been time for things. Time for meeting people, for friends, for attending chapel and exploring the university libraries, for attending lectures back when great scholars had come to the universities to speak on subjects magical and mundane. There had been time for walking in gardens and enjoying the smell of rich, wet earth and growing things, time for...for so much. But with the shop resting solely on her shoulders now, it was her responsibility to keep things in good order until her parents returned. Freckles, the tortoise shell tabby cat that occasionally deigned to allow her to pet him hopped up onto the bed as she laid out her nightclothes and got ready to bathe. It was a bit hypocritical, she thought, to have chased the dwarves and gnomes out of the city along with the elves and everyone else not human, but still make so much use of their engineering for plumbing and such. Still, she wouldn't complain about it overmuch covered in flour and sugar and spices, she was simply happy to get a hot bath without having to boil gallons of water first. The water was drawn up from the aqueducts and heated huge natural cisterns under the city, and mostly it was important businesses and the public bath houses that had the benefit of hot water. However, given that her family's business was old and well regarded, they had it as well and it extended up to their living area too, allowing her to unpin her hair, put her dirty clothes in the hamper to be washed later and sink into the steaming water. The city was quiet after dark for the most part, with taverns and brothels still operating after the sun went down. It was quiet enough that she could simply relax, settled into the water, scrubbing herself clean and letting the hot water soak away the soreness and stress of the day. Eventually, she would have to hire someone to help her full time. When it had been the three of them working the shop, it had been easy enough to do so with just Kline's help occasionally. But now it was becoming far more than she could manage alone. Hopefully that soldier would come by tomorrow to help. Heavens knew she could use all the help she could get.