Homecoming - (Part 3 of the Ignaius-Saga)

Safe Harbor

For a while the boat was gliding downstream. Variel was still unconscious. When Tanier could first see a house on the other side of the river, he brought the boat over to the other side. The house he had spotted looked like a fisherman' house and he tied the boat to the small jetty that extended into the river. He wasn't fully done, when a man approached him. It was clearly the fisherman, who inspected him critically. It was uncommon for strangers to tie their boats here. It was even more uncommon for strangers to be half naked, yet still wear pants that were clearly putting them high above a fisherman. It was very clear that this man did not belong here.

Tanier looked up to the man, while he continued his work. "Good evening! Can you help us?" He stepped into the boat to get Variel, which was the best way to explain what "us" meant. "We were traveling with the king, but got lost and were assaulted. Would you be able to take us in for a night and send someone to the king's entourage and let them know that the men they are looking for are with you?"

The moment the fisherman had heard that his guests where part of the king's entourage, he had pulled the cap from his head and had bowed to Tanier in a way that showed his awareness that this was the right way to treat a noble, and at the same time demonstrated that he only rarely had the opportunity to practice.

"My lord," he said, while his hands were kneading his cap, "I am honored. Come in and be my guest." Then he yelled over to the house: "Erna! Erna! We have guests!" The man was shifting from one foot to the other out of nervousness, as he didn't know what to do next. "Go and help your wife!" Tanier helped him out. "Tell her to prepare a bed." - "It's my daughter, my lord, my wife died a few years ago, but I will tell her."

Tanier couldn't help to smile as the man dashed off. Carefully he lifted Variel out of the boat and followed the man.

When he entered the small hut, he could easily see how this was the home of poor people. The whole building was smaller than the smallest of his rooms. It was built right on the jetty, so its planks doubled as floor boards. There was a small stove, a table and a few chairs, but no cupboards, the few belongings that those people had where hanging directly on the wall. They were greeted by four people: The fisherman, his teenaged daughter, a boy, who was maybe ten or eleven years old and a girl of maybe five or six. The girls curtsied in a clumsy, but very charming way and the boy bowed his head, trying to follow his fathers example, just that he didn't have a cap to knead in his hands.

"Is there a bed I can put him in?" Tanier asked and was quickly showed to the only other room of the building, clearly the girls' room. There was a doll on the window sill, a few flowers to decorate the room and some colorful ribbons to tie the hair. There was just one bed, that the girls probably shared. He put Variel into the bed and did his best to make sure that he was comfortable and warm. He was a bit concerned that he was still unconscious - or was he sleeping? - but as he had no explanation to anything that had happened, any speculation was pointless.

Next he asked the fisherman for a shirt. Once he got it, he was sure he was wearing the man's good shirt, the one he took out for weddings, funerals and major holidays and the one the fisherman would eventually be buried in. He explained to the boy where he should look for the king's entourage and gave him his belt, so that he could substantiate his claim, should anyone hesitate to listen to a ten year old boy. Then he finally ate something. The soup that Erna had prepared was delicious. Everything would be delicious now, but after spending several days in a cold, damp cell, hot soup was the best food he could think of. He was wondering, if he should try to give some to Variel, but this was difficult, as long as he was unconscious, so he asked for some warm water instead to wash him. Finally he could and with a little luck he may wake in the process. Erna insisted to do it, but Tanier turned her down, no matter, if she considered his behavior strange. He did not want Variel to wake up from the touch of a stranger's hands, not even the delicate hands of a charming and very polite girl.