Faith Unbroken, an Outlander Fanfiction

The Scottish Boy

I gave a small curtsy as I entered. Kaeden rushed to pull my seat out for me before sitting back in his seat next to me. I sat at the end on the table across from the head where Master Iverson sat. 

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Miss Tanner." Master Hugh Iverson snorted, beginning to pour food onto his plate. 

"Hugh." Mistress Lucy scoffed, smaking his hand lightly. I sat quietly, placing food onto my plate when someone offered me a plate of beans or meat or whatever else was being served. I ate quietly as well, listening to the conversation of the group.

"I heard there was a problem at the slave quarters this evening. I heard you handled it." Hugh snapped his cold gaze at me. His eyes were dark, evil, sunken. He looked tired and weather beaten. 

"I did. Your man Charles assaulted a young woman in your employ. Tried to beat another for stepping in. Almost beat your man Isaac as well." I responded as coldly as he looked at me. "Charles would've killed the girl if someone hadn't stepped in."

"Wasn't your place, Tanner." Patrick spoke up. His dark brown hair swished in his ponytail as he shook his head, holding back a laugh. 

"Didn't ask for your opinion, did I?" I snapped at him. I'd never liked Patrick. He was cruel, rude, un-gentlemanly, and all around pompous.

"I'd thank you if you worried yourself with the wagons and the wagons only. The business on my land is my business." Iverson snapped.

"Really? Because it seems to me your men can't keep their cocks in their pants or their whips on their belts. You'd be one less slave maybe two if it wasn't for me." Kaeden choked on his food as I yelled at Hugh. I tossed my napkin onto the table before pushing my chair back away from the table. I stormed away, out of the house and towards the stables. The 3rd wagon sat crooked still. I pulled it towards the light of the lanterns that lit the stables. I began examining the axel again, crawling onto the ground to get under the wagon.

"Isn this a sight ta see!" Kaeden's voice echoed as he laughed.

"Kaeden!" I snapped as my head hit the wagon as he'd given me a fright. I crawled out from under the wagon wiping my hands on my skirt. 

"I haven't seen ye in a dress since ye was a wee lass." Kaeden held his stomach as he laughed more. Kaeden was a boy I'd known in France. He was a child I grew up playing with. When I was sold to the boats, his parents tried to buy me. They only had the money to get themselves to the colonies so I was left behind. We reconnected when I came into Murtagh's employ. He came to town to sell meats a lot and we discovered our history. Every now and then, I'd visit the big house on a job or he'd come stay in town to sell the extra meat he'd accumulated. We'd spend whatever time we could together just talking. He was my best friend in a way, whatever way an unmarried woman could be friends with an unmarried man without either's reputation being questioned. 

"Ya know, yer crazy for talking to Iverson so." His scottish accent was thick. He'd been in the colonies for 12 or so years but he sounded like a Scot, through and through.

"He's not my boss." I growled, putting a metal rod into the broken axle. "I'm here to finish fixing this and then I'm gone."

"Faith..." I looked up at him. His hair was thick brown tousles of curls. His eyes, even in the darkness, were a blue like running water and they glowed. I set down my tools.

"What? Don't go telling me how to talk to a man again. I'm not his slave, daughter, or wife. He should care more about the people who make him money than the men that beat them so." I growled, feeling my chest rise and fall quickly. The heat grew in my face and chest. I was angry at how other human beings could be treated. I hated slave trade. I hated people being called slaves. It's different when they have a say in their work. These people had no choice. Being used and abused the way that they were made the fire in my chest bubble out of control. For the most part, I ignored it or tried to help, but it never did any good. This new world was so messed up.