Dullahan

4 - Old Woman - 2

The two of them sat at either end of a study wooden table. Eldred sat closest to the hallway, his back to the open door, looking back at Leola over the bowl of porridge. She cradled a small cup of warm tea, thin fingers wrapped around the cup and laced together. The kitchen was warm and cosy, the fire lit and heating the room easily. Its orange glow was the only light source in the darkening space, casting eerie shadows on the walls. There were two windows on the far wall, either side of a lopsided door. Plain curtains hung either side of the warped glass panes, although the fabric looked too thin to effectively block out any light.

Eldred took in a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of fullness for the first time in a while. He hadn't eaten a proper meal in over a day, and his mother had been struggling to make enough money the last few months to feed them both. When he'd noticed her skipping more meals than she was eating, he'd started telling her that she was full before he had finished. Ness hadn't had anything in the way of food with her, although she'd kept some of the rabbit back from the previous night so that he could eat something this morning. He hadn't seen her eat, and wondered if she had caught something else after he'd gone to sleep, or if she had actually eaten anything at all. He was starting to agree with Leola's theory- maybe Ness didn't actually take off the armour. His mind was drifting, flitting from idle thought to idle thought as he scraped his bowl clean with the wooden spoon, staring thoughtfully at the wall just behind the old woman.

"So what's such a lovely young man doing in the company of Ness?" The voice startled him from his thoughts, and his gaze snapped to her. She had leaned back in the wooden chair, and watched him intently, the kindly smile still on her lips.

"... With Ness?" he echoed, processing the question.

"Why are you travelling with her? I imagine she is quite a strange travelling companion, is she not?" the old woman prompted, the chair creaking as she readjusted herself.

He frowned, tilting his head. "She stopped some... bad men." The memory of two nights ago was painful to prod, coming in flashes of violence.

Leola mimicked his motion, her own head tilting at an equal angle as her smile dimmed. "Some bad men? The ones who struck you?"

A nod. One hand rubbed absently at the bruise on his neck, but he didn't say more.

"That must have been very scary," she said with what sounded like pity. "Were they looking for Ness? What about your parents? Do they know you are with her?" Her tone shifted into concern, and she leaned forward now, brow creased in a frown of her own.

He shook his head, looking back at her. "They wanted to talk to my mother, but she didn't like what they were telling her. I think I fell asleep, after- after I got hit. Ness came in and stopped the man from choking me, but-" He shook his head again, eyes dropping down to the scarred wooden tabletop. "I don't think Ness got there in time, I think they hit my mother, too- I woke up with Ness, and we were coming here."

The concern fell from her face, replaced with a genuine look of puzzlement as she leaned in even closer, glancing at the door behind Eldred. "The d- Ness, she rescued you?"

Nodding slowly, he looked back up, meeting her pale green eyes again. He couldn't place the expression that she held within them, but it seemed to Eldred to be a mixture of shock and disbelief.

It took Leola a moment to regain herself, trying to fix the kindly smile back on her face but succeeding only as far as her mouth. "What about your father?"

The cottage's front door opened, swinging wide and colliding with a thump against the wall. Eldred heard Ness mutter something, and twisted to watch as she reentered, closing the door with more care and starting to walk toward them. He opened his mouth to answer Leola's question, but the old woman interrupted him before he could start, watching Ness carefully.