The TwiceBorn

Working Past The Mystery

“Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.” -Joss Whedon

Alora nodded.  She felt no anger or resentment at the remark and when she looked back, after everything had gone so dreadfully wrong she no longer knew which way was up, she felt that this was, perhaps, the moment when she began to love Islinn. 

The usual rebuffs never dug deep, she’d become immune to them but, on the surface, they always stung just a bit. But for someone to do something for Islinn in spite of the company the young girl was keeping nowadays meant something to her.  She found this revelation startling rather than comforting.

Winnie leaned out from the bar planking and her voice reached a new, strident level.

“Emmy!  Get yo indolent ass over here!  Git some water started and I need two plates of fixins’.  And don’t tell me yore jest getting ready to do some she’n and he’n because I know better when it comes to you! “

Winnie squinted her eyes and her mouth took a downward pull as she watched a thin girl with dirty brown hair lackadaisically disengage herself from the lap of a preoccupied dice player.  The girl’s dress slipped off one shoulder as she got to her feet, revealing a small, saggy breast that held all the appeal of a fried egg.  Winnie shook her head.

“Git the molasses out gal, and c’mon!”  Winnie screeched then mumbled under her breath as she stood, arms folded, and watched the girl’s slow progress to the bar.

“Damned slow at everythin’ she does.  But…”  She glanced at Alora and dropped a lewd wink.  “Slowness has its advantages at times. “

Alora felt that slow burn come over her again.  Winnie may not have been a seer in the true sense of the word but there was something smug and all-knowing in her eyes that reminded Alora of a tomcat sprawled in the sun with a gut full of mice.  That, coupled with the low purr of her voice, made it appear as though she were watching some lewd act and giving an in-depth commentary every time she opened her mouth to speak.  Alora decided she liked the woman’s loon-like screeching better.

Winnie hiked a foot up into Emmy’s ass as the girl sidled around her to go into the back room.  The girl dodged nimbly and shuttered a yawn with the back of her hand.  Winnie scowled.

Hand me some of them shirts out, offen those side shelves. And some pieces of that linen to dry offen with. An’ make shore there’s enuf wood under the water.“

Winnie snatched the proffered items and handed them to Islinn. 

“Top of the stair, second on the left.  Oncet I git these holes organized, they’ll traipse the water up and give a tap on the door.  The tub cubby’s at the end of th’hall.  Et after?”

“Excuse me?”  Islinn couldn’t follow the woman’s dialect. She glanced at Alora who shrugged.  Winnie peered closer at Islinn.

“You highborn?”

“No.”

Winnie’s face took on the expression of someone trying to solve a difficult riddle.  Islinn stared back, face bland.  There was an avid curiosity about the larger woman and her intent looks gave away her need to know, even if her words didn’t. 

Islinn could tell The Twiceborn was mulling over what Winnie had said earlier but none of that affected her. Going from town to town as a True Believer, she’d heard all sorts of prophecies and predictions. The stolid woman standing in front of her just wanted something to talk about other than whores and dice but didn’t want to come right out and ask.  

So…yore jus’ traipsing aroun’ the countryside with her.  That so?”  One thumb jerked towards Alora.

“That’s so.”  Islinn nodded.