Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

9. Violet

Kate slumped against the hard wooden chair she had uncovered among the piles upon piles of clothes and shoes and random supplies she had spent several hours organizing. Not all of it was done - there was simply just too much for one person to finish in a day. But she had gotten all the boots and shoes into their own pile, she had stacked worn suitcases in various degrees of decay against one wall, she had folded a great deal of jackets and stacked them, made a pile of patches to repair damaged items, and uncovered the aforementioned chair.

 All in all, it had been very productive, and Kate hadn't minded being left to her own devices with this work. In the quiet of the storage room she could hum and think and embrace the silence that surrounded her. She loved Michael and Emma dearly, but sometimes they were just so loud with their lectures and their arguing and their tendency towards yelling. And Kate appreciated their enthusiasm, she really did, but she also got so few moments of peace to herself, because it was always about taking care of their needs.

It felt strange to be in such a new place and to not hover over them, protecting them. But unlike everywhere else they had ended up, Kate felt safe with the Savages around them, and she wasn't worried about something happening to Michael and Emma right now. Well, okay, they were probably arguing, judging by the fact that they had been asked to sweep and Emma hated doing chores. But Kate didn't think they would find themselves punished or scorned, the way they would have been by Mrs. Crumley. It was the first time in a long time Kate didn't have to worry about that. It felt like a weight off her aching shoulders.

She surveyed her work one more time and decided this was a good place to stop for the day. She was starting to feel sore from so much time spent bending and crouching to pull items from the mess and sort them. Besides, her stomach was beginning to growl, likely a sign that soon it would be time for dinner. 

Kate exited the clothing storage room and stepped into the hall, going to find either her siblings, or Abigail. Though, Abigail had said she would be out for the afternoon working on pickpocketing, so she might not be anywhere to be found. Kate decided to see if she was in the common areas, and if not, to go find Michael and Emma on her own. 

As soon as she entered the main area, filled with all the cots in place of pews, she was hit with the sounds of children's voices and laughter, and she smiled. 

Kate spotted a familiar face, Tom, the sleight of hand magician, who was shuffling his deck of cards in preparation to do a trick for some of the younger kids, including Jamie, Ben's brother. She called over to him, "hey, is Abigail back yet?"

"Nope!" He replied, "she's still out."

"Alright, thanks!" Kate continued wandering through the maze of beds and children when she felt a hand loosely touch her shoulder. She spun around to see wild haired, dark eyed Marta, who did the finances with Abigail. She was the same age as Emma, Kate recalled, smiling kindly at her and asking if she was okay. 

"I- can you please help," she said softly, being rather shy, "Sam scraped himself and is bleeding all over. I'm not good at bandaging and neither is he."

Kate gently wrapped a protective arm around the younger girl, a motherly gesture. She recalled what Abigail had told her, that she was one of the oldest here, and it was clear the Savages had noticed. So many of these children were orphans or runaways or castoffs who had been mistreated, and it was clear they grasped on to any kindness or familial affection shown to them with all they had. 

"Of course I'll help," Kate answered, "show me where he is."

Sam's scrape was rather nasty - apparently he had tripped and fell on the cobblestones outside the church. He said it stung, but it was clear to both him and Kate that despite the blood going everywhere, this was fairly manageable. Kate sent Marta for a wet rag so they could clean the wound, then wrapped it up to stop the bleeding, with all the expertise of someone who had done this a thousand times. And indeed she had, handling every injury that occurred when Michael was pushed around or when Emma had gotten into a fight. She was quite good at playing nurse by now.