Chapter IV. "Innocence"

“So, let me see if I understand this correctly,” Ah’zuli said. “This girl’s home was attacked by iron orcs, and she ran all the way down the mountain on her own, and ran into you in the woods?”

Shaniera gulped. They had hoped the story would have been less difficult to explain than the vampires. “Yes, you tell it true,” Leanne chimed in, and at that point her father entered from the adjoining room where he’d tended to their guest. The Breton had some minor healing talents, both magical and mundane, and when the girls brought Ella to the manse, his paternal nature took over and he had seen to her immediately. Given that the girl had clearly been in the words with an open wound for some time, he expended his meager magicka on purifying the injury to stave off infection, then applied a tourniquet around her forearm.

“The girl is shaken, but she looks to be in good health otherwise,” he reported, wiping drops of blood from his hands.

Shani’s mother pinched the bridge of her nose. “If she has any family left, they must be beside themselves with worry. I wish I could help her get back to her kin, but I cannot spare anyone to go looking. Mikhael and Boros still haven’t returned from searching for Renoa, and they took our only mountain ponies with them.”

“So don’t spare anyone,” Shani said. “Let her stay. Once she’s rested, she can earn her keep on the farm.”

“Without Renoa, we’re down a pair of hands,” Leanne added. “And there are tasks that need to be done. You said it yourself, Madam.”

Ah’zuli looked between the servant and her daughter, then to Toren, as if seeking help. The man shrugged. “I should agree, my lady. The girls are right, another pair of hands can only help.”

She sighed, and conceded. “Alright. Tomorrow, we shall see if the girl has any useful talents. Give her an hour’s rest for now, then run her a bath. We should certainly have the fresh water to spare, since you decided to bathe in the river.” It was an accusation, not an acknowledgement, but it made Shani and Leanne tense all the same. They had returned wrapped in towels and with wet hair, and it was all they could do to avoid their mother seeing them—but Gro’shuba had passed them outside, and Toren was in the hall when they snuck in. He must have told her, Shani knew. “Well?” Her mother looked at them, demanding an explanation.

“It’s peaceful there,” Leanne said. “And there’s plenty more room for two people to bathe than in a tub.”

“Yes, it certainly is peaceful under normal circumstances,” Ah’zuli said. “But just yesterday we had those Ash’abah speaking of dead things that walk, and now I am hearing about the iron orcs raiding villages. This coming winter seems intent on bringing ample danger with it, and I do not like the idea of my daughter far out in the woods, with gods know what lurking out there.”

“Mother, please. It is only as you said: I have Father’s spirit.”