Questions and Answers in Archet

Scene already in progress at this point--Bells is walking down the road in Archet, carrying an armload of dishes. Cordelia enters, traveling down the road from Combe Uannve is walking the opposite direction and walks past Bells and Cordy, not answering when Bells asks where she is from--except to say that she is from someplace near \"Lonely\" (or something to that effect). Cordelia has just asked Uannve what has brought her to Bree Cordelia has also asked Bells to return a certain letter to her that the girl was to deliver to Seeker on Cordy\'s behalf.

Apologies--computer ate the beginning of my log.

Arabella, usually missing out on many things due to being a child, is in this case very observant. \"Why are you lonely?\" Bells asks more softly, her young heart at once full of compassion for this strange-looking woman. She takes a few steps toward the woman, dishes still in hand. Seeker would be cringing, if he could only see her now. \"Did someone hurt you? Do you need a place to stay?\" Fascination is clear in her gaze.

\"Voices,\" Uannve answers Cordelia simply, the way she says it though an odd pronunciation of the word. \"The many voices here,\" she goes on, as if to clarify, her eyes momentarily distant, as if her eyes were glancing aside despite still being focused on the girls her eyes narrow then on Cordelia. For their narrowing though, there suddenly seems to be more life within them. They turn to Arabella, watching her. She reaches for her left arm, around which a black cloth has been tied just above the bicep it appears to have dried blood on it. \"Yes,\" she answers, then letting go of the cloth. She turns away. Again she is walking away from the girls.

Cordelia shifts uneasily. \"Voices?\" she repeats and glances at Bells. \"There are,\" she continues, looking at the bloody cloth and then the woman again, \"healers here. In Bree. If you are hurt, I could take you there if you wish.\" A glance down to the dishes she carries with one hand, and she frowns. \"After I take these in. Bells, where do these go? I need to find myself some supper, and standing chatting as the evening grows long isn\'t going to do it.\"

\"Who hurt you?\" Arabella asks, and in the same breath, \"Why\'d they do it? Are you alright?\" Then she turns to Cordelia, and, blushing, tells the woman, \"Thank you, but, I can take these all. You go find your supper they\'ll be serving dinner at the Lodge, about now.\" She reaches out to take the rest of the dishes back. Strange girl, or suspicious.

Cordelia looks toward the lodge and then the girl, and shakes her head. \"I can put them in your house. Your mother will be angry if you break them, and you can\'t carry them all.\" And then she heads toward the house that she thinks to be Bells\'s.

Uannve keeps walking this time and without giving an answer or a glance back. For the designation of her arm as a wound, it doesn\'t seem to really be hurting or bothering her--then again she\'s not using it either. She keeps walking toward the house, and then instead of going up to it, is around the far side of it and gone from sight.

\"Wait!\" Arabella calls. \"They\'re not going to my house! I\'m takin\' em to uh...an old lady. She broke hers.\" A quick and rather careless lie. And the strange woman is getting away! \"Wait, come /back!/\" Bells shouts, rather vexed. \"I\'m not trying to /kill/ you!\" She gives an aggravated sigh. And why is she headed toward the house Seeker bought? Arabella starts to run in that direction she has, after all, been charged with protecting the house.

But if Arabella gets around the corner Uannve has passed by even quickly, Uannve is not there, not any longer. Maybe she\'s gone across the river? Maybe she\'s gone into the trees shading the house late in the day? There are a few branches moving where she might have departed, but there are branches moving here and there all along the treeline. Surely she didn\'t somehow get up onto the house, or ... into it?

With a sigh, Cordelia sets down her dishes in the yard of Bells\'s parents house. \"Bells!\" she calls after the girl, walking quickly down the road after her.

But Coredlia need not go far, for Bells soon turns tail and runs back toward her grown-up friend. \"I think she went into Seek-\" Bells pauses, thinking quickly, \"To seek food, in that house! That beautiful house that Sam\'s father just sold to someone! I need to go in and look but...I\'m kinda scared.\" The girl admits, looking down at her too-small boots.

Maybe Cordelia catches that. She certainly frowns at the girl and then looks toward the house. \"Well, where do these dishes go?\" she asks. \"I\'m not so sure we should follow her, but we can if you\'d like. I\'m not scared.\"

Arabella shoots Cordelia a very appreciate look that says, while the woman may be older, she is certainly a great friend by Bells\' standards. \"The dishes go...\" She pauses again. She\'s forgotten her story about the old woman. \"What if that woman has a knife, or a sword?\" Arabella worries. \"But Mr. Woodturner, that\'s Sam\'s father, he ah, wanted me to watch over that house. For security. I can\'t let that woman go in there, and maybe take something he\'ll be so angry!\" She exclaims, starting up the road toward the seemingly abandoned house once more, with her dishes, expecting Cordelia to follow.

With a roll of her eyes behind the girl\'s back, Cordelia follows. \"If she has a knife or a sword, you run, right? That clear? But I doubt that she will,\" she says. She pushes her cloak aside to free her right arm. There\'s a dagger on her belt, and she loosens it in its scabbard--but it\'s dark, so perhaps Bells won\'t see that and she takes care to do it when the girl isn\'t looking. She has also taken to wearing ring mail under her dress lately, but that wouldn\'t be noticed either.

\"Okay, yeah,\" Arabella agrees, her eyes very serious. \"I\'ll run,\" she repeats, as if to memorize this brilliant plan. Thinking of that dark woman again now, she feels a bit of a chill, whereas before she felt sympathy for the stranger. She doesn\'t notice Cordelia\'s dagger, merely trusting to the fact that Cordelia is an adult, and adults can deal with strangers. Bells is still dutifully carrying the dishes, and hurries her steps finally, they stand at the foot of the porch of the big, beautiful old house that Rhifaroth has bought for his bride and children. Where is the stranger who slipped away without so much as a \'farewell\'? Bells\' eyes flick up to the windows, as if expecting to see a face.

\"This it?\" Cordelia looks up at the house, studying it for a few moments. \"She went in here?\" She starts toward the front door. \"I\'ll go first, all right. And let you know if it\'s safe or not. You don\'t come in until I call you. Right?\" She looks back at the girl.

Arabella isn\'t really sure if this is such a good idea she can picture Seeker\'s angry face now. And she can\'t exactly skip town as easily as Cordelia. But she trusts this woman with her own life, so why not let her in to investigate the stranger? She can\'t and won\'t leave that dark woman inside Seeker\'s house! Bells nods once. \"I\'ll wait out here. Look upstairs and downstairs,\" the girl suggests before falling silent. She bounds up the porch steps in a flash, as if familiar with them she even knows which board is the rotten one to leap over. But then she sits by the door, waiting for Cordelia to enter, and to be beckoned inside.

Cordelia uses her cloak to hide her dagger as she passes the girl, giving her a stern look. \"Stay here. You hear anything bad happening inside, you run home. Right?\" Then she opens the door and goes inside.

\"Right,\" Arabella reluctantly agrees, now looking more worried for Cordelia than herself. She gives the woman a small wave as she passes inside, and then waits to hear any sound, the issue of Seeker and his wrathful vengeance temporarily forgotten. Her ear presses against the wall, and there she waits.

As soon as she enters the house, Cordelia very quietly closes the door behind her, draws her dagger out of its sheath--and waits. She stands absolutely still, hardly breathing, listening for any sounds at all. And then, after several long moments, she quietly begins to move through the house, slipping into one room after another, trying to check in the darkness first to see if there is anyone there. The process is probably not as stealthy as she\'d like it to be, given that it is pitch black and this is an unfamiliar house. But it\'s not as if she hasn\'t done this sort of thing before, either. She looks about to see if there is any evidence that the house is lived in and by whom.

This old house has clearly been cared for. There is no more dust, swept clean by careful hands from every groove and crevice in the floor. The cobwebs have been cleared from each ceiling corner and cupboard. The room in which Cordelia stands is very large, as if for entertaining guests, and though there is hardly any furniture to speak of- two stools- there is a handsome fireplace that looks as though it\'s been recently used, judging from the little bit of ash scattered near the hearth. The room has many exits in many directions there is the dining room, with a lovely table and chairs still there, waiting, untouched. This room hasn\'t been used. There is a bedroom on this level, though the large bedframe is devoid of sheets and mattress, and a blanket still on the floor. Someone has slept here, recently. In this room also is a beautiful, large wooden trunk, complete with a very tight lock. There is obviously something of value inside. Then there is the kitchen, with its clean but empty cupboards wide open, as if waiting for something to arrive. A single chipped bowl sits on the counter, and its contents are a few days old, faintly smelling of beef stew, and full of something dark and hardened, perhaps the stew itself.

Cordelia checks the hearth first, fingering the ashes and looking puzzled. The dining room chairs and tables get a quick glance, but the kitchen--and its bowl with dried-on stew--stops her. She frowns, picking up the bowl and feeling the left-on food to see how dried it is, then sniffing at it. Puzzled, she puts the bowl back down and walks next into the bedroom, trying the lock on the trunk and stooping down to touch the blanket on the floor. Then she looks up and, deciding to go upstairs, heads to the steps and up.

Upstairs, this house holds nothing of interest yet. It has also been swept meticulously clean, and each of the two bedrooms is smaller, holding a small bedframe. There is another room as well, totally clean but empty, quietly waiting to be put to some purpose.

A last look around, and Cordelia heads downstairs. She pauses at the door, almost ready to call Bells in--looking toward the bedroom and its trunk. But then she shrugs. \"Bells, come on in. It\'s all right,\" she says, opening the door. \"There\'s noone in here. At least not now.\"

\"Did she take anything?\" Arabella asks as she rushes in, sounding out of breath. She\'s plainly nervous, and very bad at hiding it. \"That woman didn\'t...\" The girl trails off, and races to the bedroom with the trunk in it. Finding it still locked, she walks more calmly into the kitchen, where she neatly stacks cups and bowls in the cupboard, then the cutlery, making a lot of noise as she does so. Bells would certainly have caused the woman to come out of hiding with all her clattering, by now.

Cordelia leans against a wall, amused, but watching carefully. \"Whose house is this again?\" she asks, coming over to help arrange the bowls neatly. \"Someone has slept here, that\'s for sure. There\'s a blanket on the floor.\"

\"It\'s no one\'s house yet. Someone is moving in here...bought it from my friend Sam\'s father, who never fixed it up. They\'re just getting ready to move in, and I\'m helping.\" Bells explains. There: a nice, simple explanation that Seeker would be quite proud of! It\'s obvious, however, from the look on her face, that she would love to tell her friend more about it. \"It\'s a family,\" she adds at last. There, a little more.

\"A family?\" Cordelia settles in the last of the dishes, then looks around. \"They have children, then? Your age?\"

\"No, they\'re only a few months old, the twins. I might watch them when they come here, for their parents.\" Arabella answers easily enough, distracted by arranging the last few dishes. Then she turns very, very pale, and bites down on her tongue. The girl stares straight ahead, saying nothing: she\'s just said too much, way too much in Seeker\'s mind, she\'s sure of that.

Cordelia catches that change of expression on the girl and her eyes narrow for just a fraction of an instant, brain whirring into motion. There\'s something here, but the girl\'s not telling. \"Oh twins are fun!\" she giggles a reply. \"When I was your age, I used to dream that I had a twin sister who was with me everywhere..\" Of course by Bells\'s age, she was already being trained to the service of the Eye and probably hallucinating about a twin sister... \"They must trust you a lot to let you watch them. But I think I was about your age when my mom let me start watching my baby sisters.\"

Cordelia\'s conversation puts the pretty young village girl at ease. \"Oh, it would be fun to have my own twin!\" She agrees. She\'ll not be telling more she looks up to Seeker, most of the time, and she idolizes the gold-haired warrioress she has yet to meet. \"I think I can handle them, though I haven\'t met them yet,\" she tells her friend. Then she has a different sort of thought, and turns her green eyes fully on Cordelia, away from the pleasant kitchen window that overlooks the stream that winds through the house\'s backyard. \"Where did you grow up with your sisters? Here, in Bree?\"

Those angled eyes focus on Bells for a moment, considering, then away again, seeming sad for an instant. \"I grew up very far away from here in a place that was much different. Not nearly as pretty as here. Nor as peaceful as here. But...\" she looks out the window again, pauses, then turns back, smiling. \"I tell you what. I raised two sisters from infancy. So if you want any help with those twins, I\'d be glad to come and teach you how to watch babies and what to do. It\'s pretty easy, all in all. Meantime, let\'s go back to your house and find that letter, right?\"

Really? You could do that?\" Arabella exclaims. She sounds as though she loves the idea, and her eyes light up along with her smile. \"If Seeker\'ll let us borrow them, then that\'d be wonderful!\" Oh, no, now she\'s really said it. To cover, she quickly says, \"Yes, let\'s find that letter! I know just where it is, and if you dont want to reuse the paper, my sisters can use it for scribbling.\" She grins, trying to be cheerful and distracting.

She can\'t help herself. \"Seeker? Rhi..Seeker has children?\" Cordelia stares, then looks around the house with renewed interest, nodding. \"Let\'s go, then, Bells. I actually need that piece of paper, though I will give your sister another to write on if you\'d like.\" She starts for the door, not waiting for the girl.

Arabella follows after Cordelia at this point, the secret is so spoiled that she might as well add, indignantly on Seeker\'s behalf, \"Not just children! He has a /wife/! She\'s beautiful but maybe doesn\'t like people.\" This said as she hastens to catch up with Cordelia. \"She\'s someplace with the children, not here or anywhere close by...but Seeker said she might like me, in time.\" Bells finishes telling most of what she knows. She tries to catch Cordelia\'s eyes as she asks two things, first, \"Seeker will /murder/ me, dead, if he should know that I told you this. You wouldn\'t tell, would you?\" And then, \"You wouldn\'t hurt Seeker, or the lady and her children?\"

Cordelia is very quiet, listening to all that the girl says, but pauses to turn and then kneel to speak to her. \"I won\'t let them know that you told me, Bells. I promise you that. I wouldn\'t hurt a child,\" she says, looking Bells in the eyes. \"And I\'m certainly not about to hurt Seeker or his wife. He saved my life, understand? Twice. I owe him my life, and I\'m not going to take his in return. That\'s wrong.\" She smiles now. \"Even for someone who lies and is dangerous, it\'s wrong. But...I want a favor in return, all right? I won\'t tell Seeker that I know that this is his house, if you don\'t tell him that I wrote a letter and then disappeared for 5 days. Right? Do we have a deal? Can I trust you, Bells?\" She looks again into the girl\'s eyes, very serious.

Arabella\'s brilliantly green eyes look back into Cordelia\'s. Somewhere, however distantly back in her family, someone married in who was not from Bree. Not with eyes like that. \"So you\'ll keep my secret, and you won\'t hurt any of their family? I care for them so much, even though I don\'t know them yet. I like how I imagine them, and I want them to be happy here.\" She speaks slowly, for once choosing her words carefully. \"His wife, she\'s called Murryull.\" Spoken as if knowing her name would make Cordelia less inclined to have a bad thought against her. \"If you swear on...on your sister\'s lives, that you won\'t hurt anyone in his family at /all/, then yes, I\'ll promise on my own life that I\'ll never breathe a word about the letter, or about you being gone, to him or to anyone else.\" The girl can be very clever when she chooses. She is very serious, too, still holding the other woman\'s gaze.

With a quick smile, Cordelia puts out her hand, offering it to the girl. \"I swear it on my sisters\' lives.\" What\'s another lie for the cause, after all. Besides, the man might be more useful live than dead.

Cordelia adds, \"if he asks, you can tell him I slept in one of the lean-tos or empty huts around here. That\'s the truth, so I\'m not asking you to lie.\"

\"Okay...\" Arabella agrees hesitantly. \"Because if you don\'t, and you hurt one of them...I\'ll kill you.\" Her voice trembles. So she really would do anything to protect this family. But a death threat from one so young is, of course, a little hollow, or not so scary as one from a grown man or woman. \"But you\'re my friend and...I\'ll trust you.\" Bells looks dangerously close to hugging the woman, but she\'s risked one too many things this day. \"Let\'s go find that letter, then,\" she says at last.

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