Among the Graves

[Saruna]

Saruna tightened her swollen fingers around her shawl, and nervousness and other flickered over her features. Aside from her mother's mask of sternness she didn't really have any way of hiding her emotions, and that left her face barren for her companions to see. Home? She had a home, and it was hers. She guarded it as she would any precious artifact, clinging to memories in the way others clung to safety blankets.

Staring at Mako, she said, "There is an inn here, in Shim, if you are interested in a place to stay." Perhaps those were the wrong words. They didn't feel right. Should she invite them to her home? She didn't know them. She ignored Mako's strange and furry companion, and watched Derin as Derin watched Mako. Something horrible was in her eyes, a blend of anger and disapproval before she dropped her eyes back to the bar top.

"The guards will take you if you give them a quarter of an excuse, especially if it is to do with magic."

[Lazarus]

Mako heard Derin's question and looked at the expression on her face. It looked disgusted and misguided.

"Ah, no need to worry. This is Iroh, he's a ferret; kind and gentle but smells a little; but not much."

Iroh stuck his head up out of the glass and took a look at Mako, from hearing his name; and then proceeded to continue drinking.

[Derin Edala]

Derin nodded thoughtfully. So entering Marn was entirely out of the question. She'd just have to make do with any deals she could make for her gems in the village if she needed currency.

"Thanks for the information. I'm not really a fan of magic myself, but it would be terrible if my mother's bracelet was taken." Almost unconciously, she tugged her sleeve to make sure her bracelet was concealed. Apart from the gems stashed in her pack it was the only thing that she carried that was of any significant monetary value, and she didn't want to display it to potential thieves, but taking it off was unthinkable.

"A... ferret?" she asked Mako. Vermin may be repulsive, but Derin was sort of intrigued. She watched the creature drink for a few seconds. "May I touch it?"

[Saruna]

Saruna gripped her shawl tightly, winding the fringe around her fingers as though it would anchor her to the earth. She wanted to tell these two strangers about just what the guards would do to them. It was possible they could be taken and never seen again at the first hint of magic. She ducked her head, not hearing the soft tones of the rest of the conversation. Instead, she turned away from them both with a mumbled, "Excuse me," and made her way outside of the Inn on quick feet. It had been too close, too warm, too many bodies near her own.

The fresh air helped to calm her down, and she looked up to the sky with forlorn sadness.

"What am I doing?" She muttered to herself, not bothering to notice when a passing drunkard looked at her oddly.

[Lazarus]

"Of course! He loves a good scratch, especially on his back. But between you and me, who doesn't?"

Mako let out a mild hearty laugh. Iroh's eye caught something approaching him. Turning his nose towards the object he sniffed Derin's hand. Feeling that the person who owned the hand was not a threat to him, Iroh lowered his head and allowing him to be touched.

[Derin Edala]

Derin rubbed the ferret's head and back for a few seconds, staring out the door after Saruna. Had a furry little beast like that appeared on the farm they would've chased it away and tried to kill it; she couldn't fathom why somebody would carry one around by choice.

But she had bigger things to worry about now. The woman leaving like that was downright suspicious. Had she gone to alert a guard? Was even professing an attachment to an heirloom that may have minor magical properties grounds for imprisonment here?

Not that it mattered all that much if she was imprisoned or killed, but if it was the guards that got to her, it could be dangerous. They were bound to confiscate her things -- or worse, destroy them.

"Excuse me a moment," she said to Mako, standing up and absent-mindedly wiping the hand that had touched his pet on her trousers. She walked outside and immediately located Saruna, alone and apparently deep in thought. Had she just gone outside to indulge in a bit of introspection? Was she considering turning Derin in, and would she be pushed to do so if Derin crowded her? Had she already alerted the guards through some town message system, and decided to hang around and make sure Derin couldn't leave? Derin pondered her options -- it was too risky, every single possible action was too risky. Leaving was suspicious. Confronting the woman was dangerous. "Plan B" -- wasn't even worth considering at this point, she'd already given away too much and if Saruna had alerted the guards and she tried that she was as good as dead.

Touching the handle in her belt told her that her knife was accessible and loose enough to draw, if necessary. Derin went silently back inside to Mako and his stupid pet. He hadn't shown any negative reaction when she mentioned magic... but then, he wasn't local, was he?

"Wow, they're really sensitive about magic around here, aren't they?" she muttered quietly to Mako.

[Saruna]

Saruna was quite ready to walk away from the two strangers who were not from Shim, and not from Marn and not from anywhere she knew of. They were not familiar faces worn into her daily routine that formed the framework of her life. Her boring, placid, lonely life. She took a step away from the Inn, but halted as a couple passed on the road before her. She watched them pass, looking after with an ache in her heart that had nothing to do with strangers and everything to do with familiarity.

The last letter she'd received from her errant children had been two months previous. They'd used to arrive like a sprinkling of rain, a few every week from each one. And then, they had dwindled until a last trickle and then now. She was drying up, drying out. She'd not had a full conversation since her husband had died, and though they'd not had any great love she missed that gentle companionship.

She missed living. She could not call what she had now living.

She didn't think about anything when she turned and made her slow and dignified way back inside the Inn, back to the two strangers who had simply crossed her path at the right moment.

"Excuse me," she said, her worn face creasing into a nervous smile, "I was wondering if you'd both like to stay with me, at my house. It's been empty for a long time," she faltered for a moment, and looked down as she finished with a creak in her voice, "so I have plenty of room for guests."

[Lazarus]

Mako looked over at Saruna and saw a kindness that he was wondering would show up. So many mixes could be seen in this one woman's face, but he could tell that she was trying and that this was not new to her but alienated. Mako smiled and said,

"I would be honored to be allowed into your home. And I assure you, Iroh is house trained."

Mako added with a deep growl towards Iroh as he mentioned that he was house trained. Iroh lowered his head to the table as he heard this and looked worried, but he knew Mako would never hurt him, just lecture him . . . a lot.

[Derin Edala]

Derin stared at Saruna for several seconds before remembering that such behaviour was rude. No matter how she viewed it, she couldn't think of any way that the woman's offer could be a trick. She was unlikely to attempt to poison them or anything when she could simply call the guards.

Derin graciously inclined her head. "Thank you for your hospitality." Perhaps staying in Shim wasn't as risky as she had determined... chances were, it would only be a temporary stay.

[Saruna]

Saruna's shoulders were hunched, and her back was unreliable, but she straightened a little bit when the strangers accepted her offer. Even if one of them included an animal that reminded her of the weasels that had once stolen chicken eggs a long time ago. She didn't keep chickens any more.

A slow smile creased her face into a familiar network of worn lines, and uneasiness settled into a hard lump within her stomach. So many emotions were warring within her, but she held herself still as she'd done so many times throughout her life, throughout all the years of home making.

"Shall we go, or. . ." she looked towards Mako's used cup, and her shoulders gave a little movement like a shrug. She was only slightly eager to get away from the crowds. Within her guarded routine, she seldom had much interaction at all, and it was wearing on her quickly.

[Derin Edala]

Derin stood swiftly, leaving her almost-finished drink on the bench. This was much better -- she may know nothing about the area, be in constant fear of capture and have no local currency, but manners related to hospitality were one of the key areas she was extremely practised in. She was a professional hostess and guest, depending on the situation, and although the rules may be different here she was confident in her ability to pick them up swiftly. Besides, confidence was everything.

She gave Saruna a quick smile, the put-people-at-ease smile she had spent so many hours practising all those years ago. "As you wish, ma'am."

[Saruna]

Saruna peered between the young woman and the older man, and for a moment had a flashback to when her father was still alive and her children . . .well, children. Could it have been that way, with her father standing next to her and her children tall and upright beside her, waiting to go home? She bowed her head, clearing the thoughts away as she shuffled to the door of the tavern. "This way."

They walked through the town, Saruna keeping a slow pace so that her guests might follow along behind her. She couldn't walk very fast, anyways, but her thoughts were quick enough to make up for that. She couldn't help but think of events that had happened too long ago, when a good man had been wrongly punished for something so little, so simple. Before she knew it, they'd reached the outskirts of the town, and a small and tidy little cottage rose up before them. Near the front door was a small and well tended vegetable garden, and the pathway leading up to the front door had stones placed down.

Saruna opened the door, revealing a simple and unadorned interior. "Welcome." She said, nervousness evident in her posture.

[Lazarus]

"Iroh, come."

Mako said as he got up from the bar to follow his gracious host. Iroh jumped down off of the table, onto the chair and hopped off the stool onto Mako's clothes, climbing up to settle on top of his shoulder. Sniffing and looking around as they walked.

As they passed by one of the shops Mako noticed an instrument store and made a note to drop by and see what they had at some point.

When they arrived at the house Mako looked up and saw a comfortable home, it looked old, but it was a home that had sheltered a great number of family. Mako made a warm smile.

"I don't believe we've slept in a house for many years, specially one as welcoming as this one, eh Iroh?"

Iroh made a sound of acknowledgment.

[Derin Edala]

Derin's scrutiny of her hostess' home was subtle; she may not know much about people but she had been taught that to look too closely at charity could as easily be construed as a lack of gratitude as it could a compliment. So she did not stare too long at any aspect of the simple home, nor let her musing show in her expression.

It was rather simple lodgings, she thought, although it would make no sense to expect more from a farmhouse. The place reminded her a lot of the farmhouse she had left behind (a strange twinge at that thought... regret? Guilt? Neither really made sense, but she had no inclination to puzzle it out), and somewhat less comfortable-looking than the places she had become a habitual guest in, some time ago. Of course, she had slept much rougher on the road, due to a combination of necessity, frugality and underestimation of the level of discomfort a human body could reasonably be expected to fall asleep in, but there was a difference between paying for a room in an inn and being a guest due to a host's generosity. The simple fact was that she did not know the social rules for being a guest in a farmhouse. Of course, they might coincide with what she was taught, but she'd seen so many class differences already...

Ah well, she'd puzzle it out.

"You have a lovely home," she told Saruna as she crossed the threshhold, barely noticing her own hand twitch into the sign of blessing she had been taught as she did so (the local version was probably unrecognisably different if they even had one, so it was unlikely the sign meant anything to the others anyway), "Thank you for having us."

[Saruna]

Saruna tried her hardest not to look at her gentleman guest, nor the girl. She didn't want to see them as their foreign gazes touched upon her place, nor did she want them to see her own hopeful memories surging to the surface. How many years since she'd entertained guests? Just as well she was a tidy housekeeper, else they might have left before entering.

Her head was tilted towards the floor as she went to start a fire in the simple brick oven her husband had built just for her. To make up for the time he spent puttering about with wood, he'd said. "You're welcome." She said in her creaky voice, as she grabbed a kettle and hung it above the fire. There was still water in it from her morning tea, luckily so; the cistern was empty and she didn't relish the idea of going to the river to haul water.

"Tea?" She asked, though she wanted to ask the strangers about magic and what they knew. Too long had the presence of her father lingered along the outskirts of her mind, and the idea that there were people who could talk to her about it without accusing her of being a criminal was a welcome one.

But still, she didn't look her guests in the eye.