Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: breaking points part 1 Message-ID: Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1993 08:39:16 GMT Arienna waited for him to get up and stagger out of the bedroom. He was no drunker than usual, but this time he was meaner than usual, and he had gone after the kids. Now or never. She furtively tossed a few things into a rucksack, hidden under the edge of the bed: a change of clothing for her, a mirror, a toothbrush. No coins, he'd accuse her of stealing them and beat her again. Only what she had of her own when she came into his house. She heard him heaving into the chamberpot, and felt a wash of pity - he was always so helpless and gentle after he woke up, and he sounded really sick, but then some part of her remembered that he'd promised before, and before that, a litany of lies and betrayal going back four years. The tears started, again, but they dried quickly, as usual. He came back in, saw her curled under the covers, fell unconscious on his side of the bed. He started snoring. Good. Out of it. He wouldn't be awake for hours. She carefully sat up. He didn't wake. She pulled the satchel out from under the bed and walked, quiet, don't let the floor creak. A coughing snore ended suddenly and she froze in place. "Mmnn?" "Go to sleep, I'm just using the chamberpot." "Mn." The snores resumed. She pulled close the curtain between their room and the children's room, and opened the window so the moonlight could come in. Leoni was asleep, his thumbs both in his mouth. Her heart wrenched a bit when she saw the purple mottling of the bruise on his cheek, freshly applied when HE unexpectedly returned to find them eating without him. Dahlina was not asleep. Her eyes were large and red, and she whimpered a bit, but she helped gather her clothes, and her brothers, into the rucksack, and she carried the satchel as her mother balanced Leoni's two-year-old body on one hip and the rucksack on the other. They made it outside without HIM waking up. The woman from the square was waiting for them. Arienna wondered for a moment how she had known that this would really be the night. Maybe she'd come by the day before, or the day before that, and left when it was clear they weren't coming out. She looked at the house, one last time. It was a pretty house, she'd been happy there, at first, before things went sour. Sure, it was close to the Low Town, but they'd been able to afford it while he was working in the Guard, and she was in the Spinner's Guild. But then Dahlina had come, and she wasn't able to work, and things got harder, and he started hanging out with his old friends, and coming in late. She stopped the rush of memory - no time. "here. sit up here, the young one will ride better next to me." The woman's voice was a gentle murmur, barely reaching her ears. Arienna handed up the satchel and rucksack, and then helped the kids into the cart, finally getting in herself, wincing at the stretch as it pulled on the bruises on her legs. The cart moved on quietly. The donkeys pulling it were unusually placid, and their hooves were muffled. Arienna wondered at that - was it really so dangerous what they were doing? Probably. She recalled how he'd been the day she tried to return to her mother's house, five months pregnant with Leoni. She knew then that he would have killed her for leaving him. They moved away from the Merchant's Hill district along the road skirting the Low Town. Finally, they came to a stop, in front of a brick-fronted building on the edge of respectability, near the Fishermens' Bazaar. This wasn't really a good neighborhood. The woman took a bell from around her neck, and rang it - there wasn't a sound, but in moments, four large women in leather armor came out of the front door of the building, assuming guard positions; down the street behind them, Arienna heard an explosive curse and the slap of feet running back into the distance. She looked questioningly at the woman. "they're ramesh slavers, they like to go after women who look helpless after dark. we discourage them." The woman dismounted, and helped as Dahlina crawled down from the back of the cart. One of the guards escorted the girl and her still-drowsy baby brother into the building, and Arienna followed them in. It was quiet inside, but the yellow light of four candles in a sconce provided light for the small foyer. A woman in full robes, even to the full head covering, sat knitting by the door, and she nodded to the guards, who waited for the cart to move back out into the city before they closed the door and barred it. "Welcome to the West Side Hostel," the woman nodded her head, and put her knitting aside. "I'm acolyte Res-Verita, I keep this place going. You will be given a room in the upstairs back. I'm afraid we don't have room for you to have a separate room for the children, but you will have a kitchen and share a common room, and we have schooling for the children who are old enough. Here, Greta, please take these to room 24. Thanks." The woman smiled, lighting her homely face like a beacon. "I bet you kids are hungry, being sent to bed without supper like that. Would you like some cocoa and a sandwich?" She led them into a large kitchen and sat the children at a table. A half-a-peanut butter sandwich with jelly was on one plate, and a tuna salad on another. The kids sat, then began to eat hungrily. The acolyte moved with practiced, minimal motions, preparing hot cocoa from water that was already heated on the wood-stove. Arienna felt a knot forming at the back of her throat. "Here, you're hungry too, but before we start, let's have a look at you and see if we can't clean you up a bit." A nice, hot, wet cloth was produced, and the acolyte gently cleaned the blood and thrown food off of Arienna's forehead, tsk-ing at the injury. "Do you have a god or goddess you take to?" Arienna shrugged, it had been a long time since she thought the gods would do anything for her. "Very well. I entreat the gods of healing and freedom, the protectors of women and children, I call on the powers of light and good to grant me the healing touch." She stroked a finger, tingling-cold, across the cuts on Arienna's face, gently opening her mouth and touching the cracked and loosened teeth, leaving behind a sensation like waking up without a hangover, like spring thaw. She was very gentle, but thorough, and no part of Arienna which had been injured was spared the healing. "That will take care of the outer you. We will deal with the inner you at your own speed. Bodies heal easily, spirits are harder." Arienna accepted a cup of cocoa, realizing that she was hungry, and had been for days now. As she sat, stunned, wondering, the acolyte gently went over both children, wiping away bruises and injuries that Arienna had not even suspected. "Come. It's late, you need sleep. Tomorrow we can discuss what you can be doing, to begin your life again. See," she pointed. Both children were asleep, empty cocoa cups clutched tight. ---- The third morning was harder. She had met a few of the residents, but most of the women who paid for the use of the hostel were in and out, not staying around much, and the guards were guards. Dahlina was in the classroom, and Leoni was playing with the stuffed dragon toy they'd given him. He had declared it to be Gunk the Dragon, and wasn't ever parted from it, even when bathing. Well, it couldn't be hurting him - his bad dreams had stopped, he said that Gunk would chase them away. She had smiled at the very serious two-year-old face when he told her that secret, certain that the real cause was that Daddy wasn't hurting her here, so he wasn't going to sleep afraid. She pulled the child-gate across the door and went out into the hall. She wondered how HE was doing. They said he had gone to her mother's place and her mother had set the dogs on him. The guards had told her about his visit yesterday, and she was glad then that she hadn't seen him, but now she kind of missed him. Then she remembered the look on Leoni's face as his father's boot struck it. He would have been so sorry, the next day, but she knew that he could have killed the boy kicking him that way. No, it was better - but she was so lonely. Before she could repent, again, of coming there, she heard footsteps. "Good morning, res-Verita." She smiled as the acolyte mounted the back stairs into the hall. There were four women who were acolytes here, and res-Verita was the oldest. Then there was the Abbess, Sister El'n, but Arienna hadn't spoken much with her - she was a sour acting woman, with a very stern attitude. She taught one of the classes. "Arienna. We were wondering, have you considered what way you will be contributing to our community?" "Yes, maam. I will be spelling Rheann at the young-children's playroom on alternate days, so she can take her turn elsewhere. And I'd like to do more." "Good. Come with me. We need another person with good sewing skills. Rheann is across the way, she'll look after Leoni." She tapped on a door, and a short, roundish, redhaired woman of maybe eighteen, going on thirty, opened. "I need to show Arienna the sewing room, could you please take Leoni for a while?" "Sure." Arienna was led to a room downstairs, a sort of workroom-commons. It had three large plank tables, one covered in bolts and shreds of cloth and spools of thread and strange puffy white unspun cotton; one was laid out with scissors and paper patterns, the third was occupied by four other women, two older that her, the other two not much older than children, in her eyes. "This is our new resident in the back, some of you may have seen her. Arienna, please meet Dirina, Leanthe, Toriquel, and Vendra." The women nodded in their turns. Vendra was wearing the same robes and head coverings that acolyte res-Verita wore, but the other three were wearing just clean, common clothing very like her own. They were in the middle of assembling the strange stuffed toy dragons like the one that Leoni had been given. "Here, make a place to sie down and we'll show you how we do them." Vendra pointed her to an empty bit of tabletop. "Get a sewing kit from the supplies table, and pick out one of the cut-out patterns in a color you like. Then come over here and we'll show you how they go together." Arienna found a kit, next to a plum-purple colored stack of plushy fabric. She heard the others working, a quiet murmur as they talked to the toys they were putting together. She shrugged, and took the purple material, some matching thread, and her kit to the table. "This is awfully nice material for making toys out of." She looked hesitantly at Vendra, who nodded. "Yes, we got a very good deal on thirty bolts of velveteen from the weaver magicker, their mill made more than the contract called for, and we were willing to take the strange end pieces. We make do but we don't cut corners on any of the important things." Arienna nodded, comprehension growing. That explained the strange mix of finery and what could only be called "tired" furnishings and household equipment. Nothing was worn out or useless, but some pretty old antiques were still finding use here. Vendra continued speaking. "Now, there's a secret to these toys. As you put them together, you tell them what they're going to be like, tell them how brave they are and how smart and true, and how they're going to protect their children and keep them safe from evil dreams. When they get their hearts, and their eyes, and their teeth and claws and wings, then they'll be ready." The woman returned to her sewing, murmuring to her red-gold toy as she sewed the arm-seam: "this is going to be a very strong arm, so you can hold your child close, and protect it from harm." Arienna stared disbelieving. "Uhm, I don't know if I can do that." "Oh, but it's not hard. Pretend you're giving instructions to a sitter," Vendra smiled. "Here, you start with the head first, always, so it can hear you talking. Then go on to do the arms and paws, then go on to the tail, and then the hind legs, and then finish with the body, where it fastens around the legs. Oh, you've not got the heartstone. See, that purple rock you left at the table, that's the heartstone, and it has to be with the dragon as you put him together." Leanthe reached back and handed it to Vendra, who set it firmly before Arienna. "All right. This is kind of silly, though, talking to toys." "Dear girl. These aren't just toys. They're companions, confidantes, playmates, and friends. Our children here have all been hurt by the world in some way or another, and they need a friend they can hold on to who won't hurt them and who won't desert them. You look like you could use that kind of a friend yourself." "Well, I know I won't find it in a toy." "No, I imagine not, you've grown too adult to be helped that way. Some day your innocence might return to you, though, but for now, just trust me, for children, this works." "But it's not real." "Oh, but these ones ARE real. That's why they have hearts, and that's why they need to be told, while you make them, what they should be like." "Well, if you want me to do it, I will. But I still feel silly." "We should all do silly things from time to time, it makes us less boring." Arieanna sat down, and started sewing the head together, plush on the inside so it could be turned around later and the seam would be clean. She used small stitches, tight. "Dragon. They tell me you'll be a protector for a child. I hope that's true. If I could, I'd make you the kind of a real dragon who devours bad people, but not the good ones. One who doesn't scare children, doesn't steal cows or sheep, doesn't steal treasures." She finished the head, and poked it inside-out with her little finger. It needed nostrils, so she turned it around and made a small ring-gather with her needle, from behind, two places. Changing to a gold thread, she sewed in eyes, using a satin-stitch embroidery. "I think with gold eyes like this you could always see, even in the dark, so you could always know to protect your child." She still felt silly. The oval eyes didn't have pupils in them, and she wasn't sure about that, but the others were somewhat the same. "You're doing fine, dear. Just keep going." "Allright. Ears, for listening. Not for talking though. Good dragons keep secrets instead of treasure." She finished the neck. "Nice strong neck, so you can breathe lots of fire on the bad guys." She started on the arms and legs, stitching hints of paws and claws. "Good dragons only have sharp claws to fight with bad monsters, so be very careful with your child. And you have strong arms and legs so you can pick them up and carry them when they get tired." She finished the four tubes, then poked them inside-out with a long chopstick. "Good stitchery, nice seams," Vendra observed. "Should we be stuffing them now?" "Oh no, not yet. That comes later." "All right." She frowned. The dragon that Leoni had seemed to be jointed somehow, but this wasn't a jointed design. "Don't worry, dear, it'll work fine." "I thought they were jointed." Vendra merely smiled. "OK, now I do the tail. Hello, tail. You need to be a very long graceful tail so my dragon will be the best dancer of all. And you need to be very flexible and strong so you can reach under doors and into holes to fetch things the house-goblins have stolen." Vendra looked across the table at her, but she didn't notice. She was getting closer to the middle of the body, when she stopped. "Something else goes here, right?" She looked at Leanthe. "Yes, you need to make a small pouch for the heart stone to live in, and sew it to the body here." "Don't I attach the legs and arms first?" "Doesn't really matter, but yes, you can. You won't have to do as many blind-stitches that way." Arienne carefully set the arms and legs in. "You're a strong dragon, and your limbs don't break or come loose." She looked up again. "Where are the wings?" "Oh, don't worry. They get added later." "Alright, but it must be easier to do it now." "There's reasons, dear. Just fasten the arms so there's room for the wing joint, it'll look more realistic that way." "OK. I see, yes, mine were almost too close together." "That's why we cut the join-holes before we sew them." She sewed a small pouch from the scraps, and as Leanthe directed her, used more of the gold thread to connect it to the dragon's body, and to the ends of each toe and the tip of the tail and the nose and both eyes. "Won't this get in the way when we stuff them?" "Not to worry. The heart has to be connected. Well, you're almost done, love, all that's left is to turn the body inside-for-out and sew up the last hole." "Really? What about the wings and the stuffing?" "We'll see." Arienna frowned, but began turning things inside out, leaving the heart pouch inside. She gave it a final admonishment. "Dragon, you be careful with your child. Flesh-and-blood children are more fragile than a cloth-dragon." She blind-stitched the last bit, and stretched out the shape of the toy on the table. It looked kind of strange, flat and lumpy and purple, the sewn-in nose and large gold eyes giving it a comically serious expression. "You did very well, Arienna. You finished yours in about half the time it took us to do ours." She tried to shrug off the praise. "I used to sew fine work for mother when I was a girl. Anyway, I still think he looks foolish without any stuffing or wings." Vendra and the others smiled - shared secret jokes, which made Arienne blush and feel defensive. Vendra took pity at last. "The heartstones really are magical, love, and if you did a proper job of instructing your dragon, he'll be up and stuffing himself while we're out in the commons eating our own nuncheons. You know that toys aren't supposed to move around when adults are watching them." "Oh." They led her from the room. As the door closed behind them, she heard a faint fluttering noise. She wanted to look backwards, but Leanthe and Dirina each took an arm and pulled her into the kitchen. "We don't watch them eating, it's bad for the magic." ------ [admin] Amazing the stuff that can come to you when you're tired. This introduces the West Side Hostel, which is a hotel for women, run by a religious order. Women from abusive situations are taken in free. Women who wish a safe place to stay off the streets and who do not wish to stay at the regular inns, can stay for appropriate fee.