First Bloom - Spring Breeze

One night as she lay awake she heard scuffling on the boards just outside the servants quarters. She sprang to her feet and held the slack of chain tight in her hands to avoid it making any noise. She moved to the door and tentatively peeked out the keyhole. She only saw darkness and then the door lightly bumped against her nose. She moved to the side and saw a man clad in black clothing holding a club looking down at her. He grabbed her swiftly and pulled her to him placing a gloved hand in her mouth. Slowly another man in similar clothing closed the door and the man holding her asked her if she was the healer as he pressed a knife to her throat. There was no friendly tone and the question seemed to be more of a threat than a real inquiry. She gulped down but decided that if she was gonna be killed it would be for standing tall. She nodded and felt the pressure of the knife ease away.

She spun gracefully, grabbed the man by his lapels and tossed him towards the other assailant in black. As the body flew past her she removed an iron banded club from the belt and using the twirl’s momentum tossed it down the walkway. She didn’t wait for impact and ran after it and towards the guard that had just appeared from behind a corner of bushes. The club hit the man square in the temple and dropped him to the ground. The dazed guard groaned as he attempted to get up but was slammed against the ground by Andrea’s knees slamming into her chest. She quickly grabbed the man’s hair and hit his head against the ground causing him to finally lose all consciousness. As she stood up she relieved the guard from his club and knife as well as his keys which she promptly used to remove her chains as she turned to the first assailants.

It was weird but the men in black were casually looking at her with a relaxed pose. She lifted both her weapons and approached the door with keys in hand. That’s when the one that had grabbed her finally spoke. He told her to drop any idea of getting all slaves out, it would take a small army to perform such a task and they were drawing enough attention towards them by freeing her. She could come alone but if she tried to help the other slaves she would be knocked down by a quarrel from a crossbow and they would leave her to bleed under the moon. She gritted her teeth but dropped the keys to let them know she had decided to follow them. They gestured for her to follow and in a matter of minutes they were out of the state and running into the nearby forests under the cover of night.

It had been a short trip on horseback to the city slums. There the men in black finally introduced themselves. The man that had grabbed her was Arlen, he looked slightly older than her but his body showed much more scarring and the lines in his face told of many more worries. The other man looked older, he introduced himself as Bair. They explained to Andrea how they ran a small group of thieves formed mostly of orphans. As they did Arlen mentioned how her break out had not been a mere whim and they needed her to attend one of the gangs leader, a man named Wyatt who seemed to have fallen for some kind of poison or sickness no healer had been able to work through.




Andrea considered simply turning and running away, perhaps finding her way back to the north on a caravan and forgetting all about this incident. As she did, something inside her chest stirred and told her it was the wrong decision. She had come to the south looking to discover more and learn from the world she had not known. Perhaps the events had taught her horrible things but if she returned, she would be doing it out of fear and it would haunt her to the very end of her days. She steeled her resolve and looked at Arlen with a much recovered fire. She agreed to look into the sickness in exchange for food and room as long as she was treating the sickness.

Bair and Arlen discussed the terms mentioning how she could keep Wyatt sick just to ensure her stay at their garrison, so they offered her a part in the gang as a healer permanently if she pulled Wyatt through. Andrea sighed and made no promises aside from making her best effort to heal Wyatt, afterwards it would be a matter of seeing if she felt alright running around with a band of thieves, perhaps her conscience would not allow her to stay beyond repaying the favor of recovering her freedom.Once all three agreed She was led to a stable where the horses where stored with a nod to the stablehand and a quick slip of a few copper coins. Afterwards they wound around the alleyways and other dark streets until they came upon a small building that looked in heavy need of maintenance. The wooden sign outside stated it was a tavern but the almost empty room beyond the threshold told it could not be a very profitable one.

Bair and Arlen nodded at the barkeep, a large woman, in her mid forties at most who smiled and gestured for the side of the bar. They walked through a door and then split a crate to reveal a thin staircase that slowly went down. They walked for a few minutes on small pathways that had a very slight incline, Andrea noticed that the turns and twists seemed to keep them from a central area they never touched and the incline was not pronounced enough to be dangerous but enough to make way down into the ground. They came upon a wooden door well maintained and with heavy locks and bolts. Bair tapped the door and a small opening slid to a side revealing a metal grid with small holes to let anyone from the other side see clearly through.

The young man inside greeted Bair and Arlen and opened the door. Inside a large room with a huge table and several stools and long wooden seats crammed against the walls was revealed. A large group of children ran about from one side to the other going about a multitude of tasks and disappearing inside small holes that seemed made for no one of Arlen’s or Bairs build. On some of the stools counting coins and discussing something with special seriousness were larger men who greeted Arlen and Bair with hugs and claps on the back. Several doors on the wall led to halls lined with other doors and only one behind a large wooden chair was set on the far wall from where they came in. Bair and Arlen led Andrea into the room without making any introductions.

As they entered the room, the smell of sickness hit Andrea hard. It wasn't poisonous, but it was the smell that came from someone that had been robbed of his strength by something for too long a time. Arlen introduced her to Wyatt as Bair leaned against the door and pulled a knife to pick on his teeth and nails. The source of the sickness wasn’t immediate to Andrea but she could already tell what she needed to at least stabilize Wyatt. She turned and listed a series of items and tools she would need to get started, she then turned and began examining Wyatt with much more detail despite the grunts and complaints of the large man. Wyatt was built almost like her father, he looked northern with a tan, much like her, but not from the marais tribe. After she was done, she had listed at least 4 illness separately, Wyatt was not afflicted by a single malady, but by a series that had gained strength by not receiving the treatment he should have.

Andrea told Wyatt what the procedure would be and how some would be awfully displeasing as they required his body be purged first in order to begin applying the healing substances to him. Once the diagnostic was delivered Wyatt asked Arlen and Bair to leave, they didn’t seem happy with the request but loyalty pushed them to leave without so much as a word of contradiction to their leader’s orders. Once Alone Wyatt took Andrea’s face in one humongous paw and turned it to one side and the other. The girl would have moved away but the grip was strong despite the sickness and she could feel that there was no ill intention in the man’s examination.

Finally Wyatt tenderly released her and asked what tribe of the north she belonged to before launching into a very friendly conversation about the wonders of the north and what a long trip it was to the city. Finally he took on a more serious tone. He talked about how as long as she was not known or covered under some nobles power she would always be fair game to the slavers. She could return to the streets and try to gain her foothold but she would do it always looking over her shoulder, and if they found out she was a healer she would be even more coveted. Andrea lowered her head and listened, Wyatt made sense, he had even told her her best bet was to leave and that was when she decided she needed someone who could look after her as she would look after them. Almost as if reading her thoughts it was Wyatt who made that comment and offered his small gang as a substitute family.

The man talked in an almost fatherly tone as he mentioned how he had come and found it hard to live as a mercenary due to his northern heritage. Soon he too began offering his services to new travelers as a bodyguard but seeing the evil that the city wrought upon the orphans soon led him to take on the role of their guardian and sadly, teach them the lessons of sleight of hand having no other skill to teach them that would allow them to survive at such a young age. Andrea listened intently and finally Wyatt made the offer, he mentioned how they had never had a healer, which had of course cost them the life of some young ones when they came down with fevers too strong for their small bodies. As a healer she would be expected to provide her services to the gang and to other associates that due to their station and workings would not be seen by the high healers of the city that only tended to the rich and powerful.

Andrea mulled the thoughts and seeing her war with her inner morals Wyatt raised a hand and told her to think it while she treated him. If in the end she decided to leave, he would provide an escort and coin to pay a caravan headed for the north. Andrea thanked him and changed a cold compress in his forehead before leaving the room.

After the first night, Andrea was assigned a room with another of the children and she began noticing certain patterns in the comings and goings. She tended to Wyatt and whenever she required any herb or oil, she would be accompanied to the market by one of the heavier set men to serve as her guard while she ran the errands needed for Wyatt’s recovery. During those little walks she noticed the smaller children squeezing amongst nooks and crannies to grab a little bit from here and there of the merchant stalls, haul they would bring back to the base for the older men to sell to fronts or bootleggers for a fraction of their price. Sometimes a child would be caught and the guards would go beyond roughness as they struck to teach them a lesson and discourage further attempts at robbery. When that happened it was Andrea who tended to their wounds with salves and ointments that would lessen the pain or prevent infection.

Seeing the children hurt made Andrea reconsider her stay. Sure Wyatt was providing the children with a form of home and safety but then he was sending them out to risk their hides and sometimes they would even get thrown in the cells where it was not their bodies that were ruined but their minds and spirits. She felt the weight on her chest and her conscience twist almost as if fighting against her for providing for newer opportunities for pain to be dished out. The sensation grew over the days but she did not feel comfortable enough to bring the subject to discussion with Wyatt. For all the hospitality he had offered her she still felt somewhat prisoner and not a part of the group.

Weeks into the treatment for Wyatt’s illness she finally mustered her courage to speak to him. After helping move to the side table to stretch his legs and being recovering his mobility she broached the subject. She mentioned how displeased she was at the high level of risk the younger boys endured to bring barely enough goods for a copper coin to be doled out. They were being misused, their agility and small size could be used for other purposes, not to mention stealing from poorer merchants was easy but in no way was it profitable enough to be a good way to keep the gang running. Besides, the merchants much like them were in a precarious position and robbing from them only peaked their animosity towards the gang making every day more dangerous for the boys to go out.

Wyatt said nothing but watched Andrea with a thoughtful expression as he mulled over what she was saying. Once she seemed spent and dropped into the chair across from him he sighed and shook his head. She was not wrong, but then what would be the options they could not draw too much animosity from the guards by robbing the nobles, it would bring thunder on their heads, he was aware of the danger the stealing meant for his children but what else was there to do? He dropped his head and seemed to breathe with difficulty as if the sadness had suddenly obstructed his lungs.