Work Text:
Eadith awoke to a mouthful of her own red hair. Her night had been a restless one in spite of, or perhaps because of, her broken ribs. She groaned, rolling over, wincing as she sat up. It's still early, judging by the light coming through the window. They had found rooms to rent in Winchester above an alehouse. Finan and Sihtric were sharing one, while she had the other. Osferth had gone to stay with his fellow monks, and goodness only knows where Uhtred was.
With a sigh Eadith reluctantly got up, her whole body aches from the battle the day before and her statement to Finan echoes in her head “From now on I will be staying in the tent”. She is definitely sticking to that.
She makes her way out of her room and down the stairs where she finds Finan sitting alone in the empty alehouse. It’s early enough that the owner is the only other person there. “Good morning.” She says, standing behind him.
Finan whirls around, “Ay, whatcha think you're doin?”
“I can walk on my own, Finan.” She says, taking a few steps as proof, her ribs pain her but not as much as they did the day before.
“You sure about that?” She can hear the concern in his voice, he has been far too overprotective ever since she got hurt. He didn’t let her go anywhere yesterday without his help.
“I’m fine, Finan.” Eadith says, trying not to snap, he is just trying to help. “I broke my ribs, not my legs. Anyway a little broken ribs never hurt anyone.” Finan scoffs but knows better than to argue, this woman will give as good as she gets.
“We got ale and bread if you’re hungry.” Finan says. Eadith shakes her head, the thought of eating anything at the moment, with her still sore ribs and bruised body, is unappetizing.
“Just water, I think.” Eadith says, Finan jumps to get it for her. “Sit down, I’m not helpless.” She says, walking toward the counter.
Eadith is so focused on not showing any signs of pain that she doesn’t notice the corner of the table until she bumps into it. With a gasp that is almost a shriek she bends over, hand clutching her side. Finan is beside her in an instant, gently griping her arm and helping her sit.
“Let me get the water.” He says, walking away from her. Eadith sighs in frustration. The battle the day before had been difficult, but she’s almost ready to oath herself to Uhtred and become a warrior if it means she stops feeling so feeble.
She glances at the table and sees her face reflected in one of the metal cups sitting there. Her hair is a frizzy, tangled mess and she quickly tries to comb it out with her fingers. The ends that fall well past her shoulder are easy enough to detangle with her fingers, but as she gets higher on her head the pain in her side grows. She gives up, deciding to just to braid it behind her but that also hurts too much. She can’t even reach the back of her head without feeling like she needs to scream.
The frustration that has been building all morning, as well as the stress from the day before and the death of her brother, finally breaks her. If not for her ribs she would throw her head down on her arms and sob, and that thought only makes her want to cry harder. She can’t even break down because of her blasted ribs. Instead she covers her face with her hand and lets herself cry.
Safe to say that when Finan returns to the table he is mystified. He hadn’t even been gone a minute. So he does the only thing he can think of, he sits down on the bench beside her and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. Eadith buries her face in his shoulder. Finan, knowing something of comforting from helping Uhtred through both Gisela’s and Beocca’s deaths, rubs her back in slow circles.
“Shhh, Darlin’, shhh.” He whispers, “It’s alright, everything is all right.”
Slowly her crying slows, and then stops. She lifts her head from his shoulder and looks at him. Finan wipes the tears from beneath her eyes before she can try and cause herself further pain.
“Do you want to talk about what happened? Why you’re suddenly crying? You haven't even seen Uhtred yet today, there’s no reason to cry.” Finan says, a small smile on his lips.
Eadith offers a weak smile of her own in return. “It’s just…my brother.” She sighs, “He was executed by Sigtryggr. And I know I shouldn’t mourn him because of what he did to me, but he was my brother and I did love him, he even tried to save me in the end.” She feels the tears threaten to return but she pushes them back and keeps speaking. “And then I try to do anything and all I get is stabbing pain from these damned broken ribs, I can’t even braid my own hair!”
Finan keeps rubbing her shoulders, “Family is family, we can’t choose them but we can’t help but love them, even if they don’t care for us in return.” He says, as soothingly as he can. “And as for the hair braiding, that I can help with.”
“Wha…” Eadith is cut off before she can finish what’s she’s trying to say, because Finan quickly stands up and moves behind her. “What are you doing?”
“Braiding your hair.” Finan says simply, gently combing his fingers through her hair.
“You really don't have to.” Eadith says, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
“Darlin’, you have got more than one broken rib, you can’t do everythin’ right away.”
Eadith nods, there is something comforting and strangely relaxing about the way Finan runs his fingers through her hair, slowly braiding the flowing red ends. Eadith doesn’t want to break the moment by talking, but her curiosity gets the better of her. “Where did you learn to braid hair anyway?”
“Didn’t ya know that it’s part of warrior training?” She can hear the grin in his voice. "You don’t get a sword until you prove you can braid hair.”
Eadith laughs, which is a mistake, she winces at the stab of pain that shoots up her side. She hisses. An equal stab of guilt shoots through Finan’s heart. “Sorry.” He mumbles, returning to his braiding. Eadith shakes her head, acknowledging and brushing off his apology in the same instant.
“How did you actually learn?” She asks.
“Stiorra.” Eadith grins at the thought of Uhtred daughter. She has a fiery, stubborn personality and Eadith can easily see her bossing Finan into learning hair braiding. She also knows Finan is the biggest pushover when it comes to any of the children. “She said she was sick of braidin’ Sihtric’s hair and that it was my turn.” Eadith grins at that, but doesn’t make the mistake of laughing.
“Why does that not surprise me.” She says, “Was Sihtric as eager to have you braid his hair?”
Finan guffaws. “Lord no. He ran like a scared child the first time, but when Stiorra flat out refused to do it he had to give in.”
Eadith smiles again, she doesn’t know quite how she ended up with Uhtred’s ragtag band of friends but she is extremely glad to be here, and grateful for the fate they saved her from.
“There ya go.” Finan says, tying off the end of her braid.
“Thank you.” Eadith says, managing to pull the braid over her shoulder. She’s impressed, Finan isn’t half bad at braiding. She turns to face him. “I do appreciate it.”
“You are welcome.” He holds her gaze for a minute, both of them feeling something in the air around them, both of them wanting to say something more. The moment is broken when some hungover soldiers come through the door, loud and looking for more alcohol.
Eadith gets up from the table, Finan sees her wince but doesn’t say a word, knowing she’ll refuse his help. She is far too stubborn for her own good. He sighs as he watches her walk out of the alehouse. This woman is going to be the death of him.