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Tansy, sneaked a peek out of the door to the Smoke and Ember. The morning mist was still lying in tendrils and wisps around the village. There was no one around the well in the central area except a small robin that was perched on the crossbeam of the well.
Tansy smiled to herself, and grabbing the slops bucket from the night before she wandered out into the fresh day. She walked to the edge of the village and chucked the mixed fermented contents of the bucket into the hedgerow growing around the gates. Good blackberry growing water she thought to herself. She looked along the path leading out of town as it rose up an incline and disappeared. Her mother, Sol, had come here from somewhere out there, though she herself had always lived here. At least it was all she could remember. A part of her longed to walk up the road and see what the rest of the world looked like, for adventure even.
Even this early in the day there was a shimmer of heat on the road and as she watched two figures grew up out of the haze as they walked along the road towards the village. It was hard to make out their features from the distance but they seemed young form their gait. A man and a woman. He was slim with curly hair. She was also slim, dark skinned and with long braids. Tansy puller her own long curly hair across her left cheek as she watched but as soon as the man looked up she hurried back inside the village.
Tansy was pulling up a fresh bucket of water from the well by the time the couple walked through the gates. She sent them a quick glance from behind her hair but then turned back to what she was doing. They stopped where they were and the woman looked towards Tansy guardedly, then turned to her companion and said something to him in a hushed voice. He nodded and she walked towards the Smoke and Ember, throwing a quick glance towards Tansy as she entered the Tavern, Tansy pretended not to have seen, if her mother had customers it meant that she would be wanted inside soon but she didn’t want to return into the stuffy bar yet.
Tansy rummaged in the pouch on her belt and found a crust of stale bread there, which she crumbled and showed to the robin still sitting on the crossbeam. She scattered it carefully on the well wall in a trail leading to her hand and let it rest palm up with the crumbs easily seen, She tweeted and chucked encouragement to the little bird but it just cocked its head and looked at her with one black eye.
“He’ll not come,” said a voice behind her.
Tansy swung around and ran her fingers through the curls on the left side of her face as she did so.
“He’s very friendly, he’ll come to me,” she said defensively.
“But he doesn’t know me,” said the man.
“Then go away,” said Tansy. Throwing the rest of the crumbs onto the wall and picking up her bucket and walking back towards the Tavern.
“Hey, don’t go. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just chatting.” said the man.
Tansy stopped and turned back towards the well. She crossed her free arm across her body and cocked her hear as she appraised this new comer, He looked travel worn and dusty. His shirt grubby and the leather straps he wore across his body were worn. There was at least one knife visible but he seemed at his ease leaning back against the well.
“I’ve got to go back in,” said Tansy regretfully, ”Ma will need me to work. It appears we have guests”. She flung back over her shoulder saucily and walked back into the dark and stale Tavern.
Inside Sol was rekindling the fire and only a handful of candles had been lit. The dark woman was sitting in the far corner opposite the traveller who had slept last night by their fire. A man in an old but once fine coat. She assumed he had stolen it or been given it as it was several sizes too large for him and he hunched into it, under his fur hat, till little more than his eyes could be seen. The woman was learning towards him and they were having an intense and low voiced conversation.
“Good, your back. Fetch some bread and cheese for these folk and cut a few slices of bacon,” her mother called over her shoulder, then blew gently on last nights embers encouraging the fire to flame up anew. Sol then went to the fresh bucket of water Tansy had left on the table and filled a small pot, into which she threw some dried mint leaves, and then placed it on a hook about the rekindled fire.
Tansy went back outside and made her way around the building to a small storage. Inside it smelt of malt and hops, they were bubbeling away in casks and jars, fermenting the new brews. On top of a large barrel at the back she placed the bacon she lifted down from a hook on the beam and carved two slices of ham, she pulled half a loaf from a bread crock and a small round of cheese from the stone slab at the back. All this she placed on a platter and turned back to the door. It was now filled with the young man from the well. His hands holding onto the lintel above the door and looking in at her.
“Any chance of some breakfast,” he smiled cheekily.
“You have to pay for vitals,” said Tansy.
“My friend will be buying”, he said nodding towards the Tavern.
She looked at him silhouetted against the morning light and shrugged. She carved off another slice of bacon and grabbed an apple from another barrel.
“Here,” she said and pushed past him, firmly closing and locking the store door behind her.
When she returned inside the woman and the traveller seem to have finished their business. The woman downed her ale, saw Tansy was carrying bread and cheese and bacon and stopped to take her share and place a Boar coin on the table. As she looked up Tansy saw her face in clear light for the first time. There was an ornate pattern of marks down her left cheek. Tansy drew in a quick breath and instinctively covered her own left cheek. The woman saw this and smiled at her before boldly walking out of the Tavern.
Tansy ran to the window and peek through the slats. The man was back at the well and the robin was sitting in the palm of his hand as he fed it slivers of bacon and chunks of apple. He smiled as the woman approached him, lifted his hand and let the robin fly off. He turned briefly towards the Tavern and seemed to lock eyes with Tansy for a second, then he smiled and nodded his head before turning away, They then both walked back out of the gates and away from the village.
“Trouble. That’s what that pair are,” said her mothers voice from behind her also watching the retreating figures. “Hunter and Lyanna. If you see them again, let me deal with them. I don’t want to attract the wrong attention to my tavern. Now wipe down these table before we have real customers.” said Sol turning back towards the Traveller with the food Tansy had bought in. He placed a Wolf coin on the table for his nights lodging, pocketed the food and left. The Tavern air seemed strangely clearer with him gone.
Tansy tucked her hair behind her ears, showing a strawberry birth mark on her left temple and running down her cheek. She looked thoughtfully towards the door where the woman had gone. Then grabbed a cloth and the bucket of water and began to wipe over the tables.