Chapter Text
Fiadh had lived in town for several months since fleeing her home and had gotten enough lay of life here to know the local market can be dangerous for regular villagers. She had seen several people get robbed in the crowd before; usually, someone would brush past and lift the victim's coin purse, and the rogue would be gone before they noticed. But on less regular occasions, the assailants would be bolder and confront their mark, brandishing a weapon or pushing them into an alleyway to get more physical. Fiadh had seen this happen a handful of times but mentally justified not defending the victims to them being just a little too far away to help. However, Fiadh had learned that her existence drew unwanted attention, being the only firbolg in this small town where everyone knew each other. This was so alien to Fiadh, and she quickly learned that even with the little bit of magic she knew to disguise her height and noticeably firbolg features, as soon as she didn't understand a popular turn of phrase or opened her mouth to speak, everyone knew she wasn't from around here. So Fiadh had put aside any attempt to hide her appearance and instead used it to her advantage to emanate the air of someone not to be fucked with and learned to hold her tongue to not ruin her unapproachable image. Avoiding any actions that would draw attention to her became natural to Fiadh, even if it turned her stomach in her mouth to stand by as more people were hurt.
Today's market run was different. What was supposed to be a quick trip to buy the bland provisions Fiadh has subsisted on since settling down here in town, not able to justify spending more time and coin on better-tasting and hardier food, ended up with Fiadh following a stranger home as she helped stop the bleeding of a new wound on her side.
Fiadh makes her way through the dense crowd, making her way to the last stall she needs to buy from before she gets to leave and hole up in the little shack she is renting and barely considers home. Her eyes are pulled away from the selection of salted meats when she hears the shouting of a woman's voice, followed by a man's. Behind her, near the stalls across the way, she can see a nondescript human man grabbing a purple tiefling woman's wrist, her face flushed a deeper shade of purple, her blonde brow furrowed, and her tail whipping as she speaks angrily to the man. Fiadh goes back to her shopping, writing off the disturbance as a simple marital dispute. She points to her chosen cut of meat and is about to hand over coins to the vendor when she hears a nearby scream.
"GIVE ME BACK MY THINGS!" a woman's voice rings out, utterly distraught.
Fiadh drops the coin, and her hand goes to a dagger in a sheath on her thigh. On her first market visit, she learned that a large ax in many public spaces draws a lot of stares, so she shifted to a more discrete weapon for everyday protection. She turns to scan the crowd to see a streak of purple run past her, chasing after another person while yelling for help. Unlike the other times she had seen events like this, Fiadh moves to join the chase. She tells herself it's due to her proximity to the crime, but a deeper part of her hints that there is something else there.
Fiadh quickly outpaces the tiefling, who even slows down to get a look at the firbolg who has joined her. Fiadh runs past, her eyes glued on the human weaving through the crowd as she follows his wake. Speeding up, Fiadh reaches out one hand to grab the back of the man's collar and draws her dagger with the other.
"Get your hands off of me," the man starts as he turns to look at who has him in their grasp. His eyes widen as he realizes how much Fiadh dwarfs him in height and muscle mass.
"Drop what you stole," Fiadh says in her most intimidating voice. Each word comes out slower and drops lower than normal. Her hands tighten her grip on the man and the hilt of her dagger.
The man with his hands still free, one arm clearly holding the woman's satchel, and the other swiftly slips behind his back. Fiadh, glaring at his face, doesn't notice the glint of a dagger as the man draws it and buries it into her side. Fiadh winces and slashes at the man, aiming for his torso, but misses, creating a deep gash on his upper arm that is holding the bag as he pulls the dagger out to stab again. The bag drops to the ground, and Fiadh snatches it quickly.
"Leave before you do something you'll regret," Fiadh says bluntly as she holds the dagger to the man.
Fiadh hears footsteps hurried behind her, followed by "Yeah, leave us alone!" spat from the tiefling who is now by Fiadh's side breathing heavily. The man considers his options for a moment, but with one look back at Fiadh looming over him, he cuts his losses and runs to disappear into the crowd. Fiadh hands the bag to the woman, sheaves her dagger, and holds her stab wound, her posture now hunched as the pain begins to hit her, and she feels she is no longer in danger. The tiefling woman looks through her satchel as soon as it is handed over.
"Thank you so much!" She says to Fiadh, and she gets a good look at her for the first time. "I don't know how I can fully thank you…" She continues but cuts off when she sees Fiadh injured. "Oh, my Gods! You are hurt here!" She pulls out a floral handkerchief and tries to start dabbing at the blood that is soaking from under Fiadh's hand.
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Fiadh says quickly and tries to gently shoo the woman's hand away.
"Nonsense, look how much you are bleeding! Let me help you!" She continues to sop away what blood she can.
"Seriously, I'm fine. I've had worse." Fiadh unconvincingly as she takes a step to finish her shopping so she can just go home, pain shoots through her side, and she lets out a groan.
"Just because you have doesn't mean you don't need help," the tiefling says. Her brow furrows seriously, but her worried-filled eyes soften the look. Her hand with the handkerchief taps on Fiadh's holding her wound, urging her to take the handkerchief.
Fiadh reluctantly takes the cloth and is glad she did, as she presses her side and is able to put pressure on the wound more efficiently. Regret for staining the nice handkerchief briefly crosses Fiadh's mind but is quickly replaced by many more as the woman she just met saddles up next to her and places her arm across Fiadh's lower back in an effort to offer to let Fiadh lean her weight on her.
"Let's go to my house! I can help clean you up, and I have some bandages to dress it." The woman urges. Fiadh sighs and unconsciously leans into the woman. It dawns on Fiadh that people in the market are looking at her after the spectacle she was a part of, and her arguing with this woman is not helping. She is now filled with the need to leave the market as soon as possible.
"Fine," Fiadh grumbles and is surprised by the smile that lights up the woman's face as she gives in to her pleas. They start to walk out of the market together. "My name is Zerhera, by the way. I'm sorry we met this way, but thank you for your help! You truly don't understand how much you saved me." Zerhera spouts off, filling the silence. Her voice lowers, and she moves her head closer to Fiadh as much as she can, being almost a full two feet shorter than her. "I had almost every coin to my name in my bag."
"You really shouldn't do that," Fiadh adds bluntly.
"I know, but it's not much safer anywhere else," Zerhera says with a hint of shame. The two of them are heading further into town and near the part of town that Fiadh recognizes as rougher and shadier.
"Oh, I see," Fiadh says. The two of them fall into silence as they become more wary of their surroundings.
"This is my place!" Zerhera announces. They approach a tiny little house. It reminds Fiadh of the place she is renting out, the only difference being a couple of windows that decorate the front of the house. Zerhera drops her arm from Fiadh's back to root around in her bag and pulls out a key to unlock the front door. She opens the door and holds it open for Fiadh. Fiadh walks into the small front room furnished with several cabinets on one of the walls, a table with three chairs, and the old pop of color of some flowers in a pot sitting in the middle. Zerhera closes the door behind her. She is about to say something before she is interrupted by one of the doors to another room in the shack thrown open, and small form barrels through the room. Fiadh's hand itches towards her dagger, surprised by the sudden intrusion.
"MAMA!" The form collides with Zerhera's legs, embracing them in a hug. Fiadh is impressed with Zerhera's balance as she still stands strong. The child looks up towards Zerhera; she looks tiefling like her mother, but her purple skin is dappled with blue scales. The child looks over from her hug and points at Fiadh. "Who is that!?"
"Everen, this is Fiadh. She is going to be our guest for a bit. She was very brave and saved me at the market. But she was a little hurt so we are going to help her. Fiadh, you can take a seat if you would like. I can't imagine it's helping to be on your feet." Zerhera gestures to one of the chairs at the main table, and she heads over to the cabinets, searching for something. Fiadh sits down, and Everen stands in front of her, staring at her.
"WOAH WHAT HAPPENED!" Everen's eyes are locked on where Fiadh rests on her side, and Everen reaches out to poke her. Fiadh winces not only at the prodding but also at the volume of Everens's voice. Fiadh just stares back, unsure what to say. Her tribe never had younger children frequently due to their life spans, and when they did have younglings, Fiadh often found herself never interacting with them doing more exciting things.
"Everen! Hands to yourself," Zerhera sternly says as she heads toward them and joins them with a bundle of bandages, a bowl of water, and a cloth. She pulls a chair over to Fiadh's side and sets the water bowl on the table. "Let's get you cleaned up!"
"I can do it myself," Fiadh offers, but her tone seems stubborn. She pulls her hand away from her wound and holds it to Zerhera to ask for the cloth.
"You already have done so much for me. Let me help you with this." Zerhera uses a fraction of her mom's voice to gain some authority. Fiadh's hand drops, giving in. Zerhera drops the cloth into the warm water and wrings it out before dabbing gently around the injury. Fiadh expects pain but is pleased to find just the water's soothing warmth and the other woman's tentative touch. Fiadh feels so vulnerable in this position she hasn't had anyone take care of her like this in years. She notices she has been staring at Zerhera; she has thrown her blonde dreads over her shoulder, and they drape over her eyes, obscuring her eyes from Fiadh. Her face is set in concentration, and she is aware of each movement. As if she felt Fiadh's eyes on her, she looked up at Fiadh and gave a small smile. Fiadh looks away immediately, training her eyes on the room around her, not wanting to get caught staring again. She feels smaller hands on her leg.
"Wow! That looks gross!" Everen says. Fiadh looks down at her; she puts her weight on Fiadh's leg to lean over to get a better look at Fiadh's stab wound.
"Everen, please give Fiadh some space. How about you come sit at the table with us?" Zerhera redirects. As she speaks, the cloth swiftly but gently moves over the most painful part of the wound so the pain is only brief.
"So, are you like a warrior or something? I like your scars! I want scars like that when I grow up! I have one, but it got it from running to a stone wall… How'd you get yours? HAVE YOU FOUGHT MONSTERS??" Everen babbles, rattling off many questions with no time to answer, even if Fiadh would ever match her energy.
"Uh… I'm not a warrior. I just take out jobs here in town. My scars aren't from monsters," Fiadh says but waits a bit to mutter. Well, most of them..." Fiadh looks over at Everen to see the kid's eyes wide, and mouth open a little in awe despite Fiadh telling her most of her assumptions were wrong.
"What kind of jobs do you take?" Fiadh is surprised to hear Zerhera ask. She returns the cloth to the bowl, the water now tinted red, and starts to fold up some bandages.
"Mainly physical labor jobs. Moving things mostly. Sometimes, I guard caravans or do merc work." Fiadhs voice lowers at the end.
"Ah, that makes sense. It would be a shame to put those muscles to waste." Zerhera mentions offhand, and Fiadh assumes she means to say it like it's a fact of life. She sees Zehera place a folded pad of bandage against her wound, and Fiadh holds it with her hand. "Thank you," Zerhera says as she unfurls other bandages.
"Yeah! I want huge muscles like you when I'm bigger! I want to fight things, be able to protect Mama, and go on adventures!" Everen hops off the chair she was perched on and swings her arms like she is wielding a sword, or at least, it is how a child thinks you wield a sword.
Fiadh surprises herself with a chuckle. Everen reminds her a lot of herself when she was younger: unabashedly brave, full of energy, and ready for action. The positive feelings that come with nostalgia are swept away as the outcoming of her life dawns on her, and she is filled with dread that Everen might follow the same path. The tension of bandages wrapped around her midriff pulls her from her thoughts.
"Are those too tight? I don't want to go too loose, or it won't stop the bleeding," Zerhera asks, holding the ends of the bandages, ready to tie them off.
"No, it's perfect," Fiadh says, moving her upper half a little while still in her seat to check. She gives Zerhera an affirmative nod. Zerhera ties off the bandages, and Fiadh stands up from her chair. "Thank you. I should leave you now." She says, heading towards the front door.
"Aw… Really? I wanna hear stories of you fighting, though… Or even better, you could teach me how to fight!" Everen says while running to Fiadh's side and clinging to her leg. Fiadh just stares, not knowing what to say.
"Wait. Do you need another job? We could use some help around here. You saw how well my market trip went and well where we live… Some extra protection for us would do wonders. Especially when I have to work, and Everen is alone here. I can't pay very much however it would be consistent work and probably easier than your other jobs. We can work out something where you accompany us when we go out or guard the house while only Everen is here." Zerhera talks at first more nervously, but as she talks, she becomes more confident, and the job starts to seem more reasonable to Fiadh. It's hard to ignore the urge pulling in the back of her brain to keep this family safe. The three of them stand in silence as Fiadh considers. Even Everen is quiet and is rapt with attention, looking between Fiadh and Zerhera, excited for the outcome.
"Okay." Fiadh finally says.
"YES! We are going to have so much fun!!!!!" Everen releases Fiadh's leg and dances around.
"Really!? Thank you so much! Come by tomorrow, and we can discuss more details. I start work at noon tomorrow, so that should give us plenty of time to discuss." Zerhera explains with almost as much excitement as Everen.
"Perfect. See you tomorrow." Fiadh opens the front door.
"Bye, muscle lady!!!" Everen frantically waves.
"See you tomorrow, Fiadh. Thank you again!" Zerhera says as she joins Fiadh in the doorway before Fiadh leaves.
The door closed behind Fiadh, and she sighed. Fiadh runs through the events that just happened, and so many feelings hit her. Little did she know this was the start of a new chapter of her life. She would finally switch from only surviving in this unfamiliar town because she has found something to live for.