» Just a Bit of Spring Cleaning, For Nessa!

[Lianne Fletcher]

Early April, 201 H.E.

April had finally come around, which meant it was time for the weather to be warmer, plants to bloom, and Lianne Fletcher to begin her spring-cleaning. That morning, the midwife had decided to start on the chore, beginning with her workroom, which was situated on one side of the bottom floor of their two-storied house. It was the only part of the house that was solely Lianne's domain; the rest of the Fletcher home could wait until she had more hands and feet to coerce into helping. As Lianne opened the shutters, which had been closed most of the winter, she sang a merry – if slightly off-key – tune. She enjoyed being busy, and it was especially pleasant to go about her tasks without interruption from child or spouse. After a quick pause to breathe in the fresh air, the woman moved on to straightening and dusting the shelves and cabinets that lined two walls of the room. From time to time, she paused, making note of any herbs, potions, or charms that she needed to restock.

Around the time her singing faded to humming, she moved on to freshening the bed that stood against another wall and tidying her desk. A smile lit up her face as she encountered among the stacks of papers on her desk a drawing that Liza had made her for Midwinter, which portrayed the Fletcher family in front of their house. Liza must have been feeling charitable towards her brothers at the time, Lianne noted with amusement, for the boys were not depicted with ugly faces or animal-like bodies as they sometimes were. After displaying the drawing on a shelf, Lianne gave the table in the middle of the room a quick dusting and then moved on to the floor. It took some time to removed the old rushes, sweep the floor, and strew new rushes and herbs on the ground, but the result was worth it. Lianne grinned with satisfaction to breathe in the fresh smell that now filled the room.

The floors finished, Lianne glanced around the room, gave a nod of approval, and then stepped outside to make sure all was well on that side of the wall. The wooden healer’s sign hanging near the door of her workroom needed no repairs, even if the wooden cup circled in blue and green shown thereon was a bit faded. The slate next to it – currently empty, for Lianne was at home and had no need to write on it where she could be found – was also in good condition, having just been replaced the year before. Lianne’s attention then moved to the glass globe hanging nearby, the item that she had really come to check. A gentle touch on the sea green globe assured her that she would still receive a slight shock through her Gift if the globe were broken. The globe was used for emergencies, in case someone needed to get a hold of her without taking the time to find her, or if they could not read to tell from the slate where she was. The winter had been a rather calm one, however, and the only emergency that Lianne had faced had come while she was visiting her mother in Upmarket. The globe’s magic had therefore gone untested, but apparently not for so long that it needed to be renewed.

Satisfied with her work for the morning, Lianne turned inside for a break. She only made it past the door, however, when a voice called out for her attention.

This post has been edited by Lianne Fletcher on Oct 18 2009, 07:56 PM

[Nessa Saddler]

The sun had been watching the late sleeping girl for some time now; she seemed not to mind in the slightest as the bright light fell on her face and sent a scattering of gold highlights through her brown hair. Her father had opened the shutters while he made his way through the house as he headed towards the kitchen, hoping that his youngest daughter might choose to join him for breakfast. When nearly an hour had passed and still he had no company, Kor Saddler had muttered a few choice words about ungrateful brats – before leaving a plate stacked with sweet breads out for Nessa and slipping silently out the front door. He’d always been terribly indulgent of his daughters and they’d always been terribly quick to take advantage of it.

About mid morning, Nessa shuffled into the kitchen and sat hunched over her plate as she dissected the sugary treat into pieces that were small enough to fit past her aching jaw. Her face was bruised and scrapped on the lower left side to match the scrapes over the rest of her body. Not that she really minded, had she actually fallen off the roof rather than just skidded to the edge she’d be sporting a lot more than a few surface injuries and a shaken sense of pride. The only thing that bothered her now was if she should hug or kill her younger brother. She was grateful that he’d been there to drag her back up and even more so that he hadn’t just dumped her own the doorstep of the apartment where she lived, but had brought her back home to be patched up by their father. It nagged at her though that Ciaran had plucked her bag of stolen goods out of danger before he’d gone to her aide. Was Ciaran getting greedy? Nessa promised herself that she’d speak to Gauge about it that night when she returned home.

Stretching her body gently she rose from her seat and started going through the routine of tidying the kitchen, putting things away and cleaning what was dirty. With the day’s temperature rising, their boxy little kitchen was becoming stifling; Nessa pushed another shutter open and gathered her hair into a knot at the back of her neck. Frowning to herself she touched little fingertips to the back of her neck, looking for the slender chain that was always thoroughly entangled in her hair and came back with nothing. Her pregnancy charm must have been torn off the night before, or during any of the rough and tumble days she’d been having recently. Nessa’s lips twitched in what might have been a grin had her jaw not hurt so gods damned much, because it didn’t actually matter at all when she’d lost her charm, her life had been devoid of a sweetheart for some time now. Sighing to herself, she finished cleaning and went to hunt out a change of clothing from the many items that had been too precious to take with her to Upmarket.

She stepped out of her family home in a cream shirt and a dark blue skirt, if not for the scrapes she’d have looked half way respectable. After taking a moment to orientate herself, she started in the direction of where she thought she’d spotted a Gifted midwife’s shop only a short distance along the streets of Flash. The warm air and the abundance of flowers put the girl in a friendly mood; when she saw the fair haired healer tidying up her shop, Nessa stayed silent to let the woman finish before greeting her, “Hello ma’am, you’ve done such a good job fixing up your shop here…” She stepped inside, enjoying the fresh smell of the clean rushes. “Would you fancy having a go at fixing up my face too? Oh and do you sell charms as well?”