Completed Ale Brings Comfort, Wenches Bring Fury (Shiress)

[Karyk]

Summer 66, 517 AV The sound of thumping wooden mallets filled the air as Karyk and others worked on the skeleton of a new fishing ship. They were fitting the ribs onto the keel, a process that took many people, a lot of strength, and a keen eye. The timbers for the ribs had already been partially curved through a steaming process that took days. Karyk had a rope wrapped around his left forearm, and gripped tight in his right hand. Several other shipwrights around him had their own ropes, pulling as they curved the beam more, upward toward the top mount beam. They didn't even need a counter, as they heaved in unison, on every third breath. Breath out, breath in, pull. Muscles strained as they fought for every inch they gained. The foreman was up top, with his keen eye and hammers ready. Karyk braced himself against the keel, able to use all the muscles in his back, arms, and legs, as they continued to drag it upward. Huffing and puffing he and the others tugged, until they heard the foreman call out, "Whoa!" Everyone stopped, straining to hold it where it sat. The foreman drove several huge nails through it and the crossbeam. He then slathered the joint in pitch, "Tie her down!" Karyk and the others wrapped the ropes beneath the keel, and he tied his off with two half hitches topped with an overhand knot to prevent slipping. Karyk stood up, stretching, wiping the sweat from his brow. Foreman, pleased with how it seemed to be setting, "Alright, let's call it a day. Bright and early tomorrow." Karyk gathered up his things, and set them off in a corner like many others did. They never had to worry about their tools being stolen, not with the heavy security Ravok held around the shipyard. Karyk caught a ravosala and made his way for his local watering hole, The Spot. Work kept his mind off things, but the time between working and sleeping always filled his mind with grief, memories of his sister and her kids. He couldn't handle that. So he sat down at a table by himself, and when the barmaid came, "One ale, and keep 'em comin'. Good tip for ya if I never find the bottom." The barmaid smiled, knowing she'd be coming into some easy money this afternoon. Several bells later, Syna starting her descent, and Karyk was slumped against the inside wall of a ravosala, head swimming. "You gonna be okay mate? If you need to puke, do it in the canal, let Lord Rhysol clean it. I know I don't want to." Karyk smiled goofily, raising a hand as if to wave off the man's concerns, before resting his head against the wood, being lulled to sleep by the rocking boat. Just as his eyes closed, he felt a splash of water against his face and he started, "Hey, we're here. Get off my boat, ya drunk." Karyk's eyes fluttered drunkenly, head lulling, before receiving another shooing splash. He pulled himself upright, wobbling, rocking the boat, "Hey, hey, hey, stop that, get out ya petchin shyke." Karyk fell out of the boat onto the wooden platform, hard, knocking the wind out of him. He swore a bit, before climbing back to his feet. He tossed some coins at the ravosala, some landing in the boat, some in the water, "You already paid me once, idiot." Karyk scoffed, and turned toward Tarsin's. He stumbled through the door noisily, laughing a bit as he did so. He noisily stumbled through the housing, up some stairs loudly, attracting the occasional set of concerned eyes through cracked doors. He tried the knob on his door a bit, before it was opened from the inside, a small red haired girl staring up at him. Karyk smiled wide, "Ah'm 'ome kidsh. 'ave we gotsh any foo.." as he wobbled inside. The twins had been busy playing with some of the logs for the fire that wasn't burning, their eyes wide and frightened at Karyk's loud, drunken appearance. Sharay pushed at Karyk's hip, toward the bed, "Ya didn't bring us any food didja? We're hungry." Karyk was steered to the bed, where he fell across it, face first into a pillow. And he was out like a light, snoring loudly through the side of his mouth, his booted feet propped up comically. The twins spoke up, "Sharr... we're hungry..." Sharay glared at Karyk's passed out body, and deciding to take matters into her own hands, grabbed his coin pouch from his belt. She punched him in the back with her tiny fist, kicking at his dangling feet, "I'll find us some food. Just, stay here. Be good. Promise me." The twins nodded, before saying a Zeltivan promise, "Like the tide coming in." Sharay nodded, much like Karyk would when determined and stubborn. She pulled on her tattered boots, and made her way out of the room. Once she was out of earshot, making her way down the steps, the tears came. She cried for mom and sisters that were dead, she cried for her uncle that couldn't handle it, and she cried for her brothers that were old enough to remember but too young to understand. She sat there at the bottom of the steps crying for a long while, clutching her knees. Eventually she stood up, and left, catching a boat across to the main platforms. Karyk hadn't taken them on a proper tour yet, but she knew she lived at Tarsin's. Surely she could get back easily enough. But it didn't take long for the twelve year old to get lost searching for food. And panic began to set in. They'd only been here for four days. Soon she was rushing about between shops, panicking, clutching the coin bag to her chest, not knowing who to go to for help, but knowing she couldn't go back without food for her siblings. Tears stung the young girls eyes as her breathing was ragged, making a big fuss trying to find her way about.

[Shiress]

Shiress straightened, running a nervous hand through her freshly washed hair. It hung loose, gently curling around her shoulders and down the length of her back. Such things would have to be now, as her Mistress was back. Like clean hair. And bathing. She wouldn't have to steal food anymore, either. She guessed there was something good about Sayana's return after all.

Shiress glanced down at the small purse of coins her Mistress had handed her, as she had left the house, then tucked it into her pants pocket. Her hand paused, face twisting with a grimace, as her hand passed over the sharp point of a protruding hip bone. The girl hadn't felt such gauntness in such away since..since she was a slave.

Full circle. My life as come full circle. She thought, ruefully.

She withdrew her hand from the baggy pants pocket, glancing down, remembering how the dark brown britches, not that long ago, was a tight fit. She sighed, planting a long ringlet behind an ear. "Stop that!" she whispered, admonishing herself "you have other things to think about!" Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she leaned forward, peering around the corner again.

The young, red haired girl was still there, her pale face still awashed in tears. Shiress had first noticed the girl some chimes ago, as she had dodged passed her, sobbing, and seemingly panicked. Shiress had followed her, unseen, warring with herself on whether or not to approach the distressed kid. A couple seasons ago it wouldn't have even been remotely considered, but now. Now Shiress didn't feel as if she could even be of help for the kid. Maybe they could find a rock and sit and cry together.

Shiress shook her head, moving back behind the wall, a shaky hand inching across her sunken, sour stomach. How could she help someone, when she needed desperate help herself. She began to turn, resigned to leave the young girl to her own fate, when the child gave a loud sob. The shaky hand moved from Shiress' midriff to her mouth, covering her own sob. She couldn't just leave the girl. It wasn't in her. Of all the things her Mistress, Sayana, had planted in her, coldness was not one of them.

Shiress drew in a long, deep breath and let it out slow, back stiffening with a confidence she did not feel. Pushing her long locks from her shoulders, Shiress stepped out from the wall and walked toward the girl, tears threatening to form in her own eyes. " Sweetie?" The word came out a lot more shaky than she had intended. She cleared her throat, stepping slow, as if she was approaching a timid rabbit, her voice pitched low. "Hey, sweetie, are you ok? Is someone trying to hurt you?" She moved around the girl until she could see into her tear reddened eyes. She knelt down and placed a thin hand gently on the girl's shoulder, her emerald gaze searching the redheads face. " My name is Shiress. Are you hurt?"

[Karyk]

Sharay immediately began to calm down somewhat as the woman approached her, offering concern for the distraught redhead. At her first question, crying in frustration and fear still, her Zeltivan East Street accent even more prominent, "Ah'm los'. Ah'm jus' tryin' to fin' some petchin' food for me an' da boys." A louder cry, messy and wet, "Bu' iunno dis town! We jus' got 'ere and Uncle jus' drinks all da damn time!" The girl was loud, the feminine fire from her family burning through the tears, not caring if any onlookers stared. When the woman knelt by her, putting a hand on her shoulder, Sharay lost it. She heard the woman's name, her kind voice, and threw herself forward. Clasping the woman around the neck, Sharay sobbed into the woman's hair. Bits and pieces of words were heard, "...miss mama... Uncle killin' himself... boys scared... hungry..." After a long hard cry, it seemed Sharay had run out of tears. She stepped back from the woman, looking up at her with defiant, tear streaked eyes. "I 'ave money. We live at Tarsin's. I jus' dunno where to ge' food at. Can ya 'elp me? Uncle Karyk is drunk in da bed again. Ah'll 'ave to sleep on da floor, again." Sharay hoped this woman would at least help her find some food she could take back for herself and the boys. The same boys that were now rummaging through Karyk's pack. Decker unrolled Karyk's bundle of axes, picking up the smaller carving axe. Becker, on the other hand, had found Karyk's flint and steel. The two began playing in the hearth. Decker chopping at wood recklessly while his twin attempt to set something on fire, be it the bark on the wood or covering the floor. The giggled the whole time, voices covered by Karyk's loud snoring.

[Shiress]

Shiress wondered, as the girl began her tearful explanation, if anyone from the city of Ravok could possibly understand her. Shiress, however, understood every single, tear stained word. A hesitant smile began to form itself across Shiress' lips, as the Zeltivan accent came forth. Home. How long it had been since she had heard that specific, beautiful break in dialect. Oddly, it crushed the woman's heart.

As the girl's small arms embraced her, Shiress lifted her emerald eyes to the heavens, offering a silent plea for the tears not to fall. Long, thin fingers slowly slid around the girl's neck, gently entangling themselves into the soft, auburn curls there, as she pulled the child close. The girl sobbed and Shiress listened, catching every word.

The girl missed her mother, her uncle -her mother's brother, maybe?- was killing himself. A tiny bolt of lightening ran down the woman's spine at that. She certainly hoped the girl didn't mean her uncle was killing himself at that very chime, but Shiress let it pass without commenting. Even if the uncle was, she doubted she could reach the man in time to prevent anything anyway. The girl went on and Shiress gathered she was concerned about hungry brothers, or maybe cousins. The woman shook her head in sympathy at the outpouring, resting her chin atop the ginger head, as the words stopped and the tears ran unchecked.

At last, the girl loosened herself from Shiress' form and, as the girl spoke, she migrated from a fear panicked child, to a determined young woman. The slave's thin lips formed a tight line, as the predicament unraveled and understanding sat in. "Of course I'll help you." She said, soothingly. How could she not?

Grabbing the girl's hand, she set off through the shops, pulling the small form along with her. She felt a determined confidence alien to her these last few season's. It actually felt good to be so resigned, helping someone else, currently lost as she was. Though, Shiress was not lost within the city, but within her own mind.

She gathered together some bread, a block of cheese, some dried and salted pork, a large skin of milk, and soon to be needed coffee, paying accordingly, from her own coin, and stowed the goods in her bag. She would tally up with this drunk uncle later. At the last shop, she ask the woman tending the table direction to 'Tarsin's'. She hoped she pronounced it right, and she must have, because the woman spoke and gestured directions immediately. With a nod of thanks for the directions, Shiress turned to the girl. "OK" she pulled the small hand into her own again "Let's go." And the two set off toward this place called Tarsin's, Shiress giving a wary glance back toward home. She would just have to take what Sayana would give. She had to do this.

As the two walked, Shiress gently prodded the girl with questions, none too prying, for fear of summoning back the tears. "Your boys," she glanced down, placing a guiding hand on the girls back, "are they cousins or maybe brothers? And, your uncle, you say he is drunk, does he do this a lot? Is he not working, Is that why you have no food?" She didn't ask the one question roaming around in her mind, because she thought she knew the answer. She misses her mother, living with her uncle, uncle drunk; the mother left or died, and mother's brother is tending the kids. Not too well, obviously.

Shiress' back teeth ground together angrily Gods be damned if I can't better my own self, I can better something for these kids! The thought spiraled through her on the tail of resigned confidence. Sayana be damned, or her damn me.. That last thought, however, made her surroundings swing around and her footing falter. Shiress stumbled, placing the palm of her hand across her brow, until her eyes swam back into focus. She glanced down, hoping the girl hadn't noticed. She smiled weakly.

They crossed the water in silence and once they exited the boat, Shiress pulled the girl around to face her. "Once we get to your home, I want you to take your boys into another room and eat. I will see to your uncle. OK?" Planting a hand on the girl's back, and the other across the sick feeling forming in her middle, they continued on, an anger wakening within her gut, like a long dormant and angry beast. The slave could feel the weight of the last seasons settling onto her, and hoped she could stay focused, and not let loose the angry beast stirring within her.

[Karyk]

Little Sharay held tight to Shiress' arm as the woman guided her around. The girl had attempted to pay each time, but the woman had insisted. Sharay didn't seem to mind though, no east street native passed up on free stuff. When questioned, the girl answered readily, "Dey's my brothers. Becker an' Decker. Dey's seven." When asked about Karyk's drinking, Sharay took a moment to think before answering. "Before... he were a nice drinker. Bu'... ever since mama... 'e gets sad. Sometimes mad. Bu' 'e jus'.. 'e forgets 'bout us..." She took a deep breath, "Dat's why we dun 'ave food." Finally arriving at Tarsin's Sharay stepped off the ravosala. When faced toward Shiress, Sharay listened, nodding at her instructions. Sharay led the woman by the hand into Tarsin's, up the stairs to their floor. She eased open the door to their room, unlocked since Karyk still had the keys in his trouser pocket. Seeing Becker and Decker trying to start a fire, she rushed over to them and grabbed each of them by the ear, "Stop that ya wharf rats. I got food, we's gonna go nex' door to miss Hortense and eat. Yall will behave or no food, 'kay?" The twins fidgeted under her grasp but relented, nodding. Sharay took them and the bag of food, looking first at Karyk's passed out body on the bed, then up to Shiress. There was some concern on her face, "'e's not a bad guy... jus' lost after mama died..." With that, she led the boys next door, knocking on Hortense and Oleander's door, and being let in to eat in peace. All the while, Karyk continued to snore, unmoving aside from his chest rising and falling, drool pooling in his pillow.

[Shiress]

Finally, it all made sense. As young Sharay spoke, the pieces fell together; uncle Karyk had taken on his sister's children, after she had died, three of them, no less. Seven year old twins, Shiress assumed. Her eyebrows inched up at that revelation. He loved his sister and is struggling with the loss of her. A noble act, taking on her children. Shiress felt her anger ebb, somewhat.

As the room door swung open, Sharay darted forwarded, startling Shiress. She followed the girl a few steps into the residence and stopped, mouth forming a surprised O, as the twins came into view. The edges of her anger sharpened to jagged points again. "The dumbass man would have burned up right along with the two little ones." she mumbled, peering around to the motionless heap on the bed. Her thin lips scrunched to the side, as she shook her head.

Sharay pulled the slave's thoughts back to her and the other two, when she spoke. She gave her a small smile. "I hear you, sweetie. He's lost, I know." The smile followed the girl, and the contrite little boys, to the door. Shiress watched the three until they disappeared through the neighbors door, then shut her own, and crossed the floor to stand by the bed and the unmoving figure. He was a big man, or so it seemed to Shiress. "Hairy, too." Shiress noted, not nicely.

Thick, muscled arms lay up to each side of his head. The man's bicep was as big around, probably bigger, as Shiress' thigh, his forearm thicker than her bicep. She noted this with an approving lift of an eyebrow. Shiress ran her fingertips gently along the grooves and peaks of Karyk's strong arm, then nudged him. He didn't move. She nudged him harder. Nothing. Her fingertips drew in and she pinched the skin between them as hard as she possibly could. She thought that one snore may have hitched. A sly and satisfied little smile crept across Shiress' face, knowing that that would hurt, right along with his head, here shortly. She wanted to slap the fool, but she restrained herself. For now.

Shiress' nose wrinkled as she leaned down, attempting to see past the thick beard, and into the mans face. He stank of alcohol. It reminded Shiress of The Stallion and, oddly, she found it not that unpleasant of a memory. She missed home. She missed..."Stop thinking about that.." she admonished herself, straightening. Her arms crossed over her chest, as she turned to look around the dim room. Save a few unplaced items, you wouldn't know that children lived here; no toys, no school books, or writing tablets, nor, Shiress noted with a disgusted snarl, was there any food.

She moved from the bed and stepped to the discarded flint and steel. Taking both in hand, she knelt before the fireplace. After a few strikes, the spark caught, then spread into a small flame. She left it at that; she needed the fire more for light, than warmth. She took a small, flaming piece of kindling and walked to several candles, lighting each. The room lit up more and more with every step, and with every step, Shiress' contempt strengthen, and her head shook harder.

Tossing the used kindling back into the fireplace, she turned, and beelined to a basin of water she had noticed while lighting the candles, grabbed it up, and stepped heavily back to the bed, placing the basin on the floor by her feet. She sucked her teeth, contemptuously, lips puckering. "Karyk!" she yelled, then leaned down, placing both hands on the mans thick arm. With all she had, she heaved. It almost worked. "Wake up you asshole!" Planting her feet firmly, she heaved again and the large bulk of the man rolled over. She was sure he probably woke enough to help, because she had already came to the conclusion that she was trying to move a damn mountain. "Karyk!" leaning down, she picked up the basin and up ended it over the drunks head, yelling "Wake up you piece of motherpetching shyke! There's been an accident!!"

The slave took a few cautious steps away from the figure, anger boiling.

[Karyk]

Karyk felt something bite his arm, stirring him slightly from his inebriated slumber. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and Karyk began to drift back to sleep, comfortable and warm. There were no thoughts keeping him away, nothing more than the feel of blankets against his face. And just before that last sweet moment before the world turned completely black again, he heard his name, yelled by a woman in distress. He stirred heavily, the image of his sister falling from that carriage, yelling the same, his face twisted in pain. Then he heard another yell, commanding, and he felt himself being tugged awake. No, he was just being tugged, literally. He started to sit up, eyes struggling to open. Where was he? Whose voice was that? It wasn't Sharay. Hortense maybe? As he turned, he started to speak, "Wus goin'.." But that was when he was met with a face full of bathwater. Sputtering he stood up, knocking the basin away painfully as he flailed. He wobbled heavily as his eyes tried to find focus as the water poured away, making a mess everywhere, "Wud da petch?" He saw some curly haired woman standing there with fire in her eyes. "Who da shyke are you?" Then he looked all around his room, not seeing Sharay or the twins. "Wheresh mah kidsh?" Then he realized he'd heard the word accident, and his entire face fell into dread, pure panic setting in. Eyes searching desperately, "Where are dey? Wha' 'appened?!" He approached the woman aggressively, towering over her, his eyes full of panic and fear, his gait unstable from his inebriation, looking to her both for answers and blame. "Where'sh mah kidsh?!" He roared again at the woman.

[Shiress]

Shiress stepped sideways, avoiding the flung basin, watching, gratified, as the drunk flailed about, his questions ignored. She opened her mouth to finally respond, but then he moved, and was on her. Two long, deliberate steps, and the man was looming over Shiress like a swaying, giant oak. The slave took three, horrified steps back. Her bottom bumped into something and she halted, chin dipping down to her chest. She was responding just as she would to her Mistress's ire, ears straining to hear the telltale snap of the whip.

But then, she remembered.

Green eyes snapped up to meet the red rimmed ones of Karyk, her jaw working, clenching and unclenching, as the distaste for this man grew. Acting as if he was so concerned for his 'kidsh' when they were hungry, and seemingly in danger of burning up, and he was sloshed, passed out in bed. She scooted around the object behind her, putting it between her and the -now irate- drunk. She hoped it looked more like a resigned, angry stroll, rather than a fleeing, almost run.

"I said that there was an accident" She answered, her words clipped, tone cold. Shiress turned to look at the man. The face looking back at her jerked a knot of despair in her heart. So much so that She slapped a hand across the hole forming in her chest. Karyk's eyes were full of fear, true despair, for what Shiress was going to say about his kids. Green eyes searched the worried face, then fell away. She sighed.

"It was an accident the night your father decided to petch your mother, conceiving you." It was weak, but Shiress didn't care. It was enough to bring back a little backbone. The slaves emerald gaze slid sideways, regarding the man. "Sharay and the two little ones are at the neighbor's" she lifted a thin arm, gesturing next door, "eating food that I bought them" every word inflated the angry tone for the next "while you lay in your drunk bed" she flung a hand behind her, toward the fireplace "and your pyromaniac twins attempt to burn themselves and you to ashes!" she drew in a long needed breath, forcing calm.

"I found Sharay sobbing, clutching a coin bag, and in a full on panic." The tone of her voice dropped and tears seeped into the corner of the slaves eyes. The more she spoke, the more she realized why she had helped the young Sharay and her brothers. "She was scared and lost" She continued. Scared and lost much like Shiress, at the beginning of Winter. "She was hungry and worried for her loved ones." This too, just as Shiress had been "She had no choice" She said, then Sayana's suffocating voice rang through her mind, starving her, beating her, abandoning her, and leaving her to be scared and lost and hungry.

Emotions wrapped its way around Sayana's hypnotism and plowed, headlong, into Shiress. She rounded the table in a violent blast "What the petch is wrong with you"!? Shiress planted both opened palms on the mans chest, in a hard, shoving hit. The woman might as well have tried this with a brick wall. She bounced off the man, tumbled backwards, and fell, half her bottom hitting the forgotten wash basin, before meeting with the floor. Partially formed tears were jarred from her eyes, as pain radiated from her ass to her hip. She gazed up at the giant, eyes creased to slits, contempt thick in her voice.

"How can you love and grieve for your sister, when you treat what is left of her -her children- lesser than you do an ale flagon?" Shiress shook her head -privately wanting to rub her throbbing ass cheek- and gave an ugly snort. "You spit on the memory of her"

[Karyk]

Karyk paused for a moment, unsure, sensing that the woman was overly scared of him. But just as quickly as the thought had come, it was dispelled by the fierce gaze she locked onto him. He heard her repeat herself about an accident having occurred and his heart fell. It must've been bad if she couldn't tell him what had happened. But then came the insult, and it confused the hell out of the drunkard. Of course he was an accident, Southwinds were notorious for not planning out their children. Did that mean there was no real accident? Karyk's mind couldn't make hide or hair out of what she'd said, a confused and slackjawed look upon his drunk visage. He relaxed when she told him where the kids were. And she'd bought them food? That was nice of her. He'd meant to get food earlier... but he must've forgotten. The guilt was creeping its way in. This was starting to feel like an admonishment, the sort of lesson his sister or mother might give him. And it was sobering to say the least. It was strange, in the presence of an angry woman, he relaxed a bit. Until... She mentioned the boys having been playing with fire. His eyes immediately shot to the hearth, looking for any signs of damage to the floor or rug, anything that would show what they'd done. They could've burnt down the whole building, or the whole platform. And that would've been on him. The gravity was starting to weigh on him at this point. But that was nothing compared to hearing about Sharay crying, in the city, alone. She'd not cried once since her mother had died. Yet he'd caused her to do so, with his carelessness, with his irresponsibility, while the young girl had been doing his job for him. It wasn't long until the woman had rounded on him, hands against his chest in a shoving attempt. Physically it didn't do anything to him. But Karyk could tell just how horrible he'd been. A stranger, a complete and utter stranger, was so appalled with him, that she'd taken it upon herself to help the children, to admonish him, to physically attack him. Karyk knew then that he truly was the lowest of the low. He'd abandoned family. Zeltivans were a lot of things, but they don't abandon family. His family was the entire reason he'd chosen Ravok over Riverfall, why he'd chosen to not follow Salara. Because he loved his family. They were everything to him. And what did he do? He gave up. He forgot them. He hurt them. Karyk didn't even notice that the woman had shoved herself into a near heap, as he sat down on the damp bed. He held his head in his hands, elbows on his thighs, as the tears filled his eyes. What sort of man was he? He'd ruined his own marriage because they couldn't have children, and here he was, proving that he wasn't even fit to take care of them. He was a sham. A fool. He was weak. There was no defending himself. Everything this woman had spoken was truth. He didn't deserve to raise these kids. But they had no one else. They needed him. They needed him to be stronger than them. Barely audible, "You're right.." He looked up at her, still feeling the effects of the ale on him, but knew his thoughts were clear, tears streaking down into his beard, "I'm failin' them..." He looked at the woman, her anger clear, his stomach sour from shame, his throat tight. He wanted to apologize to her, but he knew that was a pointless and futile gesture. How could he be better? The call to the drink, the desire to forget. When he was sober, it hurt so much, everything made him think about her, about her girls. Looking at this woman with desperation on his face, "'ow do I make the pain stop?"

[Shiress]

Shiress watched as the man collapsed down on the bed, tears flowing. She wanted to roll her eyes at his weakness, but she couldn't. She knew this pain all too well. She wanted him to feel guilt. Wanted him to feel like a failure and beat himself up for it. That's what he needed to do. But, now that he expressed such feelings, Shiress rolled her eyes at her own self. She ended up feeling sorry for the son of a bitch.

"There's nothing you can do to make the pain stop." Shiress tone was flat. She spoke as she lifted herself from the floor, wincing at the pain the movement caused her back end. Leaving the man to brood in silence, she moved toward the fireplace, pulling her bag around as she walked. She placed the bag on the floor and knelt, plunging an irritated hand within, rummaging around a tick, before producing the pouch of coffee she had bought. Crossing the room again, she found a kettle full of, what she hoped was, clean water, and hung it above the flames to heat.

Straightening, she gave a quick glance to Karyk and, seeing him not looking, took a moment to rub her sore rear. There was a knot forming and she bet there was a spectacular bruise forming, as well. It really hurt.

It didn't take long for the small kettle to warm and she began preparing the coffee. Soon, she crossed the room back toward the man, two mugs in hand. The coffee was very black and very strong. Which was good, Shiress concluded; the man needed something strong in him, other than ale.

The slave placed one mug on the tabletop and offered the other forward to Karyk, the proffered hand prodding him softly on the shoulder. "Here drink this." Pulling a chair around from the table, Shiress sat, ever so gingerly, and slightly leaning to one side, but facing the distraught uncle. She sat in silence, regarding the man, green eyes searching him.

"You haven't failed anyone." Her words were heartfelt and her tone soft. "Sharay loves you." Shiress smiled, pulling the mug into her hands. "She defended you to me. She understands that you hurt." Leaning forward, Shiress rested her elbows on her knees, fingers entwining around the warm mug she held before her lips. "The girl told me that your sister died. I'm sorry for your loss." Bringing the mug to her lips, she sipped noisily at its contents. "Sharay and her brothers have lost a mother, but," Shiress placed the mug back on the table, then leaned forward again, catching the mans dark eyes with her own. "what you are doing to them right now is much worse than death."

Shiress thought the man knew this now and let the berating subside. After a chime, she spoke again "Everything you need to stop hurting is eating in the next room. They need you just as much as you need them, Karyk." She offered the man another genuine smile. "The pain doesn't last forever." She pulled the mug from the table for another sip, but she lowered it to her lap instead, trailing a fingertip along the rim, thoughtfully. "I know this loss." she offered, smiling sadly. "My brother.." Shiress' words fell away like a bolder thrown from a window, green eyes widening, as they vacated the present. A sudden flash of memory shot through her awareness.

Zane tied to a tree

Zane screaming her name as the sound of a whip cracks through the night

Her mistress smiling

It faded as quickly as it had formed. "...brother" she mumbled, then as the vision faded, she looked up, hesitantly, unsure of what she had just thought, or maybe she had remembered. She shook her head with a feigned laugh. "That doesn't matter." Shiress lifted herself to her feet, swayed dangerously, then deposited herself on the bed beside Karyk. She hadn't meant to sit there, but the spinning room had made the choice for her. She sat a chime, letting her head clear, then extended a hand in greeting, hoping the man was oblivious. "My name is Shiress."