Rannie’s grin faded slightly as she walked into Beggar’s alley. It seemed to her as the years passed that there was always more mud in the streets, if you could call them that, and the stench grew stronger. She plopped down in her little corner of the alley, cringing slightly as the sickening feeling of the damp mud under her. She broke off a piece of bread she managed to lift from the baker and ate it, glancing over at the small makeshift tent where Deyla use to live.
It had been a year since one of the men who came to buy Deyla’s time had taken her life. He seemed like the typical farm hand, too poor for any of the more established whores so he came to the Alley looking for a woman desperate enough for coin. Rannie wasn’t sure what happened but they started yelling. Rannie didn’t think much of it at first, it happened before ending with Deyla having a fresh bruise in the morning but this time it ended with her throat cut and the man running through the alley.
He was never caught and no one seemed to really care too much about it. This was the alley and Deyla was just an alley whore, these things happened all the time. So now instead of Deyla sat a fat dirty man, half out of the tent and half in, eating some greasy meat like a disgusting rodent. The whole sight made her sick to her stomach. Noticing her gaze, he looked up from his food and gave her a sleazy smile. “Ey there lassy” he winked at her. Rannie felt her stomach roll and simply narrowed her eyes at him.
“Bugger off” she snapped at him and continued to eat her bread. Now that she was getting older and her body changing into that of a young woman, the looks that foul man gave her weren’t rare. Her hand fell to a piece of sharp stone she used as a blade and she tensed, ready to run if need be, as the man looked like he was going to make moves to get up. After a moment of struggle, he went back to his greasy meal obviously preferring to eat than the effort it took to get up to bother her.
She relaxed and went back to eating her bread when suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere a man dressed in rather elegant looking clothing sat down on a rock by her side. “Disgusting fellow isn’t he,” the man commented and offered her a friendly smile. She blinked a couple times, unsure what to say or how to react to the man. He almost looked at ease amongst the muck and the mud, uncaring for the state of his clothing. She swallowed the food in her mouth with a nod, finally coming out of her stupor.
“Aye, but he ain’t as bad as some of the others” she told him simply and he gave her a bright grin that was dazzling to see. He seemed so regal, powerful, and beautiful that she couldn’t help but be in awe of him.
“Oh how Rude of me my dear little friend” He said, looking appalled. “My name is Belegandir…I’m from the land of Gondor,” he said holding out his hand for her to take. She looked at his hand for a moment before she placed her smaller hand in his much larger one.
“I’m Rannie,” she said simply and he gave her another brilliant smile.
“A pleasure to meet you Rannie” he said told her, taking her hand in his own then giving it a soft kiss on the back of her palm. “I have to admit I’m concerned to see such a young lady as yourself without some kind of escort in this…questionable place. Where are your parents?” A look of concerned marred his handsome face. Rannie had to blink a couple of times before she could break whatever enchantment he had over her.
“Uh...p-parents” she repeated with uncertainty. “I don’t have any, the closest thing I had ta that died a year ago” she added, not being able to keep the bitterness out of her voice. The man gave her a gentle smile as he slowly shook his head.
“I had feared as much,” he said with a sadden tone then suddenly got up removing the jacket he was wearing, placing it over her shoulders and ignore her protests against it. “Please Miss Rannie…it saddens me to see such a girl as yourself here alone in such a place, sitting in the mud,” he explained and once more giving her one of his charming smiles. “This is my first time in this land and didn’t mean to end up in this sector of town but I would like to offer you a real meal and not some dry loaf of bread.”
Rannie looked at him confused as she gripped the jacket tightly around her, feeling some relief at the warmth it offered. “Why would ya do somethin like that? Ya don’t own me nothin or know me at all,” She asked, not being able to hide her suspicion at his rare acts of kindness. He laughed a good strong laugh and nodded to her.
“It’s good to see you use that head on your shoulders Miss Rannie. You’re absolutly right we don’t know each other at all but I feel it’s my duty as one human being to another to assist you if I can. As you may have noticed I have no problems of money and feeding a young lady like yourself isn’t going to break me. I ask you nothing in exchange of course. It’s enough for me to know that you’ve had at least one good meal today”
Despite her initial suspicion, Rannie got up and followed Belegandir to the Pony. “Why don’t you find us a table Miss Rannie and I’ll get us some food” he told her and she nodded, still hugging the coat around her. She moved through the crowd, next to the wall so that the tavern keep, Barliman, didn’t see her. He didn’t much like that she came there, especially unattended and would kick her out if he saw her. She found a table that was fairly out of sight but that she thought Belegandir could see her from.
He returned with the food and she began to eat as if at any moment the food would disappear. He simply chuckled as he watched her and calmly ate his own food. To her surprise he didn’t have any objections to her drinking ale either…Barliman would never let her drink the stuff. They started to talk about a variety of topics and didn’t stop till it was well into the night. “I know we’ve just met Miss Rannie but I have to say, I really want to help you,” he told her.
She let her head tilt lazily to one side, feeling rather light headed from the ale. “Aye, but why?” she asked with a hint of a slur and he grinned at her as he gently and fatherly tilted her head back up straight.
“Because I know what it’s like to have to sleep in the mud Miss Rannie and do things you’d rather not do just so you can eat at least once a day. I managed to dig myself out of the mud and I’d like to help you do the same. I want to make you my apprentice and teach you how to not just survive but thrive and be able to really live your life. What do you say, would you leave all this and come with me. You don’t have to decide tonight…”he explained but Rannie cut him off.
“Aye! I’ll do it” she said eagerly and without much thought put into the decision. Belegandir chuckled and grinned at her, awing her once more.
“That’s good, I have some business to night but we’ll leave first thing in the morning,” he told her standing up then he set a small key on the table. “This is to my room, I won’t be getting much use of the bed tonight…your free to use it if you wish” he told her and she nodded, taking the key.
“Thank ya Belegnadir” she told him with a smile and he ruffled her hair in a almost fatherly manner, returning his smile.
“No need to thank me Miss Rannie…now go rest,” he told her and she nodded, going up to his room and immediately crawling into the bed. He was true to her word, he didn’t return till nearly dawn and then didn’t bother her as she slept in his bed. In the early morning, with much haste, they put Bree Land behind them.
