The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we're not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence. Was it a coincidence or chance that Lyfrid crossed paths with Brulk at Adso's Camp early that day or was there forces we cannot see operating the pulleys and levers of life.
Lyfrid had left that morning from the Mercer Manor after being up before dawn replenishing the near empty larder. A message had arrived for her from Roger Hawkling that he had found a possible new client for her. As she was just leaving her meeting with Roger when lo and behold who should be coming down the Great East Road from the west but good ole Patch. The Cook commented that his horse looked lathered and suggested he had been traveling long and far, though the truth of it was, his horse wasn't sweating at all. One ill tempered word lead to another but something out of the ordinary happened.
Brulk dismounted and with a gentle sign, asked Lyfrid to come speak with him. The young woman was on her guard. Her curiosity was going to be the death of her one day but she dismounted from her own horse and followed him. He confessed he'd gone to meet with some dwarf potion maker for treatment for a rash that had developed under his eye patch. Keeping her cards close, she didn't mention she'd figured out that someone was helping him with the trouble, but insisted she could have given him better treatment than any dwarf. With that, he allowed her to examine the hole where he once had an eye. Inside, she was horrified at what she saw but Lyfrid had learned the art of 'poker face' to expert level. More than once it had saved her hide.
She convinced the ailing Man that the dwarf's treatment, though it wouldn't hurt Brulk, would take forever to heal. What he needed was the tincture of winterwood bark but cautioned it would burn and sting. Lyfrid went to her horse's saddle bag and removed a small skin of the liquid and gave it to Patch. Before she had a chance to explain the treatment, the fool open the skin and poured it into the seeping socket. The pain would have been terrible, she had meant that he dab it around the sore area, not douse it! Instinctively, Brulk threw the pouch at Lyfrid where it hit her chest and fell to the dirt, the contents pouring out and sinking into the soil. That was the last of the tincture she had, it had taken her months to fill that small skin and now it was gone. Giving it some thought, she said she knew of another way to dry out that weeping mess, virgin mud and pure spring water made into a poultice. Lyfrid quipped something about being a moron and the likelihood he would pack the socket with the mud. Brulk had had enough, between the stinging of the tonic and her accusations of him being witless, he retorted with his own string of insults.
The Seer called him an idiot and the tensions between the two rose quickly and before long, the fierce words between them escalated into fierce brawling. Brulk had the upper hand in strength and size but Lyfrid was fast and desperate resulting in a punch to the Man's good eye and a knee to his stones. That was the winning move, as Brulk laid in the dirt, still trying to swat at her, she moved out of arms reach and repeated her pronouncement of his being an idiot. As she mounted her horse to ride off, she called out to Brulk that she would have the mud poultice ready in two hours and that she'd find him later.
Two hours later, Lyfrid rode in through the southern gate of Bree with the clay compound and as she was passing the stables near the auction house, she noticed someone she had seen recently and was shocked to see him in Bree. It was Oynx Beard! Brulk would have to wait a little longer, curious cat had new pray to stalk.
