"The child is tidy at least," Rose said to the empty room as she made her way to the back of the small caretaker's cottage that had become Merry's home. Although Merry didn't own much, what she had was kept neatly put away and, Rose noted with satisfaction, she had even swept and dusted.
Seeing nothing that needed to be done, Rose placed Merry's mended tunic on the bed and was turning to leave when a small book caught her eye. The cover was rough leather and a bright scrap of ribbon protruded from the top. What is the child reading? Rose thought as she picked up the book and flipped through, before returning to the first page and reading.
It has been several nights since I left the home of my people, though in truth it has never been my home ...
A journal. Rose turned each page more slowly, the handwritten words inside basic but legible. And not Merry's. Where did the child find this? Curious, Rose returned to the first page and continued reading.
How could it be, when I've always been an outsider? From the moment of my birth I was marked as cursed, my father the only reason I was not left for the wild dogs. That may have been kinder though, than the dark stares of the elders and the ignorance of the villagers, who label me an abomination.
At this, Rose lifted her head and frowned. Who was this person? Where had he come from? Or her? She scanned the page, but it held no clues to the faceless identity of the writer.
"Her name is Aneira."
Rose turned to see Merry leaning against the door frame, an amused grin on her face as she bounced Althessia in her arms. "Do you always read other people's journals, Mrs. Rose?" she asked with a chuckle.
"No, child. I don't. But it seems that you do." Rose closed the book and offered it to Merry.
"I've read it already .. at least until where it ends," Merry said, waving the book away, before heading towards the bed. "Oh! You were able to fix it! Thank you Mrs. Rose!"
"Yes, it was nothing, a bit of fine stitching took care of the worst of it. But how did you come across this journal, do you know this ... Aneira?"
Merry shakes her head. "No, I came across it when a traveling peddler came through. He had it amongst the items he was selling. It looked interesting, so I offered him 50 copper for it." Merry turned from examining her tunic and nodded towards the book in Rose's hand. "You can take it home, if you'd like."
Rose opened her mouth to protest, then looked down at her hand. The word abomination echoed in her head and, despite her loathing of gossip and rumor, she found herself curious about the woman who'd written the word. "We'll see," she finally said and looked up at Merry. "If there's time between chores and seeing to the repairs. But for now, I need to tend the chickens."
"I'll come with you then," Merry replied and shifted the baby in her arms. "Althessia would like to sit out in the sun while I weed the flowers, wouldn't you sweetie?" She tickled the baby under the chin, eliciting a delighted laugh as the women headed out of the cottage towards the mill-house.
