She had stayed out of his way, she had gotten all she needed to study on her own, she even when he did rest, answer his questions with a level head as to not upset him further. Yet, it was inevitable that things would not go well. She wished him well, asked he eat, and said good bye. He'd asked her to leave, he called her Miss Jackilyn. She knew then he didn't want her. As she walked down the path, her shoulders once held so high with tension, sagged, and the cold air met with the hot tears slowly running down her cheeks. She'd not show him that, he wouldn't have known what to do anyway, she was a strange woman according to him. Oddly she didn't hate him, she just wished for the one thing that she always told him not to do, which was to be something else. She wished he cared.
The following day, the sun barely rising over the horizon, she left two letters at the Soothery. One for the healer, the other for the dwarf. She didn't linger, but, got upon the seat of a rickety horse and cart and started to chat with the ruddy faced man sat next to her as they set forth. A family friend, he knew the path to the hop farm very well, and his wagon which would of been laden with milk churns, butter and eggs, now only carried a few of her belongings. The journey was not as long as it would have been on foot, the strong horse pulling them along with apparent ease, wheels clattering over cobblestone roads and the clip clop of the creatures shoes mixed with the conversation the man and woman shared. Mostly about family, trade and an incident at the inn with a redhead. Before the sun had set, they had arrived. He helped her with her bags, book and then to get out of the cart itself.
"Wont you come in? They'd like it and Ma wouldn't forgive you if she didn't get to say thank you and all"
"No no lass, thing is.."
The man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, the horse just feasted on a nice patch of grass
"..I owe your Pa for the last half keg of ale I got, don't have the money on me today. Next time"
She rolled her eyes, something she had done a lot of late and encouraged him to follow her with a flick of the head toward the large farmhouse. Surrounding it would be hop crops as far as the eye could see. With a deflated sigh he said..
"Alright, cant have two men upsetting you today, lead on lass, lead on."
So she did, the horse content where he was, and its owner following behind. Before long though the farmhouse door flung open and her mother, shadowed by her father, came bustling out, the womans arms open wide to smother the girl in the largest cuddle that only mothers know how to give, the man showing a bit more restraint but obviously as surprised and as happy to see his child. He then put on a manly cough and straightened up, nodding to the man with Jackilyn and saying gruffly.
"Bert..come to pay up?"
The wagon owner turned beet red as he rubbed his neck again
"About that Archie.."
Dinner was as it always was, too much, too good, trousers needing to be loosened to accommodate how much was eaten. Yet, as parents do, they got to the bottom of the matter. Her mother spoke first
"Oh Jacki, you did the right thing coming here, don't you worry about a thing, it'll all work out in the end, I think the cups you made were lovely! Just, maybe you should use them as bowls? for fruit? small..small fruit?"
The cups she had shown her mother, were indeed lovely, and flawed. The lattice holes around the rim would spill any drink before it made it into the users mouth.
"I tried at least. I've been trying lots of things, though, there is something I wanted to ask"
Her father looked at her pointedly, his heavy bushy eyebrows framing the seriousness of his direct gaze
"Jaybird, if you want him gone? I know folk"
Jackilyn looked horrified and quickly shook her head and waved her hands in dismissal of the suggestion
"No! No Pa, folk make their choices, he's just, well, he's not like us folk."
Her mother then intervened
"Jacki dear, he didn't give you a baby now did he?"
Mortified, Jackilyn put her head in her hands, her father roaring as he rose from his chair, planting his palms on the long farmhouse table..
"What?! I'll kill him, Bert, you got them castration tools?!"
The young woman quickly blurted out a..
"No! Nothing like that happened! Stop Pa! We just, he just, well, I think I annoy him, he asked me to leave, so I came here, it's nice here, I can be me, touch books and cups and tables and be just me. He didn't do anything but be him."
Her father looked more like a snorting bull at that point, ready to gore anyone and anything in his path; he slowly calmed though, his wifes palm to the small of his back and her words always wise
"Sit down Archie, you're making a fool of yourself! How long will you be here Jacki? You stay as long as you like mind you"
The girl looked at her mother and said..
"Actually Ma, thats the thing, found a house I'd be wanting, it's burnt out, but the stone work is good, so the foundations and all is safe, but aint got a roof or windows or lots of things, not too far from work"
The mother shook her head, instantly dismissing the girls words
"I would give you me own blood child, but you are not having that house. I know the one, no."
Jacki put on one of -those- faces, an expression children through the ages have used to manipulate their parents into giving them what they want, a jutted out lower lip, sad, cowlike eyes, making her mother give in so much as to say..
"Your Pa and I will think about it"
