The children were playing by the large red wagon just like Elise said. It made Primrose smile to see how energetic they were. Some were dancing, others were making flower crowns, and a few were sword fighting with long sticks. Primrose recognized Ella among the sword fighting group and it seems like she was winning. She stared at the children for a long time and bittersweet feeling filling her chest.
Ella noticed her and her tray, "Lunch is here!" she screamed and suddenly all the kids were swarming her. Primrose was quickly overwhelmed by these wild kids who were pushing and shoving and grabbing.
"Wait kids. The tray is slipping!" she yelled as the hot pot full of rice started to tip over, falling in the direction of a young boy. Primrose hand shot out and she stopped the pot. She hissed as the hot metal hit her unprotected skin, but she forced it back into place. She flipped her head and opened her mouth to yell at them from their carelessness.
"Children line up. Now." a soft but firm voice said from behind her, "youngest to oldest." Primrose turned around and saw a young plain woman in a long flowy dress with a baby strapped to her front and back and a third on her hip.
Much to her surprise the kids quickly lined up in an orderly fasion.
"Thank you." Primrose said to her as she walked up.
"No, I'm sorry for not being out. I'm Ginny, caregiver to these little ragamuffins." she said shaking the babe on her hip.
Primrose started plating the food out and under the watchful eyes of Ginny none of the children stepped out of line again even Ella seemed docile as she grabbed her plate.
"Are you a wizard," Primrose joked once they finished, "cause those kids were practically wild animals before you walked up."
Ginny chuckled, "No just years of experience." she said
Primrose looked confused at her, Ginny didn't look any older than twenty.
Ginny blushed, "Come on I'm going to get embarrassed if you keep staring at me like that." she said covering her mouth with one hand.
Primrose put her hands up, "Wa-Wait that's not I meant. You just look really young. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable." she said frantically.
Ginny started to laugh but it died in her throat when she saw Primrose's left hand, "What happened to your hand!" she said grabbing it and holding it close to her face.
"The pot almost fell on one of the kids, so I righted it. Should have putted a mitt on first." Primrose said flexing her hand a little then cringing at the pain. Not the worst pain she had felt but it was going to make her other work more difficult.
"You need to see Marvis about this." Ginny said letting go of her hand and pushing her towards the rad wagon.
"Wait I need to grab the dishes and return them." Primrose said trying to stop her.
"Nonsense the kids will be eating for a while. You have plenty of time. I don't want to hear another word about this, go to the doctor. I will make sure to stack the plates back up for you." Ginny said giving her one last shove in that direction before turning back around to the kids.
Primrose opened her mouth to argue farther but instead closed it and walked up the door of the wagon. She knocked once before a lazy female voice beckoned her inside. She opened the door and almost jumped back; Rana's wagon was cluttered but it was nothing compared to this. Primrose had no idea how anyone could live like this. The wagon was packed with boxes and bottles of all shapes and sizes, papers and thick tomes were on any flat surface and in the center was a woman in white stola dress with dark blue accent longing on a cushion smoking a long reading pipe. The woman rolled up into Criss cross apple sauce and set her pipe on the floor for some reason completely unconcerned about the safety of the papers scatted around, "Well hello there. Who might you be?" she asked slowly.
"Um I'm Primrose. I'm new here...I'm traveling with Malik." she added feeling the need to justify her presence.
"You miss one breakfast meeting. Well, I'm Mavis Rinaldi this caravan's medical practioner," the woman said with a half-hearted wave of the hand," So do you need birth control, spermicide, maybe an abortive tonic. If it's the last one, I need to know if you've drunken one in the past 19 days."
"What?! No, I burned my hand, and I thought I could get some salve or something." Primrose said her entire face turning red.
Mavis slowly got up and stretched alittle, "Let me see." she said taking her hand. She stared at it for a second then dropped it and turned around.
Primrose waited a minute, but Mavis said nothing else to her as she leisurely walked around the room grabbing a few bottles and an empty bowl.
"Any allergies?" Mavis asked uncorking a bottle and giving it a smell.
"Ah no. Not that I know of." Primrose said.
Mavis gave a tiny nod so slight Primrose didn't really know if she was actually paying attention to her at all. After mixing some liquids into the bowl she took a long swig of it then opened a drawer and threw a small metal tin at Primrose, "This has Aloe and honey in it. Apply liberally twice daily till the wound heals. Come back if the pain spreads or if there's increased redness or swelling. Don't pop any boils that pop up no matter how temping it feels. And for the love of all the Gods please keep the lid on the salve, it will attract ants and I will not give you more if I find out you wasted it. Any questions?" she asked after her explanation.
Primrose opened her mouth but then closed it, "No. Thank you for the salve." she said turning and going to the door.
"Are you sure about not taking the birth control. Malik can't magic away a baby." Mavis said lying back down on her pillows her concoction in hand, the very picture of ease.
"We aren't having sex!" Primrose snapped, a full day of assuming eyes and sly innuendos had finally gotten to her and the way this woman talked like it was such a foregone conclusion was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Mavis shrugged and waved her off dismissfully," Well if that changes feel free to come get some. It also helps with painful and irregular periods." she said before turning back to her papers.
Primrose's eye twitched but she just opened the door and stalked out. Ginny was making the kids stack their plates up into neat stacks on the tray. She waved as she saw Primrose stalk up, she could feel the anger radiating off Primrose's entire being, "Hehe Mavis can be a bit difficult, but you can never be too safe when it comes to your health." she said apologetically.
Primrose made herself smile, "No she gave great medical care. I have no room to complain." she said with forced politeness.
Ginny smiled apologetically then proudly showed off the neat stacks of plates, "The kids helped clean up as a thank you for cleaning up," she said loudly looking at the kids who crowded around them, "Kids is there something you want to say before Primrose leaves?"
As one the group said, "Thank you for the food."
Ella spoke up in the back, "Even though I bet my sister made most of it."
"Ella Atkin!" Ginny said in censure.
Primrose just smiled, the tension leaving her body a little and bowed her head slightly, "Thank you kids for cleaning up. I'll pass your thanks along to the cooks." she said taking the cart and walking away.
In comparison to the nice pile the kids left the dancers just seemed to leave their plates wherever they were eating. When she got there it seemed like they were doing some exercises so to avoid interrupting them she just picked the plates up and then she headed back to where Elise was.
Elise perked up when she saw her, "There you are," she said, "did you get lost or anything."
"Oh no I'm sorry. I burned my hand a little while serving the kids and it took me awhile to pick up the dancer's plates. They left them all over the place." Primrose said apologetically.
"Oh my god you burned your hand are you okay?!" Elise said grabbing her hands and was relieved to see that it was just a minor burn but the relief on her face quickly turned to anger, "Did you just say that the dancers left their plates all over?"
"Um yes..." Primrose said slowly.
Elise cursed loudly, "Those arrogant pricks! They know that they need to pile their dishes to make pick up easier. I have told them so many-" Elise was really winding herself up but then she seemed to remember that Primrose was still standing with her.
She cleared her throat and tried to smile, "After you drop off the plates. You can have free time till dinner service starts. Then you're on serving duty. Now if you'll excuse me I need to have a long conversation with the performers." she said then she marched away.