Roland bowed over Finn's hand and kissed it softly when they reached the orphanage. Handing the basket back to her, he bid her farewell and continued on to the General's residence to make his report.
Finn knocked at the door, and a little girl who appeared to be around four or five opened it.
"Hello, what's your name?" Finn asked, smiling at the pretty little thing. The girl's dark, long hair reminded her a little bit of Abby, and a pang of sorrow hit her in the chest.
"Victoria," The little girl answered.
"What a beautiful name. I'm Serafina, but you can call me Finn. I'm here to help, and I brought some food, can you tell me who's in charge here?" The last part of the question was partly drowned out by running feet, banging objects, and yelling voices.
"Goodness, what is all that?" Finn was used to the village children's mischief, but that was quite the commotion.
Victoria wrinkled her nose in distaste. "The new kids." The little girl abandoned her place at the door and ran to somewhere inside the building.
"I guess that was my invitation to come inside," Finn mumbled to herself. She stepped through the doorway and looked around. "Hello? I'm here to help if I can." Her voice didn't carry far as the sounds of scuffling and yelling continued.
She left the entryway and continued toward the noise until she entered what seemed like a playroom. A knot of preadolescent boys were wrestling over a book as a woman not much older than Finn attempted to pry them apart.
"Boys! Stop it this instant!" She tried in vain to get them apart, and succeeded in pulling one off the pile. She pushed him off to one side and into a chair while she dealt with the others.
Finn blinked at the scene for a moment, then put her index finger and thumb against her mouth and whistled a high-pitched, piercing whistle for about three straight seconds. The boys all froze to stare at her, dropping what they were fighting over.
Finn smiled in the quiet. "That's better, isn't it? What was the problem?"
The other woman gaped at her. "You have to teach me that," she said. She snatched the fought-over item from the floor before the boys could remember it. "All of you, march to the back courtyard and do your playing out there. I will not have that inside. And REMEMBER. KINDNESS!" She stated this last word firmly as the last of the boys filed out, grumbling but obeying.
"I'm Finn," She offered her hand out to shake the other woman's. "Mrs. Sherman told me you could use some help with the influx of orphans here. I brought some food!" She held out the basket.
"That is greatly appreciated." Sighed the other woman. "My name's Jessie. I'm more or less in charge here since my Uncle Henry and Aunt Mabel retired, but they are around here somewhere doing their best to help. It was going fairly smoothly, but so many all at once was really overwhelming."
"I heard there were new arrivals. How many are you having to care for now?" Finn asked curiously.
"For the past several years we have no more than four or five at a time. We try to find homes for all of them quickly, and the city and surrounding townships are fairly generous in opening their homes to these little ones. We already had five when this new group arrived. Twenty two! It was truly overwhelming. We've already found homes for twelve of them, but I still have fifteen under this roof and it is a challenge, to say the least. They're all so unruly!"
Finn's heart ached for the young ones. "Are you able to keep sibling groups together when you place them?"
"We do our best, but any home is better than none. These new children all know each other, but none of them seem to be siblings. It's a little strange, but it's easier to find a home for one child at a time than several." She shrugged.
"Well, I brought food," Finn held out the basket, "What else can I do to help?"
"Bless you," Jessie responded, "If you can keep them all from killing each other or destroying this place for a while, I have a dozen or two tasks to take care of around here." Finn hoped one of those tasks was a nap; Jessie looked like she could use one.
"I'm on it," Finn smiled, "Go do what you need to do."
"Oh, if you run into Uncle Henry, he's pretty hard of hearing," Jessie added on her way out of the room.
Finn followed the route the boys had left until she came to an open courtyard. The boys now had a ball they were playing some sort of kicking game with, while other children played various games around them. They all seemed to be behaving relatively well for the moment. She spotted Victoria playing with a doll by herself a corner and went to sit down with her.
"Hi Victoria," Finn said. "May I play with you?"
"I don't have another doll," Victoria looked embarrassed, and maybe a little scared of having to give up her only toy.
"That's ok, we can pretend if you want," Finn offered. She held out her fingers and walked them along the ground as if they were little legs.
The doll immediately crashed into them, squishing Finn's hand flat to the ground. She looked up in shock at Victoria's face.
"She hates spiders," Victoria explained seriously. "She had to squish it."
Finn burst out laughing. "It was supposed to be a dog, but I can see how your doll thought it was a giant spider."
"She's scared of spiders. When we get a new home we hope there's no spiders there." Victoria confided.
"I need a new home, too," Finn confided as they played together. Finn picked up a few nearby twigs to make a 'campfire' for the doll to sit by.
"Really? But you're grown up." Victoria looked at her curiously.
"That's almost true. I lived with my father and brother, but our house burned down. When I find them, we'll build a new house." Finn hoped her statement would come true.
"I'm sorry about your house. Miss Jessie says I'm going to have one someday," Victoria camped her little doll around the 'fire' with a little twig as if she were roasting something on it. "But people only want the new kids right now. I don't like them."
"How long have you been staying with Miss Jessie?" Finn asked.
"A long time. People pick older kids so they can be helpers. I'm not a good helper yet cause I'm too small. I'm growing though."
Finn couldn't imagine what would possess people to overlook such a sweet, beautiful child. She understood that the news about the tragic new orphans would push people to compassion to adopt them, but this precious little girl deserved a home just as much.
_________________________
Roland stepped into The General's study after a long wait and saluted.
"Come in, soldier, and report." Grumbled the older man. He doubted there was any good news to hear.
"Yes, sir." Answered Roland, and began recounting the details of the search and subsequent retreat back to training camp. The General interrupted once or twice with clarifying questions, but otherwise listened intently.
"... and so, unless you have contrary orders, I'm to retrieve the two recruits who escorted the civilians to Klain and report back to training camp." He concluded after several minutes.
"I see." The General tented his fingers as he looked down at his desk. "Yes, of course you should report back to training. It's rather late in the day to leave now since the other recruits will be on foot. You may leave in the morning. Let them know tonight that you will head out when the gates open. Dismissed."
Roland saluted and left. He decided to head straight to the city gate to tell Ashley and Peter that they would be heading back in the morning. Although technically he probably should spend the night in the barracks, the General hadn't been specific and he could probably get away with staying at home. He liked the idea of being close to Finn for that much longer.
He smiled as he walked. The day was nice and sunny, but not too hot. As he came to the city gate he saluted the guard, explained his orders, and asked where Ashley and Peter had been assigned.
"They were on cleanup duty here at the gate but got reassigned as support for the guards at City Hall." The guard explained.
Roland simply nodded and began walking that direction, though he found the reassignment perplexing. New recruits were very rarely positioned in a role that would give them such close interaction with City leaders. Unless...
He picked up his pace. If Ashley's father found out she was in the city instead of off at training camp, he might take the opportunity to try and force her to resign from the service entirely.
Could he do that? She seemed strong-willed, but he didn't know the man well enough to definitely state what lengths he might go to in order to have his way. Ashley had been scared enough of it to run off and join the army.
As he jogged into the square, he saw Peter guarding one front corner of the building. The other was, strangely, unguarded. Peter's face was strained and he seemed like he might be angry. As Roland approached, Peter held his fingers to his lips and cut his eyes to the other corner, tilting his head in that direction.
Taking the cue, Roland walked as silently as he could across the stones toward the opposite corner of the building. Sticking close to the front, he leaned his back against it until he heard furious whispers just on the other side of the corner.
"I will not!" Ashley's voice was firm, if a bit on the childish side in tone.
"You will do as I tell you, child, or you may not live to see the future as it comes," The threatening voice was unmistakably that of The Provider. "I have gifted you with an opportunity beyond your reckoning and in your infantile impudence you are trying to throw it away with both hands! I will not tolerate this from you!"
"There's nothing you can do about it right now," Ashley shot back. "I pledged a year to the military and you can't make me quit. You'll just have to tell whatshisface that I'm not a suitable bride and that he should look for someone else."
"YOU--" The Provider's voice was only a hair away from rage. Roland heard a deep breath before the man continued, "You are an ungrateful child, but I will see this resolved to my satisfaction. Do not get comfortable in your position. It will not be yours for long. You will be married before this year is done."