[Ridge]
Caroley is by far the most simultaneously intimidating and welcoming person I have ever had the privilege of meeting. She beats Kadeeth, she beats Tellur, Sir Kierce, and even Duke Riddotha. This woman is the embodiment of power. Not that you can tell just by looking at her.
At first glance she seems like a normal lady, but then her aura comes out when you talk to her, and it causes you to freeze up and look closer. Under her poofy white cotton sleeves she's pulling more lean muscle than I thought was possible for a human to hide. A trained eye can notice that she's loaded with several blades too, mostly tucked into hand sewn pockets on her dress.
When Raforn spotted her at the tavern she works at he was immediately well received and waved over. He introduced us as his friends and we discovered that she is, unfortunately, a hugger. Her bright, but tough, personality shines through the menacing energy she emits. So she told, not asked, her boss that she was taking a break, and led us to a table in the corner of the restaurant.
"So, introduce yourselves." She waves her hand around the table at us, then reaches into another pocket on her apron and pulls out a smoking roll. It's not the fancy imported 'cigars' that the Duke kept in stock, but the smell when she lit it with a match made me nostalgic. Kadeeth's eyes briefly glazed over too.
"I'm Kadeeth Riddotha, this is my sidekick, Sir Ridge, and our new party, Tellur and Doc." Kadeeth lists off. I elbow him in the side and grimace apologetically at Caroley. She looks at us amusedly for a moment before putting her smoker to her cracked lips and narrowing in on Raforn. He responds by avoiding her eyes.
"Doc?" She questions.
"They, uh, they know that I'm not licensed," He hesitates for a second but caves under her stare, "Or officially apprenticed." She nods in understanding and turns back to us.
"Well, it's always good to see Forn around these parts, it's been a few days since I heard he took off with some sketchy Noble. Thought you was skippin' town again to find a new shop." Raforn avoids looking at all of us now.
"I didn't do that, I left to help Ridge, he was injured." She raises her eyebrow and exhales a cloud of smoke up towards the ceiling. Are those things not a fire hazard indoors?
"You fools let him treat you, even knowing he's been rejected by four apothecaries?" She looks impressed, and there's an affectionate tone behind her heavy voice.
"Five..." Raforn mumbles. Caroley breaks out into a hearty laughter that turns heads throughout the tavern.
"Good on you, friends." She says approvingly, "So, what do you need from me?"
"What makes you think we need something?" Tellur fishes. I didn't expect him to join in, he's been quiet so far. I'd concluded that the crybaby must be shy, but maybe I mistook his observation skills as introversion. Caroley and Kadeeth seem to have the same revelation as me.
"If it was just Raforn, I'd think he was stoppin' by for a visit, or some free grub. But he brought a bunch of strangers with him, and one of them is even a patient, so y'all must be needin' something. One can tell you're cooking up a scheme just by lookin' at cha." She breaks down. Okay, so maybe she's as impressive as Raforn bragged. However, just because she's clever and appears strong doesn't mean she knows how to utilize her abilities.
"Alright, you got us." I shrug, "Is there anywhere we can talk that's a little more... private?" She looks at Raforn curiously.
"You're not in some sort of trouble, are you Pumpkin?" She asks dubiously.
He waves his hands out in front of him, "No, no... well," He hesitates and looks at me for help. I sigh and stand up, Kadeeth follows my lead.
"He's fine personally. This is a serious matter though, and with or without you, he's chosen of his own free will to get involved. We came here to request your help, if you're interested, name a time and place and we'll talk." She studies me intently, with cat-like eyes narrowed into tiny, thoughtful slits. Then she smiles, big and inviting and genuine.
"Come back to the tavern around sundown tonight. We can chat more then." She presses her half used smoker into the table, extinguishing it and crushing the roll. She tucks it back into her pocket and gets up. She gives Raforn a quick side hug and then squeezes my shoulder. This is how I imagined a proud mother would treat her successful son. It's new, it's interesting, it's good.
"Thank you, we'll be here." I start pushing Kadeeth and Tellur towards the door. Raforn follows close behind, and Caroley sees us out.
"Anything for Forn and his friends, Sugar." She smiles sweetly, leaning her thin frame against the doorway, "And if y'all are new in Rancid, have Raforn book you at the Apple Ivy, best Inn in town." She calls as Tellur takes hold of our wagon again, tossing a few coins to the boy holding it for us.
We thank her and Raforn leads the way through the village to the Inn. I wasn't sure how long we'd stay here, but if we can't meet with Caroley until late tonight, then it's probably best to find somewhere to stay for at least a day or two.
The Inn is on the other side of town, and it's a cozy looking cottage with two stories covered in vines and a grouchy old married couple running it. According to Raforn, there used to be an apple orchard behind it, hence the name Apple Ivy Inn, but it was infected by a disease a few years ago, so they had to wipe it out to keep it from spreading to the forest. Although that apparently has nothing to do with the foul personalities of the owners. Apparently they've always been like that.
Kadeeth books us a cheap room to fit all four of us and we stash our things before hitting the hay for a few hours. I don't know how late we'll be up tonight persuading Caroley, so I need to make sure I get some sleep in now.
The others seem to understand that too, so as soon as the door is locked we all collapse on the two cramped beds and fall asleep.
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A/N: To make up for my late update 'yesterday' ^^