Start Anew

Naomi looked around the city. It was a very strange place, this Klain. Though it had been two years since the war had ended between her people and these, it was her first time coming here.

Many of the Rhone had been settled into outlying encampments to support the rebuilding efforts of Klain. She had briefly been assigned to help make healing mixtures for those wounded in battle, but someone else was tasked with delivering them. Now, she found herself in this city, alone.

She chewed her lip anxiously and adjusted the pack on her shoulder. The guards at the gate had looked her over before allowing her to enter. She knew no one in Klain and had no business there. When they asked for her reason, the only thing she could reply was "I was sent."

That, in a sense, was true. After her father was killed in the war, she and her mother had scraped by for a time. Eventually desperate for the protection of a household, her mother had remarried one of the few bachelors left in Rhone: an older man with no patience for his new stepdaughter's presence.

Eventually worn down by her husband's insistence, Naomi's mother had sent the girl to Klain to "seek her fortune--or a husband."

So many Rhone men had been lost in the war, that a good husband was indeed a rare commodity among her people. The quest to cure her people of their Curse had involved drafting almost all the men of fighting age, and the effects of the loss were far reaching.

Her mother said that women in Klain could have professions of different kinds, but Naomi had no idea how to start the search for one. She had no money to speak of, and only the food and clothes she could fit in her small pack. She was a bit of a pathetic figure.

Looking around, she tried to find a friendly face amongst the streets to ask advice from.

"Please! Oh, come on, Mayra. It can't be THAT objectionable." A man in a soldier's uniform trotted after a confident woman carrying several parcels of wrapped goods, who whirled on him in passion.

"You can't bully me, Peter! I don't care if you have grown a foot and a half, you're not going to look down on me and tell me what to do! Now be a gentleman and carry these things if you're going to stick to me like a leech."

Naomi's eyes widened at the unflattering comparison the young lady made. Were men such a commonplace thing here, that one could afford to offend them at every turn?

"You're overreacting," The man said, while juggling the packages the woman piled into his arms. "You're going to make people stare."

"I don't care if everyone DOES stare!" Mayra retorted, looking around at the passersby who had indeed stopped to gape at the squabbling pair. "You deserve it! Trying to get me to eat that ridiculous food from the Sea People. They look like bugs! How can you stomach such a thing?"

"They can't be that bad. The Sea People brought them as a goodwill token! I was lucky to be given anything, I'm not that high-ranking... I'll cook them! I'm going to use a lot of butter-- and I'll even skin them all for you first! They won't have eyes or legs or anything on them!" He pled. "Or, if you'd like, I can bring them over to you for Mrs. Sherman to cook. She can make absolutely anything delicious. Please just stop yelling at me in public."

That gave the young woman a moment's pause. She whirled again and suddenly addressed Naomi, who had been unashamedly captivated by the public argument.

"Am I being unreasonable? I ask you." Mayra put her case to the stranger.

"Pardon?" Naomi squeaked uneasily.

"I'm sure you've heard enough to form an opinion. Am I being unreasonable in refusing to eat the bugs this man wants me to feast on?" She asked again.

"They're not bugs!" Peter exclaimed, "The Sea Man called them 'shellfish', and you're embarrassing this poor girl," He turned to Naomi, "I sincerely apologize for Mayra's antics. She shouldn't have put you on the spot."

"You can't apologize for me!" Mayra interrupted.

"I can if you drag perfectly innocent strangers into arguments without their permission." Peter shot back.

"Maybe she's not a stranger, maybe she's my new best friend, that I just haven't introduced you to yet!"

"Oh? Please introduce me now." Peter suppressed a smile.

Naomi was bewildered and shocked. Was this how the young men and women of Klain normally spoke to each other? How strange and disrespectful!

Mayra puffed out her chest and strode over to Naomi to take her arm. "Please play along," she whispered quickly, "What's your name?"

"Naomi," She hardly moved her lips, staring at the man who was looking at them with obvious skepticism.

"Naomi!" Mayra exclaimed, pulling her over, "This is Peter, the most arrogant soldier in Klain. He's just invited himself over for dinner to prove that his horrifying ocean-bugs are not as disgusting as I believe them to be. Would you like to join us for dinner and help me judge his food on its merits?"

"Um, well..." Naomi's stomach growled loudly, enough to be heard over the street noise. She cringed in embarrassment while Peter and Mayra laughed.

"It sounds like you might stand a chance at convincing her the things are edible," Mayra softened suddenly. "Please do say you'll come, Naomi. I've made you part of a joke, but I'm beginning to think maybe you don't have a place to stay?" She looked over Naomi's Rhone-styled clothes.

Naomi shook her head, wordless.

"Well, then it's decided! Peter will go get those--" She gestured vaguely at him until he filled in.

"Shellfish."

"Those." Mayra continued, "You and I will go prepare Mrs. Sherman for the horror that is about to enter her home, and we'll figure out a plan for you."

Naomi helped her take the packages back from Peter and dutifully followed the strange young woman through the city streets. No wonder her mother had sent her here. Instead of scraping for food, she was being cared for from the moment of her arrival.

A girl of about seven or eight opened the door, calling "Mayra's home!" before scurrying back the way she'd come.

"Hi Victoria! I brought those herbs for Dr. Sherman. What a fantastic relief that they're all in stock again." Mayra said loudly enough to be heard throughout the house. It had taken two full growing seasons for Klain to plant and harvest enough of the medicinal herbs to begin meeting the needs of its citizens again after the war.

There had already been a shortage beforehand, but all the ill and wounded in the wake of the battle had used up what supply that had existed.

"Naomi, this is Victoria," Mayra gestured to the young girl, "and Mrs. Sherman," She added as an older but spry woman entered the room. "I'm Mayra, if I never properly introduced myself. I live here with Dr. and Mrs. Sherman as a nursing assistant." She smiled broadly.

"Wow," was all Naomi could say. It was difficult to take everything in. Such a fine house! She had lived most of her life in a tent. It felt almost confining to be inside these stiff, sturdy walls.

"This is Naomi," Mayra spoke to Mrs. Sherman, "She has nowhere to stay, and I invited her for dinner. Peter is bringing--" She shuddered.

"Shellfish." Naomi supplied, earning a chuckle from Mrs. Sherman.

"And he expects me to cook them into some manner of meal, does he?" The older woman asked.

"He said you can make anything delicious," Naomi blinked at her. Now that she'd found her voice, it was difficult not to speak to these kind people. Mrs. Sherman smiled warmly.

"I'll make some other dishes too just to be safe. We'll have quite the dinner party! Roland and Serafina are joining us tonight as well. They should be here soon; Roland was finishing up a meeting with the Council and Duncan before bringing her over," Mrs. Sherman looked at Naomi. "Roland is our adoptive son and Serafina is his wife," she provided helpfully.

Mayra smiled. "Wonderful! I doubt she's letting him eat much at all these days. The poor man is probably starving. I can hardly blame him for wanting to come here for a bite."

Naomi watched the conversation with some confusion. "Why should this woman not let her husband eat? Is this a Klain custom?"

The other women laughed. "Not at all!" Assured Mayra, "It's just that she has quite the appetite lately."

"I don't understand." Naomi said as a knock sounded at the door.

"Well, if that's them, you'll understand soon enough," Mayra whispered as Victoria scampered to answer the knock.

"Roland! Finn!" The girl squeaked, hugging first the man, and then wrapping her arms halfway around the huge, pregnant stomach of his wife.