Breelanders All! RPG

[piosenniel]

The Farroweeds – early the following morning

Letty woke to the sound of someone moving about in the kitchen. The sun had barely risen above the rim of the mountains to the far east, it’s pale light not yet strong enough to pierce the fabric of the curtains drawn over their bedroom window. Tom’s side of the bed was empty as she sat up, huddling in the warmth of the thick quilt, the sheets on his side already cold. ‘Up already,’ she thought to herself. ‘That sow must be birthing.’

She threw on her clothes, and padded softly down the stairs, not wanting to wake the others yet. A look of surprise filled her face as she entered the kitchen and saw it was her oldest boy who stood there. A cold piece of cornbread, dripping with honey was crammed halfway in his mouth, a mug of steaming tea sat on the counter next to him. He looked over at his mother and nodded at her, pushing the rest of the cornbread into his maw and swallowing it down with a big swig of tea. ‘Didn’t mean to wake you,’ he mumbled around the last crumbs of the sticky breakfast.’ Swishing his hands quickly in a pan of water in the sink, he wiped them on the thighs of his breeches and then pulled on his cloak.

‘Da got me up early,’ he said hurriedly as a questioning look came on his face. ‘I’m off to Bree to pick up some supplies and deliver this to the Inn.’

Letty blanched, recognizing the letter from Andreth. ‘And where’s your father,’ she asked, noting his cloak was gone from the pegs by the kitchen entrance.

‘Out on business of some sort,’ he said, cramming the letter in the waistband of his breeches. ‘Said he’d be back later.’ The young man gave his mother a quick kiss on the cheek, saying he would be back directly.

Letty stood in the doorway and watched him tramp off down the path that would lead him to the road into town. His figure lost to sight as he turned the bend, she went back to the kitchen and poured herself a mug of tea. For a long time, she sat at the table sipping tea, her fingers drumming softly on the worn smooth wooden tabletop. Big Tom was up to some ill-thought foolishness, she was sure. What could she do to thwart it?