Mina had just opened the front doors of the inn, mainly to let in the air, as she moved on to the shutters on the windows and the half doors that would make it possible to keep a slight breeze moving through the home and cool down where the kitchens had made it unbearably hot for her. She needed to scrub down table tops and the floors -- a fight had broken out last night, and if she left the blood sit on the wood for too long it'd sink in and stain. She had been up before dawn and down in the below checking barrels and getting root vegetables to make stewed meat once again. It was easy to get fixed and on the kitchen fires early in the morning and leave her able to go about doing everything else she needed to get done.
She really was going to have to talk to the old man about getting another woman in, or man, at least one that could cook. As she got older, she was starting to feel the cold mornings seep into her bones, especially if she had been strung across beds the night before. Little sleep, insane amounts of cardiac activity, she was in great shape, but it still didn't stop the winter cold from making it hard on her bones. She hated it. Hated that she was there alone, no Colt, no Ruth to keep her company, to hold her through the night so that she could sleep feeling safe, and not jump beds from one drunk to another to make sure that she lived through the night.
The old man was just.. too old now. They needed another person at the Back Water, or, she needed to invest in some very large dogs. Especially since the old man wasn't ever up before mid-morning anymore, and not without some effort to get moving, he would need dogs too. The added benefit would be that the dogs would be amazing to sleep with, large smart dogs that would keep her warm? Absolute best idea. Large dogs that would keep the old man safe, maybe sit beside him when she'd tell him to go sit by the fire and let her handle it. All that to say, was that she had been lost in her own thoughts deeply, on her knees, scrubbing a bloodstain off the wooden floor, sand and a brush scouring the spot over and over before she'd even try and bring soap out to work it -- lost enough that she didn't hear anyone come in out of the cold, nor did she remember that she was due for a visit from someone who liked any and all snippets she gleaned from loose lips.
And of course, she knew nothing interesting in the winter months. No one really traveled through except people on their way down to Kirkwall, or maybe the Wardens place near by -- nothing that would be worth selling, at least in her mind, but that didn't stop the man from coming and asking for anything that may have caught her ear. It was an easy arrangement, and it allowed her to put away a little more gold towards what had once been a dream of leaving the Back Water, and now, more of buying her home from the old man, to keep it open and running, and him able to stop having to navigate all the stairs. Someone could easily slip in and have ambushed her, all the more her thoughts where occupied by worry.
She really was going to have to talk to the old man about getting another woman in, or man, at least one that could cook. As she got older, she was starting to feel the cold mornings seep into her bones, especially if she had been strung across beds the night before. Little sleep, insane amounts of cardiac activity, she was in great shape, but it still didn't stop the winter cold from making it hard on her bones. She hated it. Hated that she was there alone, no Colt, no Ruth to keep her company, to hold her through the night so that she could sleep feeling safe, and not jump beds from one drunk to another to make sure that she lived through the night.
The old man was just.. too old now. They needed another person at the Back Water, or, she needed to invest in some very large dogs. Especially since the old man wasn't ever up before mid-morning anymore, and not without some effort to get moving, he would need dogs too. The added benefit would be that the dogs would be amazing to sleep with, large smart dogs that would keep her warm? Absolute best idea. Large dogs that would keep the old man safe, maybe sit beside him when she'd tell him to go sit by the fire and let her handle it. All that to say, was that she had been lost in her own thoughts deeply, on her knees, scrubbing a bloodstain off the wooden floor, sand and a brush scouring the spot over and over before she'd even try and bring soap out to work it -- lost enough that she didn't hear anyone come in out of the cold, nor did she remember that she was due for a visit from someone who liked any and all snippets she gleaned from loose lips.
And of course, she knew nothing interesting in the winter months. No one really traveled through except people on their way down to Kirkwall, or maybe the Wardens place near by -- nothing that would be worth selling, at least in her mind, but that didn't stop the man from coming and asking for anything that may have caught her ear. It was an easy arrangement, and it allowed her to put away a little more gold towards what had once been a dream of leaving the Back Water, and now, more of buying her home from the old man, to keep it open and running, and him able to stop having to navigate all the stairs. Someone could easily slip in and have ambushed her, all the more her thoughts where occupied by worry.
02-11-2024, 01:00 PM
