Rounding the corner she spotted Madame Isabelle and the 6 year old Rosie seated at a garden table with a collection of books spread out between them. Isabelle jabbed at the notebook in front of Rosie.
"No, Rosie, you can't make your way in life communicating via doodles! What happens when you need to write a letter?! What if you want to be an accountant in the future?!"
"Drawing is more fun! Everyone else should jus' draw instead!" protested Rosie with a cheeky grin. "I don't wanna be an acco- accoun- accounan anyway."
Isabelle heaved an exhausted sigh and threw up her hands, on the verge of giving up. Taking pity, Fena stepped forward into the conversation.
“Hey Rosie! Are you studying properly?”
The little girl’s expression lit up like an out of control flare.
“AUNTY FENNY!! You’re back!” She burst out of her chair with an explosion of energy and latched her arms around Fena’s waist.
“How was your trip? Did you see anyfing cool? Did you kill a big monster? Did you save a princess? Tell me everything!”
A rare smile of genuine happiness crept across Fena’s face as she bent down to return the hug. Isabelle also stood, a poorly concealed expression of relief sprinting across her face.
“Good to see you in one piece, Fena. Rosie has been asking after you all day. Be a dear and tell her a bit about your adventures would you? I have to prepare for this evening.” Saying so, she quickly made her escape after having successfully dumped the hyperactive child onto someone else. Fena could only admire the speed at which she went; Isabelle famously could not handle Rosie for more than ten minutes before collapsing from exhaustion. Even the little girl’s own mother, Mona, could only keep up for an hour. Nonetheless Isabelle and everyone else took it upon themselves to look after the girl and help raise her; that was the sort of place the Black Kitten was.
Breaking free from the hug, Fena put on a semi serious expression.
“Oh, I had simply the most wild adventure! I was swallowed by a great big bear!” Fena lunged forward and tickled the girl’s waist. She collapsed, giggling as she tried to worm free.
“No you didn’t! How did you escape?”
“Surprise! I didn’t! I turned into the bear, and now I’ll gobble you up too!”
Rosie let out a shriek of laughter and scurried away, shouting over her shoulder, “Not if you can’t catch me!” She grabbed a nearby stick and brandished it at Fena. “I, Rosie the Adventurer will stop you!”
Fena pulled off her best bear impression as she roared and galloped forward, her hands seeking the girl’s ticklish spots. Rosie swung her stick in response, spouting cheesy phrases she had found in the local pulp adventure magazines.
They played like this throughout the afternoon until the sun settled on the horizon and threw orange and pink rays across the clouds. Fena gathered the finally exhausted Rosie in her arms and made her way back into the building. She bathed and fed the child as Rosie’s eyes struggled to stay open until finally tucking her into bed. Fena couldn’t help but
pause briefly at the door on her way out, quietly watching the lone girl’s face as she grinned in her sleep. After a moment she stepped away and carefully locked the door to the girl’s soundproofed room. It would be a disaster if the small child wandered into the business section of the brothel, and so her movements were strictly regulated to the employees only part of the building.
Her quest to keep the infinitely energetic Rosie occupied complete, she made her way back outside to gather the girl’s study materials. As she arranged the notebooks and old textbooks into a neat pile, she heard the fluttering of wings behind her as the Crow landed on the garden’s apple tree.
“Man, if you did not have that blessing you would have died ages ago to that girl’s energy levels. Seems like the only way to wear her out is to chase her around the garden for hours on end.”
“I won’t lie, sometimes even I can’t keep up,” answered Fena casually.
“Welp, that kind of sounds like a you problem. Still, it's good that she’s happy at least. Or seems to be.”
Fena nodded, not bothering with a verbal response.
“It was kind of ironic that you decided to be the bear, especially after how you suffered. I almost died laughing watching you stagger about like that.”
“Oh come on, I have to get creative when dealing with Rosie.”
The Crow snorted.
“You call that creative? I call it hallucinatory drunk makes a fool of herself. Still, you seem rather good at that lately. Haha, did you see the look on Monty’s face when you picked her up?”
Fena’s movements suddenly froze.
“That was an accident. I- I lost control.”
The Crow sneered.
“Lost control? Lost control?! What, is that some sort of fucking excuse? You think you can do something like that and brush it off as ‘I lost control’?”
Fena didn’t answer.
“You might be “blessed” but you have a responsibility godsdammit. What happens when you lose control and hurt someone? You’re lucky you weren’t arrested this time.”
The Crow sighed at Fena’s silence.
“3 fucking years you’ve held it together, then you fall apart as soon as a new Blessed is discovered. Did you learn nothing?!”
Fena spun around to face the Crow, a furious sorrow raging on her face.
“How did you expect me to respond? To find out everything I lost was pointless?!”
“Like a godsdamn PROFESSIONAL!” snapped back the Crow. “That’s what you wanted to be right?! Keeping your fucking head down and your emotions in check! That’s how we survive!”
Fena bit her lip, unable to respond. The Crow paused and cocked its head.
“Or maybe that’s not the whole story, is it? Maybe… maybe you actually feel… guilty?”
“Silence,” muttered Fena.
“Guilty. Oh yes, very guilty. Because you know you won’t go save the new Blessed twins. Because you know it’s actually two kids, not one, don’t you? And, you know what will happen to them. What happened to you. What will happen to you if you try to go save them.”
Fena could no longer look at the Crow. She turned away and muttered under her breath. “Yes.”
The Crow snorted.
“Oh this is rich. Of all people, you care about some random twins you’ve never met? The same person who abandoned a tiny girl in an empty village?”
Fena couldn’t stop her anger rising again.
“I know my limitations! What I can and cannot do!”
“Oh I’m too weak, I can’t protect anyone! Oh I can’t bear to live with the consequences of my own actions!” imitated the Crow in a nasally tone. “Monte was right. You are just full of excuses. If you actually cared, you’d do something about those kids. Or you’d buck up and forget about them. Either way, get your fucking priorities straight.”
“It’s not that simple,” answered Fena through gritted teeth.
“Sure it isn’t. Whatever. I’m done here.”
With that the Crow hopped onto the ground and started ignoring the still furious Fena. As it did so, the back door of the brothel opened and Madam Isabelle stepped out.
“Oh, Fena! You’ve already got the notebooks. Thank you for taking care of Rosie; I’m ashamed to admit it, but even after living with her for six years I’m still not good with children.”
Fena shook her head, cleared her thoughts and put a slightly strained smile on her face.
“It’s no issue. We all have to do our part to make sure she grows up safe and happy.”
Isabelle sighed and sat down on the bench.
“Yes. A brothel is hardly an appropriate place to raise a child, but it’s better than sending her off to an orphanage. At least this way she actually knows her mother and we can support her when she grows old enough to move out. I only worry about her social skills; other children will bully her for this.”
Fena shrugged.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. The parents of most of the children in this neighbourhood work far worse jobs.”
“I can only hope they agree. Oh, speaking of the neighbourhood have you heard the rumors?”
“That some nobleman was looking for someone?”
“Yes, but they’re not just rumors; one of our guests from yesterday said he was offered a bounty. Apparently it had a 5,000 crown reward!”
“What did he look like?” asked Fena cautiously as her heart rate started to increase again.
“The typical stoic adventurer type. He had silver grey hair, covered in scars; oh, and he carried two swords! Ah, but he was quite a decent fellow; not at all like some of the adventurer thugs we get. You should think about joining him; rewards like that are hard to come by.”
A bead of sweat rolled down Fena’s back. “Did he say who he was after?”
Isabelle shrugged. “You know these types; they like to be brooding and not very chatty. How did your contract go by the way?”
“I was kicked out of the Guild.”
Isabelle looked up at her, shock and concern on her face.
“No! Really? And I thought you were doing so well there!”
Fena gave an empty laugh. “Really I got myself kicked out. I made a stupid mistake, so it’s my fault.”
Isabelle hesitantly reached over and patted her on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t worry about rent for this month, at least until you find steady work again. Maybe you really should look into this bounty.”
Fena brushed off her hand with a hollow smile. “I appreciate it, but I’m fine. I have some money saved up so don’t worry about the rent. Even without the bounty, I’m sure I can find work elsewhere.”
“Well, at the very least you could try and convince some of your friends to swing by; business has been down as of late,” answered Isabelle with a sigh.
“No promises,” responded Fena as she passed Isabelle the notebooks. “Regardless, I’m off to bed. It’s been a long day. Tell Micheal he needn’t bother bringing me supper.”
Isabelle gave her a little wave in response, and Fena made her way back into the building. Passing through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, she made sure it was tightly locked before making her way up to the second floor via the balcony in the main room. By this time it was starting to fill up, as customers began ordering drinks and entertainment. From the second floor she followed a corridor to its end, where another locked door was found. Behind it sat a cramped and narrow staircase that led up to Fena’s room; a tight attic space that contained nothing but an old bed, a broken mirror, and a very expensive looking travel bag.
After locking her door Fena stripped as quickly as she could, tossing her weapons and clothing loosely in a corner. She carefully inspected herself in front of the mirror, paying especially close attention to her left wrist.
Huh. Not a single scar left. This is… wrong.
She quickly shook her head, clearing them of such thoughts before collapsing onto the bed. That was a rabbit hole she was too exhausted to plunge down again. As she closed her eyes, she heard the Crow wriggle its way into the room via a small crack in the window and flutter its way onto the bed. It crawled into a comfortable position beside her, trying to collect as much body heat as it could.
“Listen...umm… I might have been a-a little...harsh. But it’s because I care about you… you do know that right?”
Fena could only give a brief response before sleep took her.
“Yeah...G’night Fircal”
“My name’s not… ugh, whatever…”
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