Chapter 35 #2
So she did her best to keep smiling, to keep showing curiosity and enthusiasm, to keep greeting any of the various orcs and women they came across.
They were now encountering more new people than before, more Bautul orcs in particular — perhaps the news of their arrival was spreading?
— and the orcs all seemed to know Kalfr, and many of them recognized Gaelfr, too.
Several of them even shouted at the sight of him, or hauled him into their arms, while he chuckled and clapped them on the shoulders, his eyes bright.
“Ach, it is good to see you again also, brother,” Gaelfr would say. “And have you met our son? And our mate?”
The word swallowed Raye’s breath every time she heard it, and then, Kalfr would invariably make a proper round of introductions, and say it again. Openly calling Raye their mate, without waver or hesitation, before all these people. Before all his kin.
Even so, it was clear that many of these orcs already knew exactly who Raye was, and were well acquainted with her past deeds and failings — and surely several of the orcs had visited her cottage, too.
But Raye was proving this, so she kept doing her best to be friendly and cheerful, to smile at Kalfr and Gaelfr both.
And the more she spoke, and the more people she met, the easier it felt to just speak, and to be honest. To tell these complete strangers things she couldn’t have imagined herself saying, even a few days past.
“It’s been lovely to be reunited again,” she told a massive, heavily scarred Bautul orc named Skirvir. “Svein has loved spending time with his fathers, and they’ve both been so generous toward me. I’m so glad Gaelfr came home, and brought us back together again.”
And like every time she’d said it, she couldn’t help noticing the way Kalfr glanced at her, with something like appreciation in his eyes — and the way he was standing straighter, too, with more ease in his jaw and his shoulders.
While on her other side, Gaelfr stroked her back with obvious approval, and shot her a satisfied grin.
“Ach, you have had much to learn, woman,” he said gruffly. “But if you keep learning thus, I ken you shall yet make us a good, brave, lusty mate.”
The warmth flared through Raye’s belly, and her compulsive smile back toward Gaelfr felt both affectionate and exasperated. Because he still didn’t mean any of that, did he? She still couldn’t trust him, this was still just a show, just for Kalfr and Svein…
But he only raised his brows back at her, while before them, this Skirvir harrumphed, and folded his massive arms across his scarred, hairy chest. “Has she at least learnt to please you, and honour you?” he asked flatly.
“Does she well know how to kneel for you, and obey? And how to use that pretty little human mouth of hers, also?”
Raye twitched, and shot a searching look toward where Svein had been — but thank the gods, he and Kalfr were currently exclaiming over yet another impressive bath, this one with a large, splashing waterfall pouring out from the stone wall.
While beside Raye, Gaelfr grinned, and gave a playful swat to her arse.
“Ach, our mate is well learning all this for us,” he told Skirvir. “She bears a clever, eager mouth, and a deep, tight throat, also.”
Skirvir shot Raye another assessing look, perhaps more appreciative this time.
“This is good,” he announced. “But if she has truly pleased you thus” — his scarred nose wrinkled as his gaze flicked up and down her body — “why have you not better fattened her with your good Bautul seed? Nor granted her better garb to wear?”
Gaelfr’s grin faltered, though his eyes were still warm on Raye’s face.
“We are yet working on the fattening, are we not, saeta?” he asked lightly.
“As for this garb” — he winced as he glanced down at her shabby dress — “I yet owe you a new frock, do I not? I had hoped, mayhap, whilst we were here, we could…”
His voice trailed off, but Rosa — who together with Daisy had been showing Kalfr and Svein the waterfall — had apparently overheard this, and hopped back over to join them.
“Did I just hear you say you wanted to go shopping?” Rosa exclaimed.
“Because oh, do we have the place for you, and it’s not far from here, either!
It’s the Great Grisk Showroom-Shop, the grandest room in all the realm! ”
This announcement soon drew Kalfr and Svein back over too, and they all followed Rosa and Daisy through yet more twisty corridors, until they reached the shop.
It was one of the biggest rooms they’d seen yet, and its bright lamplight revealed rows upon rows of fully stocked shelves, fronted by a long counter.
And behind the counter, there stood a beaming, dark-haired woman, who seemed to be dressed only in furs and jewels.
“Kalfr!” the woman exclaimed, as they entered the room. “Is this your son?! And your…”
She glanced uncertainly between Raye and Gaelfr, and shot a questioning look at Rosa and Daisy, too.
But again, Kalfr stepped in, and quickly made the now-familiar introductions, calling Raye their mate.
And upon hearing this, the new woman — apparently named Kitty, of Clan Grisk — beamed brighter toward them, her hands clasped over her heart.
“Oh, how wonderful!” she said. “And of course you’ve come here to do some shopping, haven’t you? Perhaps you’d like to find your lovely mate a new outfit or two?”
She, too, had cast a penetrating look toward Raye’s shabby, ill-fitting dress, and Kalfr visibly stiffened as he followed Kitty’s gaze. “I am sure we should welcome this,” he replied, with a grimace. “But I ken I do not now have any credits to spend, but mayhap — next time.”
He grimaced again, glancing away toward the opposite wall, while Svein cast him a worried look, and tugged on his hand. “And we want to go see the fighting-pit, too,” he said, in a too-loud whisper. “Right, Papa?”
Kalfr nodded, giving Svein a small, grateful smile, while beside Raye, Gaelfr harrumphed, and waved them toward the door. “You both go on to this, then,” he said. “I shall stay here with our mate, and gain her some new garb. We shall come meet you again soon, ach?”
Raye blinked at Gaelfr, the confusion and alarm rising behind her eyes. Did he mean he could afford to buy her new clothes, even if Kalfr couldn’t? And also, he was suggesting that she allow Svein to run off alone with Kalfr, in Orc Mountain? Without her? To some dangerous fighting pit?
But Gaelfr’s eyes held steady on hers, and Svein was already excitedly nodding, and tugging Kalfr toward the door. Wanting to go off with Kalfr, without her.
It was a strange swooping feeling in Raye’s gut, something between fear and grief — could she really trust Kalfr in something like this?
But she’d sworn to prove it, so she cleared her throat, and dredged up a smile as she waved farewell.
While Gaelfr’s hand began stroking her back again, his body easing closer.
“I shall scent them, all this time,” he told her, low.
“And this shall be good for them to do together. It is just what a Bautul father and son would do, upon their first visit here.”
Well. Raye couldn’t argue that, and this Kitty was still standing nearby with Rosa and Daisy, all of them with matching knowing smiles on their faces.
“Your son will love the fighting-pit, I promise,” Kitty told Raye, with a reassuring pat to her arm.
“It’s every young orc’s favourite activity, isn’t it, sisters?
And I’m sure we’ll find just the thing for you, Raye! Now come in, come in!”
She excitedly waved for the rest of them to come around the counter, and after Gaelfr’s purposeful nudge to Raye’s back, she went, following along after Rosa and Daisy down one of the shop’s long aisles.
It was lined with shelves and racks and baskets, all stocked with a surprising amount of clothing and textiles — cloaks and furs, tunics and trousers, shifts and underclothes, even a dizzying variety of socks and shoes and boots.
“Are you… sure about this?” Raye whispered uncertainly to Gaelfr as they walked. “How can you even afford this?”
But Gaelfr’s glance toward her was stubborn, his head shaking. “With my coin,” he muttered back, as he patted at something on his hip — part of his usual leather straps, a kind of folded bulging envelope she hadn’t properly noticed before. “I told you last eve, I…”
His mouth thinned, his eyes darting away, but Raye’s thoughts flashed backwards, to the night before. To when Gaelfr had confessed how he’d spent his time in the south, for all those years. Ploughing fields, digging ditches and tunnels, working in deep mines. Working. And surely… earning coin.
“I have spent very little of this,” he continued, under his breath. “I shall be glad to begin spending it now, for the gain of my kin.”
Raye swallowed, searched his face, because did he really mean he wanted to spend it on her?
Or maybe… maybe this was for Svein, or for Kalfr.
Maybe making Raye look more presentable, more respectable, would be to Kalfr’s benefit.
Maybe it would help them gain that band of warriors they were seeking.
So Raye slowly nodded, while Kitty drew them to a halt, and whirled around toward Raye again. “Now tell us, sister,” she said, still beaming with genuine-seeming enthusiasm. “How do you spend your days? What kinds of activities do you usually prefer?”
Raye took a breath, and attempted to consider the question. “Well, I suppose I do a fair amount of physical activity,” she carefully replied. “Either weaving at my loom, or cooking and gardening, or chasing around after my son.”
Kitty looked unnaturally delighted by this information, and rapidly nodded. “So something practical, then, and easy to move around in, and keep clean. And are you comfortable in typical dresses, like the one you’re wearing now? Or would you perhaps like to try orcish attire?”