5. After the Battle.
They walked along the streets pass houses and a couple of inns. They walked through the market place, closed of course due to escalating hostilities. The houses were made from brick that was locally made but said to be of great quality. This area was known for such things. Back home, richer families were know to import the bricks from here to build their houses, so as to show off and give their homes an exotic look. Of course here the brick was commonplace and so did not carry the same status. They were modest homes built for practicality, not aesthetics. Not to say they didn’t have any aesthetics. The temples they built rivaled those back in Maria’s homeland.
Maria studied her hosts as she followed them. They had the features of people from this lands, The tanned skin from living in a nearly year round sunny weather. There was a mild and short winter here, which allowed them to cultivate fruits unlike those back home. Those as well were highly sought after and expensive. A well off man would have these fruits at any get together he would throw if he wanted to be talked of among the others.
They both wore their hair long. Even the child’s hair was getting to be quite lengthy for one of his age. There was honor in having long tresses, for the people here believed that they had been combed out of the hair of the Goddess Fadwa and so they grew their hair as long as possible.
His hair went nearly to the middle of his back, but her hair had grown to the top of her thighs. They both had them tied neatly into a ponytail with the same purple colored ribbon running through the ponytails. The color that represented the Goddess. Maria felt a little jealous as she studied them. Her hair never grew properly, always fraying at the ends and drying out. Her black hair was not short but was cut just above the shoulders and she always mourned the fact she could not get it to grow properly beyond that length. Her aunt tried to make her feel better by telling her that good fighters never gave an opponent anything to hold on to and use against them. But that never really made Maria any happier with her tresses.
He had a broad flat nose, probably broken from a fight, set in a square jawed face with a neatly trimmed beard that drew one to his eyes of blue. She had a small pointed one that went well on her round face with deep brown eyes. Maria of course had the much more angular face of her people with green eyes that she was told were the same colour as her birth mother’s. And her birth parents had been farmers, so she was small yet muscular enough to hold her own in a fight, though probably not against Taamir. She had more in common with Taamir than with Ruwayda.
The last time she had been here she had not had much interaction with the people, but she had heard that the women were considered to be very beautiful. Looking at Ruwayda she thought she had to agree if she was any indication.
"I’m amazed they didn’t notice you weren’t native when they first saw you." he said.
"With all this mud and smoke stains all over me, and you as well by the way, and the heat of battle, it would not be the first thing you look for."
Theodore began to scrub his face with his front paws as he continued.
"You handled yourself pretty well out there."
"Thank you."
"But what was it that stopped you out there? If I hadn’t pushed you, that one you were fighting could have recovered and hit you before you did anything."
"Because I was wondering what kind of warlord hires werewolves to fight for him." she answered.
"What!"
"Quiet for now. I think we have arrived at their home. We will discuss this later."
They walked down a small street and stopped at a door. Taamir opened the door and motioned the others in. Inside the house was neat and the furniture was spars. There was a table with four chairs that looked well made from the local trees. There was a fireplace with the cooking hook next to it. The hook was made to swing in and out of the fire, allowing you to remove the pot used without having to reach into the fire. A the rear of the home there were two curtained off areas, that Maria guessed were the sleeping areas for the family.
Taamir motioned to a chair, "Please sit down."
"you must be hungry from your trip." said Ruwayda. "I will make you something to eat."
"Thank you. Though I did not travel as far as you may think, fighting for my life seems to give me an appetite."
"Myself as well." said Taamir.
He had brought out a wash basin and the four of them washed up while Ruwayda set out some food. Maria couldn’t resist the urge and splashed at Theodore as he was dipping his paws in the water to wash his face. This elicited a look of annoyance from the ferret and a gleeful giggle from the boy. Then he and the boy played a little game of chase as the other two finished washing. Finally Ruwayda called Kamal to table and reluctantly he came with Theodore. They ate in silence as Maria and Taamir nearly wolfed down their food.
"Not so fast! You will give yourself a stomach ache." she heard Theodore say.
"I know. But it is very good." she said. She repeated this statement out loud to Ruwayda, who acknowledged the compliment with a smile.
"That’s true," he said munching on a piece of bread. "But that doesn’t help us with our problem. I have a few questions."
"Go ahead."
"What’s this about werewolves?"
"The last one I fought. When I cut his leg the wound smoked and the silver runes on my sword were activated."
"That’s the sword that Jenny Treeborn gave you. The one her people had sent with her, because she was supposed to meet the one it was destined for. Right?"
Maria gave a small sigh. "The gods will have their fun. Can’t just give you something. No they have to make a big mysterious quest out of it. Yes, that’s the one. It’s one of the few weapons built that can hurt a werewolf and any other magical being that is hurt by silver. It has come in handy before."
"So it is unusual for a werewolf to hire himself out to someone?"
"Not really, they still have to make a living, the human side still needs care. You can’t live all your life as a wolf all the time."
"Why not?"
"Aunty says that the wolf side can take over and you will never be human again. Most people rather like being human and so only turn wolf occasionally. Or when they are forced to. Even being the first and strongest of them all, aunty still knows enough to fear the power as well as embrace it."
"I could not picture Eva as being afraid of anything. So what was the problem?"
"Werewolf fighters cost a lot. They have the extra strength and agility from the wolf side, so command a larger fee. If someone is paying that much for fighters, then he must really want something here. That is what’s bothering me."
"Well," said Theodore after a small pause, "it still doesn’t help us in our task does it?"
"No." she acknowledged. "But the fighting doesn’t help either. There are always stories of miraculous recoveries from injuries. Some are true and some are exaggerations. If you aren’t slated to die then you will recover no matter what. If the one I am looking for is here, all the miraculous stories are only going to cause me no end of complications and slow me down."
The meal was over and Maria tried to help with the dishes, but Ruwayda stopped her.
"You did a great thing for us, and I cannot let you do this. Just sit and relax. I know from experience that you need to come down after a battle, please let me do this."
Maria put up little resistance. She was in need of a good drink and a less stressful environment.
As if reading her mind Taamir brought out a couple of glasses and a bottle. It was good ale and went down smoothly.
Just as she was starting to relax, the door to the home was flung open. Theodore quickly ran under the seat that Maria was sitting on. Maria looked toward the door and through it walked the biggest woman Maria had ever seen.
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