“Kalfr!” the woman exclaimed, as they entered the room. “Is this yourson?! 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, howwonderful!” 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 meanhecould 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 dangerousfighting 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?”
She gestured toward her own unconventional ensemble, which was comprised of a short leather skirt, a skimpy fur shawl, and an abundance of strategically placed, glittering gold jewelry. And while Raye could fully appreciate how striking it all looked, it would surely also be cold, especially whentravelling or gardening outdoors, and it would undoubtedly raise unnecessary questions in public, too.
“No, dresses are fine, I think,” Raye replied. “As long as it’s something easy to work in, that doesn’t hang in the way?”
She gave a helpless shrug, glancing around at the frankly overwhelming selection of options. Gods, after so many years of making her own simple dresses, how long had it been since she’d had the privilege of choosing her own ready-made clothes? But Gaelfr again clamped his hand to her back, and guided her toward the nearest rack of colourful dresses.
“You should look fetching in colours,sæta,” he said firmly. “Just as another bloom in our garden. And” — he smirked, and raised his brows — “we also need a frock you can grow into, ach?”
Raye’s face heated, but her chagrined glance toward Kitty found her already carding through the dresses, her small hands moving with eager familiarity. “Yes, size fluctuations aresocommon for us women,” she pointed out, “and our clothes really should support us in accommodating that. Here, how about this style? And what do you think of this colour, and this fabric? I’m sure you’re particular about the fabric, with your weaving?”
Again, a dress’ fabric wasn’t something Raye had enjoyed the privilege of choosing these past years, but she could admit that this fabric was lovely. It was a smooth, long-stapled, finely spun wool, dyed a deep green, and the dress itself was constructed more like a robe, with a long black sash that would wrap around the wearer’s waist. It would offer Raye plenty of room to grow into it, just like Gaelfr had said, and curse it, why was she even thinking about this, let alone listening to him?
“This frock looks good, does it not,sæta?” Gaelfr cut in. “Here, try it, and show us.”
He was already plucking at the buttons at the front of Raye’s dress, tugging them apart. And though she instantly froze, andglanced at Kitty and Rosa and Daisy, they were all smiling approvingly, and Kitty already had her arms full of more richly coloured dresses. “Yes, do try them on!” she said. “Though there’s a curtain at the back, if you’d be more comfortable there? And I’m sure you’ll want to consider new underthings, too!”
Gaelfr brightened at this, and accordingly ushered Raye toward the back of the shop, where there was indeed a large hanging curtain. And once she and Gaelfr had slipped beyond it, he promptly tugged off not only her shabby dress, but also her even shabbier shift beneath, as well.
“Better already,” he purred toward her, with a devious twinkle in his eye, and a proprietary squeeze to her bare breast. “Now allow me to dress you,sæta.”
Raye couldn’t find the will to protest, especially once Gaelfr had carefully wrapped the green dress around her, and took his time fussing with the low-cut neckline, and the sash around her waist. “Ach, this is good,” he told her, as he stood back, surveying her with a critical eye. “Kalfr shall be well pleased, I ken.”
