We Are The Cure : The Plague Doctor's Tale.

Chapter 16

Before the evening came, Doctor had decided that they should eat something and do a little shopping. 

They headed to the nearest bar and ordered two medium-sized bowls of Cock-a-Leekie soup. Rosalynn was very surprised to see such unusual dish. 

"It is just a soup with leek, barley and chicken. I see nothing unusual here." Doctor said again as he had eaten that soup before numerous times in his life. 

"I know! I have eaten leek, barley and chicken before but I wouldn't even imagine cooking  a soup out of these ingredients!" Rosalynn was still amazed by the rich taste and spice of the dish. 

After they paid for their meal, the two set off in search of more suitable clothing for Rosalynn. As Doctor said, the dress she was wearing was too pretty to be worn in a pub. Besides Rosalynn was very excited with shopping itself. Rarely she had an opportunity to buy herself new clothes as she was living in a small village in Derbyshire. Being in the bigger town (Nottingham, Edinburgh) meant more interesting places and shops to visit. 

"Usually, I was sewing my clothes by myself out of various fabrics. This dress is also my work." She smiled brightly and Doctor examined the dress she was wearing more carefully.

"Indeed. I can notice few flaws-" He hardly finished the sentence.

"Flaws?" She saddened suddenly and started searching for any sewing mistakes she probably made. "I was doing my best..."

"Have a look. The stitching here is much more visible compared to the other sewn parts." Doctor pointed to the one of her sleeves. He was right, the yellow thread was truly visible. 

"I should have used the green thread instead." She sighed but soon Doctor tried to cheer her up.

"Despite that, the dress appears to be a very well-made piece of clothing, I must admit. You did a good job." That was the maximum he could do to make her less sad with his critical remark. But Rosalynn appreciated his opinion and knew that it was his best. 

Soon they were leaving one of the tailor's shops with a whole new outfit. The tailor offered them the already made clothing parts and combined them into a nicely- looking attire. She was wearing a white blouse with long loose-fitting sleeves and a cross bond on her chest, a navy-blue waistcoat, and a long ankle-length broad navy blue skirt with additional fabric pieces of greenish tartan adjusted to her hips with a black belt. Despite Doctor's suggestions she didn't want to buy a new pair of shoes. The tailor gave her a little gift which was a white headscarf explaining that she must have a matching headscarf to her new clothing. They both thanked the tailor and Doctor paid for the shopping.

Asked why he didn't buy anything for himself, he just said that he doesn't need new clothes and besides, it is women's domain to acquire as many new clothes as often as possible. Rosalynn got annoyed with that remark but quickly forgot about it as the evening was about to come. 

Quickly they came back to their inn in order to leave Rosalynn's handmade dress in their room and then set off to the planned meeting.

...

They met the red-haired viking-like guy at the exact same place they saw each other before but this time he wasn't alone. Next to him were standing two more girls and a guy. 

The girls were both brown-haired, tall and slim but it was easy to tell them apart. One of them had long curly hair and the other had shoulder-length wavy hair. Also the first one had blue eyes and the second had green ones. Both girls were wearing similar clothing to Rosalynn's but their headscarfs were light-brown and beige. The guy who was with them had black short hair, dark brown eyes and tanned complexion. Something was telling Rosalynn that he wasn't Scottish or English either. Maybe somebody from over the sea? His clothing was unusual as well, very dark and no tartan. He was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and dark brown trousers with long boots. His clothing resembled Doctor's in some way. 

The guy they met before greeted them enthusiastically and so did the rest of the group. When Rosalynn and Doctor came closer, Doctor spoke first.

"Would you consider conversing in English? My companion is not able to understand Scottish yet." The gathered people looked at her surprised but agreed.

"Sure!" The viking-like guy smiled brightly and the others nodded. "We didn't introduce ourselves yet, aye?" He spoke with distinctive Scottish accent which at first appeared very funny to Rosalynn but she managed not to laugh. Seeing Doctor and Rosalynn shaking their heads, the guy began the introduction of his group starting from himself. "My name's Arran. The gal here is Jyne." He pointed with his chin to the girl with shorter hair who was standing by his left side. "And that's her sister, Malie." As predicted he turned his head in the long-haired direction. "And-" Arran barely started the sentence when his companion interrupted him. 

"I'm Giovanni." His voice was very nice despite the fact that it sounded a bit annoyed. Rosalynn couldn't recognize where was he from. His accent, though melodic and beautiful, didn't resemble English or Scottish. 

"De Ventura." Doctor added unexpectedly and the expression of Giovanni's face changed. He was no longer annoyed but interested. 

"So you know each other?" Arran got even more excited.

"Not in person. I've heard of you and your... methods." Doctor's voice was very calm which gave more serious impression of him. 

"So you must be..." Giovanni was trying to recall Doctor's name. 

"It's Doctor Rae." Doctor helped him and Giovanni's expression brightened. "And my little companion here is Rosalynn."

"It's very nice to meet you!" Arran interrupted the talk. It seemed like he was more interested in Rosalynn rather than in Doctor. 

After this short introduction they headed one of the pubs and after they found a suitable table for their group, they ordered beer. 

Rosalynn was located between Doctor and Malie. Next to her was her sister, then Arran and Giovanni. It was very loud inside due to the band that was playing and the Scotsmen who were talking loudly. Rosalynn could barely hear what the people gathered by her table were talking about. She could only guess that they were talking about their excitement of upcoming Baltane festival. When she finished her pint of beer, she stood up and started heading to the exit. Doctor quickly crossed her way using his cane and asked her where was she going. 

"I wanted to go outside. It's too noisy here and I can't even hear my thoughts." She answered and in the same time the girls stood up.

"We can join you so you won't be alone." Shouted Jyne.

"It's also too loud for us." Added Malie and the three left the pub.

Outside, there was almost nobody, except for the two drunk men who were sleeping under the wall. Also the music and talks weren't as loud as inside. 

"Tell us more about yourself!" Jyne encouraged Rosalynn. "And how you ended up with that weird bird guy?" The girl was really curious. Her sister seemed less interested but still wanting to learn something new about them. 

"Well, it's a long story-" Rosalynn barely finished due to the strong male arm that grabbed and squeezed her. The squeeze was so strong that that last thing she heard were girls' nervous screams.