Awakening, Quickening

Entering Grebefal part 2

Harmony tapped on the heavy wooden door. A small window above it popped open with surprising quickness, and a tiny, withered face peered out. "What you want?"
Harmony, taken aback, stared with mouth open; Muse grinned her wide grin and answered in her stead. "Are you Granny Jak? We've come with a new babe and a mother who needs a healer. We've come a long way, from over the mountain. Have you any heal spells or potions?"
Granny Jak, for it was she, frowned. "Naw. I have herbs and poultices. And nawt for a healin' a healthy young'n. But for you-" (here she eye Harmony suspiciously) "For you I've briar tea, to help the milk come in, if you like. But you're in fine fettle; anyone can see that. Alls ye need is a hot meal and a nap, methinks. Dunno why ye'd call on an old lady and waste 'er time for nothin"
The face in the second story window disappeared, and almost immediately the front door jerked open. A tiny, stocky woman with sun-weathered skin and a long gray braid stood staring up at them now, from Harmony's waist level. Muse gasped and stifled a giggle; Harmony glared at her, because she heard full well the roars of laughter in her mind.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHa...she's so short! And she looks like a dried up potato! Just look at her face, I can't HELP it!
Granny eyed Muse sharply, and then grasped Harmony by the hand, pulling her in through the raised door with surprising strength. "come on. Ye need to let that babe suckle so's he can stop 'is whinin'. There's a seat in th' kitchen. I'll fetch th' tea fer ye."
Harmony gratefully followed Granny Jak into the kitchen, and almost fell to her knees at the smell of fresh bread and savory stewed meat. Granny snorted and pushed her into a high-backed wooden armchair.
"sit. Feed the babe. I'll get ye and yer maidling somethin' to eat and drink. We don't git many new folks here, 'n I wanna hear all about how ye came."

Harmony gratefully obeyed. Kyir was a good eater, who seemed to know exactly what he was about; Harmony knew nothing about it, but did her best to hold him in whatever position seemed most comfortable to them both. Granny chuckled and handed her a roll of fabric; "Tuck it under yer arms. Y'll soon tired of holding him that way".

Harmony nodded, then caught herself; "How did you know he's a boy?"
Granny grinned and snorted, her face resembling an kindly old potato. "Seed enuf of 'em, is all". She approached Harmony softly and handed her an earthenware mug of something hot and green. "Ther's yer tea. Drink it all up, it'll do ye good. Ye'r a mite thinner than I first thought."

Harmony glanced at Muse, who was busying herself with a hard roll from the basket Granny had passed to her. She was now seated at the table; Kyir was snoozing like a little drunken soldier, peacefully tucked into a reed basket, covered in some odd white and brown downy material, which Granny had called "Waterwort fur".
Granny was seated by the fire, tending to the stewpot; she was gazing at Harmony oddly. Then she looked away, at Muse, as if wondering when they would explain themselves.
Harmony hadn't known where to start on their story for Granny; so she started with the simplest version she could manage, while still being truthful. She thought it wouldn't be wise to try lying to a person like Granny; those eyes saw and knew far more than they told. "We are....originally from a country called Joei. I'm a mage, and Muse was helping me with some kind of spell...but I don't know how we got here. The spell took away both our memories. We were asleep, and then we woke up, and I found myself pregnant and alone, deep in a cave in the mountains, with Muse."

Here Harmony paused. She didn't know if she should mention the cleaning mecha, or the covered graves...or the sealed door. "Anyway. I found a mana-wand and I was able to use that to help us. I can do a little transformation magic, and other sorts... We found our way out of the cave, and I had the baby outside, on the mountain side. I...I don't know anything about having babies. I just know that it was horrible...cold, and dirty, and smelly...And I am so, so tired." Harmony let her guard down a little, and let her weariness show; she shuddered as she suddenly remembered that black night, the fog in her mind, the smell of death and dust, the weight...the hideous, unearthly memory-dream, and the pain that woke her to give birth to the progeny of that crime against her. She suddenly felt nauseated.
Not now, she cautioned herself. That's too much, I can't talk about that just yet. I won't. Across the room, Muse looked pained and sad. I wish I could take it away, Harmony...you didn't deserve that.

Harmony felt tears pressing and quickly shuttered her thoughts, straightening with an effort. Granny was watching, waiting for her to finish. "WELL. Anyway, right now, we just want a place to stay, and some time to try to figure out how this all happened. And, we don't mean anyone any harm. We're just...just lost, I suppose." She looked away, over at the sleeping Kyir instead of at Granny. Firelight danced off his baby hair, making it look like flames. Just lost, she thought. We're fine. We'll find our way.

Granny sat by the fire, nodded her graying head, as if she had expected to hear this. Her sharp old eyes bored holes into Harmony's, and it seemed as though she knew far more than Harmony had said. But all she said was, "Aye. Ye looked so."