Awakening, Quickening

To the Inn part 1

Granny ladled up a bowl of stew and added a roll, and handed the bowl to Harmony, who took it gratefully and began to eat. Oh, it was good... so good... a rich, thick stew with root vegetables and some sort of meat in a savory brown broth, and the bread rolls were hard, but Harmony dunked them in the broth and thought she had never tasted better. Harmony was so hungry, she had to finish all of her food, have seconds, and drink all of the tea, before she could even try to speak again. Muse ravenously ate a large bowl and several rolls of her own. Granny smiled to herself as she stirred the fire, quietly letting them finish. Finally Harmony leaned back with a sigh.
"I am ever so grateful for this, Madam. If you would know, please, could I find work here, in Grebefal? Does this town need a mage? We are quite without resources to return to where we came from, at the moment..."
Granny looked Harmony up and down, as if she was assessing a horse or a cow offered for sale. "Jist "Granny'' 's fine, ah'm no 'Madam'. An' we've no Mage here, but I dinna what we've a need of one, fer, 'less someone gits in some fearsome way, in a hurry. I 'spose that do happen, atimes... We coulda used ya a few years back when ma house caught afire. Ma sweet man Bertie passed after that fire." Granny's eyes softened and she turned away for a moment. Then she coughed and cleared her throat. "Yeh, well, I reckon it'd be right fine to have a mage in Grebefal for a time, if ye'r fixin to stay. I kin take ye ta th' Inn, but ye'll have ta see the Lord and git ye an order, a room-claim, so's ye can set up shop. I kin take ye by there later on. For now I'll take ye ower to the inn."

Harmony nodded. "Thank you, M--ah, Granny...yes, that would be much appreciated." Harmony rummaged a moment in the folds of her cloak and pulled out the wand. "Might I offer you some payment for your help? Is there something I might help you with?"

Granny eyed the wand with a raised eyebrow. "Ye needn't pay, but--mayhaps, kin ye fix that old shutter-strap, on the high window up there? I'm a mite too short to reach 't, an I like bein' able to close it after I look out."
Harmony raised the wand and focused. The leather strap wriggled, stretched, grew; looped itself over and tied one end to the window-handle, then around the large nail above; then grew down, down, down to coil on the floor, a leather rope now, instead of just a broken strap. Granny eyed it, as if expecting it to leap at her like a snake. "that's mighty strange. But, ah s'pose ye did fix 't. That's good work ye do. Ye'll be in high demand with skills like that."
Harmony smiled, then sighed, feeling dizzy. It had been such a long day, and she was still feeling the effects of birth, and now this magical drain as well. "If there's anything else, Granny, I'd be glad to help. But I will need some time to renew the powers I used. They aren't unlimited."

Granny nodded "Aye, that makes sense, that does. Well, let's go git ye and yer bunch into a bed."

She hopped up from her place and shooed them outside with surprising quickness. "Ower there. The big yellow house. That's our inn. It's closest t' Market and has more floors that t' rest. Hope you've coin though, or Aga'te will have ye sweepin up and muckin out for yer bed." She waved her cane at the castle "Ah kin take ye t' the castle in a few days, after ye've rested up. Ah'll meet ye then."

Harmony nodded yes; she was too tired to explain that she could easily magic up money, if needed, and besides which it probably wasn't a good idea to let too many people know she had those sort of skills. So far, the people of Grebefal had been pleasant enough, but knowing a person could produce unlimited funds could, and often would, ruin a relationship with anyone.
Granny walked them across to the yard of the big yellow house, then watched as the three of them entered, with Muse cheerily waving her goodbye. "pur lil young'n..." she murmured. "Not jist a mite thin. A mite young, ter be havin' babes, an' specially all alone in them hills...in some saints-forsaken place, an' without even knowin' why. 'Taint fair. " And Granny began aggressively attacking the weeds in her vegetable garden, as if they were the cause of such great misfortune.