Aebbe's Story
13. The Fiancé

Before long, the whole group had gathered at a table together while a band played and we relaxed with more cold ale, enjoying some mild notoriety and the spoils of our success. We were laughing and chatting among ourselves still deciding if we would help with the mine. I was suddenly aware that I was being watched. I guess it comes from hunting and being in the wild where sometimes the hunter becomes the prey. My eyes snapped over near the entrance of the tavern and I spied a pair of deep, dark eyes looking right at me. The last time I’d seen him, his hair was perfectly combed and he was looking very handsome in a perfectly tailored blue jacket with gold trim and shiny black shoes. Today, it was evident he had been traveling hard for some days. But, of course, Wellswood was at least a five week ride from Holdstone and that’s if you’re in a hurry. As he saw me notice him, his shoulders seemed to relax.

“Excuse me, guys. There’s someone here I know,” I pushed my seat back, chugged the last of my ale, wiped my mouth with my sleeve, and stood up to go meet him. What in the world was Kaarlo Issakainen doing here? I made my way over to him. I was suddenly aware that my appearance was far removed from what he may remember. Still he had recognized me, so I tried to relax. The tavern wasn’t completely full like it can be, as it was still early, but I had to make my way through a fair throng. When I got to him, he’d found a place on a bench along the front wall for us to sit but he was waiting for me standing up.

When I reached him, it seemed like he didn’t know how to greet me.

“Hi,” I said first. Not knowing what else to say. I was suddenly remembering how I had run off just before we were supposed to be wed. He might not have been too happy about it. It had been such a shock to see a familiar face here that I hadn’t totally thought it through. Aelfie was jumping on him and wagging her tail excitedly. She had reached him first having an easier time weaving quickly between people’s legs. “What are you doing here?”

“I…uhm. Let’s sit down, can we?” he asked. I shrugged. He petted Aelfie and the little turncoat just kept pushing her insistent nose under his hand so he’d keep petting her like he was her best friend. I tried to ignore her.

“Sure,” I said and we sat together on the bench. We were not the only people using the bench and we had to sit rather close together.

“You…cut your hair,” he said. He reached up and pulled at a strand of my short hair. Oddly, his touch electrified me in a strange way.

“Yeah, I did,” I sighed. “Long hair is such a pain to deal with.” My hair was probably shorter than his now. It was such a strange way to start. He couldn’t have know about my hair.

“Why did you leave? Are you with that guy?” he said, his eyes looking hard. I looked where he had glanced and he seemed to be looking at Emmon. He certainly stood out in a crowd being a foot taller than most and clanking in his armor. He was laughing at something probably Meig had said. Our table was notoriously loud in the tavern.

“Who, Emmon?” I looked back at Kaarlo, feeling confused. “No, we met in this tavern. We’ve worked together, sure. Not the brightest candle, but you gotta admire someone with that much strength and reach on his sword, you know?”

“Oh, I just wondered if there had been someone else…” he trailed off and looked away.

“Someone else for what?” I said a bit louder than I’d meant, panic rising into my voice. I was thinking of Gavendor and if he had lost his post over letting me out. I had tried very hard not to think about it since that night. I was staring at Kaarlo carefully.

“Someone else you wanted to marry,” he said, turning his eyes to me. I could see the anger there, but I was so relieved he didn’t mention Gavendor letting me go, I smiled. But then I realized what he was saying and I thought there might be hurt in his eyes, so I wiped my smile away.

“Oh, Gods no,” I said. “I don’t…”I wasn’t sure how to explain it right that wouldn’t hurt him more. “I have no interest in…being a wife. And all that entails. I don’t know if you really know about my family. I was the last child, the eighth and long after my other siblings. I killed my mother, in childbirth. My family loved to remind me of that fact, but maybe the other clans and noble houses didn’t know. I’ve known a lot of women to die in childbirth and, frankly, I’d rather face a horde of goblins than deal with that.” There, that should explain things.

When I turned back to face him, he had a funny smile on his face, the kind that made we want to thump him. He distracted me by lacing the fingers of his hand with mine. I looked down at our entwined hands, somewhat taken aback. I was shocked to notice my hands were cleaner than his. I didn’t care about that. He had big, strong hands and some dirt couldn’t detract from them, but my hands were usually dirtier than most other noble people I knew.

I should have been paying closer attention to the rest of him, because he reached his other hand to my face and pulled me in to kiss him. To his credit, he did it slowly and I had plenty of time to thump him. Only, his touch electrified my face again and his lips looked soft and inviting. Before I knew it, he was kissing me and I was kissing him back. He slipped his tongue in my mouth which surprised me at first, but then felt really nice. As the kiss went on, longer than I expected I felt a throbbing between my legs that made me think his hands had wandered, but when I checked one was still on my neck and the other entwined with mine. Still, it scared me, so I broke away from him.

“So…” he started looking down at our hands. Oddly, he brought our hands to his face and kissed the back of mine. “You didn’t want to marry me?” he asked. I didn’t see any hurt in his eyes this time.

“No, Kaarlo. I don’t want to marry anyone. I know my family doesn’t want me, but I need work at something I kinda believe in, you know? I can’t do that in Thornhill. I tried, but I couldn’t satisfy my father.”

“You worked in Thornhill? Why? How?” Kaarlo asked. His brow was knit with curiosity or maybe confusion.

“I was the last child, a lot younger than all my siblings, and my dad sort of forgot about me, I guess. I worked in the kitchens and then in the stable and kennel. Then I was trained to go in the hunting parties. I didn’t just happen to kill a goblin that one time, you probably heard about it. Gavendor spent years training me in the crossbow,” I explained.

“Oh,” he looked down at our hands. He opened my hand in his and felt the calluses on my palm with his thumb. Most were from riding and cocking a crossbow.

“Did my father lose very much money by not being able to marry me off?” I asked worried over his answer. His brows knit together.

“No. Quite the opposite. My father requested he pay a dowry for me to marry you. It took some time, but your father eventually agreed to some terms, I refused to know the details. When the wedding didn’t happen, your father didn’t have to pay…” he explained and shrugged. I tried to turned my face away so he wouldn’t see me, but he pulled my chin towards him. “Your father told you we were paying a dowry for you?” I nodded and a few tears slipped down my face. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said, wiping the tears away, but now I was really confused. “But why would you convince your father to pay for me?” I turned to study him. It was his turn to look away.

“I guess you don’t remember it. It was your 15th birthday ball. I was there, but I was a little young to be given much attention. It was partly my own fault as I refused to learn the latest dance steps,” I had to chuckle at that confession. “Anyway, I saw you turn down all those guys who wanted to kiss you. They had all bragged ahead of time that you would kiss them, but you didn’t kiss a one. Especially that Gaelric guy. He tormented me since our parents were friends and I’d see him a lot. He thought he was so handsome and special and you turned him down flat. I thought to myself: there’s a woman who’s got it together. I could really use a level-headed, maybe strong-headed woman, like that at my side.” He jumped and let go of my hand when I started belly laughing.

“Really?! That’s it?!” I asked him between fits. “You’re crazy!” I was laughing so hard my tummy hurt and a tear slipped down for an entirely different reason. He didn’t look very amused, so he continued over my laughter.

“That AND I heard about the goblins you took on. It was the talk of the Duchy.” Thinking of that day sobered me and I wiped my face sighing. “Well, at least our small part of it. We have a few raiders come through as well. I know what it’s like to get my sword bloodied, but we never had that many at once,” he narrowed his eyes at me. I suddenly noticed he had a longsword on his left hip. That reason, at least, I could better understand. I nodded.

“That’s not something I want to do everyday, but after seeing what they did to all those people… Well, some things need doing, don’t they?” I said. He smiled a small smile and looked at me in a way that made me want to thump him again. That didn’t seem like an appropriate response, though, so I held back. He looked at my lips and I licked them self-consciously. He was probably thinking of our kissing and suddenly I was too and that strange ache between my legs. To distract myself, I decided to ask him the hard question.

“Is Gavendor okay?” I asked him frowning. Kaarlo got a big smile on his face at that question which made me narrow my eyes at him. He laced his fingers with mine again.

“You mean your co-conspirator?” he accused raising his eyebrows and I tried to pull my hand away, but he held firm. It was his turn to laugh. “He’s fine,” he said quickly, seeing my panic.

“Your father fired him, but he had several offers for employment on the spot. I convinced my father to hire him; we quietly outbid everyone else,” he smirked. I was horrified.

“So, he works for your family in Wellswood now?” I asked stupidly since he’d already answered that question. My brain seemed fuzzy and unable to process information correctly. Maybe it was his hand in mine that caused it.

“Sure does. And makes more money now. He’ll probably retire soon, but he’s a good asset, we hope he stays around. Your father was pretty angry at him, but I’m sure he regrets losing Gavendor,” he looked away from me and shook his head. “He denied helping you, but of course he’s the only one who had a key to your room, so…” he shrugged.

“Gods, I didn’t mean to get him into trouble. But I’m glad it worked out for him,” I said thinking about all that I’d learned from Gavendor. We sat in silence for a while. I almost forgot we were holding hands until he gave mine a squeeze.

“So, you won’t marry me? You don’t have to see your family again,” Kaarlo said lifting my hand to his lips again. “I’m sorry they lied you and coerced you into it,” he said softly. He traced the side of my face with his finger, pushing some errant strands of hair out of my face. His touch did feel nice and kissing him had felt good too. But I knew I wasn’t really what he wanted.

“I’m sorry, Kaarlo. You’re a good man, but I have a new friends here. I have a purpose, people who respect me and look out for me. I know it’s not the same as marriage or a family, but it’s what I need. I’m just not the marrying kind. Running a house, having children, that’s good for some, but it’s just not what I’m cut out to do. I’d be better off being in charge of your stable or manor defense. But, Kaarlo, if you need help, if Wellswood is in trouble, if you need someone to watch your back, all you have to do is ask.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek. His look turned hard which surprised me.

“So, you’re alright here?” he asked, searching my face for something.

“I’m alright, Kaarlo. Thanks for… caring about me,” I said a little awkwardly. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea or him to think I thought too highly of myself. He smiled and we stood up and let go of each other’s hands.

“Have a safe trip back. I doubt anyone in my family will ask about me, but if they do…” I started. He nodded, his smile turning grim.

“Don’t worry. They won’t hear anything from me,” he said. He looked like he wanted to hug me or kiss me. I stuck out my right hand. After a moment, he grabbed my hand. He squeezed my hand hard, trying to hurt me, like my brothers always did. However, I had still been doing my hand, arm and leg exercises that Gavendor had taught me and I squeezed him hard right back.

Funnily enough, a smile crept into his face. “Thanks, Aebbe. I will remember what you said and if I reach out, well, you’ll know Wellswood will need help. Good luck to you. May the Saints favor you!” he said and let go of me. Aelfie sat on my feet. I guess she had just wanted to say hi and had decided to stay with me after all.

“May the Old Gods shine their elemental powers on you, Kaarlo. You and your family,” I said as he stepped away. I reckoned he’d replace a wife pretty easily. Someone like him needs to be married. When you own a manor house, even if you’re father is still alive, there’s a lot of work to do and I knew wives had plenty to manage. It had never been my goal or in my training.

Marriage would make him happy. I wouldn’t, but someone else could. It would probably take a month to get back to his home, unless he had a coach with a team of horses. I felt bad he had come all this way. Two men in uniform went out behind him. I turned and went as quickly as I could directly up the stairs to my room at the tavern which overlooked the road outside.