[alaklondewen]

Arestevana's Post: Elsa Whitfoot

When she saw both of her children in the river, Elsa’s first thought was to panic. She had too little attention to spare to register surprise when the unoccupied part of her mind realized that this emotion did not immediately take hold. She kept her head long enough to progress to a second, more logical thought. They can't swim. I can’t swim. Then terror set in, and she began fighting her way out of the crowd, trying to reach a point on the bank where she could reach the children.

When she reached the shore, Elsa found her children safe and out of the water, pulled to safety by Mr. Chubb’s cane. She arrived in time to hear a short lecture about safety near a river. When Fordogrim concluded his lecture, Elsa felt inclined to pick up where he had let off. Then she saw her children laying on the river bank, drenched and shivering, and hurried forward to hug them both. Kalimac came up as well, and soon both were comforting the children and trying to dry them off with several towels proffered by families with wagons parked nearby.

Having concluded that her children were all right, Elsa began to relax slightly. She was shaking, having realized how close she had come, once again, to losing both her children. They seemed to have recovered somewhat, and were slightly drier, she noted, but their clothes were thoroughly drenched and very muddy. Elsa led them back to the wagon and found them dry clothes, absently removing a piece of hay from Crispin’s vest pocket as she handed him a fresh shirt. She gave it little thought, her mind occupied. Twice! That’s twice we could have lost them, now. Is this the price of our new land; such constant danger to our children? The new land was a sweet dream, but it will never be worth that much. Perhaps we should go home.