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Saeryn listened silently, fretting. The Dunlending had shot her a sizing glance and she felt that she'd come up wanting... but she was uncertain why. She had taken the role of housekeeper only that morning, promising to herself that she would model her welcoming behavior and reassuring smile after Bethberry's... and yet she sat alone, worried, nervous, uncertain, and unwelcoming to the stranger that stood alone. Bethberry had left the Inn in the capable hands of Eodwine to travel with an Easterling, and Saeryn could only shiver with uncertainty as a Dunlending stood before her.
She wanted so much to stand beside him, to lend support to his cause. She had come, a runaway, so recently. Had some of these very people before her not taken up her cause, even without knowing what it was, she did not wish to know where she'd now be. Most of them, especially now, with so many new faces, knew nothing of Saeryn but her smile and voice. They accepted her without question.
This Dunlending stood alone. Saeryn felt for him... but she felt more for herself.
Eodwine was letting him stay, if he could speak for himself. Would the tension continue? Would there be so many traces of ancient hatred ready to burst forth at any time?
A month...
Saeryn picked up the kitten from her lap and left the hall, locking herself into her room. She hoped no-one saw the glimmer of fearful and guilty tears.
This man needed a friend to stand beside him. Saeryn had been given that gift... and now she withheld it from another in need. But the hostility was too much. Pulling a quilt from her bed, Saeryn wrapped herself within and cried over memories of the past and worry of the future.
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