Meeting

Felicity gets things done. Chapter 2 of 5.

It was past noon by the time the woman stirred at all. She was quieter than death in her movement. The only reason Felicity noticed at all was because she glanced over and saw the woman sitting completely upright, staring right back at her.

“Good afternoon,” Felicity said.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, her voice hoarse and barely audible in the still cottage.

“My name is Felicity. What’s yours?”

“Saxifrage.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Felicity said, setting a glass of water on the low table by the couch.

“Where is this?”

“Marbled Village.”

Saxifrage visibly relaxed at this and picked up the glass of water, taking tiny sips.

“I need to go tend to my chickens. Will you be alright in here?”

Saxifrage nodded.

“If you want some clothes you can look through this cabinet and take anything you like.”

Saxifrage nodded again.

“Okay, I’ll be just outside.”

Felicity set about her chores quickly. The chickens pecked around her feet, as she refilled their water and food and checked their nesting boxes and cleaned their hutch and said hello to each of them. Then she realized it hadn’t rained in almost a week, and her garden was starting to wilt. Once she watered, she spent some time pulling out the weeds that had gathered. While she was out there anyways, she checked her firewood stash and broke down some of the larger logs in to smaller ones she could bring inside.

It was during this last task that Lucca came down the road.

“How do you do, Felicity?” he asked.

“I’m well, and you?”

“Right as a button. How’s the patient?”

“She was up a few hours ago but you probably want to see for yourself. The door’s open; I’ll meet you inside in a moment.”

Lucca nodded and let himself in to the cottage.

Felicity finished splitting the log and followed him in. Lucca had his stethoscope out and didn’t seem to notice her entrance. Saxifrage’s eyes flicked up to Felicity, then went back to staring at the wall. Felicity noted that Saxifrage was wearing one of the largest shirts Felicity had and it was still too large. She’d need to buy cloth tomorrow.

“Well, you’re on the mend. I’ll come by to change this bandage and check in on you once a day. Take it easy and get lots of rest. Do you have any other questions?”

Saxifrage shook her head.

“Alright, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lucca got up to go, saw Felicity, and motioned for her to join him outside.

“She’s looking better. Her bandage needs to be changed once a day until it’s healed, so I’ll be back in the morning. In the meantime, you can give her anything she wants to eat and drink. Once she’s had a meal, you can give her this for pain. Any questions?”

“Did she say anything about where she came from or what she was doing in the woods?”

“No. I tried asking, but…”

“It’s okay. I’ll see you in the morning, Lucca.”

“Good night,” Lucca replied.

Felicity walked back in to the cottage. 

“I’m going to make dinner. What do you want?”

“Anything.”

“Does salmon sound good?”

Saxifrage nodded, and Felicity set to work.

When the meal was done, the pair sat opposite each other, silently eating. Felicity tried to meet Saxifrage’s gaze a few times, but Saxifrage stared resolutely down at her plate. Finally, Felicity gave in to her desire for conversation.

“What do you think of the dinner?”

“Good,” Saxifrage replied.

“I’m glad you like it. It’s an old recipe my mom taught to me, from a cookbook her mom gave to her and that her mom gave to her. It has so many notes and adjustments scribbled in it that it’s basically its own cookbook now. Maybe I should neaten it up and sell it as recipes perfected over generations. Do you think I could sell that?”

Saxifrage shrugged.

“Well, I don’t think I have the patience for that anyways. Do you have any books like that?”

Saxifrage shook her head.

“Hm. Half the fun in having a very old book that lots of people have written in is reading the notes and imagining them as real people bickering. My mom loved sweet things, so almost all the deserts have notes from her saying to up the sugar. My grandma, though, or maybe it was my great-grandma, has lots of notes lowering the amount of sugar. I like to think that old books, even if the readers didn’t leave notes, have lots of arguments like that happening depending on what different readers thought of them.” 

Saxifrage made no response.

“Well, I’m sure you’re tired. Give me your plate and I’ll tidy up a bit so you can get some sleep. That door’s my bedroom if you need me at all.”

“Bathroom?”

“The bathroom’s through that door,” Felicity said, pointing out the only other door in the cottage.

Saxifrage nodded, handed Felicity her plate, and went to the bathroom.

Felicity sighed and set about cleaning the mess from dinner.