"Well," Granny said, setting her notebook down on the table. "This mystery is easy enough to solve. Orcs are extremely... prolific. And while some people assume elf and orc lineages can't mix, that's not quite true."
"Yes, well -" I started, then went quiet at the look she gave me.
"You're far from the first girl I've seen come running to me after spending a night with an orc. Did you come here hoping I would tell you that he wasn't the father?"
"Yes and no," I told her. I could feel a bit of a blush starting in my cheeks. "He could be the father, true. But I'm not so sure."
"Was he the last lover you had?"
"Not by a longshot."
She sighed and settled back into her chair. "Alright, fine. You'd better tell me the rest."
********
The sun rose a bit too early for my tastes, but it didn't seem to care that I'd been up late last night. It shone down with undisturbed enthusiasm, and I resigned myself to being awake.
I looked around and found Roy still snoring, but no Berta. I stepped out of the cart and my legs protested, almost collapsing under me. They ached from their hard workout yesterday, and I moved slowly to stretch them and coax some life back into the muscles.
Finally I was mobile again, and found Berta sitting by the fire pit, trying to bring the coals back to life with some kindling. She looked back at me and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" I asked, feeling just a little self-conscious.
"No, nothing," she answered, turning back to her work.
She got a small flame going, just enough to cook a few eggs over. I tried to pay attention to the breakfast preparations, but kept feeling my attention being pulled to the next camp over. By the time the food was ready and Berta and I were sitting down to eat, Roy was finally out of bed.
"You look like death warmed over," Berta told him, and I couldn't disagree. He was pale under his beard, and his eyes and nose looked puffy.
"Well, thank you for your kind words," he grumbled, helping himself to a thick slice of bread but nothing else. "I feel like my head was caught between the thunder god's hammer and anvil, and I'd like nothing more than to go back to sleep. How far off are we?"
The dwarf and human were bent over their map, tracing our route along the hand-drawn roads. I picked up the few dishes and made my way down to the creek. I set myself to the task of washing dishes with the kind of enthusiasm you can only muster when you're trying not to think of something else, and had them done in only a few moments.
I turned to start my walk back and audibly gasped as I found Davor standing there, leaning against a tree. His thick arms were crossed over his chest, and his typical cocky grin sat across his face. "Morning," he said.
"Gods above, you scared me."
"You called out to the gods last night, too," he said with a chuckle. "Different reason, though."
I shook my head, and started back towards camp. "Are you still going the same way as us?" I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"For a little while." He gave me a look I wasn't sure how to interpret.
"Well, maybe we can have a drink by the fire again tonight," I hedged, giving him another look-over, out of the side of my eye.
He grinned, big and broad. "I think I'd like that."
We parted ways as we got to the clearing, each of us going towards a different pair of companions. I watched him walk away, enjoying the play of muscles in his arms and back. When I turned back towards the remnants of our campfire, I found Berta staring.
"Problem?" I asked as I set the dishes and cutlery neatly back into their box. She just shook her head and took the box, tucking it away in the back of the cart.
I finished grabbing the last couple mugs sitting near the fire pit, and made my way to the back of the cart. Berta wasn't there, but Roy was sitting on the back, his short legs dangling off the edge.
"Sorry to bother," he said, still looking pale and sweaty. "Would you mind terribly if I took the back of the cart today? You can sit up front with Berta."
"Sure," I told him, not sure how to feel about all this. On one hand, riding in the front would be much comfier than sitting on a bag of potatoes. On the other hand, I'd never had more than a handful of words with Berta, and suspected the ride might be awkward. "Let me just grab my things."
I grabbed my backpack, which was the sum total of my worldly possessions, and climbed up the side of the cart. I watched Berta finish readying the horses, until my gaze was pulled towards Davor like iron filings to a magnet.
He had just finished rolling up his tent, and had just bent down to pick up the long roll. I watched his legs and ass in appreciation as he picked up the bundle and strapped it onto the back of his horse's saddle. He stopped for a moment, looking slowly around as if to check to see if he'd forgotten something. His eyes met mine as he turned, but this time I didn't look away.
He gave me a slow nod, which I returned.
Then Berta was loudly clambering onto the cart's seat, and I looked away from the orc, embarrassed again.
The lady dwarf settled in beside me, grumbled out a quick "Ya ready?", and then shook the reins before I'd even answered. The horses dutifully started into action, starting with a nice leisurely pace until the cart had some momentum, and then picked up to a trot.
I sat beside Berta, and a gulf of silence stretched between us. I tried a few of the basic social niceties, asking how long she'd known Roy, how she got into this business, where she was from, and got little more than grunts and monosyllabic responses for my efforts. Even when I asked about her clan and family, which is enough to get most dwarves on a long monologue, she didn't use more than one breath to answer me.
And so we were silent.
I spent my time watching the scenery go by, checking behind me to make sure the orcs were still following, looking at my map to see how close I was to my next stop, checking behind us, trying to spot rare birds, and looking behind us to see Davon.
After the sixth or twentieth time I looked over my shoulder at our orc companions,
Berta sighed.
"Something you want to say?" I shot in her direction, and she shrugged.
A few more moments stretch by, in awkward silence, before she finally spoke. "You seem to be pretty chummy with those orcs."
I waited a moment to see if there were more words forthcoming. When I decided that was probably as much as she was going to say, I answered with a simple "Yeah."
She nodded slowly, then turned to stare at me. "Look, kid," she said, as if I wasn't almost thirty, "you're sweet. Don't get mixed up in the wrong crowd."
