No One's Chosen Read Online Free PDF Page B

walked toward her. "Your dress! I am
so…" Rianaire sat up at the pleading. "I… please, I don't have much
but I can-"
    Rianaire interrupted the girl. "No, no, no. You
shouldn't worry over something like this."
    "But surely it must've been expensive."
    "It…" Rianaire looked down at the dress and realized
she had no idea of the cost. She looked to Síocháin.
    Síocháin spoke for the first time since arriving. "It
was. Well, relative to this poor girl's worth."
    "Oh no," the girl fell to her knees.
    "Now Síocháin," Rianaire put a hand on the girl's
shoulder, "how often have you chastised me for making fun at the
expense of others."
    Síocháin shrugged.
    "Si…" A wave of realization washed over the girl.
"Síocháin? Then… then you…?" She looked up at Rianaire.
    Rianaire simply smiled down at the girl.
    "Oh Sisters, no. I can't. I… my shoat… the
Treorai."
    "Hahaha!" Rianaire lifted the girl up and hugged her
tightly. "Síocháin, isn't she just precious! Let me keep her!" She
turned the horribly confused girl around and squeezed her cheeks.
"Please? I'll see that she's fed and everything!"
    "It would probably serve best to address the girl
before she dies of fright. Or confusion." Síocháin tossed a pair of
muddy shoes toward Rianaire.
    "My shoes! You absolute darling!" Rianaire turned the
girl to face her. "Good morrow, child. I am Rianaire, Treorai of
Spéirbaile. Mayhaps you've heard of me."
    "I… I have. Please, the dress. Yer dress." The girl
seemed to have forgotten entirely about the pig.
    Rianaire looked down at the dress again and back up
at the girl. "Well, if you so insist that recompense be paid, I
suppose I have little choice. I would sup at your farm and eat of
the foul shoat that has dirtied my visage!"
    "Yes. Yes, as it please ya, Treorai. Anything."
    "Hahaha!" Rianaire hugged the farm girl again. She
pulled back, still holding the girl's shoulders. "Did you hear,
Síocháin? We've been invited to dinner!"
    Síocháin raised an eyebrow. "I am sure I remembered
'invited' to mean something altogether different from what just
happened."
    "Details!" Rianaire proclaimed. "Let us away to the
wonderful farm of…" She turned to the farm girl. "I fear I do not
know your name."
    "Áras."
    "To the wonderful farm of Áras and her honorable
family!" Rianaire began walking out of the alleyway, pushing Áras
along in front of her. She stopped suddenly. "Ah! Almost
forgot."
    Rianaire lightly pounded the side of her fist on the
top of the stone cube, a wall fell away. She grabbed the shoat up
under her arm. At first, the animal protested but it soon grew
quiet.
    It wasn't a particularly long walk to the farm. Small
farms for livestock and valuable crops like parsnips and spinach
were not uncommon in the Outer Crescent. The safety the outer wall
provided was a protection that many sought. Still, space was at a
premium and plots of land did not change families. You could either
buy them out, which only the most desperate families were willing
to do, or hope that the family that owned the plot died out. There
would then be an open bid for the plot with restrictions dictating
the nature of the business allowed. Áras's family had likely been
there for generations. Pig farming was not a profession one
happened into and, from the looks of the shoat Rianaire'd been
chasing, they were quite good at their trade.
    By the time the unlikely group had reached the front
door of Áras's home, she had loosened up a bit. Her family had
indeed been there for generations. The shoat, Áras explained, had
managed to escape while they were mending the main fence. She
pointed to it as they approached. The shoat was mischievous, Áras
knew, but she hadn't imagined it would cause such trouble. Áras
asked Síocháin and Rianaire to wait outside while she explained the
situation to her parents.
    Rianaire looked around. The plot was small. She
doubted it would even hold the brothel she'd visited the night
before. The stone was dirty but