Topic: The Adventures of Jake and Sienna Part 3

Sienna Dawn

Date: 2007-02-10 10:15 EST
Passage to Provo - Jake

It wasn't a very long trip back to Provo. Just enough time for Jake and Sienna to take a good long look at everything that was in the inventory and for Jake's conscience to bother him. Si seemed like a stand up sorta gal. She was smart and beautiful and what was he doing dragging her into his life like this? Why, she could marry a banker or a barrister or a rancher. He mulled this over and they worked in silence for a long time.

Grimnaw had done as he promised and it seemed like everything that was on the inventory list was in the hold and nothing was broken. Jake explained that there would be someone coming to pick up the Elven stuff. It was delicate and beautiful and easy for them to identify. These items they moved to one side of the hold. Finally he started to talk while they worked and he told her a little about himself.

"Was born and raised in Rhydin. M'ma and da were both members of the Rhydin Hall. They worked th'stings. Ma was a beauty with a silver tongue and the face of an angel. No one'd even begin t'doubt her word. Da was bookish; well ed'cated..the accountant type. When I was old 'nough t'walk, they worked me into th'act. Only thing harder to resist than a beautiful woman was one leading a toe'headed toddler 'round."

He didn't look up while he told Sienna all this; just kept studying the inventory list, identifying items and checking them off. He finally put down the list and sat on a crate for the rest of the telling.

"Y'know that this sorta work has its risks, we all know it. The thrill. It's why we do it. Hardest thing t'remember after havin' a few successes, is that the risks can be deadly. Well, the folks..it caught up with them. They'd done a sting on a rancher from out west who was visitin' Rhydin. He didn't take too kindly to it. He tracked them down and killed 'em both in front a'me. He couldn't off a kid though so he brought me back t'his ranch. Raised me as he would the son a'one a'his hands. I'm still the best roper and rider in the Hall."

This was said with more than a small touch of pride.

"He used to call me t'his table from time t'time to remind me o'my bad blood. Slander m'ma and da, he would, and I hung m'head and looked ashamed. I waited, Si, until I was growed up and had made me a place in his organization. He let his guard down and I took advantage of it. Slit his throat one night when we was out rounding up cattle. Did it just as neatly as he did m'ma's. That's when I went back to th'Hall in Rhydin. I was into m'teens by that point and old Teeja, he's the Rhydin Hall Master, he took me in. Made me a'prentice and taught me the ropes."

The ship's steward had interrupted him at this point and laid their supper on one of the crates; fish stew and hot bread, oranges and apples and a jug of wine. They'd be in port just after day break, is what the Steward said. Jake arranged two smaller boxes for seats and waited until the steward left to continue.

"The story of gettin' t'Provo, well, Si, its just more a'th'same, I'm 'fraid."

He dished out the stew into their bowls and broke off a hunk of bread for himself, handing the rest to Sienna.

"Never told no one that story. Makes you special, I guess. I felt y'needed t'know just how low down old Jake here is after me kidnappin' y'off to Provo."

He concentrated on his food, keeping his eyes on it as he spoke softly.

"I'll take y'back, iffn' y'have a mind f'it. Si."

Sienna Dawn

Date: 2007-02-10 18:16 EST
Passage to Provo - Sienna

Sienna studied Jake for a moment. He was a puzzle, this one.

After that brief, heart-stopping kiss when they first boarded ship, he had treated her with nothing but respect since"the respect of an equal. Oh, he was no angel mind you, but she liked him, and she was surprised and" flattered" that he had taken her so much into his confidence. Sienna was usually one to keep her own counsel, but she had to trust someone, sometime" and it seemed they had much in common.

Leaning in over the makeshift table between them, her forehead nearly touched his as she spoke in quiet tones:

"Ah've done murder too."

A solemn nod greeted him when his surprised gaze lifted to hers. Straightening again, she pushed the barely touched bowl of stew away and reached for her glass, swallowing nearly half of it's contents before continuing.

"Ah know what it's like t"carry secrets Jake. Th' heaviness of "em. An' ah know what it takes t' give "em away."

She leveled her gaze with his once again.

"An" if y"can trust me wi' yours?"

Slight shoulders rounded in a shrug as she refilled first her own glass, and then his before recounting her own "journey".

"Ah dinna remember m' parents. Sister Katherine, tha's th' Nun who raised me, said ah was jus' a babe when they were killed by th' Overseer Da worked th' land for back in Donnegal. He thought t' have his way with m"Ma. When she rebuked him' he killed her, an' then he killed m"Da when he came after him."

All told in a matter-of-fact tone, as if repeating a story about someone she did not know.

"Anyways, th' Nuns took me in. Sister Katherine took a likin" t' me, ah guess. She raised me like her very own. She taugh' me t' read an' write....cipher m"numbers an' th' like. Bu", there were those who thought there was no place for teachin" girls such' had th' notion we were only good f"cookin" an' cleanin" an?" other things."

Her face darkened and she drained the glass, filling it again before resuming her story.

"They killed her. Th' bloody bastards pu' an arrow through her heart. Ah screamed an' went at "em tooth an' nail. Ah wanted t' claw out their black, murderin" eyes" bu", ah was jus" a girl" could nae have been more"n 12 or 13. They jus" laughed. An" then they took me with "em."

She was studying her hands now as she spoke, fingers interlaced and white knuckled, her tone having dropped to barely above a whisper.

"Afore long, ah wished they *had* killed me."

Turning her face away, a slender hand snaked up to the neckline of her tunic and tugged it briefly away from her shoulder. Ugly, long-healed welts ran across her back and down out of sight beneath the doeskin. They had expected a 13 year old girl to behave as a whore" and she fought them. Without lifting her eyes, the tunic is quickly shifted back into place and she continues to speak.

"Went on tha' way for...musta been five years, a lifetime i' seemed t' me. Bu", like ye, ah bided m"time" an' ah killed th' bloody bastard tha' killed Sister Katherine. Killed 'im dead an' ran away."

A deep shuddering breath as she looked up to meet his gaze once again, her eyes shone with unshed tears. She was damned if she was going to cry in front of him though, and she scrubbed them away roughly.

"An"ways, ah ended up in Rhydin where ah met Zephyer an' Eless. They've taken awful good care o' me Jake. Give me a place live, an' Eless keeps tryin" t"make a lady out o"me."

The slightest of smiles as Sienna thought fondly of her adopted "heart sisters" and Eless" never ending quest to change her tomboyish ways" but, as she continued, she turned somber again.

"Bu", an' hear me well Jake, Rhydin is nae m"home. Y"canna take me away from sommat ah've nae ever had. An' risk" Hell, there be risk in risin" from y"bed in th' morning, hmmm' Ah"m hooked Jake, y' said"t y'self. Aye, ah"m afraid o"the risks" bu' ah"m more afraid o' crawlin" back into tha' bubble an' dyin' w'out havin' lived."

Her look to him now spoke volumes. There it was. She had no intention of going back to Rhydin. She wanted to be exactly where she was. Doing exactly what she was doing. And with exactly whom she was doing it". Whatever ?it' turned out to be.