Abie led Manie into the recesses of her brightly lit tent. Hers was one of the bigger ones, one of the family tents. Manie could hear the low rumble of Vir, Abie's husband's, voice as it tried to calm Servelis' drunkenly enraged slur. Pitty, Abie's little daughter, lay in a tangle of sand coloured hair and woolen blankets in one corner.

"Do sit," Abie offered as she eased her heavily pregnant form onto a pile of worn rugs. Manie cautiously lowered himself below the middle aged woman, back against one of the supporting poles.

Abie was silent for several long moments, hands folded over the hugely rounded swell beneath her gown.

"I suppose..." she began slowly, then pursed her lips. Manie shifted slightly restlessly.

"I suppose," she began again, "you want to know about us. About it."

Manie shiftly again, blushing faintly. It wasn't any of his business and he knew it, but the burning curiosity was getting to be too much and was starting to cause problems. Since they left Lily in the city he hadn't had anyone close to talk to. He really missed the younger girl.

"Us," Abie began with a heavy sigh. "We, we are, as Servelis has already probably mentioned, a political envoy. Sort of. You see, we're not exactly...well..." Abie frowned slightly and pressed her lips together. She peered closely at the older man before her.

"Vir said you were trust worthy," she said frankly. Manie's eyebrows rose; he knew the man liked him, but to go so far as trust? "And I trust his judgement," Abie finished with a curt nod of her head.

"We," she said, a little lower as Pitty shifted and whimpered in her sleep, "we're here on a confidential mission. Severely confidential." Manie mind raced. Politics and secrets he did not like as a mix. Abie leant back, stroking her swollen belly fondly.

"We're from Asbacan'lli." Abie fell silent and studied Manie, but Manie didn't move. Asbacan'lli? It was the neighbouring kingdom, or country. Manie could never rememeber which. He'd seen a few other caravans from Asbacan'lli, but they were rare where he had been. He had heard something...something about a...a...

"You've probably heard about the civil war," Abie said. "We need the Letifer to win the war."

"The Letifer?"

Abie smiled softly. "Ah, now here is a more interesting story. Are you comfortable? Good, because it will be a long time before you see your bed..."

.

Rosie.

Before&After