It probably didn't help that Kaylin ran from the Hawks but, then again, neither did punching the young lordling in the face. The foundling halls weren't in the most gentile parts of town - a well aimed knee usually sufficed when a drunk felt particularly entitled - but the wandering hands of the entitled prat hadn't been going for her. They'd been going for Anita - Anita who was still too young, only new to the foundling halls, and had certainly had enough of men's hands. So, the punch.
'Corporal Danelle has charged you with both assault and resisting arrest'. The bristling leontine in front of her made it sound like a question - that was a trap. Kaylin knew from living with a Leontine matriarch to say nothing when eyes were that shade of orange. Then again, she really needed to know that Anita made it back to the foundling halls.
'Sir,' He growled. She paused long enough to make sure the growl wouldn't become a lunge for the throat. 'Sir, did the young girl who was with me make it to the Foundling halls okay?' He was a Leontine and understood sticking your neck out for someone in the pridelea - that might have been all that saved her neck for speaking out.
'While your arresting officer was charging you, and her partner escorting your friend home, it appears the alleged victim went on his way.' At Kaylin's blank look, he continued 'Without his testimony, we aren't under an obligation to detain you - unless he comes forward and identifies you'.
Kaylin adjusted the stick in her hair. It had been falling out for fifteen minutes, but until then her arms felt glued to her sides. The man she punched didn't know her name - Kaylin wondered if he had assumed the world would arrange itself to his liking and dump her in jail without any effort on his part. It also seemed the Hawks who arrested her hadn't followed through on seeking evidence to make their charges stand up. 'Thank you, Seargeant Kassan'. On reflection, the Hawks may have marched her around the corner with stern looks, and given her a pat on the back once out of sight. Had she not run.
Her arresting officers were Barranni - maybe they found it insulting that she, a human, thought to outrun them. It was the opinion of the Barranni who picked her up when she was thirteen and living on the streets of the city, depositing her at the foundling hall on the order of the same leontine she sat in front of now. It could have even been the same two Barranni, she couldn't tell them apart.
The relief must have shown on her face too soon - he continued: 'We're letting you off with community service. You're to attend the Halls of Law two days every week for six months, for whatever use we can make of to Caitlin, by the door, and she will let you know when you'll be needed. You were one of Marrin's girls?' She nodded. 'I'll let your Mrynn know the situation'.
Locking her up may have been kinder. At least then, she'd have a good reason not to listen to a disappointed leontine den mother lecture her next time she showed her face at the halls. Leontine disappointment was worse than leontine anger - droopy whiskers were far better at eliciting feelings of guilt.
Still, said den mother had raised her to be polite, Kaylin responded with a more subdued 'Thank you, Sargeant Kassan'.
Kaylin discussed her schedule with the Hawk that Marcus has gestured to, on her way out of the office - she was required during the days, but she was able to pick ones that didn't interfere with her night shifts at the midwifes' guild - and walked out on to the slightly-too-clean-for-comfort streets.
Kaylin briefly considered going straight to her apartment - the dingy little room above the bar she used to to work at when she was an apprentice midwife, and after to make ends meet - but the Leontine Sargeant's assurances aside, she needed to check on Anita.
The walk to the foundling halls was a long one. Kaylin wondered at the wisdom of putting the Halls of Law near all the rich folk, and far from all the crime. The Halls of Law were visible from the riverside like everywhere else in the city, but not quite close enough to draw the eye. Nestor street was home to the Foundling hall, and ran along one side of the Ablayne river. Theoretically it was well within the city limits, but practically it was almost at the boundary of the city and the fiefs.
You could see the Halls of Law from the fiefs too - not that it made much difference. She hadn't moved all to far from the streets of her youth.
She turned into the pathway leading to the Foundling Hall. The grounds were gated but hadn't been locked for the night. The gates were to keep mischievous children in, the latch just out of reach of those too young to know better. The locks were to keep predators out. Marrin learnt the hard way that she alone was not enough to defend her pridelea.
Kaylin walked the path to the sprawling three storey building. She noticed the gutters were starting to clog with leaves - she'd have to remind one of the older boys to get up there an clean them out. Sid had left the halls not long after her, and become a carpenter - he should have a ladder long enough and a mind muddled enough to climb up there.
She pushed open the door leading to the main hall - a grand receiving hall for the old owner, turned lesson hall and play area for the children who now lived at the Hall. This is where Marrin taught children discarded by the world how to live in it anyway. Here, Kaylin learnt her letters and numbers. In the kitchens she learnt to cook - often by burning her hands - and in the markets the older children taught her how to bargain and keep a budget. There weren't enough volunteers, so everyone pitched in at the halls, learnt how to survive outside them, and paid back their dues by coming back to help out and setting aside what they could.
Classes finished early that day so shopping could be done at the market - the reason Kaylin had been escorting Anita in the first place - and the entrance hall was now empty but for a downtrodden looking Anita and a bristling Marrin.
When the young girl caught sight of Kaylin, she shot to her feet and wrapped her arms around Kaylin's waist in seconds. She started babbling 'I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry. I should have stayed closer to you. I'm not going out to the markets again it'll be okay'.
'Hey hey, none of that, shh'. Kaylin wrapped her arms around the girl and rocked gently to each side. She felt guilt for her actions for the first time. If she hadn't acted so rashly, the young girl wouldn't be in such a state. 'We'll be off to the markets again next week, and this time we'll take John with us'. Anita had adored the older foundling since he'd rescued her from the bullying of a few city kids.
Kaylin remembered what it was like to trust someone so completely. It hadn't worked out for her, but she didn't think John had it in him to let Anita down.
'Oh...okay' Anita snuffled. She was at the age where she was starting to hide her tears. Kaylin wished it wasn't necessary, but the world wasn't kind to those who wore their emotions openly.
Marrin's voice could convey comfort in a way Kaylin's couldn't. 'Why don't you go wash up for dinner?' she purred.
The warmth in her tone disappeared once Anita left the room. The purr became a growl. 'How could you be so foolish?'
Kaylin showed her throat. She had already dealt with one angry Leontine that day. 'I reacted without thinking.' Marrin's continued growling showed excuses weren't going to cut it. 'He was being a lout and Anita needs to know there are people who will stand up for her'. The rumble in in Marrin's throat continued. 'I'm sorry'.
The growling stopped. Marrin sighed instead. 'I know. But "sorry" doesn't fix anything. You'll be at the Halls of Law from now on, regularly. A single slip is all it would take to bring the Emperor's wrath down on your head'.
Kaylin knew what Marrin left unsaid. On all our heads.
'I'll stay out of trouble'.
Marrin didn't acknowledge her last comment. 'You're already here. Stay for dinner'.
It was lucky that the midwives were able to find Kaylin at the foundling hall when she stayed the night. The sound of someone yelling through her mirror woke the landlord, who mirrored Marrin to complain about Kaylin.
It was unlucky that staying at the Foundling halls put Kaylin twice as far from the house she needed to get to than if she'd stayed at home.
Kaylin ran - she spent a lot of her evenings running. The evenings she was on call at the guild were filled with jogging to a labouring mother's house, with plenty of time to set up the birthing room to welcome a baby into the world. The evenings she wasn't on call, but had to run anyway, were the worst. Not because she needed to run flat out with air burning her lungs in the pitch black of night without warning, but because of what would happen if she didn't. Kaylin only got called when she was off duty if something went very wrong.
Kaylin pounded on the door of the house she had been directed to, and swept past the white-faced man who opened it. On a normal night she'd reassure him. Tonight there was no time.
'Up here!' yelled Bridget, the senior midwife on duty that night. She was with Gabrielle, one of the apprentices, and an unconscious mother-to-be. Not good. Bridget turned to Gabrielle 'Take the father downstairs, close the door behind you.'
The first thing an apprentice learnt was do what a more senior midwife told you.
Kaylin looked at the room - things had happened too fast for everything to be prepared. Kaylin lay her hand against the basin of cool water, waited until steam rose from the surface, and got to work.
A/N:
Hello lovely people! It has been a very long time since I wrote fanfiction - so long that I lost my old account.
This story worked its way into my brain, and got me excited about writing again. There are a lot of interesting changes that come about when Kaylin isn't raised in the Hawks, and that's what I'm going to explore. You already see a few in this chapter, with plenty more to come.
Will Kaylin be able to keep her secret? How much control does she have of her power? Can the author maintain her current determination to write a complete fanfiction? Who knows!
Comment if you know which song the story title came from!