Lice
Bodil found herself in a courtyard of stone, surrounded with wooden houses and broken lamp posts.
Finally. A city, and one with people. They were literally everywhere, swarming like ants in an anthill.
The storm did not scare them back inside their tiny houses.
Bodil shook of her hood, scratched her head and cursed the very existence of bloodsucking insects.
She had not been travelling for long before those bastards took over her clothes, and now, her long, brown hair was infected with all kinds crawling things.
"Excuse me?" She poked the first guardsman she came across. He just looked at her as if she were the poorest of the beggars near the river.
"Where can I find a hairdresser in this town?" she asked, trying to ignore the insulting grin on his face.
"Fuck off."
Bodil raised her eyebrow, not sure if, and how she should respond. If this was a few years back, while she still were dressed in silk, long before Jana found her – that brute would kissed her boots and praise her everlasting beauty as one of Lord De Virsings gifted children.
She found it wise to ignore him, so she decided to ask those who knew everything, depend on the coin in your leather pouch.
Following the smell she found a poor girl on the stairs close to a tavern.
"A coin for your help?" Bodil asked the girl who willing got up and nodded.
"At your service, ma'am." The girl lifted her muddy skirt and started running immediately. Bodil followed with large steps.
"Here it is, ma'am. The best in town." The girl stared at the coin with large golden eyes. It was not much, but enough to fill a tiny stomach for a day.
"Thank you, ma'am", she nodded again.
Bodil smiled vaguely.
"Thank you, dear."
The girl ran off as soon as she turned around.
A strong smell of perfume reached her nose as soon as she entered the room, and a friendly face looked at here from behind the desk.
"Good evening, traveler. How can I assist you?"
Finally, Bodil thought. A person who did not grin at the sight of her.
She instantly threw her hood and cape on a random chair.
"Make me look decent", she said.
"Lice?" the hairdresser asked while he reach for his scissors.
"A swarm of them", Bodil answered.
The hairdresser with his huge moustache just smiled and pointed at a wooden chair.
"Take your seat."
"Been on the road for a while, have you not?" He cut the ponytail right of, as a start.
"Yes", she said, watching brown hair cover the wooden floor.
"From where?"
"Kaer Marter", she said with a whisper.
"You're a witcher?"
Bodil held her breath for a while, before she let it out.
"Yes. Yes, I am."
