"Uh…" Gabin groaned as he came around.
"Then get more mattresses." Fyn ordered someone Gabin couldn't see. "Take them from the room of any Herald who is out on circuit. If we still need some start on the rooms of absent nobles. We can replace them later if we must."
"Yes, Herald." A voice said with a note of surrender.
"Where's Rosa?" Gabin asked as he started to sit up.
"Great, you're awake." Fyn sat on the edge of his bed and used a gentle
"Where's Rosa?"
"The little girl? She's uninjured but she's refusing to talk. What happened?"
"Her mother was killed last month. The guard found her a week later. She refused to talk them or me." Gabin started to sit up but Fyn stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "A couple days ago she finally started talking to me. She told me she saw the man who killed her mother. I took her to the Guards, they talked to her for a couple candlemarks. That night someone tried to take her."
"And you stopped him?" Fyn guessed.
"Not immediately. It took me all night to catch up." Gabin rubbed his stomach. "When I got close he left her crying and ran out the back door."
"So you didn't see him?"
"Just a shadow." Gabin admitted. "Can you send Rosa to Keli? Keli can protect her. I need to get back to my kids."
"Don't worry about your littles." Fyn advised.
"I most certainly will worry about them. You have no idea how much trouble they can get into." Gabin protested, trying to sound stronger than he was.
"Oh, I know." Fyn grinned. "Karlee, can I kidnap him for a bit?"
"He is not walking anywhere." Karlee said as she entered.
"He's worried about his children." Fyn explained. "I swear I will bring him back."
Karlee pursed her lips and stood over the pair of them.
Gabin blinked a few times and gaped at her.
Fyn grinned. Karlee was a perfect, blond beauty but Fyn had already learned she had the temperament of a mule. "We'll use a chair."
"Very well. But if he tries to leave, I'm holding you responsible." Karlee shook a finger in her face.
Fyn held one hand over her heart. "I swear I will watch over him and see to it he does nothing stupid."
Karlee smiled. "Right. Then you may take him, in a wheel chair. And feed him while you're at it."
"I will."
"Oh, and I hold you responsible for all this chaos." Karlee informed her. "I don't care who ordered it."
Fyn laughed. "Stay put, Gabin, I'll be back in a moment."
Gabin was seated on the edge of the bed, coughing hard when she returned. He had the blanket pulled across his lap but his chest and legs were bare.
"Karlee said you have a lung infection." Fyn commented as she tossed him a clean set of clothing.
Gabin took a few second to catch his breath. "It will go away."
"I have no doubt it will." Fyn didn't move to leave the room.
Gabin held up the shirt. "What happened to my clothing?"
"Burned." Fyn said bluntly. "It was riddled with fleas. Count yourself blessed you weren't awake when the Healers scrubbed you down."
Gabin touched his long hair and discovered the ends were wet. "How long was I out?"
"About four candlemarks."
"Do you mind leaving so I can get clothed?" He asked.
"Not a chance." Fyn took the shirt from him. "Come on, arms up."
Gabin resisted for a few minutes before surrendering and allowing her to help him into the warm wool shirt and pants. He caught himself running a hand over the fabric.
"I know." Fyn said with a sad smile.
"What do you know?"
"How it feels to put on good, warm clothing for the first time." Fyn said as she knelt and held out a leather shoe.
"When have you ever worn rags?" Gabin asked bitterly.
Fyn got the shoe on him with no cooperation and started on the second foot. "You think you are the only person who grew up on the street? Keli found me when I tried to steal her purse. Rather than turn me over to the Guard she took me in."
"But, you're her sister…"
"She adopted me." Fyn admitted and stood up. "Come on, you want to see your children, right?"
Gabin reluctantly allowed her to move him into the chair. He tried to resist when she placed a blanket on his lap but lost that battle too.
"If you get me to the gate, I can make it the rest of the way." Gabin assured her.
"No need." Fyn chuckled.
She pushed him into hall where people were rushing around hollering to each other.
"What's going on?"
"Just the usual Herald inspired madness." Fyn chuckled.
Outside she wheeled him across the courtyard.
"The gate is over there."
"I know." Fyn whistled to catch the attention of a young man in grey to open the door.
"Where is this then?"
"This is the Herald's Collegium." Fyn explained. "Can you walk?"
"Why?"
"Because I am not strong enough to drag you and the wheelchair up the stairs." Fyn explained.
Gabin stood and started up the stairs in front of them. He paused when a sense of vertigo nearly sent him to his knees.
"Take your time." Fyn said and moved up next to him and pulled his arm over her shoulder. "I've got you."
"Why do we need to go up the stairs?" Gabin asked.
"The meal hall is up here." Fyn said.
When they reached the next floor they stood in a hall lined with doors.
"Boy's dorms." Fyn said before he asked.
When she reached the double doors at the end she pushed them open to reveal a room swarming with ragged little bodies intermingled with green, grey, and white.
"What…" Gabin stared as Fyn lowered him to a bench.
"Gabin!" One of the children squealed and threw himself at Gabin. He was immediately joined by dozens of others.
Fyn stepped back and watched as the children assured themselves that their protector was safe.
"One hundred thirteen children." Kris said as he approached.
"Your idea." Fyn reminded him.
Kris grinned. "So it was. Mother sent word I am going to need to explain this. How is our saint?"
"Gabin? He'll be fine. The Dorms over at the Healers are almost ready for some of our mob."
"We still need to bathe them." Kris pointed out.
"I know. There are six tubs on the girls' side, ten on the boys, and another twenty for the Heralds. I sent word to the laundry we need every uniform starting with page uniforms then Bard, Healer, and Grays."
Kris crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "What did they say?"
"Nothing repeatable. You may have a revolt on your hands." Fyn warned him.
"I sent word to Keli."
"And?"
"She says you can handle it for now but she will talk to Tris about coming back."
"Of course she would." Fyn sighed. "We don't need her here, she has to worry about herself."
"So where shall we start?" Kris asked.
"Can you take point on investigating the death of Rosa's mother? Apparently the little girl's mother was murdered." Fyn asked.
"Why are you handing that over to me? I thought you fit in better down there as Lolly."
Fyn leaned against the doorframe. "I'd hate to admit it, but I will not get the respect you would. You are a big, burly male, I am a slight female."
"And they are going to assume they will be able to get one up on you." Kris said in understanding. "But you know that area far better than I."
"We could ask Skif." Fyn pointed out.
"No, I'll investigate. I am still doing duty with the City Heralds so it's more my responsibility. Skif has to get ready to head back to the plains." Kris smiled as Gabin settled a little child on his knee. "Did you know that someone tried to burn him and the children out?"
"When?"
"Sometime in the last year. He went from more than three hundred children and twelve helpers to just himself and this lot. The rest were scared off. When this is done, I don't think it's safe for him to go back."
"I agree." Fyn admitted. "But he will probably go back anyways."
"I know the signs of someone with a passion." Kris agreed. "Anyways, for the sake of the children, I asked Lyra to look into a safe place and she suggested one of the old Tedrel orphanages. She is looking into getting one fixed up and maybe enlarged, they were only meant to hold fifty at most. I will ask Dirk and Talia to watch over the little girl since she is the core of this case. You try to get more information out of Gabin."
"Yes sir." Fyn grinned and gave him a salute.
Kris smiled fondly at her. "I'll see you later."
"Not likely." Fyn grinned.
Kris clasped both hands over his heart. "You wound me!"
"I told you I prefer you as a friend rather than a lover." Fyn reminded him. "Besides, about twenty of these little ones will be in the suite."
"Yikes. I will leave you to the chaos." Kris shook his head and headed out the door.
Fyn took a seat on the table so that she could speak to Gabin. "What's this about someone trying to burn you out?"
Gabin stabilized a child that crawled over his shoulders with a grimace of pain. Fyn picked up the little boy and set him next to her.
"The fire?" She prodded him again.
"Just someone who thinks I am a misguided soul." Gabin explained. "How did you get them all here? What are you going to do with them all?"
"We are putting some in the dorm rooms, some in with the Heralds. Those who need more care will be bunked over at the Healers." Fyn explained. "They're relatively healthy for children from Exile's Gate but more than a few have infections and such. Right now we are getting them fed and next we need to get them bathed."
"Good luck with that." Gabin said with amusement.
Fyn stood and whistled sharply, the room fell silent and everyone stared at her. She met the gaze of more than a few overwhelmed men and women. She started to sing a popular tune with a good dose of her Gift behind it and all the children stared at her in wonder. When she was done, there was a silence of several seconds before it exploded into more clamour from the children begging for another song.
"Who would like another song?" Fyn asked and received a loud response. "I will sing again after everybody has a bath. One song, no more."
Chaos reigned again for a few more minutes but the Herald and Healers managed to get them into small groups and ushered off to various bathing rooms around the Collegia with a reasonable amount of cooperation from their young charges. Fyn took charge of a group of girls and, with Gabin in tow, took them into the girls' dorms washroom.
Gabin sat on a chair and watched, as Fyn was soaked to the skin dunking the girls into the tubs.
"Can we have another song?" A little girl asked.
"Not until everyone is clean." Fyn said again and attacked her hair with a pair of scissors.
"Speaking of singing, how did you do that?" Gabin asked.
"I have the Bardic Gift." Fyn explained. "I was a Bardic student for a while. Then my arm was broken and I could no longer control my fingering well enough to make it as a Bard. The day I was told I could no longer be a Bard I went out to the field to think before telling Keli and Tyree Chose me."
"How old were you?"
"It was broken when I was nine but I was fourteen when they told me I just could not play an instrument well enough." Fyn admitted. "I always wanted to be a Herald, not a Bard, so I'm happy with how things turned out."
"How'd you get Chosen?" A little girl asked.
"Well, a Companion looks into your eyes and sees everything about you and decides are you best suited to being a Herald. Not a lot of people are. Some people are better merchants or teachers."
"What about someone like me?" She asked plaintively.
Fyn cupped her face and searched her eyes. "Maybe not a Herald… I think you would make a good young Healer."
"What?" The child stared at her. "How?"
"Don't get her hopes up." Gabin ordered.
"I'm not." Fyn smiled at the child and set her on Gabin's lap. "There is clothing behind you."
Gabin struggled to get the girl into the too large blue page outfit. "But how can she expect to become a healer? Will you please hold still!"
"But you're hurt!" The girl batted away the shirt in his hands and tried to pull up his shirt. "How'd you get hurt?"
Fyn grinned and started scrubbing the next girl. "I can test for gifts in a general sense. I've been testing as many as I can in hopes they might be Gifted. I may not be able to say exactly what Gift someone has or or how strong it is, but I can tell you what family it belongs to."
"Why?" Gabin asked as he pushed down his shirt and wrestled the child into clothing. "You can go back to the big room, alright?"
The girl nodded and rushed out.
"Because you can be of any rank to be admitted into Healers and Bardic, so long as you have the right gift." Fyn explained.
Gabin stared at her in surprise. "You are trying to find spots for them here?"
"For at least a few." Fyn cut the hair of the current girl. The healers, with the help of a mage, had banished the fleas on the children earlier but their hair was so matted since it had never seen a hair brush, she didn't have time to get them clean. "She has at least one of the Healers gift. If she wants, she will be welcomed there."
"Who'd have thought one of my children would be a Healer?" He shook his head. "Give me a rag and I'll help you."
Fyn brushed a cut wet lock of hair out of the child's eyes. "There you go, you have very pretty eyes. Gabin will dry you off."
The girl hurried to Gabin who wrapped her in a towel.
Fyn started another tub running and drained the current one. Pointing to the oldest in her group. "Your turn."
She shook her head.
"I won't touch you." Fyn assured her. "So long as you get yourself clean and you let me cut your hair."
Gabin assured her Fyn was safe and she stripped and climbed into the tub but sat there with her knees drawn up to her chest.
Fyn gave her a bar of soap and a towel. "No one will touch you here."
It didn't take much longer to get them scrubbed. Gabin spent much of it either wrestling children into clothing or coughing following bouts of laughter.
When the room was empty of all but the two of them, Fyn sat on the edge of the tub and wrung out her hair. "Life must be interesting with hundreds of the darlings."
"You have no idea." Gabin rested his head against the wall he looked as pale as her uniform. "I'm dead tired."
"I know." Fyn offered him one of the few dry towels. "The cook should have the fresh bread and cheese waiting for us. When we peeled him off the ceiling after telling him how many little mouths you had he started baking like a mad man. All the trainees are down there helping him."
"You're feeding them?"
"Of course we are." Fyn helped him up. "I need to get you back to the Healers."
"Was that man you were talking to your husband?"
"Kris? No. A good friend who would not mind being more but he comes with far too much political baggage."
"Oh?"
"That is Prince Kris."
"Prince?" Gabin stared at her and didn't resist as she got him to his feet. He was so startled he didn't protest as she looped his arm over her shoulders and help him to his feet.
"Prince. We have been friends since we were children. He, Jemmy, Lyra, and I were quite the terrors of the Palace."
"Why was the Prince here?" Gabin asked as she helped him into the hallway.
"He brought the children here. Trust me, there are a lot of angry people down in Exile's Gate right now, it wasn't safe to leave them there."
"Because of a single White Coat?"
"A single White Coat with twenty Guards."
"Ah."
"I would not be surprised if, over the next for the few days, there were more wee ones brought here." Fyn stopped in the door to the dining hall. "Lyra is far more practical than he is, he can't stand to see an injustice. So he tends to attack a problem with more enthusiasm than forethought."
Gabin looked out over the children devouring the food set before them. "He'll make a lot of enemies in Exile's Gate. Injustice is on every corner."
"I know. He does know better than to ride in with sword drawn and demand change, but don't be surprised if there is an increase in patrols there in the future." Fyn helped him sit at the table and patted his shoulder. "I will be back in a moment, I need to change."
Fyn hurried to the suite she shared with Keli and her husband, Tristen. There was a sitting room and four other rooms off it. One was Keli's office and locked. One was Fyn's and another was Tristen's and Keli's room. The fourth door led to the nursery. All, except for the office, were carpeted with pallets. Bedding sat on the couch in the middle of the sitting room so Fyn could sleep where she could keep on the most number of children, thirteen.
Life was going to be interesting for the next few days.
Changing took only a few minutes but the dining hall was nearing a riot when she returned.
"Who wants a song?" Fyn asked when she returned.
The room settled down and hundreds of little eyes watched her expectantly.
A Herald held up a lute. "We brought back up."
"Excellent." Fyn sat on a table and started to sing. "It was a dark and stormy night…"