She could hear Daryl calling out to her, asking her to stop and wait for him. But Rowan ignored him and kept walking, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, the basket of leaves she had picked for tea forgotten in the road near where the van was being loaded up. She brought one hand up, wiping at the hot tears that were threatening to spill out and run down over her cheeks.
Rowan found herself thinking mean and spiteful things about the man that had laughed at her. They are about to get exactly what they deserve. But she pushed those thoughts away, making herself think of her mother instead. The habit she had of biting her bottom lip when she was doing a reading and she was going to have to tell someone something they didn't want to hear. Her hand would come up, fingering the tip of the one long braid of copper hair that fell forward over her shoulder. Bad news was always hard to give and take. But the difference was, people listened to her mother. She had been well respected in their small community. Sometimes, people even came from far away places to seek her advice. No one there would have ever laughed at her or asked her if she forgot her medication, like the people here did to Rowan. And even the people here that were too polite to say anything, Rowan could often feel them staring.
The gentle advice of a spiritual leader that her mother had been close with floated into Rowan's mind. Hate only breeds hate. Loving a friend is easy, loving your enemy is divine. She could see the old man now in her mind, his hands still sturdy under the thin veiny skin that covered them. His hair had been white so long he liked to joke and say there wasn't a person alive that remembered what color it was. No matter where he went, it seemed like there were always cats around him, rubbing against his legs and climbing into his lap. The memory calmed her. She refused to think about what happened to him after the dead came.
"Rowan, hey wait up," Daryl called to her again. This time she stopped and waited, her dogs crowded in on both sides of her. Tank and Lily always seemed to know when she needed their comfort and support. They were more than her pets, they were her friends.
Now that he had managed to catch up with her, Daryl wasn't sure what to say. He had not thought this through very well. Daryl heard what Deanna's son said to Rowan when he lowered his voice. Did you see something? He wasn't sure how to even begin to ask her about that, but the look on her face when she heard the question had sent a chill up his spine.
"You alright?," he finally asked. He kicked the toe of his boot into the ground and swiped at the hair that was hanging in his face.
"I'm fine," she lied, "I just, umm... felt sick all of the sudden." Daryl swiped at his hair again and his eyebrows pressed together as he looked at her. She was a damn terrible liar, that was for sure. But he didn't want to press her for more than she wanted to say. Lily left Rowan's side and thrust her head under Daryl's hand.
"You feel okay now?," he asked. Rowan nodded. She stared at her feet, not wanting to meet his eyes with hers. She didn't like to lie. But if she told the truth, she knew what would happen. Daryl would laugh at her, or even worse, he might recoil from her like he thought she was out of her mind. A witch. And she didn't think she could stand that. Not from him.
"I forgot my basket," she said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
"I'll get it for you," Daryl told her. He took a few steps away and then turned back. "Stay here," he added, not wanting her to take off running again. His words came out sounding more like a question, so she nodded again to let him know she would stay put. Daryl walked back towards the van, smiling when he saw that Lily had decided to accompany him. She trotted along next to him like he had her on an invisible leash. Bending down to pick up Rowan's basket, he stuffed the rest of her scarf into it. Then he heard Lily give a warning bark. Glenn was standing a few feet away, watching the big dog carefully. He nodded towards Rowan, who was standing a little ways down the street waiting for Daryl.
"Who's that?," he asked. He had been surprised when he saw Daryl show up with someone they didn't know. The man had made it clear that he didn't have much interest in getting to know the people here. And Glenn found it rather amusing that the one exception Daryl seemed willing to make was for a pretty girl. It felt good to know he was only human, just like the rest of them. And he had been alone a long time. Too long.
"That's that girl that was at the house last night," Noah announced. "Cool dog," he added. He moved towards Lily, putting his hand out for her to sniff. When he got closer, he heard the dog growling at him and he moved back, standing so Glen was between him and the giant beast. Lily had been trained not to accept new people unless Rowan said they were alright. And as far as she was concerned these people were still strangers that were not to be trusted. Except Daryl who sometimes had food. And now had the smell of Rowan lingering around him.
"Lily," Spencer said, calling the dog over to him, "Go to Rowan." He pointed towards the woman and gave the dog the signal to run. Lily took off like a rocket, and Spencer sighed in relief. The last thing they needed was for Rowan's dogs to bite one of these new people. His mom warned him there had already been some kind of incident the night before. Daryl scowled a little, not liking that another man was commanding Rowan's dog. But then again, Rowan must have taught him her signals.
With the dog gone, Glenn and Noah crowded in, asking Daryl about four hundred questions at once. Who was that woman? How did Daryl meet her? What kind of dogs are those? Why was she saying that weird stuff to Aiden over by the van? Daryl grunted, not really interesting in having this conversation at the moment, or at all.
"Got to go," he told Glenn before he turned and stomped off back down the street, holding the woven basket in his arms. When he got back to where Rowan was, she took her scarf off the top of the basket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then she took the basket from him and balanced it on her hip.
"Those people are all staring at me," she mentioned. Daryl looked behind him, and saw that she was right. Glenn, Tara, Noah and Eugene were all standing that gawking at the two of them. Tara gave them a little wave and a smile.
"They just wanta meet ya," Daryl assured her. Rowan had that scared look on her face again, and she was taking little backwards steps like she might turn and start hauling ass down the street. He put his hand in her arm to steady her. "S'alright, you don't have to," he said. She still looked nervous, but at least she stopped backing away.
"I'm sorry," she said, "that's too many people for me at once." Especially after I was just acting really weird in front of them, she thought. She looked at Daryl to make sure he wasn't going to be upset if she didn't agree to meet his people. He just looked concerned for her, and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.
Daryl found himself in the same awkward position again, standing there with her and not knowing what to say. Then he had an idea. He smiled at little at Rowan and let the hand that was on her arm move down to circle around her waist.
"How would you like to meet just one person?," he asked. She looked unsure, but then she nodded. If she wanted to spend more time with him, she was going to have to meet the other people in his group eventually. And meeting them one at a time sounded better to her than taking on a whole pack of them at once.
Daryl kept his arm around her waist, touching her lightly through the thin lace fabric of her dress. She had noticed it before, when he put his hands on her waist while they were dancing. He had a gentle touch for someone that looked so rough. Shyness was a quality that she found very attractive in a man. She moved a little closer to him, squeezing the hand on her waist so he would know it was alright for him to leave it there.
Daryl led her back to the same house that he had taken her to the night before. Opening the door just a crack, so the dogs wouldn't be able to charge in, he called out to someone named Carl. When Rowan heard someone inside the house answer Daryl, she snapped her fingers at the dogs and grabbed hold of Lily's collar to keep her from charging ahead.
"Should I leave the dogs out here?," she asked. Daryl looked at them.
"No, you can bring them in," he told her. He didn't want a repeat of the night before. If the dogs were inside the house, at least she could keep an eye on them. Daryl opened the door and went in, moving out of the way so Rowan could get through without letting go of Lily. Tank stayed with her without her having to hold him. Rowan looked around nervously, trying to spot the person that Daryl wanted her to meet.
A teenage boy was standing in the middle of the living room holding a baby. Since there was no one else around, Rowan guessed this was who she was going to meet. She immediately relaxed. A boy and a little baby didn't scare her.
The boy was holding tight to the baby in his arms, looking at her dogs. Rowan made them both sit down, though Lily was wagging her tail, her big butt swishing back and forth in excitement. Then she smiled at the boy, looking at the pretty baby he was holding. It had been so long since she had seen a baby.
"Hey Daryl," Carl said.
"Hey man," Daryl answered, deciding that since he had brought Rowan here, it was up to him to make some sort of introduction, "got someone I want you to meet." Carl looked at the woman in the front hall. Then he looked at her dogs again. He had heard Abraham got jumped on by a vicious dog but these dogs didn't look mean. In fact, the lighter brown one looked rather friendly.
"Stay," Rowan warned Lily again before she drifted into the living room. She held on tattooed hand out to Carl. He stared at the markings on her hand before he reached his hand out and squeezed hers briefly.
"Carl, Rowan," Daryl added since neither of them seemed to be offering anything up, not even their names, "Rowan, Carl."
"Your baby?," Rowan asked the boy, reaching out to rub Judith's arm ligthly with the back of her knuckle. Carl laughed. How old did this woman think he was?
"My sister," Carl corrected. The woman smiled at him again. She had a pretty smile that he was finding it was hard not to respond to. One of her eye teeth stuck out further than the rest. Instead of taking away from her appearance, he found it added to her looks. Then Carl's gaze went back to the two large dogs near the door.
"What kind of dogs are those?," Carl asked. He had never seen dogs that big before. And he was impressed with the way they listened to the woman they belonged to.
"Bullmastiffs," Rowan told him. "I used to breed dogs, back before..." Carl nodded. She didn't need to finish. He knew what before meant. Before the world ended. Dog breeding sounded like a cool job. Something he might like to do. "You want to meet the dogs?," Rowan asked. She could see the boy was curious about them. And she wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to make Lily sit still. Carl nodded. Then he handed Judith off to Daryl. She was used to being held by everyone in the group and didn't seem to have much of a preference for anyone expect Carol and his dad.
Rowan set her basket on the couch and poked around for two small pieces of the dried venison liver that she used as treats. She handed them both to Carl and led him over to her dogs. First she pointed to the happy light brown one.
"This is Lily. You can give her a treat." Carl held one treat out in his hand and the big dog was quick to snatch it up, coating his hand in wet sticky slobber. He wiped his hand off on his pants. "You can pet her now," Rowan told him. Carl smiled, reaching out to pat the dog on the top of it's head. The other dog gave a little bark, unhappy to be ignored by the boy that he knew had another liver treat in his hand. The dogs knew by now that they were to accept and be nice to people that Rowan introduced to them in this way. But they were naturally protective of children. And while this boy was as tall as their mistress, Judith's baby smells lingered strongly around him. He was accepted quickly as part of their extended pack.
"This is Tank," Rowan said. Carl noticed she stayed next to that dog while he fed it. But he was still allowed to give the big dog a quick pet after he fed it. Once she was sure her dogs had no plans to molest the boy, Rowan walked back into the living room to take a look at the small child Daryl was holding in his arms. He looked comfortable holding her, and Rowan guessed she had been held by him many times before.
"Judith," Daryl said, guessing Rowan would want to know the baby's name. Rowan smiled, thinking Judith was a good name for a girl growing up in these uncertain times. The most famous historical character of that name that Rowan could think of was the one that beheaded the general of an invading army while he slept, and took his head back to her people to insire them to rise up and fight for themselves. "Good name," Rowan said softly. She reached out and touched the little girl's arm again, then moved down to took her small hand in hers, rubbing the back of it with her thumb.
Judith was fascinated with the tattoos on Rowan's hand. She grabbed at the woman's slim fingers with both her chubby hands, trying to get hold of the desgins she saw there and pull them off. Then she held her arms out for Rowan to hold her. Rowan took her from Daryl's arms without hesitation. She held the little girl close, kissing her on her round little baby cheeks. The smell of them, their little high pitched bird chippy voices, and the soft white light that radiated out of them, Rowan loved everything about babies. Daryl couldn't help but smile. And he felt proud of himself for thinking to bring her here. She seemed so much more relaxed now. This was a good idea.
"This is your baby?," Rowan asked Daryl. She had assumed that since Daryl wanted her to meet these people, maybe it was because they were his children. She felt very honored to be meeting his family after only knowing him one day. Carl laughed, but Rowan could tell he was laughing at Daryl, not at her for asking the question.
"Nah," Daryl told her, "this is Rick's baby." That might even be up for debate, but he didn't think he needed to get into all the whole Lori Shane and Rick mess right now.
"Where is this baby's mother?," she asked, looking concerned.
"Dead," Carl told the woman.
"Who feeds this baby?," Rowan asked.
"Me, I guess," Carl said. Rowan cast a glance towards his chest and then looked him in the face. It took him a moment to understand what she was implying. But Daryl started laughing right away.
"We feed her formula from a botttle," Daryl explained.
"Mother's milk is best, but goat's milk is better than the powdered stuff," Rowan said. She held the little girl in her arms, boucing her around and making her giggle. Judith had grabbed at one of the feathers Rowan had in her hair and managed to pull it free. Now she was waving it in the air, looking very pleased with herself.
"You see a goat around here?," Carl asked the woman. He felt like she was implying that they were not doing a good job of taking care of Judith and it made him feel bad. But when she turned and smiled at him again he could tell she hadn't meant anything with her remarks.
"Of course not, I keep them out by my trailer."