Closed [The Great Bazaar] Supply Run

[Garland]

Winter 31

The night had been relatively peaceful. Garland only woke up three times because of the babies. The squire sat on the bed, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. It was already late in the day, and his Patron had already come over to wake him up for his patrols.

As soon as she saw the two sleeping babies, and the very tired looking Garland rocking the two in his arms, she couldn't help but smirk. She had given him a day off and she would have helped him buy a few things for his kids, but she was busy today.

The twins were now on the bed, playing with each other by the looks of it. The snow had started falling down and he could feel it. The twins had come along wrapped in a warm blanket, but it wouldn't be enough if he was planning on going outside. He couldn't leave these two here alone! If he had time he could have baby-proofed his room, maybe make a crib or use Aventis' old bed and stick some sort of barricade around it so they couldn't get out.

Right now though, this place is not fit for babies. He just had to keep them warm outside and be quick about buying things. He had wrapped the two of them tightly in their blankets and Garland's sheets.

It was possible he could give the kids to Mrs. Rachel Pernis, she had the most experience with kids and such, being a mother, and grandmother to knights and squires alike. Still he wasn't comfortable with someone else watching over his children.

He also filled up a bottle with some hot water and placed it inside the basket where he would be keeping the kids.

He threw on his coat and jacket and picked up the basket. Phobos and Aneeka struggled against the bindings, feeling quite cramped. They weren't even a threw the front door of the dormitory and they already started crying.

"Ughhhh..." The new father groaned, he couldn't do anything to help them, he hoped the warm bottle was keeping them warm. He didn't run out the building, but he wasn't walking at a leisurely pace either. The sooner he was inside the bazaar, with walls to block out the cold and a few lit braziers for warmth, he and the children might be a little happier.

The bazaar was filled with a few knights here and there, food was problem sometimes in Syliras but never really a huge issue, even during winter. Though there are more pickpockets in the winter than any other season.

He ran through his mental checklist for whatever he needed to buy. Some milk, diapers possibly, more clothes for the babies, tiny hats to keep their heads warm this winter, maybe some firewood.

[Elann]

.


Elann had come down to the bazaar to buy a filter for her tea and coffee making. It was getting to be a pain sorting the grounds and leaves out normally, plus she was seeing if there was anything she could perhaps take her mind off the horrible news she had gotten recently during the previous week. The shouts of the vendors and the calls of people for her attention reminded her of home, something she missed. As she eventually found the metallic filter she was looking for, she dealt with the man resting on various pelts, keeping himself warm.

"Are you interested in that miss?"

"Hmm...I'm not sure." She evaluated it. He was trying to see how badly she wanted it, and while she knew the game to a point of bartering, having grown up in a store, she wasn't particularly good at it. She actually was truthful, not sure that she wanted it.

"Do you have a smaller one?" She asked in a curious tone.

"Yes yes! Right there."

She watched as he pointed out where a smaller version of the one she picked up was. It had smaller holes bore into it and seemed more the type of filter she wanted for tea.

"And do you have any muslin?"

The man nodded in response and moved out from under his pelts to retrieve some for her. She could use them and rewash them for filters.

"How much would you sell these to me for if I bought both here?"

"It is normally one golden miza for that much cloth...fine as it is. And the filter is two copper Miza."

She knew cloth and prices of it, having been working in the Elegant Weave, and knew that was a fair price. The copper miza wasn't a huge deal and she'd be paying full market value for the fabric. Still, she would rather just pull out one golden miza rather than dig for her copper.

"How about one Golden Miza," she looked to him pleadingly and after a moment he relented. It was after all better to sell for a loss of 2CM if you were guaranteed to sell something worth much more at full price.

"Thank you." She said, paying the man. As she turned, she nearly ran into a person...Looking up she saw it was Garland, of all people. It took her a long moment, to realize it was someone she knew and she hadn't even noticed the children in the basket yet, mainly focusing on him and thinking he had supplies in the basket or something. "Um...Oh hi!" She said with a bright smile, her cheeks flush from the cold.

OOCPurchasing: Fabric (Fine) 1yrd 1GM, Tea Filter 2CM

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Garland]

Finally Garland had made it inside the Bazaar, with the winter getting colder, the market was stocked with warm fabrics and furs.

Firewood was being sold well, and even in the cramped atmosphere, you can feel the cold trying to bite through the people's clothes. It seemed the two of them had stopped crying for a bit.

He was a bit lost in thought. He had conviction to be a good father, he wasn't sure he had the skill to be a good father. As he was lost in thought and walking through the streets, he had bumped into someone.

He reeled back a bit, jostling the bag a bit, making the babies cry again. He pulled the covers back and checked if they were hurt or not. He didn't even bother to see who he had bumped into.

It seemed the twins were just startled and weren't really hurt. He gave a sigh of relief and looked up to whoever he had bumped into. He didn't hear her say hello but he didn't need to hear a greeting to smile.

"Elann! Hello, how are you?" He asked and hugged her with his free arm. "It has been a while! What are you doing?" He asked.

Just then the crying had gotten louder, the Bazaar was loud and crowded, but they were close to each other and the crying was getting pretty loud. "Mind giving me a hand with this, can you just hold the basket, I just need to calm these two down." He handed the basket to Elann and took out Phobos.

He rocked Phobos softly, the baby boy calmed down a bit but was still sniffling and sobbing. He hugged and cooed the baby, trying to calm him down. It was working a bit and soon Phobos had stopped crying.

Softly he placed Phobos back into the basket and picked up Aneeka. Unlike Phobos, Garland picked her up and raised her to his face, he puffed up his cheek and crossed his eyes. "Blublbublubblub!" He pushed his face under Aneeka's cheek and made the girl instantly stop crying and start giggling.

He placed Aneeka back into the basket and looked up to Elann. "So... Yeah, kids. I'm a father, a big surprise, right?"

[Elann]

.

It seemed that the one she collided into was paying as much attention to the situation as her. There were two things that shocked her. First was, her heart jumped up in her chest as she heard the babies cry. Did she knock someone's babies to the ground? And secondly was the fact it was Garland. Their dad seemed to check on them for a moment, more focused on their safety than anything else. It was then that he looked up and a wide smile met him.

A hug in her culture was not common. Friends seemed to hug each other all too often in Syliras, but in her culture a hug was reserved for a moment of great loss or love. Generally a small squeeze of the arm or hand was enough. Still, there were many things she had to get used to while being there in Syliras and as he went to hug her she returned it, albeit a bit awkwardly. It wasn't any fault of his own, but of hers. Still she was all giggles and seemed happy to see him.

"Hello!" She said more excitedly back to him as he returned her greeting finally. "Oh I was just getting a few things. Something to strain my drinks with mainly."

As Garland handed her the basket, she set her small amount of cloth on the babies, giving them temporarily a little bit of extra warmth and set her strainer on the side of the basket. With a loop of her arm she took it into her hands.

"Oh hello children who bring life to me!" She voiced in Shiber to them, which when translated to Common would have meant much less, something along the lines of "hello cuties". She drew them closer to look intently at them. As Garland took Phobos, she paid closer attention to her little prize. Aneeka was currently having a fit and Elann eyed the bottle of water propped underneath her and reached in to take it out. It had cooled completely and she looked strangely to it. It was then she could hear Garland's attempts to sooth the baby.

"Look at you. You are calming him down!" She voiced in an amazed tone, a whisper, so as not to disturb the baby, though it was likely the vendors shouting would do more so than her. Elann looked down as Garland put Phobos back and picked up Aneeka. Her arms could already feel the burning weight of the basket. These weren't little children, fresh born, so as she reached down to make Phobos giggle at her playing across his belly, she curiously looked to up at Garland.

"You said their mother was going to have babies soon, that was in summer. I thought you would bring them by in the fall some time. Why are these babies out in the cold like this? In...a sheet and a blanket?"

She knew very little about childcare, mostly how to have fun with older kids, but her time at the orphanage had taught her a significant bit as well on how to nurture young children. Not significant enough that she was prepared to do so in the capacity of a mother, but she at the very least knew you didn't bring, little babies out in the cold.

"Is everything okay? You sound...flustered." She looked back down to Phobos and tried to entertain him a little more, lifting the water and shaking it slowly over him, making sloshing noises with it.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Garland]

Garland blushed a bit. "Yeah, well these two came to me last night, they were left by my door in the dorms with their mother no where in sight." He held Aneeka close to him as she pulled on Garland's ears.

"Ow. Anyway I couldn't leave them alone in the dorms, for one thing most of the squires are out on patrols, the few staying there I don't know personally and I don't actually trust them to look after my children, not to mention that I didn't have much time to make sure my room was safe for the kids, and I can't just ignore the fact that I don't have anything to take care of them with, I've ran out of milk and such."

He sighed and Aneeka pulled Garland's hair. "Neeka, stop, ow." He tried to pull Aneeka away, but her grip on him just grew tighter. "Right, I haven't introduced you three yet. Elann, this one pulling at my hairs is Aneeka, and the other one is Phobos."

Phobos was giggling and laughing, watching the swishing water in the bottle, he was more Sverfa than Syliran Garland wagered. It seemed Aneeka did not want to part with Garland's hair. "Elann, would you mind helping me buy a few things?Aneeka is a handful just by herself."

He pulled Aneeka away because she was starting to bite his ear with her tiny growing teeth.

Soon enough Garland had found a stall that sells some milk and oats, maybe he could make some mushy solid food for them so they don't have to share the drinking horn anymore.

"Excuse me, how much for a gallon of milk." He asked the merchant that was selling the milk.

"Hello sir, 1 silver miza for a gallon." He said and brought up a jug full of milk. "I have more exotic milk for 2 Silver Miza if you want, sir."

"No thank you, one gallon of milk should be good, and maybe some oats as well. How much are those?"

"7 silver a pound, sir." Garland frowned at the price a bit. He still needed to buy other things for the children.

"What about 5 silver?"

"Hmmm... 6 silver, that sound good?"

"Yeah, alright." Garland placed down 7 silver on the table and took the bag of oats and placed it inside the basket next to Phobos. "Yeah... I should have brought another basket or something."

[Elann]

.

At first Elann's face showed surprise as Garland explained how they had been dropped at his doorstep. Looking at the boy in the basket it was clear they were Garlands. Phobos' shifting made her press the basket to her body to stabilize it and balance herself as she listened. Thank goodness they weren't trying to crawl places. Elann wondered just how much care they had actually gotten under their mother's care.

Aneeka pulling at Garland's ear made him wince in pain and she looked up with a bright smile and giggled as she saw what was happening. Her eyebrows slid closer to each other as she listened to his explanation. The fact he had run out of milk made her eyes go a little wide with worry and she nodded.

"Oh no. That's not good," she said as she reached up with her hand with the water bottle in it to pull her wavy hair behind her ear with hooked finger. There she caught Neeka's name and was almost about to try to remember it when Garland corrected the nickname and told her their real names.

"Phobos and Aneeka. Very pretty names."

Phobos seemed wide eyed at first in amazement at her shaking the bottle, his little eyes not quite used to the amazing display of fluid, but then realizing it was a game, he began to giggle and squirm a little bit, flopping his hands up and down.

"You are so handsome!" She voiced down to him in Shiber, which roughly meant the same thing in common. She used a cutesy voice though as if special to speak to little children and babies. People brushed past them as they stayed at the stall where he had just bumped into her, but he then revealed he wanted her to help him. "Um, sure."

It was cold out, and as they went, she kept looking up to Garland and Aneeka tugging at his ear as they walked. He was going to be a good dad, of that she was sure, but was he ready? Here they were out in the cold, alone with him. What could she do? The only thing she could think of at the moment was prayer. She prayed a light prayer to Yahal, asking that what faithfulness he had shown her in her life, he would show the children of Garland.

After his transaction for milk and oats, she took in a deep breath and said in a more stern voice than what she had used on the children. "Garland?" She paused, thinking of what to say. "I want you to take Phobos and Aneeka to my home, light the fire and I will be there within the hour. I want to help you...but these babies should not be outside like this I think. I will do what I can to get the supplies you need to help you out after I find out from a friend what those should be..."

She looked up to him, wondering if he would take his children, her key, and the basket and head to her place or if he would defy her insistence.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Garland]

Garland was a bit shocked at her suggestion. Though her suggestion was not a bad one, he knows where she lives, it looked like a safe place the babies to crawl around and explore. Then again he didn't want to impose.

But when he looked at Elann, she looked rather serious, and he honestly couldn't say no. "What about..." He was about to suggest that she take the kids to her home instead, but he didn't want to part with his children even if it was for a short, he didn't distrust Elann, but it was his obligation to take care of the kids at least for the first few day.

He would eventually need help from people with babysitting or such, but he could at least handle a few days with them, right? "Alright, alright. I'll take them to your home." He put Aneeka into the basket and took the basket and held the gallon of milk in his other hand.

"Right, Umm... What I need is... Some diapers, a few toys, some warm clothes for them, and... eventually I'm gonna go off and get some wood to make a crib for them or buy a crib, but not today, it would be too much to carry, especially since I'm already carrying Phobos and Aneeka.

Garland took out his coint purse and handed it over to Elann. "Did you get all that, I'll be waiting in your home, and thank you for being a good friend Elann. I will repay you, just name it and I'll get it done." He smiled and took the key and he looked at the fabric. "Should I bring your cloth home for you?"

After the two had said goodbye he had walked off and headed to Elann's house. It seemed Phobos took a liking to Elann and started crying when Garland was leaving.

"Come on now Phobos, we'll see her later." He said softly to the crying baby. Though the whole trip there would be with a crying baby screaming Garland's ears off.

Soon they were outside Elann's room, he took out the key and pushed the door open, seeing the nearly pitch black room, with the only light emitting from the torches outside. Garland placed the basket inside along with the gallon of milk.

He left the room for a brief moment to get a torch to light Elann's fireplace.

With the fireplace lit up, it seemed the babies had already wanted to crawl out the basket and explore. Garland took the two out and set them down gently on the floor.

[Elann]

.

She knew it was a strange thing to demand, but it was important to her that Garland take good care of his children. He was a squire. Pretty much every time she had seen him he had been working hard. It was his life. As he finally agreed, she nodded to his question and took his coin pouch.

"Yes, I got it. It's fine, you don't have to repay me, please just set my things on the table when you get there and I'll come as soon as possible. Keep them nice and toasty warm."

As the baby cried, she closed her eyes, feeling the creeping tension of stress growing in her mind. Most of it was rage, rage at the mother. Ever since she had known Garland she thought of him as a nice guy. How anyone could treat someone like him like she did was beyond her, and now she clenched her fists and his money pouch in anger. With no time to spare, she moved to leave the Bazaar, nearly running; as much as the crowds of Syliras would allow her.

It was ten minutes before she could arrive at the orphanage, but thankfully Aenysa was right at the front. Elann's flush cheeks and worried look gathered the woman's attention quicker than normal. Gushing about the unfortunate events of Garland, she acquired a list of items to gather as soon as possible from the Bazaar for the care of five month old children. Aenysa was not pleased about their living situation and had some suggestions, but Elann regretted what she suggested.

It was another ten minutes back, rushing with the paper Aenysa had given her of supplies. Elann was going to buy everything on that list, having runners send the supplies to Garland's dorm in the evening, that way when it was time for him to return the children to home, he would have everything the children would need, including a crib to sleep in.

It was about an hour and a half later from when Garland and her had parted that Elann finally showed up. Walking inside, she had some animal furs to line the basket with as well as some furs and cloth to wrap the children in about his chest like a carrier. It was nice thick material and would keep them warm on the journey home.

As she walked into her home in the Travelers Row, she hoped to see Garland inside, babies safely somewhere. It was likely they could at least sit up at that point Aenysa, but crawling was likely to start happening within a month or two.

The stone floor of her double apartment was cold, but thankfully she had a nice rug not far from the hearth that would have allowed the babies to flop about there. As she closed the door behind her, she let out an exhausted sigh. She had literally been running/jogging/fast walking just about everywhere and was now exhausted.

"I've gotten everything."

Aside from the furs and "carrier" for the babies, she also had some toys, two cloth dolls stuffed with wool and a wooden baby rattle which was a stick with little rings that shifted up and down between two points if shook up and down. Elann dumped the mass in her arms off on the table and held out his coin pouch.

Other's Words ~~ My Words ~~ My Thoughts

[Garland]

Garland had placed what he had brought on the table, and left the babies out. Elann had an open hearth where the babies could just roam into by accident.

He sat down on the couch and sighed. He was tired, and somewhat sleepy, but he needed to stay up to keep watch on them, it wasn't like they were going anyway, but Aneeka was a very adventurous one, and it wouldn't surprise him if Aneeka somehow found a way to move. The warm fire and the soft seat were just so very comfortable for him to ignore, He yawned and lied down on the couch, but keeping his best to stay awake.

The two of them were wobbly and were trying to crawl around, though both of them were just falling over. Phobos had sat up and looked around, seeing his sister looking very frustrated that she kept falling over.

Phobos got Aneeka's attention and started rolling around on his side, or to more accurately put it, pushing himself up and falling down his side, slowly moving around.

Aneeka smiled and giggled at her brother's silly display, though she didn't quite understand what he was doing. Phobos would have rolled his eyes if he knew what that meant, or had better motor functions in his eyes. Though Aneeka started copying Phobos.

She rolled to her side, giggling as she did. Though she was going the wrong way from where she wanted to go. She was rolling away from the couch, onto the cold hard floor.

The cold was sudden, the chill ran up Aneeka's side, and she wasn't prepared for that. She tried getting back up and onto the rug, but she was panicking a little bit and couldn't even push herself up.

She started crying and thrashing her arms and legs around. This woke up Garland right away, he got up and picked up Aneeka off the floor. "It's alright, you cold?" He picked up Phobos as well and sat down near the fire.

Aneeka felt the warmth and slowly stopped her crying. She wrapped her tiny arms around Garland's neck. Phobos was enamored by the fire and it's warmth, he opened and closed his hands near the fire, trying to grab it. Phobos couldn't reach the fire but Garland pushed himself back a little bit to be sure.

He heard the door open and saw Elann with a lot of things. "That is quite a lot." He got up and went over to the coach and placed the babies. He took the dolls and the baby rattle from the pile and handed them to the twins.

Aneeka went for the doll and started biting it, while Phobos took the rattle and shook it excitedly. "They seem to like the toys. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

[Elann]

.

"Trouble? No..."

Elann let out another sigh of exhaustion as she moved to sit down after setting everything at the table. Instead of pulling out the chair though, she noticed the babies crawling on the floor, on top of her rug. Like a magnet, she snagged their fur blankets from the pile of things and moved over to them. She laid out the blankets and looped then set a blanket on top of it incase they threw up. It would keep them much warmer. She then moved to sit with crossed legs in front of them.

"Ohh look at youuu," she said as she picked up Phobos and put him onto the fur with the blanket over top. She then did the same to Aneeka. "I love your cute little fingers. Yes I do!" With a her pinky, she gave one to each of the babies, who had become utterly fascinated with this newcomer. Their little fingers wrapped around hers and while the rattle still shook, entertaining Phobos, it was broken by some long stares at her, the fire, and Garland.

"Ugh...whew...I don't think I've ran so much in my life." She took in a deep breath as she picked up Aneeka and held her doll out to dance in front of her. The movement, hardly understanding what it was, made her giggle happily. Elann then lowered her down into her lap into her soft wool and fur-lined clothes. "Okay...so first I stopped by the orphanage and I got a list of some things you need to keep an eye out for health-wise from my friend there. Then she told me that your babies are going to start crawling here in the next month, so she made me a list of all the things you needed."

Elann looked briefly to the table before reaching down with her weaver's fingers to tickle Aneeka. "I made sure you have everything you need and what isn't here, will be delivered to your home later." Elann could feel the warmth of the fire stealing away the cold that had rest upon her and was finally comfortable. "So, I got you a dual baby carrier, that you just strap across your chest. It keeps the babies from rolling around and it lets them see things as we see them. She said I should get that, especially since they will be crawling and rolling around soon. You can't carry them in the basket. She told me you will need a crib, so we got that and some other stuff, but mostly I got them some clothes to keep them warm and I'll use some of my fine fabric for diapers for them so you don't have to buy some. I am not making anything out of it right now anyways." She took in another breath, "So then from there I ran and picked up everything and lugged it here. Have you been waiting long?"

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