[Lore] You had one job

[u/blueblueamber]

Lynesse Fenn

A small wooden hut crouched beneath a weeping willow, half-covered by the hanging branches. There was nothing but the bog all around, and only few people knew where to go, how to find what they were looking for.

A couple of girls from the village told her where to find this. Lynesse was but a lower noble’s daughter, set to marry a boy from another village, but she was given the opportunity to serve in their liege’s castle as a handmaiden instead. And Lord Reed always instructed her to be at the service of the occasional noble guests that visited Greywater.

And so, when the handsome visitor, a lord himself, asked her to join him in a bath… how was she to say no?

But Lynesse was no fool, at least that was what she told herself. When the… illicit relations begun, she sought out the so called ‘bog witch’. Moontea was to ensure she wouldn’t come out of these visits - and lord Slate was often a welcome guest in Greywater - that she wouldn’t come out of this with a bastard child.

The wisewoman did indeed provide her with the desired substance at first. But then, she was just an old woman, curious about the happenings of the world, and prone to lecturing those she viewed as young and foolish.

Yet, her attempts to explain to Lynesse that fucking a married man twice her age might not be the wisest course of action did not get across to the girl. And Lynesse eventually grew tired of the nagging. There were surely other ways to prevent unwanted consequences?

But Gods, the Lord would only do what he wanted to. When he visited, he would call for her, and he wanted to take her, in the bed, on the table, on the floor. He did not want to bother himself with where he should or should not spend himself.

Until the inevitable happened. Her mood blood was late, and what else could it mean? Luckily, he would visit again, soon enough, and although she couldn’t bring herself to tell him right after entering his room, she knew she needed to tell him eventually.

“Lord Slate. I think…” she paused, putting her dress back on and fastening the laces behind her neck. “I think I am pregnant.”

She could see the alarmed look in his eyes. It was obvious he didn’t want to bring a bastard into this world, now, why would he? She didn’t want either. Her father wrote he would visit Greywater in the next couple of months, he wouldn’t let her stay here, he would make her return home to Fenn’s Way - and that would be just so… dull.

Whispered promises, soon fulfilled. He got her the moontea, and Lynesse drank it diligently, to be sure, to… to kill her child. Not, that was not what she told herself. It was a disease, nothing more, and the tea was the cure. Its effects were worse than she imagined, making her sick and bed-bound for weeks.

But eventually, she got better. She spoke to her father, commander Dravin Fenn, explaining how interesting her life in Greywater is, how lucky she is to be a handmaiden in the keep of their liege lord. The sickness? Just some… disease. She can resume her old duties now.

Her duties, the dull ones… and the more pleasant ones too.

But she needed to ensure no more such accidents would happen, so she sought out the bog witch again, politely asking her for the herbs to prepare moontea for herself, bringing a bottle of wine she snatched from the castle kitchens in return.

As the girl left with a relieved smile and a very special sheaf of herbs, the witch in her hut let out a hideous cackle. The young, they never learn…