Interesting Gossip

Writers: Eimi
Date Posted: 14th April 2019

Characters: Saranni
Description: Saranni overhears some choice gossip and makes plans.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 10, day 7 of Turn 9
Notes: NPC(s): The Gossipers

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She had only been at the hold for a few weeks and already she had a
favorite seat in one of the Ladies Solars. At the moment, she was
seated in it, an elaborate bit of embroidery half finished in her lap.
With her were two young ladies, a little younger than herself. Nearby,
two more ladies, both much older than herself sat. She was positioned
between the two pairs, in the perfect spot to converse with, or just
listen to both. It was the best source of gossip in the whole Hold.

"And just guess who came in last week and asked if we had a spare
piece of black linen to patch a hole with?" one of the older ladies
said to her companion. "Erassa," she supplied before anyone could
even venture a guess.

"What would the Lord's foster mother be doing the mending for?" her
friend said with a roll of her eyes. "She is not his wife, for
Faranth's sake, for all she acts the part in private." The other
ladies nodded along knowingly.

Saranni paused her stitches to consider what she was hearing and
decided she needed more information. She leaned toward the closer of
the two younger ladies she was sitting with and asked in a quiet tone,
"Who is Erassa?" She tilted her head toward the older ladies by way of
explaining where she'd heard the name.

"The foster mother to the Lord Holder's children," the young woman
closest to her supplied.

"Or at least that's what they say she is," the other young girl said
with a roll of her eyes.

Her companion nodded. "Everyone knows they sleep together. Erassa
acts like she's all innocent, but everyone know it."

"You can't be seen kissing a married man on a dance floor and then
pretend like there's nothing going on," one of the older ladies said,
her friend nodding along with an affirmative snort.

"She didn't!" one of fosterlings who came at the same time as Saranni
said with wide eyes.

"She sure did," the older lady said defiantly. "I was there. I saw
it." Or close enough. She saw them leaning very close during the
dance and heard later that they had kissed, so if she had been at a
slightly different angle she probably would have seen their lips
touch. "It was on the eve of Turn 7, right in front of Lady Felyna."

Her friend shook her head sadly. "They say the Lady died in
childbirth, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't from a broken
heart." She ignored the fact that there was a full Turn between those
events.

Saranni pondered this a moment, her thoughts racing. This complicated
matters significantly. She took the broken heart comment with a grain
of salt, that was just the sort of romantic nonsense that older Ladies
thrived on. And from what she'd heard, there was no great love between
the Lord and his late Lady. Of course, shame could be a heartbreaker
just as much as betrayal. Even if you did not love your husband,
seeing him gallivanting about with a common foster mother would be
painful.

Unless...

She filed the thought that entered her mind away for later
consideration. She needed to meet this Erassa. Perhaps try to see the
two of them together sometime. She hadn't paid them much mind the few
times she'd seen them so far, they always had his children around them
and were on their way somewhere. Saranni tried to remember if she'd
noticed anything untoward between them, but couldn't think of
anything.

Her decision made, that she would seek out this Erassa and sound out
her feelings for the Lord Holder and see if she could discover what he
might see in her, she continued her sewing. She kept an ear out for
anything interesting one of the two sets of Ladies might say next
though. This had certainly been a productive afternoon in the Solar
thus far.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2019

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Interesting Gossip