In reply to Evelina Grattan (msg # 264):

A slender figure in the same tattered brown cloak and worn and patched clothes as the other bandits cautiously steps into the clearing.

"You'll be Marjent, then.  Peyrona's told us the tiniest bit about you, including that you're neither monsieur nor mademoiselle.

"I'm truly pleased to meet you.  I'm Holiness Evelina Grattan, Queen of the Cult of Tsaggothua.  This is my Holy Sister, Elaina Grattan, our Priestess.  These are Christine Bjorn, and her servants Chris and Crispin, her follower Emma (another priestess), Masugatan and Valerie, and Absolon Steelbaker, whom I'm sure you can understand is commonly called Ginger."

In reply to Marjent (msg # 265):

"I am Marjent. What happened to my kin?"

"I am saddened to report that most of those who tried to rob us along the road died.  We've brought along the three we could save, though they still need much healing."

Ginger whispers to Elaina, "Are all priestesses this hard?"

In reply to Ginger (msg # 269):

Marjent sinks down, lowering the brace of rabbits they are holding.
"Only these have survived?"

In reply to Marjent (msg # 267):

"You are going to need to find a new job." She watches the response.

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 271):

"I hunt and forage."

In reply to Marjent (msg # 272):

"Then you did. not approve of your friends banditry?"

Elaina whispers back.  "Holiness isn't generally hard, but how do you soften telling someone five or six of their friends and relatives have died due to choosing the wrong folks to rob?"

Ginger nods, still feeling his way with Elaina.

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 273):

"I had little choice in their methods.
 All of us were cast from the village because the herds and crops could not sustain us all.
 Likewise I could not sustain my companions completely on what my snares and mushroom gathering brought."

In reply to Marjent (msg # 276):

"So how do we ensure you do not go back to banditry?"

"Wait -- you were outcast from your village because there wasn't enough to go around?"

In reply to Evelina Grattan (msg # 278):

"I might have been sent out when there was still almost enough, but most of the others were sent to find their own way because the season was bad and not enough to go around.  A few headed down the road and never returned, but most camped together and tried to get by however they could."

"I think I see.  So your village isn't actually starving right now, because they've reduced the number of hungry mouths?"  She grimaces.  "I've heard stories of such things, but it's usually those who are too old or infirm to work the fields or tend the stock who are cast out in this way.  Disposing of hale youths seems a less sensible choice, unless you or your companions were undesirable for other reasons.  Yourself I can see drawing disapproval because you're different -- our father cast me out for a similar reason, and Holy Sister joined me when I asked her to come -- but otherwise young hardy folk tend to be favored because they can produce more.

"Were there problems getting along with the others in your village?"

In reply to Evelina Grattan (msg # 280):

"The families that had a herd stayed on, and those with crops stored.  Some of the weak didn't make the year, we buried them."

"How many in your village before the winter?  Seems to me a village can get by pretty well on stone soup, if everyone has a little of something.  A turnip here, an onion there, a rabbit or chicken, a handful of barley, and next thing you know you find out everyone had enough to feed everyone, even though no one had enough to feed themselves.

"But that only works if folks are willing to cooperate.  If they're hoarding against their neighbors, then people can starve when there's food enough for all, if only it were divided equally."

Masugatan scratches himself.

In reply to Masugatan (msg # 283):

Christine listened for now...

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 284):

"I got put out by my parents when times were rough, and I had to scrape by however I could until I could get work.
The folks in this village must be real charmers, because some of these kids on the road were in their early teens, and it's
not like they got put out in a city."

"I have begun to have some of the same concerns, Valerie."

In reply to Evelina Grattan (msg # 286):

"Perhaps we should pay a visit to this village?"

"Christine, they aren't going to learn anything useful from being beaten down.  I think we might trust at least Peyrona and Marjent to give them some food and water and send them along back toward our home town.  The other one we've healed, too -- and we could heal them some more if we wait overnight after healing the fourth one."

In reply to Elaina Grattan (msg # 288):

"Perhaps. or we just take them to the next village...if they could be trusted, we could employ them as porters, though they seem woefully equipped for the mountains. If they could be trusted..."