Brie wrung her hands and looked down at her feet. She was not looking forward to telling Shawn everything. She didn't want to relive it and she didn't want him taking on more guilt.

"It will all be easier after you talk to him." Difyr said.

"I understand now why Sileas chose to hide from all of us," Brie admitted. "It might be easier afterwards, but having to relive it and burden Shawn with it? I'm not looking forward to it."

Difyr nodded. "If you don't go to talk to him soon I'll put you to work here."

Brie would have been willing, but she knew Shawn was waiting to show her something. And she kept hearing her own fussings at Sileas for hiding coming back to haunt her. "I suppose I need to get this over. Plus he wants to show me something."

"Then run along or you can scrub bed pans." Difyr said.

That threat work. Brighid took off for the next room to collect Shawn.

Bai clutched his stomach as they entered the room.

Pinja had been sitting up, but when the door open she disappeared under the blankets again.

Sileas spotted the movement from Pinja. Had she not done it herself a million times while hiding in her flat over the schoolhouse? Anytime someone came to the door during non-school hours, she hid under the blankets until they had gone away. "Difyr?" Sileas called softly.

Difyr had been blending herbs when Sileas and a girl came in.

"Hello- what's the matter?" The girl with Sileas looked to be in some discomfort.

"This is Fi. She actually wanted to speak with Pinja, I believe she feels she can help her. Oh! Something at breakfast didn't agree with her."

"Was it under cooked bacon?" Difyr asked with concern, frowning. "Pinja is very shy."

"I'm fine." Bai lied. "I just need to see Pinja."

Difyr glanced over at Pinja's bed. The girl was hiding.

"Maybe she will see you, Sileas, but I don't think she will be up to seeing a stranger."

"I'm a stranger to her too, for the most part," Sileas reminded Difyr. "I barely spent any time around her. Could you just tell her that Fi is a healer as well and wishes to see if she could help her?"

"At least she has met you." Difyr said, unconvinced. "Who is this Fi? She looks like she needs healing."

Sileas slid a glance at Bai, clearly saying I told you so with her eyes. "She's someone I met in Portside a few weeks ago. She arrived this morning, wanting to help out with the healing."

"You can try asking her if she will see Fi." Difyr said. "I can't vouch for a stranger."

"All right, I'll talk with her," Sileas replied. It was the only chance they would have, as far as she could see.

Bai nearly doubled when another cramp seized him. Was he going through this for nothing?

Difyr gently nudged Fi into a chair. She had an idea of what was going on. Easy to fix, sheep bladder full of hot water, some tea. "Go talk to her, I'll see to your friend here."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:04, Mon 10 July 2017.

Sileas walked slowly toward the blanket hiding Pinja. "Pinja? It's Sileas. I wanted to know how you were doing."

Pinja peeked out from under the blanket at Sileas. "Hello."

"Hello there," Sileas replied gently. "I used to do that. I hid in my rooms over the schoolhouse and when anyone came to the door during non-school hours, I hid under my blankets until I knew they had gone away."