Notes: Let's bring some things together, shall we? Remember, this is light fiction, cozy fantasy, I'm not going to get all dark and depressing on you...or will I? Muhuhahahaaaaa...

Title: Quaint Escapes for Traitorous Bastards: Ch. 5, Pt. 2 

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Chapter Five, Part Two

A Wise Purchase

Hiram didn’t like giving money to this odious man. He didn’tlike the gleam that came into the brute’s eyes as he all but snatched the slipsout of Hiram’s grasp, a gleam that meant every copper bit those slips could bebroken out into were going to go to drink and nothing else. He loathed the factthat Letty’s father was taking advantage of everyone around him via the threatof violence, especially his own child. It was almost enough to make him want torenege on the deal—which he technically hadn’t made in the first place—but...

If the man made him sick to his stomach, then seeing the sheerrelief in Letty’s eyes as her father took the money and left without anotherword was something of an antidote. And when the first thing she did was openKnight’s cage and let the enormous rabbit gingerly hop out to where Hiram couldsee him…well. That cleared the rest of his unease up immediately and replacedit with determination.

“Oh, my darling,” he murmured as he got down on one knee infront of the rabbit. Knight had clearly taken some damage; he had makeshiftbandages around right back leg that were partially soaked through, and his leftear was missing a good chunk of the top of it. Bandaging that hadn’t been assuccessful, and the ragged edge was dark brown and painful-looking. “Poor sweetthing, we’ll take care of you now,” Hiram said. He’d never gotten the hang ofspeaking to animals as anything other than intelligent beings, the result of accidentallyinsulting one too many shapeshifters and getting hung from his ankles in a treefor over a day before he was rescued.

“He kept kicking the plaster off,” Letty said, finally regainingher voice now that the deal was done. “I figured if you wanted him, you wouldn’tcare if he looked his best or not, though.” She was trying to sound asconfident now as she had before, but now that she’d achieved her ends, it wasclear that the veneer was wearing thin. She sounded more like a desperate youngwoman instead of a confident salesperson, as if she was just waiting for theother shoe to drop. Her shoulders were hunching as though in expectation of ablow, and her eyes kept darting from side to side like she was looking for anescape route that didn’t exist.

And why wouldn’t she be nervous? On the surface, she’d justconned a man she’d only met once before into buying a rabbit he’d expresslysaid he wasn’t interested in for a ridiculous sum of money, now bargained up toher services for over a month. Was she wondering what “services” might entail?Was she thinking about where she might need to hide from a beating or what shecould use to beat him back before he, gods forbid, put his hands on her forother reasons?

Absolutely not. Even if Hiram had ever been interestedin women in such a way, which he hadn’t, Letty was so young and so deeply inhis personal power at the moment that she would be incredibly off-limits. Hecould say that to her, and he would, but the best way to prove his goodintentions to her was through showing her that he meant her no harm.

Not to mention, he had his suspicions about her ability toget him to do what he wanted, and if he was right…

“If you’d be so kind as to draw a cup of water from thebucket by the stove,” Hiram asked calmly as he walked back into his house. Knighthopped after him and Letty followed last, carefully closing the door behindher. “And then refill the bucket, actually, that would be quite helpful. I needto rinse this gentleman’s ear off before I can properly assess treating it.”

“Oh, right—yes. Of course.” She headed for the kitchen nookwhile Hiram darted back upstairs to get the satchel that held his healing aids.Of course, he could treat the wounds with magic, but with ImperialMessengers putting up flyers that would have every magic-sniffer this side ofthe empire searching for him and Letty here to witness any remarkably quickrecoveries Knight might have, he was better off doing things the old-fashionedway. Hopefully that would suffice for the big bunny.

Hiram came back downstairs to find a cup of water waitingfor him on the table by the chair and Letty kneeling with Knight, sniffling abit as she stroked the back of his neck. When she saw him coming she dashed thetears from her eyes and got to her feet. “I’m off to get more water, I won’t bea moment. Well in the back, yes?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, and she was gone in a flash. Hiramsighed, then sat down in his elaborate armchair and held out a hand to Knight. “Comehere, pet.”

Knight immediately hopped over. Clever boy.Well-trained, at least. “Good,” Hiram said in a soothing tone as he reachedinto his satchel for some of the powdered ariat root he kept on hand. Ariat wasan all-purpose healing agent, simultaneously good against infection and atencouraging healthy regeneration. It was blindingly expensive, but the conditionsin Lollop just might be good enough for him to grow an ariat plant. He had theseeds, carefully harvested from the Imperial gardens two nights before he madehis escape, so they’d still be good to plant.

Hmm…speaking of planting…

Knight pushed his big, blunt bunny face against Hiram’sshin, and he promptly forgot everything else in favor of petting the rabbit’sincredibly soft fur. “Poor dear pet,” he said. “We’ll get you feeling rightagain.” He mixed the dried herbs with the water, stirring with his finger asthe ariat root plumped up until it felt more like mud in there than liquid.Then he scooped some out into his hand and very gently smoothed it over thewounds on Knight’s ear.

The rabbit flinched away, but Hiram held the back of hisneck fast as he worked. “Just a bit more,” he crooned. “Just enough so that itdries fast, my dear. That’s it…good…” Once it dried, the mixture wouldn’t letgo until the natural scab beneath it did unless Knight went for a swim betweennow and then. “Aren’t you brave? Yes, you are. Now, if you’d be so kind as toturn so I can handle the wounds in your leg…” He reoriented the rabbit so thathe was facing the other way, then carefully removed the bandages on his leg.

Oof. There was visible muscle and fat there, and one ofthe tendons looked shredded. No wonder Letty’s father had thought Knight wasgood for nothing but stew at this point; he would never be able to run again,that was for certain. But he was still worthy of healing, and being given thechance to live as long a life as a rabbit like this could. That choice wasnever a choice. Too many close calls—and some devastating losses—had taughtHiram early in his life that the healing arts were as much a necessity for himto excel at as magic was, because he was chronically incapable of giving up onhis companions. That was the whole reason he’d continued to study herbology—certainlynot out of any misplaced allegiance to his first teachers.

His family could, should, and probably was rotting in somegod’s hell right now, but Hiram could still muster a  tiny bit of gratitude when it came tolearning his crafts. Nothing motivated you to improve yourself like the promiseof a better situation on the other side.

You can be that promise for Letty if she lets you.

First things first, though. Knight. Hmm, some of this wouldhave to be stitched up or he wouldn’t heal as well as he could. Hiram loweredhimself down to the floor beside the rabbit and eased Knight over onto hisside. “I’ll make this go as quick as I can,” he promised him as he rootedaround in his satchel. Contact numbing gel—he’d wrestled a giant squid for thatstuff, it had better still be potent—and needle and thread…the thread was madefrom a phoenix’s feathers, and would naturally dissipate over time instead ofneeding to be cut out later. Finally, the ariat root.

Knight kicked a few times as Hiram applied the gel, but thesubsequent cessation of pain was enough to relax him completely. Hiram wasvaguely aware of Letty reentering the house, but his attention was focused onKnight now. He threaded his slender bronze needle, then began the tedious workof stitching the wound together—deep level first, then superficial. He trimmeda bit of fur here and there to make the stitches flush, but by the time he wasdone Hiram was quite satisfied with the work. He stroked the big rabbit’s head withhis clean hand as he applied the ariat paste.

“You’re a very good lad,” he told him. “And I’ll make sureyou’re taken care of here, all right? No more battles with foxes for you.”

“Thank you.”

Hiram looked up to see Letty sitting on the floor acrossfrom him, a good five feet away. She’d lost some of her rigid demeanor, and hereyes were soft as she looked at Knight. “You’re welcome,” Hiram replied. “Althougha bit of warning would have been appreciated,” he couldn’t help but add.

Letty flushed. “I couldn’t get away to ask you first,” she saidapologetically. “The fox came during the night, and I thought Da would sleepthrough morning check and I could get him here without him yelling me down theroad, but he was up early to piss, and he saw me. The second he laid eyes onKnight…I thought he’d wring his neck right there. Truly, I—”

Hiram held up a hand. “I’m not sad you brought him here. Iwish I’d had the chance to be consulted, but I understand why you couldn’t. Andtruly, he is a magnificent rabbit.”

“I know you didn’t want a pet, but…you were my last hope,sir.”

That was a status Hiram was well-acquainted with. “What’sdone is done,” he said, petting Knight a few more times before packing up hissatchel. “And now, let’s talk about your responsibilities for the coming weeks.”He didn’t miss how Letty stiffened again, and went on matter-of-factly, “There’sa lot of garden to clear out there. I’m afraid the weeds have had their waywith it completely since the owner of this place passed away, and I’d like helpwith that, as well as building out the beds for what I intend to plant. If you’veany skill at building rabbit hutches, I could use help with that too.” Hesmiled charmingly. “I’m a bit hopeless when it comes to projects like that.”

Letty gave him a tentative smile. “I…could, yes, I’m good atthat. If I got some of my siblings to come help, we could have a new hutch builtout for you before the week is over.”

“There’s no rush,” Hiram said, and he watched her face sag abit. She wants to get her siblings out of there too. “But given that I’dlike you to look at the chicken coop and the lean-to for Mule next, perhaps somehelp would be good,” he amended. “Bring whoever you think your family canspare. And here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the single goldslip he’d held in reserve, then handed it to her. “I’m a terrible cook. If you’dbe so good as to buy enough food for myself, you, and whoever you bring alongwhile you’re working and see to its preparation while you’re here, I’dappreciate it.”

“Sir.” Her lip trembled for a moment as she stared at theslip. “You’ve already paid so much money, I can’t—”

“We both know that money won’t go to things your familyneeds,” Hiram said. “But I won’t have you coming here hungry and going homestarving, either. I can afford this much.” And far more, but you don’t needto know that.

“You’re…I can get a lot of food for this much, sir.”

“Good.” He smiled. “I’m sure you and your siblings eat alot, and as for me?” He patted his stomach. “I’m as hungry as a horse. Now, ifyou’d please stop calling me sir, I’d appreciate it. Master Emblic is fine.”Hiram would be better, but he knew she wouldn’t be comfortable with that yet.

“Yes, si—Master Emblic.”

“Good. Now. I’ve got things to do here today,” likechild-proofing my house, “so take the rest of the time you owe me to go tothe market and get the food you think you’ll need for the week. You can storeit here.” He pointed to the pantry. “I’ve got a bit, but you’ll definitely needto supplement it. Then we’ll start our new arrangement in two days, afterLares.” Lares was the weekly day of rest in this part of the empire, one dayafter Soltur, which was when they celebrated it in the north.

“Yes, Master Emblic.” Letty got to her feet, glanced fromKnight to Hiram and back again, then lifted her chin and said, “I’ll be thebest helper you’ve ever had. Just wait, I promise I’ll make it worth yourwhile.” Then she turned and walked out of the house at a brisk pace, hernatural confidence finally reasserting itself now that she was reassured hewasn’t keen to diminish her.

Hiram watched her go, his fingers buried in Knight’s softfur. Somehow, he was confident she would end up being worth every bit. At thevery least, he wouldn’t be bored in the coming weeks, and he had someone new toask about the ins and outs of town now.

First things first, though—to make sure no one accidentallywandered upstairs…