Wraithvine, Gikka, and Birbrid disguised as a gnome were at an Inn. The leaves were falling and it was quite peaceful that cool fall night. An aged, unwell, human whose sight was poor hobbled into the Inn, sat near the fire, and ended up using Wraithvine's leg as a pillow as they fell asleep almost as soon as they sat on the floor. -- Anon Guest
When the inn is small and far from many places, when the family that runs it have long since gone to their beds... it's long been acceptable for people to nap in the common room. It's not unusual when people arrive for rest and shelter during the small hours, and it's not unexpected for them to take what's easily available.
They pay for it anyway.
For that purpose, many isolated inns have long, wide benches that can double as a bed in a pinch. Or, if that fails, very comfortable chairs or no doors on the nearby barn.
This one had the benches. Gikka and Bibrid curled up on one, snuggled up under the same blanket on a bench near the smouldering fire.
Wraithvine set up hir meditation mat near those selfsame embers. Ze was just about to settle into mindful rest when the door opened again. It admitted a small flurry of leaves and a bent old figure walking and seeing with a cane.
Ze watched the hobbling progress as the figure squinted their way to the hearth, and then painfully lay down near the hearth. They used their cloak as a blanket, and Wraithvine's thigh for a pillow. And promptly began snoring.
There was no way Wraithvine could meditate with this need pinning hir down. Ze made hirself as comfortable as possible, and then extended hir magics to his new patient.
Age had certainly wearied him. Time had bent and gnarled his body. Stolen light from his vision. Stolen agility from his legs. Stolen strength from his arms. There was little Wraithvine could do to help, but ze did it all.
Come the next dawn, when the children came down to cut firewood and prepare for the day, the old fellow credited the inn for his sudden upturn in health. He didn't see who he'd been using as a pillow.
The innkeeper did know who Wraithvine was, and nearly fainted at the revelation. There was a lot of boggling before the whispered, "I know you did something for Grandfather, over there. Why don't you take credit?"
"There's no need for it," said Wraithvine, and that was all ze would say about it.
[Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash]
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