Yoranda Garmold's Story

At Garmold Glitters Fine Jewelry, Istrain Garmold was pacing back and forth in the shop's front room while his little sister, Barynn Garmold, sat on the futon with her knees pulled up to her chest and tears in her eyes. "This can't be happening," she said softly, still in denial about the whole thing. Istrain had stayed with her that night, knowing that she probably wasn't okay to be on her own right now. "I can't...I can't have a baby. I can't be a mother. You know that..."

"Yes, I know that," Istrain replied, still pacing, his shoes clunking heavily against the floor of the shop. Barynn had never been the most responsible one, despite all her other redeeming qualities - and having buckets of talent, passion, and love were not enough to raise a child. She'd probably drop it if it moved while she was holding it, though he'd never say that to her. Longrus was curled up beside Barynn, his tail wrapped around her on the bed slightly as if trying to comfort her in his own little dragon way. "Barynn, you don't have to have this baby."

Barynn lifted her hazel eyes to look at her brother, blinking back tears. She hadn't even considered the possibility of not having the baby. She'd often heard people debate the matter of whether it was okay to give up babies before they were born, and she'd always felt that it should be the choice of the mother. Now, she was sitting here faced with the choice, and she couldn't bear the thought of doing something like that. She'd seen babies, she'd held them before, and while she didn't want one for herself, she also couldn't kill this one. In her eyes, underdeveloped as it may be, it was still a baby. "I want to have the baby, I just don't want to...have the baby..." she said.

Istrain nodded slightly. "I understand that," he said. "Hm...well, here's an option...you could put the baby up for adoption when it's born," he suggested. His pacing had slowed to a stop and he went to sit beside his sister, wrapping a gentle arm around her shoulders. "That way it's still being born, but it'll go to a family that will be able to take good care of it - maybe even a family that isn't able to have babies of their own. There are plenty of people who-"

Istrain's words were cut off by the sound of a light, rapid knock against the front door. Istrain raised an eyebrow slightly. They weren't supposed to open for another couple of hours, and that was only if he was able to get Barynn calmed down enough by then to actually run the place. He stood up, but Barynn grabbed his arm gently. "No, let me get it," she said softly. "My legs feel like jelly." She stood up, walking slowly to the door and opening it to tell whoever it was that they weren't open yet. Instead of an impatient patron, though, she was met with the sight of two tiny brown-haired dwarves smiling up at her. The girls were almost identical but for a few subtle differences that could only be noticed by someone who knew them well - and thankfully for Barynn, she did know them well, because these two were the youngest of the Garmold sisters.

"Yoranda? Unarelle?" Barynn asked, her eyes widening. The moment Istrain heard her words, he leapt to his feet and dashed over. A grin came to his lips when he saw them and he gently pushed past Barynn, scooping up both Unarelle and Yoranda in his arms with ease and spinning around with them, causing them to laugh.

"Istrain! Put us down!" exclaimed Yoranda, and he did as asked, grinning.

"I can't believe you two are here!" he said, and then his grin rapidly faded. "Wait, why are you here?"

"We ran away from home," Yoranda replied, putting an arm around her twin's shoulders. "Is it okay if we come in?"

The twins walked in with their older siblings, both immediately rushing to fawn over Longrus, who had been roused by the knocking. He seemed perfectly content to let the twins pet him, and Barynn went to sit back down where she'd been before.

"Why did you run away?" Istrain asked, and the twins exchanged a look.

"Well...mother and father aren't very happy with the two of you," Yoranda replied. "Having not one, but two children leave home for the surface world? People are kind of frowning on our family. To get back in everyone's good graces, they arranged for Unarelle to marry the youngest {NAME} boy, but obviously Una wasn't having that," she continued, and beside her, her twin quietly shook her head.

"Oh, shit," said Istrain, his eyes widening. "Una...I'm so sorry. I never realized that leaving would affect you that way."

"It's okay," Unarelle replied in a soft voice. "We didn't either."

"So that's why we're here!" Yoranda replied, her voice cheerful as ever. "We figured Barynn would be able to take care of us, or the both of you, if you were here. We weren't sure. We're glad we found both of you!"

"Well, now's really not a good time for Barynn to be taking care of anyone," Istrain said. He glanced briefly towards his sister, who gave him a nod before he turned back to the twins. "Barynn just found out last night that she's pregnant."

Yoranda's eyes went wide, and Unarelle actually laughed out loud. "No she's not," Unarelle said softly. "You have to have sex to get pregnant."

"I did," Barynn replied, and both twins gasped.

"No way!" Yoranda said. "With who? What was he like? Are you in love with him? Is he handsome?"

Barynn sighed softly. She could already feel more tears welling up slightly. "We were together for a bit but he broke up with me...we only slept together once but I guess that was enough."

"Once is definitely enough," Unarelle said, moving closer to her older sister and putting a hand on hers. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Have you been sick?"

"Very," Barynn replied. "We saw a healer on the island yesterday and she gave me something for it-"

"I can probably do something better," Unarelle murmured.

"-and I haven't felt sick since taking it."

"Oh."

Istrain chuckled a bit. "Now we're just trying to figure out what she should do with it. Obviously she can't be a mother, because she's Barynn, but she doesn't want to abort the baby."

"I wouldn't, either," said Yoranda. "Did you talk to the dad yet?"

"I don't talk to the dad," Barynn muttered.

"You should," Yoranda replied.

"I don't want to face him," Barynn replied. "I mean...I could send Istrain...but I doubt there'd be anything to keep them from getting in a fight considering they've almost fought before."

"Hey, we weren't going to fight at the tavern," Istrain protested. "Haera and Bir were there. They would never have let that happen."

"What if I spoke to him?" Yoranda asked suddenly, and all three of her siblings turned their gazes to her.

"What?" asked Barynn.

"Well, think about it. I'm obviously not going to get in a fight with him. He's never met me, so he has no reason to fight me or be rude to me. I could merely act...as a messenger, per se. Just to make sure he gets the information and nobody gets in a fight and then he has time to figure out what he wants to do with it."

Barynn looked towards Istrain, who gave a slight nod. "That sounds like it would work," he said.

"Okay! I'll do it," Yoranda said, jumping to her feet. "Just tell me where to go."

Barynn grabbed a scrap of paper, using it to give Yoranda directions. Luckily for Barynn, she was good enough at directions that Yoranda felt confident that she knew where she was going. "If you get lost, just find anyone and ask them for help. Tell them you're trying to get to Luther's house and they should point you in the right direction," Barynn said softly.

"Got it," Yoranda replied, taking the piece of paper. "I'll be back in a bit!" she chimed before heading out of the shop. She began following the instructions closely, and she found that she was easily able to locate each of the landmarks her sister used for reference. Soon, sure enough, she was standing before a large, elegant home just outside of the city. She eyed it up for a moment, shaking her head. "Poor Barynn to get dumped by this she murmured before heading to the door, lifting up a hand and knocking before stepping back to see whether anyone would answer.

Luther was holding Ebony when there was a knock at the door. He gave her back to James and walked to the door before opening it. He looked down... all the way down and smiled softly, even though she looked a lot alike Barynn. "Hello, how can I help you?" He asked.

Yoranda had to blink back her surprise when the door opened and she saw the extremely tall, handsome man here. Why were all these surface-folk so damn tall? She gave the man a bright smile. "Hello! Are you Luther?" she asked. Barynn hadn't mentioned whether anyone else lived at the house, so she'd probably look silly if it turned out that this was Luther and he lived alone, but she figured it was safer to ask. Barynn hadn't given her anything else to go by except that his name was Luther, he lived at this house, and he was the reason Barynn was pregnant and heartbroken.

Luther smiled, she was a bright and cheerful girl, "I would hope so, or else I have been living a like for thirty-three years." He chuckled. "What can I help you with today?" He asked. Luther knew it had to be something about Barynn, unless this girl actually had no ties to Barynn except for eerily looking like her. He had hoped it was that case, he really didn't want to fight with the girl about it, her brother was enough to deal with. If they couldn't see that she had her damn flaws that was there problem.

Yoranda giggled softly at his comment. He was definitely a funny one. Funny, tall, attractive - she could see why Barynn had been drawn to him. "I'm actually here to deliver a message," she replied. "It's from my big sister, Barynn Garmold? I believe you know her, she runs the jewelry store here in town," she said, jerking a thumb back in the direction she'd come from and maintaining her bright smile.

Luther nodded, "Yes I know her. Is she okay?" He asked her, starting to realize maybe she was hurt and then the worry started to sink in. If she was where the hell was her brother when it all went down?

Yoranda quirked an eyebrow curiously when his first reaction was to ask whether Barynn was okay. She'd expected some sort of bitterness or resentment in his tone, but instead he sounded concerned. "Kind of," she replied softly. "She just found out that she's, um, pregnant. And, well, it's Barynn, so that means it can only be yours." Yoranda brushed back some loose brown hair from her face, figuring she'd wait to see how he reacted before she continued on with telling him that Barynn wouldn't keep it.

Luther's expression changed. He was shocked and his mind reeled, somewhere deep down he knew it would happen. His luck was shit, always shit, and so the one time he didn't use protection he was going to knock the girl up. "Uh... thanks." He said and closed the door with a good bit of force since the damn thing was getting stuck.

Yoranda blinked in surprise when his reaction was just to thank her and start closing the door. She hadn't even had a chance yet to tell him that Barynn wasn't keeping the baby, or to outline what the options were. She immediately stuck her foot out to stop him, letting out a pained yelp when the door fell shut on her foot. "Fuck!" she exclaimed. "Why'd you close it that hard, you numpty?" she said, tears of pain stinging her brown eyes.

Luther swung the door back open, "WHO sticks their foot in the damn door?!" He asked before sighing and picking her up. "Come on, I will wrap it and apparently we still have things to talk about unless you get off on this kind of thing." He said, more like a stern parent than anything. When they walked into the living room James looked up from his papers, baby in arms, and blinked. "Go get me the wraps and ointment please." He said. James put Ebony in the small bassinet before going get them. He placed her on the couch and sat on the coffee table before looking at her foot. "It looks like it is badly bruised." He said and let her rest her foot on his leg while he reach over and gently rocked the bassinet since Ebony started to stir. "So... go on." He said.

Yoranda blinked in surprise when Luther lifted her up with ease and took her inside. She raised an eyebrow when they walked into the next room and she saw both a baby and a man who looked almost identical to Luther. The only difference was their hair colour. She looked back and forth between them as Luther sat her down on the couch to look at her foot. "You're a twin?" she asked in surprise. "I'm a twin, too! My twin would have come along but she's very shy and she'd probably end up hiding behind me the whole time," she continued with a bit of a giggle, smiling over at Luther as he let her her foot on his leg.

Luther looked up, "Ahh so very different personality. That happens. Are you two identical are look completely different?" He asked and looked up when James came back with the stuff than grabbed his papers and baby. "I will be in my room if you two need anything." He said before disappearing. Luther looked back at the girl's foot and rubbed ointment into her foot gently before wrapping it up tightly and put her foot back on his leg. "Now... you had something else to tell me, apparently, so please... before you hurt yourself more, what is it you have to say?" He asked.

Yoranda smiled over at him. "We're identical. There are small differences, but you'd really have to know us to see them," she replied. "Posture's a big one," she added with a giggle and a roll of her eyes. She glanced after James before he left, and then quietly watched as Luther wrapped up her foot for her. She sighed a bit when he asked what more she had to say. "Well, I was going to go on to say that Barynn doesn't want to keep the baby," she said. "I mean, she's going to go through with the pregnancy, but she doesn't want to keep it when it's done. She wanted you to have the option of taking the baby since it is yours, and if you don't want it then she's just going to put it up for adoption." She glanced towards the bassinet that Luther had been rocking. Apparently he already knew what he was doing, though she was inclined to guess that the baby belonged to his brother, not him.

Luther rolled his eyes, "Of course she wouldn't..." He mumbled. "Come on, I know she is at her shop. Where else would she be?" He said and lifted her once again before walking out the door and into the city. People glanced up at them and kept on. It was pretty clear he didn't want people to start anything and no one would. They got to the shop and he sat her gently down on the futon next to Barynn, "next time let the door close and knock again. If they don't answer... then find a way in taht doesn't result in injury okay?" He said, ignoring everyone in the room for a second before look straight at Barynn. "We need to talk."

Yoranda smiled a bit when Luther commented that he knew Barynn was in her shop. It seemed that they knew one another very well, and she wondered about the specifics of their relationship. How long had they been together? It couldn't have been very long. She let him carry her to the shop, and she could see the confusion in the faces of her siblings when they arrived. Barynn's mouth fell open slightly, and she had to shoot a glare at Istrain. Unarelle simply sat there, petrified for a moment. When Luther addressed Barynn, she looked towards her siblings, and then she looked at Yoranda's foot. "Um...in the back room?" she suggested, standing up from the futon. It didn't make sense to move Yoranda around again when she and Luther could just step into the back room to talk.

Barynn raised an eyebrow slightly when he said that he'd thought about giving it another shot. As if she'd ever want to be with him again after how it had ended last time. Pffft. Would she? She liked to think that she'd turn him down if he asked her to try again, but she couldn't be sure. She waited in the back room until she knew that Luther was gone, and then she emerged. Yoranda was smiling up at her. Unarelle had her head laid on her twin's shoulder, and Istrain was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "Well?" he asked when she came out.

"Well...not much to say," Barynn said with a shrug. "He's going to take the baby when it's born. So that's settled and out of the way now."

"Istrain was just telling us that we need jobs if we're going to stay," Yoranda chimed, and Barynn raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Well, of course you do," she replied. "I definitely can't afford to keep you both. Your brother can probably afford to put you up in a hotel room, but you'll have to get jobs and start paying for things yourselves as soon as you're able."

"There's a great tavern not too far from here," said Istrain. "I'm sure Birger would be open to the idea of having a performer. And Una, you could probably go meet with the doctor, Lor, and see if she needs an assistant or something."

"I'm more than an assistant," Unarelle scoffed, shaking her head slightly, but Istrain frowned.

"You're in no position to start up your own practice on the island," he said to her. "Besides, you'll probably like Lor. She couldn't have been much older than you. Maybe you'll find a friend."

"You say that like you forget you're talking to Unarelle," Yoranda said. She carefully stood up, tentatively putting pressure on her foot. "Ouch."

"What exactly did you do there, anyways?" Barynn asked, nodding towards her sister's foot.

"Um, well, after I told him that you were pregnant, Luther thanked me and went to close the door. But I wasn't finished, so I stuck my foot in the door to stop him, but apparently he wasn't expecting that and he closed it really hard. Then he took me inside and wrapped it up for me. He's actually really nice, I can see why you liked him - and he has a twin brother, I saw him there and he had a baby, and-"

"You met his brother?" Barynn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Kind of," Yoranda replied. "In passing, mostly."

"I never should have sent you alone," Barynn muttered with a shake of her head. "But at least Luther was nice enough to wrap it up for you...he's really a good man, he just...I don't know. It didn't work between us. I wish it had..." Tears were starting to prick her eyes again and Unarelle got up to give their older sister a hug.

"I should go look into that tavern job," Yoranda said softly. She took a few practice steps, figuring out exactly how to step so that she avoided shooting pain going all through her foot, though she definitely had a bit of a pronounced limp. "I'll be back, though. You guys take care of Una for me."

"We will," agreed Istrain with a nod.

Yoranda quietly left the shop, limping her way through the streets in the direction Istrain had told her to go. She found the tavern with relative ease, smiling a bit when she saw the name. It definitely sounded like good fun. She made her way to the door, heading inside. She noticed a few heads turn as she came in, which didn't surprise her since everyone was so tall. She probably looked like a damn child to them. She saw a man behind the counter, so she made her way over there with a smile on her face. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "I'm looking for Birger, are you he? Or could you point me in his direction?"

Birger and Haera were talking about the lack if Istrain and Haera said it was so quiet without his loud mouth when a girl came in. She looked like Istrain's sister and then saw the limp. The girl was looking for Birger so she let at him, but he was staring at her differently. Birger smiled, "I am he, how can I help you? If it a drink I can only serve you milk and water... or anything that doesn't have alcohol." He said. "Do you want to sit? Hold on..." He said and walked around before gently lifting her and sitting her in a chair. "Got to get you off that foot..." He said.

Haera blinked, "Did... did Istrain send you off like this? That boy... I will be back later." She said and walked out.

Yoranda smiled in relief when the man said that he was, in fact, Birger. He was tall and quite handsome, and she had a feeling that if he agreed to let her sing here, she was really going to enjoy it. She couldn't help but to laugh slightly when he said that he couldn't serve her alcohol. She was about to try to clamber into one of the seats but then Birger came around the counter and picked her up, putting her in the chair himself. "Thank you," she told him softly before the blonde woman spoke. Yoranda was surprised that she immediately seemed to know that Istrain was her brother, but the woman was gone before she could ask how, so Yoranda instead turned her gaze towards the attractive man behind the counter. "How did she know that Istrain's my brother? He can't have been here more than a month or two, has he really made a name for himself already?" she asked with a laugh, quite amused.

Birger told her she was welcome before listening to the rest of what she was saying. "Ahh well... okay I guess it is best to start from the beginning. Your brother got into a physical altercation with Haera, the blonde, and then her mother got Barynn to bring him to her house for Haera to say sorry.... since then they have kind of been joined at the hip. He talks about his family a lot and Haera listens. I made a bet with your brother that he will fall in love... I am going to win... it is going to be glorious." He chuckled. "So what can I help a pretty girl like you with?" He asked, smiling softly.

Yoranda raised an eyebrow, glancing towards the door through which Haera had left. "She doesn't seem like his type at all," she said, shaking her head. "But anyways, I'm actually here because I was wondering if you'd be interested in having a singer to perform at your tavern. I'm a bard by trade, I play three instruments, and I sing. Istrain suggested that there might be an opening here," she continued, a bright smile on her face. She really hoped that he'd say yes, because he was a very attractive man and she was going to enjoy working in proximity to him.