They didn’t stop but rode through the town. Turning left, they saw even more vendors and flags. This area was dedicated to food. They sold various fresh and salted meat and fish, fruit, herbs, grains, and beans.
Padrig broke off first and headed to a meat vendor. Will went off with Mac, and Morgann stayed with her and the captain. But before they reached the vendors, Silene saw three small, dirty children playing with rocks. She smiled at their innocence, but it faded as the obvious became apparent. They were poor. Their clothing was tattered and stained, as were their faces. They were thin and their skin was sallow. The sight of them made her eyes burn.
“Captain, may I stay here with them?” she asked.
He looked like he might refuse her. She would stay anyway if he did. His gazed flicked to the children and then to Morgann. He nodded. “Stay with her,” he told his friend.
Should she not smile at him for giving in to her wish? For her or for the children’s sake, it didn’t matter. Of course, she should smile at him for his kindness!
He turned away without seeing it. She was about to frown and begin reciting ten Our Fathers when her gaze swung to Morgann’s. “’Tis good that ye care fer them,” Morgann told her. “Likely no one else does.”
She went to the horses. He followed her. He didn’t protest when she took the last of their fruit out of their supplies bag. But even if he had, she merely had to turn her gaze on him for him to remain quiet. She didn’t want to have to beg him for food to feed these hungry little ones, but she would.
She carried three apples, one for each child, and approached them.
“Sister!” Morgann called out to her, meaning to stop her. “They could be ill.”
She turned to look over her shoulder at him with her vision blurred from tears. “They are hungry, Morgann. Today, they will eat.”
He muttered something and then pulled out a few of the carrots they had left.
“We will not hurt you,” she promised the children as she and Morgann came near. They looked afraid but their eyes stayed on the food. They ranged in age from three to seven. “Are you hungry?”
The two younger girls looked up at the boy, unsure if they should answer.
“We will feed you,” she promised and moved closer.
Morgann stopped her from going any closer with a hand on her arm. “That is close enough, Sister.”
“Any coughing? Chills?” she asked the children. “Pain, here or here?” She pointed to her underarms and groin.
They shook their heads.
“What are your names?” she asked them as she stepped closer and handed them her apples.
“I’m Adam,” said the tallest, a boy with scruffy, dark hair falling around his face. “That is Katie, my sister,” he said, pointing to the middle girl with long, tangled, dark hair and huge brown eyes as somber as Morgann’s. “And that one is the babe, Bethany.”
Silene’s smile warmed on them as they bit into their apples. “I’m Silene.”
“I thought you were a man,” Adam confessed and wiped his mouth.
She laughed and turned to a smiling Morgann. “This is Morgann.”
Adam stared at Morgann’s sword with wonder and awe.
“What is this?”
Silene, Morgann, and the three children looked up at the captain returning with a sack tossed over his shoulder.
“They were hungry,” Silene told him, only slightly worried. She knew he wouldn’t be angry that she’d given the children the apples and carrots.
She noted Adam staring wide-eyed at all the weapons hanging from the Highlander’s belt.
“Where are yer father and mother?” he asked the boy.
“My father is at work in his shop. My mother is home.”
“Where is home?” he asked.