A short time later, Rossiath sat in the main room of her family's home being tended by the local healer, while two watchmen waited nearby. She could hear her mother in the kitchen,ranting about the mess the burglar had left behind. Rossiath cringed at the tone of her mother's voice, shrill and angry, and wondered if there'd been a way she could have done more to stop the man.
'No,' Rossiath thought to herself with a quick shake that had the healer reaching up to hold her head still while he closed the gash on her chin. 'I couldn't have stopped him and if I'd tried …' Yet her good sense clashed with her desire to do something and she felt helpless despite the fact that she'd run for aid as fast as she could.
“Well dear,” she heard her father say as her parents came out of the kitchen, “Seems the only thing the thief managed was the small pouch of egg money and a large mess that can be cleaned easily enough. If Rose hadn't been as quick as she was ...”
Rossiath felt her father come up behind her and rest his hand on her shoulder as he leaned over to examine the stitches in her chin. “You did the right thing Rose,” he said quietly to her, almost as though he'd heard her thinking aloud. Her mother watched for a moment, growing pale at the sight of the blood staining Rossiath's dress. “I'll … be in the kitchen, trying to make sense of things,” she murmured, before turning around.
Rossiath smiled weakly at her mother, before answering Tallandan. “I know, father.” Rossiath replied, and reached back to pat his hand. “Still, if I'd hit him just a little harder ...”
One of the watchmen approached Rossiath as the healer stepped away to pack his bag. “Miss Silles?” the man said as he took a seat on a nearby chair. “We need for you to recount what happened, any details you can, so we can try and catch this fellow.” His companion stepped behind him, a piece of parchment, attached to a small board, and a charcoal in his hands.
“I've told you all I know already,” Rossiath replied, scrunching her face as she concentrated on remembering the brief event. “There's not much more to tell.”
The man standing nodded, and looked over the notes from the questions she'd been asked already. “So, by your account, you awoke to find a stranger in your home? He was masked, so you didn't see his face, nor did you recognize him? And you escaped by climbing out a window to go run for help?” To each of the questions, Rossiath nodded.
“You say he spoke, yet you didn't recognize his voice?” the watchman sitting down gently prompted.
“I didn't, no.” Rossiath replied, “His mouth was covered and muffled ...”
“So it might have been someone you know.” The watchman replied, cutting Rossiath off. “How big would you say the man was?” he asked, leaning forward.
“Well,” Rossiath started, looking around the room for a frame of reference. “I don't know. He seemed fairly tall to me, maybe taller even than my father.” She pointed back to Tallandan, who had remained behind her.
The watchmen both looked over Tallandan and nodded. “About 6', if he's an inch,” one muttered, marking it down on the paper. “That would make the thief unusually tall. Did you see the color of his eyes?”
“See the …? No, he was across the room when I saw him, and I was hardly going to stop and look at him when I was trying to escape my own house!” Rossiath bit out the words, and let out a deep breath as she felt her father's hand squeeze her shoulder.
“Relax. We're only trying to get as much information as we can,” the man sitting near her said, tapping his fingers on his knee. “Not much, but if he's as tall as she says then a man like that will stick out.”
The second watchman nodded and secured the charcoal to the board, before tucking it under his arm. “Not many around here that tall, no.” he muttered, half to himself.
The first watchman stood and inclined his head politely to Rossiath. “Right then. If you think of anything else, come around to the jail and speak with one of us.” Motioning his companion, the two of them headed to the door.
As the door closed behind them, Tallandan sat down with his daughter and lifted her chin to look more closely at the cut in her chin. “At least it wasn't too bad,” he said quietly. “It was wise of you to get out of the house, come for us.” He took a deep breath, clearly considering the alternatives, before wrapping Rossiath in a hug.
Rosabella returned from the kitchen, a tray laden with tarts and tea in her arms. She set it down on the table, before turning to look at her daughter once more. “First thing, we need to get you out of that dress and into something clean. Then we can ...”
A knock on the door interrupted Rosabella, and Tallandan gave his daughter a quick hug before standing up. “I'll see to that while you take Rossiath into her room to clean up.” he said, as he headed to the door. “Like as not, one of the neighbors, just hearing about our troubles.”
Accepting her mother's hand, Rossiath stands and heads towards her bedroom, even as the first tumbling words of “we jus' heard! Oh my!' fell from one of the neighbor's lips ...
