It had been nearly a month since she arrived in Seahaven when she was surprised by a familiar face. It was difficult to recognize Rusper without the thin coating of dirt that covered his face from sun-up to sundown. But it was undeniable– his broad nose and dark eyes caught her eye immediately. He was dressed rather well– which was to say, in his finest smock, as opposed to the usual work rags.
She caught the sad pursing of his lips before he said anything. “What’s wrong?” she called across the street, and he stepped up close to her. He seemed a bit baffled to see her, moderately well-dressed and poised like a city girl. Cordelia realized she probably looked like an entirely different person.
“I’ve come to fetch you, Cor,” he said solemnly. “Your father… well, your father’s passed.”
She expected to be shocked, but the truth was that that was among her many worries when she’d seen his expression. She opened her mouth to say something, then moved on. Rusper looked on, expecting her to cry, or anything, but no such reaction seemed forthcoming.
“Alright,” she said. “I suppose… I suppose we’re coming back for a wake?”
He nodded.
“Let me get my things, and my savings,” she said. “What’s going to happen to mom?”
Rusper shrugged, clearly feeling the weight of the future more solidly than her. That’s when the gravity of the situation hit her.
It should have been raining. But instead it was a rare sunny day.
