What the River Says

[Maggie]

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Maggie;

Maggie all but gave up on dragging the clothes when her attempts proved futile. Humans and their heavy winter garments – if only they’d grow fur or something! Sheesh! Spitting out the half mud caked cloth, the cream tabby eyed the girls warily, eager to see at least on them nearing the river bank. Of course, Miss Mercy had other ideas what with diving under water. Was she mad? Meowing in alarm, Maggie jumped forward but stopped just short of the water, fur stiffening as it dawned on her what she’d almost just done. Yes. Jump into the freezing water and potentially drown (if not freeze to death) trying to save Miss Mercy when she didn’t necessarily need saving at all. Brightest candle in the village, Maggie was.

Lowering her body, the cream colored Guardian made a sound of annoyance as her ears folded back. She couldn’t help but wince as Miss Meriwether turned and sloshed back towards Miss Mercy, who was nothing more then a floating head from her current perspective. Cedric was going to have her head about this. ‘You let them do what? And you did nothing about it?!’ Deven wouldn’t be much of any help if she tried to ask him for help, as he usually backed up their older brother out of the fear of being yelled at too or would simply try to avoid the argument altogether. Some help he was…

As luck would have it though, Miss Elizabeth Bell was on the scene, voice surprisingly harsh for one that did not appear to have a cold. Maggie sprang to her feet and walked over towards the new arrival, twitching her ears in greeting before turning back to the river. Hoho, lucky day indeed~! Now it wouldn’t be (entirely) Maggie’s fault! She’d been graced with the help of Miss Bess! The cat gave a purr in agreement to the older Bell sister, eyes snapping towards the two other girls as if to ask them to disagree. Not that Miss Mercy could see it, but Maggie liked to think to she could sense it. A cat’s gaze was not easily avoided.

She didn’t return to her previous spot by the river bank, choosing to stick close to Miss Bess’s warm side instead thankyouverymuch. Maggie did send a warning glance over towards her Guardian counterpart however, making sure his eyes were wandering back towards the Miss’s in the river.

[Mercy Bell]

Mercy took a deep breath, letting herself sink beneath the surface once again. She kicked her legs and swept out her arms, fighting the weak current to stay in place. She revelled in the sensation of the cool water racing past her skin on all sides, caressing her and then moving on. She thought about the fish in the river. She couldn't feel them; they were probably avoiding her; but they must be there. What did they look like? She opened her eyes and saw almost nothing. A monochrome blue. If she directed her eyes down toward her feet, it was darker.

Running out of breath, Mercy pushed up out of the water, only to her hear her name called. She gasped and slipped lower in the water, so that she water reached just below her eyes. That was Bess' voice. She was in trouble. Bess would understand, but it wouldn't mean she wouldn't be angry. Should she pretend she hadn't heard, or cut her losses? Blowing some bubbles underwater, Mercy reluctantly began swimming in the direction from which she had heard her sister's voice. She touched bottom finally, her toes sinking slightly into the squishy brown mud, and she quickly began rushing out, careful of rocks. Her teeth chattered as the breeze hit her sopping wet form, to which clung her now transparent white chemise. She folded her arms about herself, bowing her head against the light autumn wind.

"Meriwhether!" She croaked, wanting to make sure that the young girl was not left out there alone.

[Meriwether Strangeway]

When Mercy ducked her herself under water again and didn’t reply to she wondered if she had spoken loud enough. Meriwether often forgot about Mercy’s disabilities. The murky eyes didn’t even bother her. That’s how Mercy was when she met her, so that’s just what Mercy was. It was the same as any other person she met. Maybe it was because she didn’t act like there was anything different about her then any other person. Anyways, she was about to repeat her suggestion when Mercy came back up, instead someone shouted out her friends name. Oh no.

Meriwether spun around to see Mercy’s sister, Elizabeth, running toward them. This was not going to turn out good. In the traditional fashion of hiding when one was in trouble Meriwether completely submersed herself under water. Of course it didn’t take long for her to realize, like other youngsters do, that water was not a good place to hide for a long time. She could hold her breath longer then some but the cold water constricted her lungs and she was only able to hold her breath for about ten seconds. She gasped back up for air and looked around to see that that had been enough time for Mercy to almost make her way to the shore.

“Back-and-forth, Back-and forth,” she grumbled to herself, “Coming!” When Meriwether came out of the water she trudged over to stand next to Mercy with chattering teeth. Oh the blasted wind! Truly and honestly she didn’t have to listen to whatever scolding Elizabeth was going to do. But she didn’t want Mercy to get scolded alone.

[Elizabeth Bell]

Elizabeth suffered several moments of panic as Mercy's head submerged, and the other head followed. She distinctly saw red hair, which was so bright an orange when wet the heritage of the person was unmistakeable. It was a Strangeway, no doubt. She suffered a brief moment of panic-stricken uncertainty. Was Mercy alright? That wasn't Aubry, was it? Mercy didn't really go about with Aubry and Aubry stayed away from the Bells.

Comfort was derived from the sudden attention of the cats, and the two leaned their little bodies against her legs. She sighed, looking down and stroking each feline in turn.

Mercy eventually popped up and turned, her expression showing that she had heard. She began wading out, and as she was nearly out, Elizabeth rushed forward and lent her hands to assist her around the slightly rocky shallows. The other head popped up and with relief Bess noted the identity of young Izzie. Meriwhether Strangeway had inherited more of her father's brash, bold nature. When she moved, she made noise -- lots of it. She was unlike her other siblings, unlike her mother. Meriwhether was no stranger to the Bells.

"Oh, Izzie, you poor thing. You look like a pair of drowned rats. What were you thinking?" She scolded, pulling both girls out and looking around furtively to make sure that they had no observers. She then began tugging the soaked shift up and over Mercy's head, leaving the shivering girl completely nude. Mercy's hands drifted over herself self-consciously and she blushed, but docilely complied. Elizabeth motioned for Meriwether to strip as well, darting to retrieve the girl's clothes as Mercy wrung out her long wet hair.

[Meriwether Strangeway]

Drowned rats! Meriwether had to try and stifle her giggles, and as always was unsuccessful. Sure she was being scolded, but Elizabeth was about as good at scolding as her father was. They wouldn’t let her get away with everything but they were too sweet to give out any really punishment. She bit her bottom lip and glanced up at Mercy before composing her face to look regretful and giving the most adorable pout. “We wanted to see if it was still warm enough to swim. It was cold so we were going to not do it but we were standing to in the mud when Mister Griffin scared us and made us slip. So we washed the mud off.”

Meriwether may have been a troublemaker sometimes but she was taught well enough not to lie, “Sorry.” she said very quietly in a meek voice. Well maybe a little, enough to pull on heart strings. Meriwether obeyed and took off her under dress and breeches. She could see that Mercy was embarrassed standing nude out in the open even though there wasn’t anyone here, however Meriwether had nothing to be embarrassed about and was perfectly fine being completely exposed there. “Do not look Mister Griffin “ she said though for the sake of Mercy.

Taking her dress from Elizabeth she quickly slipped it on, glad for what little warmth it did give her. She was able to get the bottom three buttons and turned around expectantly for one of the girls to help her with the rest. She lifted up her dripping hair and gave a small sneeze when the cold air hit her neck.