10-16-2013, 05:17 AM
"We should find a way to do something else! What if someone finds out it's us, Marzio? It's not right..." Marisa trailed off in the middle of the well-worn argument and looked sadly at the pile of grapes. Winter was coming, for all the sun still held the heat of summer, and the few coins they wrung out of Nazario for their services would be the only thing standing between them and starving or freezing to death. For all that she hated the deception of their exorcism act, it was still the most honorable way to make money. The most honorable for her, at least. Her brother had done his best to shelter her, but she knew why they couldn't stay in any town more than a month or two. It was only a matter of time before their employer-- or their employer's son, or some other man-- started to make assumptions about the a pretty girl with no money.
It was because of one of those assumptions that Fra Nazario first found them and discovered their talent. Cornered in a pantry by an amorous master, she had pelted him with dishes from the bucketful she had been washing, throwing them without touching a single one. Fra Nazario had been begging a meal in the kitchen and came to investigate the commotion... and possibly saved her life by proclaiming their master the one possessed instead of Marisa. She suspected now that Nazario's entire purpose had been to put her in his debt... he had seemed annoyed when he found out she had a brother who must also be paid for his part in the false friar's scheme.
Cheerful singing from the road mingled with her memories, as if her thoughts had summoned Nazario's voice to match the musings. She frowned and quickly made sure her clothing wasn't mussed by the climb for grapes. When Nazario was in a singing mood he tended to forget that the friars he mimicked were meant to remain chaste. That completed, she glanced around warily to make certain he wasn't yet in sight before swiftly secreting the larger part of the pile of grapes into her meager bundle of possessions.
The top of Nazario's tonsured pate gleamed as he stumbled through a gap in the garden wall, waving a half-empty wineskin. "There you two are! I've been looking everywhere for you! I've decided exactly where we should go next..."
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