For the old Calendar Challenge on ladycordelia17's forum. February's themes were Marr's Pass and growth. The Trinity Tree beat me to this prompt a long time ago; I'm just playing catch up now. Also for my Bingo Card's prompt Commitment.

Summary: After you are offered the job of a caravanner for the town, you are given one week to choose whether or not to accept. It is customary to do this. It is not customary to refuse.


Monday

Quinn Riel nearly beats her knuckles bloody on the rough wood of your front door when she comes to tell you the news. She is only a year older than you but she narrows her eyes and looks you up and down when you at last answer, your baby brother on your hip, a burping rag tossed over your shoulder, hair tangled and wild from when he pulls and sucks on it. Your shoulders tense immediately and you shift to block her sight from the rest of the house. Your disheveled appearance is nothing compared to the toys and clothing strewn across the floor behind you, nor the messy toddlers shrieking and playing in the room beyond. Stepping out onto the porch and shutting the door firmly, you await her words.

"Effie wants to see you," Quinn says at last with a shrug. Her mouth is twisted to one side as if holding back one of her many, many opinions. You wish she'd come out and say it, make a crack about your siblings or your poverty or your entire damn life so you could take a crack at her, but she doesn't. Being part of the caravan must have taught her that much self-control, at least.

"For what?" Shifting little Liam over to your other hip, you shush him absentmindedly as he begins to whimper. "I've not much to do with the caravan." Like almost all children, being a caravanner had been a dream of yours that had long since died in the face of your reality. The only monsters you faced down were the ones under beds or in closets.

"Dunno." Quinn looks you over once more and sneers a bit. "But when you do go, leave the pests behind, will you?"

You bristle, but she is already striding away. And what would you do, anyway? Chase her down with Liam held safely in your arms? Cradle him close as you punch her solidly in her smirking mouth? No, this is the way your life is. You've given up a lot for your siblings. Dignity was just one more thing.


Effie's a woman of contradictions, with her pink skin the color softest carnation petals and her blacksmith's muscles and icy blue eyes. She also looks you head to toe, but her gaze is one of assessment rather than judgement. She nods when she's done, a smile crossing her thin lips. "You'll do," she tells you bluntly.

"I'm sorry?" you manage, wondering what the leader of Marr's Pass's caravan could possibly want with a peasant like you.

Her eyes rove your body again, landing in some key areas, skimming others. At least you've managed to clean up your appearance since Quinn's abrupt visit, hair spikes tamed into the neat topknot most Lilties prefer. "I want you to join the caravan."

At first it doesn't really register, and then it does, but it's too much and you have to remove her words from yourself in order to even think about them. "I can't." They're the first words out of your mouth and you're horrified. Being a caravanner was your dream, hell, it's everyone's dream at some point, and here you are refusing as if she'd simply asked you to go to a festival with her. It's true though. You can't be a caravanner. Who would care for your siblings? And besides, what do you have to offer a caravan anyway? "I'd be useless."

"Dinah," Effie says, "You're an excellent healer, something all too rare in a Lilty. You're also better suited to hardship than any of our other candidates. You're mature, you're steady, you've a cooler head than most. I don't need more fighters; a Lilty caravan never lacks for them."

"I, I really can't," you stammer. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't refuse me yet." Effie knows how to give an order that will be obeyed without question. You shut your mouth with what must be an audible snap. "Take the week. Think about it. Make your arrangements, if you decide yes." She says the last part so casually. There's no real threat to it. No one has ever not said yes. And neither will you.

It was your dream to be a caravanner. How can you not say yes?

But how can you not say no?