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Garroth felt nervous as he walked down the station, he had just gone through the guard ceremony and was told to wait at the travel station and wait for a wagon to take him to his post.
He had to remind himself that no one could see under his helm, no one knew who he was, however there was someone looking at him and had been looking at him for quite some time.
A woman, no she couldn"t have been much older than himself, she had extremely short hair for a girl he could almost mistake her for a boy if it wasn"t for the bundle of blankets she held close to her chest.
"Excuse me, is there something I can help you with?" Garroth finally spoke up, he didn"t stand close to her but had no worry of disturbing other people given the fact that they were the only ones in the station, it did seem odd that a lady would be out so late without a man no less.
"oh uh no I"m just-" the lady seemed on the verge of tears. Her voice was deep and rough, clearly she was crying earlier, as a guard he knew he couldn"t just leave her alone here there were so many things that could go wrong.
"I"m just trying to figure out what to do." She avoided eye contact. Garroth could see the tears that threatened to fall as she choked out a response.
"If I may ask why are you out so late?" It wasn"t a crime to be up so late traveling but it was odd, she finally looked at him. She had the most breathtaking green eyes and her face was surprisingly masculine clearly she wasn"t from around here, maybe she was from a different continent.
"My parents have kicked me out and I"m trying to figure out where to go. What village would take a mother with no husband?" There was a moment of clarity in Garroth"s mind, something he had wanted to do was become a head guard but in order to become a head guard you needed to be married and right in front of him was a girl with a child but not a husband.
"Forgive me for being forward, but would you like a husband?" She looked extremely surprised, which was fair. It wasn"t every day that a random man asked for your hand in marriage, this isn"t how he expected his night to go.
"Pardon?"
"Well you need a husband to help with your child and I need a wife to become a head guard, I feel that this is a good deal." He watched her reactions carefully, she looked between her child and the station lanterns there was a wagon bound to pass through in just under an hour.
"I"m not a woman, not in the normal sense." she looked more nervous than she had before, this was very confusing to Garroth.
"I don"t understand, you"re a woman but not?" He had never heard of such a thing, what was she a wolf?
"I was born a man but I-"
"You"re a woman now, that is what matters is it not?" He didn"t care if she was born a man woman or even a fish, all he needed was a wife it didn"t matter where she came from.
"I suppose, but I can"t bear children." she said this as if it would sway him, he chuckled which startled her.
"It wouldn"t matter I can"t produce children, although may I point out there is a child in your arms would it be a stretch to call them mine?" He moved closer to her to get a peep at the baby, the baby was much paler than his soon to be wife but they had little tuffs of bright orange hair.
They could say with how light his hair is and her hair had an orange undertone it wasn"t necessarily unheard of for a Child"s hair to come out odd.
"It would be odd but we could make it work, I"m sorry I never caught your name." Garroth now felt very foolish he asked a girl for her hand in marriage without even knowing her name, the wagon pulled up to benches they were at.
He held his hand out for her to take, he whispered the port where he and his new fiancé where to make their home.
"Garroth, it"s a pleasure to meet you." he spoke quietly as he held her close to him, he was sure that they looked like the perfect family to the wagon puller.
"Laurance Zvahl, this is Cadenza." Garroth lifted an armored hand to gently push Laurence"s hair out of her face. There was a moment where he could feel his past washing away and this new life of his taking root.