Wealth

Euwelyn held Annie's hand as they walked forward slowly, the dresses waiting at the hut as they departed to buy food first. Annie could feel Euwelyn's arm hanging heavily over her shoulders, so she stood as upright as she could to keep the witch girl standing tall. It took a good few minutes for them to arrive in the town, but when they made it there, Annie saw a new fear in the children's eyes. Euwelyn looked up and smiled at them, but it did little to ease the tension on their face. They didn't try to scatter and hide this time, instead standing and staring in frozen terror.

"This is horrible," Annie said in a hushed tone. "Children should never have to feel like this...."

Euwelyn nodded. "I do everything I can to mend it, but...."

Annie nodded solemnly. It took a village to raise a child. Euwelyn could be as kindhearted, selfless, and generous as possible, but it would never be enough to keep this many children safe and happy. They continued trudging along, Annie watching as the children stood and stared. One boy in particular seemed enraged by the sight, his little features darkened as his messy brown hair fell over his face. She didn't give much thought, until-

"YOU HURT MISS EUWELYN!" he suddenly screamed.

"Ah, no! No, Brady," Euwelyn said in a panic, "Miss Smith didn't hurt me! It's alright!"

The boy, Brady, scowled. "Then why are you so hurt? You weren't hurt before SHE showed up!"

Euwelyn shook her head. "No, Brady. I've been sick for a while, I just... Didn't want everybody to worry, is all."

Brady looked surprised, but his fists stayed clenched. "W-Well... Is she helping you get better?"

"Y-Yes, she is!" Euwelyn said. "She's helping me buy bread from the Bakers. Do you w-want to-" she was interrupted by a cough.

"Miss Euwelyn!" Brady said, running to her side.

Euwelyn smiled, gently ruffling his hair. "Thank you, Brady. You're very brave. I was going to ask if you wanted to come with us to protect us on our way?"

Brady's face lit up. "Yes! I'll make sure nothing hurts you, Miss Euwelyn! You too, uhh... Miss... Uhhh...."

Annie took a breath to tell him, but Euwelyn held up a hand. She smiled as she saw Brady mumbling, trying to remember. Then, he lifted his head with a big smile. "Miss Smith! You're Miss Smith!"

"Very good!" Euwelyn said. "Yes, she is Miss Smith."

Annie gave a small bow, smiling. Brady nodded. "Alright, I'll keep both of you safe!"

They continued to walk, Brady constantly circling them as he struck several poses. Annie chuckled as she watched, but a bit of concern crossed her mind. One of her brothers had taken a few different martial arts, and these poses were oddly familiar... Were these real fighting stances? Was Brady actually trained to fight? Annie's stomach tied into knots. Normally, that'd be an adorable showing, but here it was cause for concern. She didn't want to linger on the thoughts, so she whispered to Euwelyn.

"Hey, Euwelyn... Why did you have him try to remember my name?"

"Oh, Brady here has problems with his memory. He's trying to get better at remembering little details, so I quiz him whenever I can. I really wasn't sure if he'd remember your name. That's why he didn't remember I was sick."

Annie nodded, smiling. "Impressive. Do you know things like that about all of the children you watch?"

"Of course," Euwelyn replied. "I-I'm an older sister to four, so that sort of thing comes naturally. Or... I guess I was."

Annie's face darkened. She didn't want to know any more.

"W-Wait," Euwelyn said looking up, "I-I-I didn't mean, like...! Th-They're not dead! At least, I-I don't think! I-I just... Haven't seen them in a while, is all."

Annie chuckled, sighing with relief. "Yeah. I know how that feels, dear...."

The quiet fell over the two of them again, the silence only interrupted by their slow footsteps and Brady's movement. Brady did seem full of life, though he was far from the rambunctious children Annie was used to. Even Madeline, who was relatively mild-mannered, had been quite the handful. She remembered Liam, her grandson, and how hard it was to keep him out of the garden. He was obsessed with the little critters and bugs he would find. That trampoline she had given him when she died was specifically to give him something to do instead of terrorizing the wildlife.

Eventually, after they took a turn at an intersection, Annie saw a quaint little stand in front of a house. It was the same as you'd see when a kid was selling lemonade. Faded letters in a color that had been washed away spelled something out on the sign mounted at the top:

"BAKE SALE: B_K_RS F__ILY BREAD"

It seemed that the three most important words had been reapplied at some point, but two words were completely faded. Still, it seemed like this was their destination. They approached slowly, Euwelyn putting on a great, big smile as they got closer, and she let go of Annie so that she could move on her own. Even as she tried to act as lively as possible, Annie could see through her gown that her movements were sluggish and reserved.

"Tim!" she called, "I'm here to buy some bread!"

The boy at the stand looked up, gasping. "Miss Euwelyn! Are you feeling better?"

Euwelyn nodded. "I'm feeling much better, but do you wanna know what'd make me feel even better?"

"Ooh, I have just one left!" Tim said, holding up a braided loaf of bread.

"Oh, thank you!" Euwelyn said, taking it and tearing off a small bit of it. Annie could see bits of fruit in the bread as Euwelyn popped it into her mouth.

"Oh? What's in the bread?" Annie asked.

"Goosedberries," Euwelyn said through the bread. She chewed for a bit longer, swallowing before speaking. "It tastes like... It's like a grape and a mango?"

"Oooh," Annie said, "I'll have to try it sometime. Now, Tim, right?"

"Yeah?" Tim said, looking up at Annie.

"What do you have left to sell, dear?"

"Well, I've got these three loaves you see here," he said, gesturing to the bread on display, "but I've also got five regular loaves down here."

He ducked down and pulled out a tray with 5 loaves of bread, each glistening in the remaining sunlight. "I wasn't able to sell everything today... But that means you can buy whatever you want!"

"Hm... And how much is it for each?" Annie asked.

"For each? Uhh... Does that mean, like, the price for all of them? Or do you want all of their prices?"

"Hmm... Well, I meant to ask about all of their prices, but how much would it cost to buy them all?"

Time paused, putting his fingers up to his chin as he did the math in his head. He whispered numbers to himself as he went, pointing at each item. He slowly puzzled it together.
"Uhhh, it would be... Three gold coins!"

Annie smiled, pretending she had any sense of scale for any of the currencies. Even if she did, she didn't have any golden bits or gold coins, so she opened her little wallet satchel and produced one pearl. She watched as Euwelyn gave a knowing smile, Tim gasped aloud, and Brady's eyes went wide.

"Here, dear. How's this?"

Tim put both hands out for Annie to put the pearl in, trying to find words. "U-U-Uh, Uhm... A-Are you, uh... Sure?"

"Of course, dear," Annie replied. "If the bread is as delicious as you say it is, I'd like to take all of it, and you could use this pearl more than I could."

Tim's breathing got shaky as he nodded. "Th-Thank you, miss! Thank you so much!"

"Now, Brady, Tim," Annie said, "would you two like to eat some bread?"

"Woah, really?" Brady asked. "Yeah!"

Annie smiled and looked to Tim. "Tim, dear, would you mind getting us a knife to cut? And Brady, dear, would you mind getting some of your friends who would like some bread?"

Brady gave a salute. "Yes, Miss Smith," he barked dutifully before running off.

"U-Uhm, Miss Euwelyn, uh... Is Miss Smith allowed to use a knife?" Tim asked.

"Yes, Tim," Euwelyn replied, "but I can come with you to get it if you're scared."

Tim nodded sheepishly, so Euwelyn got up and walked with him into the house. Eventually, they emerged with a knife, and Annie began cutting one of the loaves of bread into slices, handing a large one to Tim. He munched happily on it as Brady returned with at least a half dozen of his friends. Annie didn't waste any time, starting to cut the loaves and hand out bread to everybody who needed it.

She felt absolutely wonderful to have found a way to help.