Chapter Text
The cold of the mountain seeped through every crack of the ramshackle building and deep into (Name)'s bones. She and Tilly stood with their hands held up to an oil lamp in the corner in an attempt to keep them from stiffening. Despite the biting cold she wasn't able to shake her mind free from the grip of worry. Dutch, Arthur, and a few of the other men had taken off to stir up trouble with a group of O'Driscoll boys nearby. Of course, it'd be safer to get them farther away, but she still hated each time they took off on one of these runs.
Much to her great joy and relief, the sound of hooves could just be heard above the wind and muffling effect of the snow. With a final few seconds by the relative warmth of the small flame (Name) rubbed her hands together and hurried out the door. The men were riding down the main lane of the abandoned set-up in which the gang had taken refuge. But as they drew closer she noted, with growing concern, that there was one less person than before. As Dutch came within earshot and began dismounting she pushed through the snow cover towards him.
"Dutch, where's Arthur?" The anxiety grew with each step she took.
"Don't you worry, he took off after an O'Driscoll. Should be back real soon though," he assured. He seemed mighty pleased with himself over such a mundane thing.
The newly returned men headed into a cabin across the way from the ladies', leaving (Name) standing in the cold debating between waiting for Arthur and taking refuge until his return. Dutch had told her he'd be back soon and she didn't like the thought of enjoying shelter while Arthur rode across this frigid landscape. But she knew all too well that he would be less than pleased to know she'd frozen solid waiting on him for an indeterminate amount of time. It was with that thought, and a fond smile at the idea of Arthur's gruff way of caring for his family, that she trudged back indoors to join Tilly at the lamp once more.
(Name) wouldn't have called it soon because soon, to her liking, would've meant as she was still walking to the door when it came, but not long after she'd gone inside a lone shuffling of hooves could be heard coming from the same way in which the other men had arrived. She didn't move straight away, figuring Arthur didn't need a 'welcome back', but (Name) did hear him speaking to someone. That notion had curiosity pulling her to the door, so she stepped just outside before pausing to watch the scene unfold. Arthur was walking over with a large black mass over his shoulder as Dutch emerged from his lodging.
"You found the little sh*t, did you?" Dutch laughed.
"Yep," Arthur commented, throwing the mass down. Upon hitting the snow it made a miserable little whine and she realized Arthur wasn't hunting down an O'Driscoll just to shut him up. "I'll get him," he said, bending down to cut the bindings at his legs.
"Very good. Welcome to your new home... hope you're real happy here," Dutch mocked.
Arthur hauled the man to his feet, "Want me to make him talk?"
"Oh no, now all we'll get is lies. Uncle. Mr. Williamson. Tie this maggot up someplace safe. We get him hungry first. I got a saying, my friend... we shoot fellers as need shooting, save fellers as need saving, and feed 'em as need feeding. We're gonna find out what you need," Dutch finished. The threat was clear and chilled her where the cold could not, despite not being directed at her. Why wasn't this captive O'Driscoll putting up a fight? Where were the foul insults and promises of egregious violent acts he'd commit soon? Dutch's bark of laughter pulled her back out of her thoughts.
"I can't believe it, an O'Driscoll in my camp!" he guffawed.
Suddenly the new face found a voice, "No, I ain't an O'Driscoll, mister. I hate that feller," he called out as Uncle and Williamson lead him away. The fear and desperation in his tone pulled at her heart. But no, she couldn't pay any mind to an O'Driscoll boy. They were cruel, murderous lowlifes who had caused too much trouble for the gang to warrant any sort of forgiveness or compassion... right? Somehow, if she were honest, that notion sat very ill with her indeed and she knew. She knew herself well enough to know that that thought was about to land her in a very interesting place in the coming days.
As she wandered back from her curious thoughts she registered Dutch and Arthur wrapping up their chat and parting ways. Arthur looked her direction as he walked off somewhere and raised a hand in greeting.
"You getting on okay here?"
"Well enough, though I can't say my fingers and toes would agree," (Name) jested with a grin.
Arthur offered his own smile, "Hopefully we'll sort things out here and get moving somewhere warm soon. You just keep yourself occupied and leave the rest of it to us."
She nodded, but his advice brought her mind back to that man. She'd seen the guys dragging him off towards the stables so, hypothetically, if she were to go looking that would be the best place to start. Course, the real best place to start is nowhere; just keep her head down as usual and let them do whatever they do. It had kept a good portion of this hodgepodge family safe so far. Then again, that niggling sense of unease about continuing that trend of hers just wasn't letting up. Rather than fight it, she supposed butting in a little may yield something interesting in this particular case. With that in mind she turned around and went back inside. The sun had set and with nothing much to do for now she figured she'd turn in and get an early start on her latest endeavor: checking up on that stranger.
