Where had the old woman gotten to? The answer came from a rocking chair on the opposite side of the hearth.
"Eat the porridge dear child. Heaven knows you have need of it!" The old woman said.
Krista against her better judgment pulled the bowl closer and started eating it with her fingers ignoring the spoon that had come with it.
"Easy now, easy now, there's more where that came from dear! No need to eat so fast! You'll do yourself more harm than good doing that!" The old woman said hastily.
She rose from her chair and went to a table and picked up a large tankard and withdrew what looked like a ball of cloth stuffed full of leaves. She came close and got ricketly down onto her knees and offered the tankard to Krista. The bowl empty Krista pushed it aside and warily took the outstretched tankard. It was heavy. She sniffed it suspiciously, but all she could smell was an herby sugary smell.
"Drink it all. It will help ease the pain and the stiffness your feeling." The old woman said.
Krista sipped it a little. It was good! There was actually sugar in it! Slaves were never given such luxuries!
She looked up at the old woman suspiciously wondering what her angle was. Seeming to read her mind the woman's wise old eyes met hers.
"You are not a slave, while you reside in my home, but rather my helper, if you would care to be. I bought you to save your life. You can relax. You are safe here. My name is Sansa Denas. What might your name be young miss?"
After a long pause Krista responded somewhat hesitantly, "Krista".
"Is that all?" Sansa asked.
Krista nodded her head slowly.
The old woman reached over and pulled the heavy blanket up over Krista's slim shoulder.
"Rest now my dear there'll be more time to talk in the morning."
Krista watched as the kind old lady got painfully back up to her feet and moved away towards her rocking chair. Her eye lids got harder and harder to keep open as she watched the old woman rock by the fire. Never had she had such good food to eat before. The warmth and comfort of the cottage and pallet she lay on did the rest and she was soon asleep.
The old woman studied Krista as she slept deeply on the pallet by the fire and wondered again if she had made a mistake in buying the girl. She couldn't afford to make more enemies than she already had.
Buying escaped slaves had a way of being looked down upon by the local towns' people and she depended on those same people for her business. Looking again at the girl she shook her head, but of course she had made the right choice in saving the girl's life. She would just have to face the trouble, when it came and come it would.