Emma gets to Lightbridge

[10:15] Eric Cadwallader is arguing civilly with the harbor master over some discrepancy in the shipment.

[10:16] Emma Archer looks around nervously, expecting to be met by the new seamstress.  She notices a fine looking gentleman, but when he sees her looking, she quickly looks away.  Emma smells the wood smoke of the fires and wonders if she should approach the well-dressed Noble man

[10:21] : Harbor Master:  "The manifest says 5 barrels of wine, and 3 barrels of salted port, and that's what was on the ship, mi'lord."

[10:22] Eric Cadwallader snatches the manifest from the harbor master with a frown, looking it over carefully, his frown growing.  He hands the sheet back to the harbor master, then looks over at the new arrival.  "You didn't eat two barrels of salted pork, did you?"

[10:23] Emma stammers: “My Lord, good Den, mayest I speak with thou?”  She is so nervous that she misses his joke.  She looks nervously at the tall gentleman and curtseys deeply

[10:24] Eric Cadwallader nods, "You may."  *he studies the woman, his missing pork barrels temporarily forgotten.*

[10:24] Emma sees the Captain, her father's friend, looking at her from the dock, and she turns to wave.  Then she turns back to the tall man in red.

[10:25] Emma says, “I bee the new seamstress helper here Sire, and the Good woman who was to come for to collect me seems not to be herarounds.  Couldst Thou direct me mayhaps to the Goodwoman…”  --she fumbles with her belongings -- “Good Woman Amphelisia Talbot, the new seamstress?”  [Anyone can see that the girl, about 14, is exhausted and confused.]

[10:28] Eric Cadwallader thought about it.  surely there was a seamstress in town, though he didn't know where. "I can take you into town.  What is your name?  I'm Lord Cadwallader."

[10:29] Emma curtsies again deeply, almost falling with the weight of the pack. “Sorry, M'Lord!  I am Emma -- er, Margaret Archer.  My father is the owner of the Archer Fisheries by Dover.  My Godfather, Sir Eton Green, is often in Lightbridge for his business as a trader. My family calls me Emma, but it is really my baby name.”

[10:31] Emma looks to the ground, hot from embarrassment that she has spoken too freely to his Lordship.

[10:32] Emma Archer: “I am sorry, Sire, my mother says that my tongue is often too loose. I will look to find the Good woman.  She backs away nervously, stumbling over a barrel and backing into the Harbor master.

[10:34] Eric Cadwallader didn't deal in fish, so had never heard of her father, and having recently arrived in Lightbridge himself, hadn't heard of her Godfather.  but it didn't matter.  he nodded.  "I can show you up into the town.  I'm heading back myself.  BOY!"  *he shouts to a nearby idle lad*  "Carry the good woman's bags."  *he tosses the boy a coin*

[10:35] Emma looks surprised at the young boy who comes behind her so quickly from nowhere. He had a handsome look, and he smelled slightly of cheese, which Emma liked.  Then she looks back to the important-looking fine gentleman.

[10:36] Eric Cadwallader "They follow me around just in case," *he says casually*

[10:36] Emma: “Thank Thee So much, my Lord! Thou art obviously a very important man, and I shouldst not distract Thee from business.”  She notices the fine material of his clothes.

[10:38] Eric Cadwallader waves a hand dismissively.  "My business is concluded," he says as two men load up a cart with his goods.  "Come, the gate is up the hill."  *he heads out of the building*

[10:38] Emma Archer curtsies deeply again

[10:39] Eric Cadwallader watches with some amusement the boy lugging her possessions up the steep hill.

[10:39] Emma Archer rushes to catch up after taking the wrong turn

[10:40] Eric Cadwallader is delighted to see that the seamstress shop is the first building in the gate, as is the boy.  "I believe this is your destination, Goodwoman Margaret?"

[10:40] Emma Archer: “Oooo Thank thee, m’Lord!  and a good Eventide to Thee,” Emma says as she makes her way to the door.

[10:41] Emma knocks.

[10:42] Emma: “Mayhaps the seamstress has been delayed? I knowest true that she expects me hither.”  She pushes the door to find it open.

[10:44] Emma sees a warm fire in the back of the room with no one else inside, and goes to it to warm her hands.

[10:58] Emma looks around the seamstress shop: so many familiar things, but some newer than she'd imagined to find. She looked forward to running her hands across the harsh woolen fabrics, kept lower and closer to the front of the store here as at her mother's shop as well, for the everyday needs of the local peasants. But she knew that she would find some fine silks and brocades near the back of the shop. Her eyes drooped heavily from the 15-hour day since she had left her parents at Dover's dock, them turning her over to her father's friend and the ship's captain. "Keep an eye on my girl," her father had said, hugging her one last time. "You're my big girl," her mother had said, straightening the pack on her back as she had kissed her nose. Emma wished now only to unroll the bed roll that she had under her cloak and get into it for the night.

[11:31] Emma struggled to take her bags back up from where the boy had left them, hurrying along after Baron Cadwallader as he walked swiftly away. She walked back to the fire and dropped the bags beside it.  "Hello?" she called out again, thinking that maybe the Goodwoman Talbot might be asleep upstairs, but was too afraid to look.

[12:17] Emma decided to wait by the fire to see if Goody Talbot came home soon. She took off her coat and bags, and unrolled her bedroll by the fire behind the dressing curtain. It had started to get dark outside as the ship was landing, and by now, the reflections of the chimney fire were the only light in the room. She lay down on the bedroll and, before she realized it, was fast asleep.

What you know about Emma

Emma's Godfather, Sir Eton Green -- at present, NPC -- is a great friend and visitor of Lightbridge, and is often seen in the best companies of lower royalty and middle powers.

He/she has arranged for the journey and placement of Goddaughter Emma Archer with the local seamstress (also currently NPC), an aging widow woman who does not travel easily (and whom, it has been agreed upon with the Lightbridge Admin, will die off if a viable PC tailor or seamstress arrives in the area).

Citizens of Lightbridge are likely to know a few things about Emma, if they care to listen to talk, as her Godparent has attempted to soften Emma's way as much as possible, leaning here and there on others to "keep an eye out" on the girl.

• Emma, at almost 15, is the eldest of three sisters.  Her parents appear to be middle-class merchants: her father, until recently, owner of Archer Fisheries, a small fishing enterprise, and her mother, the area's best seamstress.
• The family lives between Hythe and Dover.
• Her family has not been touched by disease, which can seem suspicious to uneducated outsiders at times.  Her mother has served as a midwife, and knows something about herbs and diseases, but don't tell anyone.
• Her mother just can't make it into the sewing guilds around Dover, which are protected from outsiders by the Royals own tailors circle.  (this is my paranoid imagination; I have no idea of such things existed. But this is gossip, y'know?)
• Her father's business has begun to suffer (silting of the areas he fishes?), and with three daughters, he is seeing less opportunity to expand his business in favorable ways, without arranged marriages.

Emma involved as always with her needlework.

If you know the family better, you will know that

• Emma had caught the eye of a young noble man whose mother is a client of Emma's mother.  The young man had started coming to every fitting, and he was finding more than a few opportunities to be alone with young Emma.  Her mother began to worry that her normally distracted daughter might begin paying attention to the handsome noble.  When Emma's godparent suggested that Emma might be sent to Lightbridge to continue to build her sewing skills, it seemed to her mother to be a good way to handle several challenges at once.
• An  additional challenge that the family is having concerns the fishing enterprise that Emma's father is involved in.  As a middle-class business owner, his shipyard has been tapped hard by the crown, and he's finding it difficult to do enough work to support his business and family.  The channel is silting up in some areas that he's been fishing for years, and the guilds have strict policies about the areas he can move into now.  Emma's father doesn't say it often out loud, but he's glad of his wife's contribution to the household income.
• It's getting more difficult to apprentice a daughter in the home, in sewing skills.  When the second daughter of the family, at 11, began to also show evidence of having a talent for needlework, Emma wanted to make way for her little sister to learn as much as possible at home.  She also recognized that she would never be taken seriously in any of the finer houses and homes if she had only apprenticed to her own mother, even though in Dover her mother's name is almost as well known as the queen's.  So Emma decided that Lightbridge would be a good move for her as well as for her family.