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My characters always have a theme song and this is Magdal's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siOCiRbQHTo
“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” ~ Victor Hugo
She watched the birds overhead as they flew northward and a slight smile played across her lips. She was still a caged bird...at least for now. But that would soon change. She entered the stables and began her daily work.
"I am a bastard," she said to the brown roan,
"there is no denying that fact," shaking her mass of red hair as if to punctuate her words. She continued mucking the stable next to the roan,
"One need only look at my many sisters and brother to know that. I'm a single stain of red amongst a sea of dark brown hair," the roan had no comment other than to snort and eat the hay she had given it.
"Me da was a rover and rambler and he planted those seeds in my heart too I think, just as he planted his seed in my mother to make me his get. Now my brother and sisters' pa passed before I was born so don't be thinking Mr. Roan, that my blessed mother is loose of morals. After all, she works all day in that inn she and her husband had, and she took the brunt of the work after her mister passed. Who can blame her for seeking a little relief and comfort with a strange handsome young ranger who was passing through. And nine months later, here I come, another mouth to feed and another chore for her and her brood to take care of."
She went to get another hay bale before returning to check the water trough of the roan, noting that it was near empty,
"Now I swear you drink near as much as those men who stay at the inn. Let me go fetch you some more water," she turned back to the roan,
"You're better company then most of those men anyhow and at least you don't spend your time chasing every maid that wets your whistle. That's why I work out here and not inside."
She went outside and filled a pail returning with some water, pouring it in the trough,
"Sad to say though this is my last day and you'll have to make due with me brother or sisters taking care of you in the future." She looked at the horse's big brown eyes,
"No need to be sad. Tis a good thing I'm leaving. There's too many mouths here to feed and now that I'm of age, it is high time I found my own future and perhaps a bit of my past." She pats his nose,
"See my da used to pass through here fairly regular to check on me and teach me his ways and the ways of the land. I may be fair to look upon, but I've a fair mind too, though few enough men take the time to learn that. I took to his ways right quick but then a year or so back, he stopped coming. Now I mean to find his fate and write my own. No more mucking stables or taking care of unappreciative roans in my future." She smiled and kissed his nose,
"I can't stay here anymore, this bird must fly."
She left the stables gathering the things she'd packed and started walking north. She paused at the edge of town looking back, she was no good at goodbyes, best not to say them, the note she left for her mother said all she could bear. She noticed some feathers lying at the side of the road and picked them up. As she walked she braided them into her hair. Soon the town was behind her and the path lay before her.
