<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/74/Lilandra_Firefeather.jpg)</div><strong>Meresiel Foamflower</strong>(https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=263469.msg13001154#msg13001154)<br/><br/>“Mereseil, good huntsman.”  The ginger haired girl licked venison off of her fingers and quickly redid her bun, which had started to come loose in the breeze.  “I do indeed hail from the Duchy of Widow's Cove.  My people suffer little from the current troubles—so far.  Our lands are nestled between the mountains and the sea.  The Widowed Duchess has called up the militia to secure the passes.  Our divers and fishermen ensure that we have food enough for all.<br/><br/>“There have been four attempts to send caravans to other lands.  My father was an investor on the first.  He knew that our salted fish could fetch a high price.   The wagons never made it out of the mountains.  Two among the slain were lads I'd known off and on my whole life.<br/><br/>“The fourth attempt was organized by the Windowed Duchess herself—sent as disaster relief rather than a mercantile endeavor.  I got a glimpse of the burned out wagons from the high road as I passed.<br/><br/>“There was talk of closing the borders when I left, fear that starving men would come to claim by violence what we tried to freely offer.  Worse, our surplus is running low.  If the bandits were to vanish tomorrow, we wouldn’t have enough to make more than a dent in our neighbors hunger.  But we cast our nets and we make ready.<br/><br/>“I only got out by traveling the shepards' trails.  They're not so well watched as the roads, but far too small to send wagons along, or even carts.”