Yong

Iuna, a barmaid?

Iuna is young but she the way which her hand jumps straight to her dagger as soon as anyone new comes in through the door says a lot. She keeps it beneath her shirt. Hidden but ready at a moment's notice. She calls herself the barmaid - certainly, she acts the part, handing out drinks and smiles and small-talk. A lot of small talk, for if you were to ask about her personally she is sure to laugh and brush off the question. "Oh, you don't want to hear about me! Its a boring tale".

As barmaids go, she dresses rather modestly, despite what Ira might do to convince her otherwise. A simple worn black tunic, gathered at the knees and a green scarf she rarely takes off even when the weather approaches warm- it is never truly hot round the Middens. She has soft, sandy skin and strange pale eyes. And clumsy fingers, no matter how hard she tries.

Nobody is quite sure where she came from, beyond that she came to The Port aboard a ship about a year ago and that a man nobody dared cross asked them to take her in, on his coin, and to look after her. Morwen swiftly swept her up into the tavern - her reasoning behind this was that it offers shelter, food, and friendship. Iuna does everything she can to help out - tending to the bar, delivering packages to and fro, carrying things for the elders, even helping Ira model new dresses.

Her mysterious benefactor soon scurried off with one of the caravans, although he returns intermittently to pass along coin. She is always sad to see him.

On occasion, she cooks - thick noodle soups, salty wilted vegetables, and baked yams. When she does, the inn often fills with folk ready to feast. Ramsey is often first in the queue - indeed, it is one of the few things to get Ramsey to come into town at all! Once he's grabbed a bowl and paid her in coin which she always stows away, they sit. Often, they exchange recipes. Beyond that, there is little - she rarely talks, no matter how gentle the prodding, but there is an affectionate silence between them nonetheless.

She spends a lot of time with Wei and Al, both of whom wish for her to write down the stories she brings from far off lands to stand as a catalog of lore. After some weeks of gentle prodding, Al found out she couldn't write, and upon a solemn promise not to tell Morwen or Wei, he's teaching her in their time off together.

[*] Sometimes, she loses herself in the fire. "I was just thinking", she'll say.
[*] She smells smoky, sweet, spiced.
[*] She's always dropping things, always burning herself, always tripping over her feet.
[*] To her, there's no greater friend than a good book. She's read through the entire library several times. It isn't very large.
[*] Morwen is very fond of her, like a younger sister.
[*] But, she's afraid of Wei - she finds the scholar intimidating. Morwen likes to make her laugh by saying rude things about Wei behind her back.
[*] She gets on very well with Al. She's read books he's never even heard of so he likes to listen to her retelling the stories.