When Eoghan returned to the house, Rusty was already halfway through making dinner, and the Argos brothers were making merry the kitchen, both of them with a mug of beer in their hand, reflecting on how incredibly awesome they had been in training today. Apparently the pair of them had caught a wild horse, one of the Amasi, which were rare and hard to catch. Jackson slapped Eoghan on his back when he entered.
"What have you been up to, mate?" he asked with a wide grin. Scare off any more goodlooking ladies? Eoghan suppressed the need to roll his eyes and ignored the comment. He unwillingly turned down the woman that appeared to be interested in him rather harshly, because usually their heads weren't quiet enough to give him the chance to focus on being polite. Women were even worse then men. So many incoherent thoughts ran through their heads, varying greatly on topics. Next to them, men were always dependable. There were only three things they thought about. Women. Money. And a personal hobby of theirs. In this house, it was horses or cooking or drinking.
"Well, Eoghan saved a damsel in distress today," answered Rusty for him. Both Jackson and Red stared at Rusty. Jackson choked on a swig of beer, and Red blinked. "Excuse me?" he asked, baffled. Eoghan grinned. It wasn't often that their minds were completely blank like this. Rusty ignored them. "Eoghan, I should think that the lady in question would like to clean up a little. Perhaps it would be a good idea to bring her the means."
Eoghan nodded and disappeared to the hallway just before Red and Jackson started coming to their senses and demanded an explanation from Rusty. Eoghan stood still a moment, closing his eyes, and managed to ban the voices from his mind. It took a great deal of effort to do this, and he could only keep it up for an hour at a time (though this depended on how many people he had to shut out), but it was worth it right now. He found his way to the bathroom and took a basket from one of the higher shelves. Avery, Red and Jackson sometimes had company from one of the women from town, and they left things behind sometimes. Now they had a whole collection of mirrors, combs, makeup equipment that Eoghan wouldn't even begin to name, and a bunch of ribbons. Sometimes even pieces of clothes got left behind, but they were generally thrown away.
Eoghan exchanged the bathroom for Rusty's room, where he would find some clothes for Zarifa. Rusty was the shortest of them all, so chances were she might fit in some of his clothes. Taking a pair of pants and a shirt he knew Rusty never wore, Eoghan stepped back into the hallway. He made a mental note that it needed cleaning sometime tomorrow. For a house full of men, it was surprisingly clean and orderly. Technically, they all had the obligation to clean when they saw something was dirty, but Aidan and Eoghan were the ones that cared the most. The rest just took care of their own rooms while they took care of the rest of the house. With the exception of the kitchen, which was Rusty's domain.
He stepped back into his own room, where Zarifa had sunk away between the blankets and pillows. He placed the set of clothes on the end of her bed, and a bowl with clear water, a washcloth and the Basket of Female Things on a small table in the corner of the room. "I brought you some stuff to clean up," he muttered in her direction, sensing she hadn't intended to hurt his feelings earlier. "Rusty's idea. I brought you some of his clothes too. Uhm. If you need any help with changing just uhm... let me know."
