Faith reached for her bag, then asked Cyrus if he'd get the blue bag from it. He did with a smile and handed it to Galena, sliding it across the table to her. Faith said nothing as her mentor opened the bag, looked at the contents and then raised an eyebrow. Galena's expression showed her surprise at the contents of the bag, and Faith started to explain.
"Cally's had startup costs, which I funded. Now that it has paid those, and we have the facilities that we wanted, then I can start donating from the profits each season." Galena shook her head, some surprise at the young woman. "Faith, you set up the orphanage, didn't you?"
"Yes," Faith replied,
"and that will be getting a larger donation. That is one thousand, five hundred gold nell. I allow myself a wage, I'm not prepared to live on the profits of a business. The vision I had, I still have, is that we eradicate poverty. We don't do that by hoarding. So, I take a wage, and a good one. But I need to drop the money off to Luna's too." Galena looked at the young woman and she smiled. "Thank you, really."
Faith shook her head. There was no thanks needed, not from her. The Order of the Adunih provided care to the people of Scalvoris. It was a place where people could go and get help and support; it had to be funded and in order for that to happen, it had to have donations. It was her duty, as Faith saw it. Cyrus watched her with impassive eyes, not saying anything although Katie had already been clear; she didn't see why all the good that Cally's did wasn't enough. Surely, now that it was enjoying success, it should be something that Faith allowed herself to simply keep the profits from. As far as Katie was concerned, the sheer amount of good the place did, the farm and the vineyard and the accommodation for the trainees as well as the orphanage? All of that added up to more than sufficient and Faith should keep her gold. Evidently, Faith felt differently and like so many things, there was no moving her on it. For a former slave, she could be a very stubborn woman when she put her mind to it.
So, once they'd asked Galena a few more questions, about when Galena thought the baby would be born (beginning of Cylus remained her response), how many she thought were in there (impossible to tell, but that was a lot of bump for a small person) to chatting over plans for the birth, they made their way out. Then, slowly, they started their walk home.
Stopping on the way, they went into Luna's. The
orphanage Faith had set up from the profits made by Cally's meant that they were truly providing for everyone, as far as she could see. She had no intention of stopping doing good and that was what she would always do her best to achieve. So, the orphanage was a beautiful, happy place and was focused on caring for the children there. When they went in, they were shown into the office where they spoke to Felicia, the manageress. Faith handed over the donation and the young mixed race manageress was frankly delighted. There were questions, there, too, but these were from Faith. Numbers, volunteers, any issues or concerns? Felicia answered, she had a lot of information and after a brief while, Cyrus intervened. "We should think about getting home, Faith." The older Augustin said and Faith looked at him and sighed, inwardly.
Not because he'd said it, but because he was right. She nodded her head.
"Anything you need. I'm under house arrest at the moment," she put her hand on her stomach and smiled to Felicia who nodded and assured Faith that she would call in if there was anything urgent. Cyrus looked at the manageress, not saying anything but his glance gave him enough information ~ Felicia wouldn't be popping in if someone burned the toast. That was fine. Genuine emergencies, he understood. Anything else, no. So, that done, they made their way back home.
Off Topic
1,500gn deducted from ledger: Donation to the Order of the Adunih. 1,800gn deducted from ledger: Donation to Luna's Dream
