Posting late at night instead of first thing as I have an early routine vet appointment tomorrow...well the kitties do
Chapter 10
Vorinia felt a lot of sympathy for the girls unused to domestic chores; it had taken her a while to learn how to do it and she explained gently to Miresa how to wring water out of a sturdy garment like a linen nightgown, for the girl was squeezing at it rather ineffectually.
"Oh why must we do these?" wailed Miresa "That's what drudges are for!"
"Sure, and it's simple me ghirrl" said Kaili "No man should order another to do what he is not prepared to do, and no woman should do so either. Besides, when ye're inspecting your drudges, how will ye know if they're pulling their weight and doin# av their jobs properly? Same as the stable-chores ye're too fancy t'manage, or more like too feeble."
"FEEBLE?" Miresa was indignant.
"Well ye complain about dirt; and yet ye complain about washin#. So ef it's not the dirt ye mind, 'tis the hard work; provin' ye to be feeble" said Kaili "And a foine wife ye'll make ef ye cannot properly supervise your husband's household!"
"You're doing it on purpose to demean us! I'm going to write to my father to take me home!" put in Tirreysa.
"Sure, and isn't it in your rights to do so, and if ye cannot act like a woman av Rank and live up t' your Blood then good riddance to ye; but ye'll have a hard time t' find a good husband for there's more to marriage so there is than bein' a loving wench for just one customer."
Tirreysa gasped.
"How DARE you!" she cried.
"Sure, and are ye not expecting sex in marriage?" asked Kaili "For ye'll get it, and if 'tis ALL ye expect t' do in marriage, where's the difference between that and a girl who sells it near and far?"
Tirreysa scowled.
She had not the quick wit to find any flaw in Kaili's logic; and knew that just shouting 'how dare you' would do nothing but make her look foolish.
"I'm going to the Weyr anyhow" she said haughtily.
Kaili laughed.
"They'll not keep ye ef ye cannot do a good day's work" she said "As m'sisther-in-law, Gold Rider L'rilly will tell ye; will she not, Vorinia?"
Vorinia nodded.
"She put right my preconceptions, I can tell you; she and her weyrmate Bronze Rider D're, Lady Kaili's brother that is, both told me I needed to shape up and learn to do more. Which is why I'm here; at their recommendation. And now I guess I've learned enough to be acceptable to the Weyr but there's still more to learn – and I want to be well prepared. If I should Impress I shouldn't like to be too feeble to care for a dragon properly and so she dies of neglect" she said softly.
"Well I think it's a betrayal of our Blood to be acting like a menial. Don't you agree, Miresa?"
"Don't disturb Miresa to do anything so difficult to her as thinking" said Irette cheekily.
"Children" said Kaili "And my apologies to the three of yez that are young ladies. Well, Tirreysa, you shall write to your father if you wish; and Miresa to her brother-in-law. Sure, and haven't I done me best to give ye an education in keepin' wit' yer status and sorra a thing I can do ef ye'll not be ready to take what's on offer; so the best thing ye can do ef ye're such useless lumps is to stop eatin' at my table and go away t' be a parasite on yer own family."
Vorinia found it fascinating the way Kaili's brogue almost disappeared at times and thickened when she was irritated; or wanted to make a point. It was harder to follow without really listening hard to what she said; which meant it made more impact. Vorinia was almost certain she did it on purpose. As Irette was listening with fascination too, Vorinia felt sure that the instincts of a born Harper might just be coming to the same conclusions.
Tirreysa meanwhile lapsed into offended silence and sulked her way through the rest of the tasks allotted to them that day which involved among other things – since it was snowing – hanging the washing up in the big drying shed, covered but with a draught through. In the late summer this building was the threshing barn, the draught to carry away the chaff, and an ingenious arrangement of fans now hung in the roof to aid the draught, to be powered by a couple of burros in wheels. The cold winter wind created quite enough draught at the current time of turn however! Kaili explained gently when the girls shivered and blew on their hands that drying laundry indoors made a great deal of unhealthy dampness within the hold and could lead to mould on the fabric; and moreover the clothes and sheets smelled a great deal better for being dried in fresh air, however much lavender water you might put into the final rinsing water.
After this, to warm up, the girls went to help in the kitchens, peeling and chopping vegetables for Marilly under Kirissa's stern direction.
Vorinia had never had anything to do with cooking; this was then a lesson that was new to her too, and she flushed under Kirissa's criticism of her thick peeling of tubers.
"The goodness is just below the skin – only take of the finest of layers, just the knobbly bits!" said Kirissa. "Some don't need peeling at all, but this kind are tasty beneath their ugly skin."
The others fared no better.
As to chopping onions, there was much weeping from the juice; especially since heedless Irette did not take Kirissa's advice to cut the stalk end off before the root end to reduce the smell!
"Little idiot, why did you not heed me and cut the stalk end first" asked Kirissa "I just WATCHED you cut into the root end first of that one – and the amount of tear-smell is intolerable!"
"How can you TELL which end is which?" sniffed Irette, red eyed.
Kirissa stared.
"Because the straggles of root are a bit obvious, you silly child!" she said "But if you didn't know why didn't you ASK?"
"Because you'd have hit me for asking questions YOU know the answer to" said Irette sulkily "Now I only get hit once" and she squared her shoulders, cowering from an expected blow/
Kirissa was promptly all sympathy.
"My poor child!" she said, putting a kindly arm about Irette's shoulders. "If that's the training you've had, I'm not surprised you act like an idiot! NEVER be afraid to ask me – I might snap at you if I think the answer's obvious but I'll never hit you! Nobody will here!"
"I CAN gut fish" volunteered Irette wanting to say something positive to an amazing adult who did not intend to hit someone for ignorance!
"Why, that's a good and useful skill, my child; and nothing improves fish so well as good onions, so next time you come to the kitchen I'll show you how to bake a stuffed river fingertail – if I can persuade the men to go up to the tarn to fish for some."
Irette brightened.
"Why, I could TEACH scaling and gutting" she said "Not that like it much."
"Does anyone?" said Kirissa laconically. "Better now? Good, come and chop these winter brassicas, discarding any yellow and wilted leaves – they go with the tuber peelings in the porcine bucket. There's nothing to beat a good winter stew, and it's easy to make with whatever you have available. These are the last of the stored onions, we'll move to winter onions soon, the long green ones with broader leaves."
"There are a lot of different brassicas, aren't there?" said Vorinia.
"Yes; the ones that are leaves only, the ones with purple, green or tight white tops, the tiny winter brassicas on stalks and actually the purple crunch-roots that we also feed to the livestock are brassicas too and we eat the tops" said Kirissa. "The root itself is good in stew; you will find them harder to peel, Vorinia, and they must be chopped into small cubes. Don't eat too many bits raw!"
"You can eat it raw?" said Vorinia wondering.
"Bless the girl, she's going to have to try it now" laughed Kirissa.
Vorinia did; the sweet nutty crunch of the root was a pleasant surprise!
Next they were shown how to maintain a stock pot always on the stove; and Tirreysa naturally complained of the smell and made retching noises.
"You'll not be so fancy when it comes time to eat I wager" said Kirissa dryly. "The other pot has the heads and trotters of to porcines that were just slaughtered; and they'll make good headcheese and sausage. You stuffed yourself on headcheese at supper last night my girl, with roast porcine and apple sauce."
"It's made of head and trotters?" Tirreysa actually turned green.
"First Egg, even I knew that!" said Vorinia.
oOoOo
Tirreysa's supposed sickness did NOT diminish her appetite when they sat to eat; though she scorned the vegetable stew in favour of roast wherry and meat rolls!
oOoOo
After the afternoon music lesson there was a period of free time; and both Tirreysa and Miresa scribbled furious notes about ill usage to their respective guardians. Kaili would not assign men to ride out in such weather; she knew Miresa's brother-in-law well enough to send her bronze firelizard to him; and Tragen has a passing acquaintance with Holder Irgen, Tirreysa's father, that he could send his queen firelizard there.
It in no wise prevented Kaili from insisting that the whining girls should complete the day's lessons by bringing in, ironing and folding the garments they had washed.
Naturally Irette burned herself when manhandling – or rather mishandling – the hot stone into the hollow iron to heat its plate!
"Not only demeaning, but DANGEROUS!" whined Tirreysa.
"Huh, Irette is dangerous to herself from the moment she gets out of bed!" scoffed Vorinia.
Irette, who knew her own faults, grinned cheerfully as the numbweed Kaili applied took effect.
"My father says if I go a day without injuring myself or breaking anything there would be a spontaneous celebration of the magnitude of Turnover" she said.
"Ye'd not be sich a danger to yourself if ye'd only keep more than half your flighty little mind on what ye're doing" said Kaili "What your grandsire thinks in believing a ghirrl not hardly fit to take care av herself should be given the heavy responsibility of a husband and family for I can't understand. Now, ye'll have t' put that stone back in the fire to heat; and watch Vorinia handle the tongs to see how to do it properly."
Irette nodded meekly. She sensed Kaili's disapproval of her grandfather ran deeper than the words; and appreciated the support. She did not feel anything like ready for the responsibility of being a wife and then mother, never mind her fears of marrying someone who disgusted her physically.
oOoOo
Vorinia had enjoyed the day.
She had found the laundry part of it quite easy; and had enjoyed the basic cooking lesson. She had also reprehensibly enjoyed watching Tirreysa's face.
This led to an incident of which Vorinia was not to be terribly proud.
The girls were all in the sitting room after supper enjoying some free time before going to bed.
"It gets easier, you know" Vorinia said, mostly for Miresa's benefit; there was some chance the girl might learn, if she could be wrested from Tirreysa's influence, for she seemed truly distressed that she did not fit in here.
"Well I guess we know that you're only here to look good at chores because you're not Ranking at all – you're nothing but a drudge" sneered Tirreysa.
In Vorinia's defence, she WAS tired; and also dreaded anyone finding out that Josis had drudged for her lest they despise her; and so she snapped back,
"If I had been so, I would rather be a drudge in a place like this where hard work is appreciated than a whining article like you – but just you be careful about accusing people of wearing the wrong knots, my girl! It's tantamount to an accusation of fraud. For being so tired I forgive you this once, but don't you dare ever do it again or I will call for satisfaction of fee under Harper jurisdiction!"
"YOU? Forgive? You jumped up nobody! You ARE a fraud! FRAUD!" Tirreysa jumped up pointing a finger at Vorinia almost poking it into her face.
Vorinia saw red; and slapped the girl hard.
Josis winced. She knew how hard Vorinia could slap BEFORE her muscles had been developed drudging; and Vorinia had held nothing back and Tirreysa literally reeled under the force of the blow.
Tirreysa howled in real pain, and went for Vorinia, trying to pull her hair and scratch her face, screaming epithets at the top of her voice, accusing Vorinia of being everything from a thief to a loving wench.
It was a splendid little fight and Vorinia easily warded off the other girl's blows with her arms, slapping her rhythmically and calling her names in return, though at least 'inutile snivelling wretch' had, as Josis realised later, some degree of accuracy.
When Tirreysa grabbed up a knife from the fruit bowl however, Josis bolted to get Kaili.
oOoOo
Kaili had heard the noise and was already on her way. Strong arms accustomed to drive three runnerbeasts at once firmly separated the girls, Vorinia dropping back of her own accord as she realised Kaili was there. Kaili stared at them, her eyes flashing in anger.
"Sure, and what's the meaning av this unseemly brawl?" she demanded.
"She slapped me!" cried Tirreysa "I had to defend myself!"
"Is that true?" asked Kaili of Vorinia, who flushed and nodded.
"I lost my temper and struck her; I'm sorry Kaili" she said.
"The provocation was intolerable" said Glenayse quietly "And I'd have struck her before had she spoken to me in that way. Tirreysa accused Vorinia of wearing the knots of someone of higher Rank than she was entitled to; Vorinia turned away that with forgiveness, blaming tiredness; but Tirreysa called her a fraud, in as many words. I don't see how Vorinia could have done anything else with a finger in her face too."
"Josis? Miresa? Irette?" Kaili looked around.
"She should perhaps have held her temper but I can certainly see why she lost it" said Josis "No-one can be expected to take epithets and a finger pointed in the face and accusations of being effectively a criminal without SOME retaliation."
"What about me?" whined Tirreysa "What about having to put up with the likes of…" she broke of abruptly as Kaili turned and glared at her.
"Well sure, in addition to what I'm hearin' isn't there the matter of the knife I saw in your hand when I came in, Tirreysa" said Kaili grimly firmly enunciating with only a touch of brogue in the lilt of her voice, making sure every word was clear. "To draw blade on someone unarmed is a despicable thing to do so it is. I'm thinking you owe Vorinia a sincere apology for your words and your lack of control in grabbing the knife."
"But she's a fraud! I'll not apologise! She should be thrown out! She's only a drudge brat!" cried Tirreysa.
"I see you are overwrought" said Kaili grimly "That you've begun to believe your own imagination. Well ye can cool yer heels sleepin' alone this night, and if ye feel like apologisin' in the mornin' 'twill be all well and good; or I'll be havin' to think about what t' do wit' you instead and whether or not a Harper's court needs to hear your slander" she turned to Vorinia "Ef ye press charges ef she will not apologise I too may witness that the girl has reiterated an accusation of false knots. YE'LL be keepin' that temper o' yours under control I'm hopin'."
"Yes Kaili; I AM sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again. I'm cleverer than her; I didn't ought to rise to her childishness."
"Well it's thinking I am that I know why you did with such inflammatory words" said Kaili, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder, her eyes flicking to Josis. "Go to bed me dharlin' ghirl and sleep it off."
"I will" said Vorinia nodding. "Coming girls?"
"I am" said Josis, following her through "I say" she added in an undertone "Did you mind me saying that you should have curbed it? I did say I'd help you to."
"Oh you were right" said Vorinia "I was" she too lowered her voice "I was sacred she'd start on you as my friend and you're honest enough to admit you've drudged, however unjust it was that you should have done so."
Josis shrugged.
"It's a job someone has to do – though it should not be made worse by blows of course" she added; then chuckled.
"What?" asked Vorinia.
"I used to pretend to myself when you'd been particularly er, cranky, that one day you'd travel places dragonback; and I'd have to go to care for you – and what I'd do if travelling Between caused our personalities to emerge in the wrong bodies."
"I don't think that can happen" said Vorinia.
"No, I'm sure it can't: but I was just a kid and resentful – wishful thinking you know! I wanted to want to hit you back but somehow my daydreams had me being nice to you to make you feel guity."
"That's because you're a genuinely nice person" said Vorinia. "I say, why don't you cadge some paper from H'llon and we'll write down what might happen? It'd make a fun story to tell."
Josis grinned.
"Why not? It'll be a change from sewing to write a story. I guess half the tales the Harpers bring are exaggerated at best when they start on the old legends."
They went to bed laughing cheerfully; and Vorinia's good humour was entirely restored!
Her last conscious thought as she fell into slumber was that if Tirreysa could only apologise and acknowledge fault the other girl might start again and learn to be happy!