Chapter 10: Preparations
"Sure. We'll be leaving tomorrow. Maybe in the morning, but the evening is fine too." I replied. He nodded, and gave me another hug. He stumbled over to his bedroom, looked back at the empty spot where Rejnar had been laid before, and sighed as he walked in. Uncle Jer must have moved his body, or something, as Rejnar's limp body was not there. This had been the first time Uncle Jer must have cleaned in a long time as well, as there was not a stain of blood left over. As I began to close the door, Uncle Jer stepped back out of his bedroom to say, "Hey, you can go poking around in Rejnar's bedroom if you want. You're the only person who I'd want to give his stuff to, and he's..." He caught his breath; he was close to crying again. "He's not going to use it. He may have something in there that you might need."
I nodded, and responded, "I'll check it out in the morning," and closed the bedroom door. Norma was laying in the bed already, her dress laying over the chair closeby. She was reading a book from the table next to the bed, with a lantern set at the place the book had used to be. I sighed and sat down on the other side. As I did, she patted me on the back. "The kids are laid down in Rejnar's room. I had no idea that was Rejnar's room, the fact he gave it to the children is just, I'm glad." I nodded, and had gotten ready for bed. "Listen, Jer, I'm sorry about what happened. If you're wondering why I'm not that affected, it's because I'm simply, not affected by death much. You remember when I told you that my mother died when I was about 7, yes?" I nodded.
"Well, I hadn't been affected much by it. She was a lovely woman, yes, but... I don't know. It's hard to explain." I reached around her, and grabbed her shoulder. "I understand, Norma. I still love you very much. It's just, tough on me. I've always been affected by death, even if it was somebody who had been opposing me. You know how I felt when I assisted Uncle Jer with that one vandal, The Wolf?" She shook her head, "Can't say that I do." I let my feelings out, "I felt like, honestly, garbage. Like what the others were calling me at the pier at Weselton. At the time, I didn't feel like one, I had just been doing my orders, you know? But now, I feel, 'Well, maybe I am garbage.' It's an awful feeling, and I wish that I hadn't brought you guys out here to witness Rej's death, or at least the outcome of it."
I shook my head, the tears were coming back. Norma set her hand on my leg. "Honey, don't feel like that. I know you honestly don't like doing the things that you have done over the past few weeks, but it's kept me and the children safe. And honestly, if Rejnar hadn't tried to save you like that, what would have happened to us? Celebrate his life, instead of crying over the loss. He was a nice man, from what I could tell. The balding hit him a little early I could tell. He probably wanted you to be happy about his life, not to be upset about his death. I know I would want that." As she spoke to me about this, I was nodding. She had a good point.
Norma then set the book down on the table beside her. "Eh, that book wasn't the best written. Sort of cheesy, if you ask me." She then blew out the lantern. "Well, I'm going to bed, unless you have anything else you want to talk about." She said as she pulled the covers over her shoulders. I replied, "I think it'd just be better for me to get to bed as well." I did the same, and then gave her a hug as a thank you. Then, I drifted off to sleep.
That night, I dreamed many strange things. However, one of my dreams was of a memory I had, as a young teenager, with Rejnar. He and I were beachcombing, searching for small trinkets to sell later. We were saving up to buy... I can't remember, actually. It was something we were both interested in, however. Anyways, we were combing the beach, when I spotted something shining in the water. I ran over, and picked up a shortsword. It was incredibly surprising. I gave it to Rejnar later, after trying to use it unsuccessfully against a bag filled with wheat. I always was better with ranged weaponry.
In the morning, I woke up to Norma getting dressed. She saw me open my eyes, and with a smile on her face, told me, "Well, well, good morning handsome." I sat up slowly. Norma had gotten the dress back on, and came over to hand me my clothing. "Here, you'll probably need these today." I nodded, grabbed the clothes, and got up at a snail's pace. I had gotten dressed in a larger amount of time than usual, and walked out of the room. Norma was sitting at the chair again, with a glass of milk. Jorge and Belinde were next to her, sneaking sips every now and then. She pretended not to notice, but I'm sure she was aware. That woman is a beautiful human. I decided to step into Rejnar's room, to take Uncle Jer up on his offer.
Once I stepped in, I noticed how orderly it was. The closet was arranged by clothing type, coats and jackets, shirts, pants. It impressed me. However, I tried searching for a secret compartment in the closet. Ours back in Weselton did, and we stored a few family pictures there, as well as a letter saying who we were. God, Weselton. We left so many things there. We can make a visit again to our house, assuming it hasn't been ransacked.
I searched for a lever inside of the closet, somewhere that could open a compartment. I traced the floor, and found one on the side. I pulled it, and couldn't believe my eyes.
It was a sword. A suspiciously similar sword. I reached for the handle, and pulled it out of it's sheath. Hmm... this sword... It seems like the same one I had given him as a teenager, but the one I had given him did not have a sheath. I set it back into the sheath, and set it down on the floor. I got back onto my knees, and found a note. It read: "TO-DO: Buy sheath. Give sword to Jer when he visits next." The "Buy sheath" part was crossed out. I noticed what had happened. Rej had saved the sword to give to me at a later time. I looped it to my belt, and wiped the tears that have been developing in my eye away.
The rest of the things in his room weren't as impactful as that, but I'm sure I could make use of a backpack I had found in his closet. I stored a few clothing items in there. I spotted some change in the room, and decided to ask Uncle Jer about it, who said that it was okay to take. I took the change, and stored it in my moneybag. I then stored the moneybag in my newly obtained backpack. Thanks to Uncle Jer, we were all equipped with new backpacks to store things in, except for the children.
Uncle Jer and I helped sell all of the furniture to make some extra coin, packed up to leave, and left the house. Norma gave me a peck on the cheek as we left. I got on Skonhed, Norma on Dejilig, and Uncle Jer and the kids on his own horse. We left in the early evening.