Six months later.
The door to the hut opened creaking as one person, firmly wrapped in her cape, entered the room. Folding her hood back, she closed the door and ran immediately to the fireplace to stoke the fire. She took a log from the iron basket and ignited the flames until they blazed brightly and radiated a pleasant warmth. Then she hung the pot with the now cooled soup over the fire and warmed her fingers. Fortunately the first days of spring were approaching, because the winter had been terrible. Gwynna had never seen so much snow, neither in New York nor in the Hamptons. Therefore she had spent most of her time in Konrad's house and practiced Old German. In the meantime she had already mastered the language quite well and was able to follow the conversations of the villagers.
Gwynna took her wooden bowl from the table and filled it with the boiling soup. She took another piece of bread from the cupboard, sat down at the table and began to eat. She's been thinking about the last six months. What happened? Two weeks after her arrival Konrad had returned with many goods and his son. How big was his surprise when he found Gwynna in his house? She remembered her first encounter with him: he was a lean man with thin black hair, piercing eyes and a pinched mouth. He wore an expensive brown velvet vest, leather trousers and an expensive dagger on his belt. He was obviously not pleased to see her and all the less so when his wife told him that she was not only a relative of Cedrics, but also that she would be a guest in her house until further notice.
"Another useless eater?" Konrad said to his wife. "And then the niece of Cedric? Woman, you're overdoing your Christian duty." It annoyed him even more that his wife had ordered clothes for Gwendolyn instead of giving her clothes worn out by her servants.
"What is she, a highborn?" Konrad scolded loudly. "The gown of a maid is enough!" Unfortunately he couldn't unsubscribe anymore, because Agnes had already finished them. He demanded that Gwynna make herself useful in the house and so Gwynna found herself sitting in the chamber in the evenings embroidering the altar cloth while she was cleaning vegetables and kneading dough during the day.
When Agnes brought the clothes, Gwynna was surprised how well it was fitting. The dress was in two parts. A bodice made of dark grey wool fabric, the neckline and sleeves of which were lined with a dark red ribbon. The lacing was also red. Absildis had given her a white shirt to wear underneath. The skirt was bell-shaped with two petticoats and the hem was also decorated with a red ribbon. She had also made her a dark green cape with a large hood, which made Gwynna's head disappear completely. Gwynna was happy about these things, as the temperature had dropped considerably in the last few days. She only had to wear her own shoes, because Konrad refused to pay for a new pair.
Konrad continued to behave harshly and unfriendly towards her, even when she began to speak Old German. He told her openly that he had no conversations with the womenfolk and that she had to go out of his sight. And so he retreated into his office in a disgruntled mood. Unlike his father, Gebhard, the son of Konrad and Absildis, was enchanted by Gwynna from the beginning. He counted seventeen years and was already trained by his father in all things of merchant life, to one day succeed him. He was half a head smaller than her, also had black hair, friendly brown eyes, a round face and a slight belly base. He was only too happy to give Gwynna language lessons and enjoyed spending many hours in her presence, never alone of course, that was unseemly with unmarried people, and languished on them until his father came into the room and ordered him to his office.
Of course Konrad had watched his son attentively and Gebhard's enthusiasm did not escape him. In his opinion Gwynna was to blame for everything and so one Sunday after mass he complained to Brother Erland: "This woman is twisting my son's head! Imagine that! What kind of louse have you put in my fur? Gebhard wants to court her!" Konrad talked himself more and more into rage, until brother Erland put his hand on his arm, calming him down.
"Gwendolyn was already with me. She's uncomfortable too. I can assure you she has no intentions whatsoever towards Gebhard. She would like to avoid him and so I come back to my original plan to fix up her uncle's cabin for her. What do you think? Then your problems would be solved and you could take care of your lovesick son."
"The hut is uninhabitable," Konrad replied.
"Yes, it is, but we need some men and we could make it habitable. I was going to consult with some men from the village on the subject."
And this happened a few days later, when Gebhard ran after Gwynna again, languishing, that his father let the carpenter, the blacksmith, brother Erland and brother of the blacksmith come to him. It was agreed to inspect Cedric's hut in the forest and take everything with them that could be used. Then the carpenter would make additional furniture and install a new door and shutters. The blacksmith's brother wanted to repair the roof and look after the chimney flue, while the blacksmith himself wanted to forge the iron hinges for the door and windows. Since Kurgan had beaten him up, five frontal teeth were missing in his mouth. The blacksmith named Ervid also took it upon himself to drive with Gwynna to her uncle's hut in the woods and inspect it.
Nobody had been there since Cedric died. A thick layer of dust covered the inventory, but the table, chair and shelf were still usable. Gwynna could also load a pot and a pan onto the wagon. In a small box she found handwritten notes by Cedric on various medicinal herbs, some of which he had also drawn. Gwynna took these too, but left the straw sack behind. She didn't find any clothes, nor any other personal things. On the way back to the village, Gwynna sat silently on the coach box, while Ervid made every effort to flirt with her. Since the death of his wife 5 years ago and the death of his daughter a few weeks ago he was alone and looking for a woman. Gwynna politely but firmly rejected any approach by the blacksmith.
'That can be cheerful', she thought, 'how many men in the village walked on free feet? In fact, in the next few weeks single men repeatedly approached her to sound out her chances, but had to leave disappointed when Gwynna showed them the door. Little by little the hut became cosy. Gwynna had a woman from the village explain the loom to her and woven two wall hangings for her walls. Finally the roof was repaired and Gwynna could move in. Absildis' cook Hildegard gave her a large loaf of freshly baked bread and a sausage as a farewell present. Gwynna had taken the cook into her heart, as she was the only one who had approached her friendly and unreservedly from the beginning.
The other villagers were skeptical about her and Gwynna heard not only once hateful remarks when she passed groups of them. Even the fact that Gwynna wanted to work as a healer was not easy for some. In addition, she had no plants for pastes, dressings or infusions. She wouldn't be able to look around in the woods until spring to build up a stock. So in winter she sat around largely useless. So she regularly visited Brother Erland, attended Mass on Sunday, and helped Absildis and her daughter embroider the altar cloth. It should be finished by Easter at the latest and presented on Easter Sunday. At Christmas Absildis invited her to her table. Because of Gebhard, Gwynna refused at first, but since Brother Erland was also invited, she finally agreed.
A roast pork was served up with vegetables and wine, which Konrad brought from Italy. Absildis gave Gwynna an embroidered border for a dress and Gebhard a roll of cloth left over from the last sale as the ladies didn't like the colour. The village heard nothing of the castle during the winter. The count was travelling with his men to faraway lands, so that no incidents occurred. At the village well there had been a brawl among village boys and a fox had poached in the chicken house, but nothing more had happened. During the winter four villagers died, including Agnes, the seamstress who had slipped on the frozen ground and broken her neck. Under unprintable curses the gravedigger had to dig the graves in the deepest winter.
Slowly, very slowly, spring came. The first snowdrops stretched their heads through the snow, the sun shone longer and thawed it and the temperatures moved out of the minus range. At Easter the first Easter bells blossomed, so that the people celebrated Easter with joy in the small church.