i completely lost track of the seasons, so pretend its late spring now...because i dont know hwat it is...
and thsi is a really boring chapter. its mostly explanation, though. sorry if its boring. I probably won't use half of these names. i suppose just remember Emmie, Larion, and Anitra, the healer. perhaps Weslay, because i will use his name more often than the others because i don't want to look up names. The others won't appear much except for farming.
and a poll: i will stick to this place for a while anyway, but: should i embellish the pastoral section of this story and talk about their new life for a while, or should i hurry it a bit?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night around the campfire, Sandry's blue eyes drank in several new faces. "Tesa," she whispered, taking it into her memory. The woman's large, doughy face seemed to have nothing in common with her daughter Emmie's sweet countenance. Emmie's father, Ores, was large and quiet, like his twin sons Relen and Weslay, both a year older than their sister.
Emmie herself sat across from Briar and Sandry, holding hands with her fiancee, Larian, the only son of the midwife Anitra and husband...her husband...
What's Anitra's husband's name again? Sandry asked Briar through mind speech.
Uhh...Donsor?
Thanks!
"So, Sandry," Emmie asked, her grey eyes longing for company, "What are you planning to do?"
She thought for a second, gazing into the sparking fire. "I suppose," she replied slowly, "perhaps a small home, a garden, maybe a small crop."
Grinning, Briar poked her in the arm. "We?"
"I plan to help," she retorted.
"So," Weslay drawled, his grey eyes and dark, straight black hair similar to his sister's, "What are you two? Like, brother-sister, or cousins...?" He leaned over the back of the oak log, sprawled on the ground next to Sandry. He grinned, trying to charm his way into her life.
"Actually," Sandry said, her voice as candid as ever, "We're married." Her heart gave a slight twinge of delight as she said that, and knowing it was true.
He's flirting! Briar said with exaggerated outrage.
Well, he's been stuck with his sister, mother, and calabash aunt for six months, he's probably going insane!
Tesa glared at her son, and she didn't need mindspeech to convey her message. The nineteen year old picked himself up off the ground, slightly sheepish but still unrepentant. "Married?" Tesa pounced on the subject. "Mighty young for all that, aren't you two?"
Briar shrugged. "I guess," he said, "but we wanted to, and then it was time to set out and settle. So everything worked out fine."
"How long have you been married?" Emmie asked, a dreamy look in her eyes. Larian nodded, his pale face turning nearly as red as his hair.
You've only been pregnant a month and one week, we cannot 'overlap' time, Briar reminded Sandry. I wouldn't want to lie, which is a first, but... Out loud he replied, "Two months, Emmie."
Through talk and discussion, it was decided that Briar and Sandry's hut would be set up nearby Emmie's and Larian's home-in-progress, that it would have two rooms, and that the field adjoining would be granted them. "About a stone's throw in width, and twice as much in length," Ores said in his deep but quiet voice, "and a barn-shack for yourn's horses."
The fire was dwindleing to coals. "Ah, time to sleep," Larian yawned. Emmie tugged on Sandry's hand.
"C'mon!" she said. "Its been a long day. Mother and I will make up an extra pallet, you can stay with us." She pointed to the first cottage, its edges blurred by shadow. "We can all plan out tomorrow when the sun rises."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Seven days later, when the house was nearly built, Sandry took her parcel and shook out several silver coins. "Briar?" she said. "I'm going to ride out and buy some sheep, chickens, maybe a cow, and the means of a loom. Is there anything you need?"
"All alone?" he exclaimed. "Is it safe? Can we afford it?"
She grinned. "I'm going under magic until I get to town, then whatever I buy shall be invisible also. And it would only be around ten silver coins, and I have several bags worth of that, and some gold astrels I took from my savings."
Briar sighed, his green eyes worried regardlessly. "Are you sure? I would rather go...and sheep? They smell!"
"You have to help build the house," she reminded him. "And sheep make wool, and i need wool to make cloth. And a cow because children need milk!"
"Rosethorn forced me to drink milk," he grumbled. "I guess the poor kid will haveta, too." Briar paused. "If anything happens to you, I shall...I dont know what, but it will be painful!"
"Do you need anything!" Sandry breathed, tapping her foot on the wooden floor impatiently. "I have to leave soon, otherwise i won't reach the town- Redeen- in time. And i have to go now, before I start to swell up with the baby."
"Some seed corn, wheat, potato, carrot, celery, lettuce, oats, barley," he rattled off. "Here, I'll attach this wagon-thing Larian built out of wood. Its handy."
"If I forget anything, i'll mindreach you," she said, before saddling her mare and trotting off, waving to Emmie.
"C'mon!" he yelled. "I can't let you go alone." Running to the field, he dragged his horse over and fastened it to the harness. "I'm going too."
She smiled, her blue eyes sunny with surprise. "Oh well. I suppose i won't be lonely then." She pressed his hand once before saying, "Lets go!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They returned in two days, leading a soft brown cow, six sheep and a ram, and bearing several crates of chickens and bags of seed. A small puppy played in the sacks, batting at the lumpy objects inside. A large kettle, several small pots and bowls, utensils, a loom, several lanterns, and various planting equipment and an ax rounded off their purchases to slightly more than they had expected, but they still had quite enough savings in the bags of money they had buried under the floorboards of their home.
The puppy, a grey mixture they had found at a small boy's house, in a basket for sale with its fellows, was purchased for the protection of the sheep and chickens, though slightly frivolous. It whined as they drove up to the clearing, where Emmie was weeding their garden.
"Ho!" she yelled, waving when they were still far away. Her grey eyes widened in shock. "A cow? Sheep?"
Sandry grinned. "Yup, we're really going to settle, thoroughly!" she hollered back, releasing the puppy. It ran all the way up the road to Emmie, its tiny tail wagging so hard its body shook with glee.
She laughed. "All right then, I suppose thats good." It licked her face before running back in a circle. Sandry's mare lifted its hooves carefully, trying to avoid the small grey dot yapping by its feet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~