A/N: I would just like to apologise for the delay. RL can really screw you over when you aren't looking. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 6

She woke with sunlight shining in through her windows and spotted Meren slipping into the room. She waved to him sleepily as she slowly stretched to wake up her muscles.

"Did he wake?" He asked in a soft whisper.

"Around midnight, I gave him tea and broth and the drugs." She murmured with a slight nod. "He should wake soon."

"That should give me just enough time to check him over before he wakes," Meren nodded as he lent over her and settled an hand lightly on Leren's shoulder.

She easily slipped out of bed and quickly changed her clothes while Meren's back was turned.

"He'll be up and about by tomorrow, though he will be a little stiff, I think he will be back to normal in a week." Meren told her confidently. "Providing he takes things easy."

"Well he is waking now so you can tell him, I'm off for a bath and some food." Tarsha told him and hurried to the inn baths, taking time to wash slowly and soak.

"Morning Tarsha." Ma greeted her with a smile as she stepped into the room with a load of clean towels. "You slept a long time."

"I know I did, but I feel better for it." Tarsha nodded slowly. "Is there still some breakfast?"

"It's only two hours after dawn, of course there is still breakfast." Her mother scolded her with a mock frown. "Come into the kitchen when your done and I'll feed you."

"Sure thing." Tarsha nodded and slipped under the water washing the soap out of her hair before climbing out of the tub and pulling out the plug and wrapped a towel around her hair and dried herself off and dressed. She did her best to dry her hair before running a brush through it and braiding it so it wouldn't be in her way and with her stomach growling audibly she hurried into the kitchen where she was seated out of the way with a large bowl of porridge and toast.

"Whoa slow down Tash, no one is going to steal it away from you." James chuckled as he saw how fast she was shoving the food into her mouth.

"Hungry." She stated before scoffing down four slices of toast.

"Mary could I please trouble you for some porridge and tea please for Leren?" Meren asked as he poked his head into the kitchen.

"How is he?" Ma asked as she did up another bowl and a large mug of tea.

"Still in a bit of pain but should be back to dodging arrows in another week." Meren assured her with a smile as he accepted the bowl and mug and hurried off.

"Tarsha, Johan would like a word with you if you are awake enough." Pa poked his head in.

"Be right there." She nodded as she finished her breakfast and carried her tea out into the common room. "Morning Johan, Cherry gave birth to a coal black colt at midnight." She informed him as she took the seat he waved her into.

"I hope she wasn't too much trouble." Johan said with a pleased smile.

"No trouble at all, I'll ask her how she thinks the colt will do in a few days."

"That would great. I would like to get home for midwinter this year, the last five years I have missed it." He sighed. "Oh well we'll see how things go."

"That's the way to look at life." She grinned at him as Yual padded up to her.

:Leren would like to see you Shara.: He told her as she reached down and scratched his ears and chuckled as he gave a happy sigh.

"Coming four foot." She smiled down at him as she gulped down the last of her tea. "Gotta go, oh before I forget all your other horses are in good shape, another day or two of rest and they will be good as new."

"Thanks Tarsha."

"No problem Johan." She assured him as she followed Yual back up to her rooms. "You wanted to see me oh king of pin cushions?" She asked with a grin.

"Oh now you mock me." He grumbled from where he was propped up in her bed.

"Well I was told that you were alright so that doesn't save you from being made fun of." She pointed out to him as she pushed the cot under the bed where it belonged.

"So where am I exactly, cause it doesn't look like the inn." He asked sipping his tea.

"In my room above the stables." She replied and laughed as he choked a little in surprise. "It is the closet room to where Jerna is and she can come up here if she wanted too, the gods only know that Jona has been up here often enough to pull me away from my books to go for a ride and it also meant that we didn't have to carry you through the cold yard to get to a room." She pointed it out to him after he had cleared out his wind pipe.

"So I am in your room and your bed?" He asked, looking a little like he was blushing.

"You got a problem with that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "At least here you won't be pestered by the nosey customers." She pointed out to him as she got up and headed for the door as she heard what sounded like bells on the stairs and smiled as Jerna stepped into the room looking about the room. "See if you can talk so sense into him Jerna and make sure that he stays in bed like Meren ordered or I will tie him down." She asked her as she walked down the stairs shaking her head. You would think that he was expecting me to climb in next to him in the middle of the night while he was sleeping. She thought with a small smile. Not that it would be a bad thing after all…but not while he is injured.

:Interesting thoughts.: Yual commented with a grin.

"Oh you!" She laughed as she opened Jona's stall and looked out into the field looking for her mare. "Want to stretch your legs a little fur face?" She asked as she whistled for Jona as she stepped into the field, watching as Cherry led her colt around the field grazing on what was left of the winter grass. She pulled herself up on to Jona's bareback and once she was settled Jona jumped into a gallop with Yual right beside her.

They slowed to a trot as she heard a yell and spotted Devid by the field fence waving towards the stable. She waved back signalling that she had seen him and nudged Jona back into a canter and dismounted outside the stall. "What's up?" She asked after seeing that there were no horses waiting for her.

"James says that there is a crowd heading our way, a few heralds and the usual heading here, they obviously left haven early to get here this soon." Devid told her with a smile.

OOOOOOO

Tarsha lent tiredly against the stable wall, it had taken her hours to sort out the crowd of horses that had come in not long after her brothers arrived, even with the help that Travis and Garry gave her. Both of them had dropped in exhaustion two hours ago from their long ride and being slightly out of shape for this type of work leaving her to finish up.

It was getting close to midnight, the stable doors had been closed hours ago and the lamps dimmed so the horses could sleep undisturbed. She made her way to where her brothers had collapsed and threw blankets over them so they wouldn't get cold and made her way up to her room where Yual was already waiting and keeping an eye on Leren.

She had only just barely had time to greet her brothers before a caravan rode in, heading north for home with another three right behind them, two of which were heading for Lord Deren's keep. She was grateful that the trainees that had come in could look after their companions as she had had no time for them. The same could be said for her Uncles that had shown up again; all six of them this time.

She moved silently through her common room and slipped into her bedroom and blinked stupidly as she noticed that the lamp was still on and Leren was reading a book.

"You shouldn't still be up." She mumbled as she fell face first into the cot with a groan of bliss to finally stop moving.

"I couldn't sleep with that racket down there and then I got distracted with my book." He shrugged easily as he closed it and set it aside. "Was it that bad down there?" He asked in sympathy.

"Four caravans of about ten to twenty people, not to mention the horses and mules, then the trainees on their way home, plus my uncles, my bothers, Heralds…I think all up we have just over a hundred people in the inn and nearly double that in horses and mules." She groaned out as she turned on her side pulling her blanket over her body not bothering to get changed. "To make things worse most of them are leaving again in a few hours…" Her voice trailed off as she easily slid into sleep.

"Sleep well Tarsha." Leren said softly as he turned off the lamp and settled down into sleep himself.

OOOOOOO

Tarsha stumbled her way to the bathing rooms at dawn, carrying her change of clothes with her and quickly washed before dunking her head in a basin of cold water to help her to wake faster and hurried her way to the kitchen, where the family ate when they had more then ten customers.

"Morning Dear, here's your tea." Ma greeted her with a soft understanding smile as Tarsha sat down with a thump at the table. "Did you manage to get everyone bedded down in the stables?" She asked as she handed her a bowl of porridge.

"Yeah, Trav and Garry crashed on me before we got done though, I just threw a blanket over them and let them sleep." She nodded a little groggily.

"Well, I'm sure most of the guys will turn out to give you a hand to saddle them up." Ma said cheerfully as the rest of the family stumbled in and she dished out breakfast for them all.

"Only if they get the right saddles on the right horses this time." She grumbled sipping at her tea.

"Hey it was only that once!" James protested sleepily as he tucked into his food.

"Twice." She corrected and held her mug up for more tea as Ma walked around the table with the pot.

"Now, settle down, I know that you are all tired and grumpy but no need to start fights." Pa admonished sternly. "With luck with the entire family being here we just may get this years additions done before the bad weather starts in again."

"Do we know when Karen is arriving?" Ma asked as she sat down once satisfied that every one had every thing they wanted. "And where is Trav and Garry?"

"Still sleeping." Tarsh answered between mouthfuls. "They are well and truly exhausted so I let them sleep. They pushed hard to get here so they would have more time to spend with us."

"Karen should be here sometime this week, and Meren said that it shouldn't be a problem for Daniel to stay as they aren't that far from the healing temple if they are needed." Devid spoke up sipping his chava.

"I think with the way business has been going we are going to need to extend the stables again along with the inn." Pa mused. "I talked to a few of the customers over the last few months and word has gotten out about us, which explains why we are getting so much business."

"Not to mention all the caravans stopping here for a rest before they head on to the Keep." James pointed out with a sigh.

"We may have to out again and not just up, this time." Devid added. "Not to mention adding more room to the bathing rooms and the kitchen."

"If this keeps up we're going to have to move the laundry area so we have the room to expand not to mention the herb garden and the veggie patch." Ma gave a sigh of her own. "Do we have enough money saved from this years business to expand again?"

"Yes love, we have the money and all the supplies have arrived over the last few weeks…we just may have to accept all the offers for help to get it done in time…we just didn't have the quiet season we were expecting to get it done our selves." Pa nodded.

"Morning all." Redick, Feren, Kern and Griff greeted them as they slipped in from the yard. Ma went to stand to serve but Kern told her to sit. "You spend all day serving customers, Mary, we can feed ourselves one meal." He chided her as they helped themselves to food, tea, chava and bread.

"Anything we can pitch in with today?" Redick asked digging in.

"We were just discussing that." Pa nodded. "We need to expand again, we just don't have enough room at the moment to cater to demand." He finished off his food and pushed the bowl away and nursed his tea. "For once I'd like to not have to use our spare time to expand and used it to keep track of the fields and expenses. And at the rate things are going we are going to need more help full time we just don't get a lull in customers any more."

"Well we'll gladly lend a hand while we are here, Bro you know that. We've got what four weeks until the first snow?" Kern asked looking about.

"Six actually, but the rains and hail will start in four." Tarsha spoke up as she finished off her meal.

"And we'd only be snowed in at base anyway, the officers can take care of most things and they know where we are if anything goes wrong." Redick nodded.

"Morning Ma" Travis mumbled as he stumbled into the kitchen with Garry not far behind him and sat down at the last two seats. They both tucked into their meals with out another word.

"As for more help I am sure if you put the word out at the village then you could get a few girls out here to help out." Feren added his piece before turning back to his food.

Ma, Annabell and Jazmine began cooking breakfast for the soon to be waking customers as Talia and Dirk entered.

"I better get back to the stables." Tarsha stood picking up the empty bowls and placing them in the sink. Grabbing a bowl of porridge and a meaty bone for Leren and Yual. "Send some one out when you who is leaving when." She requested as she hurried out the door.

She made her way up to her room and gave the bowl to Leren who was only just barley awake and the bone to Yual before heading down stairs again and began feeding her charges and opening up the back of the stalls for the companions and the inn's horses, before double checking the health of the other horses.

"Morning Tarsha." Johan greeted her he walked up to her an hour later.

"Morning Johan." She gave him a smile as she stepped out of a stall.

"How is Cherry doing?"

"She is doing fine, she seems to think that her foal will be able to keep up with you if you wish to leave any time soon." Tarsha replied stroking the mares nose.

"Well that is good news, we will be taking the first few days easy, just because we can." Johan smiled as he reached out and patted Cherry himself. "Well if you are sure that your colt can handle it Cherry we'll leave in the next hour." He spoke directly to his mare who nodded in agreement.

"Then I had best start get them all ready for the trip." Tarsha nodded. "I'll have them all ready to go by the time you are finished with breakfast and packing." She assured him as she began throwing saddle blankets on the backs of several horses, even as Travis, James and Devid came in. She nodded in greeting to them and placed saddles on the backs of the horses leaving them undone and gestured for them to start fastening them into place.

It didn't take her long to have blankets and saddles in place while her brothers worked a few horses behind her fastening the straps, she barely noticed that her uncles had joined in to help her get the job done as quickly as possible. It didn't help when most of the travellers decided that they would all be leaving with in minutes of each other.

By the time the hour was up she had every merchant horse saddled, double checked for injuries and the mules and pack horses in place on the wagons and packs back in place and everything was ready to go. Her nice order of things was shattered when all the riders came into the stables chattering loudly, joking around with each other throwing their saddlebags over their horse's rumps and tieing them down firmly before leading them out.

It seemed that all the noise of men and animals was deafening and the silence that followed their departure was just as deafening.

"Wow talking about deadly silence." Travis shook his head and they all slumped against the now empty stalls in relief. "I thought it was never going to end."

"No time to rest gentlemen." Tarsha grinned wickedly at them all. "Pa tells me that I have you all for the next two marks and I plan on using it." She chuckled as they all groaned. "Oh come on I usually have to do all of this on my own these days it isn't that bad when you get used to it." She chided them as she handed out pitchforks and gave each one a wheel barrow, keeping one for herself. "With nine of us working to get all these stalls clean it should only take two marks to get it done and most of them are still clean." She told them all as she walked down the stalls, closing doors of those that didn't need cleaning or fresh hay added. "There we go, only thirty to clean that should only take a mark." With that she started on the nearest stall to her humming under her breath, smiling slightly as she noticed that the other joined in on the song, while she and Travis kept the tune.

When they were all done they headed into the kitchen before Mary shooed them off into the common room which was now empty of all customers, they knew that it wouldn't last but they were going to enjoy the quietness for as long as it lasted.

"Alright settle down every one." Jacob said with a chuckle as they all sat down at a table near the bar and he laid out a long sheet of paper and it didn't take long for them all to recognise the buildings on it. It was a full map of the Inn's property. "Alright at the present time we have fifty seven rooms for guests and two floors, what I think we're going to have to do is add a third floor, with another thirty two rooms, if we get help from the village and possibly Lord Deren's men we should get it done in time for the first hail and snow." He glanced at Tarsha.

"We should have eight weeks maximum, six if we are unlucky."

"We already have offers from the village and near by farms for help so we have a hundred people just there to help and all of them are good at building. I am still waiting for a reply from Lord Deren but he did offer his help next time we needed to expand." Jacob explained as he placed small pieces over the map. "With his help we should be able to get the stable expanded as well."

"Where are we going to house everyone while they are helping?" James asked looking over map as Mary and Annabell came in carrying trays full of mugs of chava.

"In the front field near the stables, in tents." Jacob pointed to the field. "And where ever else we can fit them." He gladly accepted a mug and sipped at it. "The villagers will be arriving through out today and tomorrow with all the supplies we need. Most of the walls have already been put together and only need to be pieced together." He looked up as James's eyes went slightly out of focus and made a small noise.

"The villagers are here with ten wagons and some soldiers." He reported shaking his head slightly to refocus his eyes.

"How many?" Mary asked with a small frown wondering how many she would have to cook for.

"Sixty villagers and forty soldiers, seventy horses all up."

"Hmm nearly a full house already." Jacob sighed. "Well at least it will get things done faster."

"It would be so much easier if we had time to do this during spring and summer." Devid groaned.

"That it would be but no one has time then." Mary agreed.

"Alright Everyone out in yard to greet our guests, once they are all settled we'll probably go into discussions on what should be done first and when. You ladies will be working in the kitchens and most likely running errands and messages, Tarsha, you will focus on the stables and Leren, he isn't to help for another few days. Every one else will be helping where it is needed." He handed out orders quickly as they all stood and headed out.