Chapter 25
12th Day of Late Winter 768 n.c
I cleaned up the remains of the zombie chicken and headed out of the tower into town, taking the dinner basket and a spare one with me. With the excitement of the morning, I had completely forgotten that I was dressed somewhat… differently. That forgetfulness was soon remedied when the first couple of people in town caught sight of me. It was actually a little funny, the reactions. People generally fell into two groups; those who glanced at me and saw a man, then had to take a second look when they saw who I was and those who greeted me first, but by the time I had looked to them to return the greeting they were instead staring at me in shock and confusion. This repeated almost continuously until I began to regret my decision. I hadn't really thought about how much of a stir it would cause (you'd think that I'd have learned from the hair change incident).
I walked half the length of the town to the Pig and Wheelbarrow to inform Missus Rose that we would be needing lunch for three. She was as shocked as anyone else, but as I was staying to actually converse with her she had the opportunity to comment.
"Sharein, my dear, you look like a man!" she exclaimed when I walked into the inn. This caused everyone's heads to swivel in my direction. It was still early, so there weren't that many people in there; Master Togar was there (as I understood it, he spent most days in the inn for the company it gave him, some merchant caravan guards (who strangely enough, barely gave a second glance to me past the first one) and one or two farmers who were likely in town to do some trading.
I looked down at myself, 'I do?'
"Where would even get such clothes? And what would possess you to dress in them?" she asked loudly before she came up closer and whispered (which was still fairly loud), "You'll never catch the heart of the wizard dressing like that!"
I tried, I really tried not to burst out laughing. My immediate thought was that I'd have a better chance dressing like I was than in a dress, but then I wondered why I would want to catch his heart? Her previous 'advice' clicked and try as I might, I couldn't help but let out a fit of laughter that left me almost on the ground with tears coming out of my eyes. It wasn't until the laughter died down that I realised the difficulty of explaining the situation. I had also managed to successfully capture the attention of everyone in the inn, even the merchant's guards who hadn't looked twice when I came in.
"Ahhhh… Mother made them for me," I said, although it sounded unconvincing to my ears to warrant such laughter, "I'd worn a pair of Jocam's to help Father and the boys in the field and mentioned how comfortable they felt."
Missus Rose exhibited such a frown as I had ever seen on her face, but seemed somewhat mollified. After all, she could not naysay a decision made by my mother over her raising me.
Despite this, she still said "Well, I'll not be surprised if you are the talk of the town for another tenday."
"Another tenday?" I asked.
"When your hair changed to black, it was all anybody could talk about," Missus Rose replied freely, then seemed to realise that she had been caught admitting to gossiping. Honestly, I knew everyone was probably talking about it, but hardly anyone actually asked me. The gossip in town must have been much more effective than the news that reached us out on the farms.
One of the merchant's guards, an older man wearing well worn leather armour spoke up, "Now, now Missus Rose, don't be makin' such a fuss with the poor girl. Why, I've seen many an adventuring lass wearing trousers and more!"
Missus Rose rounded on the white mustachioed guard, "Adventuring? Adventuring! Now Mister Argos, you go around spouting such nonsense in here and I might be thinking that you've already had too much to drink!"
"I didn't mean nothing by it Missus Rose, but it's true. Why, I even worked with a lass guarding a caravan…" He said, then spoke to himself, "Now, what was her name?"
He called out to another guard who was just coming down the stairs from the upstairs rooms, "Pard! What was that lass' name? The one that helped us guard old man Crozer's Caravan out to Darkholme?"
I watched the younger similarly dressed man smile a bit wistfully, "You'd forget your own name Johan, if we didn't use it all the time. That was Marda, Marda Everfrost."
"There you go Missus Rose, corroborating evidence!" The older guard said with a flourish.
"A woman caravan guard?" Missus Rose said in disbelief, "Well, I never. That's not the sort of profession a girl who was raised properly would enter."
She gave the guards a stern look, then fetched them a mug of ale each; possibly in the hopes that they would keep busy with them rather than speak any more distressing concepts. As for me, the idea that women could be caravan guards came at a bit of a shock. It shouldn't I know, but even prior to recent events the idea that a woman could be a wizard was a little shocking to me. Not so much that we wouldn't be capable, but that we would be allowed. I wasn't sure if the announcement of my apprenticeship got the gossip wheels turning in town, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it had.
"I just stopped by, Missus Rose; to request lunch for three today, and to let you know that I shall collect it on my way back to the tower," I said to Missus Rose politely, when it became apparent that she'd dropped the issue of my trousers and seemed instead to be intently drying some mugs.
"Oh yes? Of course my dear, of course," she said with a smile. I handed her the wicker basket from last night's dinner and left the inn to make my way first to the bakery. I reasoned that I should get distracted talking to Brahdi before I had a full basket to carry.
"Sharein!" Brahdi pretty much shouted as soon as I stepped into the bakery, poor Missus Andars almost jumped with fright at the unexpected outburst.
"Good morning Brahdi," I said, much more demurely, "and good morning to you as well Missus Andars."
"Good morning Sharein," said Missus Andars looking me up and down skeptically, "or should that be Apprentice Wizard Askilain?"
"Just Sharein if you don't mind Missus Andars, I'm only on my third day," I replied with a blush.
Missus Andars paid Brahdi for her purchase and I opened the door for her. She thanked me on the way out and wished me a good day. I barely heard the sharp intake of breath from behind me.
"I can see your backside as if you were stark naked!" Brahdi almost shouted and I resisted the temptation to slap my forehead in exasperation at her antics when Missus Imbier came out from the back room.
"Brahdi, what in the light is going on out here?" she admonished, then stopped short when she saw me.
She didn't say anything about the way I was dressed, which was a little surprising to me, instead she turned to Brahdi and said "You know, if you wore something like that in front of a boy you fancied, you might be able to keep hold of him."
I turned around to face them in embarrassment but Missus Imbier demanded that I twirl around for them to show off the trousers.
"It really does show off the shape of her backside quite nicely, doesn't it?" she said to Brahdi rhetorically, "I'm guessing that your mother made them for you, Sharein?"
"Yes Missus Imbier," I informed her. The idea that she was looking at the shape of my bottom in the trousers both excited and embarrassed me.
"I'll bet everyone has been staring at you all morning?" She asked.
"Yes, I confess that for the most part they have, although Malkarov didn't say a word this morning," I told her.
"He wouldn't have batted an eye, I expect," she replied with a laugh that first made me wonder if she knew until she clarified, "he came back to Easthaven about the time that I first arrived. I'll admit that Easthaven is quite isolated and a woman in trousers is nothing out of the ordinary in other places. But you try telling some of the old biddies around here and they would be liable to drop dead!"
We all three let out a bit of a laugh, for my part it reminded me of Missus Rose's reaction. Missus Andars seemed to treat it as if it were some sort of 'wizarding tradition' though.
I chatted with Brahdi briefly, before choosing out a fresh loaf of bread, a loaf of bread from the day before and putting both into my basket. I paid Brahdi three copper bits, bid her goodbye and then made my way to the town square where Master Hearthfall the butcher and Master Redfox the grocer had their shops.
Their shops were the front rooms of their neighbouring two story houses, with great big shuttered windows at the front. Master Redfox's shop had a long hinged bench underneath the window that he laid out baskets of produce. Most of his shop inside was filled with bags of grains, waiting for a travelling merchant to come by. Master Hearthfall's shop had strips of weighted cloth hanging down from the doorway to block flies from coming through into the shop. The smell of his shop was always very coppery with collected blood, from draining the slaughtered animals. Some of which he would make blood sausages out of, the rest would be sold to farmers to be mixed with water to fertilise their crops (it was especially good for Winter Tomatoes).
Farmers would bring in excess wares to town every tenday, stopping by after church to sell the merchants vegetables, berries, grains or animals. Master Redfox would store the grains and commission Master Ayvor the miller to turn the grains into flour. He would then sell the flour alongside his other goods. While many farmers would slaughter their own animals (especially chickens), often storing the meat in pits dug into the ground over winter, it made more sense to bring them into town to be slaughtered by the butcher, where different cuts could be distributed and consumed before they went bad. Both merchants often have merchant caravans stopping by, to sell or buy their excess. Some vegetables would grow well in other parts of Carn, but not grow well here. The opposite was also true, Easthaven grew the best barley anywhere in Carn apparently and some of the better long grain. When it came time for harvest, father would harvest the barley and bag it. Half of it he was intending to Malt, with most of that to be sold to Master Merryman the brewer, but the other half would likely be split between handing to Master Redfox for sale and having Master Ayvor mill for them. Some bags Master Redfox would buy straight out, but others would be set aside for onsale. When a travelling merchant came to town looking to buy barley, Master Redfox would haggle with him to get the best price. The money from this sale would be put aside and every two months he would divvy it up and hand it out to the farmers depending upon how many bags they contributed (as well as keeping a share for himself). Most farmers (my parents included) would often just have Master Redfox keep the money from which future purchases would be deducted.
I bought a new chicken and a pound of bacon from Master Hearthfall for 8 silver moons and 2 copper bits. Master Hearthfall looked at me askance, but didn't question my clothes at all.
I picked out some sage, parsley and thyme for the chicken stuffing as well as a half dozen eggs and some root vegetables; potatoes, pumpkins, ball cabbage and flowering cabbage which all up cost 6 copper bits. Like Master Hearthfall, Master Redfox didn't question my clothing but I did receive a strange look up and down by Master Verda the carpenter as we crossed paths on the way out.
I made my way back to the Pig and Wheelbarrow Inn, where I picked up our lunch. I asked Missus Rose how much I owed her, but she told me that Malkarov pays up his bill every tenday.
Once back at the tower, I knocked on the door knocker to let Malkarov know that I was back and the door swung open on it's own to let me in.
