Nodding sagely, Emlyn agrees, “I told you that they were long before you knew it. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat others whom they perceive to be beneath them, especially when they think there will be no consequences for their actions either way. That day in the orangery, those girls saw me as being beneath them and thought they could be awful to me without much in the way of consequence. I know you were surprised when I was equally rude back, but truly, they had it coming. I think you know by now that I’m not deliberately rude to anyone, otherwise.”
“I do,” Benger says ruefully, “and I wish I’d listened to you sooner. That whole mess might not have gotten so out of hand if I had.”
“What happened?” Daki asks.
“Mama can fill you in,” Benger replies, “We had an interesting chat with her in the kitchen about why we’re here early. Just don’t ask her to do it in front of Vonham.”
“Fighting?” Daki asks, and Benger nods.
As the trio heads into the kitchen, Oja looks up and sees Daki leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a small smile. Oja blushes a bit and looks down at the pie crust she’s rolling out. “Dinner will be ready soon.”
Emlyn spots the steaming cup of tea on the drainboard of the sink and points, “Is that for me?”
“Yes,” Oja smiles, “I thought you might like another. It’s supposed to be good for you. Why don’t you and Benger have a seat? I’m almost done.”
Nodding, Emlyn grabs the cup and gives Benger a nudge on the way out.
Puzzled, Benger follows her. Daki looks at Oja, “What do you think of her?”
“I like her,” Oja says definitively, “She’s incredibly polite and seems like a sweet girl.”
“I like her too,” Daki nods, “She told Benger that he’s clueless about women and that she’ll tell him the next time a girl is interested in him, if she approves of the girl. She’s already helped him with some girls she calls cow pies.”
“I heard about that,” Oja grins, “I’ll tell you tonight, when you’re warming my feet up. Did she ask you about the farm tools?”
“Oh yes,” Daki says, “I showed her and told her about how hard it is to keep the scythes and sickles sharp during the harvest and how we cracked the plow turning the field. She’s working on a plan to produce better steel, since they need better armor and weapons. If you get the opportunity, get her to show you those swords. I’ve never seen anything like them. She says that her family made them. She has asked for our help in experimenting with farm tools. She wants us to test different blends of steel for various tools to determine which one performs the best. I told her that we would. If her venture takes off, it might get us a few new tools for our trouble. So… What happened on the way here? Benger mentioned that there was fighting.”
“I’ll tell you about that later, too,” Oja nods, “It seems like it was a pretty rough trip.”
“How bad was it?” Daki asks.
“I think we owe her Benger’s life,” Oja says quietly, “If I got the gist of their story right, she’s saved his life twice on the way here from Harito.”
“In that case, I’m glad I agreed to help her,” Daki nods, “Oh, I hear the boys coming to see if dinner’s ready.”
“Everything, but the pie is done,” Oja calls out, “I’m almost ready to put that in the oven so that it will be ready when we’re done eating.”
The family gathers around the table, and dishes are passed around. Fresh bread with butter, cheese, and ice apple preserves, jugs of tea and watered wine, and the baked smoke hen with vegetables and greens. Smoke hens are larger than chickens but have a dusky grey plumage that allows them to blend into any shadow. Mages have speculated that they can use shadows to travel short distances to evade predators. Still, it’s also possible that the smoke hens are capable of outrunning men who spend most of their time in towers working on experiments. Either way, they’re difficult to catch, but quite delicious when prepared properly. Everything is passed around until plates are laden.
Emlyn forks up a bite and chews tentatively at first, “Oja, that’s delicious. Now I see why Benger likes this so much.”
“Some variation of this,” Benger grins back, “was always our tenth-day meal. Everyone had to sit at the table and talk about what they’d managed to accomplish or avoid during the last tenday. It was always a good time.”
“We still do that,” Warrick chuckles, “except that now I’m usually the oldest one at the table, so I get to start.”
“And I get more food,” Dubor grouses, “because being the littlest one isn’t so easy.”
“You’ve never once gone hungry,” Daki reminds him, “We’ve always had plenty of food. It might not always have been what you wanted, but you’ve never lacked. I don’t want our guest thinking we don’t feed you.”
“Yes, Da,” Dubor agrees, “You’re right.”
“Besides,” Daki continues, “if Warrick marries Damiana, they’ll likely want him to go live with them since Medias doesn’t have any sons to take over the family business. That’ll mean more responsibilities for you, Rand, and Vonham. You’ll be needing that extra food to get your new chores done.”
“Oh,” Dubor grimaces, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I think you’ll do just fine,” Emlyn nods, “You might not get things done quite like your older brothers, since they’re a bit bigger than you are right now, but I bet if you think hard, you can come up with ways you can get those things done. It’s more about what gets accomplished than exactly how it gets done.”
Dinner conversation devolves into a discussion of neighbors and who will be at the Mid-Winter festival.
“I heard that Tinker-folk were coming this year,” Rand says around a mouthful, earning himself a swat from Oja.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Oja reminds him.
“Boys,” Emlyn shrugs, “If they’re anything like my little brothers were, we’re probably lucky that they’re not swinging from the roof timbers like a troop of monkeys.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Don’t give them any ideas,” Oja mutters, grinning, “or they might decide to try it.”
“I wonder if we can have a chat with the Tinker-folk,” Emlyn nods at Benger, “Maybe they can help us find their missing brethren.”
“Or at least find out names,” Benger nods, “That’s not a bad idea. Names would go a long way to helping track them down.”
“What’s this?” Daki says. “We ran into some evidence that says that a whole caravan of Tinker-folk was captured and sold into slavery,” Emlyn explains, “There was also a shipment of temple goods for our temple. It’s unclear if they were the ones transporting them or not, but no one should be sold into slavery, so I’d like to try to get them back, if we can.”
“Why go to all that trouble?” Daki shrugs, “They’re just Tinker-folk. No one really cares what happens to them.”
“All the more reason to see them get a bit of justice,” Emlyn shrugs, “If no one cares about them, that sounds exactly like it’s a cause we should take up.”
“Most duchies move them on as quickly as possible,” Oja explains, “They’re basically nothing, but thieves, cheats, and cutthroats. They just happen to travel around a lot and have interesting things to trade for. Otherwise, no one would tolerate them at all.”
“Let me see if I understand this,” Emlyn says slowly, “They’re not allowed to settle anywhere. No one really wants to do business with them. I suppose cheating them isn’t really considered a crime. Or beating them up and stealing from them, either.”
Daki and Oja both look slightly uncomfortable, but it’s Oja who breaks the silence. “When you put it like that, I think I can see why they do some of the things they do.”
“One thing I learned from all those tedious catechism sessions,” Emlyn replies with a wry smile, “with the priests was that if you want people to redeem themselves, you have to give them the space to attempt to do better. If you put them in a box and then clamp a lid on the box, they’re stuck in the box with no way to be anything other than what you have labeled them to be.”
“Is that why you want to see if you can get them back?” Warrick asks thoughtfully.
“Not entirely,” Emlyn grins, “but if they were sold, as I suspect, they may know what’s become of some of the others who were sold.”
“I just hope,” Benger shrugs, “that the clerics have some luck resurrecting some of the others that we found.”
“This is much too serious for dinner conversation,” Emlyn says brightly, “I wanted to ask you about the kittens and if we might take a couple of them back to the temple once they’re weaned.”
"They’re only a few days old,” Oja shrugs, “but I don’t have any objection. I would suggest that if you want them to be barn cats like our Ivy, you wait a bit longer, and she can teach them to hunt before you take them.”
“That seems reasonable,” Emlyn nods, “That’s exactly why I wanted them. I think our barns are about to get an expansion.”
“Why is that?” Daki asks, curious.
“I want to embark on a breeding program,” Emlyn grins, “Well, several of them to be precise—herd beasts of all kinds, including horses for different purposes. We’ll have to find farmers willing to raise the beasts since our Temple isn’t staffed for it and doesn’t have enough land to do it. At least not yet.”
Emlyn gets quiet, and her head cocks slightly to one side. Without thinking about it, her thumb and forefinger start tapping.
“Out with it,” Benger says with a chuckle, “I can practically see the gears spinning.”
“If the Temple were to offer you a contract with favorable terms,” Emlyn gestures with her fork, “Would you be amenable to growing potion ingredients for us? I’m not exactly sure what the crops might be; I’d have to consult with Davilla on that. But would you be interested in discussing it? Do you think any of your neighbors might be inclined to want to do the same?”
“What are you thinking?” Daki says slowly.
“Davilla, our herbalist, has been incredibly successful with reformulating our potions. Every time there’s enough left over to open the market stall, we sell out. She has been wanting to expand, but one of the things that has been a real stumbling block is the availability of some ingredients in sufficient quantities. I’m not sure which ones, if any, would grow here, but since you grow wheat and barley, I’m guessing at least some of them would grow here. If we were to divide up the quantities that we’d need across all the farms around here, it wouldn’t be such a commitment from any one farmer, and, if this works out, everyone ends up with a bit of gold for tending a few extra rows. That might be a better way to start. So, tell me, am I crazy, or could it work?”
“It would depend on what you want to ask them to grow,” Daki shrugs, “Some things are hard to keep out of the main crop, and anything that’s not wheat or barley that’s in the crop lowers the price for grain. Some things they won’t want to plant at all. If it were something that could be grown alongside the vegetable patch where the wives and daughters could get a bit of coin for themselves, that might be a better place to start. They’ll be easier to persuade.”
“I’ll show you our vegetable patch after dinner,” Oja says, “It’s likely bigger than you think, since we grow all manner of things there from medicinal plants to dye plants to food.” Flashing Nia a grin, Oja continues, “It takes a lot of food to raise seven boys. Be glad you weren’t here a few months ago when we were doing the fall canning and putting up food for the winter. Now let me go get that night plum pie out of the oven.”
With the pie eaten, all the boys have followed Emlyn out to the barn, and Emlyn slips Snowflake's bridle on over her head.
“I hope you feel like showing off a bit,” Emlyn grins, “so we can show these boys what a magnificent beast you are.”
Snowflake tosses her head and snorts her agreement. She leads the stoic mare out of the barn and puts the reins over her head. Grabbing a fist full of mane, she launches herself, kicks a leg up, and lands on the mare’s back. Snowflake dances for a moment in anticipation.
“Not yet, my girl,” Emlyn says with a pat, “We’re taking a passenger for a bit.”
Snorting her disapproval of this idea, Snowflake maneuvers over to Vonham, and Emlyn offers him a hand. “You’ll be getting on in front of me, but no grabbing the reins. Just get yourself a good fist full of mane and I’ll make sure you stay put.”
Once Vonham’s seated in front of her, he looks around. “She’s really tall.”
“Just wait,” Emlyn says, and toes Snowflake, who starts to move sideways.
Shocked, Vonham looks around, “I didn’t even know horses could go sideways.”
“This is nothing,” Emlyn grins. Another nudge, and Snowflake is now moving sideways and backwards, then sideways in the opposite direction, and forward. A tap with her heel and a squeeze of the legs signals the mare to pirouette, and she does.
Emlyn hands Vonham down. “I haven’t done this next bit with her before, so we’ll see how this goes.” Emlyn has Snowflake back up and then begins prancing in place. After a few moments, Snowflake’s balance has shifted enough that she’s resting on her hind legs only. The mare takes a few hops on her hind legs before landing on all fours, hopping four-legged a few times before launching herself into the air and kicking at imaginary attackers. Landing, she returns to prancing in place before rearing up and trumpeting. Landing with a flourish of her mane, Snowflake arches her neck and preens.
“How in blazes did you get her to do all that?” Benger blurts out.
“I told you that there was more to Snowflake than meets the eye. Someone trained her to perform various tricks. It’s been a bit of a guessing game to figure out what her commands are, but those are just the ones I’ve figured out so far,” Emlyn grins. “I went to see her one day at the barn. I bowed to her, and she bowed back. Once I saw that, I knew she had to have some other commands, so I started trying to figure them out.”
Slipping down from the mare’s back, Emlyn walks around to stand in front of the mare holding the reins. She bows formally to the horse.To everyone’s surprise, Snowflake extends a foreleg, bends her other front leg, and bows her head, nose nearly in the dirt. When Emlyn straightens, the mare stands up, curls up her upper lip, and tosses her head, clearly amused at the humans.
Laughing, Oja walks up and pets Snowflake. “Let’s get her back to the barn, and I’ll show you the vegetable patch.” Emlyn and Oja walk to the barn, discussing the merits of her idea to see if the farm families might be interested in growing some of their ingredients. “Most of the women around here would be happy, as long as their husbands don’t object to whatever the crop is.”
Emlyn shrugs, “I won’t know until I get back to Harito and consult with Davilla. It might be best not to say anything until I can bring a list for us to discuss. Although if we did end up asking people to grow something and it ruined the other crops by getting into the field, I think we could probably find a way to buy the grain. If I understand the process, when you thresh it, all that gets sorted out anyway, so it’s still perfectly safe to use.”
"It is,” Oja agrees, “It’s a few extra steps to sort it from the grain. That means the millers will charge more to mill it so that the grain buyers won’t pay as much for it, that’s all.”
Do you garden? Personally, I can kill house plants, but things outside do well. Let me know in the comments.