A Word Usage Key is at the end. Some commonly used words are there whether used in this chapter or not. Replace th on end of words with ness and t with d or ed and most of the rest are obvious if sounded out aloud. Some words with n or en on the end can be easily understood of the n is replaced by a d or ed. Only difficult words and words that do not exist in English are now referred to specifically with a footnote number. If you have suggestions I would be pleased to consider implementing them.
The brackets after a character e.g. CLAIRE (4 nc) indicates Claire is a character who is 4 years old and a character not encountered before. Ages of incomers are in Earth years at this point and of Folk in Castle years. (4 Folk yrs ≈ 5 Earth yrs. l is lunes, t is tenners.) There is a list of chapters and their significant characters at the bottom too.
2nd of Chent Day 5
When Warbler met Jed at the Keep gate the first thing she did was give him a sling. “I goent to the fine leather workers for it. I telt Opal I wisht one for you, and she cutt(1) it off a scrap she was cutting for thongs and givn it to you as a well come to the Folk. We’ll have to trim the strings to longth when we see how you use it, but its normal for the strings to be the longth of your arm from shoulder to wrist, though some prefer different. If we knot the loop at that longth for the now we can stitch it when we know exactly where you wish it.” The next thing she did was take hold of his hand saying “You can look at it with one hand, Jed, can’t you.” It was not a question.
Jed smiled and asked, “Do I have a choice?”
“No!” his heartfriend replied before asking, “Have you had a good day, Jed?”
“Excellent! All of us except Marcy have two pairs of boots now and Josh said he’ll have a couple of pairs ready in two days. Milligan was so impressed by the number of rats and mice we killed he fed us till we nearly burst.” Warbler shuddered. She didn’t like rats. “On our way to work some dogs and the birds after lunch, Chris decided to jump on the back of a huge horse in the paddock at Outgangside. The horse trainers all said it was dangerous to even approach and impossible to ride. You should have seen him, it jumped the fence and tried to throw him off, but he rode it for an hour, and it was eating apples off his hands when he’d finished. Gudrun gave it to him because he was the only one who had been able to render it tractable. His head is still in the clouds, and he’s desperate to find a name good enough for it. After we ate the eve meal he shot off to the stables. He said he was going for a ride.”
“The big black stallion that came with the incursion?”
“That’s the one. Chris is only this big,” Jed put his hand level on his chest, “and he’s six of your years old. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen, and we all want to learn to ride now.” Warbler shook her head in amazement. She’d seen the stallion, and though she’d been able to ride almost since she could walk, just the idea of sitting on something like that was intimidating. Jed continued, “Then we had a good afternoon with the dogs and the birds. Fergal is magic the way he can handle those birds. We made some mistakes, and the dogs and birds are out of condition, but we caught some game for the kitchens, and it will improve.” He grinned and continued, “We boiled the rats till they fell apart and mixt them with stale bread crumbs and some food scraps from the kitchens to feed to the dogs before going to eat, but I’d had so much at lunch I couldn’t eat much.”
Shuddering again, Warbler said in tones of disgust, “That’s all rats deserve, dirty, nasty things. I was bitten by one when I was seven and I nearly dien. I hate them.”
Jed could see Warbler was not happy spaeking of rats, so he asked, “What have you done today besides getting me a sling?”
“I bethink me today is thisday, the day we are in now. Am I right?”
“Yes. I’d appreciate it if you told me when my speech is not Folk please Warbler.”
Warbler smiled and said, “It’s telt not told and spaech not speech, Jed.” Warbler then telt him of the rest of her day which it appeared had mostly consisted of telling her friends of Jed, the few who didn’t already know that was since such an interesting piece of gossip had circulated quickly. There was, however, a great deal of gossip Warbler was not aware of because Otday had maekt no secret of his intentions and none willen(2) to tell Warbler of what he’d telt any who’d listen. “Lots of girls are so envious I have a heartfriend who is in a huntsman’s squad. I never feelt this good regards aught before, Jed.” Warbler’s joy was clear, and that he could make so much difference to her maekt Jed feel important and a little smug. Both shying away from what was becoming a little more emotional than either were ready for, they continued spaeking of using a sling.
As they left the gate tunnel and walked through the maze mongst the ponds Warbler telt him, “There’re a lot of coneys where the Gatherfield meets the Longwood. So many it’s impossible to aflaiten them away. We can go there when we have more time.” Jed, maekt a mental note to tell George of that for when they taekt the dogs and the birds out. “There’re so many coneys the fences berount the vegetables on The Growers’ Grounds at Outgangside have to go two feet in to the ground or the coneys would clear all over night, and despite the fences they still have to set snares and have watchers to protect the food from coneys and deer too. It’s a favourite duty for apprentice hunters, for the meat comes to them and they never have an unproductive night. There’s a cabin there with a stove where those not watching can warm up. They can cook and make leaf with it too. They doetn't mind if others join them, for they welcome the gossip, and you doetn't have to be quiet for nothing flaitens the game away. We could do it some time. What bethink you Jed?”
“I’d like that, but only when I’m good enough to hit what I’m aiming at at least some of the time.”
Still holding hands, they walked over the bridge and turned inland towards the closer cropped sward where Jed could see what appeared to be thousands rather than hundreds of coneys. “This is as good a place as any. They seem to know when you are going to release a stone, and that’s when they move, but every now and again they move the wrong way, and then you have dinner.” She demonstrated to Jed how she uest her sling saying, “You’ll have to try holding the strings at different positions till you find what suits you best, and then we’ll tie it to your prefert longth for the loop. I’ll stitch it for you this eve if you like? How do you throw,(3) Jed?”
“Thank you. I can use a needle but don’t have one. What do you mean, how do I throw?”
“Which hand do you use for choice?”
“I told you yesterday, I’m left handed like you. That’s why I thought I could do it if you could. Lot’s of things are only made for right handers where I came from and left handers are made fun of a bit.”
“That’s lastday in Folk, Jed. I doetn’t know what you meant(4) and sorrow, but I forgett(5) to ask. Why are left throwers(6) maekt fun of?”
“It’s like being a ginger, they’re a minority, so are made fun of.”
“That’s weird, for half of the Folk are left throwers. What’s a ginger?”
“Some one with red hair like Marcy or Wayland. They’re in the squad.”
“None get made fun of for things like that here, Jed.” Warbler had a shoulder bag half full of small stones, which she explained she went to the strandline to find because they were smooth and worked best for her, and Jed after watching her just miss several coneys tried with his sling. The stones kept dropping out of the pouch before he could build any momentum, and Warbler said, “Try my sling. It’ll be a little short for you but it’ll be good enough to learn with. We need to soak the pouch on yours to soften it and tie it stretcht berount a stone before letting it dry. Then there will be a natural place for the stone to sit.” Jed tried her sling, and though to start with the stones went in every direction as well as where he wished, at least he was slinging them. After an hour with much encouragement from Warbler they were nearly all going in approximately the right direction and Warbler felt considerably safer. Another half hour, and Jed was slinging them close enough to the coney he was aiming at to frighten it sufficiently to make it move away, and he felt pleased with his near misses. Warbler explained as he became more proficient, “Watch the coney, Jed, not the sling. Eventually your mind will look after the sling without you being aware of it, but it needs your eyes to tell it what it is trying to hit.”
Eventually they ran out of stones, and in any case they’d had enough. Jed feeling satisfied with his progress asked, “How long will take me to hit what I’m aiming at do you think, Warbler?”
“I don’t know, but you are learning quickly. Your hand and eye coördination is good, and I bethink me you are better than I at predicting which way a coney will move. A coney is bigger than a pottery target, so should be easier to hit, but they move. I suspect they can hear the stone coming, for they have big ears.” Warbler put her empty bag over her shoulder and held her hand out.
Jed without thinking taekt her hand and said, “It is nice holding hands, Warbler.”
Warbler flusht and said, “I know, but it’s even nicer when you say so. Most of my friends are always complaining their heartfriends never say nice things to them. I am lucky to have you.” Things again becoming a little too intense, she continued, “Do you know yet when you have a day off, Jed?”
“Yes, the day after tomorrow. Why? What would you like to do?”
“I don’t understand. Which day is that?”
“I meant the day after nextday. Sorry.”
“In Folk that’s nextdaynigh, and we say my sorrow or usually just sorrow and meant should sound like mean with a t on the end, not like men with a t on the end.” Jed nodded as Warbler continued, “If I could borrow two shoulder bags each we could go to the shore for stones in the forenoon. If we taekt a packt lunch we could eat in a sheltert hollow in the dunes and hunt coneys near the Longwood after we had eaten.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Jed paused and then asked, “We can’t spend all our time hunting coneys, Warbler. Do you like fishing?”
“I don’t know. Some of my far cousins are always spaeking of it, and they’ve promisst to take me with them and lend me some tackle, but they never have. I’d like to try, for there are some good fishing rivers and streams, lakes too, between here and the far grazing grounds, and anything is appreciated as a change from eating sheep and goat. Why?”
“I like fishing, and I’m sure I can borrow some tackle. I’ve been told there are trout in the river that runs into the moat, though I didn’t see any when we crossed the bridge earlier. It would be good to find other things to do wouldn’t it? I can shew you what to do.”
“That’s the Littler Arder river. That sounds like we should have fun, Jed, and it’s fair. I shew you how to use a sling, and you shew me how to fish. I’d like that.” Warbler did like the idea of fishing, and she’d been disappointed when her cousins, a number of who were cousines,(7) had not taken her with them, but even if she didn’t end up enjoying it she knew she would enjoy being with Jed whilst he was enjoying himself, and she did like trout.
“I’ll organise it for us then.” They walked back to the Keep, and before Jed walked Warbler home they sat for an hour holding hands watching the coloured carp in the courtyard pool. They spake of fishing, and their arrangements for two days time.
“Jed, if you’d like something different to do that we wouldn’t have to organise we could try Keep running.”
“What’s that?”
“To help children learn their way berount the Keep, which can be confusing, the Master at arms have a race every day of the year except Quarterdays. They usually start at nine in the forenoon but a few are at night, so you learn your way in the dark too, and there’re notices all over the Keep the day before telling you where and when the start is. Usually there’re at least twenty runners. A Master at arms person records when you start and tells you where the finish is and another records when you finish. You can do it on your own or in a team of any number. Unless you’re over ten and run on your own you have to have at least two team members over ten for the runs in the winter and the after dark runs, but it’s not requiert for good weather runs in daylight. The winners are given confectionery, but most don’t care for that, for they do it to try to be first. There are a dozen or more different routes you can choose for some of the runs, and oft the weather determines which you should choose, for you wouldn’t will to be on the battlements during a storm.”
“That sounds exciting, Warbler. Are you good at it?”
“No. I telt you I spend most of the year with the sheep, but Spearmint is a bit better than I. We could try it together with Spearmint and take Stonecrop too. You know any you’d like to join us?”
Jed, who’d got lost in the Keep a few times, hesitated thinking of the squad, but eventually replied, “No not really, but I’d like to learn my way about the Keep.”
“Me too.”
“How long does it usually take, Warbler?”
“That depends on how good at it you are, but between twenty minutes and an hour and a half is normal. It depends on the run, but the runs in the cold weather and the dark are usually of less whilth and safer too because there are more Master at arm staff involvt to make it so, and they try to avoid places that ice over. The runs in the really cold weather only involve using the Keep walkways, and you’re not allowt to use the courtyard or go outside any where.”
“What are the rules?”
“Other than what I telt you there aren’t any, You can ask any where you are or which way to go, but it slows you down, and of course who you ask may not really know. Lots of the Folk like others to think they know the Keep better than they do. Once you are recordet as starting all team members must report to the Master at arms staff within a couple of hours, or at least another team member has to tell them all are finisht and safe. That’s so they don’t have to send persons looking for you. You don’t have to finish the run, but they need to know you are safe and not hurt in some remote, unuest part of the Keep. You wish to try it, Jed?”
“Yes I do. It’s sounds like a lot of fun and an easy way to learn.”
“I’ll have spaech with Spearmint and Stonecrop.”
As Jed walked Warbler back to her Auntie Betony’s his excitement at the idea of running a race with Warbler in the Keep maekt his heart race almost as much as holding hands with her did. Jed walked back to the infirmary taking a longer route than necessary, but it enabled him to stay in the shadows where none would be able to see the now cleaned and oiled but still as yet unsharpened dagger in his hand. Jed was unaware he’d been observed holding hands with Warbler by Liam and Guy.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Lady Veronica Elizabeth Margaret Alice McAlland could trace her ancestry back for over a thousand years and for her Castle was the ultimate nightmare. She was of average intelligence and of undeveloped perception because she had never had to develop it. All her life everything had been done for her, she had even paid a woman to help her dress. She had no skills and no interests other than attending social events with her husband. Maynard her husband was a senior diplomat, but she despised his inferior lineage. She was a tall, attractive brunette with an elegant figure and a bosom that in an evening gown ensured men paid attention to her, though it was only their attention she wanted. Her sensibilities rendered her fastidious in the extreme, and she failt to realise her earlier ancestors had achieved much of what gave her her present position by being extremely unfastidious, totally unscrupulous and viciously violent. Having no sensibilities or sensitivities at all they had been prepared to do anything at all as long as it furthered their ambitions.
She lothed being a woman because she considered menstruation to be degrading and couldn’t wait for her menopause. She had been pregnant twice, and as soon as she had begun to shew signs of pregnancy she had ceased her public engagements. Despite two easy birthings, her ancestors had bequeathed her child bearing hips along with her title and wealth, she resented her children for the trouble they had caused her just by having to bring them into the world, events so squalid she couldn’t bear to even think of them. Once they were born they were reared by other women. Not for one second had she considered ruining the shape of her man captivating breasts by doing anything as demeaning as nursing them herself. When she remembered their existence, their nannies reminded her of their names and presented them to her immaculately dressed, and on their best behaviour, so she could do the maternal half hour she felt was expected of her. She was glad when they went to school and were only home thirteen weeks a year.
Having not only dutifully presented Maynard with the two children he had insisted on as a condition of marriage, but considerately provided him with both a son and a daughter in that order, she refused to consider having any more. Sex was another thing she considered disgusting. It was degrading, sweaty and messy, but she accepted her husband’s visits to her rooms after bedtime were his right, despite the vile clean-up that was required of her afterwards. The very thought of semen and vaginal secretions made her feel sick. She knew next to nothing of the variety of sexual activity available to even an unadventurous couple, and had only ever allowed him to have sex in the missionary position. Since he had never pressed the issue she suspected his perversions were being satisfied elsewhere, and she was thankful for it. She was even more grateful when his visits to her bedroom stopped. She was relieved to hear the rumours concerning him and other women. At least all the sweating, grunting and thrusting was over, and she no longer had to find something to think of so she could pretend it wasn’t happening whilst Maynard satisfied his bestial nature. What puzzled her was some of the women his name had been linked with in the gossip and rumour were ladies, she even knew some of them.
When she awoke on Castle she was wearing an expensive silk nightdress with matching négligée, and was lucky not to have dien from deepcaltth.(8) A not overly intelligent, spoilt aristocrat with no skills or knowledge, she discovered to her horror these peasants, whose total population was only that of a small town, expected her to work for a living at some menial task, marry one of them, and start producing children. They’d had the insolence to tell her if she didn’t they would watch her die since without their help she wouldn’t be able to stay alive. She had been to one of the dinner dances to see what the social life was like here, but it had turned out to be even worse than she had suspected, boorishly provincial with unimaginative food and country dances. She had been asked to dance by a tall man who, as the rest, spake in the uncouth local dialect, and when he had asked her to consider marrying him she had laught at him, left him on the dance floor and became lost on her return to her chamber due to the ridiculously tortuous nature of the ways through the Keep. She considered the Folk to be so primitive they couldn’t even build straight paths or use signs. Some petty official called Campion had called on her the following day to explain what she referred to as the realities of life on Castle.
“At the moment you are wearing clothes we providet, we are feeding and chambering you, and you are giving us naught in return,” Campion had telt her. “We shan’t continue to feed and chamber you indefinitely for no return. If you don’t coöperate and live according to our Way we shall put you out and you will die. We shall regret it, but we shall do it any hap.” Veronica had blustered regarding what they couldn’t expected her to do, and had tried to impress on Campion who she was and what her ancestors had been. “All that is irrelevant,” Campion had said. “You are now on Castle and you have to live or die by the Castle Way: the Way of the Folk. Yew, who is Lord of Castle, is not above helping at what ever task requires doing here.”
“The Lord of a small township can’t compare with what I have been talking about,” Veronica had contemptuously riposted.
“You are right,” Campion had sweetly said. “You are now living in that small township, and Yew matters here. What you were spaeking of has no importance whatsoever, it simply does not compare. I imagine you will have the rest of the lune before you are expelt to die, so I suggest you do some serious thinking of your future, and ask to have spaech with me if you wish to live.” Campion had not waited for her response and left.
After Campion’s visit Veronica had cried with rage and vexation. She couldn’t make these oafs realise what the situation was here. She simply couldn’t be expected to become a menial. The clothes Campion had referred to which she was wearing were only marginally better than none. She looked at the laced up front of her apron which maekt her look as if she were a rural Bavarian barmaid wearing a dirndl, it was indecently lower class in the way it invited men to look at her breasts and she had felt over exposed at the dance, in spite of having worn evening gowns of a considerably more décolleté nature on Earth. Earlier in the day she had asked for a brassière, but the women here hadn’t even known what she meant.
Veronica had accepted she was on Castle, but she couldn’t accept the rules of the society she had left meant nothing here, and as far as the Folk were concerned she was naught special. That she was a woman capable of having children, and was as such doubly precious to them, didn’t register with her because she considered that to be degrading. She wasn’t allowing them to value her. She had observed the Quarterday appearances, and was disgusted by the whole affair. She thought of it as a cattle mart with individuals, both men and women, offering themselves to the highest bidder. Which view, had she but realised, was arrogantly hypocritical in the extreme because in her stratum of society marriages were often part of much wider economic negotiations. The only difference was the negotiations were usually secret.
Various people had tried to reach her, but she considered them to be wasting her time. She didn’t realise how hard they were trying to prevent her deadth. The day after Quarterday she had started to realise most of the incomers were now absorbed into and accepted by the Folk, and she was now in an ever decreasing minority of incomers who hadn’t yet become newfolk, or placed as the local patois had it. Other incomers, or newfolk as even they now referred to themselfs as, were also trying to persuade her to reëvaluate her position. She was beginning to have doubts. She started to think of what she could acceptably do and had come up with nothing. The idea of doing what she considered to be menial tasks never entered her head. Marriage to a peasant and having more children filled her with revulsion, she had begun to realise she would probably die, and she was glad because at least the whole sordid matter of life would be over without her having to do things so demeaning and revolting they almost maekt her physically sick just thinking of them.
That eve she had too much to drink, and taekt a bottle of brandy back to her chamber. She passed out at one point for an hour, but awoke after midnight still dwelling on her deadth. For the next few hours, she alternately drank brandy and cried till the brandy was gone, and then drinkn(9) she staggered out for a walk at five in the forenoon. She saw a man dresst in heavy furs in the courtyard loading a waggon and went to spaek with him. He was twenty or so, almost six feet tall and appeared to be exceedingly strong.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, her enunciation none too sharp.
He realised immediately she’d had too much to drink and replied, “Finishing loading before I hitch up, and deliver the load on an eight day trip.”
“Will you take me with you?”
“I should take you back to your chamber.”
“If you do I’ll only come out again,” she said with the stubbornth that comes to some in drink. She climbed on to the driver’s bench of the waggon and asked, “When do we leave? I have to go. I have to have time to think about this place, or I shall die.”
She wasn’t making a lot of sense, but Mast, realising from her spaech she was an incomer, correctly deduced she was finding assimilation into the Folk difficult. He had to be away betimes, and she could sleep off the drink in the waggon and share the larger tent. When she’d sobered the company of an attractive woman would be pleasant, so Mast said, “Yes, you can come with me. I just need to hitch the horses, we’ll be away in a few minutes. I’ll just bring you a coat and a hat or you’ll freeze to your deadth.” He retrieved a full longth heavy fur coat and a similar hat, which covered her ears and neck, from a box on the waggon and gave them to her. She donned both and he tucked her collar inside the hat. She was now dresst like he.
“Thank you,” she telt him as she adjusted the hat and collar, before putting each hand into the opposite sleeve of the coat.
He went back into the stables and brought the team out, hitched them in minutes, climbed up, pulled a large fur over their knees, and as he had said they were soon on their way out of the gate house tunnel and over the moat bridge. Veronica sitting beside him on the driver’s bench moved towards him and put her arm through his.
“My name is Veronica, and I think I might have had a little too much to drink last night.”
Mast, who thought she’d had a lot too much to drink lastnight, smiled at her and said, “I’m Mast.”
His attention was on the winding way away from the Keep moat to start with, but after they were on the straight track through Outgangside he turned to look at Veronica who was dosing on his arm. He saw an attractive woman of may hap mid-thirties with a good figure, full bouncing breasts, which he could see all of due to the open coat and the lacings on her apron having become untied, and short, dark, wavy hair which was presently in considerable disarray. Veronica would probably have passed out but for the motion of the waggon as it rode up the frozen peaks left by previous waggons’ wheels and fell back into the ruts which were a span and a half deep, which kept bringing her back again. “Mast?”
“Yes.”
“Do you like me?” she asked, her spaech still slurred.
“I don’t know you, do I?”
“I don’t mean that. Do you think I’m pretty?”
“No. You’re not just pretty, you’re beautiful.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it,” said Veronica, sliding back into temporary sleep.
Mast grinned, pulled the heavy bear skin back over their legs, which she had dislodged, and pulled the front of her coat together. Conversation was sporadic and not profound over the next hour or so, but as they kept going south, Mast gathered she had been an important person before, and couldn’t adjust to life on Castle. The sun was still rising in the sky to their left when he pulled the horses up for a rest close to a small, ice edged stream. He gave the horses some feed in their nose bags and was going to water them at the stream when they had finished eating and cooled down. He lit a small fire, and maekt two mugs of leaf. He went back to give Veronica a mug, but she wasn’t there.
It was cold, and her drunken body would allow deepcaltth to set in quickly. He knew she couldn’t have gone far but it was twenty minutes before he found her. She was lying alongside a large log he knew he had checked twice before, and she was life threateningly cold. He carried her back to the waggon, and quickly laid the smaller of his insulated groundsheets gainst the waggon side board as a windbraek and a rude tent. He undresst Veronica on the thick stuffed ground cover to remove her freezing cold clothes, and wrapped the bed roll loosely berount her. He undresst, so as to provide maximum body heatth for her before she dien, and he crawled in alongside her pulling the two fur coats and the bear skin over them. He turned her onto her side with her back to him, and lay closely behind her. She was still dangerously cold, but it wasn’t long before he could tell she was warmer.
Shortly after she began to warm, she reached for his hand and placed it on her breast, which was of substantial size and firm. Mast had had no intention when he crawled in beside her of aught other than keeping Veronica alive, but as her nipple swelled and hardened in his hand it maekt him consider more, and he couldn’t help himself as he encouraged it, and he swelled and hardened too. She turned over to face him and as she snuggled closer and kissed him, her hand reached down and finding what she sought she gently caressed him before moving her hand firmly up and down, which had the effect she presumably intended. Mast was not sure how conscious she was, and he was reluctant to take advantage of her despite his now urgent desire.
Veronica had other ideas though, and still with her eyes shut, she rolled onto her back, and pulled him over her. She eased her thighs so as to be able to present herself, and as she pushed her hips towards him to satisfy her impatience she placed her hands on his buttocks and pulled him towards her so as to enable her warmth to envelop him. With her eyes closed, Veronica wordlessly whimpered and whispered her pleasure as they maekt love in the none too spacious bed roll. She may have been drunk, but she was ready, and her flexing and relaxing as he sounded her whilst she pressed herself to him and then drew herself away almost but never quite allowing him to escape, taekt Mast to highths he had never experienced before. Veronica was almost as close as he to the end and whilst he was not a vastly experienced lover, he was experienced enough to pace himself to suit Veronica and they climaxed together.
Veronica was still drunk, but she had become fully conscious as she neared her peak, and afterwards, much to Mast’s surprise, she started to cry and continued till she had sobbed herself to sleep. He dresst and went to tend the horses. He had decided they would camp there till Veronica was ready to move on. He turned the horses loose to graze and warmed some food for himself, putting some to one side for Veronica when she awoke. Whilst he waited he tried to organise his thoughts of Veronica and making love with her, which was the most exciting event he had ever experienced. Just over midday, Veronica awoke and shouted for him. She was sitting up, and her face looked dreadful, but despite that he thought she was beautiful, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her breasts, which were larger than he remembered. They looked to be the full breasts of a mature woman, but they were firm and high on her ribcage with the small pink nipples and areolae of a much younger woman who had never had children.
He handed her her clothes which he had warmed by the fire and telt her, “I have warmt some water for you to wash with if you wish.”
Veronica knew she had been drunk, but she couldn’t quite work out the circumstances that had led to Mast and she being naekt together. She remembered she had not only initiated love making with him, but she’d played the active rôle in their love making. She remembered the wonderful sensations she had never known before as she had repeatedly engulfed him, which had been almost too much for her. He was much bigger than Maynard. She had finally come to terms with being a woman and had revelled in her femininity. She was shocked to realise she was still doing so, hours afterwards, despite her tenderth and feeling a little raxt(10) when she moved. She also knew many of her previous views had been dissolved by her enjoyment of her first orgasm, which had been a life changing experience for her, though she wished she could remember the details of her enjoyment more clearly. Mast was now looking appreciatively at her breasts, and for the first time in her life she was enjoying being appreciated in that way. “I should like that wash please.” Then thinking of Mast and the way he had been looking at her she asked, “I’m not very good at fastening the laces on this apron yet. Would you help me please?” She dresst, and as Mast was helping her with the laces at her back she put both his hands berount her so as to cup her breasts, and said, “That’s very pleasant, Mast.”
Mast, feeling her nipples responding, kissed her neck behind her right ear. His breath as he kissed her ear sent shivers down her spine and despite the abuse she had put her femininity through her body responded, and though she could feel a throbbing ache bordering on pain deep within she knew given the opportunity she would not be able to stop herself from doing it again. Not sure what to do she did nothing, and Mast caressed her breasts before he removed his hands and said, “Yes it is, but if you wish to wash in warm water you had better hurry before it cools.” He finished tying her laces, gave her a hair brush and a small mirror, and she had her wash and maekt herself as presentable as she could. He gave her the warmed food saying, “Eat. I had mine earlier.” Whilst Veronica was eating her meal, he hitched the horses and maekt everything thing ready for their departure.
When they were on their way again Veronica was quiet. She was remembering when she had put Mast’s hands on her breasts her nipples and loins had reacted to his touch, and his breath on her neck and ears had intensified her reactions making her very aware of the moistening of her sex and its responses. Despite her aches, she had enjoyed the turgid sensations, and though unsure then what to do regards the situation she now knew what she would have liekt to have done. Memories of her drunken wantonth and her desire when she had taken Mast in the tent had returned to her, and she was embarrassed by what she could remember, and even more so by what she couldn’t.
Worse, she was uncertain of her relationship with Mast. She also knew somehow she had changed, and she didn’t know her new self at all. She did know her new self had enjoyed making love, and wished to repeat the experience, soon, and oft, which was an embarrassing realisation. She also realised she wished to do so with Mast and what ever she had thought regarding marriage to a man of the Folk before she didn’t wish to lose him. Mast, aware his feelings towards Veronica had changed since they had maekt love, was wondering what he was going to say and do regards the situation. After a few minutes of uneasy silence, Mast suspected Veronica was experiencing similar difficulties, and he asked, “Would you like to spaek of it? There’s no rush, for we shan’t be meeting any till nextday afternoon. We won’t be back at the Keep for at least eight days, and if I am given further work as we go it may be four or five times that.”
Veronica thought she would like to spaek of things, and she telt Mast of her previous society life with Maynard and her children, of her previous reactions to love making, pregnancy and nursing, and how this was the first time she had enjoyed making love, and somehow she was no longer the same person she had been. He explained to her of the male Folk perception of nursing and pregnant women being particularly attractive, which surprised her. She telt him of her reactions to the Folk till meeting him and of the attraction she felt for him. He was an understanding and sympathetic listener, and he said humorously, “So what’s bothering you is, you don’t know where you are with me, what you will do for a craft, and who you are any longer, but other than that everything is fine.”
Veronica laught as he succinctly, but humorously, described her total lack of understanding of everything concerning her present situation, “Yes, that sums it up I suppose. Other than that everything is fine.”
Mast laught with her in companionable understanding, but he naytheless thought for a long time before continuing. Eventually he said, “I hadn’t considert marrying awhile yet, but I find you an exciting and desirable woman and I should like to marry you. I shall come to love you quickly, I am beginning to do so already. I bethink me I’d better ask you now before you meet some other and are maekt a better offer, but I wish children, and you would have to nurse them and rear them yourself because there is no other way on Castle.”
“I’d like that now, and I’d like to marry you,” she said, relieved he desired her. Whilst he had been thinking so had she, and she had decided she really liekt him, and would come to love him given an opportunity to do so, which she wished. Such negotiated accords had been much more common in her social circle than they were generally on Earth and it had always been to her quiet regret she had never come to love Maynard. She continued, “I’m looking forward to it. But I’d rather not have to drink so much to enjoy love making, because I’d like to remember it.”
Mast put a hand on her knee and said laughing, “I’ve no drink on the waggon, so we can find out when we stop for the night can’t we?”
Veronica kissed his cheek and said, “I do hope so.”
“It’s sometimes a hard life,” Mast continued, “but at least being a waggoner means you are in command of your own life to some extent. There are many of us who travel on our own, and probably the same number who travel with their families. Wherever we go, we and our families are maekt welcome for the news, and the company, especially at remote holdings. If it would suit you, I should like that a lot, but I have customers who hold much farther from the Keep than many other waggoner’s customers and I oft go on longer whilth trips than most even when I don’t go far away. It may hap be that at some time in the future I shall be baest at Sunwarmth which even under favourable conditions is two tenners whilth from the Keep by waggon. I have family there.”
Veronica considered her options and concluded it was probably the best existence she could have on Castle, and whilst she accepted it would be hard from time to time at least it sounded as if she would have fun, and it was a fresh start away from the effects of her previous self at the Keep, which she thought would be embarrassing till a bit of time had elapsed giving the Folk time to forget. “I’d like that,” she telt her newly acquired husband. “How soon would you like to be a father, Mast? I ask because though it’s possible I could become pregnant now it’s unlikely. I am expecting my next period in a week or so and am most likely to become pregnant two weeks after that.”
Mast looked puzzled and asked, “What’s a period and what’s a week?”
Veronica, surprised she was unembarrassed to discuss what she would once have considered to be intimate female matters, and which she would have been embarrassed even to spaek with a woman of, realised there must be a vocabulary difference, and she explained, “A week is seven days, and a period is when a woman bleeds, some call it their monthly or the curse.”
Mast said, “I’ve never hearet of a week, we use ten days in a tenner, and there are three tenners in a lune. What you callt a period is callt a woman’s lunetime here. Three weeks would be two tenners, so you could become pregnant in two tenners?”
“Yes.”
“If you become pregnant that soon I’d be happy, but how do you feel regards pregnancy when you have only just arrivt here?”
Veronica kissed him and replied, “I’m looking forward to it too.” She was now looking forward to her next lunetime, as she now knew it was called, not to have done with it because it disgusted her, but because she would then be that much nearer to ovulation and possible pregnancy.
“You know, I expectet this trip to be a bit boring, but it may turn out to be the most profitable trip of my life,” Mast reflected. They spent the rest of the day spaeking of where Mast had been with the waggon, and what there was to see on Castle. Veronica learnt how to hitch and unhitch the horses, and where everything was stored on the waggon.
When they camped that eve, she helped to pitch the tent, now containing a doubled bedroll, learnt how to start a fire with Mast’s goldstone and flint and discovered she was enjoying the life of a waggoner. They tended to the horses and dined on cold meat bannocks with leaf before making sure everything was tied down or elsewise maekt windproof before going to bed in the tent they had pitched earlier. As they watched each other undress, yet again Veronica enjoyed Mast looking at her breasts. She felt a little apprehensive at his size, but as she put her hands to him she remembered she had been able to accommodate him earlier and had enjoyed doing so, no doubt sober she would enjoy doing so even more. Mast kissed her nipples and put a hand to her softth, caressing the cloaked intricacies of her femininity, which maekt her very aware of herself and her now ardent desires. “Take me to bed and make love to me, Mast. Please,” she whispered as she pulled him towards the bedroll by a convenient appendage. When they had settled in the bedroll they resumed their previous activities, and in less than a minute both were gasping for breath no longer able to kiss each other. They kept their hands on each other for some time afterwards allowing their climax to fade away more slowly than it may elsewise have done, both enjoying the gentle and gradual release. The missionaries clearly didn’t know everything. “How old are you, Mast?”
“Nineteen why?”
Veronica was shocked and replied, “I’ve become nothing more than a cradle snatcher, I’m forty-two.”
“So what?” Mast said, caressing her breast with one hand and working his way up the inside of her thigh with the other, “You’re mine, and I don’t care. None else here will either, and any hap you’re only,” he was muttering to himself for a few seconds, “thirty-three or so in our years, and you’ll still have to take turns making the leaf. You won’t avoid it by pleading advancet age. I’m not accepting that.”
Veronica’s laughter was cut short as his caressing fingers reached their goal, and after tracing her fingers in circles on his chest gradually moving ever downwards she knelt over him, just touching him, teasing his reaching manhood with her softth. They enjoyed the sensations for as long as they could stand it, and as Mast was reaching for her she allowed her knees to slide away and forced her weighth down. They had both been ready but Mast was much bigger than she had anticipated, and for the first time in her life she was grateful for rather than revolted by her easing moistth. His size and the consequent sudden pressure on them both before she started to relax her aching soerth(11) to accommodate him resulted in their immediate release. They remained without moving awhile, but both shaking. Eventually, Veronica started to cry, and she said through her tears, “All those wasted years.”
Mast reached for her breasts and gently stroking neath them said, “Tears for what can’t be helpt are wastet, Love, but we can make sure we don’t waste any of the future.” Mast continued to comfort her concerning her past till he had recovered, and then they rediscovered the comfort to be given and received by heeding the missionaries.
They spent the rest of the eve discussing the route and loads as far as they knew. Mast explained that though there were holdings far to the south of Southern holding now, it had acquired its name because it had been the first holding settled away from the Keep which it was to the south of.
“Mast, you said I was only thirty-three in your years how does that work?”
“Our years are longer than yours. We have four hundred and threeteen days in a year and time isn’t quite the same. Four of our years are nigh to five of yours. So if you’re fourty-two in your years take four fourty-twos, which is one hundred and sixty-eight, and split it into five which gives about thirty three and eight lunes.”
Veronica’s last words before finally falling asleep were, “Tell me again whom we shall be meeting at Southern holding tomorrow, and what we are delivering and loading there.”
3rd of Chent Day 6
As was his habit Cormorant put his head into the children’s bedchambers to tell them it was time to arise. He then added any who was in the kitchen within five minutes could cook flatcakes.(12)
Lucinda heard him telling the others, and when he put his head into her bedchamber and said the same to her she said, “I’ll be up, washed and dresst in two minutes.”
The children and Lucinda were all up within the five minutes and enjoyed cooking flatcakes for braekfast. Lucinda was happy to be treated the same as the others by Cormorant, and when he kissed the others as they left for the Greathall was just as happy to be kissed by him as she left with Camomile to meet with Meredith. Camomile said to her on their way, “Cormorant sees you as a daughter you know, and we should like to adopt you. He’s an understanding man, and he would be unhappy if you left us to go somewhere else. Please say yes.”
Lucinda who already felt a part of the family said, “I should like that. May I call you Mum and Dad like the others do?”
Camomile smiled and replied, “That will make us both happy, and your brother and sisters will like it too.”
Lucinda who was rapidly forgetting the more unpleasant details of the events at the incomer camp, as her mind readjusted her memories, and even more rapidly as a consequence was becoming a ten year old girl child of the Folk asked, “May I go with the others some time to the Greathall for dancing practice, Mum?”
Camomile smiled again, kissed her again and replied, “Of course you may, learning to dance properly is a very good idea.”
That Lucinda would be a child for longer than was normal Camomile considered would be of benefit to her. It would enable her to establish proper relationships with boys at a pace she could emotionally manage, and when dancing she would meet lots of boys and may hap even given time find a heartfriend. Despite her age, she was a girl and a long way from womanhood, and she wouldn’t be ready for relationships with men for a considerable time, but Camomile considered a heartfriend would be perfect, for Whisker was heartfriend to Chlochan, Murre was heartfrienden to eleven year old Snowberry and Florence had Blackstone in mind and was sure to be heartfrienden within a lune or two. The four girls and their heartfriends would doubtless spend a lot of time together which would aid Lucinda’s healing and she and her heartfriend would grow into a relationship with each other. Camomile pleased by her thoughts decided to have her agreän deal with the matter.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Jed had been to see Yellowstone with his dagger for advice on sharpening it. He’d already chased out the cobbs,(13) cleaned it and its scabbard and oiled them with saddlers’ tack oil. The rust had looked worse than it was and there was only one patch near the handle where it had been deep enough to form a shallow flake, which had come off easily with a bit of pressure. “It’s a decent piece of hard steel, Jed. It must be two hundred years old, for I recognise the maker mark as that of Frissom. She was a knife maker of renown and many of her knifes are still in service. I presume it’s the one Thresher left on the sill in the kennels?”
“I didn’t know Thresher left it, but that’s where I found it. Yes. This was with it, Yellowstone.”
“That’s an old sharpening stone, but it’s too worn to be of any use now, so I’ll have it crusht for the commodity crafters to use gluen on fabric as sandcloth.(14) I’ll give you some sandcloth of various grades, a coarse and a fine stone and a strop too to finish with. I’ll shew you how to use them, but that is a dangerous tool. It really needs hilt guards fitting, but Thresher wouldn’t hear of it. If you leave it with me I’ll have Francis fit them for you. As one of us there’ll be no charge.”
“Thank you, but no. I need it now, but I’ll bring it back later for them if I may?”
“Certainly. You’ll need to oil the handle again sometime as it will take time for the dryt leather rings to absorb it and swell to a comfortable fit in your hand, but tack oil is just what it needs and the scabbard too. I suppose that’s what it should be callt rather than a sheath, for being sharpent on both sides makes it a short weapon rather than a long belt knife.” Yellowstone shewed Jed how to take the edge back to shiny steel and to polish the rust off the blade with the coarse stone and sandcloth and how to refine the edge and its angle with the fine stone. He demonstrated the use of the strop but said, “Of course its bootless using the strop till you have the edge finisht with the fine stone. I suspect you’ve at least two two and a half hours to do yet before you need the strop. Once you have the edge to your satisfaction, oil it immediately, for an hour’s exposure to damp air will undo all your hard work, especially at the point. With an edgt tool the rule is simple, unless it’s in your hand, keep it oilt in its protective cover. It’s the same rule for them all be they scythe, chisel, knife or aught else even saws or arrow points. As I’m sure you will come to appreciate, it takes too much time and perseverance to create and maintain a good edge to lose it due to flaughtth(15) or ill chance.”
Jed spent three hours on his dagger and was delighted with the result.
Index of significant characters so far listed by Chapter
1 Introduction
2 Jacques de Saint d’Espéranche
3 The Folk and the Keep
4 Hwijje, Travisher, Will
5 Yew, Allan, Rowan,Siskin, Will, Thomas, Merle, Molly, Aaron, Gareth, Oak, Abigail, Milligan, Basil, Vinnek, Iris, Margæt, Gilla, Alsike, Alfalfa, Gibb, Happith, Kroïn, Mako, Pilot, Briar, Gosellyn, Gren, Hazel
6 Chaunter, Waxwing, Flame, João, Clansaver, Irune, Ceël, Barroo, Campion, Limpet, Vlæna, Xera, Rook, Falcon, Cwm, Sanderling, Aldeia, Catarina, Coast, Elixabete,
7Mercedes, Spoonbill
8 Lyllabette, Yoomarrianna
9 Helen, Duncan, Gosellyn, Eudes, Abigail
10 George/Gage, Iris, Waverley, Belinda
11 Marc/Marcy, Pol
12 George/Gage, Marcy, Freddy/Bittern, Weyland, Iris, Bling
13 Thomas, Will, Mercedes, Llyllabette, Yoomarrianna
14 Kyle, Thomas, Will, Angélique
15 Mercedes, Morgelle, Gorse, Thrift, George/Gage, Chris, Iris, Thrift, Campion
16 Bling
17 Waverley, Mr. E
18 George/Gage, Larch, Mari, Ford, Gorse, Morgelle, Luke, Erin
19 Will, Pilot, Yew, Geoge/Gage, Mari, Ford, Gosellyn, Cwm, Cerise, Filbert, Gareth, Duncan, Helen, Thomas, Iris, Plume, Campion, Pim, Rook, Falcon, João, Hare
20 Yew, Rowan, Will, Thomas, Siskin, Weir, Grayling, Willow
21 Brook, Harrier, Cherry, Abby, Selena, Borage, Sætwæn, Fiona, Fergal
22 Yew, Thomas, Hazel, Rowan, Gosellyn, Siskin, Will, Lianna, Duncan
23 Tench, Knawel, Claire, Oliver, Loosestrife, Bramling, George, Lyre, Janice, Kæn, Joan, Eric
24 Luke, Sanderling, Ursula, Gervaise, Mike, Spruce, Moss
25 Janet, Vincent, Douglas, Alec, Alice
26 Pearl, Merlin, Willow, Ella, Suki, Tull, Irena
27 Gina, Hardy, Lilac, Jessica, Teal, Anna
28 Bryony, Judith, Bronwen, Farsight
29 Muriel, Raquel, Grace
30 Catherine, Crane, Snipe, Winifred, Dominique, Ferdinand
31 Alma, Allan, Morris, Miranda
32 Dabchick, Nigel
33 Raquel, Thistle, Agrimony, Benjamin, Ian, Phœbe
34 Eleanor, Woad, Catherine, Crane
35 Muriel, Hail, Joan, Breve, Eric, Nell, Mayblossom, Judith, Storm
36 Selena,Sætwæn, Borage, Grace, Gatekeeper, Raquel, Thistle
37 Siân, Mackerel, Winifred, Obsidian
38 Carla, Petrel, Alkanet, Ferdinand
39 Dominique, Oxlip, Alma, Allan, Tress, Bryony
40 Agrimony, Benjamin, Ian, Ella, Kestrel, Judith, Storm
41 Ella, Kestrel, Tress, Bryony, Tunn, Whin, Plane
42 Weights & Measures and Sunrise & Sunset Times included in Ch 41
43 Ella, Kestrel, Serenity, Smile, Gwendoline, Rook, Tress, Bryony, Tunn, Whin, Plane, Sapphire, Mere
44 Pearl, Merlin, Rainbow, Perch, Joan, Breve, truth, Rachael, Hedger, Ruby, Deepwater
45 Janet, Blackdyke, Janice, Kæn, Ursula, Oyster
46 Janet, Gina, Alastaire, Joan, Breve, Truth, Bræth, Mayblossom, Judith, Storm
47 The Squad, Mercedes, Fen, Judith, Storm, Iola, Alwydd, Heidi, Rock, Stephanie, Matthew
48 Bronwen, Forest, Opal, Spice, Vincent, Kathleen, Niall, Bluebell, Sophie
49 Janice, Kæn, Ursula, Oyster, Imogen, Wryneck, Phœbe, Knapps
50 Erin, Nightjar, Eleanor, Woad
51 Gina, Jonas, Janet, Gerald, Patrick, Tansy, Craig, Barret, Ryan
52 Constance, Rye, Bling, Bullace, Berry, Jimmy, Leveret, Rory, Shelagh, Silas
53 Rachael, Hedger, Eve, Gilla, Mallard, Fiona, Fergal, Tinder, Nightingale, Fran, Dyker
54 Pamela, Mullein, Patricia, Chestnut, Lavinia, Ophæn, Catherine, Crane
55 Susan, Kingfisher, Janet, Gina, Jonas, Ruth, Kilroy, Judith, Storm, Iola, Alwydd, Heidi, Rock, Stephanie, Matthew
56 Gina, Jonas, Patricia, Chestnut, The Squad, Hazel, Janet, Blackdyke, Swift, Clover, Vetch, Mangel, Clary, Brendan
57 Erin, Nightjar, Xera, Josephine, Wels, Michelle, Musk, Swansdown, Tenor
58 Timothy, Axel, Nectar, Waverley,Yvette, Whitebear, Firefly, Farsight, Janet, Blackdyke, Swift, Clover, Vetch
59 Lilac, Firefly, Farsight, Lucinda, Gimlet, Leech, Janet, Blackdyke
60 Douglas, Lunelight, Yvette, Whitebear, Thrift, Haw, Harebell, Goosander, Judith, Storm, Iola, Alwydd, Heidi, Rock, Stephanie, Matthew, Matilda, Evan, Heron
61 Brendan, Clary, Chloë, Apricot, Llyllabette, Yoomarrianna, Otis, Harry, Gimlet, Leech, Jodie
62 Gimlet, Leech, Lark, Seth, Charles, Bruana, Noah, Kirsty, Shirley, Mint, Kevin, Faith, Oak, Lilly, Jason, Gem, Ellen
63 Honesty, Peter, Bella, Abel, Kell, Deal, Siobhan, Scout, Jodie
64 Heather, Jon, Anise, Holly, Gift, Dirk, Lilac, Jasmine, Ash, Beech, Ivy, David
65 Sérent, Dace, Opal, Spice, Vincent, Clarissa, Gorse, Eagle, Frond, Diana, Gander, Gyre, Tania, Alice, Alec
66 Suki, Tull, Buzzard, Mint, Kevin, Harmony, Fran, Dyker, Joining the Clans, Pamela, Mullein, Mist, Francis, Kristiana, Cliff, Patricia, Chestnut, Timothy, Axel, Nectar, Waverly, Tarragon, Edrydd, Louise, Turnstone, Jane, Mase, Cynthia, Merle, Warbler, Spearmint, Stonecrop
67 Warbler, Jed, Fiona, Fergal, Marcy, Wayland, Otday, Xoë, Luval, Spearmint, Stonecrop, Merle, Cynthia, Eorle, Betony, Smile
68 Pansy, Pim,Phlox, Stuart, Marilyn, Goth, Lunelight, Douglas, Crystal, Godwit, Estelle, Slimlyspoon, Lyre, George, Damson, Lilac
69 Honesty, Peter, Abel, Bella, Judith, storm, Matilda, Evean, Iola, Heron, Mint, Kevin, Lilac, Happith, Gloria, Peregrine
70 Lillian, Tussock, Modesty, Thyme, Vivienne, Minyet, Ivy, David, Jasmine, Lilac, Ash, Beech
71 Quartet & Rebecca, Gimlet & Leech, The Squad, Lyre & George, Deadth, Gift
72 Gareth, Willow, Ivy, David, Kæna,Chive, Hyssop, Birch, Lucinda, Camomile, Meredith, Cormorant, Whisker, Florence, Murre, Iola, Milligan, Yarrow, Flagstaff, Swansdown, Tenor, Morgan, Yinjærik, Silvia, Harmaish, Billie, Jo, Stacey, Juniper
73 The Growers, The Reluctants, Miriam, Roger, Lauren, Dermot, Lindsay, Scott, Will, Chris, Plume, Stacey, Juniper
Word Usage Key
Some commonly used words are below. Replace th on end of words with ness and t with d or ed and most of the rest are obvious if sounded out aloud. Some words with n or en on the end can be easily understood if the n is replaced by a d. Only difficult words and words that do not exist in English are now referred to specifically.
Agreän(s), those person(s) one has marital agreement with, spouse(s).
Bethinkt, thought.
Braekt, broke.
Doet, did. Pronounced dote.
Doetn’t, didn’t. Pronounced dough + ent.
Findt, found,
Goen, gone
Goent, went.
Heartfriend, a relationship of much more significance than being a girl- or boy-friend is on Earth. Oft such relationships are formed from as young as four and they are taken seriously by both children and adults. A child’s heartfriend is automatically one of their heartfriend’s parents’ children too, and a sibling to their heartfriend’s siblings. Such relationships rarely fail and are seen as precursors to becoming intendet and having agreement.
Lastdaysince, the day before yesterday.
Loes, lost.
Maekt, made.
Nextdaynigh, the day after tomorrow.
Sayt, said.
Taekt, took.
Telt, told.
Uest, used.
1 Cutt, cut, the past tense.
2 Willen, willed, wished, wanted.
3 How do you throw? A Folk expression asking if you are left or right handed.
4 Meant, in Folk it is pronounced mean+t, mi:nt.
5 Forgett, forgot.
6 Left thrower, one who is left handed. Likewise a right thrower is a right handed person.
7 Cousine, female cousin.
8 Deepcaltth, hypothermia.
9 Drinkn, drunk.
10 Raxt, raxed. This is a lessor, but common intransitive use of the verb. A vaginal tenderness, soreness or feeling of being over stretched after having had sex, oft uest in connection with having had sex with an unusually well endowed male, e.g. she feelt raxt.
11 Soerth, soreness.
12 Flatcakes, pancakes a thicker version of a crêpe.
13 Cobb(s), spider(s).
14 Sandcloth, fabric with sand, or other crushed stone, glued to it as an abrasive sheet or strip.
15 Flaughtth, stupidity.
Comments
Day 6
Following your previous section numbering system, should the first episode on Day 6, currently "00006220 - THANK YOU I APPRECIATE IT", be renumbered as 6010?
I like all of the episodes so far, please keep on writing.
Numbering
Indeed. I'll look at it and sort it out. Thank you for pointing it out.
Regards,
Eolwaen
Eolwaen