28th of Towin Day1

The Mother was still climbing in the mid-summer Castle sky, and she had taken the chillth(1) off both the air and the ground, but it was still a cool day, and everything in the shade was still rimed in hoarfrost. Even at the latitude of the Keep, a bit nearer the pole than the equator, and with the moderating effect of its coastal position and the geothermal heat that warmed the Arder, the temperature rarely rose above fifteen heats [c. 15°C, 59°F, 12°R] in midsummer, and it froze every night, despite nearly twenty-one and a half hours of daylight.

Master storekeeper Thorn and Geoffrey waggon Master, with dozens of volunteers, had finished erecting the tents and windbraeks(2) which were currently sheltering the incomers. Master smith Oak had finished setting up the camp’s cooking and heating fires. Mistress miner Petal and her apprentices had provided a water supply and Harris Master well digger had supervised the digging of the latrines which had been provided with sheltering screening. The seaburn,(3) brought by Geoffrey’s crafters from the Keep supply, had been heaped conveniently nearby the temporary cooking facilities. There was a mountain of freshly cut and split wood next to it, courtesy of Jacob the forester, his sons and the numerous volunteers who had split what they had cut.

There was freshly dresst(4) game hanging nearby, courtesy of Will the huntsman’s squads, with more still to come. Mistress cook Abigail, the cooks’ apprentices and the volunteers who arrived to help had taken charge of the cooking fires, the fuel, the water, the game and the enormous pile of food sent from the Keep. Six cavernous soup kettles were bubbling away, and constantly being dipped into and replenished, along with another two in use for leaf.

Master cook Eudes, a peevish character at best, the Master soup cook normally in charge of soup making was childishly feeling belittled because Abigail, who though one of Milligan’s managers was not his manager, had assumed responsibility, and he’d returned to his bed. Unbeknownst to him had he started to craft alongside her she’d had every intention of leaving all to him and returning to the Keep to assist Milligan. There was a continuous supply of food being prepared, to feed both the folk assisting at the camp and the two hundred or so incomers remaining there. That none had dien(5) of deepcaltth(6) was due to happenstance, for it had been a particularly cold and windy night for the time of year.

Many of Milligan’s significant cooks, and those who thought like they, were overseeing the preparation of emergency hot food to be served in the Refectory for the many hundreds of folk assisting with the incursion. Milligan realised the incursion was going to clearly divide the kitchen staff in the eyes of the Folk into those who truly lived by the Way and those who did not, and he was not happy that it was going to create even more discord in the kitchens than he and his managers currently had to cope with. It was lucky for him he was not yet aware of Eudes’ childishth(7) which given the circumstances may have caused him to take actions he’d have subsequently regretted.

The twenty-odd elderly, sixty or so children and the two nursing mothers who had arrived with them, were now safe in the Keep. The incomers at the camp, some of who had been dresst in flimsy night clothes, had been provided with clothing and blankets sufficient to keep them warm. All had eaten at least one hot meal with as much leaf as they could hold, but many were exhausted and dosing. The first batch of leaf which had been brewed with calming herbs to help them over the disorientation of their sudden removal to Castle, of which none were able to provide them with any explanation as to either the how or the why of it, had had no effect on the Folk, other than provide them with a hot drink, but it maekt the already exhausted incomers even more sleepy.

Gosellyn, who, as the Mistress healer, was in overall charge of the weäl(8 )of the incomers, was thinking of all that and much more. The initial phase had been successful, very successful indeed. No losses due to the caltth,(9) nor belike(10) to be any, and the Folk always appreciated more Folk. The issues now were more complicated than survival, they were now of placement. How many of these three hundred or so incomers would fail to become placed she wondered. The archives indicated somewhere between ten and twenty out of three hundred would be a typical figure for those who didn’t become Folk.

They would perish, most of caltth, hunger or self neglect because of their inability or unwillingth(11) to join the Folk, possibly a few as a result of their addictions to substances not available on Castle, and some as a result of their criminal behaviour on Castle at the arrows or knifes(12) of the huntsman’s office, but it was impossible to predict. The earliest incursions recorded, four and five centuries over,(13) had had few if any losses, but in some later than that all had perished, but for different reasons. The persons in incursions had always been variable, and there never had been such a thing as a typical incursionist, though unless it were beneficial or inimical to life on Castle the Folk were not interested in what incomers had done before incursion, if they became placed and lived by the Way then they were of the Folk, and that was all that mattered.

Gosellyn thought of the meeting she had just had with the pregnant women, twenty-two of them in all, some of them not yet adults by the Castle Way which considered a child to become adult at fourteen, which she knew was nigh to seventeen years and eleven lunes by Earth’s calender. She’d had more success than failure, but no more than any other member of the Folk did she like the idea of losing folk. Still there was time to try again. Nine of the younger women wouldn’t accept they were not still on Earth, and insisted they were returned home immediately threatening all sorts of repercussions, most of which meant naught to Gosellyn.

They kept raving of suing for kid napping. Gosellyn wasn’t impressed. She had no interest in the sleeping habits of young goats, didn’t understand what it had to do with the situation any hap and thinking suing must have some connection with needles and thread, but couldn’t see its relevance to current events or even the sleeping habits of young goats, couldn’t be bothered to ask for further explanation. In the end, she had asked the guardians to escort the nine away awhile, so she could have calmer spaech with the others. The nine ended having to be removed forcibly, screaming and shouting of even more things Gosellyn couldn’t be bothered trying to understand.

She’d had no sleep for nearly two days, having been on night duty lasteve(14) in the infirmary dealing with three cases involving miners with life threatening injuries prior to being summoned to Yew’s pre-dawn incursion Council meeting, to which she had sent her apologies in order to inform her senior crafters concerning her critical patients and subsequently supervise her office’s management of the incursion herself. Despite her highly competent colleagues, who rapidly taekt(15) over the care to the injured miners, the young, the elderly and various other aspects of the incursion, the infirmary still had its normal functions to fulfil, patients had to be cared to, the midwifes(16) still had babes to birth,(17) the dieing(18) still had to have their passing easen(19) and she had been working hard ever since.

The remaining pregnant women, who were nearly all somewhat older, one of who wasn’t shewing yet, but she’d said she had missed two lunetimes,(20) were much more reasonable, if somewhat frightened. Many had had the support and love of a man and a family prior to their incursion, and several had left children behind them. Most were tearful when it finally sank in they were here, their menfolk and families were not, and there was no undoing it.

“You are mothers to be.” Gosellyn had explained, “To the Folk, both you and your unbirtht(21) are precious. Don’t be surpriest(22) if you receive an offer of marriage from someone you have never met before, and don’t reject it out of hand. Say you will consider it, and then have spaech(23) with one of us or a member of the Master at arms office if you need advice. We have a lot of men who loes(24) their wife to the fevers a year over. Their year of mourning is now over, and many are seeking a wife and a mother for their children. Your pregnancy makes you very attractive and desirable as a wife to our men, and you will be well come to their families, kin, clan and kith. The Folk value a mother and her children.”

She had explained of adoption as practised by the Folk, and had tried to explain of placement knowing they wouldn’t really understand, possibly owing to her tireth(25) as well as her inability to explain such a complex matter. She wished Aaron or Campion were here to explain it to them. The women did understand for them, placement may be a matter of life or deadth.(26) She asked them to bethink themselfs of their skills, explaining what they may consider to be just a hobby may be a craft on Castle that would provide them with a livelihood. She had found the word hobby and the concept in the archives. She telt(27) them of Anna Mistress candler and wife to Thomas the Master at arms.

She explained of Quarterdays, and that the next was in four days. Finally, she had explained how being one of the Folk gave a placement, and how that was essentially a matter of wishing to be one of the Folk, which implied commitment, care and contribution. “If you willingly do what you can and you have a care to the Folk the Folk will have a care to you, but I know for some this is difficult to understand.”

As near as she could work out Helen thought she was ten weeks pregnant. She was a medium highth, dark haired, attractive woman of twenty-eight. She had been seeing Jenson for six months when she missed her first period. She hadn’t planned on motherhood, and it was a shock. She had assumed it had happened when she had changed over from one type of contraceptive pill to another. It was her first pregnancy, and she wasn’t surprised when Jenson disappeared when she informed him. He was an amusing man to go out with, but she had always admitted to herself he was a bit of a tosser really, incapable of taking anything seriously, which was why she’d so much fun with him.

She had contemplated a termination, but come to no conclusion other than she suspected she would not be able to go through with it, and if she were going to be a mother she was definitely better off without Jenson. She worked in a small city via an agency as an office temp. The pay was reasonable and she preferred the variety of her job rather than having a full time one doing the same things all the time in the same office. She rented a decent flat in a pleasant neighbourhood, but she’d no idea of what she was going to do with the rest of her life. The prospect of temping for forty years had no appeal, but there was nothing else she could do without retraining, and she had no idea what she would like to retrain as. She was a good cook and enjoyed baking, but the money in that line of work was notoriously poor.

Then she arrived on Castle pregnant, but not yet looking like it. When Margæt, who said she was a midwife, had explained to the women that if any who were pregnant or had been nursing would follow her she would be able to arrange for their care, and that of their babe too, she had happily followed her wondering what sort of medical system the Folk had. She telt Gosellyn when she was explaining of Castle and the Folk to the the thirteen of them, “I didn’t plan this baby,” she hastily corrected herself, “babe. It’s my first. The father disappeared as soon as he knew I was pregnant. I think I’m ten weeks, that’s two and a half lunes. It wasn’t much of a life I had. I’m glad to be here. How can I help?”

“I take it you know little of the care requiert(28) to babes?” asked Gosellyn, who considered her attitude to be an auspicious start.

“Next to nothing.”

“Would you like to assist and learn in the crèche?”

“Yes, I should, I should like that.”

“How would you like to be naemt?”(29) Gosellyn asked her. “You may choose a new name if you like you know. A new name for a new beginning.”

“No, I don’t think so. My name is Helen. I was always called all sorts of versions of it I didn’t like, but I like Helen. It is me and I don’t want to become someone else.”

“Well come to the Folk, Helen.” All of the women were stunned.

“Just like that‽” gasped Helen. “I thought you said it was difficult to become one of the Folk.”

“It can be for those who don’t have aught of the Folk inside them already, but the Folk are essentially good, kind and have a care to all. If you are too then you are essentially Folk,” Gosellyn said.

One by one each of the women asked what she could do to help. They didn’t really understand that because they desired to contribute the Folk would accept them, simply because each had opened her own account of debts owing and owed. That their pregnancies were sizeable deposits in those accounts was something that would take them some time to understand. Gosellyn asked them to wait a few minutes and went to the tent doorway, where she asked a runner of the Master at arms staff to fetch a senior member of his office who could spare them some time. A few minutes later, Duncan, a tall, lean and spare looking man of sombre and serious demeanour arrived. Duncan was one of Thomas’ personal assistants. “What can I do for you, Gosellyn?” he asked.

“I have threeteen(30) new members of the Folk here,” Gosellyn informed him.

“You haven’t wastet(31) any time, Gosellyn, but how may I help you?” Duncan asked again, smiling.

“Helen here has a placement working with the incomer babes, a bit of practice before she has her own.”

Duncan looked intently at Helen. “Congratulations on both your placement and on your babe, Helen.”

Helen was a little flattered and taken aback by the intensity of Duncan’s interest in her and muttered, “Thank you.”

“These other women are seeking to aid us, and I askt(32) for one of your office as I am sure you know better than I what aid is needet(33) and where. I deem it unnecessary they go to Thomas’ meeting since they have already joint(34) the Folk.” Gosellyn said the last more as an explanation for the women than any other reason.

“I agree concerning the meeting,” Duncan responded, “and if we go to the Keep, we can have all organiest(35) tightly(36) within the hour. I shall escort you myself as I need to return any hap. Have I to take you to the crèche, Helen?”

“That would be kind, thank you,” replied Helen.

“I am pleast(37) for all of you, and for us too,” Gosellyn said, looking at each of them briefly in turn. “No doubt I shall see you at the eve meal in the Keep. Whilst times(38) I’ll try again with those nine stubborn young women.”

“Won’t we be coming back here to eat?” Kathleen, one of the older women, asked.

“Certainly not, completely ill meet,”(39) replied Duncan seriously. “This camp is for incomers. You are now Folk. Whilst times, we’ll settle you in chambers in the Keep.” As Duncan escorted the women to the Keep, Gosellyn asked the guardian outside if he and his squad would kindly bring the nine young women they had taken away back again.

“Spiritet(40) aren’t they?” Tull said with a grin. Gosellyn smiled, but didn’t reply, and she sat down to wait for what she felt was going to be another waste of time.

Notes on Word Usage

1 Chillth, chilliness or chill.
2 Windbraeks, wind breaks.
3 Seaburn, sea coal.
4 Dresst, dressed.
5 Dien, died.
6 Deepcaltth, hypothermia.
7 Childishth. Childishness.
8 Weäl, Well being.
9 Caltth, cold.
10 Belike, likely.
11 Unwillingth, unwillingness.
12 Knifes, knives.
13 Four and five centuries over, four and five centuries ago. Over and since are both uest for ago which is not uest. Over tends to be uest for events further back than a few years and since for more recent events, but they are uest interchangeably.
14 Lasteve, yesterday evening.
15 Taekt, taken.
16 Midwifes, midwives.
17 Birth, deliver.
18 Dieing, dying.
19 Easen, eased.
20 Lunetimes, menstrual peiods.
21 Unbirtht, unborn.
22 Surpriest, surprised.
30 Threeteen, thirteen.
31 Wastet, wasted.
32 Askt, asked.
33 Needet, needed.
34 Joint, joined.
35 Organiest, organised.
36 Tightly, can mean soundly, properly, well or effectively depending on the context.
37 Pleast, pleased.
38 Whilst times, Folk construction equivalent to in the meantime or in the meanwhile.
39 Ill meet, inappropriate.
40 Spiritet, spirited.