Word Usage Key is at the end. The brackets after a character eg CLAIRE (4nc) indicates Claire is a character who is 4 years old. nc indicates new character not encountered before.

29th of Towin Day 2

At his interview, the day after he arrived on Castle, Luke was introduced to Master luthier Gorse who was pleased to accept him as a colleague and suggested Luke shared his workshop, where they could share experience and techniques. Luke had been happy to accept. When his personal placement situation was explored, he remembered the woman police officer and what he considered had been a lost opportunity. He’d had the social conventions here explained to him, and he knew a lot of widows were seeking a husband. He was not a superstitious man, but he believed some things at least were fated to happen. The short conversation he had had with the woman seeking children followed on so immediately, in his mind at least, from his thoughts of the female officer the two events became linked.

He telt(1) Harp, who was interviewing, “I think sometimes things are meant to happen. I spoke for a few seconds to a woman of near my age, the first day I was here, near the big fire before daylight. She was seeking children with a line of others, and a young man found a child when we were speaking. I have no idea who she is, or if she’s seeking a husband, but if she is I should like to meet her.”

Harp nodded and said, “I shall discover who she is and her circumstances, and if she’s seeking a man I shall arrange for you to be introducet2 at the dinner thiseve.(3) What if she’s marryt,(4) or elsewise unavailable, Luke?”

Luke replied, “I can’t tell you why I should like to meet her, but something tells me she’s seeking a husband. If she’s not then I still should like to marry. I should like children, and I should be happy to marry a woman with or without children, but I have come to the realisation I do want children.”

When Sanderling had been approached by the Master at arms staff and telt they had a potential man for her she wasn’t surprised because she had registered as seeking a man with them some two lunes since. Her man, Wijatt, had been more than twenty years older than she, and he’d dien(5) from heart failure. What did surprise her was the potential husband was an incomer who had asked the Master at arms staff to locate specifically her. The idea Luke had of some things being meant to be intrigued her, and she went to the dinner to meet him in a favourable state of mind and kindly disposed towards him. They had been introduced, and she had noted he was a big man, but not a bulky one. He was dark with short hair and not particularly good-looking till he smiled, which he did readily. Luke saw a petite brunette with a slim figure with hair curling onto her shoulders and what he considered to be an attractive face.

Sanderling had asked Luke, “Why did you wish to meet me, Luke?”

He had telt her of his previous marriage, of seeing the female officer and wondering if she were married and then almost the next thing spaeking(6) to her, “I couldn’t help but think the events were connected somehow, so I asked to meet you if you were seeking a husband. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but that’s how it happened.”

Sanderling had been telt Luke was thirty-four and was a craft luthier, and she asked him, “Do you know aught of me, Luke?”

“Only your name and what I see which is a pretty woman of near my age.”

Sanderling smiled and telt him, “I’m thirty-eight and a healer. My previous man was twenty-four years older than I, and we were happy. He’d been taking herbs for a heart problem for years, and he dien from heart failure over a year over and left me with our three children. I am telt you would be happy to be a father to the children of a woman you marryt. Is that so?”

Luke nodded and said in explanation, “As I think you have been told, I have not had children before, and I didn’t have a relationship after my wife left that lasted long enough to consider a family, but I should like to have a family. I should, if possible, like to have some too. How do you feel regards that since you already have three?”

Luke hadn’t become accustomed to the large families of the Folk, and he thought a woman who had been through three pregnancies probably wouldn’t be inclined to become pregnant again just to satisfy his desire for children.

Sanderling not aware of that replied, “I’d be happy to have five or six more if it came to pass.” They went into dinner, and over dinner Sanderling asked him, “Luke, bethink(7) yourself we are moving towards agreement?”

Luke replied, “I don’t understand you, Sanderling. What do you mean?”

Sanderling expanded her previous question to say, “I am asking if you bethink you it probable we shall decide to marry, and if so, bethink you we shall do so thiseve? If you decide you would like to marry me then we are marryt because I have already maekt(8) my mind up.” Luke had been telt several times of the bluntth(9) and the speed of the Folks’ decision making when it came to these sorts of issues, but he was still taken aback by Sanderling’s question. He was staring at her face, and she asked him, “What are you looking at and thinking of, Luke?”

Luke had been thinking of how to reply, and in the end he said, “When I first met you I thought you had kissable lips, and I was looking at them. I was startled by your question. Things happen much more slowly where I come from, but as I told you I think some things are meant to be. Somehow I knew you were seeking a husband before I even knew who you were, and I think we were meant to marry.” He looked at Sanderling again and continued, “I want to marry you, Sanderling.”

Sanderling reached for his hand and said, “We can dance for an hour or two, Husband Luke, and then go back to my chambers, our chambers now, and you can satisfy yourself as to the kissability of my lips. I do by the bye like the sound of that particular activity. I presume you have little in the way of possessions?”

“Little other than my uniform and the clothes I’m wearing which I was given,” Luke replied.

He’d had to explain what a uniform was, and Sanderling said, “The fabric would be useful, but you need some more clothes. I’ll be able to help there. I’m sure the children will be fascinatet(10) by the idea of all the staff in one office(11) dresst(12) identically. They are by the bye with my mum and dad thisnight.(13) I bethinkt me it may be a good idea if I managt(14) to find a man to have the chambers to ourselfs.”(15)

She smiled a seductive smile at Luke who said, “A very good idea.”
They danced till nearly midnight and left, both eager to test the kissability of Sanderling’s lips.

29th of Towin Day 2

Thomas was observing Harp interview Ursula. Ursula rather ashaemtly(16) professed to no skills relevant to life on Castle. She had been, she explained, a receptionist-telephonist, a craft which uest(17) communication devices the Folk didn’t have. She said if she could find a man she were interested in she wished to marry and have a family. Harp suggested she thought on choosing a craft and gave her list with over two hundred different crafts on it.

As she was leaving, Thomas, who was reluctant to accept her self-evaluation because he couldn’t believe so intelligent and articulate a woman had naught to offer, asked her, “What have you done to have fun or as hobbies?”

“I was interested in historical reënactment. That’s probably why I never found a man. Most of them think it’s a bit weird.” Ursula was a little embarrassed by her disclosure.

“What did you do?” Harp asked. Like Thomas, she had no idea what Ursula was spaeking of.

“I didn’t do any of the fighting,” Ursula explained. “I made the bows and the arrows for the bowmen.”

“You are a bowyer and a fletcher‽” Thomas had asked incredulously of this woman who claimed no skills.

“Yes, it’s not difficult, though it is time consuming to make good bows. I can shape a bow from a single piece or two limbs. I have even made modern compound bows with sights. Arrows are easy if you have the head, but I can forge and file arrowheads myself if something unusual is required.”

Harp asked Ursula to wait whilst she sent Hornbeam, who had just returned from escorting Joan back to Molly, to instruct a runner to request a workshop Master from the huntsman’s office to spare them a little time. A short while later Mistress Haven was shewn into the chamber. Within two minutes, she had offered Ursula a craft as a bowyer with the huntsmen. Ursula accepted and was finding it hard to believe what she had done for fun was to be a way of life for her.

Harp turning to personal placements telt her, “We have on our books a thirty-three year old man seeking a wife. He is Oyster, and he makes bow strings. I bethink me you will like him. Would you like me to arrange an introduction at the dinner dance thiseve?”

Ursula replied, “Yes, very much. At least he won’t think I’m weird.”

29th of Towin Day 2

Yew had gone into the chamber where Duncan was chairing the meeting assisted by Daphne, a young woman in her late twenties. Howell Master roper was also there. Gervaise an man of sixty-five was in the process of annotating a drawing of a mechanism he’d drawn on a sheet of heavy paper with Howell looking excitedly over his shoulder. “Yes,” Howell was saying, “I can see how it works. With the ratchet head to take up the completet(18) rope, more of those supporting things, and the traveller, and a lot of apprentices to ease it all along we could make ropes long enough to span the Arder. A new set of ropes for the ferry with far fewer splices to run through the pulleys would make it much easier to pull the ferry across the river, and I bethink me that should be our first major project using these new ideas, Gervaise. I bethink me your ideas are a little advancet(19) for the junior apprentices, but the Masters and the senior apprentices would be interestet.(20) Would you like to craft with us and oversee the making of our first rope walk?”

“Yes, I should,” Gervaise said slowly before adding, “but I do not have the stamina once I had. Laying up a rope suitable for a river ferry is a lot of heavy work.”

“That’s what apprentices are for, my friend, to do all the hard work. All you have to do is tell them what to do.” The two men laught, and Gervaise was much happier knowing that his limitations due to his age were appreciated.

“Why did you not join the elders, Gervaise? You are certainly eligible, and it would have maekt your life easier,” asked Duncan.

Gervaise taekt his time replying, but he eventually said, “It is not particularly good to be old where I came from, and I suppose I have deliberately not thought of myself in those terms and it has become a habit.”

Duncan nodded to Daphne to continue, and she asked, “What would you prefer in terms of a family placement, Gervaise?”

“I understand a little of your customs. My wife died a long time ago, and I don’t want to remarry, but I left a lot of grandchildren behind and the loss hurts. I should like to be with children. Is that possible?”

“Any of us would offer you a family place unless you chose not, grandparents are always in great demand,” Howell telt him. “You can be adoptet(21) into a family as a grandfather, even as an extra grandfather. Our children have no objection to being spoilt by three grandfathers. My thinking is they’re all opportunists at that age.”

“They are no different where I come from,” said Gervaise smiling. “Yes, I should like that.”

“There’s a social gathering thiseve in the Greathall. If you like? I shall introduce you to some possible candidates, all in my craft of course,” Howell said with a smile.

Gervaise laught and replied, “Of course, and yes I should like that, thank you.” Realising that the meeting was over he stood, and as he left said, “I look forward to this evening, sorry thiseve.”

Yew looked at Howell and then Duncan and Daphne questioningly. Howell sighed and said, “Naught to it, we already have everything we need. We should have deviest(22) it ourselfs over a hundred years over,” he sighed again, “but we didn’t, and we shall develop it much faster with Gervaise. It will give him a craft placement, even though he doesn’t need one at his age. I’ll introduce him to Sable and Hawk. They’re seeking a grandparent to help with the children and feel more of a family. Neither has any living parents.”

Yew looked at Daphne again, and she said, “He’s a kind old man who’s still bereft by the loss of his grandchildren, but I bethink me Sable and Hawk are an ideal solution, Yew.”

29th of Towin Day 2

Yew was watching Duncan chair, assisted by Daphne, the meeting of Spruce Master plumber, a heavily built man in his late forties of ruddy complexion with short, fair hair and huge hands with fingers like half grown cumbers,(23) and Mike, the newfolk sanitation engineer, what ever that was, who was the antithesis of Spruce being pale as milk, as thin a lath with long dark hair and twenty or so.

Mike was describing a device to Spruce with sketches on paper. “You push the lever here, which lifts the plunger here, which primes the siphon, over the water goes, down this pipe here, taking everything with it around the stink trap u-bend here, leaving the trap full of clean water, simple. Of course there are a few different designs, but the principle’s similar in them all.”

“Clever!” said Spruce. “You’re right it is simple. What do you make the base of?”

“Anything at all, as long as it’s watertight. Lead’s been used, at one time potters made ’em in plaster moulds from liquid slip clay. Not my trade, craft that is, so I don’t know too much about it.”

“What of the waste pipe?” asked Spruce.

“Same again, minimum diameter of four inch, this much,” he said demonstrating with his first fingers and thumbs. “It needs a minimum of fall to get the stuff away though.”

The two craftsmen would have carried on all day. Duncan attracted Spruce’s attention who promptly said whilst looking at Mike, “If Mike wills it he’s a craft placement.”

“Right,” said Mike.

Duncan started on the explanation concerning a personal placement. Mike cut him off quietly but firmly, “I’m not ready for a wife and children. I know most of the Folk of my age are, but I didn’t grow up here and I’m not. I don’t know what I’m going to do, because I know I have to have something,” he looked helplessly at the others, suddenly seeming much younger than when he had been confidently expounding his craft.

“You mayn’t be ready for a wife, but you need a family and a home. You would be well come to live with us. As a son, I mean,” Spruce explained. “We shouldn’t be able to spaek(24) of craft at home though. Moss is firm on that.”

Mike didn’t know what to say because it was a solution he hadn’t considered, in spite of having had it explained to him twice. This didn’t happen at his age where he had come from, so it hadn’t sunk in. He realised this was real and the older man was doing his best for him, and he felt had to say something soon. The others were more appreciative of his predicament than he realised, and Yew said, “Take your time, Mike.”

Mike’s brain began to function again after another half minute or so, and he said, “Yes, thank you.”
Spruce grinned at him and said, “You can call me Dad if you will, but you’d better call Moss Mum, or she’ll be ill pleast.”(25)

Mike found it hard to comprehend he’d been accepted into the family and Spruce’s wife didn’t even know of it yet. Everybody else seemed to think nothing of it which did make it look a bit better. When they all said, “Well come to the Folk, Mike,” the reality of it all came home to him. What he’d left behind wasn’t much, and the future did seem better than it had looked only a few days ago.

Spruce pushed him towards the door and said, “Come on, Son, we’ve some repair work to do for Milligan, and the day’s adwindling.”(26) With that they left.

Duncan, who was aware Daphne knew Moss, asked, “Daphne?”

Daphne laught and said, “Moss is a friend of Mum’s. She never had any children and will be happy at Spruce adopting Mike. She’s a lovely woman who manages Spruce’s life for him which is fortunate for him as he is hopelessly disorganiest(27) at all not connectet(28) with his craft.” As another thought came to her she laught again before adding, “Mike may bethink himself he is not ready for a wife, but from the moment his mum meets him she’ll be seeking the mother of her grandchildren and like his dad he’ll do as he’s telt.”

Yew said, “It’s a good result. We’re making progress,” as like the plumbers he left.

Word Usage Key

1 Telt, told.
2 Introducet, introduced.
3 Thiseve, this evening.
4 Marryt, married.
5 Dien, died.
6 Spaeking, speaking.
7 Bethink, to think is unusually conjugated in Folk.
8 Maekt, made.
9 Bluntth, bluntness.
10 Fascinatet, fascinated.
11 Office, in this context best translated as profession.
12 Dresst, dressed.
13 Thisnight, tonight.
14 Managt, managed.
15 Ourselfs, ourselves.
16 Ashaemtly, ashamedly.
17 Uest, used.
18 Completet, completed.
19 Advancet, advanced.
20 Interestet, interested.
21 Adoptet, adopted.
22 Deviest, devised.
23 Cumber, cucumber.
24 Spaek, speak.
25 Pleast, pleased.
26 The day’s adwindling (or awaning), Folk expressions meaning the time is getting on.
27 Disorganiest, disorganised.
28 Connectet, connected.