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

Alma was nineteen, pretty, nearly nine months pregnant, having difficulty walking and permanently tired. Right from the beginning, she had been much bigger than any of the other women as far along as she at her ante-natal class, and she was certain she had never seen a woman as big as she was now. She used to work in a book shop, and Frances, a friend there, had told her she’d been large enough when pregnant to rest a cup and saucer on her bump in perfect safety without any other means of support. Alma had laughingly said, “I should be able to too, but my boobs are now so big there’d be no room for the saucer.” She had thought her babe’s father was going to support her, but he’d left her for another woman when she was five months pregnant which hadn’t done her confidence any good.

Now on Castle, she missed Frances and the other women she uest(1) to work with, even if the job hadn’t paid much. She had a temporary placement making babe clothes with the seamstresses, and after her babe was birtht(2) was going to be an apprentice weaver. She was aware she needed to find a man and settle, or life wouldn’t be easy. She was seeking a man, but she needed a relationship where she could feel equal in status to her man. She knew she would be unhappy and not feel comfortable in a relationship where there was a significant imbalance in status. All of the dozen or so men who had expressed interest in her had been older than she and of elevated status. They had behaved impeccably by Folk standards, but to her they had all seemed a little pushy, and had intimidated her.

She had gone for lunch in the Refectory, and a young man had asked her, “Would you like to sit down, Mistress, and allow me to bring your lunch for you?”

She was tired, so she replied, “Thank you. I should be grateful. My feet hurt, and I can’t wait to be returned to my normal shape and weight. I should like the roast cockerel with po…starchroots(3) and salad please.” Alma blushed and said, “I can’t help eating so much. I never did before the baby.”

He smiled and said, “I’ll bring you some soup too.”

She was grateful to be able to sit down, and when he came back with her lunch he sat down with her. He was eating three small chops, maybe veal she thought, with some kind of root vegetable, and what looked to be broccoli and sauce. He telt her, “I am Allan, and I am a huntsman guardian.”

She in turn telt him, “My name is Alma. I am working with the seamstresses at the moment making baby clothes, but after my baby is born I shall be an apprentice weaver. I know, at nineteen, I am a little old to be an apprentice, but they don’t mind, and I don’t.”

Allan telt her, “I am seventeen and have been with the huntsmen for nearly four years now.” Allan was taken with Alma, and though shy he couldn’t take his eyes off her hugely pregnant figure. Alma aware of his reaction and his embarrassment thought it sweet. Allan asked her, “Are you going to the dinner dance thiseve,(4) Alma?”

“Yes, but though I doubt if I shall be doing any dancing.”

“I should be honourt(5) if you would go with me.”

“Thank you. I’d like that.”

They finished their meal and Allan said, “I will some of the steamt(6) dryt(7) fruit pudding with sauce. I’ll bring you a portion.” Grateful Alan understood she just smiled.

They arranged to meet at her chamber because she telt him, “If I’m going to the dinner dance thiseve, I really have to have some rest before I go.” After finishing lunch, Allan escorted her back to her chamber, and she said, “Till thiseve at half past seven.” Seeing his look of puzzlement she said, “That’s half to eight.”

When Allan had gone she undresst(8) and looking hard at her hugely pregnant shape in the mirror, which in profile looked too grotesquely distended to her to be real, she wondered what it was with pregnancy that so attracted the men of the Folk. She smiled thinking perhaps it was lucky for her it did. She went to bed to rest before the eve’s activities, but she couldn’t sleep, her mind kept seeing Allan’s face embarrassed at being so obvious in his attempts not to look at her pregnant stomach and breasts, attempts at which he continually failt(9).

Two hours later she had decided she wished to marry Allan. He was kind, badly smitten with her and didn’t intimidate her, if anything, it was the other way berount.(10) She knew she would feel comfortable married to him. That she could make him comfortable and keep his interest she didn’t doubt.

29th of Towin Day 2

At his initial interviews Morris had explained the differences between, a slaughterman, which he was, and a butcher, which he was not. He had also telt the interviewers he was a talented painter of portraits and a reasonable painter of animals. He had explained he’d been a happily married man for over twenty years, but his wife had dien(11) six years since, and his four children had one by one left his home to set up their own. He had considered marrying again after the children had left, but he hadn’t done anything. He was forty-seven and looked ten years younger due to a full head of short, but thick, dark hair with no visible signs of gray. A pleasant, small man with a powerful and dominating look to him he had a constant and natural smile, and he had said he would like to marry again.

Nextday,(12) Morris was interviewed by Duncan and Daphne observed by Hazel, and he was spaeking(13) with Milligan. Milligan was explaining to Morris he was desperately in need of a butcher of large beasts prepared to train others to braek(14) them down, and he’d asked to have spaech(15) with any who had any skills that could be helpful. He telt Morris due to deadth(16) and retirement due to ill health his butchers were down to crafters who had rarely done more than prepare meat for the meat cooks, the last stage of butchery, and Redstart, a willing and intelligent apprentice who no longer had even a de facto craft Master to train her.

He explained, he had managed to persuade Ivana, a young woman who had crafted as a meat preserver with the provisioners, to join the butchers, and provide what training she could for Redstart. Ivana was capable of dressing and preparing small game, poultry, sheep, and even gris(17) and smaller deer, but she was unhappy to continue doing so, and she wished to return to the provisioners because the other members of the office, whom he did not consider to be butchers, were making her life miserably difficult. He could not afford to lose her, and he desperately needed someone who could butcher big animals: mammoth, kine, aurochs, winter-elk, bear and large fish: shark, ray and sturgeon, as well as the odd large marine mammal. Ivana was only twenty-four, and though, if necessary, he was prepared to make her the Mistress butcher, he considered she was not a forceful enough character to manage the challenging office without considerable support, which, if needs must, he was willing to provide, but it would not be an ideal solution to his problems.

He had, he explained, for number of years, been making desperate enquiries with the hunters and those who lived far from the Keep with a view to finding someone who could provide some rudimentary training for his staff and help him to organise the butchery office. He admitted the butchery section of the kitchens had been an undisciplined mess for years, and recognising Morris as a man of powerful personality, he had telt him that he had a need of a Master butcher with the personality to compel the butchery crafters to do what was required of them before the matter was taken out of his hands by either the Council or the Folk, both of which could possibly mean dead crafters. He looked at Morris with hope in his eyes and asked, “Is there any chance I could tempt you to the craft, Morris? Because if it suitet(18) you, you would be the Master butcher in charge of all my butchers with commensurate remuneration. You would have to be the Master butcher because you would be the only butcher in the kitchens able to deal with large beasts. However you decidet(19) to handle your staff, I and my managers would give you our total support because the situation is so desperate. I should consider you to be of more import than any other in the office, and should you decide the butchers’ office would be better run without someone then she needs find another placement.”

Morris, who had realised over the last two days there could be no full time craft of slaughterman on Castle, had already wondered how he could turn his skills to useful account, and recognising Milligan’s situation, replied, “As I told you, Milligan, as a slaughterman, I understand the principles of butchering a large beast down to quarters and may be a quarter of that, and I had many years of military experience doing so with many different large beasts before being promoted beyond that. That means, not only am I able to break large beasts down to pieces a man can handle, but I have been a man of command, and I shall have no problems handling subordinate staff. They will do as I tell them, or indeed they will need to find another job, which will not be my problem, but theirs and possibly yours. I will have no insubordinate staff working for me. However, I have no experience of butchering down to joints or steaks. If you have any one who could give me some practical help there I should very much like to accept your offer, as long as my limitations are recognised, and I should be given time to learn. I shall also require some time to paint.”

Milligan recognised in Morris an almost perfect solution to his problems with the butchers. Though he understood not Morris’ references to military experience, or being promoted beyond that, he understood that Morris was a man who was able to deal with a large number of subordinate crafters, and so he telt Morris, “If you would take the charge of the initial butchering of large animals down to quarters, and then to handleable pieces for the next few lunes, Zena and Trefoil would be willing to provide any additional practical help you need to widen your skills in return for your help to learn how to braek down large beasts. The rest of your office you may deal with as you consider befitting, but I ask for you to give Zena and Trefoil some consideration because they have done their utmost to help the butchers.” Milligan though for a second before continuing, “It would be part of your craft to train Ivana and Redstart, and Zena and Trefoil too, to handle initial large carcass braekdown(20) and any other I can find wishing to so craft, Morris. I would appreciate it if you would allow Zena and Trefoil to advance as cooks too because they have been more than helpful in the past, and deserve some reward. Is there aught you would need to help your office to advance?”

Morris didn’t hesitate and replied “No. I learnt from watching and being told what to do next. It is a practical skill that can only be learnt by doing it. I am willing to help those who you say have helped the butchers to the best of their ability, and I don’t doubt it will be obvious to me who they are.”

Milligan smiled, and continued “This will make every one’s lifes(21) easier in the kitchens. You would have time aplenty to take what ever you needet(22) for your cross craft painting. It is the initial braekdown of large beasts and fish where I am most desperate. Occasionally a whale is stranden(23) and dies on the sandy beaches of the north coast of Samar Isle. One of the fishing boats tows it back to the Keep before it spoils, and we do what we can, but it can’t be callt(24) butchery. Have you any experience with large fish, Morris?”

“I had a very misspent youth,” Morris replied, “mostly poaching fish. That’s illegally taking fish that belonged to someone else who didn’t bother with them till someone else did. A fish is a fish irrespective of size. I could break down and fillet a fifteen foot shark, a ten foot diameter ray or a five foot salmon for you with no problems at all, as long as someone else could butcher it into joints or portions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sturgeon, but they’re just fish. I don’t understand why a whale should be a problem. In any case they’re not fish. They’re more like seals and I’ve dealt with one of a few tons, that’s a few thousand weights. As I said, as long as my limitations are understood, and I am given some training to butcher into smaller pieces I should be glad to accept the offer.”

Milligan smiled and offered his hand. They shook hands and Milligan said, “Well come to the Keep kitchens, Master butcher Morris.” Morris and Milligan shook hands again and Milligan, a happy man indeed, left relieved he and his managers were no longer going to have to be permanently solving butchery staff problems. He was looking forward to telling his butchers and Crook and his meat cooks they would no longer have to struggle with the large carcasses delivered to them by the kine crafters, huntsmen and fishermen, and to telling Ivana, Zena, Redstart, Trefoil and the more coöperative members of the butchers of their future training and subsequent advancement. Even more he was looking forward to telling his managers of their new Master butcher’s character. He had no doubts as to Morris’ ability to manage the difficult members of the butchers, and what ever Morris decided he would support him because it was in the interests of the Folk that he did so.

After Milligan had left a junior entered and announced, “Miranda is here to discuss painting.”

“Shew her in,” Duncan telt her. The junior escorted Miranda in. Miranda may have been fifty, but she looked no more than forty. She was a generously built woman who dresst(25) to understate her womanhood,(26) and she was a passionate painter of landscapes. She had spent years travelling with the waggoners painting some of the most spectacular sights yet discovered on Castle. Her paintings were so highly regarded all of the waggoners had willingly and for no charge taken her to wherever she wished. They had shewn her sights in the main only they had ever seen just because, in return, she would paint something for them, oft using their waggons as her canvass during their journeys. Some of her huge paintings of the Far North Glacier hung in the Greathall and they were truly awe inspiring works. The one of the glacier illuminated by the Castle lights(27) which dominated the wall facing the main entrance had impressed Morris beyond words.

She ignored all of the Master at arms staff and asked as she entered, “Why do you paint, Morris?”

Morris, in no way unsettled by the question or its abruptth,(28) replied, “With portraits it’s because I have to. I see the portrait of the sitter in my head, and I have to paint it the way I see it. If the sitter doesn’t like it I don’t care. If that’s what I see then that’s what I paint. With animals it is different. I sometimes paint them many times before I am satisfied with the work. Why?”

“It is of no significance at all why you paint. What is of significance is you know why you paint. Have they askt(29) you of personal placements yet?”

“Not here, but I told the interviewers yesterday I wanted to marry, but I’d done nothing about it. Why? Are you interested in me?”

Duncan, Daphne and even Hazel were taken aback by this rapid, even by the standards of the Folk, dialogue, and even more so when Miranda replied without hesitation, “Yes, I am. You have a craft killing and butchering, yet have the sensitivity to paint portraits and animals, and you know why you do both. You are an interesting man of serious contradictions, Morris. I am a widow of ten years, my children have grown up, and I have seventeen grandchildren. I paint landscapes, and should I be able to interest you I do believe we should be able to keep each other interestet(30) for the rest of our lifes. We should provide each other with new insights into the subject material we paint. I wish you for my man, Morris, and I am prepaert(31) to make considerable sacrifices to keep you. What do I have to do to interest you?”

“Just be yourself. I understand if I say I am as interested in you as you are in me then we are married. I am, and I should like to paint a series of six pictures of you as you undress, and my vision of the final one is a nude which I should like to present to you with the others as a wedding gift. My only concern is you would be sensitive to my craft killing and butchering, and this would eventually alienate you.”

“We all have to eat,” Miranda said. “I appreciate someone has to make this possible, and I like meat, especially kine, rare kine, very rare kine. You need have no worries of this, for I am of the Folk. I am very interestet in the concept of the six portraits. Do I take it I now have a husband?”

“Yes. You do. Shall we discuss the details of your portraits?”

Duncan, Daphne and even Hazel had been further awed by the way this interview had gone, and they’d become even more so as it culminated. Miranda nodded, and held her hand out to Morris. Hand in hand the pair left spaeking of the finer points of Morris’ vision of the portraits and the lighting he should require without looking at any of the three in the chamber, and without saying a word to any of them either. Hazel looked at the others and said, “I know artists can be a little strange, but I had never considert(32) killers to be artists.”

Duncan and Daphne merely shook their heads since they were bewildered by the recent events.

Word Usage Key

1 Uest, used.
2 Birtht, born.
3 Starchroots, floury potatoes.
4 Thiseve, this evening
5 Honourt, honoured.
6 Steamt, steamed.
7 Dryt, dried.
8 Undresst, undressed.
9 Failt, failed.
10 Berount, around.
11 Dien, died.
12 Nextday, tomorrow.
13 Spaeking, speaking.
14 Braek, Break.
15 Spaech, speech.
16 Deadth, death.
17 Gris, swine resulting from feral pigs breeding with wild pig.
18 Suitet, suited.
19 Decidet, decided
20 Braekdown, breakdown.
21 Lifes, lives.
22 Needet, needed.
23 Stranden, stranded.
24 Callt, called.
25 Castle lights, the aurora.
26 Womanhood, womanliness.
27 Castle lights, the aurora.
28 Abruptth, abruptness.
29 Askt, asked.
30 Interestet, interested
31 Prepaert, prepared.
32 Considert, considered.