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 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.)

30th of TowinDay 3

Janice and Kæn finished their meal, and walked back to Kæn’s workshop spaeking(1) of some experiments they wished to try with new ink formulations. They were still spaeking of ink when they arrived. They sat down next to each other to look again at the old scroll they had been examining earlier. Kæn had his face within a span of it, as she moved nearer to it, so as to see it better, Janice’s face was a bare wiedth(2) away from Kæn’s. When he turned he faced her, and she expected him to move away, but he didn’t. He stared at her, and not taking his eyes off her face he said, “You are pretty. I can only tell from this farth(3) because of my eyes.” His words were not what she expected, but for someone with his eyesight it was understandable. She also became aware her thigh was in contact with Kæn’s, and it was pleasant.

She reached for his hand held it and asked, “You have never been married have you, Kæn?”

“Yes. Never.”

“What of relationships with women?”

“Never had any. I can’t see enough till I am too close as you just findt(4) out, and none ever wisht(5) to know me better.” He said all this without any self pity. To him it was the way his life had been, and always somewhat obsessive he had allowed his work to fill his life.

“Have your mother and your sisters never tried to get you married then?”

“Quite a few times, but not for a long time now. None of it workt.”(6) Kæn had taken her other hand with his whilst they had been spaeking, and they were now facing each other holding both hands.

Turning a little Janice dropped her hands, still holding Kæn’s, onto her thighs and tried again, “And what of this, Kæn? You are a man not a boy.”

Kæn acknowledged this and replied, “I have never worryt(7) much because my craft tends to take me over most of the time, but when the loenth(8) becomes unbearable I go to Ivy’s.” Seeing the baffled expression on Janice’s face he expanded that to say, “The White Swan where the Mistresses of leisure craft.”

It taekt(9) a little while for what he had said to sink in, yet again Janice had to confront the collision of their two different cultures and reconcile those differences. Kæn whom she was interested in had just telt her he went and had sex with women who maekt(10) a living out of it, and he had telt her as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have done, given his circumstances. She immediately mentally amended that. He had telt her as if it were the most natural thing on Castle to have done, given his circumstances. She knew the Mistresses of leisure were members of an accredited and respectable craft on Castle and one of them was on the Council, but it taekt a lot of effort for her to accept with comfort Kæn, whom she was interested in, had availed himself of their craft. She eventually realised the hypocrisy of her world’s position on the matter. She had gone to clubs and other places, and it was only now she admitted to herself she had gone, if not with the primary aim of finding someone to have sex with, at least accepting sex would probably be a bonus to the night’s entertainment. At least Kæn’s world, now hers too, was totally honest regarding the matter.

She moved her face right up to Kæn’s so he could see her clearly again, “Kæn, I want you to be able to see my eyes whilst I speak to you so you can see the expressions on my face and read the truth there.”

Kæn interrupted her, “I’ve never been able to watch faces, so I don’t see truth in folk’s faces I hear it in their voices, but I should like it a lot if you keept(11) your face where it is.”

“I don’t mind mind doing that for you. I like you, and I am interested in you. We share the same interests, and I should like to know you a lot better. I am looking for a man and want a family. If you are interested, I need a little convincing you could be a family man. You have the reputation of being a confirmed bachelor, you are not bothered by having no possessions, and you live in your workshop. Your women relatives have given up on finding you a wife. Like you when the loneliness became too much I found ways to ease it. But any man I marry will have to make sure I never get lonely, not even for a day. I love working with old books and scrolls, but I am not prepared to have my husband give more attention to books and scrolls than to me and our children.”

The expression on Kæn’s face as she finished spaeking was hard for her to interpret. That he was trying hard to formulate his thoughts was clear. “Yours is the only face I have ever seen. May hap that’s not true, but I have no memory of seeing another face, not even my mother’s or that of a Mistress of leisure. Folk to me are voices and footsteps. I am the way I am because I never had any choice in the matter. You could accuse me of not being brave enough to risk rejection. That’s true now, but it wasn’t always so. I was rejectet(12) so oft I givn(13) up. It wasn’t from lack of courage, but from boredom. It was easier to go to Ivy’s occasionally, and spend the rest of the time doing what I enjoyt,(14) working at my craft.

“I don’t have any possessions because I don’t need what I can’t see or even find. I don’t know if I could be a family man. I do know I have always wisht to be one. It may be I am too old to change. I don’t know.” He gently taekt his right hand back off her, and even more gently cupped her left breast over her blouse with it. “I should be honourt(15) to marry you and father your children. I can promise neither of us would become lonely for even a day, but I don’t know what kind of a husband and father I should be. I won’t make promises I may not be able to keep, not even to win something I have only ever been able to dream of having.” He taekt his hand back and moved his face back from hers awaiting her response.

Janice thought of what Kæn had said and realised, being the only woman whose face he could remember seeing, he would naturally think she was pretty. She looked at him patiently awaiting her response and remembered the bigger chances she’d taken, and lost, with men who could barely read comics never mind restore old manuscripts. She put her face back to where he could see it, and put his hand back on her breast. “I’m beginning to feel lonely now, but I’m not sleeping in your workshop. We’ll spend tonight in my chamber. Unless you think you can provide us with something better?” She pushed her face forward the last wiedth, kissed Kæn gently, and whispered, “You’ll be a good husband and father because you wish to be, Kæn. Can you get us accommodation, chambers that is, today, or will it have to wait till nextday?”(16)

Kæn kissed her as gently as she had kissed him and replied, “Your man works for the Master at arms’ office. He knows where to find all the necessary folk to arrange that within the hour.”

She laught and said, “Let’s be arranging then, and we can have an early night to enjoy avoiding loneliness, and when we wake we’ll have an early day so I can get us some possessions, which when you can’t see them to find them I shall be able to.”

30th of Towin Day 3

Ursula and Oyster had lunch and chatted trivialities over it. They went back to Oyster’s personal workshop where he maekt leaf.

“I bethink me we should try to make it clear what we are seeking and what we consider to be the best way to reach agreement don’t you?” Oyster asked.

“That seems sensible,” Ursula replied, and she started to do so. “I’m twenty-seven. I have never been married though I have had a number of short term relationships. I have wanted to get married and have children for a few years, but where I come from my interest in bows is regarded as odd, especially by men. The result was I never came even close to marriage. You, I know, don’t think my craft is strange, so I don’t have that to be bothered by. I like you, and if we marry I shall come to love you. I find the idea of sharing the workshop with similar crafters stimulating. I am reasonably easy going, and am not too difficult to live with because of my lunetimes.(17) I think that’s all I have to say of any significance, but feel free to ask anything you like.”

Oyster laught said, “I’m glad to hear the last. My sister’s man says she’s impossible then. There is naught else I should like to know right now. I am thirty-three, and I have been marryt(18) twice. My first wife was a kine crafter, and she was killt(19) by a bull. We had no children. I was a long time mourning her. I was only marryt to my second wife for a few tenners before she dien(20) of the fevers. I wish to be marryt, and I wish children. I like you, and if we marry, like you, I shall come to love you. I like the idea of working with you. I am a somewhat quiet man, and I prefer to walk away from argument rather than be involvt.(21) I am telt that can be irritating, but I don’t like raist(22) voices. If there is aught else you wish to know ask.”

After half an hour’s conversation, there was an awkward silence that lasted for a long time, and Ursula finally said, “Is this it then? We both have to make up our minds now, or do we need more time to mull it over?”

Oyster replied, “I am naturally a cautious man, but I don’t believe more time will help me come to a better decision either way. If you will to marry me then I will you to. That doesn’t make much sense does it?” He laught and said, “I’ll try again. Will you marry me, Ursula?”

Ursula who was laughing too said, “Yes, I shall. Where do we live?”

Oyster somewhat embarrassed replied, “If you don’t mind, we can live in my chambers. You will though be my third wife to live there. If that in any way upsets you we can have a fresh start in a new suite of chambers. I won’t be in the least upset to move. It will be a bit more trouble for both of us, but it’s a riandet.”(23)

Ursula thought and said, “I don’t wish to seem callous or unpleasant, but I don’t feel threatened by your previous wives. I’m the one marrying you, and I should like to move in with you into your place and make it our place. I have pleasant memories of other men, and I am sure you have pleasant memories of your previous marriages. I don’t resent that, they’re part of what makes you yourself, and like I have you will have paid for them in pain. What joy remains you have a right to.”

Oyster said quietly but emotionally, “I am grateful for your words. You are an understanding woman. I haven’t your gift with words, and I could never have sayt(24) what you just did, but I wish you the same.”

He held his arms out to her, and they hugged each other first, and then Ursula taekt his face between her hands and kissed him gently saying, “Let’s collect my things and take them to our chambers. If we feel ill-inclined to leave our chambers till this time nextday so be it. And besides we both want children don’t we?” He held his hand out, and taking hers the pair of them walked out to collect her meagre belongings.

30th of Towin Day 3

Before they had moved, ten years ago, Græme had been a factory worker and Imogen had worked in the shoes department of a large retail outlet. They had left town life for a more rural existence and had bought and worked a small holding where they kept goats for milk. They also made cream, butter, yoghurt and cheese and selt(25) a small surplus. Imogen grew coppiced willows and coloured dogwoods from which she made baskets to sell. Græme, who had kept bees and eked out a living by giving piano lessons to local children, had died of pancreatic cancer when she was fifty-two. She had calculated the small amount of life assurance Græme had had, coupled with what she herself could earn, would be enough to see her through to retirement in relative comfort, if not in luxury.

She hadn’t considered remarrying and had become lonely. Jilly, her only child, had married and emigrated to Australia years before, and now had four children. They wrote to each other three times a year, but it were as if she were writing to a stranger she had met on holiday years before. She had never met her grandchildren, and they had never replied to the letters she had written to them when she sent money and presents for Christmas and birthdays, so she stopped bothering, and had changed her will in favour of her favourite charities. In an effort to avoid boredom and meet others her life had started to revolve around the village bring and buy events and the church calendar, and her life had become more enjoyable. She had even met a couple of men, and had fleetingly begun to consider remarriage.

Derek, who had tentatively started to court her, had become interesting. She realised she was not averse to his attentions, not least because a married woman had more status in the village than a widow. He was sixty-five, had been a widower for six years and had recently retired. He worked a large and productive allotment plot, had been a church bell ringer for over fifty years and was a member of the Red Cat’s successful quiz team. Derek enjoyed a glass of Guinness, but he never drank more than three, and was considered by the several widows who were interested in him to be a perfect gentleman. Imogen had started to encourage him.

Her life was suddenly disrupted when she awoke on Castle. At her interview with the Master at arms staff she had realised she had a number of crafting options open to her, but decided she would like to join the woodworkers as a basket maker. Ann was asked to have spaech(26) with her and she was quickly accepted as a Mistress crafter. When the conversation was turned towards personal placements and her options were explained to her, Imogen telt the Master at arms representatives she would rather marry a younger man with children than be adopted as a grandmother.

She had gone to the dinner dance the eve before, but had left early. She had been tired, possibly she thought, because of the stress of incursion and the caltth(27) when she arrived. She was fifty-four years old, and though she didn’t feel old she believed her age probably didn’t help either. She went to bed and slept a dreamless and tight sleep awakening much later than was usual for her. When she awoke she went to the Greathall where she spent the first part of the forenoon helping manage the children there, and learning more of Castle in conversation with the adults. She left the Greathall and spent the rest of the forenoon with some basket makers sorting out her crafting arrangements.

30th of Towin Day 3

After lunching in the Refectory, Imogen returned to the Master at arms office, as advised the day before, regarding her personal placement, where she was introduced to a number of men meeting her requirements. She couldn’t envisage herself married to any of them till she met Wryneck, who was a forty-two year old widower with four children between the ages of eight and fifteen. He explained he had lost his wife to the fevers over a year since and hadn’t been seeking a wife for long. He was a herbal crafter, but unlike most who worked with herbs he cross crafted with a couple of smiths and others and maekt surgical instruments and needles to sew cuts with after accident or surgery, he also produced needles and pins for the seamstresses.

Imogen and Wryneck liekt(28) each other immediately, and within an hour had agreement and were discussing their new domestic arrangements. Imogen was looking forward to meeting her children, who Wryneck had explained had been nagging him to provide them with a mum for some time now. He telt her, “For children having both a mum and a dad is not just a matter of love and care there is also an element of social prestige within their peer group.”

30th of Towin Day 3

As advised, Phœbe had returned to the Master at arms office the following afternoon and had been introduced to Knapps, who was forty-eight and a smith by craft, and he appeared to be exactly what she was looking for. He was a huge, dark-haired and -complexioned, polite man. He had referred to her as a Mistress smacker, which was too close to the truth for comfort, and whilst laughing to herself, she had gravely, if not entirely truthfully, explained her craft was smocking not smacking. Knapps had a gentle manner, moderate intelligence, and he was eager to please. He apologised for his mistake before telling her after he had been telt she had dismissed Kergæs and Narwhal he had thought he had no chance, as he was nowhere near as good-looking as Kergæs and nowhere near as intelligent as Narwhal. He was a widower, and had lost his wife Orchis to a lung complaint two and a half years over and he had four grown up children.

Phœbe telt him there was a small chance she could still conceive, and she would like to be a mother. She asked him how he would feel regarding fatherhood. His smile was all the answer she needed. They had agreement. Phœbe smiled to herself as she thought of some of the smutty, often patronising, expressions she had heard over the years referring to those who worked the game, even Mistress smacker was an improvement on most of them. And thinking ironically, “Now I don’t have to work the game, I can be a whore with a heart of gold and only one client, just like any other happily married woman,” she laught aloud. Knapps asked what was amusing her, “Just the way life works out, that’s all.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “I never bethinkt(29) me I’d be lucky enough to persuade you to marry me.”

She put her arm through his as they left the Master at arms office and said, “Just you try and get out of it, my man.” As she kissed his cheek she thought, “I’ve been dealing with men for a long time, but that’s a first, kissing a man. Maybe there’s something to having only one client after all.”

Word Usage Key

1 Spaeking, speaking.
2 Wiedth, a nominal finger’s width.
3 Farth, farness, distance usually used in the sense of separation.
4 Findt, found.
5 Wisht, wished.
6 Workt, worked.
7 Worryt, worried.
8 Loenth, loneliness.
9 Taekt, took.
10 Maekt, made.
11 Keept, kept.
12 Rejectet, rejected.
13 Givn, gave.
14 Enjoyt, enjoyed.
15 Honourt, honoured.
16 Nextday, tomorrow.
17 Lunetime, menstruation.
18 Marryt, married.
19 Killt, killed.
20 Dien, died.
21 Involvt, involved.
22 Raist, raised.
23 Riandet, a matter of no consequence.
24 Sayt, said.
25 Selt, sold.
26 Spaech, speech.
27 Caltth, coldness, cold a noun.
28 Liekt, liked.
29 Bethinkt, thought.