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.
3rd of Chent Day 6
The Master at arms staff runners informed Kathleen and Raymond they possibly had someone with whom they could reach agreement who was also registered as a craft grower, and they had suggested a time and place for a meeting. They hadn’t telt either that the other was newfolk too, or telt Raymond Kathleen was pregnant and due to birth within half a lune and she was currently crafting with the seamstresses making babe clothing. Kathleen went to the Master at arms with all her children to be met by Meadowsweet. Raymond, who was introduced to her family a few minutes later, was pleased at the notion of a family, interested in Kathleen’s pregnancy, and he said, “I thought I was too old to be of any interest to a woman with a family, and I should love to be the father of a newborn.”
Kathleen was as taken with Raymond as he was with her, and quite happy to ask him in front of the children, “I take it you would be happy then to give me another if possible?”
Raymond not quite as happy as she this conversation was taking place in front of the children naytheless replied, “Yes, that would make me happy.”
Kathleen then telt him smiling, “You’re not too old to be of interest to me, but you do have to satisfy the requirements of this lot too.”
Sophie asked, “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for ever so ages!”
Raymond replied in a reasonable tone of voice, “But I didn’t know where you were.”
Sophie accepted that and, whilst her brother and sister stood spaeking with Raymond, waited patiently to sit on his knee. Niall wished to know, “Can we do things together? Anything, growing, fishing, or anything at all so I can be like the other boys doing things with their dads.”
Raymond replied, “Of course. What’s the point in a boy having a dad if they don’t do things together?”
Bluebell, who was happy Raymond was old enough to be a proper dad, smiled and said to Kathleen, “He’s just what I wanted, Mum, a dad, not an older brother trying to be a dad.”
Sophie, sensing a gap in the conversation, said in a little girl twisting an older man berount her little finger type of voice, “I’ve been really good. May I sit on your knee now, Dad?”
Raymond, not averse to being twisted berount her little finger, sat down and held his arms out to Sophie, who allowed him to pick her up and scrambled on to his knee. She curled up with an expression of total satisfaction on her face. Raymond looked at Kathleen and asked smiling, “I don’t seem to be able to go back on this so I suppose the only way is forward. Every woman has the right to be asked, so will you marry me, Kathleen?”
Kathleen laught and replied, “Of course I shall, you passed the tests, and if I want my children back it looks as if it’s the only way I’m going to do it. Yes, I’ll marry you, Raymond.”
Kathleen suggested to Raymond, since they were all newfolk, life would be more secure for the children, and pleasant for the two of them too, to have some connection with the Folk born. He agreed with her, so she asked Meadowsweet, “We were told that all such family adoptions were possible. Would you please make enquiries, on behalf of all of us? We would like to have a family connection with a Folk family. I would prefer there to be children of similar ages to ours, and I would like to have a sister of similar age to myself because it is women who make families not men.”
Meadowsweet smiled and replied, “Your understanding of families is very Folk in its nature. I am sure I can assist you in your desires very quickly from within our own office. Before I commit myself to aught, would you please wait here for fiveteen minutes or so? I shall provide you with leaf and something to eat whilst I contact someone who I suspect will be happy to meet your requirements.”
Raymond was silent and the children equally so, but Kathleen nodded and said, “Thank you. I should appreciate that.”
Leaf and some gærcake(1) was provided and twenty minutes later Meadowsweet returned with another woman who appeared to be in her middle forties, whom she introduced as Beauty.
Beauty said, “When Meadowsweet telt me you were seeking a sister in the folkbirtht, preferably with children to be cousins to yours, I was eager to meet with you, Kathleen. I craft in the Master at arms office. I have agreement with Guelder who is nearly twenty years my elder and we have two daughters. My man was a hunter, but is now an administrator with the huntsmen. Our elder daughter, Amæ, is a pastry cook, and has agreement with Fennel, a cheese maker with the dairy crafters. They have three sons and a daughter. Our younger daughter, Petal is a miner and has agreement with Leven, a poet with the entertainers and they have two daughters. You must realise for my man, whose second agreän am I, your children would be in the nature of grandchildren rather than nieces or nephews. I have not had time to have spaech with him on this matter, but I know he will be delightet by such an extension of his kinsfolk. Do we have sisterhood, Kathleen?”
Kathleen was happy to agree and replied, “I see you as a sister who is as happy to tell her menfolk what is required as I. My view of life is that our men determine the day to day events, but we determine what truly is of significance to the survival of those we love, and any man who can’t accept that needs to find another woman. So, sister Beauty, yes we have sisterhood.”
Meadowsweet and Bluebell were smiling, Raymond and Niall were puzzled by what they understood not, and Sophie asked Beauty, “Does that mean you are my auntie and I can have kisses and cuddles?”
The women all laught, and Beauty kissed and cuddled Sophie.
3rd of Chent Day 6
The grave had been dug on the holding of her kin, by her grandsons and the men of her granddaughters, next to the grave of Argus which had been dug thirty-five years over, by her sons and the men of her daughters all of who were interred nearby. The burial was attended by thousands of Folk, who filed past to pay their last respects to the one who more than any other in their lifetime had been the epitome of woman Folk. They filed slowly past, many had tears in their eyes. They knew they wept more for themselfs than for Hazel. Hazel had given her all in this life, and that was what mattered, not how long a life one lived, but how one uest the time one had. They each threw a small clod onto the wooden box containing what remained of Hazel, for they knew that which was Hazel wasn’t in the box, but in the memories they all had that she left behind for them. As they passed some thought of what they would say, if aught, at the wake that would celebrate her life and mark her passing.
When they had gone and only kith remained, the grave was tidied and the sods were returned by the men of her kin to grass over the now mounded double grave. Then they re-dug the small hole for the sapling trees that would mark the permanent togetherth, at last, of Hazel and Argus. Argus had loved the bright berried rowan, and on the holding would suffer none to remove the berries for any reason. “The birds too have to survive Castle,” he would say, and he loved to watch the birds. He was an artist, and much of his best work, treasured possessions of the lucky few who possessed them, was of the birds eating those berries. Hazel had loved the frothy creamy white blossom of the blackthorn that came earliest in the year, a reminder that warmer times were coming, and which held the promise of the bitter sweet little sloe plums that had so many uses at the end of the year. She had always allowed Joseph to send his apprentices to collect them after the first frosts had softened and sweetened them to make liqueur with, in return of course for a case of the heart lifting liquid which warmed on the caltest of winter nights. The trees, callt love trees, were planted and twined together so they would grow as one tree. It was believed if one were cut down the other would surely die.
The wake was held in the large dance chamber of the White Swan, Ivy had insisted. She and Hazel had been good friends, an improbable friendship on the face of it, but as many now realised they were very alike, for neither tolerated the flaught(2) gladly, both were notorious for spaeking their minds, both were generous, though equally embarrassed regards being thought to be so. As was the custom, all who wished had their say of Hazel, many were the tales of her kindths that could only be telt after her deadth. Many tales were amusing, many were tinged with regret, but all had the unmistakable touch of Hazel.
Shadow, a widow now of many years standing, whose agreän Tallow had been a difficult man, telt of when she had not long had agreement with him, “Things had been going ill between us and I recall complaining to Hazel of him. I was expecting some sympathy. I should have known better. Rather tersely she telt me, ‘any woman who can not handle her man is not using tightly what she has been providet with for that express purpose.’ ” There was a shout of laughter at that as most could almost hear Hazel saying it. Shadow finished her tale, “It was good advice.” At that those who remembered Tallow laught again.
“When I arrivt here I had naught and she helpt me through some difficult times,” Ivy telt the mourners. “All I have and am is in a large part because she helpt me. She was my friend and I shall miss her.”
The Folk had no religion. They had the Way, which was a social philosophy not a religion. It provided the means for dealing with social frictions in a harsh environment in a reasonable and non violent manner. The nearest concept to the existence of a deity they had, was Castle herself, and in that context Castle was referred to as She, as in, Castle is generous and She will provide. Their belief was to enjoy living to the full and with generosity. They didn’t need to envy their acquaintance because they all shared their good fortune. Their constant, fluid realignment of families to manage ever present misfortune and grief, meant most of the Folk were at least distantly related to the entire Folk. Loss suffered by any was suffered by all to some extent. Their eagerth to assimilate destitute incomers was evidence of this gladth to share. Hazel had been a rôle model of high quality. They were proud to have known her, and they would miss her, but it didn’t occur to any of them that she had gone any where else. She had passed, and they all drank to her life, the person she had been and the memories of her which remained with them.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Allison, ex-nurse now healer, as she had learnt quickly to refer to herself as, was mulling over the complexities of the healer crafts. The equivalent of what she had thought of as the drug industry chemists and the pharmacists were the foragers, the specialist growers and the herbals here. The sharp divisions she was uest to between doctors, surgeons, specialists and their kind on the one hand and nurses, midwives and their kind on the other were blurred and overlapping here. Even more confusingly, psychology and psychiatry were blended with each other, and with general healing. Behaviourists, as they were occasionally referred to, were as oft to be found in the Master at arms as in the healers. She found it all very puzzling, but there were other puzzles in her life too. She was now married to Arder, a Master hunter. When she married Arder she had at the same time become a member of a large group of clansfolk. By a process she understood not at all, her clansfolk had decided to take in Agnes, the sixtyish year old woman who had had a stroke and was confused.
Their reasons for doing so were still unclear to her, though Arder had tried to explain. “Yes, she was not kin,” he had said, “but she had none. It is not her fault she is no longer quite plumb and she can’t help herself much, or indeed that she’s here. Someone has to have a care to her, the Way demands it. We are a large clan and can do it without too much of a strain on any individual member, and we are seen to be doing it, which accrues us standing in the eyes of the Folk. She is now kin and as such shall be willingly caert to till her passing.”
Alison had worked with the elderly who had required personal care before, though not for some years, and had no problems with helping her numerous new relatives do so. She was caring for Agnes with Amber, one of Arder’s sisters, and thinking this sort of thing was all a little primitive on Castle. She remembered, with some regret, the many aids she had once been able to use which were no longer available to her. She had changed the swaddling on the babe of Arder’s niece earlier, and was wondering if they could make pads by sewing the highly absorbent sphagnum moss and cattail swaddling inside a fabric envelope. With Agnes clean, dry and settled she and Amber were disposing of the materials they had uest, and Alison mentioned the idea to Amber saying, “They could of course be shaped to fit.”
Amber, a perceptive and intelligent woman of thirty-five, saw the possibilities at once. “Consider the time it would save and the discomfort for the poor dear.” A moment later she reflectively said, “A much smaller, slimmer version would be a boon for lunetimes, especially for women with a heavy flow. The towels aren’t very absorbent, and not all women like to use the sponges.”
Alison somewhat taken aback, for she had had no such requirement since her arrival on Castle, said, “Of course, that’s what the pads were derived from on Earth, or least I think so. What are the sponges?”
“It was the other way berount here, Sister. We need to have spaech with the seamstresses of this. The sponges are a natural product that when alive livt in the sea. Sometimes the foragers find them washt ashore on the beach, but most are collectet by folk who dive for them in the warmer water to the south. The herbals supply them, and you just have to trim them to size. They are very absorbent and squash down a lot, so you can use a much larger one than you would may hap consider without being aware of it, though a bit of hand cream does help. You can remove one, wash it, squeeze it out and put it straight back. There’re very convenient. I never use aught else, but my lunetimes are light and it means I don’t need to use the towels.”
Alison said she now recalled having heard of sponges being uest on Earth but had never seen one and didn’t know any one who had ever said they’d uest one. She explained to her sister regarding sanitary towels and tampons, and Amber’s reaction to tampons was, “I can’t see they are an improvement on the sponges because properly dryt when not in use sponges last for years. I doubt if I’ve uest half a dozen in my entire life, and a woman who doesn’t like a sponge is unlikely to use a tampon. As regards the pads, I say again, we need to have spaech with the seamstresses and the other healers, within the lune.” The pair of them laught at the inadvertent appropriatth of Amber’s time limit.
3rd of Chent Day 6
To their surprise when Judith and Storm took Matthew for lunch at the refectory Alwydd was with Rock. Normally Alwydd ate lunch at the huntsman’s commons with the squad. “Where are Granny, Granddad and the girls, Love?” Judith asked, “And why are you here?”
“You know Granddad had an appointment with Flagstaff to be measured for a walking stick and Granny wanted some hand cream because she said the cold wind maekt her hands dry and they were getting chapped?”
“Yes they mentioned both at dinner last night.”
“Well, after Granddad left, Granny said she was going to the herbals for the hand cream, but Iola had heard of a herbal called Tendril who makes make up and she said she’d go with Granny. Heidi and Stephanie wanted to go to see the make up woman too, so Iola asked me to look after Rock. I imagine they’ll all be back soon, but even if they’re not Rock wishes to come hunting with me and the boys this afternoon, so you can do whatever you were going to.”
3rd of Chent Day 6
Beatrix had been to the dinner dances, and whilst she had met a number of men she liekt, she had met none she liekt enough to marry. She was a small heavily built woman with a large bosom and substantial hips. She had a pleasant looking face with a reluctant smile. She knew her somewhat direct manner tended to put men off, but she’d been telt it wouldn’t matter here. She’d reflected wryly it hadn’t helped her either. She had been happily married to Keith, a heavy goods driver who had been killed in a road accident three years ago. She had come to terms with her loss, but knew she had never managed to accept her inability to have children. By the time it was certain she couldn’t conceive, the powers that be on Earth had telt her she was too old to adopt, and that had made her bitter.
Her arrival on Castle had given her hope of a new husband and a family, either his existing one or an adopted one. She was seriously looking and hoped for a man to care for and a large family, preferably mostly boys. She’d never been girly, and she wasn’t sure she’d know how to cope with daughters, but if it happened that way she would accept it, and happily do her best. She went to the Refectory for lunch where she bumped into a man by accident. She had been abstracted and not looking where she was going, and she apologised.
“It’s a riandet,(3) Mistress, would you like to lunch with me?” he had asked. She had accepted, and they sat down at a small side table. They had introduced themselfs, and Jackdaw had telt her he was a hunter, “I specialise in hunting gris. You call them wild swine.” Jackdaw was aught but a good-looking man. He was of a medium highth and build with a full head of dark hair just beginning to gray, but he’d rugged, harsh features and the weather beaten look of a man who spent a lot of time outside in all weathers.
“I wonder what seaweed smoked bacon made from gris tastes like?” she had pondered, explaining, “I cure and smoke meat and sometimes fish to preserve them. I’ve joined the Keep provisioners.”
They had chatted of all sorts of things over lunch. Both of them were aware the other was exploring their character, and both were happy to provide the information. She found out he was a thirty-five year old widower who had never had any children, and he that she was a forty-three year old widow who had never had any either, and that she couldn’t have any, which still upset her. That they both liekt each other was clear. As they were finishing their leaf after eating Beatrix said, “I am looking for a husband, and I want a large family, preferably boys, I deal with males better. I know how to look after a man properly and enjoy doing so.” She said the last with a expression on her face that left Jackdaw in no doubt as to what she meant, and then she asked, “Are you interested enough to consider it?”
Jackdaw was taken with her directth, which he knew was unusual in the newfolk, and a large family of boys had a great deal of appeal to him. He was good with the apprentices, and having his own sons to rear and educate would add considerably to his interest in passing on his skills. He replied, “Yes, I like the idea of a large family of boys a lot.” With an expression on his face that matched hers he asked, “Would you like to start looking after me thisday?”
Beatrix chuckled and replied, “It’s been three years since my husband died, and I haven’t looked after a man since. I’d more than like it. When do we see about the boys?”
Jackdaw replied, “Right now. I’ve naught else to do as important as this, so we go to the healers to find some sons before it’s too late and all the children have been findt families. I doubt there are many left now.”
They walked across to the healers’ with Jackdaw’s arm berount her where they explained what they were seeking to Whinchat, the young healer on duty. Whinchat telt them all the girls had found parents, and there were only eight boys left, all of who were in the kennel squad and all thirteen members of the squad, including the two young men, had declared themselfs to be syskonen.(4) Only three of the boys in the kennel squad had been adopted so far, and Whinchat somewhat hesitantly suggested the boys’ behaviour could be difficult and unpredictable, and one of them though not difficult was different, but not likely to leave all the others, so they were not suitable for most folk. She was clearly implying may hap the couple were too late to adopt properly behaved boys, and they may not wish to adopt any of those left with the healers. Jackdaw scoffed at the notion. He was acquainted with the boys in the squad, and they were exactly the kind of boys he thought he and Beatrix would like to rear. He explained to Beatrix, “Some of them have had a poor start with little care to them, but they’re not wild or bad. You just have no doubt they’re boys. They enjoy crafting with the dogs, craft long hours from choice and will to be huntsmen eventually. You’ll love them all betimes.”
“How old are they?” Beatrix asked Whinchat.
“Between six and ten, which is eight and threeteen of your years,” Whinchat replied.
Beatrix and Jackdaw looked at each other, smiled, and Jackdaw said, “We should like to meet them.”
“All of them?” Whinchat asked, sounding puzzled.
“Any who want a family. Yes, all of them,” Beatrix replied.
Whinchat had the boys brought from the Huntsman’s Place to the not small, but now overcrowded chamber. They had been preparing to exercise the bigger dogs and the birds. The boys were now looking puzzled. “We have just reacht agreement and are seeking a big family of boys,” Jackdaw said to them. “As you know, I am a gris hunter. Beatrix is a meat preserver with the kitchens. We are offering a home and parents to all of you. If you wish to ask us aught, ask. If you like the look of us let’s find somewhere to live and organise ourselfs.” The siblings all knew Jackdaw as a habitually taciturn man with a formidable reputation as a gris hunter. He crafted on his own rather than as part of the more usual hunter-tracker pair. They looked at Beatrix and Jackdaw and braekt into smiles whilst nodding they wished a home with them. Life suddenly looked a lot better. The siblings saw in the pair of them genuine care and an understanding of the way of life they wished, and they knew life with them would be good because it would be fair, if a little rough, but rough suited the boys just fine. Marcy was happy to go where ever the boys went, for she had already begun to love them as brothers who treated their sister well and their avowed protection meant none would give her a hard time in the future.
“So who’s whom? And how old are you?” asked Beatrix.
In turn the boys said,“I’m Chris, I’m eight.”
“I’m Manic, but I want a new name, I’m eleven.”
“I’m Freddy, I’d like a new name too, and I’m twelve.”
A small red-head said, “I’m Wayland, I’m ten.”
“I’m Guy, I’m twelve.”
A tall, thin boy who towered over Beatrix and Jackdaw said, “I’m Liam, I’m twelve.”
“I’m Jed, I’m eleven.”
Wayland nodded to the last member of the squad who was small and had long, styled, deep-red hair who said quietly, “I’m Marcy, I’m thirteen.”
Wayland then looked at the others and asked, “What about Fergal and Sharky?”
“I don’t know any Fergal or Sharky, Wayland,” Whinchat replied, though Wayland had not spaken to her.
Wayland explained, “They’re in the squad, Fergal’s fourteen and Sharky’s fifteen. They need a family too. It’s not right we all get a family and they don’t just because they’ve turned fourteen. I’d rather stay to keep them company when we’re not working.”
“You’re right, Wayland, I’ll stay too,” Freddy said.
“Yes. I’ll stay too.” said Manic.
“How many of you are in the squad then?” Beatrix asked.
“There’re thirteen of us altogether,” Wayland replied, “but Alwydd, Niall and George have parents and a home.”
Beatrix asked, “So there are you eight and the other two still wanting parents and a home?”
“Yes, there’re ten of us left,” Freddy answered. “Anyway Wayland says all thirteen of us are siblings because we want to be. He says the Way says we can do that.”
Beatrix looked at questioningly at Jackdaw who said, “Indeed, if that’s your will then it be so. You are brothers even with different parents, but all are well come to eat, sleep and learn with Beatrix and I as sons whether they have other parents or no and whether they are adult or no.”
Beatrix noticed at Jackdaw’s words several of the boys glanced at Marcy whose head barely shook. She recognised the boys’ loyalty to each other. In a sense they were already a family, but she wondered concerning Marcy whom the rest seemed protective of, but ‘May be,’ she pondered ‘He has a growth issue the boys know about, for he’s thirteen and smaller than Chris who’s only eight.’
Jackdaw knowing Beatrix was of the same mind, said, “Any hap, eight or ten I never was good at counting aught else than gris. I say we all go and have spaech with the other two.”
“I know we can do it by tomorrow, nextday that is, but can we find somewhere for us all to sleep tonight, Jackdaw?” Beatrix asked.
“If we have to we can obtain enough blankets from one of Basil’s stores, and sleep on the floor,” Jackdaw replied. “What bethink you, Boys?”
The boys didn’t consider that unreasonable at all. They liekt the idea, and the ten of them headed off to the Huntsman’s Commons to find Fergal and Sharky and explain to George. They left an unsettled Whinchat behind them with none to look after. The boys were excited by the whole affair, which even by their mercurial standards had been dramatic. Four of them went in to the Commons to locate the other two, whom they dragged out a couple of minutes later. George had telt them to sort their lifes out, and he with Niall and Alwydd would do what they could and see them nextday. Fergal and Sharky looked younger than some of the other boys and were shaken by the offer of parents and a home. Fergal had tears in his eyes and was so choked he couldn’t speak. Beatrix put her arms berount him and said, “I know, Son. I understand. My life wasn’t good before I came here. I wanted children, but I couldn’t have any. Social Services said I was too old to adopt. But now I have all of you to take care of, all of you have us and a family, and the social workers can go and fu— Well, never you mind what they can go and do to themselves.” The boys laught at what Beatrix had nearly said, many thinking she was a perfect mum, and she continued, “but I want to be called Mum.”
The boys chorused, “Yes, Mum,” much to every one’s amusement.
“We had better go to the Master at arms now, and find a large suite of chambers, or there won’t even be enough floor space will there?” Jackdaw suggested.
A chorus of, “Yes, Dad,” maekt them all laugh again, and Beatrix, Jackdaw and their family went to the Master at arms to start their new lifes with somewhere for them all to sleep. They acquired two large suites of chambers which faced each other across one of the Keep walkways in an inner curtail wall tower. The boys had all chosen to have bunk beds so they would have more space to use for aught else they fancied. It was a very satisfied family that went to the Refectory for their eve meal and Fergal and Jed wished they’d maekt arrangements to see Fiona and Warbler that eve so they could share their feelings, but that would have to wait till nextday for both of them.
3rd of Chent Day 6
The grower’s meeting had produced many personal placements within two hours, and even more within the day. Many of the incomers had not been ready to make decisions before that, and the Folk hadn’t realised, important though it was to them, Quarterday meant little as yet to the newfolk. The reality of Castle hadn’t had enough time to sink in, and some of the choices they needed to make were life changing ones. Observing the few who had adapted quickly to their change of circumstances acted as a catalyst for many.
By early afternoon Quail had met with and reached agreement with Master woodworker Birchbark and Master grower Hemlock. The three of them had decided the pattern of Lilac’s marriage was a good one. They further decided, by a process none of them exactly understood, other than Jasmine was pregnant, they would initially seek another wife mongst the pregnant newfolk of their own age range. The Master at arms staff suggested they try Georgina, Rachael and Susan. Rachael and Susan were not interested because they had found a husband already. The Master at arms records were not quite keeping up with events. Georgina, who was three to four lunes pregnant, asked them to give her an hour to mull it over because it was an idea that had never occurred to her before.
Morag had reached agreement with Master baker Cork, who was a widower of twenty-two with two little girls. Nancy had reached agreement with Master sawyer Barberry. Jeremy had reached agreement with Mistress dairy crafter Daisy, who specialised in butter and cream production. Gregory had reached agreement with Mistress chamberer Dove, who was sixteen years younger than he. Gideon had reached agreement with Mistress provisioner Passion, a meat preserver who had three children and was from a numerous grower clan that operated as a coöperative. Declan had reached agreement with Mistress sheepherdess Ara, whose clan operated as a large coöperative. Brian had reached agreement with Mistress herbal Lupin, who cross crafted with the entertainers’, a flautist who also sang. Daniel had reached agreement with Mistress saddler Chaffinch. Harold had reached agreement with Mistress grower Peony. Raymond had reached agreement with Kathleen, who was also newfolk.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Jenny was trying to reconcile her feelings for Bronze, the nineteen year old baker who had nearly finished his apprenticeship and who she knew wished to marry her, with her guilt concerning her feelings for Dan whom, though she hadn’t been married to him, she had lived with for three years. She missed Dan badly, and he was the father of her unborn girl child. She was twenty-one, six to seven lunes pregnant, and couldn’t help but keep wondering what her disappearance had done to Dan. She was aware she had to live her life here on Castle with the Folk. She was here and pregnant, and Dan was back on Earth. She didn’t wish to rear her daughter alone, and had been looking forward to her birth. Dan and she had wished more children. She had been an all-night petrol station worker, and had been in the Keep bake house for three days as an apprentice baker.
The work was different from anything she had ever done before, and her inexperience and pregnancy maekt her feel clumsy and gauche. Whilst Bronze had helped her he’d been acutely aware of both her pregnancy and nearth all the time, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Jenny was a tall, pretty blonde who had been slim before her pregnancy, and Bronze had fallen in love with her. Jenny knew he was going to ask her to marry him, and she was trying to come to terms with her guilt because she knew she was going to say yes. Both she and Bronze were shy and interested in each other, and she was wondering how long it would be before he asked her, or whether she was going to have to help him. That she was thinking in those terms maekt her feel guilty all over again, despite her knowledge she both needed and wished a man and that Bronze was a good man. She didn’t have long to wait. Bronze, bright red and stuttering asked her, when they were working side by side kneading and moulding the manchets,(5) if she would marry him.
She, just as red, had replied, “Yes.”
They didn’t spaek for another few minutes, but finished moulding the manchets and putting them in the tins for the oveners to bake. They went to wash their hands, and when they had done so Jenny realised Bronze was too terrified to do or say anything more. He had asked her to marry him, and in replying yes she was now much less shy with him, after all he was her husband now. It was her turn to make a move. She turned him to face her, kissed him gently and lingeringly and said, “We can finish that later. My chamber is small. Is yours and your bed big enough for three of us?”
“No, not really,” he had replied, a lot calmer now.
“Then we’d better finish a little early, and go to the Master at arms for a suite of chambers and find a big bed,” Jenny telt him. “A single bed is barely big enough for two of us, and I’m not including you there.” She taekt his hand, pressed it to her pregnancy and said, “If you wait a minute you will feel her move.” It was a few seconds not a minute, and the wonder of it was writ large on Bronze’s face. Jenny kissed him again, and his response was much more satisfactory than it had been to their first kiss. “That’s much better,” Jenny telt him, “I was beginning to think you were trifling with my affections. Let’s finish here, find somewhere to live and a bed. We’ve things to do haven’t we?” she asked in a coquettish tone. Bronze was in agreement, and they finished what they had to do and went off to the Master at arms.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Mæve was a cautious and intelligent woman interested in a variety of things both theoretical and practical. She was an accountant. She had married at twenty-four, and had divorced her husband at twenty-seven for serial infidelity, and what was much worse in her eyes constant financial profligacy. She had decided not to marry nor to live with any one again due to the cost of her divorce. She had had relationships, but had deliberately kept them of short duration. She had never taken any one back to her place, never mind slept with them there, to ensure there would be no possible future claims on what she had earnt.
Arriving on Castle at the age of thirty-eight she rapidly realised such caution was no longer necessary, even if she’d had anything to lose. At her interview for her placements she telt the Master at arms staff she had maekt cheese before on a small scale, five pounds at a time, a little exploratory conversation soon established how much that was, but had only maekt soft cheeses. She telt them she had always wished to make hard cheeses. Orchid, a Mistress cheese maker had been sent for and Mæve had soon accepted a craft placement as a cheese maker. When the conversation had turned to personal placements, she admitted she wished to marry someone of her own age who was a manual crafter of some sort. She turned down the offer of introductions saying she preferred to manage the matter herself. She had met none of interest to her at the first two dances, but she’d met Wain, a thirty-nine year old plasterer, at the Quarterday dance. She had met him again in the afternoon of the next day and then spent the night with him. They had reached agreement over lunch the next day.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Monique was thirty-eight and was an artisan potter. She had never married, but she’d been in a relationship for thirteen years, during which time she had never had any children, but she had never bothered to learn why, because neither she nor Oin were particularly bothered. Oin was a talented artist earning good money from his paintings, and she had found a ready mart for her wares. The loss of Oin when she had arrived on Castle had devastated her. Though she soon realised she needed to find a personal placement, which for her meant finding a man. She knew she needed to find a someone with a creative drive similar to hers and Oin’s, and it was two days after Quarterday at lunch when she met Piddock, a craft paper maker, who spake of making paper in the same way she did of working clay and Oin had done of painting. They were interested in each other immediately, and they spent the afternoon at Piddock’s workshop. Piddock was four years older than she and had lost Sweetspring, his wife, to the fevers the year before. They had never had children. Both of them admitted the lack of children hadn’t particularly bothered them. The difference was Monique admitted it readily, but Piddock was embarrassed by his admission. They already had agreement when it occurred to Monique to ask, “What if I become pregnant? I think it unlikely, but what if I do?”
Piddock replied, “Then we are parents, and I shall be happy with that. It’s just I won’t be unhappy if it doesn’t happen. What bethink you, Monique?”
Monique replied, “I think you have summed up how I feel too.”
3rd of Chent Day 6
Melissa was awaiting Roebuck, she was a few minutes early, and was thinking over her situation. She was fifty-two, and Victor her husband had dien from prostate cancer three years ago. Victor had been ten years older than she, and though she had missed a man for the intimacy, she had missed a man mostly for the company and the shared small matters of long married couples. Victor and she had made a deliberate decision not to have children in order to build their business, a small chain of butchers’ shops. Though she had not regretted not having children when her peers had had theirs, she had come to regret her decision as her peers had started to enjoy their grandchildren. She had a craft placement with the poultry crafters, but she found her personal placement was much more difficult to decide upon.
She had met Roebuck, the Master ingeniator(6) and a widower of three years with five grown up children and sixteen grandchildren, at the Quarterday dance. That she was seriously interested in Roebuck, who was a couple of years older than she, she knew, and he had asked her to marry him, but she also knew for her fast decisions tended to be poor decisions. She had met him daily since meeting him at the dance, but hadn’t been prepared to commit herself till she was sure it was a sensible decision. She was reaching the point where she knew in fairth she had to give him an answer one way or the other soon. She also thought if she didn’t accept him there was a chance he would simply find someone else, and she realised the thought of losing him to someone else upset her. She would tell him he had a wife in a few minutes when he arrived.
3rd of Chent Day 6
Aaron went down to the incursion site alone telling none he was going. The six intransigents were dead and the guardians had been withdrawn. Jodie had left the camp two days over, and three of the women lastday. The remaining five pregnant young women had been on their own for the best part of eighteen hours with a dwindling supply of food, water and fuel. They only had each other and their fears to spaek with and listen to. They had awoken to find the men in the other tent and the guardians gone. All the hot food they had eaten had been prepared and cooked by the guardians, for none of them could cook. Aaron was aware of that and of the state of mind it would have induced in the not terribly perceptive young women for whom Castle was an alien and inexplicable environment. As he approached the tent he could see the women were sitting outside looking worried. That they now accepted they were no longer on Earth and the Folk could not return them he did not doubt, and he could appreciate they did not know how to undo their previous behaviour. He was there to assist them.
“Where is everyone?” asked Carley.
“The men are all dead,” he replied quietly. “One you seeën(7) killt in the tent, the two who raept the young woman two days since and fleen(8) are being trackt and will soon be killt, the other two over there,” Aaron nodded to the bodies, “killt each other with knifes and the other fleen and dien from deepcaltth.(9) Since you no longer need protecting from them the guardians have been recallt.”
“What happens now?” asked Jade.
“Naught,” he replied, “as far as the Folk are concernt you have maekt it clear you don’t wish to join us, so you don’t exist. We can make no further efforts to save your lifes because we’ve no more ideas how to. We regret your decision to die and to take the lifes of your unbirtht babes with you, but the Way prevents us from using force, even to aid you, and all we can do now is watch you die. You haven’t joint us, so we shall no longer feed you, or do aught for you because you won’t do aught for us. You have put yourselfs outside the Folk and that means outside the protection of the Folk.”
The women didn’t know who or what Aaron was, but they knew who Yew, Will, Thomas and Gosellyn were, and they had seen all of them defer to this calm and quiet man. His calmth and quietth frightened them far more than Gosellyn’s assertive manner and Yew, Will and Thomas’ masculine belligerence. “Why are you here?” asked Carley.
“To make sure you understand the situation. I am not here to advise you, or to try to persuade you in any way, that’s up to you. I am just making sure you understand the Folk will do naught, to us you are already dead. When the food, fuel or water runs out you will have to find your own or die. Since you are not Folk we shall not bury you. You have been telt here the penalty for thieft is deadth, if you thief from us we shall kill you. I shall repeat it. I am just making sure you understand the situation. I have sayt everything I came to say, so I shall now return to the Keep.” Aaron turned and started walking back to the Keep.
“Please stop. Will you help us?” asked Zoë.
Aaron turned and quietly said, “I shall only help the Folk. That’s how it is here.”
“You will let us die?” asked Vikki.
“I have had no connection with that. It was your decision not mine,” he replied turning again.
“Please wait,” said Zoë. “I am trying to understand. If you will only help the Folk, and we want help, we have to be members of the Folk don’t we?”
“Yes.”
“I want help please, what do I have to do to become a member of the Folk?”
“I shall tell you,” said Aaron. “Come with me, Zoë.”
The other women started to follow Aaron and Zoë, and Aaron, with a voice devoid of any feeling which stopped them in their tracks said, “No, not you Vikki, Carley, Bekka, Jade, only Zoë.”
As Aaron had said their names he’d looked at them in turn and it was a shock to them that he knew who they were. That was when a tiny piece of the reality that was the Way hit them, Zoë had asked for help, and they hadn’t. It finally dawned on three of them each one of them was being maekt responsible for her own actions, and Aaron’s responses were based on their individual actions. One after the other, they asked for help, and what did they have to do to join the Folk. Jade asked last after being telt by Zoë, “You have to ask for yourself, Jade.”
“Since you have all askt we’ll discuss the matter here.” Aaron sat down on an empty food crate and they all did likewise. Aaron continued, “I have readd(10) extensively in our archives of where you come from. My knowledge from other incomers is incomplete, and though we appreciate incomers do not all come from the same when much of what I understand from the archives is probably over fourty years out of date. Naytheless, I can understand the position you five are in. I am now spaeking of you five, none else. Your values, and the way you have livt, are so different from the Way and how we live I don’t believe you can take a place in our society without learning a good deal of us first. Let me explain what our ultimate aims for you would be.” He paused to give the women time to absorb what he had said.
Zoë who though she was the youngest was also the brightest said, “I should like to know what will be expected of me.” The other women nodded.
“We put great value on Folk here, and your pregnancy puts even more on you. Our men will consider you to be desirable as a wife and a mother. But you have to contribute. You have to have a craft to practice. In your terms you have to work. You also have to understand why we behave the way we do and modify your behaviour so it is at least acceptable. You shall, I believe, find this difficult, if not impossible, without a lot of help. Our ultimate goal for you would be as a crafter, that’s a worker, a mother and a wife, responsible for your own actions and the care to your children. These things represent in its simplest form how we live. You can’t be a member of the Folk unless you comply with how we live, and also with our much more complex ways of relating to more distantly relatet, or even unrelatet, Folk. What I am saying is you have to understand and then live the Castle Way.”
“Is it terribly difficult?” Bekka asked.
“For some not at all, for you five I believe it will be difficult, and it would be better for you if you had at least mastert the simpler aspects of the Way before trying to live mongst large numbers of the Folk.”
“If we need to learn to be Folk to survive, but we can’t live amongst them what do we do?” asked Zoë.
“I shall make you an offer,” said Aaron. “My family have a holding some whilth from the Keep. My parents and my sister with her man and their children live and craft at Hidden Hollow holding with their apprentices. I rarely have the opportunity to spend as much time there as I should like. I offer to take you there. My mother and sister will explain the many ways you can be successful, and what this means for women. All of my family will help you to absorb how we live. You can learn enough of the growers’ craft with them to decide if you wish to continue with it, or whether you would prefer to try something else. From time to time I shall be there, and I shall explain some of the Way to you. You can learn what you need to know without fear that any mistakes you make will have any worse consequences than you feeling awkward. My family will help you.”
The women considered Aaron’s offer, and finally Zoë asked, “Why would you and your family do this for us?”
“Because that’s the Way of it, and none wishes you and your unbirtht to die,” replied Aaron.
Zoë thought for a few seconds and said, “We don’t really have any choice do we?”
“I believe not,” said Aaron, “but I don’t wish you to see this as some kind of punishment. I am doing my best to help you.”
“But we had to ask?” asked Carley.
“Indeed, after having rejectet us first, that’s the Way of it. I shan’t repeat any of this conversation, and since I believe it could only cause you embarrassment I recommend you don’t either. Then when you do return to the Keep none will ever know why you goent to my family’s holding. My mother is a midwife, so you need have no fears regards your babes’ birthings. When you do return to the Keep you can of course look for a man or no, that’s your concern, but you are young and will have a babe, so if you do decide to find a man you will probably have considerable choice. What is your decision?”
All five of the women realised each of them had to reply for herself, and each said they would be grateful to go, again Zoë replied first and Jade last, but without having to be being prompted this time.
Aaron smiled as he said, “That’s your first lesson of the Way, you are precious, we are all precious, and in spite of what you may believe, there will be a lot of very relievt Folk when they hear you have chosen life and not deadth. I shall go now to organise a waggon and waggoner, and ask the seamstresses to supply some clothes for you to suit your changing pregnancies. After all you can’t survive with just one set of clothes that will soon no longer fit can you? I’ll go now and organise things.”
Zoë started to cry when he mentioned the clothes and hugged him saying, “No one was ever that kind to me before.” The others were tearful too.
Aaron said in response, “I telt you we are all precious, and we all have a care to each other. Needs are always met. It is the Way of it.”
He left the tearful women who all agreed this place wasn’t what they had thought, but they were apprehensive regards his family liking them. Zoë said, “He’s good, so they probably are too. It has to be better than where I came from. It can’t be any worse. I don’t know which one of my brothers or my father got me pregnant. I think I should quite like to have a family with a man who cared for me, and not someone who stinks of stale sweat and beer and hits me till I let him do it.”
They spake of their previous lives, and though none were quite as bad as Zoë’s they weren’t much better. Bekka, Vikki and Carley had lived with their mums, and had had some support from female relatives, but no real future, Jade had been brought up in a long series of foster homes. All of her foster parents had regarded her as a source of income, and as soon as she had become too old for them to be paid for having her she had been of no further interest, and she had been cast out to survive on her own resources. She had been living in a hostel for homeless women when she arrived on Castle. They were optimistic regards their futures as they waited for Aaron with the driver and the waggon.
An immature looking young woman, who telt them her name was Mint, arrived first with four Keep staff who were pulling a pair of light handcarts containing boxes of clothes. The women tried on the maternity wear in the tent laughing at each other when the clothes that were meant for their future more advanced pregnancies buried them. “How do we pay for these?” Carley asked Mint.
Mint replied in a shocked and somewhat scornful tone, “You have need of them, needs are always met. There is no payment requiert.”
When Mint had gone Carley said, “He was right. I think I want to learn a bit so I don’t put my foot in it again like that in public.”
Aaron arrived an hour later with a waggon and waggoner. Torrent, the waggoner, adjusted the hinged side-boards to provide bench seating. The women were helped to climb the steps at the back of the waggon, the boxes of clothing were loaded, and they headed away from the Keep. If naught else, thought Aaron, they’re nowhere near as angry with either themselfs or any other now. It’s a start.
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
74 Warbler, Jed, Veronica, Campion, Mast, Lucinda, Cormorant, Camomile, Yellowstone
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 Gær, a highly aromatic spice, both nut and bark are uest, gær is unique to Castle and tastes and smells vaguely like cinnamon or cassia. Pronounced gayer.
2 Flaught, foolish.
3 Riandet, a matter of no significance.
4 Syskon(en), sibling(s).
5 Manchet, a large, high quality loaf uest by the Folk for slicing, usually baked in a rectangular tin.
6 Ingeniator, original form of engineer (civil).
7 Seeën, saw.
8 Fleen, fled.
9 Deepcaltth, hypothermia.
10 Readd, read, the past tense.
