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.
7th of Chent Day 10
Alastair had left school with no qualifications, skills or future other than petty crime. He was intelligent enough to realise given the way he was living he probably didn’t have much in the way of life expectancy either, but he couldn’t envisage any other way of life accessible to him. Then he had arrived on Castle, and out of habit he had taken the pills he had left in his pockets. By the time the effects had worn off he had been interviewed thrice, and had no memory of any of the interviews. Then whether he liekt it or no he had to face the reality of being sent to sea. He had now been at sea for five days. The regular meals and total change of life had given him a new start in an environment where there was no possibility of petty criminality, which was pointless any way.
He liekt and was liekt by the crew and was happy to be involved in the day to day activities of the ship, most of which he had never come across before and were interesting. He had thought he wouldn’t like it at sea, but he did. He especially enjoyed the clean smell of the fresh salt air, and the challenge of learning new skills which he had had no concept of before. He had decided since he had to find a craft he would like to continue being a seaman. He had just finished helping to reset the sails and was wondering whether he could learn a bit more navigation, which he enjoyed. On his way to the galley to eat, he saw Master rigger Carrom shewing Céline, an apprentice rigger of his age whom he was friends with, how to splice shackle eyes into a rope.
He sat down nearby, and Carrom seeing him said, “If you’re interestet come closer, Son, you can’t see from there.” Alastair dragged over a fish box to sit on. “You can’t learn by watching,” Carrom telt him, and handed him a longth of rope and a shackle eye, “Have you a fid?”
“What’s a fid?” Alastair asked him.
“One of these,” said Carrom, shewing him a longth of wood may hap a span and a half long. It had a blunt point on one end and tapered back to two wiedths a span behind the point. There was a groove along the longth of the taper, the handle was ornately carved in the shape of a naekt woman’s head and torso, the taper was such as to resemble the woman’s legs and the groove started as her cleft. “This was my granddad’s, and he had it from his granddad. It’s maekt from a hardwood knot, ironwood probably. You push the point into the rope thus to open a way for the working end to be pusht through down the groove. If you wish one, you can whittle one out of a piece of fuel wood in less than half an hour, but it’s too soft to last long.” He reached into a craft bag at his side, and retrieved a plain oaken fid from it. He passed it to Alastair saying, “Use this one whilst times till you have your own.”
Céline smiled at him and shewed him the one she was using. She said, “This is softwood, but I’ve a piece of hard driftwood knot I findt on the beach. I’m going to have the woodcrafters turn it and groove it for me before I carve the handle. My grandma has an antique one maekt of narwhal ivory, but she doesn’t use it any longer because it’s badly wearn.” She looked at Carrom’s antique with its traditional exaggerated breasts and deliberate sexual imagery and continued, “but I’d like a dolphin or may hap a narwhal, something a little more tasteful than the traditional seaman’s nude.”
They all laught, and Carrom shewing them his fid telt them, “I’m telt my great-great-grandfather maintaint she keept him company on a long voyage. I believe it was suppoest to be my great-great-grandmother, though I bedoubt me she was so generously breastet.” They laught again, and Carrom continued with the splicing instruction. Alastair and Céline liekt each other, and there were only the two of them below the age of middle thirties in the crew. They had come to have a care to each other in the way siblings do. They knew they weren’t interested in each other for any other type of relationship which maekt their lifes on the Cove of Keep much easier.
One day, the wind was almost a flat calm, and the ship was moving so slowly as not to afford steerage way,(1) and a lot of the off watch crew were fishing for the galley. Céline, also fishing, espied something in the water and said, “Look, Alastair, fetch the net.”
“It’s just a lump of driftwood why bother?”
“Because it may have something hard enough in it to make you a good fid, or may hap even more than one,” she replied. Alastair smiled, jumped up and returned with a large, heavy net and a couple of shipmates to help him handle it.
When they’d managed to bring the wood alongside Quickthorn said, “It’ll be too heavy for the net. I’ll rope it.” He grabbed a coil of rope, tied one end of it to the topwale,(2) threw the rest over the side and after rigging a safety line to his belt followed it, climbing down the side rigging. A couple of minutes later he was back, but he was somewhat wet. “That water is calt. Now let’s pass this rope through a block, and hoist it aboard.” Porbeagle soon had the rope through a pair of pulleys rigged from a spar, and a group of off watch shipmates, who had come to discover what was happening, helped to hoist the wood aboard. It was the heartwood of a hardwood tree four strides long and four spans in diameter with all the sapwood rotted off. There were a dozen and a half branch hearts sticking out, most half a stride long, and it had been very heavy to hoist.
Ship Mistress Corral had been watching, and she said, “You’ve a prize there indeed. I suggest you stow it somewhere where the wind will dry some weighth out of it and let the woodworkers deal with it on our return.”
Carrom, who was on watch, passed by and seeing it said, “Ironwood, I’m pretty sure, see the violet tint. That’ll make fids to last ten generations. It’s too hard for much else other than blocks and axle bearings though.” They stoewt the wood where it would benefit from any breeze and maekt sure it was tightly lashed down before returning to their fishing.
7th of Chent Day 10
During the two days they spent at the Keep, Morgelle met various members of her new kin and kith. Their acceptance of her as a new daughter of the clan didn’t seem at all strange to her. It was entirely in accordance with a code she had known all her life. She had just never considered she would be in this position. Fritillary had delighted in the acquisition of new clothes and other bits and pieces she considered necessary for Morgelle explaining, “When you are a mother you will understand the joy of daughters. Sons make you proud, but daughters bring you joy.”
Bistort had asked her if she liekt crafting from a boat. When she said she had loved working with her elder brother and cousins who were lobster-men, he said, “That’s some thing I shall give you not your mum.” He was mysterious regarding it and taekt her to see Walnut, a friend of his whose workshop clearly indicated he was a sail maker. Walnut looked her over carefully, and said, “I must make some personal measurements now, if you don’t mind?” She looked at Bistort who nodded encouragingly.
Trusting Bistort, she replied, “Yes, I don’t mind.” Walnut taekt a longth of twine, knotted at closely spaced regular intervals, and measured her tightly berount her waist and then berount her breasts. He also measured the longth of her torso from her neck to her waist. Morgelle noticed every tenth knot was dyed red. Walnut wrote down the results of his measurements and said, “It’ll be ready for collection in two hours, Bistort.”
Bistort expressed gratitude to him and they left. Morgelle asked Bistort, “What was that all about, Dad?”
“You will discover in two hours.” Morgelle correctly surmising Bistort wisht to surprise her let the matter drop. When they returned to see Walnut, he held out a brightly yellow coloured, chunky object to her and indicated she was to put her arms through the holes. She did so, but she was still mystified as he fastened the exceedingly light but bulky object at the front using the alternating cord loops and horn toggles on each side. It was an exceedingly snug fit. Bistort indicated she was to turn berount, and when she had done so he said, “Excellent. As always a fine piece of work, Walnut, my gratitude.”
Still mystified Morgelle asked, “but what is it for?”
“It’s a life saver which will keep you afloat with your head out of the water, even if you are unconscious,” explained Walnut, “and to work as intendet they have to be a very good fit. As you grow, you will need to bring it back to me so I can remeasure you and alter the fastenings accordingly, but it should last you a lifetime.” Once telt, she thought it obvious what it was, but it was similar to no life jacket she had ever seen before.
Bistort wrote something on a piece of paper and giving it to Walnut said, “Ask Sagon’s office to take the tokens out of the holding account rather than our personal account please, Walnut.”
“If you wish of course.”
Morgelle expressed gratitude to Walnut, and as they left his premises she hugged Bistort and, with tears in her eyes, said, “Thank you very much, Dad.”
“You are precious, Daughter. I look forward to sailing with you, but you need to be as safe as possible. It is only proper as your father I do my best to make sure you are.” They walked back to meet Fritillary and eat at the Refectory, she with her arm through Bistort’s.
Fritillary seeing the life saver said, “That’s good. We now have everything we need. I suggest we start out for home at six nextday.”
Bistort agreed and said, “After we’ve eaten, I shall take the last of the boxes of clothes and supplies to the waggon, load them, make sure the load is secure and that the team will be ready.”
They went to the Refectory to eat, and after their meal Fritillary said, “I’ll go and ready everything at our chambers before we have an early night. Would you like to go with your father to see the team and waggon, Morgelle, or come with me?”
“I’d like to see the team and the waggon if you don’t mind, Mum?”
“You go and look at the team.” An hour later all they were in bed and ready to arise at five.
7th of Chent Day 10
Tarragon and Edrydd had reached agreement six days over and their adoption of Louise and Turnstone and their children Jane and Mase at the same time had maekt all of them very happy. Since then, they had all settled down with great satisfaction to what all considered to be a perfect family life. Edrydd could still become emotional regarding his family, which was a completely new experience for him, but three year old Jane was helping him to manage his emotions because she became really upset when she thought her wonderful granddad was unhappy.
Tarragon had suggested to Edrydd as soon as he felt able to leave the family for a few days they should go with the next supply trip to the Water Fowl Tarns where the clan fed tens of thousands of wild swans, geese, ducks and waders which they harvested some of this year’s birds from later in the year. They taekt the harvest just after the bulk of the adults migrated south, when the weather was cold enough to freeze the carcasses prior to the four day journey to the freeze chambers of the Keep kitchen stores. The birds she explained were taken with huge nets that were lifted high over the flocks by a dozen or more specially constructt crossbow quarrels all loosed simultaneously.
They left at six with thirteen of the clan and four teams of six heavy horses pulling waggons loaded with sacks of bird feed and supplies for their clansfolk who were managing the wild fowl. They enjoyed the journey and the three nights spent under canvas they employed trying to make Tarragon pregnant, which even though probably unsuccessful was enjoyable.
The Water Fowl Tarns were at an elevation of five hundred strides in foothills east south-east of the Keep. They were a considerable farth inland but not so far as Aqueduct Tarn which fed the Keep’s principal water supply and also ultimately fed into the Little Arder. Aqueduct Tarn was at an elevation of a thousand strides and to reach its outlet the peaten(3) water had to filter through a huge reed bed after which it was clear and tasteless. After running as a wide shallow river over hard rock for some twenty thousand strides the water fell four hundred strides as Cauldron Force. The waterfall created a permanent mist berount the area where it landed and had gouged out a deep and large mere yclept The Cauldron which was one of the few places one could catch the delicious and highly prized charr.(4) The Cauldron was the beginning of the Keep’s overhead water supply which gradually ran downhill five hundred strides to the Keep. On its journey it tunnelled through two hills and had a considerable number of elevated sections. It lost virtually no water on its way and delivered clean potable water. It was a masterpiece of ingeniatoring, and none knew how old it was, never mind who built it, and like the Keep, it was maintained to the same high standards it had been built to.
They arrived mid-afternoon at the cabins of the clan and spent the rest of the day, after unloading the waggons, in introductions and explanations. Edrydd’s new clan were intrigued by his ideas of domesticating doves and Octopus, Sweetbean and Shrike, with the interest and enthusiasm of the young for the novel, wished to help him develop this new harvest which, unlike most of their poultry, could be raised conveniently close to the Keep. The meal that eve was a celebration of the new clan members, and if more brandy than was strictly good for haelth was consumed it was maekt up for by the quality of the ensuing sleep all enjoyed.
At five nextday, the feed for the fowl, which had been left on the waggons, was maekt secure, and all set off for the pass that led to the first of the tarns. As they crested the pass Edrydd was aware of the silence of the scene in front of him, silent that was other than the constant hum of the biting insects and the splashing of the fish rising for the insects which filled the air above the water in such a thickth as to make the distant water appear to be coated with a shimmering, black film of oily tar. As the waggons dropped down to the tarns Edrydd was in turn elevated by the tranquillity of the tarns and then rendered mindless by the cacophony of the fowl as they became aware of the waggons.
After feeding the fowl, which taekt till mid-morning, the couple walked hand in hand berount the tarns, whilst Tarragon explained the yearly cycle of the wildfowl. The feed for the birds, she explained, was mostly parched weed seed winnowed out of the previous year’s cereal harvest, and it was just a fraction of the food they required, most of which was the aquatic plants provided by the tarns. It was given once a tenner so as to make harvesting them at the end of the year easier. Notwithstanding the biting insects, Edrydd enjoyed his new working life, which was much pleasanter than his previous work which he now realised he had endured from a lack of choice. Edrydd telt Tarragon, “I read somewhere there are plants that repel insects and juices extracted from them rubbed on your skin work much better. Tansy I think works, but there are others that are better. I wonder who would know, so I could ask them which plants to try.”
“There’s a kind of daisy hung in chambers and animal accommodation to repel insects. It’s also grown for strewing herbs. Start with the herbals and see if the waggoners or foragers know aught. Try the newfolk too, Love,” Tarragon suggested, thinking that if it worked it would make life a lot pleasanter for many. Without pausing she continued with what had been on her mind for a while, “Do you wish me to have spaech with the healers to see if there is aught I can do to help me become pregnant, Edrydd?”
Edrydd taekt his time replying, “Tarragon, if you would like to do that for yourself I am happy for you to do so, but do not feel obliged to do it for me. I am happy with my family as it is, but do not not do it for me either. What ever you decide is what I want. I shall be happy with things as they are and I shall be just as happy if you become pregnant. My life has never been this good and it can only improve because you make it better. For me you can let chance play what ever rôle it wishes in your remaining reproductive future.”
Tarragon kissed him and said, “I am a lucky woman to have findt you, Edrydd. I am happy to leave it to chance also, but I really do wish to manipulate chance to help you put those doves on the table in quantity regularly. I suggest we have those three youngsters working on the project as soon as possible. If it works, the four of you will become significant crafters and I can then bask in your reflectet status, when I hope to be a pregnant mum to be.” She had just decided she would seek help from the healers but not say aught of doing so.
Edrydd’s response was at odds with his expressed attitude concerning Tarragon’s pregnancy, “That would be pleasant, success and a baby.”
8th of Chent Day 11
Aaron had decided he would accompany Zoë and Torrent back to the Keep, and the three of them left at six. His mother had charged him to deliver her message concerning Jade to the Master at arms staff, and to make sure it was brought to Campion’s attention. As they left, Zoë was thinking back over the events of the last four days which had passed so quickly. Four days since, Torrent had awakened her as he had promised, and notwithstanding proper good byes and the substantial braekfast which had been cooked by Clematis and Zoë that had taken half an hour to eat, his team had pulled out just before six.
Zoë thought she had been in good spirits over the days when Torrent was away, but her nights had been lonely. She had been determined to make the best possible use of the time, and had written of their love making in her book, along with everything else she had learnt. She had copied many things from the other books, including the knitt babe garment instructions, and Clematis had copied the sketches for her. She had started to learn how to knit with the other four women. She had also learnt a lot of the fundamentals of cooking. Stonechat had telt the others Zoë was young, and she wished her seen by the midwifes at the Keep. The distance between Zoë and the others had been widening every day as Zoë embraced her new life wholeheartedly, and the others still continued to see their new lifes in terms of their old ones.
When Torrent had finally returned, Zoë was pleased at the prospect of leaving the others whose company she now found depressing, but she was saddened by the prospect of leaving Aaron’s family, who had come to mean a lot to her. She telt him she had decided to name her babe Columbine because it was a beautiful flower. Torrent liekt the name, and admitted all the names he had recalled he had dismissed as not pretty enough. On the trip back to the Keep Zoë telt him of the things she had learnt and done whilst he was away. She telt him of her receipt book which she had started, and he said, “I’m sure my mum will love to read yours and shew you hers. Unfortunately I have no sisters, but I know my mum has her mum’s as well as her own.” She telt him she could make pastry and pies, she had learnt to cook a roast, prepare vegetables and could make a few puddings. Torrent declared, “It looks as if I’m going to eat a lot better because you’re already a better cook than I. Warming wayfarers’ bread is good for me.”
She telt him Stonechat had taught her how to heat a casserole to the boil, and then allow it to cook in a box packed with grass to keep it hot for several hours, so they could eat a decent meal on the trail. “Stonechat called it a hotbox and said some of the hay you carry for the horses would be ideal.” That did impress him, and when she said she knew the principles of gralloching and skinning a coney and plucking a fowl, though she had only done it twice, he telt her he was a fair shot with a bow and could kill them the odd coney or two or may hap even a pheasant, a slew(5) or a partridge.
She was impressed with that, and telt him she would like to try cooking a coney casserole. “Do you have onions on the waggon?” she asked.
“No, not unless I am carrying the onion harvest from a holding, why?”
“I need them for cooking. Clematis and Stonechat both told me to cook good food I should always have a supply of onions, and I need to learn to recognise wild onions and wild garlic when we pass them. Clematis has drawn pictures of them for me in my book, and she said, if I’m in any doubt, to chew a bit of the leaf and it will be obvious whether I have the right plant or not.”
“I can’t help you with the wild ones, but I can make sure we always have onions and garlic on the waggon.”
When they stopped to rest the horses and eat, she handed out some sheep pasties saying with a great deal of pride, “I maekt these for us to eat on the trail,” she then added, “under instruction from Clematis, and they contain onions,” she added for Torrents benefit.
Aaron and Torrent both agreed the pasties were excellent, and Torrent asked, “You can make them again?”
“Of course. I wrote it all down in my book.”
Aaron, who no longer had any doubts of Zoë’s ability to become completely Folk, said he was going for a walk and would be back in quarter of an hour or so. They knew he wished solitude. It was the way he was.
Zoë and Torrent still in the early stages of love behaved as lovers do when given a few minutes alone, and Torrent telt Zoë how much he loved looking at her because she was so beautiful. She knew her pregnancy maekt her attractive to him. She also knew it was the way all Folk men perceived pregnant women, but that just maekt her feel better for being on Castle, though it was what Torrent thought of her that mattered. She shrugged her shoulders and as her full breasts bounced with the movement she admitted, “By the time I was ten I had big breasts, and I hated it because as soon as they had became noticeable that brought me to the attention of my father and brothers. Now, I like it, mostly because you like it, but…,” she tightened the lacing of her apron bib, “…this is ridiculous. I feel front heavy and a bit out of balance sometimes with my babe and my breasts.”
Torrent grinned and telt her again, “You look beautiful with your babe and your breasts, and I can’t stop looking at you.” She knew he was telling her exactly what he was thinking, and they spent a little while kissing and being affectionate without being passionate. They had started to clear the dishes and repack the waggon when Aaron appeared with a spherical object half a stride in diameter. Torrent smiled and said, “A magnificent find Aaron.”
“It’s for you, for my passage,” Aaron said, “and before you say it’s not necessary, it’s my choice.”
“What is it?” Zoë asked mystified by what appeared to be a large leather bag.
“It’s a giant puffball,” Torrent explained, “an edible mushroom, and they’re rare and delicious. You slice them a wiedth thick and fry them, I prefer them fryt in hot sheep fat. Some folk use butter and some cover them in a flour, milk and seasoning batter and then fry them.”
Aaron listening to this said, “I like them fryt in hot sheep fat too. It’s the way Mum cooks them.” He continued changing the subject, “I hope we make good time because I am needet to mediate a dispute at the Keep, and there is someone I need to have spaech with.” Neither of them asked how he knew this.
“We should be back by mid-afternoon, Aaron,” Torrent telt him. “The off rear wheel needs watching, but it’ll be all right till I can have Vinnek look at it.” They arrived at the Keep, as Torrent had said, in the mid-afternoon. Aaron asked Torrent to pull up near the Master at arms office where he said he was required, which Torrent did. Aaron expressed gratitude to Torrent for his services, but Torrent refused his gratitude saying, “Aaron, it is my pleasure to take you any where you wish to go. My gratitude for the mushroom, which would have been more than payment as you know.”
Aaron demurred saying, “What should I have doen with it?” He turned to Zoë and said, “The reward for me is your marriage, not just to Torrent, but to the Folk too. I wish you both every happith. You have both maekt me happy.” With that he turned and walked away towards the Master at arms office.
Torrent seeing a puzzled expression on Zoë’s face said, “I don’t pretend to understand him either. I should like to take the waggon to Vinnek first, so he can look at it as soon as possible and we can have his apprentices take our things to Mum’s later after the load has been delivert. I hope you have no objection to walking to Mum’s, it’s not far.”
“Yes, I don’t mind, if I tire I can always sit down for a minute or so. There’s plenty of time, and it’s a warm day. To be honest I’d like to be able to sit down somewhere awhile, and you’ll have time to tell me more about your mum.”
“She’s your mum too,” protested Torrent.
“I know, but I forget from time to time,” said Zoë. “The idea is new to me, but I like the idea of having a mum. You know I don’t remember mine, so you’ll have to give me time to become uest to it, but I promise I shall.”
Torrent drove the waggon to Vinnek’s workshops and introduced Vinnek to his wife. He then explained what he thought they needed to look at saying, “But check everything and do what ever needs doing. I’m not going any where for three days at least.”
“She’ll be ready by then, Torrent. I’ll let you know when we’ve finisht. You’ll be at your mum’s?”
“Till I’m off again, yes.”
Vinnek smiled, and telt Zoë, “You have no idea how happy you’re going to make his mum. I’m sure she’d given up on him giving her any grandchildren.”
Zoë smiled and said, “Less than two tenners to go Stonechat said. I’ll be glad to be able to walk again instead of waddling whilst leaning backwards.”
“I’m sure none of you realise how pretty you are,” Vinnek telt her laughing. “I hope to see you again betimes.” Torrent and he arranged for the delivery of the load, their belongings, including the puffball, to be taken to Zephyr’s, and the horses to be taken to Eorl, and the couple left.
It taekt them almost half an hour to reach Torrent’s mum’s, but it was a sunny day and they were in no hurry. They stopped at the big pond to watch the fish and just to be together. They were holding hands watching the fish rising for flies when Torrent said, “I’ve had an idea. I’ve seen small metal frames for cooking over on the trail, some of the waggoners’ wifes use them. You can fit two pans(6) or kettles on one. They’re maekt of several parts that link together, and they come apart and stack taking hardly any space on the waggon. My cooking isn’t good enough to bother with them. I’ll have spaech with one of the smiths and order us a pair, and whilst they’re at it they can make us a small metal oven to put over one for your pasties.” Zoë thought that was a good idea and said she wished to learn how to make bread which she could bake in the oven. They spent the rest of the time on the way to Torrent’s mum’s spaeking of domestic things for the waggon, including a wooden box, or a half barrel with a lid, big enough to insulate the casserole kettle Zoë wished. They arrived as the sun was louring sufficiently to cool them a bit.
As they entered holding hands Torrent announced, “Goodeve, Mum. This is Zoë and Columbine your first granddaughter.” Zephyr hadn’t been expecting Torrent back for at least a tenner, probably two and possibly even seven or more. She saw the expression of pride on her son’s face and the looks of love on both Torrent’s and Zoë’s face and she was full of love for the pair of them. To have him back with a wife who looked as if she were going to birth any day maekt her cry with joy. She didn’t understand the certainty with which Torrent announced a granddaughter, but didn’t question it.
She opened her arms to Zoë and hugging her said, “Well come, Daughter,” as she kissed her. The three of them settled down to explanations. Zephyr was a small, plump, highly intelligent woman who was still grieving for the husband she lost two years over from a coughing disease. She had a lively sense of the ridiculous and found many of the anecdotes related by her son and his wife amusing. Orkæke, her elder son’s wife was three lunes pregnant with what she had thought was going to be her first grandchild, but Zoë’s appearance had delighted her. If the three of them had but known, it had moved her on in the grieving process considerably. She too was amazed by the scans and was surprised to realise she was delighted her first grandchild was to be a girl child. Somehow she knew Zoë had suffered terribly in her younger life, and despite her condition she was still a child. She loved her because she could see Zoë loved her son.
Zephyr had a reputation for not suffering the flaught gladly, but Zoë, she knew, was no member of the flaught, inexperienced, young and new to the Way yes, but no member of the flaught. Zoë couldn’t rationalise all this, she had no experience to go on, but she knew Zephyr wished to love her as a daughter and starved of maternal affection as she had been she wished to love Zephyr as her mum and be loved by her as a daughter. Her life with Stonechat had been better than it had ever been before, and she had been upset to leave, but now for the first time in her short life, she knew what it meant to have family who cared, to be an important piece in other folk’s lifes and it gave her a warm sense of significance.
8th of Chent Day 11
Eleanor and Woad had met every day for eight days and were being thought of as an intendet pair by others, though they had said naught to each other.
They had drawn a bio-gas generation plant and started to discuss on what scale they would build their first attempt. “What ever scale we try it needs to be able to take the entire output of what ever we are going to feed it with, Eleanor.”
“Explain that a little more, Woad, would you?”
“Let’s say we decide to feed it with the piept sewage producet by the new facilities being built by Spruce and Mike. We need to know roughly how much sewage will be available in one braekdown period and build our digester to take at least that much and preferably with a good free fillth margin. That way their problem of disposal is solvt. It’s flaught being able to deal with half of their output leaving them with the same disposal problem they had to start with. If on the other hand we decide to deal with the output from the huntsman’s stables then we need to take all of their output for the same reasons. If we wish a much smaller trial we could take the output from the huntsman’s kennels. What I am saying is we need to build our first set of equipment to be an entire solution to a particular situation.”
Eleanor thought for a while and said, “I agree, but we should not deal with the piped sewage because I suspect even Spruce and Mike have no idea what the output will be in say three lunes never mind a year. They and the other plumbers are installing the new facilities as fast as they can work with no end to what’s required in sight, and other crafters are struggling to make the pieces fast enough for them. I suggest we try the stables first, for Gudrun must already have a good idea of how much manure they produce. If we wish to start a batch but need to fill the in use fermenter first we could always offer to take some material from elsewhere till it’s full before we start to use the second fermenter. The stables will produce far less in summer than in winter and we may need to be able to store some of the winter output to use during the summer or offer to take material from elsewhere on a strictly as required basis.”
Woad agreed and asked, “How long will it take to work out how big the fermenters will have to be once you know how much material they have to be able to take? And how long will it take to work out how much gas they would produce?”
“I shall be able to do the calculations in an eve, but I suspect the delay will be building the fermenters and the gas storage containers as they will be the biggest barrels the coopers have ever maekt. Then we need to decide what we are going to do with the gas. I suggest heating rather than lighting as it is easy to make burners and not at all easy to make gas mantles for lighting. The mantles can be developed while the gas is uest for heat.” They concluded they needed to have spaech with the growers, especially Buzzard the compost maker, and Gudrun with a view to starting the process.
Over time, they had finally confided to each other the hurts they had telt none else of and shared tears of healing. By this time they were much in love, though they had trouble admitting it even to themselfs. Eleanor had finally realised Woad, simply because he was a reserved man and couldn’t help himself, wasn’t going to do or say anything without some help, so she said to him, “I love you, Woad, what are you going to do about it?”
Woad given the appropriate spur had replied, “I love you too, Eleanor.” Realising that wasn’t sufficient he had asked, “Will you marry me?” Eleanor had replied by kissing him in a way only someone of no intelligence at all could have taken to mean aught other than yes.
8th of Chent Day 11 and the next few tenners
A tenner after George had taken charge of the kennels, the squad had worked considerable fat off the dogs and maekt sizeable contributions to the Keep food supply. Ingot and George had agreed the best thing to do with the spoilt grain was to wash and strain it twice and thus allow the bulk of any contamination to drain off and then to soak it for two days to complete softth. To make the grain digestible Ingot would braek its the outer coating by passing it between the steel rollers usually uest to crush oats for porridge. They’d considered trying to turn it into flour involved far too much work. After rolling Ingot would dry it off by mixing it with the sieved spoilt flour before adding any liquid. After sieving, they’d concluded there was no way they could further clean the flour and it would be sterilised sufficiently by the baking process. It was in any case not as heavily contaminated as the grain.
Ingot had tried a few different ways of baking the dog’s biscuits, and the method settled upon maekt the dough with no salt but more water than most bread dough uest. He maekt it in the way he maekt airbread,(7) and the extra water put a lot of bubbles in it so it was easy to braek when cooked. Ingot rolled the dough out into huge sheets, three feet by two feet and half a wiedth thick, on steel trays, and baked them in the residual heat of the dieing ovens. Airbread was baked briefly in a hot oven to make the water evaporate and cause the bubbles. The bubbles in the dog biscuits were neither as large nor as plentiful as those in the airbread, but when cold, the sheets were naytheless easily braeken with a stick into small pieces which could then be shovelled into a sack. The intense heat when the ovens were next fired sterilised them, and Ingot left the oat rollers and metal sieves in the ovens till they too were sterilised by the initial heat in the ovens. Ingot’s dogs as well as George’s liekt the biscuits, especially when they contained butchers’ by-products: eyeballs and the like. Ingot’s dogs were trained to retrieve game as well as flush it out, and he and George arranged on his next day off he and the squad would go wild fowling with a view to the squad seeing his dogs at work and he would explain how he trained them.
George had been to see the woodworkers to ask for sawdust to use in the kennels rather than the straw currently in use and had been telt unfortunately it went to the growers to maintain the soil between the Keep’s curtain walls. He had laught and said “Well if you give it to me first I’ll make sure it’s full of fertiliser before they receive it, it’s more absorbent than straw you see, though we’ll still use straw to bed the dogs and ferrets on for the warmth, but it will all end up with the growers in the end.” Since the growers uest the kennel waste as well as the sawdust and it maekt no difference to them whether they were mixt before or after they received them the change was effected.
The ingeniators had built him a proper fireplace for his kettle and every member of the squad now had a work knife and had been shewn how to sharpen and maintain it by Master grinder Yellowstone who had emphatically telt them, “Never, ever leave your knife out of its sheath unless you are using it. It takes too much time and effort to give it a good edge, and you really do not wish to damage it by accident. If it’s not in your hand it should be in its sheath where it should be oilt to avoid rust damage.”
They also had two pairs of heavy duty smiths’ gloves each for handling rats, a bucket of leather soap and another of a tallow preparation to keep the leather supple which they also uest on their work boots. Master tanner Phthalen had explained with proper care the leather should last at least ten years. George had telt them, “Rats are nasty, you can catch something very unpleasant that may kill you, even from a dead one, so because it kills all the nasties we boil them till they disintegrate before feeding them to the dogs. Now we’ve the gloves we use them and look after them.” The fine leather workers and lorimers were making all the paraphernalia they needed for hawking which George with Fergal’s aid had determined from the books the huntsman’s office kept. Fergal had also sketched some additional pieces of equipment he wished which were new to Castle. Næna had uest his sketches to make drawings in the books.
The kennels were for the moment feeding themselfs though as George had telt Ford, “When we have the vermin under control we’ll need some meat scraps for feed. Jed has arrangt for the furriers to send us all their heads and the like and I’ll see the butchers and the fish cooks regards offal and waste, but we’ll use what we have as long as it lasts.”
George had telt Minxie what a clever girl she was for producing four little minxlets, a hob(8) and three jills. The minxlets still had their eyes closed but George had acquired another aurochs skull ready for them to chase each other through and berount when they were active but too small to join the others. The eight polecats had settled into their new accommodation and all fifteen adult ferrets and polecats were now murderously fit and dishing out mayhem, havoc and deadth mongst the vermin populations every forenoon, aught but bored, and Jedidiah was decidedly better tempered than he had been just a few days before. However, George wished at least two dozen ferrets and was making enquiries of ferrets on the holdings to avoid inbreeding too closely.
The squad working the ferrets and small dogs had maekt an immediate and vast reduction in the Keep rodent population which had been making constant and worryingly large depredations on the stored food supplies, and the squad was now alternating between working Milligan’s food stores and Gudrun’s forage stores in the forenoons. They were still flying the birds and coursing the dogs in the afternoons, though with considerably more success than initially. News concerning the squad was gradually becoming widely known, and they had already been assisted by Xenia and Teff with two of their friends one forenoon. George had been pleased to be telt by Xenia other interested children wished to help from time to time. George was planning a breeding program for both ferrets and dogs and he’d had the woodworkers build four new dog pens so as to be able to separate bitches ready for breeding so he could determine which dog served them. He explained to the squad, “We don’t wish a ratting bitch servt by a dog four times her size, or a tracking or running bitch by a ratter. We’ve enough problems already caust by inattention to proper breeding.”
The boys were too busy and enjoying themselfs far too much to be in any trouble. George and his squad could do no wrong in Milligan’s eyes, and he maekt sure the growing boys were supplied with enough food to keep even their ravenous appetites satisfied. With an absolute minimum of instruction from Fergal, George and the squad had taken to hawking as ducklings to water and they were now accomplished falconers, and the birds were now alert and deadly and receiving just the right amount of food to keep them that way. George was spending most of his time at his craft, and was having trouble remembering his life before living with Mari and Ford. Mari he loved, she was the mother he had never had, and he couldn’t do enough for her. Ford he respected as his dad. In his eyes a proper dad had to command obedience from a son, so he obeyed instantly Ford’s slightest whim or desire not because Ford insisted on it, but because he did. It was how he believed it should be, and in his eyes his family life was perfect. Beatrix and Jackdaw regarded all the squad as their children, and George had a contentment he’d never known could exist as a member of their extended family.
Will had looked in at the kennels and mews several times and noticed the differences, and he both approven and was impressed. That George, without adult support, had craftsmen assisting in his kennel improvements and providing him with equipment perplexed Will till he was telt George was trading some of what the squad caught, meat, fish, fur and feathers, and the squad’s account with Sagon had a sizeable balance. He had been telt by Jacob, who had supplied George with wood for his fireplace in exchange for coney pelts, George was a shrewd and hard negotiator and was highly thought of by every one he dealt with. That the rest of the squad approven of George’s style of leadership, despite its autocratic flavour, just convinced him all the more of George’s competence.
Will realised George, his age notwithstanding, was not considered to be a child, but the new kennel Master. Since he was already as accepted as such, Will had offered George the position permanently and George had accepted. They were in the mews one day where George was repairing a damaged flight feather(9) on a peregrine tercel,(10) a tricky operation involving cutting the damaged hollow rachis at the point of the damage, removing the loose section and gluing and inserting an appropriate diameter piece of straw into it and gluing the straw protruding from the loose piece of rachis into its original orientation with such precision that the barbules on the barbs of the feather reset themselfs making the repair invisible and the feather functionally indistinguishable from its original condition.
Will was impressed by George’s skill and the relationship he had with the tercel which George had not hooded(11) and was spaeking to quietly throughout the operation. The tercel whilst watching him intently allowed George to handle his wing without any sign of distress whatsoever. George finished and put the tercel back in his enclosure when a falcon promptly perched beside him. “He’s the best, Will. That’s his mate. I’m hoping he’ll mate with more than one of our falcons, but I’ve hearet they’re monogamous in the wild. Still we can hope, and there’s always next year.”
They were discussing the education George and the squad required, which they were mostly receiving from Jackdaw who taught all of them not just those Beatrix and he had adopted. Their conversation involved archery, use and care of knifes, tracking, riding and a hundred and one other bits and pieces, and who would teach them what and when. Will idly asked, “I don’t suppose you like fly fishing do you, George?” That set George off on a tirade concerning the trials and tribulations water bailiffs visited upon the poor, unsuspecting poacher. Will invited George to go with him the next time he went, and offered to teach him the more advanced aspects of fly fishing, without the interference of any such mean-spirited persons as water bailiffs.
The last part of George’s assimilation into the Folk was when he decided George was, as names go, not bad, but it was a permanent reminder to him of a person who no longer existed. He needed a Folk name. He eventually decided on Gage. He was fond of gages, the yellow plums which he had first come across on Castle as part of his first meal in the infirmary. Gage was, to him, entirely Folk and sufficiently similar to George to avoid confusing himself.
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
7 Mercedes, 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
75 Katheen, Raymnd, Niall, Bluebe, Sophie, Hazel, Ivy, Shadow, Allison, Amber, Judith, Storm Alwydd, Matthew, Beatrix, Jackdaw, The Squad, Elders, Jennt, Bronze, Maeve, Wain, Monique, Piddock, Melissa, Roebuck, Aaron, Carley Jade, Zoë, Vikki, Bekka, Mint, Torrent
76 Gimlet, Leech,Gwendoline, Georgina, Quail. Birchbark, Hemlock, Peter, Honesty, Bella, Hannah, Aaron, Torrent, Zoë, Bekka, Vikki, Jade, Carley, Chough, Anvil, Clematis, Stonechat, Peace, Xanders, Gosellyn, Yew, Thomas, Campion, Will, Iris, Gareth
77 Zoë, Torrent, Chough, Stonechat, Veronica, Mast, Sledge, Cloudberry, Aconite, Cygnet, Smokt
78 Jed, Warbler, Luval, Glaze, Seriousth, Blackdyke, Happith, Camilla
79 Torrent, Zoë, Stonechat, Clematis, Aaron, Maeve, Gina, Bracken, Gosellyn, Paene, Veronica, Mast, Fracha, Squid, Silverherb
80 George/Gage, Niall, Alwydd, Marcy/Beth, Freddy/Bittern, Wayland, Chris, Manic/Glen, Guy, Liam, Jed, Fergal, Sharky
81 The Squad, Manic/Glen, Jackdaw, Beatrix, Freddy/Bittern, Fiona, Fergal, Wayland, Jade, Stonechat, Beauty, Mast, Veronica, Raven, Tyelt, Fid
82 Gimlet, Leech, Scentleaf, Ramson, Grouse, Aspen, Stonechat, Bekka, Carley, Vikki, Morgelle, Bistort, Fritillary, Jed, Warbler, Spearmint, Alwydd, Billie, Diver, Seal, Whitethorn
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 Steerage way, the minimum forward speed at which a sailing ship will respond to the helm.
2 Topwale, the reinforced top edge of the side of a ship, literally the top wale or top plank, equivalent to the gunwale.
3 Peaten, peated, with the aromaticity and flavour of peat.
4 Charr, arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus.
5 Slew, a close relative of pheasant. Slew are twice the size of pheasant. The cocks have characteristic dark green, bordering on black, metallic plumage and make a distinctive rattling sound. The silent hens have non-metallic, mottled, pale buff plumage enabling them blend in with the background even when not trying to be unobserved.
6 Pan, term only uest for a shallow cooking utensil like a frying pan or a griddle with a handle.
7 Airbread, crisp bread maekt from rye flour, salt and water.
8 Hob, a male ferret or polecat.
9 Flight feather, a typical vaned feather, of which a flight feather is an example, features a main hollow shaft, called the rachis. Fused to the rachis are a series of branches, or barbs. The barbs themselfs are also branched with the barbules. These barbules have minute hooks called barbicels for cross-attachment.
10 Tercel, a male raptor or bird of prey, (the word derives from a third since males raptors are a third smaller than females or possibly because it was once believed only one egg in three was male), strictly the term falcon only applies to a female falcon and not to any other raptor.
11 Falcon hoods, falcons are hooded to keep birds calm and also, because their eye sight is so good, at least ten times as acute as that of a human, to be unaware of prey the falconer is uninterested in.
