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It was subtle, but there was a stained cloth that had been draped on the mantlepiece behind the head table. It was still there several days later when Orgia decided that it was time to take down the proof that Laun had been a maiden and now a woman.
It was a damnedable tradition, and if Laun had been paying attention, she may have understood how to many people, it showed that she had been claimed. It also made several people think that now she was free to pursue, the tacit agreement through the household gone. She was no longer protected, and any innocence she had would not last.
To the chatelaine, the change in the household was immediate. Some people avoided their Lady, though she still tried to treat everyone equally, touch everyone everyday. It made an under-currant that was starting to disrupt the harvests and household running smoothly.
Orgia could not have that.
The day she took down the woman-cloth, Orgia rearranged the tables in the Great Hall again. No more head table. Dreng was not pleased, but he had learned that to go against the women of this household could be disastrous. More importantly, Orgia took it upon herself to hang the banner of the household. There is a tradition that she did hold to that the device of the head of the household changed slightly with each succession.
The people being directed by Orgia did not see a change in the banner they were hanging up. Then again, if they paid attention to the banner and not to the scaffolding and poles they were using, there could have been an accident. When it was up and the scaffolding was being taken down, several people stood back and saw what Orgia had done.
“The blood...”
The servant was right. Orgia had sewn red cloth onto the banner at the tips of each of the talons, drops of blood. It was a more appropriate woman-cloth for Lady Laun than the linen that had been purposely soiled for display.
Harvesting had changed. The weather had gone from wet most days to very hot and dry. It was time to push for as much gathering and processing as possible. Orgia took one more look at the banner and directed her people to the next task.
Laun was with the training protectors that day. She had been cycling through each of the groups, sometimes tending animals, sometimes holding pig-iron for the smith, being shown by doing. That day, she was delighting in how Edgar and the Dance Master had brought the weapons they had into harmony with the moves of the people. There had been so much for her to oversee that she had not been able to participate as much as she wanted in the training, or just dancing.
The teams had settled out, many of the combined teams having the same beds for the last few weeks. As Laun watched the different pairs, it was obvious the trust that had developed as blades and staves passed within fractions of each of the people, no flinching or pausing as they continued their forms.
Laun had a flash of when she was just a dancer, not knowing how protected she had been. She did not wallow in that feeling, just let herself be showed some of the moves that had just been demonstrated. It had been a while since she had been active with dance, and, even though she worked every day to keep the household together, the dance had been part of her life for years. The unused muscles protested. One loudly as her arm spasmed and she dropped the staff she was using.
She showed her impatience with herself as she growled, “Gods! Can’t I do anything right?”
The Dance Master thumped his own staff on the ground and, without thinking said, “Failure just means more practice.” He tempered his tone with, “We will just have to work more practice into your schedule, Lady.”
She was massaging the cramp in her arm and nodded at the Dance Master. Laun went to pick the staff back up when Edgar said, “You don’t have to continue...”
Laun was quiet. She picked up the staff and looked at her Head Wardsman. She could see that he was trying to make it easier for her, but she had to do this. It had been up to her once before. She had to make sure that if it was again, she was more prepared. Laun stood with the stave between her hands across her legs. Edgar saw a twitch in her eye and barely had time to react before she had arced the stave several times around her, turned and landed the stave between his feet.
Laun looked up and said, “Yes, I do have to. You saw how sloppy that was.”
The Dance Master was beaming, until Laun turned, then he hid it behind a cough. “Yes, Lady. You may have planted your feet oddly, but I think you have the basics.”
Laun stood and had an odd look on her face for a second. “Basics.” She turned and looked at the men and women around her. “This is a good start. If we can get everyone to know the basics, I would feel better.” She looked at Edgar and the Dance Master. “Think about it.”
They both nodded and the practice continued.
At midday, Geralk came to Laun. He motioned that it was not to be public information. Laun thanked the protectors and went with Geralk.
They walked and he told her that he had gotten a message. “How?”
He had a grey strip of cloth in his hand with several other colors of thread running through it. “It was found hanging on one of the black-striped huts. Marie has information for us, but cannot get here. We need to send people out there.”
A flash of panic went through Laun. “That means you must go. You can read the messages, no one else here can.” The merchant nodded. They walked for some more time and Laun held out her hand to the man. They continued down the road hand in hand until she said, “How do you propose to be safe out there? You may be known as being with Dreng.”
Gralk shrugged. “I was hoping to take my mule, some wares and just go.”
Laun nodded, but added, “Pick one of the teams of protectors to go with you. We will dress them as newly-bonded and you as their paid escort to their new home.”
Geralk liked that idea. “No one would think that a woman would be the dangerous one.” He excused himself and left Laun walking along the road.
Laun almost called after him as she realized that if he were gone, someone would have to continue updating his lists while he was away. Geralk was too far away by the time Laun had thought of that.
Laun started to go over some of her own mental lists. Another field of grain was almost completely gleaned. The cows and goats they had been able to find were going to be hobbled in the fields soon to take advantage of the fresh harvest greens, and the fertilizer the animals left behind.
When the animals were set out, the one wall of the shelter would need to be fixed as one of the heavy rains had washed out the support of one of the posts. The posts that were in the woodworker’s drying building had to be checked as a greenfly infestation was found under the bark of one of the windfall logs from the thunderstorm. The rains had damaged much, but had also supplied much to the household.
The rainwater that had built up in the cistern was clean and clear and enough to last for at least two months, if no one decided to try to swim in it, again. There had been a late night swim that had been interrupted by a team of the protectors as they went on their rounds. The people involved were drunk, horny and now doing duty cleaning out the animal shelter, which is how the damage had been found.
If the damage had not been found, it would have been more than that wall that could have been brought down with the post. The roof was attached to part of the second story of the Tower. After the roof on the tower had been repaired, the carpenters found that some of the stone had shifted. No one in the household knew much about masonry, so anything important had been moved out of the tower. The quarriable stone was matched and it looked like when the building was built, that was where the stone had been carted from. Several men were trying different ways to bring some of the stones that had been cut but not transported generations ago to the castle and keep, just in case.
No one knew how to make the mortar it’s self. There had been some documents in the library at one point that had records of how things had been built and repaired, but when Geralk found what was left, he had very little to piece together.
And again, it came back to Geralk, who was about to leave to find information in the outside world.
The outside world. It struck Laun that way. Anything that was not on this land, shared by the one hundred and six people was outside. Falmir and his men were outside. The bandits were outside. And resources they could not make or find for themselves were outside. Geralk was going to have to take as much as he could with him to trade for some of the things that they would need for the cold season. If he were able to get back after. She would have to talk to Orgia about what they could spare for this.
Laun started back towards the keep, a set of missions in mind.
Chapter 30 The team is chosen and sent on their way without letting anyone else know.
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