the Leathermines

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It had already been a long day.  Some intrigue, some sex, some good things, some bad things.  But it was almost time for evening meal and Laun could not back out of it.

A servant had scratched on the door and had come in when Laun called, “Enter.”

He was not surprised that Laun was in bed, but he was taken aback when there was someone in the bed with her.  He delivered the message that evening meal would be in the Great Hall in about an hour.  He left, closing the door quietly.

Laun found the privy again after some searching for the hidden door.  She would need more supplies soon in there and she found where the moisture had come from.  She looked up and saw that there was a small water stain on the ceiling of the small room right above where the paper had been.  That was something to be dealt with, later.

Laun tried to brush her hair out with the small brush and comb that was on the vanity in the bedroom.  It was not the set from Ithian, which she both liked and didn’t like.  It did not want to go through her hair and her arms were getting tired trying to make it work.  She untied the thong from around her wrist and wrapped it around her hair, making a low tail that at least kept it out of her face. »Read More

Back to Chapter 35

Music now was echoing through the halls.  Laughter and joy bounced around in voice and in bodies as the troupe ran and tumbled and sang in the long halls of the manor.

Laun had asked Del if there was some sort of a great hall or feast hall somewhere in the maze of the Hawkwell manor.  He nodded and, with the medic and healer and their people trailing behind discussing Laun’s pigheadedness, Dell escorted Laun and her people into a place close to the middle of the manor.

It was a space that was almost as big as the Great Hall back in Salam-Dir.  It had not been opened for over a year and the dust and cobwebs showed quite well in the afternoon light streaming through the high windows.  There were tables stacked on one side of the room, benches and a few chairs on the other.  The Midlands and Hawkwell banners hung at either end of the room above small fireplaces that had been large at one time.  There were remnants of fire-logs in the ash, evidence that the flue had not been pulled closed on one of the chimneys with the dried arc of ash and char on the polished stone floor, bird tracks in trails pointing towards the fireplace.

A bench was brought over for Laun and she sat, happy to be off her feet.  She sneezed, putting the too long sleeve over her nose and mouth.

“This is good.  I know I keep asking for more from you, but I am tired of not having a central place to meet people.” »Read More

Back to Chapter 34

The courtyard was barely more than grey with the morning light when Laun was up and doing her morning exercises.  She had left the other two sleeping on the bed and had put more covers over them.  She had suddenly awoken and could not get back to sleep.  There was nothing wrong, with the room or herself, she just was awake.

Laun’s lower back was feeling twitchy.  She had not been doing her morning routines as religiously and her body was telling her about it.  She stretched, using the wall of the courtyard to prop her self up with.  Her legs were stretched and she tried to gently twist to see if it was her spine that needed to be realigned.  Nothing popped, so she went back to stretching and moving to relax things.

She tried to do one of the open hand katas, flowing as much as she could, but again, her back was threatening to go out and she found she was not doing things the way she really needed to be doing them.  She switched to another form and could tell within a few steps that it was not coming out right.

She just let her arms swing as she stood there in the courtyard, her eyes closed as she felt and listened to her body.  She started to move slow and found a few movements that did not seem to trigger her back.  She built on those, feeling the dirt under her feet as she turned, the dry air on her skin as her arms went through motions similar to pulling a bow.

It was not a true form, but she felt her heart beat raise and her breathing deepen.  She needed to keep some of her morning form, even if it was just to focus her mind. »Read More

Back to Chapter 32

Days had gone by.  Laun now knew the way to the main kitchen without escort.  She also could get to the Library and the front receiving entrance without too many lost turns.  She was trying to build on that, opening doors that would open, looking through windows to know what it was positioned by in the estate.

Laun had switched to wearing mainly just her halter and a loose tunic as she wandered the manor.  She didn’t even bother with slippers, though that could have been dreadful when she came across a broken window in one of the outside enclosed walkways.  It went on her list of things that needed to be fixed, later.

She had started to do just stretches in the dusty courtyard in the mornings.  She did not feel like her body would stand up to full forms and be able to continue to reorganize and clean the manor.  The dust was thick, except for in the area right outside her door.  Laun used the area only for her morning exercise.  She needed green and growing and living things around her. »Read More

Back to Chapter 31

“I want it unlocked.”

Laun was not raising her voice.  She was not being threatening.  She was being firm in her request.

The servant was several steps away from Laun and had his eyes on the ground.  “Lady, I have my orders-”

“And you are going to make a pregnant woman sit on her ass with nothing to do day in and day out?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again.  He nodded and had the keyring under his tabard.  He unlocked the door to the courtyard and opened the door.  It took a little effort as it had not been opened for a while.  A wave of outside heat came in and Laun could smell the dust from the courtyard.

Laun smiled.  “Thank you.”

He bowed slightly, looking nervous.  “My duty, Lady.” »Read More

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Gem had pitying looks from some of the servants as she went to see what could be had for dinner.  She played it up, holding her arm as she was escorted to the kitchens again.  She was glad to have the escort as the building had been added onto so often that it was difficult to keep track of all the levels, hallways and doors from one place to another.

It was a skeleton crew at the estate.  Even with the few servants sent from the Palace, there seemed to be just a few people here and there doing the jobs of dozens.  In the kitchen there seemed to be just two.

Gem came into the kitchen with her escort to see the two people there wrestling with an oversized leg of meat.  They didn’t seem to know which way either of them was going and seemed to be dropping it more than moving it.

“Hey!  The Lady wants dinner.  Is she going to get any?”  The household servant yelled and waved his arms to get the other servants attention.

“We only had a day to get ready!  We still have some of the bread from a few days ago and some preserves, but, if she wants anything else, she is going to have to wait for it like the rest of us.”  The harried servant was smeared with blood from the meat they were manhandling.

“Look,” the servant who had escorted Gem stepped towards the two kitchen people and lowered his voice.  “She has a bitch of a mistress and I don’t want to send her back without something.” »Read More