5 Vhalar 722
The rain had finally stopped, the morning mist had cleared away, and the ground had dried enough to be workable.
Dan scrubbed the last of the breakfast dishes clean (He made sure to take his turn at all the tasks, it made everyone else more willing to do them too) and then went out with a few of the others to get the ploughing started on the fields. They only had enough draft animals to pull two ploughs - his own ponies working together, and the pair of oxen that had been delivered by Tom's team and which usually pulled the wagon. That meant they only needed four people on the ploughing teams, two to steer the ploughs, and two to lead the animals.
Raven had rounded up most of the rest of the permanent settlers into a building team to make a start on a second wall (the first having succumbed to the weather). Beyond them, Tom's team, who had been sent by Teq and were only here temporarily, were setting up a simple temporary crane in order to haul roof beams into place on the barn.
Jack and Linnet both had more experience with ploughs than Dan did, so he was leading his ponies while Linnet steered the plough. Jack had help from one of the other settlers with the oxen.
Dan walked with a hand on the bridle strap running down Smoke's cheek, leaving Cloud, who was older and more sensible, to mostly look after herself. Both ponies were trained to pull his cart with all his belongings in, though these days, Cloud mostly carried him, instead. The bridle did have reins attached, which passed through a loop on the bulky collar and onward to the ploughwoman, but they didn't seem to be used much. They did give Dan something to grab if he had to though. He also had to be careful to stay on the unploughed side of the ponies so that his footsteps didn't flatten the previously ploughed row. The first two rows went smoothly enough, straight across the field and back. At the end of each row, Linnet lifted the plough clear and Dan led the ponies in an arc across the headland and back to the start of the next row. The plough went back into the ground once they were off the headland, and Dan switched sides depending on which way they were going. At the end of the third row, a tuft of grass caught Smoke's eye and instead of following Dan's lead she jerked forward, jolting Dan almost off his feet, and chomped down on the grass.
Dan growled in the back of his throat, feeling his cheeks heat, grabbed hold of the reins and pulled. Smoke's head came round easily, a wisp of grass protruding from her mouth, and he could have sworn she was laughing at him. "Are you trying to make me fall flat on my face?" he demanded, not really expecting an answer, and heard a soft chuckle from the farmer. Dan's cheeks burned hotter. He looked over his shoulder to see Linnet shaking her head.
The farmer told him, "Talk to them, make noises, whatever you usually do to keep their attention on you and not on whatever else catches their eye."
Dan gave the farmer a disbelieving look over his shoulder. What was he supposed to say? It was easy for someone who could speak with their mouths to say, 'Talk to them' but harder for a signer. Keeping the horse's or pony's attention on you, was standard practice, he supposed, but he wasn't really not much of a talker to people, let alone horses. Most people just didn't listen, and they really didn't understand. They thought he was just like them, and he was not, and when they found that out, they stopped pretending to like him. He'd rather have people that knew he was not like them, if he had to be around people. At least they wouldn't expect anything particular from him. He hoped that that was what he was building here in Rosebay, but only time would tell.
Linnet nodded encouragingly. Dan faced front again, guiding the horse along the furrow. As they came back down the next row, he saw that the previous row was a bit wobbly in places. Every time he turned to look back, he realised, there was a veer in the furrow. You could literally see in the field where he wasn't paying attention.
He hissed through his teeth, in the end, as he did to let them know he was there when he groomed them. It was a semi-monotonous sound that was still enough to make Cloud's and Smoke's ears prick up and swivel to pay attention to the sound. Gradually, the sound shifted, until he caught himself crooning tunelessly to the beat of the rams on the wall behind him.
He switched sides as they turned onto another row, and saw the ponies switch the angle of their ears to match. "I suppose that means you're listening," he said, using the abbreviated, one-handed signs, and dropped his gaze to the ground. He spotted a stone that the plough would have hit on the next row, and let go of the ponies long enough to snatch the stone up and toss it across the field onto the pile made when they all worked to clear the fields. They must have missed one. That, or it had worked its way up into the open since the stone picking. Of course, the plough didn't stop when he did, so he had to quicken his steps to catch up. A stone could damage the plough if the plough hit it hard, or the ploughwoman if the plough threw it up in the air. Rarely it damaged the horse or oxen pulling the plough, but not as often, because usually if a stone was thrown up, it was thrown up and back, not forwards.
Smoke dropped her head and lipped at Dan's hair. He pulled away with a scowl, and gave her a fond but firm slap on the neck. "I'm not edible, horse-face. Stop trying to nibble me, OK?" Smoke snorted and nudged at his pockets this time, clearly hoping for a treat as well as more attention. Dan grimaced, but dug his fingers into her forelock to scratch her between the ears. "OK, you, time to turn again." He ducked across to the other side, and led the ponies round to start yet another row. Cloud nuzzled him hopefully, not wanting to be left out if there was attention to be had.
They were about a third of the way down it when Dan felt a hefty jolt running up the reins under his hand, and heard a string of muffled curses from Linnet. Cloud planted all four feet and refused to move. Dan tugged in vain a couple of times, then turned and trotted back to see what was the matter.
He found Linnet clutching her left knee and cursing under her breath. She let go long enough to sign tersely. "Plough hit something. threw it up in the air, and it hit me in the knee."
"You ok to go on," Dan asked, "or do you need to stop and take care of your knee?"
Linnet flexed it cautiously. "Skin isn't broken, everything seems to work. I'm going to have a nasty bruise later, but I can go on for now."
Dan nodded,taking her at her word, and looked around to assess the situation. The plough had jumped out of the furrow and lay tilted a little, on the surface. A lump of something the same shade as the dirt around it - probably the whatever it was that had hit Linnet, lay a couple of future rows away on unploughed land. Dan ran his hands and eyes cautiously over the plough, but found no obvious cracks or breaks in it. Then he padded over to the lump and picked it up to toss it clear.
The lump didn't feel like a stone, it was the wrong texture - too smooth and too warm. He turned it over in his hands and discovered it was a tiny, ceramic, model of a curled up cat. It must have been made from the local clay, that would be why it matched the soil so well, but it was very old and worn. Clearly something that had been lost here long ago, and buried in the dirt, only for the plough to turn it up again. He slipped it into a pocket, and went to help haul the plough upright again.
Filler Text, Filler Text
"Signed words" Spoken words
The rain had finally stopped, the morning mist had cleared away, and the ground had dried enough to be workable.
Dan scrubbed the last of the breakfast dishes clean (He made sure to take his turn at all the tasks, it made everyone else more willing to do them too) and then went out with a few of the others to get the ploughing started on the fields. They only had enough draft animals to pull two ploughs - his own ponies working together, and the pair of oxen that had been delivered by Tom's team and which usually pulled the wagon. That meant they only needed four people on the ploughing teams, two to steer the ploughs, and two to lead the animals.
Raven had rounded up most of the rest of the permanent settlers into a building team to make a start on a second wall (the first having succumbed to the weather). Beyond them, Tom's team, who had been sent by Teq and were only here temporarily, were setting up a simple temporary crane in order to haul roof beams into place on the barn.
Jack and Linnet both had more experience with ploughs than Dan did, so he was leading his ponies while Linnet steered the plough. Jack had help from one of the other settlers with the oxen.
Dan walked with a hand on the bridle strap running down Smoke's cheek, leaving Cloud, who was older and more sensible, to mostly look after herself. Both ponies were trained to pull his cart with all his belongings in, though these days, Cloud mostly carried him, instead. The bridle did have reins attached, which passed through a loop on the bulky collar and onward to the ploughwoman, but they didn't seem to be used much. They did give Dan something to grab if he had to though. He also had to be careful to stay on the unploughed side of the ponies so that his footsteps didn't flatten the previously ploughed row. The first two rows went smoothly enough, straight across the field and back. At the end of each row, Linnet lifted the plough clear and Dan led the ponies in an arc across the headland and back to the start of the next row. The plough went back into the ground once they were off the headland, and Dan switched sides depending on which way they were going. At the end of the third row, a tuft of grass caught Smoke's eye and instead of following Dan's lead she jerked forward, jolting Dan almost off his feet, and chomped down on the grass.
Dan growled in the back of his throat, feeling his cheeks heat, grabbed hold of the reins and pulled. Smoke's head came round easily, a wisp of grass protruding from her mouth, and he could have sworn she was laughing at him. "Are you trying to make me fall flat on my face?" he demanded, not really expecting an answer, and heard a soft chuckle from the farmer. Dan's cheeks burned hotter. He looked over his shoulder to see Linnet shaking her head.
The farmer told him, "Talk to them, make noises, whatever you usually do to keep their attention on you and not on whatever else catches their eye."
Dan gave the farmer a disbelieving look over his shoulder. What was he supposed to say? It was easy for someone who could speak with their mouths to say, 'Talk to them' but harder for a signer. Keeping the horse's or pony's attention on you, was standard practice, he supposed, but he wasn't really not much of a talker to people, let alone horses. Most people just didn't listen, and they really didn't understand. They thought he was just like them, and he was not, and when they found that out, they stopped pretending to like him. He'd rather have people that knew he was not like them, if he had to be around people. At least they wouldn't expect anything particular from him. He hoped that that was what he was building here in Rosebay, but only time would tell.
Linnet nodded encouragingly. Dan faced front again, guiding the horse along the furrow. As they came back down the next row, he saw that the previous row was a bit wobbly in places. Every time he turned to look back, he realised, there was a veer in the furrow. You could literally see in the field where he wasn't paying attention.
He hissed through his teeth, in the end, as he did to let them know he was there when he groomed them. It was a semi-monotonous sound that was still enough to make Cloud's and Smoke's ears prick up and swivel to pay attention to the sound. Gradually, the sound shifted, until he caught himself crooning tunelessly to the beat of the rams on the wall behind him.
He switched sides as they turned onto another row, and saw the ponies switch the angle of their ears to match. "I suppose that means you're listening," he said, using the abbreviated, one-handed signs, and dropped his gaze to the ground. He spotted a stone that the plough would have hit on the next row, and let go of the ponies long enough to snatch the stone up and toss it across the field onto the pile made when they all worked to clear the fields. They must have missed one. That, or it had worked its way up into the open since the stone picking. Of course, the plough didn't stop when he did, so he had to quicken his steps to catch up. A stone could damage the plough if the plough hit it hard, or the ploughwoman if the plough threw it up in the air. Rarely it damaged the horse or oxen pulling the plough, but not as often, because usually if a stone was thrown up, it was thrown up and back, not forwards.
Smoke dropped her head and lipped at Dan's hair. He pulled away with a scowl, and gave her a fond but firm slap on the neck. "I'm not edible, horse-face. Stop trying to nibble me, OK?" Smoke snorted and nudged at his pockets this time, clearly hoping for a treat as well as more attention. Dan grimaced, but dug his fingers into her forelock to scratch her between the ears. "OK, you, time to turn again." He ducked across to the other side, and led the ponies round to start yet another row. Cloud nuzzled him hopefully, not wanting to be left out if there was attention to be had.
They were about a third of the way down it when Dan felt a hefty jolt running up the reins under his hand, and heard a string of muffled curses from Linnet. Cloud planted all four feet and refused to move. Dan tugged in vain a couple of times, then turned and trotted back to see what was the matter.
He found Linnet clutching her left knee and cursing under her breath. She let go long enough to sign tersely. "Plough hit something. threw it up in the air, and it hit me in the knee."
"You ok to go on," Dan asked, "or do you need to stop and take care of your knee?"
Linnet flexed it cautiously. "Skin isn't broken, everything seems to work. I'm going to have a nasty bruise later, but I can go on for now."
Dan nodded,taking her at her word, and looked around to assess the situation. The plough had jumped out of the furrow and lay tilted a little, on the surface. A lump of something the same shade as the dirt around it - probably the whatever it was that had hit Linnet, lay a couple of future rows away on unploughed land. Dan ran his hands and eyes cautiously over the plough, but found no obvious cracks or breaks in it. Then he padded over to the lump and picked it up to toss it clear.
The lump didn't feel like a stone, it was the wrong texture - too smooth and too warm. He turned it over in his hands and discovered it was a tiny, ceramic, model of a curled up cat. It must have been made from the local clay, that would be why it matched the soil so well, but it was very old and worn. Clearly something that had been lost here long ago, and buried in the dirt, only for the plough to turn it up again. He slipped it into a pocket, and went to help haul the plough upright again.
Filler Text, Filler Text
"Signed words" Spoken words
