1 Vhalar 723
Wealth skill: Fieldcraft
They were back to one sun again now, but it was still hot enough that Dan reminded the rest of the supply train and the new settlers travelling with it to drink regularly and keep their heads covered. The last leg of the journey was not the time he wanted his people to slip up and get sunstroke or heatstroke. He made himself follow his own instructions, his battered hat faded from arcs of heavy use and much exposure to the sun, but still perfectly functional. He reminded himself to water the animals regularly too, as the ponies and oxen sweated in the heat and the work required to pull the carts and carry the riders.
As the supply train approached Rosebay's edge, Dan stretched all his senses to the limit, trying to pick up on clues about how the place was doing, and what was going on right now. The shades were drawn over the fields, shielding them from the harsh sunlight (they were only one trial out of Saun, after all), but nothing looked - damaged or destroyed. The sheep were calling to each other, going by distant baaing from one of the pastures, but not in distress. An irregular thwack of stone hitting wood suggested that one or more of the settlers was practising with a sling. He could smell smoke on the air from the Hall chimney, horse sweat and human sweat from his own mounts and people, a whiff of manure from the midden or the fields - he couldn't tell which. In any case, it all seemed in order.
Of course, as soon as Rosebay's people realised that the train was there, everything stopped in the rush to bring it in and ask questions. Arbie Tyler, the guard he had left in charge of protection, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked steadily back at her until she relented enough to unfold her arms and ask actual questions. "You were gone a lot longer than expected," she said. "What happened?"
"There was a fire in the Dust Quarter," Dan summarised. "We got there just as the Painted Swine exploded and started it off. No one was going to trade or discuss trade until everything was under control again."
That, as he should have expected - so many of Rosebay's people had been born in or grown up in the Dust Quarter, so many had friends and family there - set off an uproar. Hands flailed with questions, voices soared in a babbling tangle. Dan raised his hands for attention.
He said, "Get the supplies unloaded, the animals tended, and our new folk settled in, and meet me in the Hall. I'd rather tell you all at once than repeat myself to each of you." He stared them all in the eye, turning his head slowly to try and get everyone, and slowly, very slowly, the hubbub subsided. Jack came forward to lead the draft animals away and tend to them, Agnes took the new arrivals under her wing and led them off to show them where they could eat, sleep, and wash, and Cal and Raven mustered a group to start unloading supplies into the barn.
Once that was underway, he only needed to see to Cloud, the pony he rode, and settle her into her stall. He rubbed her down first with a handfuls of dry straw, working his way from just behind her ears, down her neck, over her shoulders and flanks, to her rump. Once she was rubbed down, he checked Cloud's legs, ranning a hand gently but firmly down each leg in turn from shoulder to fetlock. His probing fingers didn't encounter any warm spots that hinted at inflamation but Cloud decided to lean against him anyway and he had to brace himself against her weight. He hissed back through his teeth, and tapped the lower leg in the usual signal for a horse to lift its foot. She grudgingly complied. He took a firm grip on the hoof and began to clean out the dirt, and check for stones caught in the hollow around the frog. Once each hoof was cleaned, he lowered it back to the ground and moved on to the next leg. Cloud turned her head to watch him, but didn't resist or try to avoid his move, for which he was grateful.
Once he had rubbed her dry, he switched to a brush and went to work with short, firm, strokes on her coats, and then with longer ones on her mane and tail. He was careful to stand to one side when he brushed her tail out, so that she couldn't kick him easily, nor could she deliver a pile of horse apples directly onto his booted feet. He hissed softly between his teeth so that she would know where he was as he swung Cloud's stable blanket over her shoulders and drew it down her back in line with the way that her hair grew, so that none of her hair would get rumpled uncomfortably under it. The blanket ensured that she wouldn't catch a chill after her hard work.
Jack was doing much the same for the draft animals, but having since he had animals to see to, Dan finished grooming sooner and went to fetch hay and water for all of them. By the time Dan had hung hay nets on all the stalls and emptied buckets of water into all the troughs, Jack was also finished, and they headed across to the Hall together.
Everyone in Rosebay crowded into the Hall, but it had been built and designed in the first place as somewhere that everyone could gather - to eat, to drink, to work, to socialise in bad weather - so there was room enough for them.
Dan climbed onto a stool so that they would all be able to see him. He took a moment to get his balance and stand securely so that he could use both hands to sign with without risking falling off the stool in mid-sentence, and then raised his hands to get their attention. He got it fast.
"The journey to Rharne," he began, "went without problems, but just as we got to the gate, the Painted Swine exploded, and started a fire..." He went on, relating the fire and the crowd, the evacuation and slimes, the shelters, the camp and the ghostly search for survivors. He concentrated mostly on getting everything out in the order that it happened. It meant that the tale was a bit flat and lacking in drama or description, but it was thorough and factually accurate. That, to him, was more important for this first telling, because the people of Rosebay deserved - and needed - to know what had happened to their old haunts and homes and friends and family. Grander tellings could wait until there was less urgency and more knowledge. He finally finished with, "And some of the people who had to evacuate decided that they would rather join us here than rebuild where they were." He indicated the new settlers, and took a long breath. "Are there any questions."
There were no questions, but when Dan gratefully stepped down from the stool, and took a seat at the end table, there was a great deal of discussion and conversation. Agnes pushed a basket of carrots towards him, and Dan took refuge in the familiar act of preparing them. He was never, ever, going to get used to - or comfortable - being the centre of so much attention. He had too many memories of attention gained for the wrong reasons. They would, however, need extra food to bulk out the meal since there were so many new arrivals, so he cut off the tops and tails of the carrots, peeled the skin off in long strips, and sliced them into neat chunks. Agnes whisked the tops away to add to a salad she was preparing, the tails and the peel went into the bucket for the pigs, and the chunks, once he was finished cutting, went into a soup pot.
Sure enough the meal, when it came, was carrot and bean soup (More carrot than bean, but beans had to be soaked overnight before they could be cooked. Carrots could be added anytime.), with buckwheat flatbread to dip into it, and a green salad for the tunawa to enjoy. Dan waited until everyone else was served before he dug into his portion. It made a pleasant change to be eating food that he hadn't cooked himself. Not that there was anything wrong with his own cooking, but that Agnes used different recipes from him, and since she had been in one place while he had been traveling, she had had time to do things like soak beans and make flatbread. Unlike him.
He didn't want to even comtemplate how you would make flatbread while riding a pony. It would probably have ended up in Cloud's mane!
"Signed words" Spoken words
Wealth skill: Fieldcraft
They were back to one sun again now, but it was still hot enough that Dan reminded the rest of the supply train and the new settlers travelling with it to drink regularly and keep their heads covered. The last leg of the journey was not the time he wanted his people to slip up and get sunstroke or heatstroke. He made himself follow his own instructions, his battered hat faded from arcs of heavy use and much exposure to the sun, but still perfectly functional. He reminded himself to water the animals regularly too, as the ponies and oxen sweated in the heat and the work required to pull the carts and carry the riders.
As the supply train approached Rosebay's edge, Dan stretched all his senses to the limit, trying to pick up on clues about how the place was doing, and what was going on right now. The shades were drawn over the fields, shielding them from the harsh sunlight (they were only one trial out of Saun, after all), but nothing looked - damaged or destroyed. The sheep were calling to each other, going by distant baaing from one of the pastures, but not in distress. An irregular thwack of stone hitting wood suggested that one or more of the settlers was practising with a sling. He could smell smoke on the air from the Hall chimney, horse sweat and human sweat from his own mounts and people, a whiff of manure from the midden or the fields - he couldn't tell which. In any case, it all seemed in order.
Of course, as soon as Rosebay's people realised that the train was there, everything stopped in the rush to bring it in and ask questions. Arbie Tyler, the guard he had left in charge of protection, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked steadily back at her until she relented enough to unfold her arms and ask actual questions. "You were gone a lot longer than expected," she said. "What happened?"
"There was a fire in the Dust Quarter," Dan summarised. "We got there just as the Painted Swine exploded and started it off. No one was going to trade or discuss trade until everything was under control again."
That, as he should have expected - so many of Rosebay's people had been born in or grown up in the Dust Quarter, so many had friends and family there - set off an uproar. Hands flailed with questions, voices soared in a babbling tangle. Dan raised his hands for attention.
He said, "Get the supplies unloaded, the animals tended, and our new folk settled in, and meet me in the Hall. I'd rather tell you all at once than repeat myself to each of you." He stared them all in the eye, turning his head slowly to try and get everyone, and slowly, very slowly, the hubbub subsided. Jack came forward to lead the draft animals away and tend to them, Agnes took the new arrivals under her wing and led them off to show them where they could eat, sleep, and wash, and Cal and Raven mustered a group to start unloading supplies into the barn.
Once that was underway, he only needed to see to Cloud, the pony he rode, and settle her into her stall. He rubbed her down first with a handfuls of dry straw, working his way from just behind her ears, down her neck, over her shoulders and flanks, to her rump. Once she was rubbed down, he checked Cloud's legs, ranning a hand gently but firmly down each leg in turn from shoulder to fetlock. His probing fingers didn't encounter any warm spots that hinted at inflamation but Cloud decided to lean against him anyway and he had to brace himself against her weight. He hissed back through his teeth, and tapped the lower leg in the usual signal for a horse to lift its foot. She grudgingly complied. He took a firm grip on the hoof and began to clean out the dirt, and check for stones caught in the hollow around the frog. Once each hoof was cleaned, he lowered it back to the ground and moved on to the next leg. Cloud turned her head to watch him, but didn't resist or try to avoid his move, for which he was grateful.
Once he had rubbed her dry, he switched to a brush and went to work with short, firm, strokes on her coats, and then with longer ones on her mane and tail. He was careful to stand to one side when he brushed her tail out, so that she couldn't kick him easily, nor could she deliver a pile of horse apples directly onto his booted feet. He hissed softly between his teeth so that she would know where he was as he swung Cloud's stable blanket over her shoulders and drew it down her back in line with the way that her hair grew, so that none of her hair would get rumpled uncomfortably under it. The blanket ensured that she wouldn't catch a chill after her hard work.
Jack was doing much the same for the draft animals, but having since he had animals to see to, Dan finished grooming sooner and went to fetch hay and water for all of them. By the time Dan had hung hay nets on all the stalls and emptied buckets of water into all the troughs, Jack was also finished, and they headed across to the Hall together.
Everyone in Rosebay crowded into the Hall, but it had been built and designed in the first place as somewhere that everyone could gather - to eat, to drink, to work, to socialise in bad weather - so there was room enough for them.
Dan climbed onto a stool so that they would all be able to see him. He took a moment to get his balance and stand securely so that he could use both hands to sign with without risking falling off the stool in mid-sentence, and then raised his hands to get their attention. He got it fast.
"The journey to Rharne," he began, "went without problems, but just as we got to the gate, the Painted Swine exploded, and started a fire..." He went on, relating the fire and the crowd, the evacuation and slimes, the shelters, the camp and the ghostly search for survivors. He concentrated mostly on getting everything out in the order that it happened. It meant that the tale was a bit flat and lacking in drama or description, but it was thorough and factually accurate. That, to him, was more important for this first telling, because the people of Rosebay deserved - and needed - to know what had happened to their old haunts and homes and friends and family. Grander tellings could wait until there was less urgency and more knowledge. He finally finished with, "And some of the people who had to evacuate decided that they would rather join us here than rebuild where they were." He indicated the new settlers, and took a long breath. "Are there any questions."
There were no questions, but when Dan gratefully stepped down from the stool, and took a seat at the end table, there was a great deal of discussion and conversation. Agnes pushed a basket of carrots towards him, and Dan took refuge in the familiar act of preparing them. He was never, ever, going to get used to - or comfortable - being the centre of so much attention. He had too many memories of attention gained for the wrong reasons. They would, however, need extra food to bulk out the meal since there were so many new arrivals, so he cut off the tops and tails of the carrots, peeled the skin off in long strips, and sliced them into neat chunks. Agnes whisked the tops away to add to a salad she was preparing, the tails and the peel went into the bucket for the pigs, and the chunks, once he was finished cutting, went into a soup pot.
Sure enough the meal, when it came, was carrot and bean soup (More carrot than bean, but beans had to be soaked overnight before they could be cooked. Carrots could be added anytime.), with buckwheat flatbread to dip into it, and a green salad for the tunawa to enjoy. Dan waited until everyone else was served before he dug into his portion. It made a pleasant change to be eating food that he hadn't cooked himself. Not that there was anything wrong with his own cooking, but that Agnes used different recipes from him, and since she had been in one place while he had been traveling, she had had time to do things like soak beans and make flatbread. Unlike him.
He didn't want to even comtemplate how you would make flatbread while riding a pony. It would probably have ended up in Cloud's mane!
"Signed words" Spoken words
