"Within a week." Gertrud replies to Tarjun. "And I don't care who brings it. But I have my ways to make sure someone will pay."
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Jewel nods as she carries the pot toward the pond. "So we go hunting tomorrow. Another boar would be nice. Not sure if there's another nearby though...."
When she gets there she looks around for a fire pit. If there isn't a fire going yet she gets started, clearing an area so it won't spread and stacking wood. With some dry tinder in a sheltered area she casts Sun Metal on her knife and uses it to start the fire. Fanning it to get it hot she dumps out the pot on grass and moves it over to the fire and casts create water to fill it. She waits until the water is hot before cleaning the stock and filling it. Adding the spices and stirring she does have to admit that this isn't quick. But.... She hopes it is good!
The guys are good with wood and they have a nice campfier going inside a circle of stones that offer themself nicely to put a pot on.
To make sure not the whole butchery disappears Gertrud picks which pieces leave this night. A dried saussage for everyone, a thick slice of smoked bacon and three steaks. "Make sure you leave no food out there. We don't want to draw any predator near the village."
"Yeah, sure." Clara replies, grabs the bag with the food and runs.
Arriving at the camp she calls out from afar "I've got the good stuff!"
Once there, she shows each one what she got in the bag.
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"No problem, Mrs Johnson!" Tarjun absolutely beams at her. The way to his heart is definitely through his stomach.
He cannot keep up with a running Clara - and shouting at her to wait for him brings no reaction. He trots as quickly as he can to the camp, and arrives breathless. "You could have walked slower!" he says reproachfully to the girl.
A rumble comes from his stomach. All that chasing made him hungrier. "Do we have anything to grill the meat or something? How's that stew coming along?"
Since the fire is already going Jewel stokes it up on one side and sets up the stew pot there. As the fire gets hotter she casts protection from fire on herself. She knows it will last for forty minutes and figures that should be plenty to get the water and ingredients boiling good. She allows the fire to burn down before the spell expires.
"Sharpen some green sticks and skewer the sausages on them, and maybe the steaks? Get primitive! Roast the over the fire. Let me have some meat for the stew. It should be done fairly soon, but you'll want to munch on the sausages while waiting." She chuckles to herself about the 'get primitive' comment, thinking about Tarjun and his club....
Clara puts the steaks on the hot stones to roast. "Are you sure about grilling dried saussages?"
Jewel glances at Clara when she asks about grilling the sausages. "Ah. Good point. If they're dried they're probably fully cooked. Enjoy guys!"
She keeps stirring the stew, slicing up the bacon and making sure it gets hot enough for some of the grease to melt into the stew.
Jewel glances around. "Enjoy a sausage guys. The stew will take a little while. It has to heat to a boil then simmer for a few minutes. I'll call everyone once it's ready."
"I think I'll wait for a steak." Tony replies.
"Me too." Clark chimes in.
John takes a sausage and takes a big bite. "How long til the stew is done? It's not getting any earlier and we need to work again tomorrow."
Jewel keeps the fire really hot and stirs the stew fast to keep it from burning. With her magic protecting her she is able to keep stoking it to get it boiling quick, then collapses the fire to cool it and let in simmer much sooner than normal. "Just about done. Maybe 5 minutes now." She takes a small taste and adds some spices to make it taste better.
When she thinks it is done proper she drags it off of the fire to the sand and gets bowls and spoons ready. "Who's hungry?"
Once the stew has been spooned out she looks around. "Sorry to keep you guys out so late. I'll see about talking to Dwayne tomorrow. That way he can yell at me, and maybe cool off a little. And of course the punishment from our parents, and we have to hunt for some meat for Mrs. Johnson."
"Hey, we are grown ups, we can stand up for ourself. Also he doesn't yell at us. but we're paid per board foot of wood not by the hour. So if we want to make money, we have to get up and work." John tells. "And you better don't get involved with Dwayne too much. You and your rules about what trees to cut cost us quite a bit already with the longer ways. If you're seen talking to Dwayne that sours the mood for some in fear of more of that stuff."
"Maybe you're helping Dwayne, if he is still here in 20 years when those new trees are big enough to cut down the ones we didn't cut now. But for now it only costs everyone. Us, because we get paid less for less trees chopped and Dwayne, because he got less wood to sell." John objects. "And you got more work too. The only one happy with it is probably that walking tree."
Jewel listens, hears the complaints and frowns. She had only been trying to help. The comment about the 'walking tree' steels her nerves. "That 'walking tree' is Bruihu. He's a sentient creature just like us, and a servant of Erastil. I'm just trying to undo the damage that was being done by clear cutting the area. I know it'll take years for the new trees to grow. But without them the soil will dry up and the good top soil will blow away. Sometimes you have to think about what you are doing to the living creatures where you work. If you need to cut more trees it just means that more need to be planted so the forest doesn't die out."
"Clear cutting destroys the area. You mention 20 years. Well we live here. If you keep clear cutting the forest we won't be able to live here in 20 years. All of the forest around will have been destroyed."
"Sorry for dissing your friend as walking tree, but he never properly introduced himself."
"You might have noticed, that people live in cities and villages and not in the forest." John disagrees. "And your family's farm land is also free of trees."
"Bruihu isn't very sociable at times, especially when he's being threatened with axes or seeing areas where clear cutting has damaged the soil. He's actually really nice once you get to know him. And he helped a lot when we worked on getting the water channel over here to the pool. But tomorrow, take a look around where we haven't gotten any new trees planted yet. The soil there has eroded. It puddles unnaturally when it rains and is hard and cracked when it's dry."
"And obviously we don't live in the forest. We could, but it wouldn't be natural. But we don't need to clear more land for the people that are here. If more families get here then we will. But that will be natural as well."
"As for our fields, there aren't any trees, true. And I'm a little surprised when I think about when Dad filled in that slew. There were several rabbit families that got upset by that! He can't talk to them but they scorched my ears for a long time.... But we maintain the fields. We plant crops, rotating what is grown so it doesn't leech the needed minerals for the crops to grow best. And we always leave one field fallow each year to recover. Farming takes knowledge just like any other work if you want to do it right. I'm sure if I tried to cut down trees my hands would get all blistered and the trees would fall in whatever direction they happened to be leaning.... Anyway, the trees had to be cut out so the crops could get the sunlight that they need. You won't see any successful farmer growing crops in the forest either!"
"Really, the main thing is to keep the right balance. We don't want our little town to become a city, with all the businesses, and pollution, and crime.... It's simple, and good here. Regardless of what Clara says!"
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"Sorry for dissing your friend as walking tree, but he never properly introduced himself."
"You might have noticed, that people live in cities and villages and not in the forest." John disagrees. "And your family's farm land is also free of trees."
"I mean, we could call him if you want," Tarjun offers. "But you gotta admit that if you were faced with a buncha people holding axes and threatening your kind, you wouldn't want to say 'hello' either."
"Hey, not much happened there but threats and I like him best way out of sight. No need to ruin that."
"You do your world saving thing, but don't expect us to be happy about it. Because world saving stuff is for people who have spare time. You'll never find the hard working folks doing it. They don't have the time for it."
"Wait til you grow up and have to put the food on the talble for yourself and maybe a family if you still got time for that." John tells and helps himself to some stew.
"I'll be so rich that I can do both!" Clara states. "Or even better, I pay people to do both for me."
Once everyone has been served Jewel sits down to enjoy her stew. It wasn't the best, but hunger is a good sauce.....
"I understand what you say. It's similar to what Dad says. But I'm only really thinking about saving the area around here, this small town. I'm still trying to properly learn Erastil's ways. But I think he's really more about small communities. Big cities may be good for some, but they need lots of small communities like this to support them, with food, timber, and other stuff." She considers Clara's words.... but decides not to comment.
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""I'll be so rich that I can do both! Or even better, I pay people to do both for me."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea! But you'll get bored after a while," Tarjun chews on a piece of burned carrot, and does his best not to grimace. "It's really good!" he smiles encouragingly to his sister.
It looks almost convincing.
Once the men have eaten Jewel gathers up the equipment to take back and wash. "Thanks guys, and so sorry keeping everyone out so late. Tarjun's right. Our parents will expect us to be up and doing our chores all too early. And Mrs. Johnson wants us hunting to replace the meat. And I'll clean this up before I tuck in."
She does give a tired smile at a couple of the guys, "It was fun though!" With that she heads home carrying the dishes, taking them into the kitchen and cleaning them, She uses a Light spell rather than a lantern. She does her best to be quiet....
"We should repeat that. Maybe at rasonable times." Clara adds. "What are you working for anyway? I mean what do you need the money for? You work all day and do nothing else. There have to be easier jobs at the city. Or are you getting rich here and settle down after a year or two?"
"It's complicated." John replies and buries the topic in silence. All get up and walk back to the village. Other than Clara and Tarjun the guys offer to help Jewel carry the pot and what other things need carrying.
At the Branston's house the guys say their goodbye and leave.
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While not particularly an anxious kind of boy, Tarjun can hardly find sleep, ruminating what John had said before they parted. "Hey, Jewie," he eventually calls after much tossing and turning, keeping his voice low. William had surprisingly good hearing and the walls were not thick. "What do you think John meant? When he said he couldn't tell what they were doing?"
"I don't like it. It sounds like a secret. Do you think it's something bad?"
Jewel is almost asleep when Tarjun asks his question. She is soooo tired, but doesn't ignore the question. "He didn't say that he couldn't tell us what they were doing. He just said that it's complicated. Maybe whatever he's saving for is personal. Or it could have just been too complicated to discuss at this hour of the morning. Regardless you know they have to have a good reason taking a job like that here. They don't have family here, and really not many friends other than the guys they work with." It did make her think. Would she take a job that would take her away from family for a long time? It was hard for her to imagine that....
Jewel yawns, a little louder than she wanted.... "Tarjun! Quiet down. You don't want to wake everyone. We haven't had any sleep yet. He didn't say that the work was complicated. You're too tired to think straight. The complicated part is what he, or they are doing with the money they earn. Now can you just go to sleep and wait the couple of hours until we get up and get started on chores?"
"Mooom. Why do we live here? Why do you work as a butcher in this village?" Clara inquires loudly when entering the house.
"Shut up and go to bed." comes the answer from the parents bedroom.
After a few hours the sun rises again and the rooster reminds all that it is time to get up.
Jewel wakes up to a rooster crowing way too early.... She wants to roll over and pull the pillow over her head. But, she groans and gets up. She starts to step away, then fully wakes up and turns back to the bed. Slowly going to her knees she goes through the ritual prayers to Erastil, then a more personal one-sided discussion. "I know I deserve the exhaustion for my foolishness. I'll try not to do that again, but I'm only human."
Once her prayers are complete she stands again and heads for the kitchen. If their mother hasn't started breakfast yet Jewel does. If she has Jewel asks what she can do to help. She tries not to sound as tired as she is.
"Staying out late with the boys? Is there someone getting grown-ups-interests?" Shelly inquires over cooking breakfast together.
Jewel freezes when she hears her mother's question. Was she so tired that she imagined the words? No. The question hung in the air like a hawk on an updraft....
"Mom!?! I'm. The guys, men, ah young men...." She pauses to take a breath and think. She couldn't really think.... "Mom. Tarjun and I are still little kids. Those lumberjacks. Well, I don't know how old they really are. But Dwayne doesn't hire kids to do that work. The guys.... They were nice, and they really helped. I mean, really, they asked what we wanted built, and they came up with the design. Clara wanted something like the pirate ships so she could pretend we were aboard again, and swinging across to attack the other ship like the pirates did. Of course we didn't attack, or swing across, or any of that."
Realizing that she's off subject and not wanting her mother to think she was trying to avoid answering she gets back to that. "Anyway. No. I am not having any grown-up-interests about any of the guys. A couple of them were very nice, like they should be with kids. That was nice since Jack was there too. Clara was flirting of course, as if any of the guys would be interested. But you can ask Tarjun, I didn't."
"Little kid my ass! Little kids are in bed when it's dark."
Clara ignores the crowing of the rooster. It's not like some noisy chicken has anything to say about her dayly routine. She turns around and snuggles up with weasel and her blanket.
But the sun shining through the window is really not helping with sleeping. Also mom hasn't answered her question.
She rolls out of bed still rolled up in the blanket and walks over to her parents sleeping room. "Mooom. Why are you working as a butcher in this village?"
"Ewwww, you stink. Get yourself and that pocketrat of yours into the tub. If you manage to get yourself clean and into a clean set of clothes, you can ask me again after breakfast." Gertrud barks at the kid. Then she buries her face in the pillow.
"What about you Randolph? Want a side of bell peppers to that existential crisis for breakfast?"
"What? Doesn't 'Let's move out of the city. I don't care where, just away from my mother and her stupid influence on the kids.' sound like a good enough reason any more?" Randolph replies pulling Gertrud closer.
"It didn't work, did it?" Gertrud asks.
But anyhow, getting up doesn't look like the best option at the moment and ignoring roosters and sunshine is a thing you can master with practice. And practice she has.
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"Tarjun! Quiet down. You don't want to wake everyone. We haven't had any sleep yet. He didn't say that the work was complicated. You're too tired to think straight. The complicated part is what he, or they are doing with the money they earn. Now can you just go to sleep and wait the couple of hours until we get up and get started on chores?"
"I still think it's bull," Tarjun whispers back defiantly, and turns his back on his sister. She's probably right, as usual. Even he can realise that. But that doesn't mean he will admit to maybe being wrong.
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Right or wrong, his thinking keeps sleep at bay for even longer, and when he is woken up by Jewel getting up he finds it nearly impossible to do the same. He groans, turns over, and dozes off. It takes his mother calling him for breakfast several times before he moves.
Tarjun shows up in the kitchen looking even more disheveled than usual. "Hi," he calls out morosely, and plops down on his chair next to Jewel.
He frowns at her sister through his morning hair. "Why the long face?"
Jewel can't suppress the grin at her mother. She doesn't speak like that to her often. "Well, I'm not a woman yet and you know that. So what does that make me!?! Precocious?" She looks away. Should she have interest like that in the guys? They're grown men? "Some of the guys are nice, sometimes. But they're always working and don't have time to talk. And I'm sure that I am just a little girl to them! Unless I use my magic. Then most of them are scared."
When Tarjun asks his question she thinks before answering. "Tired. And thinking."
"If you want to talk to them other things than what comes naturally to people, you'd have a hard time finding a good match here." Shelly admits. "Imagine a spirited boy with a sharp mind and many interests saying: 'I'm going to work myself to death chopping trees to see what that is like.' Not very realistic."
"Which means you will have to move somewhere else to find a guy."
"Tarjun on the other hand might be lucky if a strong gal turns up to work here for a season. As we can all see he isn't the talking kind."
Clara smells herself and weasel and can't find what's wrong with their smell. Nevertheless she goes to the bathroom. There she remembers that this will take forever. Carry water, get firewood, make a fire, wait for the water to get warm. She doesn't like that prospect.
She gets into her stinky clothes and leaves the house. After a short walk she knocks on the Branston farm door.
"Hello. I need a tub full of warm bathing water. Can Jewel come out and make it?"
Jewel considers her mother's words. She is right that Jewel would never accept a dunce for a husband, if, or when she ever decided to join with a man. But to leave home?
Fortunately.... That train of thought barely has time to form before there is knocking at the door. "Clara? I can fill a tub with water. It only takes casting the orison a couple of times. But the water isn't hot. It would still need to be heated. And we're just about to start our breakfast. Haven't you figured out some way to cast a spell to do cleaning? Don't wizards and sorcerers have a magic like that?" She starts moving the food to the table along with plates and silverware.