| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
After hearing him describe it again, Emma thinks about it for a few minutes before she gets a look of understanding on her face.
Waving her hands around she jumps up and down excitedly, "Oooo ooohh ohhh, I think I know what it is. From what you described I believe it was a ghost, but more like an echo than a malevolent spirit. I'm not sure it would have anything to do with what happened last night, or what it was doing here though. Should we touch the stone and see if anything happens?" She asks, wondering if it would reveal anything to them about what her beloved had seen.
"The carriage passing through town seemed to steal the life energy from people, so it's probably connected." Aiden replies.
Shrugging she says, "I'm not sure how we could possibly find out how unless the stone speaks as well. Let's see..." She trails off while taking a step towards the stone and reaches out her hand to touch it and see if it does anything.
Emma stops and looks up at Aiden with a curious and questioning expression on her face, her fingers a mere few inches from touching the stone.
"Do you think it's okay to touch it love?"
With a familiar mischievous look in her eye, Emma inches closer to the rock, bringing her finger within a single inch of the rock as she waits to see what Aiden would do.
"I wouldn't...just randomly touch it." Aiden says with a sigh as Emma's impulsive nature threatens to take over. "Can you tell if there's any...magic or anything coming off of it?"
Emma tries not to giggle, she just couldn't help herself sometimes. Especially when things were stressful. She was also trying to contain the excitement she had over the surprise she had for Aiden at her folks place. She couldn't wait to give it to him.
Pulling her hand back she gives him one of her pixie like smirks, "Sure love, I'll check and see."
Emma's blue eyes glow an even brighter shade of blue as she shifts her vision to perceive magic, and looks at the stone she was about to touch.
The stone does not radiate with any sort of magic.
Emma shrugs, "I'm not picking anything up from this stone. No magic whatsoever, soooo...." She trails off, her eyes returning to normal.
Without touching it, Emma studies the stone more closely. Recalling on anything she might have learned in her years of study in the church, that might help her figure out this mystery.
The stone has no other significance than to serve as a marker for someone who has been buried in the vicinity.
Sighing She looks back at Aiden, "As far as I can tell, the only thing this stone does is sit here, and acts as a marker for someone that's been buried somewhere around here. I really can't see anything significant about it at all. Sometimes a rock is just a rock." She says with another little shrug, as she places her hand on the top of the stone in a 'that's pretty much it' way.
"Then it's likely the figure I saw was a ghost, which probably makes sense given the carriage." Aiden says with a shrug. "Alright, let's swing by your folks' place and be on our way. Make use of as much daylight as possible."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Maybe someone who knows more about spirits and ghosts would be able to tell us," Rosie says. "Probably would be able to tell us how to deal with the carriage too."
"Is there such a person in these parts?"
Rosie shrugs.
Emma seems thoughtful as they head back from the woods, "Maybe we could find someone like that along the way."
Looking up at Aiden she says, "We need to stop by home first and grab the perishable food stuff for Ma, and then we can load it in the wagon and take Smoke and the wagon with us, so when we leave Ma we can just get out on the road."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Alright, let's get moving!"
As Aiden looks at his adorable petite wife, he can't help but notice the all too familiar twinkle in her eye, as she practically vibrates with excitement.
Unable to help herself, so giddy with excitement was she, that Emma can't help the giggle that escapes her. Not wanting to give anything away, Emma quickly covers her mouth and pretends to cough.
Emma practically skips as they head back to their sweet little cottage home.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You're definitely up to something." Aiden mutters watching Emma's antics with an amused grin.
Turning her head to look back at him with an impish smirk, "Did you say something sweetie?" She asks innocently as they make their way back to the house.
Nearly out of the woods, it would only take them a couple more minutes to reach the house. She had to keep telling herself not to run, lest he became more suspicious. They had known each other since they were children, and it was nearly impossible to hide things from him. Emma wasn't planning on giving Aiden his Winter Soltice gift so early, but circumstances dictated that she alter her plans.
Her smile fades slightly as she suddenly recalls the reason for this sudden trip, but she quickly wipes the look from her face.
As they get back to the house, Emma hurries inside and rushes around gathering up all the perishable food that she was going to take to her ma. Putting everything in a burlap sack, she has Aiden take it out to the wagon.
Making sure everyone is settled into the back of the wagon, Emma scrambles up into the spot on the padded driver's seat next to Aiden, "Okay love, I think we're all set. One more stop to see Ma, and then we'll really hit the road."
When they pull up to her parent's farm, Emma tries not to think about what has happened. A place where she once knew such happiness, now has a solemn and depressing feeling to it.
Taking a deep breath, she pushes every negative thing she's feeling to the back, and puts a smile on her face. She didn't want the little ones her Ma was caring for temporarily, feel scared or worried, so she had to keep a brave happy face on for them....for everyone.
Looking back at Rosie and Clyde she says, "You don't have to come in with us if you don't want to, but you're welcome to come in if you want to." Emma grabs some of the groceries, while she lets Aiden take the heavier sack.
Going up to the door, Emma takes another breath before knocking and opening the front door, "Ma, you in here?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aiden slings the heavy sack onto his shoulder, rubbing Emma's back supportively before she knocks on the door, knowing just how difficult this must be for her.
Emma leans into Aiden as they step into her childhood home, grateful for his support as always. He was always there for her whenever she needed support or comforting, even as kids. Especially after getting in trouble for whatever crazy stunt she had pulled. He was always her refuge, her place of solace in a world that seemed just a little too harsh at times.
As Emma walks into the living room, Fern puts a finger to her lips and gestures at the napping children.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Rosie leans against the wagon as Emma and Aiden go inside Mrs. Thistlefoot's home. "Can you hit a ghost with a sword, Clyde?"
Clyde shrugs. "I'm sure there are ways of making that work."
Nodding, Emma walks over to her Ma and gives her a hug, before going into the kitchen to set down the groceries.
Keeping her voice down she says, "I brought you some goats milk and other things from the house that would probably spoil before we could get back. I was wondering if we could take some apples and carrots with us?"
Looking over at Aiden before looking back at her ma she asks inlittle more than a whisper, "Ummm....also, is the you know what out in the barn?" Her Pa had brought it back with him the last time he came back from taking goods to another village to sell. She had asked him to keep the one thing in the brown wrapping paper it came in, and just told him to put an old blanket over it.
Aiden sets down the bigger back of supplies, walking back to rest a comforting hand on Fern's shoulder.
Fern pats Aiden's hand gratefully before going to the panty. She brings out two burlap sacks of apples and a bundle of carrots. "Taking the horse, eh?"
The halfling gives her daughter a nod. "Should be on the shelf above where your father hangs his saddle."
Emma allows Aiden to take the apples, while she takes the carrots.
Looking back at her Ma she says in a soft voice as not to disturb the children, "Yeah, we thought it would be better to take Smoke and the wagon, since Clyde and Rosie are going with us, and we have lots of supplies to take." Giving her mother another hug she says, "We need to hurry up and go now. We've got a limited amount of time to find that carriage and reverse what was done."
Letting go of her Ma, she turns to the love of her life, and beckons him to follow her to the barn, as she steps out of the house.
After dropping off the apples and carrots in the wagon, Emma has Aiden follow her out to the barn, "Okay, so I had planned on waiting until Winter Solstice to give you these things, but under the circumstances that we're facing, I thought it would be better for you to have them now. Could you please get those two very large packages down from that shelf and put them on the work bench? There's that one wrapped in brown parchment, and that other very large thing that's covered with an old blanket. Be careful getting that really large one down, I don't want it uncovered until it's where you can see it very well." She says, her voice has a sound of excitement to it, as she points to the large wrapped, and covered items on the shelf above her Pa's saddle.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Once Aiden gets down the things that her Pa had put up for her, and sets them on the work bench, Emma climbs up on one of the stools to watch him unwrap the large parcel in the thick brown paper first.
What Aiden unwraps is a rather large, black, padded blanket for Smoke. It's long enough to cover from the base of his neck, to the end of his flank, and covers about halfway down his body.
The entire bottom boarder of the blanket has a forest of green pine trees embroidered along it, with white snowflakes stitched into it to look like snow falling on the trees in the North Wood.
Aiden doesn't even have to ask to know that this is Fern's handiwork. Judging by the size of the trees, the fact they went all the way around the blanket, and the work of adding in the snowflakes, probably meant that this project took her several weeks, if not months to complete.
Emma gives him a few minutes to look over the blanket before asking tentatively, "Do you like it?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aiden goes into the barn with a smile, clearly able to tell from the excitement in Emma's voice that she's enthusiastic about whatever he's about to unwrap. "It's... it's beautiful...amazing really...this must have taken...wow."
He takes it in, clearly speechless.
Emma can barely contain herself as he looks over the blanket, "I'm so glad you like it. It was difficult to get Smoke's measurements without you finding out what I was up to. We all wanted to do something extra special for you this year to let you know how much we love you and appreciate everything you do for our little town. I gave Pa the money to buy the materials we needed, and Ma made the blanket of course."
Taking a breath or two to try and get herself under control she continues, "So, that was the first part of your gift, and goes with the second part. Okay, go ahead and uncover it now." She says, practically bouncing up and down on the stool as she watches his reaction.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What he uncovers is a complete set of light barding for Smoke. The blanket obviously meant to wear underneath the armor to keep it from digging into Smoke.
The different shades of light and dark leather are used to create patterns on the barding, as well as some kind of hot tool that was used to create some of the more intricate details of the armor.
The head is fashioned to look like the face of a boar. Celebrating not only his first big kill as a hunter for the village, but the first time they realized their feelings for each other after saving her life.
In the center is a mighty tree and a longbow, to represent Aiden's strength and ability as a hunter and provider for her as well as their quaint little village. As with the rest of the body armor, a beautiful knotwork design boarders the edges of the chest piece of armor.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"This is...beyond anything I could have imagined love! It's absolutely beautiful!" Aiden says, overwhelmed with gratitude and the love expressed in both the gift and the work that went into it.
Unable to remain on the stool, Emma jumps down and runs around the table to Aiden. Throwing her arms around him, as much as she could reach anyways, Emma hugs him tightly before letting go and looking up into his face with absolute love and adoration, "Remember last year we were talking about the game in the area, and you told me you were having to go further and further from the village to hunt? I knew you had armor to protect you, but I became concerned about Smoke. So, I decided to have something made for him to help keep him safe as well. Afterall, he brings you home to me, and takes you where you need to go in order to provide for all of us. Since Pa does so much trading with other towns, I gave him my design ideas and money, and trusted him to find someone perfect to make this for you and Smoke." She says, her voice thick with emotion as she holds onto the love of her life.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Bending to take her in his arms for a moment, Aiden picks Emma up, giving her a dep kiss before setting her down gently, looking into her eyes with the same expression she had for him. "That is the most wonderful, thoughtful gift ever. Thank you, Love!" he says with a genuinely radiant smile, a rare expression that only Emma ever seemed to draw from him.
Emma's smile is radiant and goes all the way to her eyes, "You wanna bring him in here so we can get all this on him? It would probably take less time than trying to carry a piece at a time out to him. Clyde and Rosie might be able to help you get it on him, so it goes on quicker. She says, excited to see it on Smoke.
With a nod, Aiden heads out to bring Smoke around to the barn, letting Clyde and Rosie know what was going on.
As Aiden goes to get Smoke, Emma works on the straps and buckles to get them ready once they start putting the armor on him. After getting it home, her Pa had shown her how everything connects, and how to fasten the pieces together.
Clyde, with his experience with animals, does as much as he can to help.
Having grown up around farm animals her whole life, Emma helps by explaining to Clyde what to do, while helping to fasten the pieces into place as they're being put on.
Emma tells Rosie to help keep Smoke calm by talking softly to him as they work on getting the armor on, once the blanket is put on him.