"Go have fun." is the short reply Tarjun gets from his father.
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"Labor ipse voluptas." Will comments as he comes out of the house. "Tarjun doesn't get that yet. Hopefully he'll learn it." "And boy, we've done the work without you before and we're still not that old that we can't. Question is, when will you learn to do it on your own without becoming a grumpy sad sack? Because with your current attitude, you'll have a very unhappy life in front of you." "I'm off to the barn having some fun with our Ox plowing the field." He tips his hat and leaves.
"You're old enough. I'll go to bed. Just don't make so much noise to keep me from sleeping."
"Is there a situation where you can't quote scripture that is in your favor?" Will replies dryly.
"Coming late and then asking for supper?" Will replies with a raised brow. "Maybe you ask your mum what she thinks about it with no one showing up to the meal she cooked." To Gertrud he adds "At least this clarifies where the kids are. Have a good night." He turns and walks towards the farm house.
Will is working on some tools next to the barn, but willingly drops everything to follow Shelly on the suggested stroll through the woods.
"Your decision, if you read the books and learn from other peoples mistakes, or if you insist on making those mistakes yourself. Like I did most of my life. So I guess it runs in the family." "Good night." You hear the door of the parents bedroom close.
"Tarjun, smart people learn from books, half smart people learn from their own mistakes. Only dumb people learn nothing, because they think they already know everything." "Don't be dumb. For the rest, you do what fits you best. I need to go back to bed." Will kisses Tarjun and Jewel on the forehead and goes back to his bed.
"You don't have to become a farmer. You don't have to stay in Oakstedt. It is far too small and too far away from the next town to learn something else here. Well, butcher or carpenter would work." "And of course I suggest what I know best and like. But you don't know anything else but the life in a community according to Erastil. Johnson's have chosen the community life for now, and Dwayne doesn't care, but doesn't intervene in any way, because it works for him." "If you want to go another path, read the books of other world views. See what they are about. And first and foremost, what goes right out of the window with those philosophies that you take as a given, because you don't know anything else." "I would love to see you become happy following my footsteps. But if you chose something else, I still love you. The pirates had gladly made you into a slave to their cause. And Clara would gladly make you her personal slave/husband. Most people want you to be something. The question is why. Erastil is what I know and what I believe to be a good path to live a safe and happy life." "And I'd be really happy if you find a way to be happy too in Erastil's ways. Not because I need you to follow Erastil. But I'd rather not have you try out random other ways, just to find they don't make you happy either, after living through all the downsides they come with." "But I'm not a good guide about how to find happyness in other worldviews, because I haven't seen a lot of them in my life - with Oakstead and all that. I just know that there is more than one philosophy out there, where you try to gain at the expense of others. And I really believe that you can't find true happiness on those paths."
"Ah, Tarjun, you're back. You know, as long as you keep your boy parts in your pants and don't stick them into her girl parts, it is not that kind of 'sleeping together' that makes you instantly married." "But I can understand that the prospect of having to share a bed and a house with a Johnson girl gave you the heebie-jeebies. Don't get me wrong, they are all nice. Usually. But occasionally you see it flare up in their eyes, when some unreasonably risky endeavour comes your way and everyone else would duck away. Or stand up for their family out of a sense of obligation. But for them it's fun." "You know when your Mom calls me when there is a large spider somewhere in the house? Gertrud wouldn't call for Randolph if the spider was the size of a dog. And her mother probably wouldn't call anyone for a spider the size of a horse. It's a nice thing to have them on your side, if you meet a spider the size of a horse. But if you plan your life and you'd prefer it to be without horse sized spiders, you should look for a spouse somewhere else. Because eventually they'll get bored with the life of a farmer and search for more exiting things." "And those exiting things will eventually kill you. Like it did with Clara's gandpa." Will sighs. "And Tarjun, I heard you find life as a farmer boring too? Let me tell you, it isn't. There are life and death situations all the time. When the wheat is ripe but it rains all the time - you need to decide if you wait longer and risk it collapsing to the ground, or if you reap it and risk everything getting moldy. Then you'd starve in winter and the whole village with you." "Or an accidental fire burns your fields, some bugs eat the plants. It's not as exiting as a horse sized spider, but the stakes are high anyway. You will be responsible for the well being of a whole village. Not alone, but it is an important part of what makes the community a good thing. And if waking in bed with - and the prospect of being married to - a Johnson girl makes you flee screaming, then you're not the adventuring type. You should read Erastil's book and see if you can't find your calling in there."
"Do I you know the difference between sleeping together and 'sleeping together' so we can skip this talk? Or do I have to explain it?" Will inquires from Jewel.
Will's facial expression looks somewhat strange, with everything getting tense and his eye twitching, as he tries really hard to supress the laughter. He turns to the floor and calls With breaking voice "Shelly, come over, you have to see this." As he turns back to Tarjun, tears are running down his face. "Sorry, son." is all he brings out, while shaking his head.
A moment later Will bursts into the room a stick in hand ready to beat up any intruder "What happened?" he calls out and quickly checks the room for any cause. As he realizes that Clara is in Tarjun's bed he looks confused.
"Have you ever seen me using one? Go ask Gertrud." Dad shouts back.
"I can use another hand for farming. He looks strong. And we can make room." Will answers.
"Over a week! We thought the spiderwoman, or those pale dwarves might have come to get you. There was no trace! Even the dog couldn't find any tracks! Like the ground opened and swallowed you." "Yes, let's move to Gertrud to hear what happened."
"Shelly come, the kids are back!" Will comes out of the house running towards Tarjun, grabs him in a big hug and lifts him off the ground.
"Go play! You'll come to see that in the long run that isn't fulfilling." Turning to Shelly he adds "Want to pick stones for our well wall?"
"You got 'cheated' out of your day off. Now you get a day off today. Because we don't do real cheating here." Will replies and takes a sip out of his mug. "Don't worry about the well for now. It first needs a stone wall from the buttom up, and I don't think even Gertrud could come up with something to sell that as a fun game to you." "And it's work for grown ups. Who know how to build a stone wall that lasts."
"Farming is fun! You put in hard work, you see the crops grow, and finally you get a year worth of food as an reward. That is what I call satisfying. Not short lived fun, but being able to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. That is what I call real joy."
The next morning at the breakfast table the discussion continues. "I had no part in that tricking. I wondered why you started digging on your day off and brought what I had. But I wasn't involved in any tricking." "You don't think we made an elaborate plan that depends on you randomly getting the idea playing treasure hunters, do you?" "The worst you can accuse me of is not telling you, when I found out. But that's Gertrud. With those followers of Desna you can only hope that their mischief turns out as good natured as hers."
"Why should I stop you. If you hadn't done it for the fun of it, it would have become one of your chores. You think I have two large wooden walls for building a well lying around for nothing?"
Will joins the group standing around a hole. "Nice work." he tells after inspecting the result. "Now we just need to add a pump that our ox can operate."
As the kids keep digging, it attracts attention. Will comes along and rolls a wooden construction. It is like a barrel, just not bigger in the middle and without top and bottom. "You're getting deep. Use this, that it doesn't cave in and bury you." He just topples it into the hole and then leaves again. Later he brings another one and a ladder. The rings are five foot in diameter and also about 5 foot high. They just slide in deeper as the dirt is removed at the bottom.
"Yes. Be careful with the saw. It is an expensive tool and hard to come by out here. And don't hurt yourself more than your sister can fix." Will replies with a very serious look to make sure the boy understood it, and did not again listen only with half an ear after the yes.
"All work and no play make Johnny a dull boy." Will comments. "Make good use of your time, and if you come home before dusk, I'll make you plow a whole field tomorrow."
"There is no urgent work, so maybe have some fun with your mum." Will replies with a grin.
Shelly and Will sit down and enjoy the breakfast with their kids. "So, what are your plans for today?" Will inquires.
"You could start a monastery." Will jokes.
"Hey, pssst, Jewel! Come over here." Will calls over from a safe distance. Once she is with him he whispers "Could you make your tree friend to not shout around at this time of day?"
"Don't look at me as if I were the one making you work all day." Will replies lifting his hands as a gesture of innocence.
Will smiles knowingly.
"Kids." Will shakes his head. "Of course it will take years. That's why it's important to have a community, work together, plan ahead and keep things running. The trees you plant know for wood will be ready to be cut down again when your great grand children are old enough to become wood choppers."
"Amen!" Will takes a big helping for himself and starts shoveling it into his mouth. "We'll do the plowing together." he assures Tarjun. "If you start planting trees, you could look into planting fruit bearing trees. If you like the idea and have the time."
"You got practice now. You'll manage." Will pats Tarjun on his shoulder.
"I'm not going to argue with a talking tree about the placement of this grove. Especially not after the argument it had with Jack." "Someone is going to have to plow some more meadow and remove the stones then." Will concludes.
Will comes over from the other room and looks where Shelly is staring at. He sighs. "What have you done now?"
"Sure. You remember the field that you practiced on? All of that needs plowing."
"I'll save the farm work for another day. You go and dig that trench."
The kids sleep very deep and have to be woken up by their mum. The smell of breakfast didn't do it this time. "So, what are your plans for today? You're busy already, or do you have some time for simple old farm work too?"
"We could ask Dwayne to bring one when he goes downriver to close deals for timber delivery. But paper is not cheap. A book like you're asking for is the price of a cow."
"If you put the same crops into the same place over and over, they will get weaker and weaker. If you move them around it's better. But crops we sow every year. Trees stand for decades." "Our woods are mixed. I'd try to get the same mix again. Many of the same is easier to reap. But if you get some vermin in your crops, everything of one kind is ruined. It's bad enough with crops, but for a forest it would be worse. I'm no forester, but I'd look what was cut down and plant the same next to it. Maybe rotate it by one tree." "I've seen once when they tried to put a new forest on a plain. They put birches there, as they grow fast and protect the other trees from wind then. To be removed later when the other trees are strong enough to stand on their own. But I don't think we have that issue there." Will voices his opinion. "But don't plant too many trees. Some of the area without trees I want to plant more crops on."
"I'll put it away myself. You take care of the talking tree. And be careful!"
Will walks over to the trees where Tarjun stands. He puts a hand on Tarjun's shoulder "Let it go Tarjun. This isn't the time to settle it with Jack. There will be a time..."
Will grabs a hoe, but then decides otherwise and drops it again. He follows Jewel back to where the lumberjacks still stand around.
With combined effeort Jewel, Tarjun and Clara manage to plow a few lines, that actually look mostly straight and overall ok. Will is very pleased with the result and struggling to find reasons not to let the kids go into the woods alone with the plow and the ox.
"Now comes the part where it gets complicated for you. The soil is dry and hard. Normally we would wait for some rain before plowing and then a day or two for the surface to dry up again. Our trusted ox can handle that for those few lines we're gonna do. But you need to put the weight on the plow to make it break the soil and go in, instead of being dragged over it." "You need to align the ox and the plow and steer it in a straight line. And then push on the handles to make it go into the soil. Maybe you can make it easier, by one leading the ox and one steering the plow?"
Will works with the routine of many years of work. Tarjun shows great talent and may follow in his fathers footsteps sometime. And with the girls helping too, the work is done in only two hours. All sheaves are put on one side of the field, so it can be plowed right now. "Who wants to fetch the ox and put it in front of the plow?" Will asks.
Will leads the kids to the barn to fetch the tools. It's not the first time the kids have to help with the harvest, but usually the whole village helps. But not on such short notice. Will points out a part of the field they shall work on. "Cut it off as low as possible, without dulling the scythe on the ground. Then bind the crop into sheaves."
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