James Sheldon
LAKE OF THE SWANS
Book 2 of 3
Chapter 34
That morning, for breakfast, the Matriarch and her daughter made certain that Mia and Anders were seated together. Only an hour earlier, Jessie had worked a mixture of oils into the young mother’s hair. Not a lot of oil, just a smidgen to enhance the body and sheen, that Mia’s long hair might fall as a dark mantel against the white feathers of her magic dress. Her large Aegean eyes, her full lips, and her expression—a mixture of quiet hope and confidence—made Mia shine like a morning star.
Emma, possessing that certain ease that comes with age, adeptly made known that Mia, being the hardest worker in the family, would, under normal circumstances of daily life, appear no different than the somewhat dirt-smudged appearance of John, Laureal, and Cody.
“I insisted she wear it,” Emma concluded, having explained that Mia had spent two years of her spare time making the dress.
“Ms Moley,” Anders began in earnest, “I cannot say I am proud of my travels in the realm beyond the five seas. I was always an outsider to the native folk, and for good reason. I was a mercenary, a man to be kept at arm’s length. But even from the fringe, I could see. And because I did dirty work for people in high places, I occasionally got the opportunity to observe my employers in full regalia. And so it was that, from my lowly station, I witnessed the very pinnacle of what skilled tailors and seamstresses could create...or so I thought, until this morning.”
Happily embarrassed, Mia beamed at Anders, “Sir, you are much too kind.”
Stealing looks at one another, Mia secretly admired Ander’s masculine jawline, sandy blond mane, bright blue eyes, and tree-trunk physique.
“Mr. Kristiansen, if I may ask,” Jessie began, “will you and Julien be staying here for several more days?”
“Yes, ma’am. We plan to take a day of rest. Then a few more days to repair our gear and resupply.”
“I hope you will allow us to assist you in any way we can.”
“You have relieved us of our vermin, fed us meals to remember, and inspired us simply by being here. I do not know how we could hope for more.”
“If it is agreeable with you,” Emma began, “perhaps we could take this day off together. Of course, we wouldn’t want to take away from your rest time, but in your waking hours, we would very much enjoy your company.”
“Ma’am, I could neither think of nor hope for anything better.”
“Nor could I,” Jessie seconded.
“And this is a perfect day,” Julien put in happily.
Noah turned to Laureal, “Does this mean we get to ride the horsey?”
“No, sweetie. I’m afraid that riding the horse will have to wait for another day.”
Emma sought to clarify, “My grandson-in-law and granddaughter will not be able to join us until evening, as they have business that cannot wait.”
“Mr. Kristiansen could teach us to ride!” Noah chirped, his idea based on a conversation from the night before when it became apparent that Anders had learned his way around horses in the realm beyond the Five Seas.
“Ellie belongs to John, dear,” speaking to her son. “It is not polite to volunteer other people’s things.”
Noah’s eyes darted to John, “I’m sorry! I only thought we might get to ride!”
If for only a moment, John sat stricken by the look on Noah’s face.
Mia smiled painfully, “He doesn’t mean to put you on the spot.”
“I’m sure we can arrange something,” somewhat abruptly. Then, with a look of realization, John turned to Anders, “Providing this is something you would be alright with, Mr. Kristiansen?”
“I don’t see how I can refuse.”
“Sir,” Emma lamented, “we have imposed on you, and that is not our intention. You need your rest, and we do not need to ride the horse, not when we will have a thousand opportunities to do so this summer.”
“Ma’am, I assure you, there is nothing I would like more,” and turning to Mia, Anders quickly added, “That is, if you would like to do so, Ms. Moley?”
Amused in the best possible way, Mia hid it behind a cordial smile, “I can think of nothing I would like more.”
Looks of reassurance went around the fire. Reassurance fed anticipation, and with it, an air of electricity began between the would-be riders. Thinking ahead, Cody asked to be excused, explaining how he hoped to get his chores done and join the fun as soon as possible. John also excused himself, that he might go and get Ellie tacked up.
Laureal excused herself as graciously as she could before quietly going to work in the back. She understood she had no chance of finishing her chores until tomorrow. John would join her directly, having gotten Anders and the family started with Ellie, his only rule for riding being that they stay within sight of camp.
So it was, the family gathered around Ellie on the lawn by the lake. Anders acquainted himself with the giant, leading her from the ground, going round in a circle one way, then the other—stopping and starting—going in a figure eight, and backing her up, all the while speaking to the family about the basics. While he did so, Emma excused herself and went into the backyard meadow—
“Laureal.”
“Yes, Grandmother,” looking up from her work.
“It’s fine with me if you would rather wait until tomorrow to do this.”
“Thank you, Grandma…but I have to do this. I hope our guest understands.”
“They understand. And dear, I want you to understand that my idea for Weya is only a temporary fix. It will buy you time to get her to accept that she has to go on a leash, or in a pen, here in the backyard for the summer. You will have to work with her. It won’t be easy getting her to accept it, but it must be done before this place fills up with children.”
“I understand.”
And so the effort to save Weya began in earnest around the backyard fire pit. John sawed root wood into chunks while Cody scaled fish. Laureal whittled and scraped a short length of bone. Weya sat on the edge of the wood, gazing at them. It could almost have been just another workday at the Emerson compound.
It lasted but a minute, the silence broken by squeals of joy. Anders had put the children up on Ellie’s back and was walking them around the front yard while Emma, Jessie, Mia, and Julien looked on, talking and laughing among themselves. Even the dogs were in on the fun, trotting about and happily wagging their tails.
Fitting the bone into the hole at the bottom of the rice jar to create a drain tube, Laureal sealed the joint with a dab of moist clay she had set aside earlier. She then placed John’s small steel cookpot at the bottom of the hole he had dug before breakfast. She filled in around the pot with dirt so that its open top was flush with the bottom of the hole. She then used the remaining moist clay to roll out a rope-shaped gasket, which she carefully placed as a seal around the top edge of the steel cook pot. She then set the rice jar in the hole on top of the steel pot, with the bone serving as a drain leading from one straight down into the other. Next, she filled the large rice jar with fist-sized pieces of root wood, arranging the chunks to fit in as many as possible while allowing for air space between. She then secured the lid to the jar. Lastly came the hot and sweaty task of transferring fire coals into the space around the jar, which, as we know, sat in a large hole. Using a flat piece of wood as a scoop, Laureal filled the hole with red-hot coals until the rice jar was covered entirely.
The young mother-to-be wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, for it seemed terribly hot for mid-morning, what with all the fire coals and the sun shining bright, away from the lake and its pleasant breeze.
John, having finished sawing, worked on crushing the dried clay into powder with a mortar and pestle.
Cody also set to work with a mortar and pestle, using a few choice stones to crush fish scales into tiny pieces.
“I can do that, Cody.”
Looking up from his work, Cody gazed at his sister with confusion.
“You can go to the front now if you like.”
“Really?”
“Yes. John and I can handle it from here.”
Cody looked about their work area. A lot of work remained to be done. Nevertheless, he rose to his feet and turned towards the front. He hadn’t taken five steps, however, when he suddenly wheeled about and came back—
“I love you,” hugging Laureal.
Shocked, Laureal could scarcely think to speak. Cody, meanwhile, bolted away.
John set to chuckling, “Well now, that was something to see.”
“Surprised the daylights out of me,” laughing, shaking her head while adding wood to the fire. Her aim was to build another coal bed, which could then be used to replace the coals currently around the rice jar.
“Sweetheart?”
“Yes, darling.”
“What the hell are we making?”
“John!”
“I’m sorry…I slipped.”
Frowning, “We’re making base ingredients for Grandma’s bug repellent recipe, as well as body paint.”
“How can bug repellent and paint save Weya?”
Laureal took Cody’s pistol and mortar in hand, “I haven’t the slightest idea.” And falling silent, she began the business of carefully crushing fish scales into tiny fragments—a process that, in her world, captured the magic combination of fish and sunlight that could, on rare occasion, produce a brilliant flash of silver light, particularly when near the water’s surface. In simple 21st century terms, she was making sparkle. In 21st century scientific terminology, she was making a hyper-reflective iridescent consisting of light-exploiting-nano-structures: microscopic crystals that trap photons, theoretical particles of light which, despite having no mass, bounce around inside the crystals before reflecting back out even though they are not actually bouncing off anything which requires deeper explanation that cannot be gone into here except to say that between science and magic, things are perhaps six in one hand and a half-dozen in the other.
“John.”
“Yeah,” expecting to be hen-pecked for cursing.
“You’re handling this well, and I appreciate it.”
Pleasantly surprised, John smiled before returning to his work. He had already decided that, regardless of the day’s change in plans, things were going his way. It had only been the night before that he’d gained a very valuable piece of information from Anders regarding the route north. From there, he didn’t have to think hard to realize his opportunity for collecting information would be huge that summer. And come autumn, the family would have new members to see them safely home, perhaps by way of dog teams. Thus relieved of responsibility and worry, he would be free to continue towards his objective in the north, and he would be better suited than he could ever have hoped for.
Continuing in silence, our hero crushed clay and our heroine crushed fish scales—both sharing an occasional look and smile. Also, now and again, they took turns glancing towards the front lawn, prompted by the family’s cheerful laughter. At one point, even Laureal’s grandmother got up on the giant’s back while Anders led the beast from the ground.
Alas, when all the clay and scales were very nearly crushed, there came a sound that immediately turned both their heads. Ellie’s big hooves were pounding the ground while, up on the giant’s back, Mia rode alone, galloping the lakeshore. Her long hair flowed in rhythm with Ellie’s motion, her magic feathered dress, her silhouette, like a bird in flight, set against the deep blue lake.
John turned to see the expression on his wife’s face. Her eyes longed for the dream he had promised her. Her mouth was partly open as if thirsting for it. On her forehead, a dirt smudge. And stuck to her cheek, a fish scale.
“I will show you how to ride,” sympathetically. Then, in an assertive sort of way, “And when I get home, we’ll trade our glass treasure for horses, and we’ll ride everywhere we go.”
“If you make it home,” dropping her eyes to her work.
“I’ll make it home,” annoyed.
Busying herself, Laureal put the crushed scales into a small leather pouch. Then looking to John, “I think you’ve powdered enough clay, dear.”
“I would hope so,” looking at the pile he’d made.
“We need something to store it in.”
“I have just the thing.” And John went to fetch a small piece of canvas salvaged from a tarp the year before. Upon returning, he stored the powdered clay and, setting it aside, turned to his wife, “What’s next?”
“I’m not sure. We need to ask Grandma.”
The chemistry developing between Mia and Anders was easy to see, and their beautiful surroundings made it all the better. Witnessing it, Emma, despite her scrutinous nature, decided the Creator had wasted no time in sending exactly the right man—a man who needed them as much as they needed him.
“Grandmother,” said Laureal, coming forward with John at her side.
“Yes, dear,” turning to them.
“The root wood is baking, and the scales and clay are crushed and stored. What do we need to do next?”
“We need two pints of pine sap. But dear, it can wait if you would like to join us.”
Across the yard, Cody called from atop the giant’s back, “Mom! Watch this!”
“That’s great, dear!” looking on while Anders instructed the boy. Then, turning to her daughter, “Have you finished, sweetheart?”
“No, Mom. Not yet.”
“Are you at a point where you can join us?” And putting her arm around her daughter, “You don’t have to work all day.”
“I know, Mom. But until Weya is safe, I’m not going to feel right about doing anything else.”
Jessie put her other arm around John, “How are you doing?”
“Who me?”
“Yes, you,” smiling at his jest.
“I’m fine,” smiling back.
Arm in arm, all three watched the progress taking place a short distance away. Cody had the reins while Anders walked alongside, giving instructions. Looking on, John realized that by giving riding lessons to the family, Anders had saved him an entire day—a day he could spend preparing for his mission, gathering information, etc. It was a selfish outlook, but at least it made him happy. He reached around behind Jessie and lightly squeezed Laureal’s shoulder, “Are you sure you don’t want to ride? I can show you now.”
“I very much want to ride,” searching his eyes from the other side of her mother. “And once Weya is taken care of, I will hold you to your offer. But if you want to quit for the day, I can handle the work back there.”
“I’m not quitting anything,” John retorted.
“Hey, you two,” Jessie quickly intervened, “work or play, it’s a blessed day.” A statement to which all agreed. The lush green earth, the azure blue heaven above, and the mild air between, which, at that time of year, was devoid of biting bugs.
Just then, Laureal felt a tug at the waistline of her dress, and looking down, there was little Sophie—
“I went for a ride on the horsey’s back, and I didn’t even have to sit in a box.”
“You did all that? Well, I’m proud of you!”
“I did too!” Noah exclaimed, coming alongside his sister.
“Was it fun?”
“Only the most I ever had!”
“Well, good for you!”
“Laureal,” Sophie began, looking up, still holding to her dress.
“What is it, dear?” somewhat taken by the child’s stoic look.
“I’m sorry that you and John have to miss out on all the fun.”
“Oh, thank you, sweetie! But you know, we’re okay.”
“My mommy said it’s good practice for you.”
“Oh…how’s that?”
“For when your baby comes.”
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to leave a comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment