Dawn found Betta already stirring, preceding even the roosters’ morning call.
Her duties tending to the animals had grown increasingly rewarding. Despite the heightened workload, she experienced an unexpected vitality. During old Hewet’s time, she’d managed half her current responsibilities yet felt twice as fatigued. Now she filled her mornings with animal care, devoted early afternoons to assisting Arber in the greenhouse, and spent evenings knitting alongside old Molle—all without succumbing to exhaustion.
Her physical renewal had been remarkable. The middle-aged fragility that had characterized her two years ago had given way to a vigor similar to her 25-year-old self. She’d noticed her revived allure hadn’t gone invisible by certain men in the village.
As the widow of a former village hunter and mother to an only daughter—lost to influenza shortly after her thirteenth birthday five years ago—Betta had once confined herself solely to her village obligations. Now, however, she responded to life with fresh appreciation, discovering glimmers of joy that had vanished with Helena’s passing.
Helena remained ever-present in her thoughts. Daily activities still triggered memories of her daughter and late husband, Ricon. Yet these remembrances had evolved, focusing more on cherished moments shared rather than their tragic departures from this grim world.
The world had begun to regain its luster for Betta, awakening her to the realization that she was too young to surrender to perpetual melancholy.
This morning, as she donned her work clothes, an unusually potent optimism coursed through her—stronger than normal, yet somehow familiar.
After draining a glass of water, she threw open her windows, inadvertently rousing her nephew, her sole remaining family in the village.
She forwent their usual morning exchange. As the bedroom rustling and sluggish footsteps sounded from the adjacent room, she descended the stairs and approached the front door. Opening it revealed a breaking dawn, the sky cloudless though still dim.
Knowing the light would intensify within twenty minutes, she stepped out, exchanging customary greetings with the guards stationed in the side towers.
“Good morning,” called one man at the bamboo gate, swinging it wide as Betta approached, laden with buckets and a basket, heading toward the animal enclosures.
Betta typically led the exodus from the village’s walled confines. The night guards had grown accustomed to clearing her path and watching Nibb hurry to catch up.
Nibb, Arnald’s wife, had earned her position tending to animals and farming through months of dedicated service to the village.
She partnered with Betta during the early morning hours before proceeding to May’s house—Wy’s wife’s residence—where they prepared the village’s morning porridge. Following breakfast, the village cooks crafted both the communal midday meal and the evening’s dinner, served at sunset.
Villagers maintained individual food quotas, permitted to withdraw supplies from the warehouse for personal consumption. However, not everyone possessed the time or inclination to cook. The village deliberately maintained a group of four women who worked daily from May’s house, ensuring their community remained well-fed.
“Good morning, Sister Betta,” Nibb greeted her fellow villager.
“Hmm, morning.” Betta greeted Nibb with a warm smile, passing one of the milk pails to the dark-haired woman and gesturing toward the cattle pen. “Start with Mimosa today. I’ll gather the eggs first, then join you for Luna’s milking.”
Both Mimosa and Luna were carrying Roulf’s calves!
The village bull had proved efficient in his duties, successfully breeding with both cows. But unlike the rapid reproduction cycle of chickens, however, cattle gestation meant several months would pass before the Eternal Village welcomed its first calf.
Mimosa’s pregnancy was already clear, her udder notably more pronounced than two months prior.
Nibb hurried away, balancing a silver metal bucket in one hand and a wooden stool in the other, while Betta headed toward the chicken coop.
She stopped short at the sight of an eagle perched atop the coop, momentarily stunned as the magnificent bird met her gaze.
“An eagle?” she asked, before spotting Roulf disturbing the cows in the distance. Her eyes crinkled with understanding. ‘Ah, Jonn has brought us another new arrival.’
“Well, Miss Eagle, I have work to attend to,” she said playfully, reluctantly breaking eye contact with the majestic creature, its golden eyes and yellow beak gleaming in the early light.
Ducking beneath the coop’s low entrance, Betta found the birds still rousing from sleep. The roosters stood alert, having completed their morning wake-up call to the village, while nearby chicks scurried eagerly toward her.
The pony-tailed woman always fed them before collecting eggs, and the chicken had grown deeply attached to their caretaker.
Betta cooed at the chicks and their elders in a sing-song voice, as though addressing children. She scattered feed in the designated area, drawing the animals away from the nesting boxes to begin her collection.
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Approaching her usual starting point, Betta froze at the sight before her. “Four eggs?” she exclaimed, staring incredulously at Annabelle’s ‘throne.’
The hen’s previous feat of laying two or sometimes three eggs daily had already seemed remarkable, but four? This was unprecedented in all Betta’s experience!
Each egg bore identical colored stripes, matching the size of their normal ones.
‘Annabelle truly is extraordinary…’ Betta marveled at the hen, who raised her head and puffed out her chest, seemingly proud of her contribution to the Eternal Village.
‘That’s right, human. Admire today’s offering,’ Annabelle preened internally, basking in her assistant’s amazement. ‘Ah, I wish my master tastes my eggs this morning. He’ll like them.’
Oblivious to Annabelle’s thoughts but struck by the hen’s peculiar demeanor, Betta collected the eggs and moved to the next nest.
‘Four more?’ Her eyes widened, heart quickening.
Moving with increasing urgency, she discovered a similar bounty throughout the coop. Save for three hens, every chicken had produced four eggs that morning. Not a single hen had failed to lay, resulting in an astounding total of 81 eggs!
For the first time in Betta’s tenure as animal caretaker, the hens had produced more eggs than there were villagers!
‘81 eggs! 81!’ She stood motionless for a full minute, triple-checking her count yet still struggling to accept the reality.
“Sister Betta, hurry! My bucket’s sprung a leak!”
Nibb’s urgent call snapped Betta from her trance. She hastily exited the coop, basket laden with eggs, her mind swimming with implications.
“Don’t tell me…” Betta muttered under her breath, but Nibb’s voice carried from the distance.
“I’ve already drawn nearly 80 liters from Mimosa, and she’s showing no signs of slowing!”
This was amazing—Mimosa typically produced around 60 liters daily, while Luna averaged 40.
“What?” Betta set the egg crate down and rushed over with her empty bucket, desperate to witness this phenomenon firsthand.
Reaching Mimosa and Nibb, she found the bucket nearly overflowing and quickly positioned her own to catch the overflow. Luna’s milking could wait; Betta needed to see just how much Mimosa would produce.
The final tally was staggering—approximately 90 liters!
“We’ll need another bucket,” Nibb chuckled, gesturing at their milk-filled containers from Mimosa alone. “Do you think Luna will match this? Could it be pregnancy-related, Sister Betta?”
“It shouldn’t be…” Betta glanced between Luna and the hen house. ‘Both chickens and cows producing more… What’s happening here?’
----------------------------------------
That morning, Jonn took his porridge at home, joined by Tim—who’d come to discuss forge-related concerns—and Betta, arriving with the morning’s remarkable news.
Before Jonn could inquire about his animals’ performance, Betta had already served his porridge along with the astounding figures: 150 liters of milk and 81 eggs in a single morning!
Tim absorbed these numbers with amazement as he ate, sharing Betta’s bewilderment about the cause.
Noting their mounting curiosity about the village animals’ unusual behavior, Jonn decided to offer some explanation.
“Sigh! I’ll share the truth. The village animals are responding to the mana from the crystals I showed you. That’s driving their increased production, just as with our plants.”
His companions fell silent, their eyes widening with immediate concern.
“Is there any danger?” Tim asked.
“No, rest assured,” Jonn said confidently, continuing his porridge at the small table while Tim sat opposite and Betta stood nearby. “If it were harmful, the greenhouse produce would have shown ill effects by now. The crystals influence animals just as they do plants.” This wasn’t the complete picture, but his villagers didn’t need every detail yet.
Jonn faced a choice between full disclosure and measured revelation. He opted for the latter to prevent unnecessary panic, withholding certain truths for now.
“Have you noticed anything else? Any concerning changes?” Jonn asked, meeting Betta’s gaze.
“No, everything else remains as it was.”
“Then we have nothing to fear,” he reassured them both with a smile.
“However, this increased production demands attention. We should develop better methods to use these volumes. We could expand our bread production and other goods,” Jonn mused, recalling conversations with his grandfather Hewet.
“Grandpa Hewet often spoke of butter and cheese making. Apparently, these products maintain freshness far longer than raw milk.”
A spark of recognition lit Tim’s eyes at these words. He, too, harbored countless insights from years of conversations with Hewet. Like Jonn, he recalled discussions about butter and cheese-making, the methods still clear in his mind.
“I could discuss this with Urian. We could craft the necessary equipment together,” Tim said, his earlier concerns about mana forgotten in this surge of possibility.
Betta’s interest peaked as she recalled conversations with Elia about the premium value of certain food products, cheese among them. Even Petyr had mentioned how Valorian’s nobility and wealthy classes paid handsomely for such delicacies.
“This could rival the value of our metal reserves!” she exclaimed, watching both men nod in agreement—Jonn with a spoon still in his mouth, Tim having already finished his portion.
Seeing their renewed calm, Jonn finished his meal and prepared to head toward the new Village Council. Tim alone accompanied him, falling into step as they sought Urian, who should be overseeing construction in that sector.
They proceeded behind Petyr and Asher’s house, toward one corner of the village’s original walled area, where an observation tower stood. There lay the recently created opening between the old section and the new expansion, its wall completed mere days ago.
This new section lacked a formal gate, instead connecting to the village through a four-meter-wide breach in the wall just behind Asher and Petyr’s house, next to the north-facing observation tower.
Elia planned to eventually demolish Petyr’s house, moving him and Asher to the new sector, replacing their current dwelling with a small street to facilitate the movement of people and wagons between the two areas. While the main warehouse would remain in its original location for now, the newly completed one wouldn’t stay idle for long.
Jonn and Tim left the main area of the village, entering this new space—five times larger than the original compound—where eleven buildings stood nearly complete, requiring only interior finishing touches. Additional structures remained under construction, and the ground still awaited proper stone paving.
Fortunately, the region’s abundant quarries provided ample stone for pavements, walls, and houses, which made up a large part of everything built in the village.
They passed workers beginning their daily tasks in this bustling sector, moving beyond the completed houses now occupied by Arnald’s families, Sarre’s group, and recent arrivals from Littlewood.
Finally, they halted before the area’s most impressive structure—the new Village Council building—where some men worked on assembling interior furnishings.
Tim broke away to discuss Jonn’s ideas with Urian, while Jonn proceeded to the Council chamber, intent on presenting yesterday’s agreement and issuing new orders.
This sector could spare half or more of its workforce while still completing construction within weeks, so Jonn was eager to redirect these men toward forming the village’s recruitment parties!