Chapter 35
Once upon a time, there was a sad noble. He had broad lands, a most beautiful wife, three fine children that looked up to him. He was respected, but that didn’t satisfy him. The king asked for his opinion, and that did not make him at peace.
Totally unable to find any rest, he decided to travel the world and ask the greatest thinkers on how to live the best life. He talked to many people, philosophers and holy people all over the world, but he ended up being more confused and more unhappy than ever before.
Unable to find the answers he sought, he sadly began the journey home. A rainstorm pinned him in an old shack, run down and almost in ruins. The only person he found there was an old beggar, who had made the ruin his home. The man cheerfully offered him some of the poor soup he had, and a cup of weak tea.
Even though he was very poor, and had little, he seemed content, even happy. The noble asked him the secret of his happiness.
The beggar said, When I’m tired, I sleep. When I’m hungry, I go find something to eat. I have nobody to impress, nothing to steal. Life is good.”
The next morning, the beggar was gone. But the noble thought about his words long and hard. Eventually, he went back home, kissed his wife, hugged his children, and stopped trying to find happiness outside of himself.
Small Tales of the Past for Young Minds – Sharai Bluebottle of the Alder Branches
At Pixie Hollow, the next day started off sunny and pleasant. Gan had once again brought her laundry out to wash. She had the big laundry boiler out with a fire on it, another tub of water, and the clothes line stretched out.
“If you were like me,” Moxie said, sitting on Gan’s shoulder, “you’d just find another flower to make a fresh dress when your old one got dirty.”
“Ah but they don’t make flowers in my size,” Gan replied. “And I have more to wash than just my dresses. I have towels and sheets and napkins, too. And my aprons.”
“It still seems like a lot of work,” the pixie said.
“It is a lot of work,” Gan replied. “But I kind of like getting it done. Clean sheets feel very nice.”
“Better than leaves?” Moxie asked.
“At least to big people’s skins. Much better.”
She went into the house, and grabbed a basket full of dirty clothes. As he walked through the door, she heard Gilly saying, “And then the goat shook her head and Arne went halfway across the field.”
“Served him right,” Hilby replied. “It’s not like Mistress Gan didn’t warn him about pulling on their ears.”
“It’s their eyes, he told me,” Seamus said. “He says their eyes are all wrong.”
“And what’s wrong with their eyes?” asked a deeper, larger, masculine voice.
She turned around to see the tall, mossy cloaked man with the broad-brimmed hat sitting on the bench
“Oh Cullin, hello!” Gan said, putting her basket down. “What brings you out of the forest today?”
“Leila,” he said.
“Leila?” Gan looked around the grounds in the front of her house. “Did she come with you?”
“No,” said the Tree Shepherd.
Gan scratched her head in confusion, then lifted a handful of clothes and dumped them, one by one into the cauldron. “I have laundry to do today,” she said, stirring the pot with a long paddle.
“He’s not good at explanations, is he?” Moxie said. She fluttered around the big pot, watching the steam rise out of it. “Clouds, clouds. Funny hot heat and water can make clouds that don’t rain or make lightning.”
“Don’t get too close or you might get burned,” Gan told her.
Gilly landed on the porch roof. “I got burned once by steam,” she said. “It hurt.”
“Where did you get near steam? Nobody’s even made tea here after the old hermit left,” Fergus said, landed next to her. “You never got burned when he was here.” He gave her a shove.
Gilly flew off in a huff.
Pye, Gan’s cat jumped on the bench next to the Tree Shepherd, looking at him straight in the eyes.
“So you don’t think I gave your mistress a good answer, either?” Cullin said.
The cat twitched an ear and flicked his tail.
“It’s true that I’m not used to being sent here as a messenger,” he said. “Are you good at it, cat?”
The cat blinked at him twice, meowed once, and jumped off, running around the corner of the house.
Gan glanced amused at the two of them interacting while she continued to dunk clothes into the cauldron. After the cat dashed off, she said, “Pye can usually get his intention across.” She tossed the last piece of cloth in, and gave the pot a stir.
“He is a wise cat,” Cullin said, nodding. “He knows enough to keep the pixies be, because you want it so. He also keeps a better eye on you and those around you than you might realize. Be glad he’s here with you.” He shifted and moved a hand beneath his cloak. “Leila asked me to give you this.” He pulled a bundle out, and unwrapped it on his lap. It was a book, and there was a folded piece of paper tucked into it.
Gan wiped her hands on her apron, and took the book, a small, cheaply printed romance story of the type the two women were both fond of. “Ah! She remembered!” She looked up and gave the Tree Shepherd a big smile. “She told me how much she liked this one. I ought to send her back with one of mine.”
Pulling the paper out of the book, Gan read the page. “Oh, Leila’s invited me to her house for tea tomorrow!”
Cheers erupted from the crowd of pixies.
“Tea? With Leila? Will there be sugar cookies?” Moxie asked, flying to Gan’s shoulder.
“I don’t know.” She looked over at Cullin. “Do I have your permission to enter the forest, Tree Shepherd?”
He stared at her, going to phases of amusement, then minor irritation, then sternness. “Leila deserves a good time. Meet me there.” He pointed to a place in the boundary wall where there was a set of steps across the fencing. Two hours after lunch.”
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“I will indeed. And tell Leila thank you, both for the loan of her book and the invitation.” She gave a little bow in his direction, then placed the book and letter next to Cullin on the bench.
“I don’t remember seeing those steps before,” Arne whispered to Moxie.
“Me, either,” Moxie replied. “Maybe it’s because we fly over there instead of walk?”
Ignoring the Pixie chatter, and even Cullin, Gan returned to her pot. “But now, for my laundry.” She gave the clothing in the pot one more stir, then made a domestic magic sigil in the air. The pot began to glow, and the fabric in it began to move, rising and falling in the liquid, which instead of being clear like water now shone with an intense green light.
“Oooh!” said Rosebud, who flew up to the roof when the magic started. She was joined by Gilly, Moxie and Dahlia.
“Be sure to stay out of the water, Pixies,” Gan said. If you get caught in it, it’ll try to scrub you until there’s no more Pixie dust.”
Hilby, who was thinking of just that thing, screeched, and flew up to join the others on the roof. While he was flying, a shift lifted out of the water. It shimmied once, and all the excess liquid ran out of it. Gan grabbed it and then pinned it to the clothes line. When she returned to grab the next garment waiting for her, Cullin was gone.
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On the White Isle, the Oldest sat in her garden at the White Circle chapter house. The garden was full of early spring blossoms – golden forsythia, daffodils, violas and others. The day was sunny, but not overly warm, and she had a blue shawl wrapped over her white robes of office.
Still, for all the sunshine, there was an air of deep introspection and even a touch of fatigue around the woman. As she looked out over the garden, a small sparrow landed near her, pecked at the ground, then flew off. A single person stood nearby, quietly watching, a presence so familiar and usual that the Oldest had forgotten he was there – Ethne, officially her assistant, but unofficially much more.
“I wonder if is how my mother felt, before she returned to the Lifegiver? Everything, all the decisions, the lives in my hands…” She sighed. “It weighs so heavy some days. Maybe I should go talk with Belisama.”
Ethne took that as his signal to move. He had seen her in this mood many times before – sometimes he could shake her out of it. Sometimes, all he could do was hold her hand. He wasn’t sure which one it would be today.
“You know every time you go and talk with that sister, you come back angry about how she tells you to cut through the nonsense, and do the reasonable thing. She never quite understands what you are looking for is the reasonable thing,” he said, sitting down on the bench next to her. “Maybe you should talk to Litaui in her gardens. Now she understands growth and cycles.”
“Growth and cycles. Is that what all this is about?” the Oldest asked. She looked down at the ground. “I can barely see the shape of that through all the shadow building up.”
Ethne adjusted the shawl she was wearing so it covered her shoulders more fully. “At least in part. Look at how you have made inroads with the Dragonkin. Is that not growth?”
“You fuss over me like an old mother hen, Ethne. I am not in my dotage yet,” the Oldest said, but smiled. “As for what is going on, well it is a newness, at least. Sometimes, though I wonder if my old mind is the right one to peer through it all.”
Ethne patted her hand. “Oh my dear Sulis, you have seen every nook and cranny of this land, have led it to one of the longest periods of peace and prosperity it ever has had, gave up everything for it after seeing everything else ripped apart in the Sundering, give every drop of yourself to keep it going that way, and every step of the way, you have been punishing yourself for some unseen weakness or failing, of not being good enough or strong enough or wise enough. And now you’re going to add not being young enough to your list of failures?”
For some reason, this made the Oldest laugh. “If anybody knows how I kick myself in private, Ethne my dearest friend, it’s you. Let’s go inside. I need to speak to Ruell. Evidently the DIC has requested someone from our people to work with them on an investigation group they’re putting together. Now that’s a first. In the past, they tried their best to keep us from even knowing how they studied cases.” She stood up.
“Spring is here, and new growth,” Ethne said, standing up as well.
“But what will the seed sprout into?” the Oldest asked.
“We will water it with tea and cakes and see!” he replied, and opened the door for her to pass inside.
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Gan just got the last piece of her wash load out of the cauldron, a finely made linen cap with delicate embroidery around the brim, when she heard the clattering of a wagon driving up the road.
“More of those giant monsters coming this way!” Hilby said, in a panic. “Why do they always come here?”
“You mean horses?” Gan asked.
“They’re so big,” Hilby replied as he hid in Gan’s apron pocket.
“It’s probably Rob coming to work on the gardens,” Gan said. “Nothing to worry about.”
Closing her eyes, she drew a brand new sigil over the cauldron she had been using to do her laundry. This time, the light in the water from the laundry magic faded and the water stopped bubbling. Instead, it began to swirl, like a whirlpool. From the middle of the whirlpool, a column of water rose up. Gan pointed to her garden beds, and the water from the washing began to stream out of the pot and into that.
Suddenly, a very wet Pixie rose up, sputtering and shaking off the water. “Warn a person before you do that!” she said.
“I’m sorry, Cowslip,” Gan said. “I didn’t know anybody was sleeping there.”
“Don’t know if you actually can call it sleeping, what with bigs talking too much, Hilby having panic attacks, and that cat prowling around.” Cowslip dashed off in the direction of the barn. “I’d rather put up with the goats!”
“Well, she’s in a mood,” Moxie said.
“Surprise dirty water baths can do that to you, I suspect,” Gan said.
The sound of the wagon grew nearer. Gan looked up as she moved the cauldron off the fire, and saw what she was hearing wasn’t Rob driving a wagon, but Elaine’s carriage.
“Now what’s going on with that?” Gan wiped her hands on her apron, and Hilby, still nervous, dashed away.
The carriage pulled up. Someone else besides Rob was driving – Gan didn’t recognize who it was. The door opened up, and out stepped Elaine.
“Ah, I caught you at home!” Elaine said.
“And where else would I be?” Gan asked. She walked up to Elaine as Elaine closed the distance between them herself. “What brings you out to Pixie Hollow?”
“I need you to come to Allynswood. There’s something I need to show you.” Elaine took her friend by the arm. “And maybe we could talk about that letter you sent me yesterday.”
Gan raised an eyebrow at that. There was a look about Elaine that made it clear she was planning something, something she was excited about. “Well give me a moment. I don’t want to go to such a fancy place wearing my laundry day apron.”
Hurrying inside, Gan put on her best clean dress, a pale gray gown and her best cap. Over that, she added a wide brimmed straw hat. She left out several slices of bread for the Pixies, and a couple of cookies, broken into crumbs. With a final look back at her home, she grabbed her bag and hurried to join Elaine.
Once in the carriage, Elaine gave her a big smile.
“So I hear there’s a certain apprentice gardener that has an opportunity to take over one of my small farms, and maybe move up to journeyman gardener. That is, if a certain former schoolmistress is willing to let him work for her.”
“I also believe this apprentice gardener would like to prove himself worthy enough to talk to a certain father,” Gan said nodding.
“You know, I didn’t know Rob had a sweetheart. He’s a very capable young man, really gifted at handling growing things and livestock. His father is a lovely man. We talk a lot when he comes to Allynswood, and he taught me a lot of the practical things I needed to know about the people who do the actually farming on a large estate. None of my textbooks really covered how to cope with the trials and joys and expectations of the people who make it all work, but Rob’s dad did. Gweir thinks highly of his older brother. He’s one of the soldiers in Gweir’s unit, you know?”
“That’s what he told me.” Gan pulled some knitting out of her bag.
Elaine watched her friend finger the fine yarn. “I’ll never undertand how you have the patience for that,” she said, giving her head a small shake.
“And I don’t understand how you can manage such a large estate,” Gan said, chuckling. “We all have our own talents.”
“So true.” Elaine stared out of the window. The part of the road they were traveling gave her an excellent view of the Glint river. All the land they were traveling past belonged to her. It really was a lot to care for, decide about, and make sure that the people who worked for her were well treated.
“So what do we do about Rob?” Gan asked, knowing her friend had already come up with a plan.
“I was thinking we’d put him on a probationary period of one month. That’ll make sure he fits in well with the Pixies and whoever else comes calling to your place. He handled his first day well, but day after day of Pixies might be harder than he realizes. After that, I’ll raise his rank to journeyman. I’m going to do that anyway, whether he works out at Pixie Hollow or not. Far be it from me to stand in the way of true love!”
Gan reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand.
“And I was talking to Arriane, too. For some reason, she’s worried about you living out there all by yourself, even if you are surrounded by Pixies. When I suggested having Rob work as your handyman and gardener, her face lit up.”
Gan chuckled. “Gan as damsel in distress. Like a the female in a romance novel. Never thought anybody would ever see me like that!”