1.6

First summer came and went. Jewel’s demesne briefly paused work on the foundations so that the hands would be free for hay turn.

Then the peasants returned in force and numbers in excess of those needed just to get the extra pay in grain from Rochford’s stores.

The final carving of foundation stones of the main manor and the clearing down to bedrock to place them was finished well ahead of the original estimate. Most of the work for her manor after that was checking to see how the marked out places for walls, doorways and rooms felt when Jewel moved through them.

Adjustments, expansions and extensions to ease a few particularly awkward bends and too narrow or too abrupt passageways had bought another fortnight of labor, but after that work on the Manor’s foundations was done for the year and Jewel was left with little expected of her.

So she had taken to simply doing what she knew and visiting headman Adorján and asking how her people were faring through the hungry summer and what labors there were to have during it now that the manor was settled until next year.

“Excuse me, but what do you mean ‘is there anything you can help with’ Lady Jewel?”

Jewel did not acknowledge how her headman still had that frustrating hitch when addressing her. The subtle cue that he yet struggled to properly see her as his lady and more importantly a person.

She knew from experience that most would eventually either master their tells, or actually grow to accept her station.

But it was frustrating how slow going that could be.

Jewel shifted a bit around in her coils, her latest bit of growth had been coming in unevenly around her middle between her chest and hips. And made her scales feel more strained than they ever had before.

Which was not helping with her mood.

“Over the winter in Rochford, I have helped with seeing that those without dry fuel had lit hearths. That’s not been a recent concern in either my father or my demesne of course. But why should winter be the only time I render aid?”

Jewel had ordered that before construction on her manor even begin its foundation that proper storehouses for firewood be set aside for her demesne far in excess of their or Jewels' (now diminished) bathing requirements.

That any household in good standing in their labors for the land be provided from that storehouse in the event they came up short in the deep winter.

She had insisted that if the storehouse was not sufficient or should go empty, any house that struggled by burning green or wet wood would be visited by Jewel personally to see their hearth’s warmed over winter.

Adorján nodded his head. His skin was rough around the face in a way most were not. Pocked in places and his hands shook a bit even when he was completely at ease.

He bent little in the back even when he bowed in respect.

“Of course, Lady Jewel. But it’s the height of hungry summer, we have no need for extra flame for our hearths. And it would hardly be proper to ask to impose upon the Shining Wyrm of Viznove for anything less vital.”

Jewel sighed and shook her head.

It was so much easier in Rochford where everyone had known her since she was young and grown up alongside her.

Here in Valasect she was a stranger and everyone was uneasy with her.

It made what she thought should have been easy so much harder. But they were hers and she would see they were well cared for.

That was the compact between a lady and her subjects.

Even if they made it difficult for her. Still, stewardship was about more than crops.

She needed to offer the headman something to prove her nobility. There were many tales of cruel lords and ladies whispered in corners where they thought Jewel could not hear.

“It is up to me to guard my own honor, Adorján. You are the headman of my village, you are my voice and hands in common law, here between us I relieve you of any burden of insult. I withdraw all obligations of propriety. Please, at least in private council with me, feel free to speak openly and without fear.”

Jewel’s headman gawked at her.

He blinked hard a few times, then ran his tongue over his lips, looking all over those of her coils that fit in his house, Jewel’s back half was furled up around his front yard gardens.

Finally he met her eyes for the first time since he assumed the role of headman.

They were clear eyes, they held strong and he took a shuddering breath before exhaling hard and bracing like a footman squaring up against a knight in full charge.

“At your command, I’ll be honest, my lady. Having you around the village is liable to be thrice the trouble of anything you could possibly be doing to help. You terrify the lot of them”

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Jewel felt herself wilting. She’d asked, but it still made her eyes sting with tears. Her voice was quiet and small. The constriction needed for it practically filled her entire throat.

“Oh.”

The headman’s eyes continued to fix her firmly for a moment longer before he seemed to lose some of the stiffness to his expression. Not his back though, that remained as rigid and indisposed to bend as always.

Muttering under his breath.

“Blast it, no noble reared star fortuned dragon should be able to do that better than my granddaughter.”

Jewel without even thinking of it apologized to the words she was not supposed to have heard.

“I’m sorry about that, headman Adorján. But it’s my responsibility as your lady to see to the care and livelihood of the people of Valasect. It is my duty.”

Adorján was staring at her again, his voice whispery and quiet, possibly too quiet for most to hear.

“You heard that?”

But in a room shared with her head and ears Jewel could hardly deny anymore it was clear as noon sun.

“I…”

Then Jewel paused.

She had never told a peasant or commoner this, only her parents, Tsulogothulan (with their circle of wizards) and Lady Bathory had the full knowledge of the powers of her hearing. The other nobles likely suspected her ears were very capable, but they did not know the full extent.

But Adorján was to be her voice in her demesne. He needed to have trust from her, they needed to start somewhere.

Jewel coughed gently (barely really a cough in truth for her).

“I can hear the women talking as they spin in the house across from yours. I can hear birds singing in the apple tree between the south and northeast big fields. I can hear your heartbeat, Adorján. I’m sorry for the rudeness but I can’t not hear these things.”

The headman’s heartbeat was rising to a thunderous pace as she spoke. The expression on his face made Jewel’s insides clench uncomfortably (again in her middle).

He finally mastered himself though, she gave him the time for it.

Adorján was her voice for common law and she needed his trust. So said all the books on stewardship and the consul of Mother and Father.

“I recall from the Boar’s Spas there are tales spread that you entertain the children and offer them your bread?”

Jewel nodded along. She’d done that the first time and it had ended up being something that was demanded she repeat every year since.

The headman considered.

He chewed at his lip and his pockmarked face roiled over the bone of his brows and the rise of his cheeks in deep concentration.

Grey hair on head and face wagging about as he thought. Eyes on something in the air below Jewel’s throat. Not focused on her but a bit before her scales.

“And your hearing is good enough you could rightfully keep track of every kinder clear across the northeast field?”

She nodded along.

Adorján hummed heavily and with a solid grit to it then finally faced her dead in the eyes again as he spoke.

“The Boar’s festival in Rochford is coming soon. As our lady, could you accompany the children and watch over them on the way there, together with the few men and women making the trip this year? And after that set up in one of the fallow fields to see to the youth with nothing better to do through hungry summer?”

Jewel mulled over it. That did not sound terribly difficult. And if it was what would help her village, according to her headman Jewel was eager to spend the time regardless of the difficulty.

“If it will help the people, I’d gladly do it. Would it be alright to bring a few rounds of lunch while I am acting as the Kinder Guard?”

He seemed surprised at her.

Jewel quickly amended hoping to avoid giving the wrong impression.

“Oh! I promise I’ll share with the children in my care, it’s just I’ve been quite a bit more peckish than usual this summer.”

To which Adorján finally gave the first honest laugh Jewel had ever heard from him.

“That would be perfectly fine, Lady Jewel.”

His smile was sparse a few teeth but there was warmth in his eyes and a joy to his pitted rough skinned cheeks.

Jewel nodded and wished her headman well, extricating herself from his home with great care and delicacy.

Twisting and clenching her wings especially tight to make sure she did not damage the timbres of the doorframe on her way out.

It was good to make progress with her Demesne!