6.4
Jewel’s newly bound servant Adelyne had a problem.
Well to be fair the girl who was scarcely a winter older then Jewel herself had many numerous problems. Potentially more than could be counted.
Although Jewel made the attempt while mustering her patience.
First of all Adelyne had almost incorrigibly sticky fingers of a sort that no one but Jewel, Muriel and Eryka could reliably spot before things went missing.
If confronted about it the girl folded like wet river reeds and returned whatever had gone missing (when it wasn't food she didn't even need to take in the first place).
Which brought up the second issue, Adelyne would always eat to the point of injuring herself.
Jewel had watched her force down food even when she was bloated from overeating. If you put any food worth eating in front of her or even left it unattended near her it would go down the deceptively thin waif’s gullet.
And if her portions were not watched she would make herself sick.
Thirdly she was slippery as an eel, if you tried to grab her Adelyne had a knack for getting loose and away whenever someone tried to hold her. Which meant even if you did spot and call her out for a theft immediately she could barely be constrained if she panicked and fled.
The only reason she wasn't an even worse menace was that the city waif had the endurance of a sickly lamb when it came to open field running and she had the footing on rough terrain of a blind ox after a bee sting.
The less said of her woodscraft the better.
Adelyne had already sprained an ankle trying to take flight across a field.
Which lead to a fourth and most dire problem not just for Adelyne but Jewel as well.
There was as far as Jewel had found not a single form of work the girl could be set too that was suited for more than children.
She couldn’t read much of anything worth calling words.
She could not write either.
She was a disaster at cleaning.
A liability doing the wash of anything not durable enough for Jewel’s own handling.
And utterly hopeless at spinning, weaving or any other needlework much more than a patch job.
Jewel mostly attended spinning circles to acclimate the women of Valasect to her and had no actual need for a bondwoman to do any such work but how could this girl have gotten to the age of womanhood and not know even how to spin thread?
The Wyrm was spinning better than Adelyne when she was seven!
And that was when Jewel was a clumsy oaf who tangled the thread in her scales and claws half the time! This supposed woman struggled with something as basic as carding!
Jewel didn't even know you could struggle with carding before she saw it!
“Adelyne... not so rough, you are throwing wool everywhere.”
The young woman, who Jewel had almost certainly saved the life of and seemed to sincerely want to make up on the debt incurred with the wyrm hissed through her teeth and dropped the two combs she had been brutalizing the rough fleece with.
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“What’s the point in all of this?!”
The only thing that Jewel found admirable about Adelyne is that when she had noticed Jewel was not in the habit of eating or obliterating people for failures of manners she did not need to be pushed to speak her mind.
Unfortunately the fifth item of her difficult behavior in Jewel’s tally was Adelyne without the threat of mortal peril always spoke her mind!
Adelyne was no longer allowed outside of the manor. She was also forbidden from interacting with any of the locals of Valasect without supervision when they visited.
Apparently her Jewel’s silence was going on too long for the city waif.
“Hey! Jule! What’s the point?!”
Some of the snarls of rough fleece were only just settling to the floor from Adelyne’s attempt at work that Gwenna was nearly old enough to manage.
Jewel fixed her bondwoman with a look she hoped conveyed how disappointed she was.
But it did not have the intended effect.
Adelyne just snorted at her.
“Well? I can see you thinking and rolling it around in that scaly head of yours. Out with it!”
Jewel sighed heavily.Turning her attention away from the bobbing spindle.
She’d yearned to be able to do this so effortlessly it did not require attention and now she missed the excuse to not have to speak.
“You card to get any leftover sticks, grass, shit, dirt and burs out of the wool. Otherwise it makes the thread coarser, anything you weave with it scratchier and the fibers weaker.”
And for some reason, this basic fact of life struck the woman like one of Urul the Written’s deep revelations of sorcery. She was old enough to be well established in a profession already!
“Really?! Well fancy... is that why the clothes you can get on the cheap itch so much?”
Jewel huffed and turned back to watch her thread working even if it was unnecessary. She could feel the thread and the spools well enough to work in the dark.
“That or the fleas.”
Another snort.
“Nah, weren’t the fleas. I know how you deal with those.”
Jewel blinked at that, curious to hear. Her interest was apparently enough to prompt her bondaged.
“You roll any clothes that bite ya in an ash pit, Grind it well good. Then boil em in an old fish fry pan with water. If the water burns your skin after it's gone cold then you know it got all the biters loose and you can rinse the nipping water out and wear it fine”
Huh, She’d have to talk to Tsulogothulan about this strange magic later. It might be useful if they ever had a curse of vermin later.
“Of course it's rough and nasty on the clothes too. The little biters are spiteful and they gnash holes as they come loose in vengeance on ya.”
Huh, well that made sense.
“But that’s not what I was meaning. No see, some rich clothes are fine and soft. Other kinds are rough and scratchy. Even when they taste the same and have the same colors as the rich ones.”
Jewel hummed and then nodded, that did sound like wool that was not carded well or otherwise not been cleaned properly before spinning and weaving.
“I think so then, that does sound like poor cardding.”
Adelyne picked up the two combs again with a lump of fleece stuck on one.
“Well if that’s the difference between one Grosz and Three I’ll card this woggle to silver!”
The Lanoline was already rinsed free last season from the shorn herds but there were never enough hands. Even with Jewel’s own labor when she could spare it there was plenty of rough wool needing hands to work it.
She winced though as she watched the (semi) former thief try to jerk the two combs through the still rough fleece with all the care of a child trying to swipe birds off the field.
Catching it all in a snarled knot instead of managing to pass the teeth past one another such that burs and detritus could be free’d.
It was so pitiful to watch Jewel had to stop her own spinning to correct it.
“No, Adelyne, give it here I’ll show you again.”
If the woman was this hopelessly uneducated no wonder she turned to theft!