Chapter 4

I awoke alone in bed, dressed in the clothes I had slept in, which was an odd occurrence. I gingerly stretched myself, paying mind not to trigger an attack from my shoulder. Violet had given me those instructions before giving me my nightly tonic. She explained what they believed could cause attacks and how to avoid them. Once I felt limber enough, I got out of bed and went about dressing for the day. It took longer than usual as every time I moved, I had to slow or stop to protect myself from another attack. While Ilane and Violet were certain that sharp and drastic movements would trigger attacks, they would not rule out that minor ones could as well. Once dressed, I made my way to my bathing room. The girls had mentioned that they had added a mirror and basin to allow for grooming. I made my way in and found the mirror and basin along the far wall. It was a simple mirror, rectangular in shape with a generic border. The basin was made of bronze, one of the few items the girls had kept from their home. The basin sat on a small table, simple in its design, that had two drawers in it.

I opened the first drawer to find it filled with combs and other items that the girls would use. Perfumes and other items I was not sure of were placed in their own special sections. The drawer had a framework in it that allowed the organization of its contents. I closed the top drawer and opened the one below it. There I found my comb, shaving kit and other items that I would believe belonged to the boys. I collected my shaving kit and closed the drawer carefully, hoping to not accidentally disturb the contents. I looked up at my reflection and saw a haunted individual. My cheeks were sunken, I looked much thinner and frailer than I had ever been. A long, scruffy beard had grown and made me look much older. My hair had grown long in my time in bed, looking to be around an inch longer. If I let it keep growing, I would be able to put the back into a small ponytail. I laughed a bit at the vision and collected my razor. I poured some water into the basin and splashed my face a few times. I made sure to get my beard wet. Once that was done, I collected my shaving soap and began the lather process.

It took a few minutes before the soap reached the correct consistency. Once it was thick enough, I lathered it onto my beard. I had to make a few passes to ensure that the soap made it down to my skin. Once that was done, I took out my razor and leather strop. As I ran the blade across the leather to sharpen it, my mind drifted to when I first learned to shave. I was thirteen when my elder father gave me my first blade ad strop. Through trial and error, I had found how much I should sharpen it and how to shave. My elder father had thought it important that I learned on my own, though he would give insight into how to do it a different and better way when I was stuck. Using the years of experience, I had accumulated since then, I adequately sharpened the blade and set about trimming my beard. Carefully, I began the tedious job of making my face look presentable. After what I could only assume was around a half hour, my face was clean-shaven and looking something resembling myself. I gave my hair a quick comb and made my way downstairs to see what was going on around the house.

As I reached the main floor, I entered the dining area and found Liza chopping up some veggies, humming a tune to herself. I waited until the knife was put down before announcing my presence, which was a good thing. I cleared my throat, causing her to let out a shriek and toss chopped carrots everywhere. She turned to see the source of the noise, with a look of murder in her eyes. When they settled on me the look faltered and instead, she began to giggle.

When her giggles subsided Liza said, “You need to be more careful Davik. You nearly gave me a serious fright. It was a good thing that I had put down the knife, else I could have cut myself or hurt you.”

An image of her hurling the knife at my head appeared in my mind and I felt very fortunate that I waited.

“Where is everyone,” I asked, “because of the tonic and all the resting I have been doing, my internal clock is all wrong. So, I have absolutely no clue what time of day it is.”

“Well I was starting to prepare the vegetables for tonight’s dinner. Trina is in town working to set up the stall. We got approval to start planning and setting it up. We figure we can start selling our surplus goods in a fortnight. Trent is out with Clive on a hunt, they saw some deer about half a kilometer to the east of the village. They are hoping to get a decent sized buck. They also set some snares the other day, hopefully they got a hare or two. Two of your apprentices, Brandon and Earl, are in town doing some training with Ruben; they are hoping to learn some new techniques for a few of their projects. David and Carl were looking at a section of land you are not using yet. They are thinking of building a structure for the business. That will give another income to the household and give them a place to work and store items. Right now, we have been blessed with decent weather, but that could change soon. As it is, they have six different projects sitting in the back garden, unprotected from the elements.”

I thanked her and made my way outside. I found David and Carl at the south eastern section of the fence. Due to the uneven ground, as well as the fact that the soil was no good to plant anything in, it had been left unused. Carl was using twine and stakes made from scrap wood to mark out the perimeter of the building. Based on the dimensions that were plotted out, the space looked to be eight meters wide by sixteen meters long. Utilizing the terrain they could effectively have the work area and storage area at slightly different levels. It looked like the building would be a decent size, more than enough room for all four of them to work and store their projects. I greeted them as I approached, and they explained their plans. They were reasonable but would take at least a few months to get done. I told them if they needed more Drectars, they only need ask. They thanked me and went back to planning. I chuckled at their enthusiasm and made my way back to the house as Trent and Clive were coming in from a gate at the back of the property. They had a hare in each hand, their bows slung over their shoulder.

“Hello, my friends, how did your hunt go? I can see your snares were fruitful, but Liza said you were also hoping to snag a buck.”

“Greeting, Davik,” Trent replied, “the snares were indeed good to us today. We tried our best, but luck was not with us today. Hopefully, we will have a deer for dinner tomorrow, we plan to try and head out a bit earlier.”

“That sounds like a good plan, my friends. I would suggest that you head north for about a kilometer, then begin a return trip slowly through the brush. The early morning wind tends to travel north, and it will help keep your scent from being detected by your prey.”

The two thanked me for the advice and made their way towards the house. Looking up at the sky it looked that I had an hour or two of daylight left. I thought about what to do with that time, as I was feeling rather energetic for the first time in a while. The only thought that came to mind was to visit Violet at her mother’s clinic in town. I made my way out of the back garden and followed the side trail to the front of the house. It was good to be able to walk around and be outside again. I had begun to get a bit stir-crazy, only sleeping and eating every day. I saw the occasional person as I made my way into the heart of town. I would bid them a good evening, either getting a friendly reply or a cold shoulder. Not so long ago I was given mostly a cold shoulder when I had first arrived. While it was a bit upsetting, given the change that had occurred, I tried not to let it bother me.

I continued weaving my way through the streets and pathways, until I arrived in front of Ilane’s clinic. With a deep breath, I made my way inside and was surprised to see how busy it was. There were at least half a dozen people, waiting in chairs along the front entryway. Two were women in some level of discomfort, though I dared not ask what it was. The other four were men, around the ages of sixteen to twenty-two years of age. Each of the men had the signs of a fight. Swollen eye, fat lip, various cuts and scrapes. Each of them cast an icy stare at me, one that Brant had once given me any time we were near one another. I simply nodded at them, showing that I felt them to be of no threat and made my way to the front counter. I noticed that Violet was not behind the counter, but instead a woman I was unfamiliar with.

She looked to be around the same age as Violet and me. She was an inch shorter than Violet, with light red hair curling down her face in soft ringlets. Her eyes were bright green, with flecks of yellow spattered about. It was an exotic look, though I had come across a few like her when I had lived with my elders. She was in a light green leather dress, not to unlike ones that Violet would wear occasionally. I could not tell the length due to the counter being in the way, but it fit her well. It hugged her body without ‘looking like a harlot’ as my mother used to say. The neckline plunged slightly, hinting at only the top swell of her bosom. A bosom which was along the lines of Liza and Trina, if not a bit smaller in the chest. She had a warm smile on her face as I approached the counter.