Chapter 6: Winter 873/874 AD

The friends enjoyed the rest of the evening, continuing their questioning of Scott and marvelling at everything that he had had access to in his own time. They understood the difficulty in recreating most of these, due to the lack of the sophisticated materials and machinery.

Gabrain jokingly reminded Lachlan that his oath of allegiance had been to himself, not Scott and so his declaration of support for Scott could be construed as treason. Lachlan paused for a moment and then detected his King's barely contained chuckling and decided to teach his young Lord a lesson. He leapt on him and began to tickle him mercilessly.

"Treason! Treason! The treacherous dog attacks his King. Will not my loyal lords and men save me this affront?" Gabrain managed to squeal out.

Scott, Fiona and Eilean laughed and did nothing to help him, thinking perhaps he was due this for teasing Lachlan so.

Lachlan sailed south a few days later, leaving Scott, the girls and Gabrain to make their plans for getting through the winter. Scott was re-assured that all of his lordship's settlements had sufficient food for the duration and he knew things would be even better in future years as the benefits of the ice-houses allowed them to freeze some of the summer's beneficence for use in the leaner winter period.

Scott was extremely pleased with himself when he helped the lordship make glue. He achieved it by substituting the concept of boiling up horses' hooves for deer hooves. Glue had a number of useful applications, including an alternative way of fixing glass into window frames, strengthening wood work joints and... toothbrushes! Scott had come up with the idea of fashioning a wooden handle, boring four lines of eight holes in the end and then threading pig's bristles in a 'U' through the holes. The bristles were then fixed in place by the application of glue and the whole allowed to set.

Up until then, Scott had been brushing his teeth by chewing on twigs and flossing. Now he could brush. It took him a long time to get used to brushing with soap, laughing as he remembered how his mother had threatened to wash his mouth out with soap if he cussed when he was younger. Now here he was doing just that, washing his mouth out with soap, but by choice.

The thought about his mother jolted him. He realised he hadn't dwelled very much on his past life at all since he had been in this time. He wondered whether this was a kind of defence mechanism, avoiding the pain of missing his family and everything that had been familiar. Then again, perhaps it was just that he had needed to focus all his energies on this time period. His family life had been okay, he certainly loved his parents, but he had always had a streak of independence. He had moved out of the family home into student accommodation when he had been studying at University, and had immediately enjoyed his newfound freedom.

The added responsibilities he had now were somehow squeezing out his previous existence he recognised. Ninth century Scotland was beginning to consume his thoughts and energies.

Another challenge that reared its head as winter approached was Gabrain's sudden interest in the opposite sex. The opposite sex in question was the thirteen-year-old daughter of one of the Oban craftsmen, a wood worker. Her name was Cáran and it was Fiona and Eilean who first noticed the growing attachment between the two youngsters. It began with them sitting quietly together, watching her father as he worked, but soon the two girls spotted the youngsters wandering round the camp together more frequently. They thought the growing friendship was cute beyond belief and that it would be good for Gabrain to spread his wings a little with someone of his own age.

When Fiona told Scott of the emerging friendship he was at first a little perturbed. Was the daughter of a wood worker a proper companion for the King of Dalriada? He caught himself before he voiced such an opinion however, chiding himself for falling into the kind of value judgements, based on station, that applied in his old life. If the girl was good enough for Gabrain, the quick-witted and intelligent Gabrain, then she should be good enough for him. Another thought entered his head - sex education. He quailed at the thought of having to give Gabrain the 'birds and bees' talk, but thought there was no avoiding it. It was his responsibility.

Now that he was aware of the growing relationship he began to notice Gabrain around the camp with Cáran. He wondered why he had not noticed it before, what it was about the girls that meant they had picked up on it before he had? The young girl was lively and full of fun. She was pretty rather than beautiful, brown haired, brown eyed and still developing the curves of a woman. Scott couldn't miss how well the youngsters got on together and he smiled at his young charge as he watched him begin another phase of his development.

The snows were not long in arriving, covering everything in a blinding whiteness. Scott looked out of his house at the deep drifts and decided there was an opportunity to kill a number of birds with one stone. He put on his quilted clothing, Ugg boots and snow shoes and headed for the shipyard. The yard was, not surprisingly, all but deserted but he did find one wood worker who he enlisted to help him find what he was looking for. A search of the timber stacks was rewarded by the find of a number of lengths of wood that had been part warped/shaped for ship building, but which had not achieved the desired shape. They might not be any use for building ships, but Scott thought they would be perfect as skis.

The chosen timber needed a few minor adjustments, one to make them equal in size and then some holes were bored in them to allow bindings to be put in for fastening the skis to the wearer's boots. Scott had the wood worker 'rebate' these holes so that the bindings wouldn't affect the ski's performance too badly. Before leaving to try and find Gabrain, he also tasked the wood worker with making a simple sled that could be used later.

Gabrain looked at him curiously when he found him, the skis something of an oddity to the boy. Once Scott had explained what they were for Gabrain's curiosity changed to excitement, he was eager to try this out. Scott let him change into his warmer outdoor clothing and snowshoes while he grabbed a small pack with some food and water. Together they walked through the snow towards some of the medium sized hills that were close by, identifying some suitable branches along the way that Scott cut to act as ski poles.

Scott had skied exactly once in his past existence, and not very well at that. He did have good balance but tended to find his feet going in opposite directions as soon as he gathered any pace on the skis. When they arrived at the top of one of the hills, Scott tried to explain the basics of skiing. He explained about the importance of 'edges' and how turns should be used to control speed. When Gabrain set off down the hill and swished from side to side, he was somewhat put out to realise the laddie was a natural.

When Gabrain reached the bottom of the slope Scott started his own run but found that his journey through time had done nothing to improve his own abilities. He hardly managed twenty yards before he fell over and heard his young King laughing hysterically at his misfortune.

They spent another couple of hours skiing down the hill; Scott gratified that the continued practice helped him improve considerably. Gabrain carried on as he had begun and declared himself a lover of skiing. They took a break to eat something and to take on some water. Scott took this opportunity of tackling the other objective he had had in mind when thinking up the skiing activity.

"Gabrain, this of your friendship with Cáran, how well do you like the girl?"

Gabrain paused before responding, giving Scott a measured look.

"Why do you ask Scot?"

"I would but guide you Gabrain, offer advice if I may. Relationships with women can be, how can I put this, can be difficult at times. I have come to believe that women think differently to us."

"Aye, I have noticed this on occasion." Gabrain conceded.

The boy seemed to relax, re-assured that Scott was not meaning to try and censure his involvement with Cáran in any way.

"Is she just a friend or do you feel something else for her?"

"She's fun to be with and I like it when we kiss and she plays with my staff."

Scott choked on the drink of water he was taking. He had thought it would require sensitive questioning to try and discover whether the youngsters had been exploring their sexuality. Now Gabrain had casually offered up the information, almost as if he was discussing the making of soap. It appeared as if the discovery of sex was no big deal for the boy. While in one way Scott was pleased at what seemed a well-adjusted attitude, there was a slight concern that Gabrain might be approaching sex too casually.

"Have you gone any further than kissing and touching Gabrain?" He asked as gently as he could.

"Not yet Scott, but soon I think. She has been resisting going further, feels the need to have me declare my love for her before she will take the next step I think."

"And do you feel love for her?"

"Of course not. She is fun and pleasant, but I don't feel for her what you so obviously feel for Fiona and Eilean, what you felt for Kirsty. I see this as merely another part of my education Scott, not a prelude to marriage."

"Aye, here's the rub Gabrain. Women do think differently to men, perhaps are more emotionally based. See you, Cáran might well think that you do have deep feelings for her. If you are merely using her to further your understanding of sex then you might be heading for a fall. If you have led her to believe her feelings are returned then she will feel badly let down when she finds out it's not so."

"But I am the King Scott, I am entitled to do as I please."

Scott was much taken aback by this comment, completely out of character for Gabrain he thought.

"Gabrain, we had a discussion once about the responsibilities that come with leadership, indeed you rightly reminded me of my responsibilities at Aird Driseig when I was letting my men down. These responsibilities stretch to everything we do, all aspects of how we conduct ourselves. If you treat Cáran's feelings so casually it says much about you and your character. I would counsel you to be honest with her, even if that means you do not get what it is you are looking for."

Gabrain remained silent for a few moments as he digested this.

"It seems that you feel I am abusing my station, my position, Scott?"

"My Lord King, I merely counsel against slipping into a way of thinking that could see you do that. I have every faith that you have the wits to avoid doing so, but this of women is tricky, more difficult for us men to navigate through. I try to offer my thoughts, my experience. It is clear you understand the mechanics of sex and are learning the emotions that underpin relationships, but if you need advice on specific issues, I hope you know that I would be there for you."

"Of course I know that Scott! Now, come on you laggard, let's ski!"

They ski-ed the slope a little longer and then made their way back to the camp, tired but happy, Gabrain in particular delighted with this new pastime. He couldn't stop talking about the joys of skiing and Fiona and Eilean were intrigued, intrigued enough to ask that they too be given the opportunity to try it.