Chapter 4B

Des

After I milked the goats, I spent the day getting organized. There were some things I had no idea that my aunty had put in or maybe it was my father. When I was finished going through everything and stacking it along the wall along side of where I wanted to put my fireplace.

I had not been long and went next to organize the cold room. The shelves Del made were perfect and would hold quite a bit. The flour sacks would sit on the bottom self with the salt. There were boxes for keeping vegetables and fruit in. I took inventory of what I had and most would last well into the winter but I could already see I was going to need to go and harvest some wild vegetables and other greens from the forest. I could do that tomorrow when Del is back.

My next project was the ladder for the hole of cold room. This was not as easy as it looked, for one thing finding two good-sized branches; then using some of the smaller nails to set the rungs then reinforcing that with sinews. I had thought of using rope but I didn't have that much to use for rope ties. I was happy that I now could get to the cold hole. Which is were I needed to put the milk and the cider. The chickens had not yet produced eggs but I would give them a few days to adjust to their new homes and with plenty of food they should do well.

It was early evening when I felt Del's feeling of relief and guessed that he had gotten rid of the wagon. I grew a little more excited myself at the idea of his return. I was please with what I had done that day so decided to make a good meal and just wait for Del. Just over two candle marks later I saw him in the sky so went out into the field and lay down to just watch him for a few moments.

He came to a soft landing right over the top of me, settling himself so that his head rested on my chest so he could kiss my chin, if he wanted to and he did. He stayed that way for a few moments before talking but before he did he then move up just a little letting his head move to the side of my head. "You have no idea how wonderful you look and how much I missed you."

"Yes, I do, but you weren't that sad. Now we both know we can go for at lease half a day without falling apart. I assume everything is fine at my parents?"

"It is. They were sad you didn't come but I told them you were still very busy. Your father gave me another tarp. So that is good." He took it out of the collar and tossed it aside.

"Yes."

"Dan and Bess send there love and told me to give you kisses for them, would you like them now or can I add them to the ones I want to give you latter?"

"Ummm, how about one kiss from them each now and the rest later." He was only too happy to comply. With the first kisses now handed out, I thought to just look at him.

"Oh, I have a message for you from your mother. It would seem that you were right that she pounced on Pat to tell her everything that went on here. Well she came to me before I left and I had to go into more detail about it. But it would seem that he forgot to tell her about our encounter with him on the road. She said to tell you that she intends to tell Emmy that Pat some times still wakes with his thumb in his mouth."

I started laughing. "She's going to love doing that."

"Why would that be so funny?" he was still a little confused.

"It's something only young children do, and looks very funny when a grownup does it." I put my thumb in my mouth and made sucking sounds. Del started laughing so much that I almost had to have him get up. I wrapped my arms around Del's neck. "Del, I hate to do this but you have to get up. I need to check my dinner. Once I eat I want to go to bed."

"Well I guess you have to eat. Is there a good-sized stake of that elk left? After all that running I'm a little hungry too."

He moved reluctantly and helped me up. I gave my stew a quick stir then went to the hole and pulled out two of the five stakes I had placed there and gave them to Del. "Will that hold you or would you like another?"

The meat was gone when he spoke. "I think that should hold me until tomorrow when I go hunting for bear. That by the way, that is what the mason man wants in trade for the fireplace work."

"Really just a bear? I would have thought it would have been more."

"It is more. I'll need to find and catch three in total. The first to be delivered before the man will leave to come do the job, the second while he is here doing it and the third after he returns home. The meat from the three will be shared with all the villagers and some outside the village as well. Otherwise I would not have agreed."

"Good thinking, I'm assuming you get to eat the heads."

"Of course, and the blood. That way when I give it to them they can skin it quickly with little mess."

I sat and ate and talked about how happy I was and Del told me that he wasn't sure when he first left because he had felt a lot of uneasiness in me. I couldn't argue and told him I was but that it got better as time went on. I told him all I had done and when I got to the ladder, he ran inside to have a look at it. I was just about finished eating when he came out. He told me he like how I had arranged things and that he would try to get to the sleeping alcove tomorrow. I told him that it could wait because the bear was more important but if he could spare a few candle marks in the morning I wanted to go gathering and since I was yet unfamiliar with the area I thought it best to have him come along. I got up stretched and put away everything that could not be kept out including the animals.

When that was done, I went into our room and waited for Del. When the wait became longer, I went back out to look for him. I found him looking up at the sky. "Darling what keeps you?"

"I just wanted a chance to look at the stars. It's going to be a cold night. Do you think the chickens will be alright?"

"Let me put some more grass into the house and put the new tarp over it. That should keep them good enough."

We took care of that very quickly, using rocks to hold down the tarp. "There, now can we go to bed?"

"Lead the way, darling."

As we entered the alcove, I started taking off my clothing knowing that it would make Del happy. I moved to my nest and laid down waiting for Del. This time he didn't just curl around me; he crawled into the bed with me resuming his previous position. "Del you silly."

"I do believe I have some deliveries to make. Would you like them now?"

"Yes please but make yours the last."

He gave me four kisses, two per cheek. Then he turned to look at me. "Those were from Dan, Bess, Rose and Cal. Now this is from me." We kissed for some time, Del stopping from time to time, to let me catch my breath. Then he moved and started kissing my stomach making me laugh. I hated to tell him to stop but I was so tired. He finally stopped curled around me and the two of use fell asleep.

Delinsilversworth

I was very please the next morning when I woke. The sun had not yet come up and I had the chance to just watch my Des. Being able to see in the dark is really handy sometimes. She was beautiful and I couldn't get enough of looking at her. I watched her until the sun started to come up and the outer cave lightened. I nuzzled her to start her waking knowing that she had things that needed doing and was greeted by kisses. I found my blood moving just as good as if I had been flying and wished for more. "Good morning darling. The sun is up and the animals are hungry. Don't you want to get up?"

"Not with you so close to me and kissing me awake. Why would I want that to stop?" She reached out to me to pull me the little way back to her to start kissing again. This time it was me that had to stop it. I moved up just a little, kissed her nose. "There is too much to be done. I have a bear to catch and you have rocks to sort. We need to double what you have already. Once the bear is caught I think I will be making a guest room, that way there will be more room."

"Oh, well, if I must control myself I might as well be up and moving." She started laughing and of course, I joined her. We got up; Des dressed and took care of personal needs. I laid her fire ready in the inside fire pit because it was cold outside. The pot of water already over it when Des came back, she gave me a look of thanks and went to take the animals out. When she came back in her water was steaming. She stared making up something new so I watched and asked, "What is it you're making this morning. It is not what you normally make."

"Well now that I have oatmeal I can make a different breakfast. My people don't usually have stews for breakfast but that was all I had until the other day. When the chickens start laying eggs I'll be able to have even more differences."

"What will you do today while I'm gone?"

"Washing. I got so busy with other things yesterday that I completely forgot. It will be cool but I think the wind will dry them nicely by evening. Then there is separating rocks for the fireplace." She looked at me and sighed. "You should get going. The sooner you get that bear, the sooner you can come home."

"I guess you're right. I'll come back near noon, if you want?"

"That's alright. Let me get you one of the steaks so you have a little energy to start on." Des got up from the fire and went to the cold room. In moments, she was back. The stake was good and cold. I was please that it was working well. "Now get going before I drag you back into our room to start kissing again." We were both laughing when we walked out into the early morning and I jumped into the air.

I knew it would take me several hours to find what I was looking for and resigned myself to the job.

Des

I watched Del fly off and sighed wishing I had asked to fly that morning before he left, but he needed his strength and I had plenty of work to do. I found one of the large kettles and started by setting some water to boil, I hated washing clothes in cold water. Then I got the two buckets and all of my dirty clothing. But while waiting for the water to boil, I took one of the buckets and milked the goats and added that to the big jug that I had the milk in, in the cold room. By the time I was done it was mid morning. I took one of the ropes over to a set of trees and tied it between the two and was hanging my laundry to dry when I heard a very distinct sound. It was the greeting call of a Wyrm and for reasons, I didn't know why, I threw back my head and yelled or bugled back. When I was finished, I stood stunned. 'How had I known how to do that?' I thought to myself. I was so deep in thought that I almost missed the fact that mother Cyndar came to land in the field just beyond the cave.

"My dear that greeting was very good, you must have been working hard to get it right?" she said as she walked closer to the cave.

"Ummm, no mother Cyndar I haven't. It just came out." that was when I noticed the goats and sheep were racing with fear about to break out of the corral. "Mother can you cast a calm on the animals, they're not used to you."

She looked over at them then closed her eyes for a moment. By the time she opened them again the animals were calm and going back to their interrupted grassing.

"Thank you. If they had gotten out, I don't know what I would have done."

"The fault is mine. I should have come in with the spell in place. I will remember next time. Where is Delin and why is he not with you?" She asked as she looked around.

"He's off hunting barter for my fireplace. The man who will build it wants three bear pelts as trade. The meat from them will be shared through out my family's village."

"It is good that the meat will be share but if I may ask what is a fireplace?"

"It is an indoor fire pit like this one except surrounded by rock and the smoke goes up to the roof of a house. It is used for heating as will as cooking. With it, I will be able to make other things than just stews. I also want it to be inside the cave so that I won't have to come out other than to tend the animals in bad weather."

"What a novel idea. Speaking of ideas, I brought you something." she sat down near to the fire pit and stretched out her claw. In it was quite an assortment of colorful skins. "That's why I came, to see if this will do for a start. I realized that I really didn't have a way to carry most of the stuff but I at least could handle this much, I do hope you can use it."

I got up and took the armload of skins. "This should be more than enough, thank you." As I held the different pieces out, I found there to be seven of them and they did range in color from a strange yellow to an almost black and I was glad to see all of them were larger than me. "Let me get my sewing things and see if I'm able to work this. The easiest to make right now would be a vest." As I got up to go get the stuff, I had a though. "Mother Cyndar would you like to see the inside of the cave. I also have a good sized elk stake in the cold room if you're hungry after you trip?"

"I would like to see the inside but I am not hungry. Tono and Tanni have told Ralyss and I about this cold room and your sleeping alcove. I do hope you and Delin are still not planning to try joining."

"There is no fear of that. But come and have a good look."

As we walked in, the space inside grew small when Cyndar squeezed in. I pointed to the animal alcoves and to our sleeping room then to the tunnel that had both the mushrooms and the cold room. To my surprise, she moved to the tunnel and stuck her head in all the way to her shoulders. There was no doubt in my mind that she could see quite well in there. When she pulled her head back she said, "And Delin made that for you. It looks like it would keep meat and other things nice and cold. The mushrooms look healthy too."

"Thank you. I'm very pleased with all of it and I love feeling Del's pride in his accomplishment."

"How strong are these getting? Is there anything new? Ralyss is looking in the library to see what has developed in our culture."

"So far distance is no hindrance for our sharing feelings. There is something that we can do. We can call each other with our minds but it does seem that distance is a factor."

"How far have you been able to talk to Delin?"

"I think it comes to," I looked passed Cyndar and out the opening of the cave to the field. "To the other side of this field."

Cyndar turned her head. "That far. That's further than some who have this ability. Now where is this sleeping room of yours?"

I pointed. "Tono was nice enough to finish it for us, while Del finished the other. Del still has to do the shelves I would like. It's not a rush though."

Cyndar took a look into the room. "I see you do sleep together."

"We do. We may not be able to join but I think we share some form of intimacy and sleeping together helps. Besides Del's nice and warm, he's better than a fire any night."

Cyndar gave a bark of laughter. I pointed out the wall that I want to have my fireplace to be at. She asked several questions about it. When she had asked all she needed we went back outside with me getting my cutting and sewing things as well as the last of my washing that needed to be hung. Cyndar watched everything I did and asked questions as to why I did them. It really was fun. After I hung my clothing, I took a look at the pieces of skin to see which I liked best. The one I picked turned out to be the smallest of the pieces and it was a light amethyst. Before I laid it out, I checked to see if I could cut and pin it. At first, I couldn't get the pins or the scissors to work. Then I tried working the pins very slowly and to my surprise, they went in. the scissors would not cut so I tried the wool shears and they worked as long as I weakened the material first by pushing the pins though the material along the chalk line.

It was just past mid afternoon when I finished the vest and tried it on. The vest didn't go with what I had on but it fit well with room to spare.

"Well, what do you think, mother Cyndar?" I stood before her turning so that she could see me from all angles.

"You look good wearing Vallamethyst's shed skin. Will you be able to make anything else out of the remaining piece?"

"There's enough there I should be able to make a tunic or a pair of pants, though I think a tunic would be best, the material is a little shire."

"So the darker skins will be for pants like you wear?"

"Yes."

I took my blade and decided to conduct a test. "Mother Cyndar, would you hold this piece for me. I have an idea I would like to test?"

"I would be happy and fascinated to help."

I handed her the piece and had her hold it between her clawed hands. I took the blade and told Cyndar what I was going to do, then swung it down at the material and the blade turned. Which was what I had expected to happen. "Well that tells me a lot."

"What does it tell you?" curiosity eating at her.

"Legends of my people tell that your people are impervious to blades and arrows. I was thinking that the skin should still have that ability. But with good sharp shears and pins, I can cut and pin it, if I go slow while working the material. The only question is if that part holds true for you and your people. Though it would be a weakness for you, I doubt you would hold still long enough to let someone try."

"Which is something that no one will ever get the chance to find out, not even you my newest daughter." We both chuckled.

"Which I am happy not knowing, at some point, some nasty individual is going to think I know more of your secrets than I do. The only one I know about really is that you are immune to fire and that fire can help you if you're sick. Truly I don't want to know your people's secrets. Del and I will be learning so much about each other and what we can do together that the secrets of a race mean little."

"For someone so young, you possess a great deal of wisdom. It will be interesting to see what the two of you are capable of doing."

"Mother Cyndar, what will happen when your people's council find out about Del and me?"

"Ralyss and I have talked about that. There will be discussions for years about the two of you. You will be visited from time to time to see how you are faring. Many of my people will not like what you and Delin represent. But I think the worst that will happen, will be that more move to the outer islands. Humans are starting to breed more and they are spreading ever closer to the lands that we inhabit. The islands will not hold all of my people so that leaves only one thing, we have to change and learn to live with your people. So your thought of being a bridge between our two people's may just be."

"Do you think it would be best if you and father Ralyss were to bring it to them instead of waiting for someone to find out by accident?"

"It might be for the best if we do. I will ask Ralyss when I return home. For now, I have the rest of the day to spend with you. But its past mid afternoon should you not make food for yourself to eat? I also find that I am thirsty and need to drink."

"I lose track of time when I'm talking, the water at the back of the cave is really good. Unless you would like the goats milk I have?"

"The water will be good, you start what ever it is you want to eat and I'm for that water."

Cyndar got up and walked into the cave. I followed but stopped at the smoking cave and got out some smoked meat and realized I wanted some thing fresh. I started looking around for Rolly and realized that he must be hiding. Hoping that he was in the grass alcove I called to him. He was there and not too willing to come out but after asking Cyndar to calm him, he came running out willingly.

I sent him for a rabbit and when he came back with a nice sized one and Cyndar saw it, she asked if Rolly would get her one or two. He was happy to hunt and even tried to go for a fourth when I told him to stop. Both of her's were gone in one swallow and mine had to wait to cook. In the end it was very good and I had another rabbit skin. That was also when I had a rush of excitement that almost knocked me off my feet. Cyndar noticed and put her claw out to steady me. "Des what is it? Are you well?"

"Yes, I think so. I think Del just made a kill. I'm still tingling with excitement. He must have found the perfect bear." I replied still stunned.

"You felt that much? Can you tell in which direction it is coming from?"

I closed my eyes and let myself turn in the direction of the feeling. When I opened my eyes, I was facing the opening of the cave. "I would say some where in that direction. I've not felt that when he hunted deer or elk, I wander why now?"

"Maybe he had despaired in finding what he was after and the excitement and the kill together made for a stronger feeling." Cyndar supplied.

"Have you and Ralyss ever had this connection?" I asked curiously.

"Not to the extent that you and Del have shown. Sometimes I can feel him when he finds something he's looking desperately for. Or feel his love in our children and me. We've never been able to call to one another mind to mind. It is only gifted to those that are bonded very strongly indeed."