The new year continues, fairly rapidly, as developments happen. This covers the time period up to the departure of the group downvalley to attend THE Wedding, plus a few days of events after they have left.

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Disclaimer:

The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended.
This story is copyright © 2013 - 2020 Julia Phillips. All rights reserved.

It uses some of the associated characters and situations that arise from the world called ‘Anmar’ created by Penny Lane, whose stories
are also copyright © 2010 - 2020 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

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“Maker! I shall be late. I must rush!”

I quickly hugged Pomma and Sookie, slipped Trumpa another nibble, spun on my heel and raced uphill from the Claw to Em’s.

Knowing it would not do to be out of breath and dishevelled before going into see my students, I had allowed myself a few moments to calm down, and to chat with Kassama, who had made the pel all ready for me to have when I walked in. I know I could have done it all without the rushing, but then I would have missed out on the hand of moments I had with Kassama.

Which was why it was so important for me to be 'on time' getting to Em's. Important to me of course, but also to dear Kassama.

Now Morden was no longer amongst us, Kassama had willingly joined in with the Salon team, as well as organising all it took to run things for the boarders that she and Em now had staying. There were of course Bettayla and Berdon as the more long-standing guests, and another two or three of the troupe, but she also had several guests almost all the time, temporary guests who arrived and needed to stay for a while until their own accommodation could be arranged.

This additional help from Kassama, and also that from the elder two of my sisters sometimes, had an extra effect upon me and the girls, being as how we could take, in rotation, a week off so that we got not so jaded. The Salon itself was running well, over half full every night, and often so full we had to run second sittings. It was hard work, but we were all getting noticeably richer than we ever had been.

… … …

I tried hard to do nothing for a whole week, honestly.

I really, really did try. But after only a pair of days I was fretting, and this was the root cause that we started the extra lessons, getting more and more people up to a standard that would help them when they got into Master Magser's clutches.

He had proved himself to be a huge success, worth every soo the Town paid him. I had heard from students that he was polite, charming, knowledgeable and fun as well as being strict but fair. And the less detailed feedback from downvalley was that Loren was doing just as well. I heard that he had now, in fact, taken on an assistant.

(A note from 'older' Julina:

Looking back over the many years, I now recognise that we were so lucky in those early days. All the students were so very keen to improve themselves – unlike today, when it seems to me that some of them are not interested so much, and find attending lessons to be a dreadful imposition that their parents have forced upon them, taking away time from their endless and aimless playing about just to waste time.

Not use time, you will understand, but waste time.

They nowadays seem to think that everything will fall into their laps and that they don't actually have to stir themselves. As soon as more than one student had developed that attitude, then the more difficult it became to teach ALL of them. Those early days were wonderful, not that we really thought so at the time!)

Life in the Town was going on much as usual in those weeks after the Lottery announcements. Some children were born, some lovers vowed to marry at the Spring Dawning festival (or as soon after it as they could), the population gradually increased as more and more workers arrived to take advantage of the burgeoning reputation of the township (it could no longer be described even remotely as a village) as a place to get a decent remuneration for a fair day's work, and with some, at first surprising to newcomers, good evidence of sophistication, with a theatre and a chorus and also a newly-founded (by Molly and I and Bettayla) writer's 'school', whose works we read every four weeks to audiences who seemed to be appreciative.

Several adult groups formed, mostly, of course, consisting of women members, the men being busy working hard during the day. Painters and drawers, quilters, writers, cooks ... all the home jobs that could be so much more fun when shared with like-minded people. I joined in, when I could, with some of these.

The Miners' Village was by now fully covered with houses, and still more houses were needed. The slope below was beginning to be built upon, particularly now that the workshops and the associated trades were all moving over to the other side of the Bray, between that waterway and the Loop Road. But these new houses had less readily available water, so the public bathrooms were barely able to cope with demand.

The Loop Road itself was being widened all the way down to the new bridge, to allow for the experiments with rails, and the wagon road surface was always busy, now that the coal traffic was increasing. The Main Road into town was also busy, since we were beginning to be able to send some of our excellent stone down to other projects in Milady's lands. I also heard that there were enquiries for its use from further afield.

The Stone Sea Road crept slowly up the hill towards its still-distant target whilst, on the opposite flank of the head of the Bray Valley, the kitchens and facilities for the Community Hall were completed, which meant that Mousa transferred her operations to there. Em's house was really far too busy and we all sighed a small sigh of relief when the pressure on the facilities was ever so slightly reduced.

The foundations for the Community Hall had all been dug, and I was fascinated by the design they had come up with for the building itself. I went several times to inspect progress, usually using our morning rides to achieve these several objectives.

One of these was a very memorable occasion.

We were a larger party than normal that day; Myself, Sookie, The Captain, Bezan, Yarling, Em, Pomma, Parrier, Molly and Gyth - usually we were just four or five. Perhaps I should avail myself of this opportunity to point out that all these were usual riding companions by then, but not necessarily all at the same time. We were all familiar with each other and a degree of companionship had grown up, each addressing the others less formally – apart, of course, from the Captain. But even that last statement wasn't actually true, we called him simply 'Captain' and had dropped the 'Your Honour' bit. There were also others with whom I rode regularly but who were not present that day.

It was decided that this was time for the first 'official' visit of the year to the Fish Farm, to see if we could detect any signs of life in the waters there. Available foodstuffs were already beginning to be stretched with our increased population, but the water situation was more important. The Pakh by now were firmly established up in the Vale, and nearly all the eating avians were found in those myriad of folds in the land up there. Some of the experimental trees and crops had failed, but others were showing great promise. The failures were being replanted to find if it was a weather effect rather than a soil effect that had caused them not to grow.

So our party left the Claw and climbed the slope by our new house heading for the place where our old one had been, which was where the Community Hall was now taking shape.

“So the new arrangement with the kitchens and bathing facilities and so on being above the new cistern is effective?”

“Aye, Captain, that it is,” replied Bezan. He looked across to me as he said: “It is a very sensible arrangement that minimises water loss. Again, we thank you Julina. The pumping up of water from below has been made a little easier by refining another of Julina's ideas, and we have now a two-layer arrangement within the chamber itself, so that the water requirements for above are held in a much smaller basin up near the chamber roof, from where it is far less distance for the water to have to be pumped, and the feed-pipes have been laid accordingly. Mistress Mousa reports many benefits.”

“I trust that all shall be in order when Milady – by then, of course, Princess Garia – arrives?”

“I am confident of that, Captain.”

“Excellent. Now quickly describe this layout on the ground here, that you have made for the building itself. I know we have discussed this often in the Assembly, but some here will not have that prior knowledge, so pretend we're one of Julina's students, and make a quick lesson of it all.”

Bezan made a gesture or two with his hands, and with his face. Yarling replied in like fashion and then nodded. I wasn't the only one surprised when it was Yarling who started the explanations.

“We are, as you are all no doubt aware, managing to increase our coal output, but that is just not satisfying a demand that seems to grow with every passing heartbeat. Already we have made great strides in efficiency of extraction, sorting and transporting. We are still building houses and roads, and that Coke Plant down at the Forest's edge, that there is great demand for hard labour. We have initiated a system which has brought approval, I suspect crucially, from many of the miners' wives and womenfolk, whereby the men work two weeks in the coal mines, one in the stone quarries and one helping in the construction jobs.

“The women are happy because they don't have constant washing to get out the pernicious coal dust, the men are happy as they seem to have enjoyment in a diversity of their working stations, and the Town is happy because things are advancing so relatively quickly with little need, now, of supervision and administration. Others are learning new trades and, for the moment, the negative ones, and there is always a core of negative ones, are keeping quiet as the coin is now beginning to flow. I suspect when the rains come, we will have them stirring up trouble.

“However, I digress. We have now a contented, for the most part, workforce; a workforce which, thanks to other activities in the Town, like the reading and writing lessons, are learning that their opinions can be worthwhile. So when we suggested one design for the Community Hall, many more heads were capable of thinking about it and were encouraged to contribute their own views. The design we have come up with has included several of these suggestions.

“Now, we all know that most women have needs other than those of men, and this is no different in the requirements for being near reliable facilities in the middle of the night to relieve certain pressures ...” we all smiled at that “... so we will connect the kitchens and bathrooms built over the new cistern, with the Princess' rooms in the main building, a covered walkway built at a sufficient height above the ground that wagons may roll freely beneath. This shall enable her servants access to the private bathing and toilet facilities to fill her bath and so on, but will also grant herself a very short journey from her bedchamber to these facilities.

“So in the new building, from the first floor above ground level, shall be a suite of rooms – a bathroom, a toilet, a private dining room, a sitting room and a bedchamber. There shall also be a separate room for her guard detail to use as their base at that level. And, of course, a set of rooms for her servants and their needs. So, for safety's sake, there shall be access to that level from only two directions – the bridged walkway from the kitchen and bathroom area and the private stairs from the ground floor of the Hall itself.

“All this shall be at the north end of the upper levels. There shall be two floors there, perchance even three!”

We were all taken aback by that. No building I had ever seen had a ground level and then three more. It would tower above any other building in all Palarand surely, apart from the towers and things needed on forts and palaces.

“And there shall be restricted means of access, that defence shall be easier. It is at the north end to take advantage of the noon-day sun which shines from that direction; the upper level, which will probably be a third level, shall have views in every direction.

“The ground floor itself shall be one open space. But the ceiling, which is of course the underside of the floor above, shall be a thing of wonder. I shall not describe that as we wish to have the townsfolk wonder at their first view of it. But this design has sort of been tested by use of some new doors that can be found elsewhere in our town. It will be possible to make a hand and more of separate rooms at the Ground Level, or have it as a simple single room completely. There will be some columns, as must be necessary, but the room itself shall be just one vast room if needed!”

We had been following Yarling's hand as he pointed out various things, and by then we had all begun to follow the new road southwards towards the junction with the wiggly-waggly feeder lane that came up from the bend in East Street. There was a chorus of conversation as we bombarded Yarling, and Bezan, with questions while we rode away and took that little feeder lane again down to the Main Road.

The lively conversations helped us to reach as far as the turn off from the Main Road towards the Fish Farm. I was given the honour of leading the party round the southern edge and into the long spit which reached into the lake. We parted the reeds, to noisy protests from the water avians around, and gasped. At least I did. The water was clear and we could see many, many Foti swimming around. We were all struck silent as we looked at the scene.

Suddenly an avian swooped from above and snatched an unwary fish from just below the surface. The flurry of activity, and the somehow beautiful brutality of it, broke our contemplations.

“Julina, my dear. I deem you have found for us a perfect place for these fish. 'Twas Swayga's idea, of course, to have a Fish Farm as she called it, but 'twas your suggestion we try here. We thank you!”

Papa's words made me blush again, which was not helped when the Captain said; “Julina – this is an incredible boon to us all. And these fish seem to breed readily here, they must like it. Kordulen, my compliments to your family. 'Twas Swayga's brother, if I recall properly, who initially sent up the fish from the Roadhouse lake, so you and your family have done the Town excellent service.”

He turned to Bezan and Yarling.

“I deem we should build a wooden pontoon here, to jut out into the lake, 'twill make fishing a little easier. Perhaps some small oar boats? Do we have anyone with boat building skills? And a good check should be made to the defences in place to prevent the rains washing all these vital foodstuffs away.”

“It shall be done! We already have some netting on the outfall, but we shall take more advice well before the rains. We have a family here now looking after this area, I will find someone to talk with them; they run also the boarding house. I deem we shall manage to gain such knowledge as will be useful.”

I was surprised with myself at how pleased I was that my suggestion had been met with such success. I was already thinking of other lakes and streams around that maybe we could employ to increase the levels. I could see that the girls were as well.

Papa broke my thoughts when he chuckled and drily said: “Settle down, girls. This place is ideal in yet another way, as the rains will not overwhelm it; you can see from the surroundings that it is well-established over many years. Other places might not be so fortunate. The rains will probably make other places overflow their normal banks and boundaries, and then the precious fish shall be washed downstream.”

I grinned ruefully as I realised the success had carried me away into less practical realms, in just the same way the success of the one-direction roads using East Street had made the planners try things that proved not to be quite so successful.

“A day without lessons is a wasted day, I deem,” said Em, accompanied by grunts and agreement from Pomma and Parry in particular.

And so it was that we departed the Lake, and made our way that little bit further from the Town, that we might pay a quick courtesy call, of course, to Junker (and Palma, his wife), who was head of the family who were now looking after the region around the Fish Lake and also down here. The entire family were all busy cleaning out the Bunkhouse, so that was where we met them. The wagons had all departed by then of course and it was highly unlikely that there would be any more until mid- to late-afternoon; the time when wagons would not have enough time to reach the Forest Roadhouse before dark. Mind you, it was noticeable that the evenings were both longer and later nowadays as we fast approached the time of year when day and night were equally long.

From the Bunkhouse, we set our noses towards the Town, time starting to be a factor for us to consider – well, for me to consider, to be perfectly accurate; a lesson awaited me that morning.

We were still a little distance south of the Bridge over the river down from the Vale, when my ears picked up a strange dull thump. I was looking around wondering what it could be and not really reacting to it, unlike Yarling who cursed not quite under his breath and urged his beast forward as quickly as he could.

Bezan and the Captain were not that far behind him. We looked on in amazement as the trio sped away from us with neither a farewell nor a glance. I could feel Trumpa wanting to run with them, but I held her back.

I looked up at the Town, and was looking directly at the main shaft when I saw a large group of people boil out of the entrance. There was a great deal of confusion it seemed, looking at it from such a distance. I heard then some bugles and some bell-ringing. People were also swelling out of the Miners' Village and also the Campsite. They were all rushing towards the third shaft, out of which appeared to be some sort of strange cloud drifting. Men and women, and children too, all dropped what they were doing and surged towards the path up to the 'Yarling' shaft as it was called by us all.

… … …

"The Maker made the world, and the Sun, the moons and the stars above. The Maker made the plants and creatures within the world including ourselves. We do not know the Maker's purpose, and we do not know if the Maker has ever visited the world since it was made. All we know is that the world is the Maker's creation, not ours, and we have a responsibility to live in the world in such a way that it is kept as the Maker may have originally intended.

"To that end we offer to return the bodies of our departed brothers Donmac, Lennock and Fispian, who have no further use for them, so that the substance of which they are made can be used by the world again. We offer these bodies as a token of our responsibility and as the last act which our brothers will make in the world. As these bodies turn to ashes we will remember the men they were and give thanks for their presence in the world."

A gesture from the priest ushered poor Hobil forward, pushed in his chair on wheels by Yarling himself, and a lit brand was placed in his hand. He thrust the brand into the sweetly scented log pile below the three shrouded lumps we were told were the bodies.

Yarling, Graber and the Captain were the three important dignitaries to make pronouncements, to thank the men for paying the ultimate price and to praise those others in the mining community. More than two hands of others also made their statements about the dead men, and several women did too.

We in the Town, the original residents if you like, came to learn in the hardest way exactly how a mining community copes with losses. We were impressed by the unity shown, the care and concern for the families affected by these horrible happenings.

When the explanations of how the disaster came about first circulated, few of us non-miners could understand the technical terms they all used, but it was not long before the full explanation that we could all grasp became common knowledge.

The three miners had been chipping away at the coal face as usual when they ran out of coal to chip at. I do not know why, but I imagined somehow that they were following a seam, and it was only afterwards that I realised they had chipped across the line of the seam. It never occurred to me to ask how they could know in which direction the seam went when they started the shaft.

Anyway, they reached a wall of the sort of stone that Yarling had been expecting and they briefly wondered if they should follow the coal seam, much easier mining, off to the West, but remembered that their job was in fact to burrow into just such as the rock they had exposed and search for underground water sources. By reaching this other rock sort, they gained their first intimation of the tilt and the direction of the coal seam they had so far seen and followed.

They retired from the face to return to get some slightly different tools, and to arrange for the spoil to be collected outside, instead of coal. By and by, the three men advanced back to their work area. They worked hard and started clearing the rock out. Hobil had pushed the wagon back to empty it, and was just going back into the advanced area when he heard a curse from ahead, a wind suddenly rushed up and swirled much coal dust into the air. He heard some coughing from up ahead and then he was sure that he heard a metal tool drop and hit another. He heard the faint whoosh of the start of a coal dust explosion and believed his days were over, but suddenly a fierce wind blew him off his feet, striking his head on the wooden rails and smothering him with the heavy wagon; a wagon that was tossed over him like a child's plaything, breaking several of his bones as it did so.

Others, acting as would-be rescuers, reported that they advanced slowly, unaware of how much damage the explosion might have done to the tunnel itself and the props holding up the roof and steadying the rails. They found Hobil, and some of them got the wagon off him and escorted him away to get some help from a Healer.

Creeping onward, the rescuers eventually found that a vast hole had been blown in the rock face where they had been working. The explosion had also broken through the footings of the shaft, leaving a very dangerous and exposed gaping hole underfoot. They had broken through into a vast underground chamber with a high vaulted roof above a huge underground lake, but they had no idea as to how the lake was fed, nor what would happen to it in the rains.

The explosion had blasted a hole into this domed roof, just where the roof joined the side wall, the force then dissipating in that direction, rather than too much of it hitting Hobil. Which undoubtedly saved his life.

But the three facemen were nowhere to be seen.

Due to the damage in the underfoot regions, it was a while before anyone else dare put weight on that uncertain edge, thus two full days went by before it was possible to search for the missing men. Most of the three bodies were found, but the explosion had been such that the bodies were not entire and one of the arms has never been found.

Yarling was particularly heavily hit, blaming himself for causing the deaths and it took some straight talking from Master Graber to break him out of his funk.

Meanwhile, Hobil was himself taking the blame, for it is normally, apparently, the lead wagonman who also had the job of damping down the coal dust when he was up there.

And Fispian's wife was blaming herself, because she had had harsh words with her man that morning, and thus distracted him from working safely, his mind being on other things.

And so it went on. The other two wives also feeling that something THEY had done was the cause. It seemed to me that some people wanted to take the blame on their own shoulders.

Much later, Bezan explained some of the things to me, as follows: “'Lina, they were a team and they all made a mistake or two. 'Tis my belief that they all returned to the face some while after they had departed, so the dampening of the coal dust was wearing off. Then they broke through into the chamber, just a little hole, but that would have been sufficient to generate a sharp gust of wind, a wind powerful enough to swirl the coal dust together in the atmosphere.

“Then one dropped a tool, which is almost unforgiveable, lest it spark against something, which it did. All these things combined at the wrong moment and a disaster struck out of the hitherto clear air, with no warning and no defence.

“Yarling is torn because he has been proved right, and has in fact saved the Town by discovering an underground lake, but he feels the cost was too high. Which it was, in one way. Just one life would have been too much.

“And yet, he knows, and we all know, that where there are mines and miners, there are sooner or later disasters. Maybe this has reminded everyone else to be more careful, and it is most probable that several lives have already been saved. Miners are aware of the dangers of their profession and yet they choose to do it, so I deem Yarling is being too harsh on himself.”

... ... …

It is impossible for me to describe every little thing that happened then, in those few weeks and months that saw the lengthening of the days as the year 1175 since the Great Flood got into its stride, and I have already apologised for some tardiness in even making reports of the beginnings of this new year, so I don't feel too guilty about skipping over the trivial and concentrating on the more major events.

Nor do I feel too guilty about being the one to select which events are to be considered trivial and which major.

My notes tell me that the Mining Disaster occurred on the 10th Day of Hirf, which is of course the 3rd Month. I can easily therefore calculate that the pyres were on the 14th Day.

So it was perchance a more sober departure of the 'Wedding Party' on the 16th than had been anticipated. But that did not stop the whole Town, or so it seemed to me, to gather at the Claw as they all loaded their baggages and climbed aboard the various means of transport.

The Captain had his strange conveyance and would share that with Mistress Megrozen and Mistress Yanda, for the first part of the journey. Epp later told me that it was so he could discuss their businesses with them. A wagon had been hired for the baggage, and another for the other passengers, at least the ones that were not going to be riding, that is.

You will recall that the group consisted of:

• Captain Bleskin
• Master Brydas
• Mistress Sukhana
• Master Yarling
• Mistress Megrozen
• Mistress Michet
• Mistress Terpet
• Mistress Yanda
• Signaller Ladis, and
• Goodman Holgate.

They were to pick up two others from the Brayview Roadhouse when they got there (Epp later told me they were a man and a woman, not related, called Goodman Linan and Mistress Brogla).

The women all looked proud and fetching in their newest travel gowns, although in two or three, I detected anxiety and a little fear – probably because of the unknown things that lay ahead of them.

The wagons were loaded, the frayen attached to the rears of the wagons (there were six personal frayen, one for each of the persons not selected by barrel, and two goods frayen), and farewells were hugged and called as the people took their places.

We all cheered as the small caravan pulled out and made its way down to the bridge. We had all asked for our best wishes to be conveyed to Milady and to the other Blackstoners involved, although I doubted many of these wishes would get through individually. We knew that they would be overnighting this night in Bezlet, arrangements had been made accordingly.

Em told me later that their second night, after picking up the two from Brayview, was in a roadhouse south of Tranidor, and their third just north of Haligo. For the fourth night they stayed to the east of the river and managed to get to just beyond Teldor, which meant that the Captain then relaxed their pace. They had a short day of travelling then, crossing the river into Dekarran and taking a while to settle into their accommodation, and having a brief look around the Town. They had a more detailed look around Town on the following day, before crossing the Sirrel, which had amazed all those who had not seen it before, and they overnighted at South Slip for their sixth night, leaving most of a full day's travel to reach the capital. Captain Bleskin rode that final stretch, leaving Signaller Ladis in charge of his special wagon. The Captain and Em spent a little time inspecting the battleground when they got there, and then they hastened after the others, rejoining them not too far from Palarand City.

But to return to the tale of their departure from Blackstone, I have no idea as to why, but we all remained there looking after the travellers for the longest time, before shaking ourselves and getting back to our tasks. Somehow, there was an indefinable feeling that something significant had just occurred and that things would be forever changed after this.

... ... …

“Mistress Julina? Could you do me a great favour? I understand this is your 'resting' week and I have need of someone to both scribe some things and also to be a witness to the discussions. I am asking you for a number of reasons, but principally because I know you have done some Assembly business before.”

“Of course, Master Jepp! If I can help in any way, I should be glad to do so. When and where?”

“If you would be so kind to appear at the Steward's House, ready for a start at the first Bell after noon – that will be the 6th Bell at this time of the year. I have had a number of applications from people claiming that the Steward has granted them rights in some matter or other. I find it difficult to concentrate on their claims whilst also scribing the details. I would also later appreciate your opinion of some of these claims. I am sure that, in several of the cases, the applicants are just trying to gain an advantage whilst the Steward is away from us. I am asking you because also they shall not suspect you are anything other than a simple scribe. I have no intention whatsoever of granting anyone any rights unless it is a clear and obvious case, so this shall be an exercise in finding who wishes to use this time to their own advantage. I can then turn that information over to His Honour upon his return.”

My interest was picqued, and I could not stop my brain trying to work out who might be trying to gain an unfair advantage by claiming things that could not so easily be checked. I was also aware that I must not react in any way to anything I might hear said, until the room was again clear. Even a disbelieving snort might upset the tone of the meeting.

And so it was that I reported for duty some hand of moments before the appointed Bell. Master Jepp and I had a brief discussion of what was expected during which I learnt that his basic tactic was going to be to delay and confuse and so on; for two major reasons – the first to see the determination of the applicant and secondly to find out if there were any conflicting claims and so on. I had the impression that he wanted to just keep the matters open until His Honour returned, but I may be being unfair there. He asked me to pretend to be a little stupid and to ask for repetitions just to add to the pressure on the applicant.

And then the first petitioner was called in. Each was treated in this first meeting privately, the others having to wait outside in another room until they were called in in their turn.

“We are here today to establish the facts and NOT to make a decision. Is that clear? You have appeared here in order to make a claim, and it is my job to first establish if that claim is both valid and acceptable within the purview of the Town Development. Once we have found out all that, and all the associated little facts and figures, then there may be a second hearing to find out all the small, but necessary details. Mistress Julina here will be making notes, and may ask for some clarifications just to be sure that the record we make of this meeting is complete and accurate. So, to start with, please state your name ...”

This introductory speech was made to each of the men who appeared that afternoon. And before you ask, no, there were no women who came forward.

I had been vaguely uneasy about Master Jepp's approach but as the afternoon wore on, I discovered that he was very cleverly correct.

We had two hands and one of petitioners. Each and every one swore on the lives of their grandmothers or daughters, or whoever they chose to use to illustrate their point, that the Captain had promised them this, that and the next thing. None of them produced any documentation to back up their claims and several of the claims were confused by the fact that they said they had been promised exclusive use of this parcel of land, or that particular machine, or whatever the claim was, and yet four of them all claimed the same parcel of land (the almost triangular plot made by the Dam Road and East Street, bounded on the south by the 'service' lane, and with the northermost corner butting against the campsite), two of them wanted the same machine/tool, and there were several other conflicts too. I ended the afternoon admiring the adroit way with which Master Jepp handled all the claims without disappointing any of the claimants.

With his questioning, and with my (mostly unrequired) demands for some repetitions, I managed to make a concise report of each claim and at the end of each of the private sessions, Master Jepp asked the claimant the same question: “And now Mistress Julina shall read her report aloud to you, and you shall sign it or make your mark to show your agreement with what shall become the official record. Understandable?”

All agreed to this, and I was proud that not one requested any changes.

Thusly, the entire afternoon disappeared in quite the rush.

There were several common threads that linked all the claims together in my mind, the most noteworthy being that all had to be completed by or for the Festival of Spring Dawning, only a week or so away – in other words the claimants all wanted this sorted out before His Honour had time to return.

As mentioned, there were other common threads too. The nervousness, sometimes masked by a falsely confident front.

The shiftiness.

And, I suppose, the desperation.

I was hard pressed not to laugh at these obvious attempts to try to gain advantages, and as I said before, I came to admire the way Master Jepp handled it. I did have a few fleeting thoughts about the trouble these 'try-it-ons' would be in when His Honour returned.

… … …

In the weeks and months that this report covers, Town life continued as much as it had for generations, but with such an expanded population, usual events happened with more frequency.

Children were born; some of them survived.

Most of the mothers survived the childbirth.

Some men died in fist fights that got far rougher than ever intended.

Animals were born, crops were planted, roads and houses were built, trade expanded, more Masters of their trades arrived, more small businesses were started, and plans were made for various and many improvements. By the time of the Festival of Spring Dawning, we had no fewer than a hand of Bakeries, as opposed to just the one of the previous summer.

There were no marriages in that time. Because of the tradition that marriages await until after the Festival of Spring Dawning. Poor Master Mesulkin, who loved marriages and, you shall remember, was appointed the ... the ... the ... oh yes, the Registrar, that's right ... the Registrar of Marriages, was nearly overwhelmed by the numbers who had registered to be married. By law, marriages could only be solemnised in the presence of the local Lord (or Lady), or his/her immediate representative. So no marriages could be done until at least the Captain returned. He was scheduled to do so some two or so weeks before Milady, by then the Princess, would arrive. And so, all Mesulkin could do right now was to do all the preparations he could, to minimise any delays on the actual day.

But 'twas marvellous to see his smile return and the obvious joy he would take in uniting these couples.

In fact 'twas almost possible to see the old Steward back again, the man who had commanded all our respect before the rapidly-fading-from-thought dreadful months of the Trogan period.

... ... …

All events that contribute to the successful expansion of our town are, almost by definition, significant, but sometimes they are so small that they are scarce noticed.

One such event was a silly thing really. Some windows in what I must now call the Old Town were being replaced. The new replacements could not, obviously, be fitted instantaneously, so the old windows had to be first removed, the edges of the gaps into which the new windows were to be fitted had to be made good and only then could the new what-were-their-names ... panes, yes, panes, be fitted.

Someone, who shall forever remain unknown, decided to use the passageway to that side of the house for a shortcut home. The noise was heard but the actual events were unobserved. One of the waiting panes was somehow smashed.

I am convinced that the sudden knowledge of how easily panes might be broken was discovered in this event. It was not long before we had some mischief makers going round deliberately breaking people's windows! Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the old days, and many people were shocked that anyone could even contemplate doing such an unneighbourly deed.

We had been busy that night in the Salon, and Molly decided to take her shoes off to allow some respite to her swollen feet. She therefore walked barefooted home.

She taught everyone in Town that it is not a good idea to go barefoot over broken glass. The poor girl screamed the place down and she was eventually carried to her bed, where she remained for a considerable time, until the soles of her feet healed. The Healers were shocked at how awkward it was to find all the shards of glass that had been pushed into her feet, and sometimes they just had to push again on the foot and ask Molly if she felt more puncturing taking place.

She never came back to work at the Salon again, and thus our team was changed almost before we had really got started.

Yes, we had fun with the new members too, but that original team were, to my mind, the best the Salon ever had. It just wasn't the same somehow afterwards. Nowadays of course, there is not a single member of we originals remaining there, all have gone on to other things, but I still take pride that I set up the Restaurant with the best reputation in all North Palarand. It is still good, the dishes offered have changed, of course, but I know that is a good thing. And a special nowadays (available with two days' notice) is billed as “Julina's Gavakhan”. The various versions of Foti are delightful, and I admire some of the ways the team have come up with to provide some variety.

But it's still not the same. I find myself strangely emotional as I pen this.

... ... …

But back to events in Milady's lands in those weeks before she was due to visit.

I made mention beforehand of some innovations that had been included in the design of the Community Hall.

One was that Berdon and Bettayla were quite heavily involved.

When speaking at some time with Molly, the three of them came up with a novel idea that changed the face of all Palarand! Maybe even all Alaesia, for all I know.

To enable as many people as possible to see their antics, B and B had developed a sloping dais, a platform that they called a 'stage'. This was raised at the back and sloped down toward the watchers. It was only after I had seen a few of their performances that I understood the significance of the terms 'upstage' and 'downstage'. What went on at the top of the ramped stage was further away from the lookers-on and yet visible to more of them. B and B explained that the ramped stage made it difficult to employ natural body movements in some instances, and they felt that thus were restricted their abilities to convey what they called a 'proper' message.

So they somehow came up with the idea of having a flat stage and a ramped area for the AUDIENCE, all of whom could then see the entire stage at all times. Uncle's trusses were now so tested and so strong, that they were being used for many things, not just bridge supports! And so, the design of the Community Hall was such that one end entirely could be made into a watching ramp that could accommodate a hundred or even more watchers!

Someone else then applied that idea to the western edge of the Parade Ground, so that more people could watch events held there, like matches of Shevesty or Globestaff, or warm evening shows and so on and so forth. I understand that this idea spread rapidly throughout the land and then up the Great Valley. I know that payments for this idea were made to Molly and B and B.

Another thing from that area and time was an improvement to the Shuttle Shed, the one referred to by Yarling earlier. Amongst all the trials and tests of wheeled and railed movements, someone set up a test bench, at waist height, to save continual bending and the like.

Several of us were there in Uncle's tangle of sheds one morning, after our ride, having gone there to be shown something else entirely. Sethan came across to ask Uncle something. We saw the rail test bench on our way to Sethan's demonstration, and we all played with it. Something led to something else and onto a third thing.

No-one is ever certain who made the final mental leap, but the Shuttle Shed was chosen as a perfect real-life test for a door that HUNG down from a rail, and that had wheels atop it that ran on that rail. Thus heavy doors could be easily opened and closed. This was Yarling's surprise to us, that our tinkering on that long ago morning up at Uncle's had led to the change to the Shuttle Shed.

And to a part of the design of the Community Hall.

Using the same principle, rails were to be made almost at ceiling level, and then huge hung doors could be wheeled along the precisely positioned rails, to create walls! Making the one vast room capable of being divided up into smaller, temporary rooms.

The Exclusivity Licence for this is in eight names: Em, Uncle, Sookie, Sethan and we four girls. And nowadays, we even get some coin for similar arrangements that are used in factories and the like.

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