Word Usage Key is at the end. The brackets after a character eg CLAIRE (4nc) indicates Claire is a character who is 4 years old. nc indicates new character not encountered before.
29th of Towin Day 2
Raquelʼs interview over, Celandine said to her, “Let’s go to the crèche and then the Greathall. There will be lots of small incomer children at the crèche and possibly hundreds of somewhat older ones, mostly folkbirtht, probably dancing, in the Greathall.”
As they walked across the courtyard Raquel saw a young man shoeing a horse outside the huntsman’s stables. She had never seen that done, and indicated to Celandine if they had a few minutes spare she would like to watch. Celandine who had a great deal of sympathy for Raquel, who was so willing to please, yet so afflicted in her spaech,(1) said, “Of course.”
When they approached the farrier, Raquel could see he was a powerful looking, tall man of her own age, maybe a little more, wearing a sleeveless shirt and a leather bib-topped smith’s apron. He was also very attractive to her. He said, “Goodday, Mistresses Celandine and…?”
Raquel managed to stammer out, “Ra—Ra—Raquel.”
“Mistress Raquel. Can I help you?” the farrier completed.
Celandine waited to see if Raquel would respond, and she did, “I ne—ne—ne—never saw…never saw it be—be—be—be—be—before,” she explained, pointing to the horse and his tools at the edge of the forge, hoping the man would understand.
He did and laught saying, “There are calt(2) frosty forenoons when I wish I’d never seen it before either. I’m Thistle, Mistress Raquel.”
Thistle, though it was not obvious to either of the women, was stunned by Raquel and thought they must be able to hear the hammering of his heart. To him it had the rhythmic thump and muted ring of a heavy hammer on soft white hot steel being drawn down. He looked at her taking in all the details of her beautiful face with its high cheekbones, deep blue eyes and raven’s wing black hair which was so dark he could see the blue and perse(3) highlights brought out by the sun. She was slender, full figured and a little tall for a woman, not quite his highth.(4) Thistle wondered why she was with Celandine, and after looking at Raquel transferred his now questioning gaze to Celandine.
Celandine had noted Thistle appeared to be interested in Raquel. “We’re going to the crèche and then the Greathall. Raquel would like children, but has never holdt(5) a babe, so that’s what she is going to do. Will you be at the dinner dance thiseve(6) too, Thistle?” Celandine asked, giving Thistle some cues to follow if he so chose.
Thistle, relieved now he knew Raquel was neither married nor intendet,(7) airily replied “Yes.” He nodded to Celandine in acknowledgement of what she had telt him without words and to convey his interest. “I look forward to seeing you both there,” he added.
Celandine, feeling a great deal had been achieved, taekt(8) Raquel to the crèche where she explained the situation to Iris. Iris promptly went to a crib and withdrew a sleeping infant. She indicated to Raquel to sit down and passed her the babe saying, “This is Frond, you support her head this way, Raquel, she’s may hap two lunes old and has just been nurst(9) so she will probably do naught more than sleep on you awhile, but you never know, she may be sick on you or wet you, but I doubt it.”
Raquel was overjoyed to hold the little girl, and it shewed, “I ne—ne—never he—he—held…never held one be—before,” she said.
“It’s a pleasure to be sure,” said Iris, “but I’ve had eight and it can sometimes be overratet.”(10)
Celandine stayed with Raquel for an hour, during which time Raquel had held two babes and played with a number of slightly older children. She dragged Raquel away saying, “Come on, you have to see what the little weevils can do when they are a bit older, time to go to the Greathall.”
They arrived at the Greathall, where a dozen or so children were playing in a roped off area on what to Raquel looked like an adventure playground with swings, things to climb up, slide down or crawl through. There were a lot more children of all ages practising dancing under the instruction of Pitcher, who despite his ancient appearance was vigorously calling the steps to a fast moving dance in time to the fiddil(11) playing of Millpond who appeared to be a quarter of his age. There were also a dozen or so younger children who were being cleant(12) up after they had decided there was more fun to be had from applying paint to each other than to the paper provided for the purpose. “I’m grateful we only let them use water baest(13) paint,” the mother of two of them telt Raquel, as she tried to clean her offspring.
Celandine and Raquel assisted in the clean up, and when the children were finally clean enough to go home Celandine asked Raquel, “You still sure you will some?”
Raquel laught and nodded saying, “Yes.”
“At least you have some idea now what you may have to deal with. I suggest we go back to the seamstress’s and find you something pretty to wear for thiseve. I’ll put you in the hands of Amethyst, who will bully you into looking your best, and tell you all sorts of things with no regard whatsoever for your sensitivities, but she does have the best dress sense and taste on Castle. I should tell you she’s also one of the biggest folk on Castle, but she is kind.”
When Raquel was introduced to Amethyst, she thought she had never seen a woman with as big a bosom in her life. Amethyst, noting her gaze, buskt(14) her bosom and said, “Impressive aren’t they?” They all laught, and Amethyst who had been warned in advance of Raquel’s stammer said in the tone of one who requires no answer, “Let’s have you into a fitting chamber, so I can see what I have to work with, and you and you,” she said the last to a pair of young women, “can bring me a string(15) and act as fetchers and carriers till we have Raquel dresst(16) to my satisfaction.”
Celandine left saying to Raquel, “I did warn you. Don’t seek any help from me, she terrifies me.”
Amethyst said to Celandine, “Out! There’s no need for you here, so go and do something useful.” The women all laught and taekt Raquel to a fitting chamber where Amethyst soon had Raquel down to her under clothes. Amethyst was nodding her head and muttering to herself as she moved berount(17) Raquel, looking at her from every possible point of view. “Not bad, not too bad at all. I’ve workt(18) with much less and had success. Lovely face, good figure, big hips, but perfect for the highth. Any smaller would look in need of a good feed. Good bosom, may hap needs a little support to shew to best advantage, but then again may hap not. I’ll consider that.” The two younger women were smiling at Raquel, indicating Amethyst just had to be endured.
After slowly walking completely berount Raquel twice, Amethyst stopped to think for half a minute or so before finally declaring, “Right, I have it.” She gave the young women instructions on what to bring her, including a mug of leaf for each of them, and indicated to Raquel she could sit down saying, “You have a pretty face, my dear, and we mustn’t do aught to divert attention from that.” Amethyst was, Raquel decided, nowhere near as alarming as she had first appeared. The young women came back with boxes containing an assortment of clothing, which Amethyst had Raquel try on in turn.
When Raquel was back down to her underwear, she pointed to the camisole Raquel was wearing and said, “Off.” Raquel removed the camisole and Amethyst indicated her brassière had to go too. Her breasts had just started to feel the caltth(19) when Amethyst passed her a close fitting, lower cut, similar camisole with lace trim over and light, sewn-in, supporting stays under the bosom. Raquel put it on, and Amethyst walked berount her before adjusting the almost invisible shoulder straps, and after bouncing Raquel’s breasts into place such that the stays did what they were supposed to passed her a deep blue, sleeveless gown with a low, but not excessively low, cut yoke. Raquel put on the sheath-styled gown, which in keeping with current fashion had a deep slit to the waist on one side where the two fabrics overlapped. Amethyst and the two younger women nodded and signified their approval.
When Raquel looked in the full longth(20) mirror, she appreciated what Amethyst had been able to envisage before she put the clothes on. The gray lace rose to just above her nipples, and was barely visible behind the gown, it looked to her inexperienced eye stunning. Amethyst dug in a box and gave her three shawls. “Try them in turn, Dear,” she instructed. “I know many consider shawls old fashiont,(21) but with that style of gown you’ve a lot of arm and shoulder to become calt.” The second shawl Amethyst declared was the one that did it, and Raquel thought it did look attractive with the gown, pale grays gainst(22) the deep blue of the gown. Several pairs of very dark blue dancing shoes were produced, one of which fit. “That,” said Amethyst, “will do when your hair is dresst and a trace of make up applyt(23) to enhance the whole. Go with Mint to see Timothy, have your hair dresst and return here afterwards for me to deal with the make up.”
All was done as per Amethyst’s instructions, and when Raquel looked in the mirror she realised why Celandine had brought her to Amethyst. She tried to thank Amethyst who said with her usual robustth,(24) “Her bosom is the foundation of any woman’s strategy to catch a man. You have a good one, Dear, so there’s naught to thank me for. So go and enjoy yourself, and don’t let them fight over you.” With that Amethyst waddled out, leaving Raquel alone with Mint.
“I will a man myself,” Mint telt her, “and I shouldn’t consider letting any other than Amethyst gown me for a social occasion. She’s the best. I was lucky enough to be her apprentice, but if you don’t know her she’s a bit overpowering.”
The two young women laught, and Mint said to Raquel, “You’d best wait here till the dinner. Let’s go to the communal workshops for a bit of gossip and a mug of leaf.” They both enjoyed the half hour of gossip, though there was a lot Raquel didn’t understand and as usual she said little.
29th of Towin Day 2
Agrimony was a forty year old midwife. She was a good-looking woman, but she knew she looked her age. She had lost her man fifteen years over to an accident at sea and had never bothered to try again. She had lived for her craft since losing Spignel, but recently had come to realise she didn’t wish to be lonely the rest of her life, and midwifery alone wasn’t enough any longer. She had never had children, but thought she would like to try for a family whilst she still could do so, and the incursion included a lot of men seeking a wife. That had prodded her to do something regarding her situation, and she had registered her wishes with the Master at arms office who had advised her of Benjamin. They had telt her if she wished it they would conduct the introduction at the dinner dance that eve, and she had been grateful for their offer of help.
Benjamin was forty-two, and an ex-salesman for a machine and hand tools company. He had never been happy with his work, and had always envied his clients who used the tools he sold. He had always wished to be a craftsman, and at his interview had been accepted by Harmaish Master woodworker as a lærer(25) woodworker. He’d had a lot of relationships with women, but none of them had ever lasted more than a few months. He had always put it down to his job and the travelling it entailed, but his new environment compelled him to admit he hadn’t been prepared to commit himself to a permanent relationship and had always chosen women with a similar viewpoint. His arrival on Castle forced him to reëvaluate his position. At forty-two he saw time was running out, and he wished to make the best of this unexpected chance for a stable relationship. If children were a possibility he would like that, but he wasn’t desperate for a family.
Earlier in the day, when Benjamin had gone to meet Harmaish Master woodworker he had met Ian, a fourteen year old incomer, whom Harmaish had accepted as an apprentice. He and Ian had liekt()26 each other, and Benjamin, who by now was familiar with Folk customs concerning adoption, suggested to Ian, “I am looking for a wife and possibly a family too, would you like to be my son and then we can learn together?”
Ian was happy to accept saying, “I’m glad I’ve found a craft, but I’m even happier to have a family to belong to, even if I don’t have a mum yet.”
29th of Towin Day 2
Phœbe, who was by no means unintelligent, had, through a whole combination of events and social circumstances, rarely attended school and officially left at sixteen unable to read and write. Threwn by fate on her own resources she had resolutely struggled to teach herself to do both, which she had managed to do by the time she was in her early twenties. For the same reasons, she had been unable to find anything other than temporary work. Slightly drunk one night, she took a man home to her one room bedsit flat. She vaguely remembered having sex. When she awoke she found he had left some money at the side of the bed. It became her career.
She never worked the streets, and was always careful where she worked and whom she took home. She also stopped drinking. Even the bouncers at the clubs she frequented just thought her to be a regular party goer. Only the drives(27) had any idea of what she did for a living, and they had a vested interest in not knowing anything of anything no matter who asked. She took care of herself and never became pregnant. The care she took when selecting potential clients must have paid off because she never caught anything more unpleasant than a cold, though that could have been because after her first two or three years on the game she rarely had sex, the money was in domination. By the time she turned forty, she had an expensive suite of rooms in a modern development, built on the site of the old docks, that catered for the wealthy professional classes. She still used her original bedsit on the other side of town for work, though now she owned the building.
By then her clients were all high earning professional men, and many were regular clients who enjoyed her style of mild domination. She refused to take female clients, despite the demand, because she knew her reputation with her clients was based on the way she could look after a man, and most of them needed to believe she enjoyed the time she spent with them. Taking female clients would have given that the lie, and she knew it would soon have become common knowledge. A successful dominatrix, she acquired new clients via the existing ones, and she hadn’t been to any of the clubs for years. She knew she couldn’t continue to work with the quality of clients she had for ever, and she wasn’t prepared to accept a lower class of clientèle, but she took care of herself and could easily pass for a woman ten years younger than her age. With a bit of luck, she intended to work for another fifteen years till she was sixty when she thought she would probably appear to be a good-looking woman of fifty. She had amassed a considerable retirement fund, and she’d thought of marriage, but she couldn’t envisage being able to support her life style if she gave up the game.
She was an intelligent, self educated, informed, buxom, slightly chubby, attractive woman of five and a half feet tall with blue eyes and curly, dark blonde hair, and she took care to keep her figure buxom and slightly chubby, because it was what her clients liked. She was self disciplined enough to lose weight, but it would have been bad for business. She had never used drugs, smoked, drank alcohol nor eaten to excess since her first unknown paying client had left his money at her bedside. She read quality newspapers and in her spare time visited historic country houses, preferably ones with large and interesting gardens, and ten years ago she had started walking. She had joined a local ramblers’ club. At walks she often saw, and much to their relief ignored, clients with their wives and families. When the weather was poor, she listened to current affairs programs, read non-fiction and smocked. She usually smocked garments for babies and girls, and she had become good at it. She sold what she make via a pretentious establishment which sold the garments to women with more money than sense for many times what she had been paid for them, but she wasn’t bothered, she had her fun from the making of them. That all came to end when she awoke on Castle.
Not a deep thinker, but an astute and perceptive woman she had Castle society weighed up quickly, and knew she would need to fit into this different culture as quickly as possible. She was aware other than her smocking skills and herself she had left all her resources behind. She came to three major conclusions. The first and most important one was, despite the respect Mistresses of leisure were held in according to what she had been telt, for her the game was over and she would never mention her past to any one. A bit unfortunate, she mused, Mistress of leisure was a far pleasanter term than any of the ones she had heard applied to those who worked the game when she herself had done so. Second, smocking, which she had always considered to be a way of passing time pleasantly, was a craft that would support her. Last, she needed a husband, and if possible a family, if she wished to fit in to this different world and live with any status and comfort.
She was by now a little irregular and thought she was beginning her menopause, but there was a chance she could still conceive, and if possible she wished to. To do so meant finding a man as soon as possible. Keeping a man she knew wouldn’t be difficult, since she could cook and one thing she excelled at was looking after a man in bed. She knew most men were happy if kept properly fed and bedded. That most of them hadn’t been was what had given her such a good living for so long.
She met with the Master at arms staff, and joined the seamstresses as a smocker, a new craft. The Master at arms staff telt her they would introduce her to men seeking a wife at the dinner dance. She met two. Kergæs was a good-looking singer, but she didn’t like him. She didn’t know why, but she never ignored her instincts, and she had telt him she thought they wouldn’t suit each other after two minutes. Narwhal worked for the Master at arms office, and him she did like, but he was far too perceptive. She thought if she married him there was a risk of her past being exposed, so much to her regret and his dismay she likewise telt him she thought they wouldn’t suit.
Word Usage Key
1 Spaech, speech.
2 Calt, cold adjective.
3 Perse, purple.
4 Highth, height.
5 Holdt, held.
6 Thiseve, this evening.
7 Intendet, intended, affianced.
8 Taekt, took.
9 Nurst, nursed.
10 Overratet, overrated.
11 Fiddil, violin.
12 Cleant, cleaned.
13 Baest, based.
14 Busk, a strip of whalebone or other material, worn in the front of a corset to stiffen it, also a corset. To busk oneʼs bosom, to reshape it or push it upwards as a corset would.
15 String, more properly a measure string, a piece of thin cord knotted at regular intervals uest by various crafts for measuring purposes. A seamster’s(28) string is knotted at wiedth(29) intervals.
16 Dresst, dressed.
17 Berount, around.
18 Workt, worked.
19 Caltth, cold noun.
20 Longth, length.
21 Fashiont, fashioned.
22 Gainst, against.
23 Applyt, applied.
24 Robustth, robustness.
25 Lærer, adult apprentice.
26 Liekt, liked.
27 Drives, common usage for taxi drivers or cabbies.
28 Seamster, strictly a needle worker one who sews.
29 A wiedth, a finger’s width.
