Questioning Humanity

[pinkroses]

She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but then pressed her lips shut into a pout as she thought about his short answer and caught sight of the frown on his face. It was fairly obvious he didn’t wish to speak of it so she knew she shouldn’t press the matter… as tempting as it was.

The smile quickly returned to her face though when he suggested going to meet her father now, and she gave a short nod. It would be nice to have some company on the walk back to her family’s farm, it could get quite dull at times, especially in the colder seasons when nature was quiet. And she was quite sure her father wouldn’t object, he usually welcomes guests.

“Aye, he should b’ in t’fields, clearing’ ’em out an tendin’ t’ the animals,” she said with a nod and a small spring added to her step as she nodded in the direction they had to take out of the city. “No’ far from those though… it ain’t a large patch a land an’ w’ move mosta t’animals in t’ the barn in the cold,” she added, although she guessed Sigvald would probably know that much about farming.

The young girl didn\'t think anything of inviting a strange man that she had only met a few minutes before home with her. Maybe it wasn\'t wise to show him the solatary path she took home, but she didn\'t think for one moment that he might try to hurt her. The idea that she might make a new friend and learn more about a far off land made her forget any warnings her father might have told her in the past.

[Reaver]

Sigvald smiled and nodded. The girl was bright, and a quick friend. His first in this strange new city. Although the Ryanna girl seemed nice enough, she seemed to keep to her own business. Trouble for Magnus and Dag. With a soft chuckle, he kept stride with Harriet.

"We don\'t have any animals for the farm yet. Once the planting seasons comes about again, I\'ll have to hire hands to do it." Scrunching his nose, he held back another laugh as he picture Dag pushing a plow. Willing workers would be difficult to find. Especially if Dag\'s funding ceased and Sigvald was left to his own devices.

"Although, I suppose I could send for help from my brothers. They\'re back home helping my father with his farm." He still hadn\'t decided if he would continue on working this new farm, or go home to his father. He seemed to be settling well... but it just wasn\'t home. Not yet, at least.

[pinkroses]

“From Norway? Seems a long way t’ ask ‘em t’ come t’ help out. There’s always folks ‘roun’ here needin’ the work.” Of course, that was only helpful if you had the money to pay them. But surely if he had just started his farm then he must have had money to make sure it worked. “Although I s’pose it’d be cheaper in the long run, once they got here,” she said thoughtfully, before deciding it might be better to change the course of the conversation slightly, in case Sigvald didn’t want to have to think about money right now.

“How many brothers d’ y’ have? D’y’ come from a big fam’ly?” she asked with a smile up at him. Her own family was large, but most of her siblings were younger than her and so not much use yet working on the land, but they could tend to the animals well enough and work around the house. Harriet was trying to teach them all she could so that if she ever did get the chance to leave and explore the world she wouldn’t be hindered by that worry. She knew it was probably just a pipe dream though, but she could have dreams.

[Reaver]

"I would love to help people around here work. I just don\'t have much in the way of coin. Dag Gulbrand owns the farm, just purchased it awhile back and set about fixing it up. I\'m his estate manager." Sigvald spoke gently, proud of his role on the farm, but at the same time dissapointed with the set-up. It was better than nothing. "I run the farm itself while he runs his business from the original cottage. Once he\'s settled into the business more, he\'s going to grant me the farm, but he\'ll only pay me for food I send his way. He isn\'t going to do much in the way of getting me started."

Pausing, he spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders. He seemed to be doing that often of late. "My friend Magnus might finance me, he just hasn\'t found himself a job yet. He has quite a fortune backing him, though."

So curious. Sigvald smiled warmly, thinking about his family. "It\'s a small family but there are always a lot of guests. I have two brothers. Oskar and Sindri. Come to think of it, you look to be about the age of Oskar\'s children. Can\'t say for sure." Scratching his beard, he shrugged dismissively. "They do a lot of work on the farm, and the community around always helps out. Not much money gets passed around. We trade goods more up there than anything. Easier that way. Cuts out the merchants and price gouging."

[pinkroses]

“That sounds like a better set up than always havin’ folks chasin’ up after one ‘nother for money,” Harriet said, smiling brightly as she saw the happy look on his face when he spoke about his family. Her own was now out of debt, the farm was their own and her father had enough money put aside in case there was a bad harvest for a year or two. At least, that was what he told her. But Harriet didn’t say that, if Sigvald didn’t have much money then she didn’t want it to sound as though she was bragging.

“Bein’ an Estate Manager sounds like a good job, y’mus’ have a lota responsibility. I know my pa’s always seemin’ t’ be run off his feet. He’d probably love t’ b’ able t’ give some o’ that work t’ someone else t’ take care of,” she said, shifting the weight of her basket from one arm to the other and tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. “I have a lotta brothers an’ sisters, he’d prob’ly like t’ have more time t’ spend wiv ‘em,” she added, wondering what it would be like to only have two brothers. She spent most of her time looking after her family, if there were less of them then she would run out of things to do very quickly.

[Reaver]

Sigvald smiled, nodding in response. "It\'s hard work, but fufilling. The sweat on my brow is the proof of my existence." He spoke somberly, picking his words carefully. His idea of living was to live, work to improve that life, and work to improve the lives of others. He just had a hard time understanding why others refused to work for what they need, rather than demanding what they want.

"I\'ve no children of my own, but I miss my brother\'s children. They\'re too old for my stories, but they listen anyways." He chuckled, picturing how obscene it must be to watch him tell stories to grown adults. He shifted the pack on his shoulder, glancing about the market for another stand of hot ale. Finding none, he continued speaking, "Valdis and Magnus are practically family, though. So it isn\'t just my brothers and our father. The children, some of our close friends, we all sort of got absorbed into one community, close family."

Their farm was actually apart of the Gulbrand estate now, that\'s how close they had become. The Haraldurs depended on the Gulbrands to distribute their excess crops to merchants, or cover them financially in the years of poor harvests. The Gulbrands depended on the Haraldurs for food, and repairs to the estate. It was a good set up, one that benefited both families, and fairly.

[pinkroses]

Harriet gave a small nod at Sigvald’s somber sounding words, understanding them. If she didn’t work as hard as she did then her family would have fallen apart years ago. She may not leave a large mark on the world but she knew that what she did affected those around her and closest to her greatly. And they may not say it but she knew that her siblings and father did appreciate all she did.

“Folks love t’ listen t’ stories, whatever age they be, I know I still do,” she said with a smile up at him as they walked. Her grey eyes danced over his face for a few seconds, wondering why he had never had children. Maybe it was simply because he had never married, or maybe he had had a wife who could not bare children. From the way he spoke it didn’t sound as though he was married, but that didn’t mean he had never been. That thought was heartbreaking. Harriet didn’t know if she would marry, she had to look after her family before thinking of starting her own, but the idea of not being able to give her husband a child, or several seemed so sad. She knew that such a question would be quite private though and so stopped herself from asking, knowing that he might take offense.

Trying to find a more positive topic of conversation than the one her mind was taking her down Harriet cast her gaze around and it fell on a sheet of paper nailed to a building wall. She couldn’t read much of the writing, but she recognized the symbols and pictures drawn on it and some of the letters leapt out at her.

“Oh, the Tourney,” she said enthusiastically, reaching out and grabbing Sigvald’s hand without thinking and leading him towards the piece of paper. “It’s the Coming Crow Tourney,” she added in explanation to the man behind her, not sure if he would have heard of it or not, “It’s takin’ place near were farm, are y’ goin’? It’ll be fun,” she said quickly, bouncing a little on the tips of her toes as she lightly touched the writing on the scrap of paper, mouthing the words to herself as she tried to read it.

“J…ow…stiiing,” she murmured quietly to herself, before glancing up at her companion once again with a bright smile, “Are y’ good at joustin’? Or swordfightin’ or owt like that? There’s competitions an’ all sorts at the tournaments.” She loved it when there was an event like this in Oberon. She usually entered the cooking contest at her family’s urging and never cared when she didn’t place, there was far too much going on to care about that and she knew her cooking wasn’t that good. It fed people, it would never be served at a banquet. But the thing she loved most was that she usually got a few hours free to wander around the competition alone without a trail of children behind her. The others would run a stall of the little wooden animals she made and Harriet would be free to do whatever she wished.

[Reaver]

Sigvald quietly shook his head. "I\'m not a fan of fighting, of any sort. Seen too much of it." He did stop to consider, however. If it was a full fledged tournament, there would have to be food for the participants, and merchants wouldn\'t let a chance like that by. "I might go for the food, though. After all, I have finally perfected this beard for dining with." He said with a grin. No more crumbs and bits of food getting stuck in a snarl of hair.

Glancing at Harriet, he smiled at her barely suppressed joy and nodded. "Wouldn\'t miss it. How about yourself?"

Magnus and Dag would be there, no doubt about that. Perhaps he\'d go later, once the events had begun, or shortly before. Good time to pick off last minute deals from the merchants before they themselves filtered off for the action. Although, he doubted that many stalls would be left empty. There were always customers if you simply waited long enough.

[pinkroses]

Harriet’s face fell slightly at his mention of fighting, she knew he had seen more of that then she ever would and he was obvious disheartened by that. Even though people rarely got hurt at the tournements she could understand why he would be reluctant to take part. As the grin returned to her face Harriet gave a small laugh at his comment about his beard and nodded. “Aye, I’ll be there. M’ family usually has a stall at these thin’s. We sell food an’ little wooden ornaments,” she said, her modestly stopping her from mentioning that she was the one who made most of them. “But I’ll b’ able to go around as well, watch some o’ the competitions. They’re always good fun, even if y’dinnae know any of the folks takin’ part.”

“Maybe I’ll see y’ there?” she added in a hopeful tone. She didn’t often get the time to speak to new people and was keen to make a new friend, even if he was somewhat older than her. That didn’t matter to her as long as he was good conversation, which he was so far.

[Reaver]

Sigvald paused thoughtfully, mulling it over. Magnus and Valdus would surely be there. Well, Magnus anyways. He couldn\'t really dissapoint Harriet, either. He wanted to go, but he could see that more than that, she wanted him to. He nodded, reluctance gone. It was nice to have a new friend.

"I\'ll be there. I might be late, though. Depends on how quickly I get work at the farm done with. I might be able to convince Dag to let me employ some of his guards for the work." That would work nicely. It would be a good way for Dag to burden guards who did poorly in training, which would make them work all the harder. He\'d have to mention the plan before the tournament.

Thinking over the rest of what she had said, "What sort of food, anyways? I haven\'t had much of the local stuff yet. Kind of like trying new things."

[pinkroses]

"I dinnae ken yet," Harriet said thoughtfully, "There\'s lotsa differen\' thin\'s I could make, sweet or savoury. I\'ll prob\'ly make meat an\' vegetable pastries, they\'re easy for folk t\' eat when they\'re wandering \'roun\'," she added before glancing down at her basket for inspiration.

"They\'re easy t\'make sweet ones of too, usin\' fruits an\' a lil\' sugar. There\'ll prob\'ly be stews an\' soups and lotsa differen\' thing\'s t\' drink, ales an\' wines," she added with a smile. Her father usually drank quite a bit at such events so she had even little help with putting the younger children to bed, but they were often exhausted by nightfall anyway so went with little argument.