Amina got to know Tessa
and her family better in secret. She wasn't missed at the Streckke
house that often, no one wondered where she went during the
afternoons, and she was rarely asked about her day. The son was
recovering slowly and he kept complaining how he would get fat if he
had to eat as much as Mr. Augustin had instructed. Under the watchful
eyes of his parents he had no choice but to eat the small portions
cooked especially for him.
Amina would make an
extra sandwich at breakfast and pack it with her usual school lunch,
because she didn't want Tessa to have to go through the whole day
hungry. She agreed with Tessa that she'd leave the sandwich on a
corner of the table in the classroom and she could take it without
anyone noticing.
At the beginning of the
next week Tessa didn't show up at school. Amina was vexed but she
knew Tessa's family couldn't afford to send her there every week.
After school Amina returned to the Streckke house and packed some
more sandwiches. She went to Tessa's home where she had visited a
couple of times during the previous week.
The children weren't at
the house according to their mother. They had gone to gather the
first sprouting plants of spring from the forest nearby.
Amina left the
sandwiches with the mother and went to find her friend. It was easy
to walk in the woods and the day was warm. Amina enjoyed her walk
among the trees. She felt someone watching her. It was the same Gahim
that had been watching her before. It still wasn't revealing itself
to her.
It took Amina about
half an hour to find the children and they studied the sprouts
together. Amina had much fun even though the feeling of being watched
didn't go away. She didn't let it bother her too much. There could
easily be more Gahim in the woods.
They spent several
hours in the forest and Amina realized she'd be late for dinner. She
bid the children hasty farewells and hurried back. No one had missed
her and she got some warm food from the kitchen.
***
As Amina came back from
school on the next day, she was surprised by Mr. Streckke who asked
to talk to her. She stepped into his study and saw a man whom she
didn't know and one of the boys that had bullied her.
”Mr. Sten stopped by
today to inform me that his son Ben had seen you yesterday... in some
questionable company,” Mr. Streckke began.
Amina smiled. ”That
is possible, but I had a good reason for it.”
Mr. Streckke returned
her smile. ”That is what I told Mr. Sten, though I do appriciate
his concern on my family's reputation. Please, tell me.”
Amina had been sure
that she'd get caught at some point even though she hadn't expected
it to be so soon. She looked the boy, Ben, in the eyes and said:
”I've met the children of a poor family a few times after I heard
that Mr. Augustin buys some medicinal herbs and other plants they
have gathered for him. I don't want to bother Mr. Augustin over
nothing and I thought that I can learn some things about the plants
from these children as he has already shared his knowledge with them.
I thought it would save the time and effort of a busy man, who in my
opinion should have as much time as possible to focus on his work. I
am interested in gathering and preserving plants for him, if he ever
needs the help and I am good enough.”
Ben made a face.
Mr. Sten was nodding
his acceptance to Amina's explanation.
Mr. Streckke's face was
somewhat unfathomable. After a moment the smile returned to his face.
”There we have it then. I knew I could trust you, Amina. Now, off
you go, dear,” he said and waved his hand towards the door.
Amina left, feeling
delighted. She was sure that if she was in any trouble now, it wasn't
anything serious, though she decided not to see Tessa for a few days.
Ben's revenge had failed miserably.
***
The next common good
day was spent at the various shops in town where the students helped
the merchants and craftsmen go through their inventories. Amina was
ready to head off to the smithy when Ms. Slava directed her to the
dressmaker's. After a moment she came back for her and directed her
to the apothecary. ”Mr. Augustin asked specifically for you,” was
Ms. Slava's sole and slightly puzzled explanation.
Amina stepped in
timidly. Two students were already there, listening to Mr. Augustin's
instructions. He didn't interrupt his explanation despite Amina's
arrival and made sure the other two were well enough instructed to
begin with their work. Only then did he acknowledge Amina. ”I have
heard you have been gathering some plants for me.”
Amina nodded. ”When
Tessa told me what she's doing with her siblings for you, I was very
eager to learn about the plants and their uses... I don't really have
any experience so far,” she replied.
Mr. Augustin thought
for a while. ”Come here. You can start by counting all the
ingredients in these jars,” he said and directed Amina behind the
counter. The shelves were full of rows of big glass jars that held
plants, insects, and their parts inside.
Amina stared at the
jars with her eyes wide but without further delay grabbed the first
one and placed it carefully on the table. She took a piece of paper
from the counter and marked down carefully the words written on the
label of the jar and began to count the huge grasshoppers.
Amina had gone through
three jars when Ms. Slava came over and announced the children had
done enough for the day. Amina asked Mr. Augustin if it was okay for
her to finish the fourth jar before leaving.
In the end, Mr.
Augustin expressed his wish that Amina would come back any time to
count the contents of the rest of the jars. There was no hurry, but
he would appreciate it very much if Amina would be willing to use her
spare time to finish the job.
Amina promised to
return some day and was sorry it would still take her several days to
go through the rest of the jars.
Mr. Augustin assured
her he didn't mind.
***
A couple of days later
on her day off Amina received an excess of attention at the Streckke
house as their son was commenting on the amount of food she was
eating. The conversation moved on to other things fairly quickly but
eventually turned to the professional talent of the apothecary. Mrs.
Streckke praised him above all and complimented Amina how it had been
her pleasure to introduce her enthusiasm towards herbalism to Mr.
Augustin. Amina had to answer several questions but she managed to
keep the conversation on herself and the apothecary instead of Tessa
and her family. She hadn't had the courage to go see the kids yet.
It turned out that Mrs.
Streckke had gone straight to Mr. Augustin after hearing from her
husband about Amina's interests, to praise her will and motivation to
help at the house and likewise elsewhere.
Amina was a little
baffled and wondered if she had taken up a task far too great for
her. As the whole family seemed to be in a good mood, Amina took the
opportunity to ask what they would think about her performing at the
town fair. She had heard at school that one was coming up in a couple
of weeks. However, Amina wanted to be sure that the family had no
objections to it before she asked Ms. Slava and last the chargé
d'affaires.
Mr. Streckke thought
about it for a while and came to the conclusion that, though he had
personally had no interest in the Fatil legacy of the family and its
continuation, he had no objections to Amina holding on to the legacy
if it was acceptable to the other parties.
Amina thanked him and
promised to ask Ms. Slava about it the very next day.
***
Ms. Slava had no reason
to stop Amina from performing as she had already received the
permission of the Streckke family but she doubted whether the chargé
d'affaires would permit it.
Amina promised she
would find it out as soon as possible. She had never met the chargé
d'affaires of Tenera before, and she was anxious. However, she got
help from an unexpected source.
Eric came to talk to
her after the second day of school that week and first apologiced
that he had paid heed to rumours, but he wanted to be sure if Amina
was really intending to tell stories of the Fatil at the fair. As
Amina admitted it to be so, he promised to accompany her to see the
chargé d'affaires if they could go straight away.
Amina was grateful and
relieved. Apparently Eric's family was well acquinted with the chargé
d'affaires.
They walked over to the
town hall where the office of the chargé d'affaires was.
Eric introduced Amina
to him and let her take care of her own business. Amina asked as
politely as she could for a permission to perform at the fair even
though she admitted that she was rather young to do so and lacked in
experience. She assured him that she knew her family's stories well.
And she would not demand all the time that would be reserved for the
stories and would be very willing to share the stage with other
storytellers.
The chargé d'affaires
of Tenera thought about it, with some creases appearing on his
forehead as he frowned slightly. He asked Amina about her family in
detail and came to the conclusion that they had at some point
performed in his town. Eventually he found no reason to deny Amina
the pleasure of performing, though he asked her to let the older and
more experienced people share their stories first.
Amina thanked him
kindly and repeated his thanks to Eric after they left the building.
Eric replied modestly
that he had hardly done anything but helped her a little.
Amina shared the news
with the Streckke family that night. In the evening, she wrote to
both Kros and Jared because she wanted to share her happiness. The
next day she gathered enough courage to go see Tessa and told her
aswell.
***
A few days later, Amina
received a letter from Kros. It was a reply to the letter she had
sent earlier and she spent hours after hours reading it over and over
again. Kros wrote how Kragu had grown and developed much, and how
they all missed her even though they were happy that all was well
with her. Nothing particular had happened in Groshna since she left
but Kros told how some of the families whom they knew well were
doing.
Amina had no time to
feel homesick, as her days were full of activities. She tried to have
time to see Tessa at least on two days each week but otherwise she
spent all her afternoons arranging Mr. Augustin's jars. Amina thought
it must be just her imagination that Ms. Slava was giving her less
homework. However, the tasks she were to do on the common good days
were definitely lighter, out of which the next two were dedicated to
the preparations for the town fair.
On the last day before
the fair Ms. Slava sent her students home at lunch time and told them
to get ready for the fair, which would otherwise have been another
common good day, but was now an extra day off.
Tessa was at school
that week, and Amina had a chance to speak with her after school.
Tessa and her siblings were headed to the woods again to gather some
herbs, and Amina asked to join them.
They stopped by at the
Streckke house so Amina could leave her school bag there as Tessa was
waiting far enough from the house not to raise any trouble. Amina
told the housemaid she'd be gone at least till dinner.
The children walked all
over the woods surrounding the town and gathered many plants into a
sack. Occasionally, the siblings would argue how some of the plants
should be cut so they would be exactly how Mr. Augustin wanted them.
Amina listened
carefully but didn't comment anything. She had not received any
direct instructions or teaching from Mr. Augustin but she had
listened to to his conversations with his customers and assistant
about the proper use and storage of many of the ingredients. She had
learned a lot while counting the insects and plants, though she still
understood very little about the markings on the jars. Mr. Augustin
had spent only a few moments to tell her about singular ingredients.
The afternoon went by
fast and the children returned to town. Mr. Augustin went through
their findings and frowned at some of the wilted plants. ”I would
prefer these were cut closer to the root,” he commented on one of
the plants.
Tessa's younger sister
gave her sister a poisonous glare.
”Amina, take a look
at this,” Mr. Augustin said as he picked up one of the plants that
had a small bud on it. ”Here is a perfect young specimen. Even the
roots seem to be in good condition...” and he explained in detail
the use and preservation of the plant in question and asked Amina to
preserve it as he had just described. The entire time he ignored the
other children.
Amina took the plant
from him with care and went to the back of the shop to prepare it.
She had been to the back only a few times as she had very little
business there but she knew where to find all the supplies she needed
for the preservation. She worked fast but with great care and
returned to the front of the shop.
Mr. Augustin was just
counting coins on the counter and nodded at the children, who were
watching with glee as Tessa collected the money into a small leather
pouch. They thanked Mr. Augustin politely and waved at Amina as they
left.
”Excellent. Quite a
good catch for today, I'd say. Would you now tell me, my dear, what
you have learned today?” Mr. Augustin asked.
Amina turned to the
counter and told him what she could remember about the plants. She
admitted her uncertanty at those points where the children had argued
about the proper preparation of the plants.
Mr. Augustin listened
to her with great patience and corrected all the errors. He thanked
Amina for her great care and expressed his hopes of her returning to
his aid after the fair.
Amina promised and
courtesied as she left. She walked back to the Streckke house,
exhausted. The sunny weather and long hours in the woods had almost
drained her. Praie pointed out that she was just thirsty and hungry.
Amina smiled. Next time
she'd make sure to take something to eat and drink with her. The day
had been beautiful and useful in many ways. She had learned a lot.
The Gahim was following her again amidst the trees but it still
wouldn't show itself.
***
Amina spent most of the
fair day with the Streckke family. Many merchants and craftsmen from
afar had arrived on the previous day to get their stalls up on time
along the streets. The Streckke family would visit only the finest of
them. Amina looked around, curious, because she had a feeling she had
met some of the merchants before. Her family had travelled a lot, so
it was very possible, but she knew none of them well enough to dare
greet them.
In the afternoon, the
family stopped at the inn for some lunch as it felt futile to walk to
the house and back again. Mr. Streckke had also given the servants
the day off from after breakfast to late night. Amina hadn't been to
the inn of Tenera before, and she compared it in her mind with the
one in Groshna.
The afternoon in the
whole was far more boring for Amina, as Mr. Streckke spent his time
talking to his acquintances and they didn't visit any more stalls.
Many people went home to get something to eat or to rest before the
evening program began. Amina had heard there would be puppeteers,
stories, and a dance show, and she was eagerly waiting for them all.
She had no idea how many storytellers there would be or how many
stories they would tell, but she was determined to stay at the fair
as long as it took to get to tell at least one story of her own.
All of a sudden Mrs.
Streckke expressed her weakness and asked that they would return to
the house. Mr. Streckke was a little surprised but willing to return
with his wife. He asked his son if he would stay with Amina, but he
had absolutely no interest to mingle with the common folks any
longer.
Amina was disappointed.
She was about to ask Mr. Streckke if she could stay in town by
herself, when he said over his shoulder that she was free to return
to town a little later. Perhaps Mrs. Streckke would be feeling a
little better then as well.
Amina sighed in relief
in her mind.
***
The sun was closing in
on the horizon, when Amina managed to gather enough courage to ask
Mr. Streckke if she could already go back to town.
Mrs. Streckke was still
feeling a little under the weather but she didn't want to keep
everyone else in the house.
The whole family left
for town again. Amina was walking in front and a little faster than
the others, and she reached the town before dusk. She said hi to her
friends from school, who told her that the storytellers had come and
gone, and the set for the dance number was just being worked on the
stage.
Amina smiled and
pretended to be excited, even though disappointment filled her gut
again.
The school children
gathered closer to the stage to wait, as did many other villagers.
Amina saw the Streckke family arrive a little after the show had
begun, but they remained at a distance from the stage. The dance was
a traditional Armaranian folk dance, which had a simpler version for
casual dancing. It reminded in many ways the dances Amina had learned
from the Gahim. She didn't even notice she was humming to the music
and clapping her hands along with other people.
After the show, people
moved further away from the stage and chatter filled the air. Amina
couldn't see the Streckke family through the masses so she walked
with her friends instead. She saw Tessa and her family a little
further away and waved at them, but she didn't dare to go closer to
greet them as she knew Mr. Streckke was nearby. Night had fallen
during the dance show and lanterns were hung on the walls all over
the town. Amina had fun talking to her friends and their families
until there was some commotion near the stage. People were already
gathering close to the stage, but Amina could see flying balls of
fire above their heads. Amina asked her friends to come with her to
see what was going on. They pressed past the taller adults right to
the front of the stage.
The blacksmith was
sitting on the edge of the stage, holding a few lit torches. In the
middle of the stage was standing a man who was juggling skillfully
with three lit torches. The flames of the torches created jumping
shadows and patterns on his bare, muscular arms and focused but
smiling face. The light was also playing on the gold of his multiple
earrings.
Amina smiled wider than
she had done in many weeks. She had not expected Jared to show up in
the fair as he had told her nothing about it.
