All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 132: The Showdown

Void went over to care for the sheep, leaving Bee standing alone with Tony and Susan in the middle of the yard. Looking around, Bee started to become aware of how much had changed since she was last here. The trip had only taken a few days, but someone had trimmed most of the grass lawn, and there were more than three full fields cut into the ground.

But the changes didn't stop there. There was a huge pile of grass clippings and other compost, and stacked next to it were a surprising number of regularly cut bricks. She had no idea where they had come from. Had a mason or quarry worker shown up while she was gone? If they did, that still didn't make sense; they still would have had to get the bricks from somewhere.

That was just a few of the things she noticed on the outside. She was hesitant to even venture into the castle itself. Even her master had changed, somehow. Void previously wanted to be carried outside and over dirt. It was almost just part of her job description. But now, it didn’t seem to care for it as much. Had her master gotten tired of the treatment, or was the flying thing actually new?

The rest of the people didn't seem surprised by Void zipping around in the air, but Bee felt that it was a way more noteworthy change that warranted a bit more attention.

Also, they now had wolves. At least that one sounded like a somewhat recent development, based on Tanu's story. That wasn't even to mention Void making weapons for the kids. It was training them up even more formally now. Bee figured that made sense; her broom was made by her master, too, after all. But still, it sounded like the training was going well. Especially if Tanu was able to fend off full zombies with the sword.

She would need to talk to that boy a little bit more. Some parts of the story didn't quite line up, like the part about how he met the wolf. Perhaps he had some natural talent with animals. He was what, six or seven years old? He was really young to get a class, but with a little extra attention, he might get something related to animals. Though, would that fall under any one of Void’s domains? Or not?

That was something the library didn't have much information on, as what Void was doing with its followers was starting to go beyond the normal level of Devotee classes. The religious organization aspect of the class wasn’t something she could research a lot here. Also, having the direct blessing of a god wasn't something that anyone had records, she supposed.

Bee shook her head to get out of her thoughts. Looking up at Tony, she decided to get moving. "Should we get everything put away? Then I think we need to get a recap of everything we missed."

"Let me talk to my parents first, but yeah. They’ll have to fill us in." Tony said.

"Susan, why don't you come with me." Bee offered. "We can get you set up in your old room if you would like?"

"That would be perfect."

***

After a quick bath and a change of clothes, Bee joined Tony, Mary, and Trent for tea. Mary set down a tray with some refreshments, and they all helped themselves, loading the snacks onto some small plates.

"I'm glad you two made it back safely. When you both took off, people were a bit worried for a while. Maybe next time a little farewell would make things smoother?" Mary raised an eyebrow, somehow managing to keep any reproach out of her tone. Thinking back to their exit, Bee winced. They for sure could have handled that much better. At least Void had stayed behind; because of that, they knew everyone was safe.

Bee wasn't sure what to say and just nodded in acceptance of the criticism. They’d have to do better. "I noticed a lot of things have changed around here. How have things been while we were away?"

Trying to get the topic back on track worked well. Mary gave her a rundown on how the children's training had advanced and generally how the preparations for winter were going. "Most of the food brought in has been winterized. As long as our population doesn't grow too much, we should be fine."

"We might have a spring crop, but it will be much smaller than we could have done. Not all the fields were cut in time and now it’s too late to try planting." Trent added. "Well we could try, we have enough seed, but it might be a waste."

"I'm not sure, but Void's presence might be able to help with the late planting. I think we should go for it and hope that some divine intervention takes place." Bee said.

Trent hummed thoughtfully. "I have spoken to Void about crops a bit. From what I can tell that doesn't seem to be part of his domain. However, he was willing to learn, so it might be worth it."

"That’s good. I think we might want to work on that if we have the manpower. Is there anything else that we need to get done, urgently or not? What about the piles of bricks I saw?" Bee asked. "How did we even get those?"

---

The Spray Bottle was mildly effective at cleaning the sheep. It was just a lot slower than I would like. Also, the sheep didn't make the effort any easier. No matter what I tried, it seemed to be determined to keep itself as dirty as possible. Reasoning with it had been a complete waste of time, as right after I finished the explanation of why it should try to keep grass out of its coat, it rolled in the dirt once again.

Eventually, I realized that as much of the dirt I was washing out of the sheep, it was managing to add even more back each time. The water I used ran off the sheep, and with all its struggling, it had tilled the earth into muddy furrows. This provided an environment that was not conducive to cleanliness in any way. I was going to need a dedicated space with no dirt to effectively do this, and also a place where the sheep wouldn't be able to get away.

I gave up after an hour and seven minutes of trying, leaving the sheep no cleaner than before. Letting it run off to where the rest of the group was slowly eating grass not that far away, I went for a think.

Where could I house the sheep cleaning station? I boosted myself onto the roof and surveyed the castle grounds. I wasn't about to take the sheep inside. That was a horrible idea that curled my bristles to even consider. But the only other structure was the stables and the chicken coop. The stables might be an option. They were empty right now and might work with some modifications.

Floating down from the roof, I went over to take a closer look. There were a few small pens inside the stone building. A sheep would fit inside each with no problem. I was a little concerned that the gate might let them out if they were insistent about leaving, but I might be able to make the pen gates a little more secure. The best feature was that there were stone floors with a drain. I had removed all the straw that had been covering the bottom of the pens when I first cleaned here so long ago.

I found a few crates and experimented with putting them up against the gates to plug some of the holes between the wooden slats. I think that should work now. Zipping out of the stables, I went to find my test subject.

***

This time it was a little harder to get that sheep. It seemed to be avoiding me quite intently. Eventually though, I deposited the still dripping sheep in a pen that was slightly too big for it. With gaps in the door blocked up, her efforts to wiggle underneath the gate were futile. Now I was able to truly get to work.

I sprayed the sheep relentlessly, taking to my duties with gusto. I soon reached the point of diminishing returns where simply spraying the sheep didn’t make much more progress. The animal was completely soaked through and dripping water. It was slightly dirty, but the running water alone wasn't making measurable progress. I was also having to leave and collect more water fairly regularly, as it was a rather inefficient process. Looking at the sheep more closely, I was able to identify the issue. The dirt seemed to be clinging to the skin of the sheep, and the fibers were keeping the pressure low enough that it wasn't able to adequately agitate the layer to remove the dirt.

This was a problem with a rather obvious solution, though. Getting in closer, I was able to get my claw in the fiber, and with small circles, I started making real progress. At first, the sheep was very against this new treatment and continually tried to jump out of the pen. Luckily I had a good hold of it, and it wasn't able to ruin all my hard work just yet. After a few minutes, I got a little better at the technique and was able to avoid pulling out the fibers from the sheep's back.

I noticed that there was a threshold of force where pulling on the fibers was especially not appreciated. However, I did find a few things the sheep didn't object to. When I was getting behind her ears, she even leaned into my claw slightly. It was hard to tell if she was enjoying the treatment or just so tired that she was about to pass out. I chose to believe the former, though.

After I finished the nice bath and the sheep was as clean as I could reasonably expect, I had another issue. What was I going to do with it? If I let it out, it had proven time and time again that it would just find a way to go get covered in dirt again. As much as everyone around here looked up to me, I knew my limits, and I was one hundred percent sure that keeping these sheep clean was beyond mine. Just getting one clean took nearly all I had.

Popping out my sword, I could only think of one thing. Carefully I advanced on the sheep, hoping to not make this any harder than it had to be.

If I couldn't keep the sheep clean, I might be able to keep its fibers clean. With a careful swipe, I took a little of the fluff off by the rear end of the sheep. Surprisingly the animal didn't seem to even notice.

I wasn't sure if it was the commotion or just happenstance, but before I could take another chunk of fibers off the sheep's rump, Silas walked in. He stopped and looked at me, particularly noting my glowing sword and the little bald spot on the sheep’s rump. Nodding, he took the piece of grass he was chewing out of his mouth. "A bit of the wrong time to shear the sheep I think, milord. They're gonna need that coat soon, I reckon."