All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 133: Mends and Amends

Do sheep need their coats? I hadn't thought about the possibility. Would I need to wait until tonight to harvest their fibers, or even longer than that? Still, I listened to the old man; he did know a lot about farms and animals. I beeped a question to the man.

He cocked his head as he listened to me but shook his head. "Shucks if I know what that was."

He scuffed the ground with his boot and mummed thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Well if Trent explained composting… Look, I just think that we need to leave the sheep alone. The coats are how they keep warm in winter, otherwise the poor things'll freeze. Once the weather gets better though, we need to shear 'em or they'll overheat, fickle little buggers. Then we can wash the fleeces before spinnin' 'em. If we end up eating any of 'em though, we'll be sure to shear 'em first. Maybe you were preparing to cook that one? If ya were, I'd suggest one of the older ones, this one here has several years left in it."

I put away my sword. It made sense that the sheep might need their coats if winter was coming. That was when the humans wore more coats, and the steaming beverages came out. Also, the dog would occasionally track in solid water, which used to be extremely difficult to clean up. Of course, now that wouldn't be a problem for me.

But I wasn't letting the sheep inside in a million years, so they would need to be able to weather the outside by themselves. All these organic lifeforms were so sensitive to temperature changes. Looking in my dustbin, I realized that I had enough samples to play around with anyways. Just the offcasts from the cleaning and the single swipe I got in before Silias stopped me was enough for now.

I hopped out of the pen and moved the crates out of the way. The sheep surprisingly didn't take advantage of the path to freedom and just trembled in the corner. Silas exhaled and opened the door, then stepped in. With steady hands, he helped the sheep up and smacked it on its rear end. That seemed to wake it up, and it sprinted out the door to return to its flock.

With a nod to me, Silas and I went our separate ways. I needed to spend time working with the bit of material that I collected. Also, the talk gave me another idea of what I could make with the sheep fiber other than a nice rug. If it was going to get cold, then the humans would also need to be kept warm. The only issue was that if both the sheep and the people needed warmth, then how would I get them both?

I made my way back inside the castle to go consider this problem on my rug. However, as I was heading back in the door, the cat slipped out. I hadn't seen the cat outside before; what was it doing?

It apparently hadn't been outside in a while, as it just sat there looking around and basking in the sun. I was about to just leave it be and continue inside when the cat got up and walked down the stairs. I watched as it strode across the field. Was it going to greet some of the new arrivals?

I was honestly a little curious about how the interactions between a cat and sheep would go. Or really any pairs of different animal species, for that matter. The only nonhuman interaction I had seen so far was between the sheep and dogs, and that hadn't ended too well. From what I knew, the cat and sheep didn't have anything in common. I mean, the cat made grooming a regular practice, unlike these dirt-seeking fluffballs, so what would they even do?

My suspicion was confirmed when the cat only paused for a few seconds to look at the sheep before continuing on, completely ignoring their existence. The only other ones out here were the dogs. From my limited experience, dogs and cats didn't get along the best. The smaller dogs were still a lot larger than the cat, but they might be fine, I guess.

The cat crossed the main path a little and wandered off into the field. Should I do anything about that? Nah, I was sure it would be fine. Leaving the cat to take care of its own business, I went inside to take care of the fibers in my dustbin.

—-

Bee left the little get-together thoroughly convinced that they needed a proper structure to manage this many people. Trent and Mary had done a good enough job while she was away, keeping everyone fed and busy. But the number of times that they almost forgot to tell her about some important issues that people had or a new development going on with the food stores was worrying.

They needed some formal structure to have clearly defined responsibilities. It would take some time for her to figure out what those were going to be through. The obvious ones were food and food production. She felt that Mary and Trent could handle that fairly well, though they might need some help. Then maybe defense?

Bee shook her head and just started over to the library. She needed to restock on some healing potions and maybe try something new. Alchemy always helped her think.

The library wasn't empty when she got there. A few other people browsed the shelves. Charleen, one of the more educated women, had taken to caring for the place and was dutifully dusting shelves. Bee encountered a few smiles as she wandered between the shelves, grabbing a few books. Once she got what she wanted, she realized that her equipment wasn't where she left it.

"Mistress? If you are looking for the equipment, I believe it was moved to one of the laboratories upstairs." Charleen said.

Bee nodded and started to turn but stopped when the woman gave a polite cough. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, mistress, but can you record which books you are taking? I only just finished setting up a checkout system. It would be a shame if we misplaced any of them."

"Of course." She didn't have a problem checking out the books; if she really insisted, Bee was sure that she could change or outright reject the rules, but that would be needlessly combative. It would be a little bit of an adjustment from being able to do whatever she wanted. Still, it was part of living in a bigger system. It only reinforced the point that they needed a more official organizational structure if they wanted to make a system that worked for them and one that prevented too many of these centers of power from showing up.

Bee noted the books she had taken from the library and removed a few from her pack, giving them to Charleen to add to the library's catalog. Then she found the nearest stairs and made her way up to the wing with the laboratories. There wasn't anything special about the equipment that she had been using, so she just went to one of the labs that didn't host any specimens.

Choosing a workbench near the back, she started setting up her workspace. The cabinets were still fully stocked, and soon she had collected all the glassware that she needed. Bee started to replace the healing potions that she had used and lost herself in the pleasure of work.

***

A knock at the door caught her off guard while she was switching to doing some research. She wanted to run some tests on what could be considered a cleaning substance. The measure of corrosion was one thing, but it didn't seem that simple.

"Come in." Bee called, not sure who needed her. She didn't know that anyone was even aware she was in there. The door opened a crack, and Maranda stuck her head in.

"Hello," Maranda said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "Charleen said I might find you in one of the laboratories."

Remembering how they last parted more than a week ago, Bee did her best to put on a welcoming smile for the girl. It faltered for a split second when she realized that she had thought of Marnada as a child when they were nearly the same age. "What can I help you with?"

Maranda took a deep breath. "Actually I came to help you." Then finishing in a rush, "and to apologize."

She took a steadying breath before continuing on; Bee let her gather her thoughts without interrupting. It was probably hard for the girl, and she didn't want to make it more difficult than it had to be. "I was… out of sorts when we last talked, and that wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry. And… I would like to make it up to you."

Bee thought that Maranda's words were a bit too formal, lending a bit of a practiced air to them. Had her mother gotten involved? "I understand. Thank you."

Bee wasn't sure how to respond honestly. She didn't want to lord it over the girl that she couldn't read or take the high ground to just make it worse. But then, she didn't really have anything else to say. She didn't have any hard feelings. Maybe she should just say that? "No hard feelings, honestly."

Nodding her head with a more genuine smile, Maranda stepped a little closer. Bee noticed that she was carrying the book that she had told her to read all that time ago.

"I finished reading this, by the way." Maranda said, brandishing the book in front of her. "It took me a while, but I think I have enough of an understanding to help you a bit."

Has she been spending the whole time reading that book? That would explain why she had completely disappeared for so long. If she didn't know how to read, that would have been a really hard book to start with. Bee really wanted to ask if she had any help with it, but she couldn't think of a way to ask that didn't sound like an insult. On another note, she didn't really need any help right now. She was mostly looking into her class and skills.

Of course, she didn't feel like she could say that. From Maranda's perspective, it would probably look like an excuse to not have her around. So Bee closed the book she was looking through and stood. "You caught me at the perfect time. We're running low on some of the basic healing salves and I was just about to make more of them."

That was a complete lie. They weren't running low; they never had a stock of them in the first place, and she had long since moved past using them, even the more stable ones she'd found recipes for. But still, it wouldn't hurt, and it would be more cost-effective to use them than the more powerful potions that she had been making as of late.

If Maranda noticed the white lie, she didn't call it out. Instead, she just looked excited. "Of course! I'd love to help!"

"First we need to go gather some supplies, we should be able to get everything we need from the lesser storeroom if I remember correctly."

As they left the lab, Bee began explaining a few things. "We are going to be following the recipe for a lesser contusion balm in the back of the book you read. Do you remember the one? Good, now this won't take care of broken bones but it will…"