We, The Revenants

17. Domestic Bliss

This situation went on for more than a month, at the end of which Alec had a new barn/storage-shed in place. It was, so far, the most pride he'd taken in anything he'd done. Unlike the buildings he had renovated, he had constructed this building from scratch with crude tools of his own making. To say that he was bursting with pride would not have been an overstatement.

By the time his roommate arrived with what was to be her last cart of goods, their home looked totally different. There was the new building, a few additional pens for the livestock his new friend had brought along (pigs, goats, sheep, and fowl of various kinds), and the place had a proper lived in feel.

Alec only realized that it was her last trip when he awoke the following morning to find her still there and at work organizing their effects. At the same time, he took a mental stock of the things she'd brought along. They were a strange mix.

There were, of course, the animals, along with several hundred bags of various types of grain (mostly rice), boxes and clay jars with foodstuffs of various kinds, clothing and bolts of cloth, and a remarkable amount of metal, such as had been affixed to her old home, most of which arrived on the final cartload.

His friend did allow him to assist in one way. Later that morning, he helped her to float/pull the hand cart to the near side of the stream, where they placed it in an open spot next to the shed.

The most startling things that his friend brough with him were an array of weapons and some bits and pieces of armor. What a surprise that was. Alec had never thought to see such things in this land. His greatest surprise was the three beautiful swords that she hung over the mantlepiece from their scabbards. She did not protest when Alec took each from its place and inspected it.

The weapons were of impeccable metal, a very fine grade of steel from the look of them, and they were each finely wrought by the hand of a good and proper metalsmith. They were, along with several beautiful daggers and a thin and light axe, works of exquisite craftsmanship.

If only Alec could one day do such fine work, he would be the proudest of men. He returned the items to their place. There would be time to inspect them later. And then he and his roommate got down to organizing affairs.

Now that she was present at the cottage full-time, her demeanor relaxed considerably. She'd not been unpleasant before, but now she was more comfortable and playful. While inspecting the new storage area, she actually seemed impressed, making several noises that could almost be counted as "oohs" and "aahs."

Her first task when they got down to work was to produce a large bag of nails and to begin fastening a set of ornate iron fixtures to all the doors and windows of the cottage and the barn. It wasn't quite clear to Alec why aesthetics was so high on the list of someone he'd otherwise seen to be imminently practical, but he didn't protest. Alec had a list of things he wanted to get done, his friend seemed to know what she was about, and there was no realistic way to coordinate their efforts. So why bother about it?

He went about his day. She went about hers.

Over the next days and weeks, that system worked out well. It wasn't like they were a great horde of people stumbling over one another. It was just the two of them. Alec was an early riser, but his companion almost always was up before him and straight to her work.

He discovered in that time that she was the most uncouth person he'd ever encountered. She was fastidious in her person, taking a bath in a nearby side stream nearly every day. But it was as if nudity meant nothing to her. She was almost always clothed, of course, but her garments would slip from her body without the least preamble when she wanted to bathe, groom herself, or repair to the small outhouse that had been one of Alec's first projects.

This beautiful young thing belched, burped, and farted with complete indifference to circumstance. It wasn't even a source of humor for her; it merely was a thing that her body did.

Otherwise she kept her person and work area quite clean. Her first major project, which she began the afternoon of the first full day she was there, was to inspect the local waters. She paced the stream, the nearby creeks, and the lowlands along both banks. She soon had a shovel out diverting waters to flood an area suitable for planting paddy, which she did over the next days. By the end of two weeks, a half dozen small fields were cultivated with a type of brown rice that she'd brought with her.

During that exercise, she accepted some help from Alec. If for nothing else, he hovered around because he wanted to learn how the planting and tending process was done. And learn he did.

His ongoing projects took a back seat to his curiosity. His friend brought along a number of tools, several of which Alec prepared clay castings of in order to be duplicated. He had become quite adept at metalwork, and over the days he produced a new two-handed scythe, two sickles, a threshing flail, and a pitchfork.

This development was a wonder to his companion, who was so excited that she ran and recovered a broken pair of shears, which she handed to him. After several failed attempts at mending them, he merely melted and recast the items, much to her delight.

During those weeks, he was not able to decide what to call her. Every attempt to elicit a name from her was a failure. The result of his every effort was for her to laugh and pat herself on the chest while saying, "Ulug," which he supposed was her best impression of his name.

Something dawned on him one day. Who was he to give her a name? Was she born without one? It seemed unlikely to him at first. She was uncouth in her manners, as one who long had lived alone might be, but she was imminently civilized and polite and respectful of his person (even if she did steal his bed).

No. His friend had grown up around people, of that there was no question. That fact would lead someone to believe that whoever had raised her had given her a name.

Unless ... well, anything was possible in this balmy land. The young woman clearly could hear. And in her moments of mirth, which grew more frequent with the passing of time, she made sounds sufficient to prove that she was capable of speech. She just didn't speak.

But what if she had been raised by someone who was mute? Totally isolated from other people, how would she learn to speak? And was it possible for her to learn now?

He recalled something he once had read for a college assignment. A famous linguist had suggested that all people are born with a capacity for speech. We all have that spark in us. But he suggested that if someone didn't learn to speak a language (any language) by a certain age that they likely would never be able to learn how to speak as an adult.

Perhaps that was the case with his friend?

If that were true, it was unlikely that he would ever learn whether she had a name or not. And it seemed vanishingly unlikely that she would ever choose a name of her own.

Whether that was true or not, he decided it simply wasn't his place to give her a name. It wasn't like there was anyone else present with whom he might get her confused, and they got along remarkably well with no speaking and with little or no communication. When she needed something, which was rare, she simply got his attention and pointed. Failing that, she merely demonstrated what she wanted.

What could he say? Despite his earlier doubts, it turned out to be an amiable arrangement, the best of all possible worlds. She mostly left him alone to do as he wished, made little or no claims on his time or his attention. But the mere presence of someone else on the homestead filled him with a calm and a comfort that he hadn't anticipated.

Did he sometimes have ungentlemanly thoughts about his living companion? There was no avoiding it. She was pleasant company, extremely pleasant to look at, and as time passed even demonstrated occasional flashes of affection toward him.

Of course, there was nothing romantic or sexual in her occasional burst of laughter or friendly touching. Banish the thought. But might things progress in that direction in the fullness of time?

Yes. But they would not progress in that direction because of anything Alec initiated. He'd made a huge compromise in his tacit assent to the young woman's presence. And to his surprise, the state of affairs had worked out remarkably well. He decided that he would not throw such a sublime arrangement into peril just because of his greedy little pecker. On that point he mustered his full resolve.