Moonmount Castle - LGBT, manXman - ON HOLD

22

Coda

I unlocked the front door of Bluebell Cottage and stepped into my home.

My home.

I had been in Idaiz Pass for almost four months, and I still had not grown used to the fact that I now had my own home.

Sunnia had been delighted to hear about my purchase of the property and barely two days after I moved in, several of the villagers had appeared on my doorstep with various pieces of furniture; Sunnia had convinced them to donate pieces they no longer used themselves.

Now, as well as the cooking spit and old table and chairs that had been in the cottage when I first saw it, I had a bed – a proper, wooden-framed bed, not a pallet – a large storage trunk, a dresser, a set of five wooden shelves now attached to the back wall of the cottage, a set of crockery, cooking utensils and various other furnishings, including a deep red, woven blanket on the bed and a clay vase Sunnia had given me.

The blacksmith had fitted a lock to the front door of the cottage, so that during my excursions to various farmers' fairs the cottage could be secured.

Sunnia had ensured that most of the villagers had been introduced to me while I was in the tavern; I had already done business with a couple of the farmers, purchasing hay and straw from them. The farmers' wives were also more than happy to provide me with food, and asked very little for what they gave me.

I lit a candle on the table and gazed affectionately around my home for a moment, before going back outside.

I walked Echo around to the stables and untacked him, gave him a swift brush down and a mash feed, before turning him loose to graze in the pasture.

The carpenter had recently finished mending the old fencing that surrounded my land at the back of the cottage, and I had asked him to install extra fences inside the paddock, so that three horses could graze in separated fields within the main pasture.

I watched Echo frolic in the field for a moment, taking advantage of a break in the rain to just watch him. He rolled in a patch of mud and cantered around and around the fence a couple of times, before he thudded to a halt at the far end of the paddock, snorted loudly, and lowered his head to graze.

Winter had firmly gripped the land now, and although the weather in King Ranald's more southern kingdom was always warmer than in King Benedict's northern kingdom, the rain, sleet and hail that had fallen over the past month had turned the roads all around Idaiz Pass to muddy and slippery, and the grass in my pasture was mostly buried beneath puddles of water or layers of mud.

Echo was quite happy grazing in his field, so instead of stabling him all the time, I instead left hay in the field for him every morning and evening, and only brought him into the stables for the night if the weather was really bad.

I had purchased two mares at a farmers fair three weeks ago; they were both around twelve years old, and had foaled before, so I was hoping to breed them in the spring. I had managed to barter down to a good price for each, as they had been a little thin, and unshod, and I was hoping that their bloodlines, mixed with Echo's, would produce good, strong foals that could be used for farm work.

I returned to my cottage, and was preparing my supper when there was knock on the front door.

A messenger handed me a folded piece of parchment when I opened the door.

"I'll be at the tavern for three days, if you want to send a reply." He said, before disappeared back down the lane.

I glanced down at the wax seal as I closed the door, and smiled, recognising the Talvace family crest.