New Shores ➳ The Last Kingdom | Finan the Agile (The Northman's Daughter 1)

COCCHAM

It took her more than just a minute. In fact, she spent several days in bed again. And Shaylee was so weakened by the ride to Coccham that she did not even fight Eadith, the woman with the red hair, which had put her to bed and kept her there. For Shaylee, she seemed like a sort of Angel; she stayed at Shaylee's side. Barely left her bedside. She was the one exchanging the oozing bandages and made her drink water and held back her hair when Shaylee couldn't keep the water down. Eadith was also the one that brought Shaylee Thyme tea as she asked for it. And stroked her hair soothingly as she writhed in pain.

The ride to Coccham had been a bad idea. Even Shaylee was willing to admit that. If she found herself in a similar situation ever again, she would swallow her ego and travel on a fucking cart. It took Shaylee almost a week until she finally made it from her bed to the large table in the hall without anyone's help.

Slowly she climbed down the steep stairs while her uncle sat at the table and ate his breakfast. As she sat down next to him, he looked up and turned to her, "How do you feel?"

"Better, much better. Did you see, I made it all the way down without stopping once. This must be kind of record.", Shaylee replied and grinned.

Uhtred chuckled, "Sure it is." His glance rested on her face and then meant: "You look much better."

Shaylee smiled at him, and for the first time since she had arrived at Coccham, she felt like her usual self. But even though she felt much better than in the last couple of days. It took some time till she got back to normal. For weeks now, she had barely walked, and her body was not used to being up all day. So even on days when her most enormous effort had been a leisurely walk, she was tucked out in the evening.

All this was getting increasingly hard for Shaylee. She was not used to being condemned to do nothing and was often miserably bored. She would have loved to explore Coccham and the surrounding area or contribute to village life. Especially as she had the growing feeling that she was just a burden on everyone. But the only thing she could really do was help the maids prepare the meals, and Shaylee was honest enough with herself that this did no one any favours; her cooking skills were too poor. But after another week, she finally managed to walk longer distances without feeling sick, and she could start to explore Coccam.

She started to make forays. Coccham wasn't a big village, but there was still a lot to see. Every now and then, Eadith accompanied her. But other than Shaylee, Eadith had things to do. Often Eadith kept an eye on a boy. First, Shaylee thought that it was her son, but then she learnt that this was indeed the fosterling of her uncle. The boy was none other than the bastard son of the King of Wessex. Why the boy lived in Coccham and not in Winchester, Shaylee did not know. But him being a bastard probably had something to do with it. She knew herself that being an offspring of unmarried parents. Of course, she could have asked her uncle, but she didn't as he was busy doing all the things that had not been done in his absence.

It didn't take long to see all of Coccham. After all, it was a village, but Uhtred had been diligent. One could see that the village had been growing. New houses had been built, and the wall around the village had been expanded. The people living in Coccham were hardworking and pleasant. It was a hard life, but Shaylee did not feel that the inhabitants were unhappy. In the evenings, they drank together in the tavern. One thing that Shaylee noticed quickly was that Uhtred always had an open ear for the worries and fears of the inhabitants. He knew their names, and he also lent a hand whenever there was someone who needed help. The village was a family; for better or worse, the folks knew one another. Despite the occasional squabble, they were loyal, loving and protective of one another. Shaylee just couldn't feel anything else than welcome in Coccham.

Shaylee enjoyed her days in Coccham and went for extensive walks. On one of these walks, she had found her way to the stables. In Ireland, she had always hidden in the barns. Since then, the smell of horses has somehow become comforting to her. In the past, she had used such places primarily to hide from people. Today it was more of secondary consideration. She just liked to have a place where she could be alone with her thoughts. And also, here in Coccham, she had found such a place. It was a small canopy that was strong enough to sit on. From there, she could look up into the sky and watch the stars.