36 Part 02

So apart from being on more than friendly terms with all the butchers, bakers and other skilled people in town, she soon had her own proteges placed in their shops.

She even had a few she had taught to read and write, who were in positions in the administration and in the big house.

Nothing important happened in town without the news reaching the red house in Shakespeare Lane before anywhere else.

Sir Robert still came around -- regularly, but he was slowly turning his duties over to his son Christopher. The one she had helped get over his fever, when he was quite small.

He had never forgotten that, so her status had not changed.

A new thing was that Christopher and Rosalina had taken a fancy for each other. If the house rattled when 36 made love to Philip or Robert, it was nothing compared to the noises Rosalina and Christopher made!

More and more often Sir Robert and her just sat on the bench -- holding hands and watching the sunset, while they exchanged memories of old days.

Philip had also grown old. He suffered from a bad back and rheumatism. A result of the many days on horseback and sleeping on the ground.

Sir Robert and he took turns -- and they both respected the sign of the dogs in the window, so they never met at her house.

She gave Philip a lot of herbal baths and a lot of massages -- and he too began enjoying just to sit on the bench in the back garden.

She felt age creeping in. She was not as agile as before. She used the last of Lady Hannah's gold to buy a slave girl at the market. Helped by Sir Robert at the auction.

36's previous task in the cellars made it easy for her to pick a young, solid and decent looking girl, whom she quickly managed to get a freedom letter for.

She was now living in one of the upstairs rooms and helping Rosalina with the day to day business.

The slave market finally closed down -- and the hunters went other places to run their nasty business. Instead there was a slow influx of homeless and lost people. Most of whom would have been brought in by the hunters in iron, but now came voluntarily. Seeking a new and protected life in the city.

Even The Brothel had been put under control. The girls were no longer chained in their rooms, but had a certain freedom. They also got a cut of the earnings and some of them actually became quite wealthy, enabling them to set up their own, private 'business' in a town house.

The Doctor and his oldest son attended weekly to the girls to make sure they were healthy and not abused -- and she still accompanied them.

When she figured that she was around 70, she gave her self the present of having her nipple- and clit rings removed. Her breasts had gone south and the rings was beginning to annoy her. The clit ring -- which had given her so much pleasure - went at the same time. She kept her nose ring, as it had so much become a part of her. She never noticed it except when she had her yearly case of the common flu.

At first she felt naked -- even in her cowl. She had gotten so used to the rings that it felt strange when they were gone. She kept them in a small box in the secret room in the cellar -- not knowing why.

The nose ring also gave her a more 'witch-like' appearance, she thought -- and she was so comfortable in her role as 'healing woman' that she enjoyed the slight mystery surrounding her nose ring.

As the slave trade had been abolished and most slaves were set free, they almost all had their rings removed, so in her old age it became rather rare to see a person with a visible nose ring in the city.

Even Rosalina had all her rings taken out -- and so did her friends from the cellar at the big house.

Epilogue

Rosalina enjoyed the last rays of the setting sun on the bench under the apple tree. She had kept the tradition and always sat there until the sun had disappeared under the horizon.

Her sister had been lying almost in the center of the garden. In the middle of the path. On her back. Just by the platform with the water pump.

She had been on her back with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Beside her stood a wicker basket with herbs -- and in her left hand was a fistful of thyme. In her right hand her beloved and well-used iron knife with the leather wrapped handle.

The whole town had been in mourning -- for many days.

Sir Robert had suggested that they removed her nose ring, but Rosaline had protested fiercely and she had made sure that her old rings from the hideout in the cellar had been put in her pocket. As well as she had wrapped her iron knife and scabbard in silk and put it in her pocket.

Rosalina had dressed her in a brand-new cowl, but in the usual brown colour and in the usual simple design. Only lit up by the diamond pin holding the top together.

36 had been lying in state on the big table in the kitchen for a few days and it seemed like the whole town had come by to see her one final time, and to pay their respects to a good and helpful soul.

Rosalina had decided it was the best place for 36 to lie. On the solid oak table that had been the base for so many treatments and so many births, and the table that had witnessed their confident sister-conversations late into the night.

When it was finally time for her to go, her old friends from the cellar and a selection of former street kids - now grown men and women - had helped wrapping her in plenty of new, white linen. After which they had carried her out.

In all the sorrow, it had been some very fine days and Rosalina had thought that all the commotion would not have suited her sister very well.

36 had never liked being the center of attention, and had always said to Rosalina that 'one should do as good as one can and help wherever help was needed'.

The outcast, the slave, the wandered, the 'healing woman' now having her final rest, while being revered by everyone.

Rosalina drew a big sigh. It was a big inheritance, but she would do her best.

The last rays of the sun shone down beside the bench. On a big, round granite stone with just a simple engraving: "36".

She rose slowly and walked back to the house. There were people needing dinner - and patients on the first floor needing attention -- as always.

Definitely 'The End'!