Walker 02 Ch. 02

The sky was a carpet of seeping grey cold. The rain had stopped at least, Shuq thought as she stood over the redhead hunched over a tub of washing in the backyard. It was a battle to get the girl to leave the house at all, even now she seemed ready to bolt back inside if only she saw a shadow.

'Don't stop.', she warned the girl with a heavy slap to the back of the head that sent her red curls all a flutter and bouncing off her shoulders, 'When you're done, pack wood in the cooking shed and then the bath, then you can come inside to scrub the floors. Understand?'

The redhead nodded and grasped a loose floating shirt which she dragged through the soapy film and began kneading the garment. There came a shouting from the front of the house and Shuq rushed for the front door. Edwin's woman Meri stood on the steps in an oiled rain cape and heavily burdened by a box that hid half her face.

'Told you the Captain's stamp would speed up the delivery.', the older woman grinned as she lugged the box off to Shuq's arms and fluttered from her cape and hung it from a hook, wiggling tired arms back to life.

'Whiskey, Miss meri?', Shuq asked after the box thumped down on the low table between the couches.

Meri was already striding towards the kitchen, 'Don't bother dear. Say, is there any good whiskey or are we committed to Wael's swill of a stockpile?'

'Check the cabinets opposite the window!'. The morning twilight left the house dark. Shuq blew on the smoldering remains of the fire and lit a dry twig which to resurrect the lamp. She brought it to the low table and kneeled on the new bearskin on which it stood. The box was not big and the lid came off easily. It was filled to the brim with protective straw which she swatted aside to reveal a layer of neatly rolled hoses no thicker than her index finger. Lifting this out, she dug again and began carefully arranging the items across the table. The largest items were three round bottomed glass jars of different size, small, medium and a much larger one. And a metal box of black about two hands high and two hands wide, she intuited that the openings on the side would match the tubes and pipes.

Meri had returned with a bottle and three glasses, she stopped, eyeing the items on the table, 'Those are flasks used by alchemists and chemists,', she said, 'though these look bigger than the ones I know. Those are tubes, used to move liquids around.', she eyed the assorted bits and bobs, things that looked like corkscrews, clamps, and other things she could only guess at. She went for the far side if the couch where a corner of the table lay unoccupied. She poured and slid a glass into Shuw's reach. 'This man, are you sure he knows what he's doing?'

Shuq's fair hair cascaded over her shoulder as her mystified expression seemed to recognize Meri for the first time, 'I'm not sure he knows what he's doing. He calls it experimentation.'

'Oh,', Meri parted her dress on the sides so she could free her legs and stretch them out across the couch, sliding into a lounging posture, 'Is that what we call it when we gamble with your master's money?'

'I wasn't dishonest. I asked him for the silver and he gave it to me.'

'This was more than a hundred, how much did you give the man otherwise?'

'About the same.'

'What if he asks for more?'

Shuq shifted uncomfortably, adjusting the belted tunic, 'Isn't every investment a gamble? You told me that.'

White teeth below a fine nose contrasted with the older woman's light olive skin in the gentle lamp light. Her response came back rueful, 'Aye, I did, and it's true. I also told you that it's safest to spread your silver around. I did not mean that you should just shovel piles of silver at a logger and a tinkerer. I am meeting with the tailor tomorrow. Winter's coming and at least a few hundred slavejacks of three-thousand will need new winter clothing. The man is desperate for loose silver to order sufficient fabrics. The profit share will net our coffer a tidy sum in the end.'

'I think he has good ideas.', Shuq swiped her hair back, 'He'll explain it much better than I.'

'Training and trading slaves? I don't believe you could.', Meri threw the glass back and drained it, 'That's another thing we need to talk about. Cedric's been telling the captain that Walker's become awful grumpy of late. Have you done anything to give him release?'

'We've been very busy with his bouts.', Shuq said defensively.

'So, you've not fucked him?'

Shuq couldn't wouldn't meet Meri's eyes, 'No.'

'Has he been fucking the redhead?'

'No. He hasn't asked.'

'Is that how you think it works?', Meri's disapproval was palpable, 'Stupid girl, you think some vague notion of loyalty will keep your position secure?'

'Don't call me that.', Shuq's anger had no bite.

Meri shifted her legs off the couch and leaned forward, her eyes intense, 'Men are like little boys, one thing grabs their attention and then they're blind to everything else. They are also easily bored and frustrated. They won't understand why, but they'll feel an itch and seek the easiest way to scratch it. He might be Tigreni but he's now also a Norrish male. And when you can be traded on a whim, it would be a very stupid mistake to assume that you are somehow exempt from this male fickleness. Do you understand, girl?'

Shuq had shrunk in on herself, huddling over the clenched hands in her lap. Her voice was small, almost pleading, 'It's not that I don't understand. I understand. I listen very closely, every word you say. I do everything else as best I can.', she blinked back tears, 'But I can't bring myself to it... I've promised myself, that if he asks, I wouldn't say no. And I wouldn't stop no matter how much it hurts. But I see Batrus, what they did to me that day in the woods. And I think of my father and my old life, the fear fills me up until I want to vomit.'.

Meri came round the table, taking the unresisting girl by the shoulders and pulling her gently up onto it. 'Shhh.', she repeatedly crooned into Shuq's ear, 'Shhh. Don't mistake my worry for cruelty, dear. I say the things I do, not to hurt you, but to teach you.'

'Hmm mmm. We're animals.', Shuq sniffed, 'We must make ourselves too valuable to slaughter.'

The girl was stiff under her arm and Meri was dumbfounded, 'No, no, it's the control we wield. I'm sorry, girl. I am so eager to see you thrive, I forget how new you are.'

'I'll do it tonight.', Shuq said resolutely, 'After dinner.'

'Now hold on,', Meri warned, 'you don't have to climb the mountain all at once. But beware others who have, they might steal him from you.'. A call from the front door cut her off.

'Knock, knock!', it was a big, male voice.

Shuq wiped her eyes and drew away from Meri, 'Please listen openly, it is important to me that you understand him.'.

'Aye. I will.'