A few days after my visit to Northgyth concerning the apothecary, a letter was delivered to our door. My reading was progressing so that I could clearly see it was addressed to Waelden. Of course it would be, as most folk thought I had no written words at all. One day I would surprise them. With Ethel’s help I would surprise even him.
So I looked at the seal. I did not know it, but at least it was not the seal of Tuibar, calling Waelden away again. I took the letter upstairs, to where he was working on repairing the roof.
“Who was that?” he asked, as I climbed the second set of stairs to the landing.
“A rider with a letter for you. He looks familiar. Maybe it is from Edoras, or somewhere in Bancross even?”
“One moment, and I will be with you.”
It was rare we got messages, thankfully. Save for the writing between father and daughter, with letters that could turn up anywhere and at anytime, most news we now acquired was from Northgyth or Ymma, (if it was sensible news) or Hild (if it was not.)
Descending the ladder, Waelden wiped his hands on the old work tunic he wore, and reached for the cause of the interruption.
"Ah, from Erstan!" he announced somewhat skeptically, as he tore open the letter and skimmed its content. "It seems his grandfather wants to know if we are happy here? Old Erbrand has told him much of how happy he was here and ..." Waelden read swiftly to the end of the page, then shrugged. "He hopes we are as happy here as he was, but if we have any complaints we are to speak with Edstan..."
I nodded, though I was standing close enough to his shoulder to see some of the content.
"Yllfa ... you don't fool me. I know you can read some of it," he chuckled.
In truth I would never have tried to read anything had it been personal to him. This letter, however, seemed simply a passing on of well- wished from one owner to the next.
Waelden pointed deliberatley at a few words, and raised a brow.
"Summer, cellar, firepit," I replied with a wink.
"Ethel has been working hard, I see!"
And we thought no more of it at that moment. Waelden kept the letter safe, though we knew if we had any questions we could ride into Edoras and speak with Erbrand directly (rather than his grandon.) It was kind of the old man to ask after us, yet something did not feel quite right.
Now we trained once more together in the late afternoon, and that had ended up as unhelpful as our first session. Why was it so difficult for me? I had fought before. I had killed a man...once. Again we faced each other, my Greybeard and I, each armed with a sword, and again (unsurprisingly) I was too slow to get anywhere near a strike on him. The only real difference was this time he was more loath to do anything at all that would injure me. And I was still fighting the stubborn wolf who would not wake up, yet would die to defend him.
“Work with me here, Isa!”
Ethel walked past on her way home from the garrison forge. She looked tired, but she stopped a moment, placing her hands on her hips, and rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Come on mama, you can do it! Papa is old!”
“Enough of that Ethel,” he said, as he lightly swung down his sword to yet again pin my weapon point to the ground. He sighed. “Maybe we try tomorrow with your staff, eh she-wolf?”
But I still had only my ash staff. I told him I would try with that, though he frowned a little. “I said before, you could do with an oak staff with metal nails hammered in the head.”
I knew he had said that. Why oh why was I getting so frustrated with myself, and with him?
Then I remembered what Northgyth had said. “It is for you to decide of course, but perhaps train with him in any way that doesn’t involve face to face battle? A full-grown wolf does not turn on her mate, does she. But play fighting and training...they are quite acceptable.”
“Anyway, that was exhausting today, and I have to check on Gamferth’s animals still.” Ethel added as she brushed herself down and headed for the door. “Maybe just bite him or something, mama?”
“I’ve tried that.”
Ethel would always support her beloved papa. She certainly didn’t want me to actually harm him, if that were even possible, but there was a little something in her that wanted to see me do better.
He grinned at my words, but it was a little half hearted. “I need to know you can at least keep yourself alive, dear.”
“Then let’s try something different, aye? Lets train elsewhere, against known enemies rather than sparring with each other?”
Waelden stepped back a pace, but he was listening. He didn’t look convinced, but he was hearing more than what I said. “An area with a known small number of orcs, maybe? Is that what you are thinking?”
“I am thinking I won’t improve trying to spar with you at the moment. I need to learn against an enemy, and only then can I hone my skills with you. But if I take my sword and staff, and we rode..oh..maybe over to Forlaw, then we can work together on speed and agility and strength at the least. This time of year there may already be some snowfall. There are often small bands of orcs to the north?”
“You want to try freezing me, to slow me down?”
I stepped closer, and lay a hand on his arm. “I want us to work together. And, if truth be told, I am not against seeing a few old friends again. Maybe I will show you where I first encountered Isa?”
He tilted his head thoughtfully, finally sheathed his sword, then nodded. “Maybe you are right. It won’t hurt as long as we take care where to fight, and where to step back. At least for now?. What about Ethel though? She can’t come along on something so dangerous.”
“If she isn’t fine with us leaving for a couple of weeks, then we won’t go of course” I replied.
Waelden pondered a moment more. He is warming to the idea, I thought.
“I will ask her.” he said. “She is used to my coming and going when I was escorting wagons. And maybe Ymma will come and stay with her for that time, eh? She could have the guest room in the basement?”
He was really alright with the idea? I suspected then that he was as frustrated with the lack of progress as I was. It had been a hard struggle to get our home. There had not been much time for lightheartedness, or the joy we had in each other’s company since the farm had been burned to the ground. I didn’t want to leave Ethel at all, but maybe we needed this? Maybe it would prove to be the way forward?
So by the end of that evening matters had raced ahead. We had Ethel’s word that she would be happy for us to go, if Ymma would stay and cook breakfast. She would be busy at the forge, and it would only be for a couple of weeks.
Waelden penned a short reply to Winfara, to let him know we would also be away from Bancross, and to reassure Mearhe that we looked forward to seeing her and Duncadda again soon. He also spoke with me a little about the possibility of opening up a trade route for Lord Tiubar with Forlaw. “I just have to find out what they need. We could certainly benefit from some of their thicker pelts in the winter months.”
That day saw a turning point. We sat up planning long after Ethel had gone to bed. There was still suitable clothing and equipment for a journey to find, and we both needed to make sure our horses were fit and healthy enough for a journey to Wildermore, but there was a sense of excitement that I had missed. I would find Isa again in the snow, and I would learn well how to keep myself alive, and Waelden too, if necessary.
