Chapter Thirty-Two -- The Benefactor
The harvest was as pitiful as everything else about the children's destitute farm. Even with Vesna's late-summer efforts to salvage the garden, its produce would have been barely enough to feed the occupants for a month. So... the failed harvest meant several trips to the market to purchase food for the winter, along with supplies needed for preserving vegetables, hay for Moonlight, and seeds to plant next year. Vesna was not surprised to spend most of her remaining silver on ensuring her hosts' survival over the winter. After all, not having any wealth seemed to be her Path in Life.
She spent September and October organizing the harvest and teaching the children what she knew about preserving food and preparing the ground for planting the following spring. She tore down the chimney and built a new one with a better design that heated the house more efficiently and was not a fire hazard. She had to build a stable for her horse, using the boards from the pigsty and some of the fencing.
Vesna visited to the bookseller in Plátnackt Dék several times during the autumn to obtain information about the road repair and the flooded mine. As she suspected, the road was not repaired, even after the first snow fell in the mountains. During her final visit in October she bought a piece of slate, chalk, quills and an inkwell, and parchment. When Vesna and the children were driven indoors by the first snowfall in November, she announced how she planned to spend the winter: everyone in the household would learn to read and write.
So, Vesna spent the next five months cooped up with six children, teaching them writing and basic math. She taught them to sing hymns and campfire songs and how to pray to the Lord-Creator. She would have preferred to teach them to pray to the Ancients, but knew in the Vice-Duchy indoctrinating them as Followers would put their lives at risk. She entertained them with stories of her travels and her adventures during the wars of 1754 and 1758. She talked a lot about her year in the forest with the Followers and her studies at the university. She even talked about her time in the Grand Duke's castle, but omitted the detail of performing sexual favors for the Sovereign.
She realized she was good at story-telling. She also learned about handling children. Margíckta was intimidated by Vesna, but at the same time deeply admired her. The girl matured over the winter and realized she had more potential than spending the final year of her life as a starving prostitute. Vesna talked to Margíckta and the younger girls at length about her experiences as a woman and what she knew about relationships with men. She talked to the boys about the various men she knew and what made some better than others. She explained about guilds and the military and about the rich and poor. By the end of the winter the older children had a fairly good grasp of the way the Realm of the Living worked. The younger children understood less, but perhaps in the future they'd know what questions they needed to ask.
When the spring of 1760 arrived, Vesna had to spend less time on lessons and more time worrying about the farm. She kept the children busy with spring planting. She returned to the marketplace to buy hens to re-stock the chicken coop and several piglets. When the owner of an adjacent farm died and the widow told Vesna she needed to sell a portion of the property, Vesna bought the land with five of her remaining pieces of silver. She had to buy more seed to plant in the new section, but she knew if the harvest went well, there would easily be enough food for the following winter, plus some extra produce to exchange in the market for cheese and tools.
By the beginning of May she had only four coins from the original fifty she had taken from Rika Chorna. She knew what she needed to do with her remaining silver. After the May-Day celebration she braided Margíckta's hair. She then took the girl to a tailor in Plátnackt Dék to have her fitted for a dress. The girl was speechless as Vesna tied the yellow sash around her companion's waist, indicating she was available for marriage. Vesna struggled to hold back tears as the traumatic memory of her own failed effort to buy a dress forced itself into her thoughts. She was afraid to speak and let the girl hear her voice crack from emotion, so she tapped Margíckta and directed her to the church to obtain a citizenship certificate. She exchanged the last of her coins for the parchment and seal.
The two women, one wearing a new courting dress and the other wearing a simple working outfit, left the church. Margíckta still didn't know what to say to Vesna.
As they exited the plaza into the marketplace, they passed the town's pillory. Vesna stopped to examine one of the ankle-chains. She ran her fingertips over the links and opened the metal cuff. She turned to her companion.
"You know, I spent a day on the pillory, a few years ago."
"You, Mistress Vesna?"
"Yes. I spent a day on the pillory because I wanted a dress so I could look for a husband. I was just like you, just as desperate, and just as willing to do stupid things. To pay for the dress, I stole apples... from a farmer. He had me arrested, but then he repented and saved my life. So, you're not the only one. I know what it is to be poor and not have a dress."
"But... last fall... you did have money, Mistress Vesna. Why didn't you...?"
"It wasn't my Path in Life. It just wasn't. So I never bought the dress... at least not for myself. Instead, I bought it for you."
"I don't know what to say, Mistress Vesna... how to thank you."
"I don't want you to thank me. Words don't mean anything. What matters is what you do with your time in the Realm of the Living, not what you say about it. The only way you can thank me is to find a decent husband and lead a decent life. The neighbor boy two farms from yours... what about him? He seems nice."
"Yes, Mistress Vesna. I was thinking about him."
