Chapter Twenty-Five

**Housekeeping**

Vanna and Jason were again impressed by Jule’s cooking skills. But what pleased them more than the food was how the woman was able to put Eliza at ease. Jule must have sensed something was wrong with the woman and made a constant effort of letting Eliza know she was welcome. It turned out Eliza also enjoyed gardening and while different raising hens and pigs had similarities. The women had plenty in common to talk about. Eventually, the two woman drowned Jason and Vanna out of their conversation, but the two didn’t mind.

As they were finishing their dinner, Byron returned followed by a tall portly man as well as to Jason’s surprise the sheriff, Trent. The sheriff tilted his head in greeting.

“Hello Trent,” Vanna said.

“Good evening,” Trent coughed.

“I passed the Sheriff on my way back,” Byron explained. “Even though he post watchmen at all four entrances into town at dusk, he still patrols himself. I still haven’t figured out when you sleep Trent,” Byron laughed.

Trent grunted, “Bryon told me you were staying an extra day and I wanted to reextend my offer to train.”

“Trent has been picking up militia training since the incident,” Byron interjected.

“Has anything happened,” Jason asked concerned for any possible violence.

“Some nights we see torch fire outside of town on the road to Fallows, but nothing ever comes of it,” Trent answered.

“No travelers have come from that way either,” Byron added lacking his trademark smile.

Trent coughed again, “I’ll be training the watchmen tomorrow and I could use someone with a little skill to help me demonstrate somethings.”

Vanna nodded, “thank you, Sheriff. I will be there.”

The sheriff grinned briefly and awkwardly then said, “alright goodnight to you all then.” And he left without another word.

As soon as the sheriff was gone Byron spoke up. “Jason, this is Felix,” Byron gestured towards the portly man.

The man grunted an indiscernible greeting and Jason simply nodded back. “Alright let’s get this over with,” Felix said in a more audible tone.

Jason looked at the reeve quizzically, but all Byron said was, “I’ll let you two handle it then,” obviously he wasn’t going to be coming with them.

Jason looked at Vanna. The woman shrugged her shoulders and said, “you got this Jason, Eliza and I will stay here until you come back.”

Felix grunted and left the cottage. Jason hadn’t planned on going with the man alone, but followed the man outside. “It’s not far,” Felix commented as they walked east.

That’s a plus, Jason thought happily, but his mind mostly focused on how he was going to get Felix to rent the cottage for a good price. If congeniality was a sign of generosity, then Jason was going to be out of luck with Felix. I need to find some kind of leverage on him. He probably already knows Byron told me the place isn’t great so that won’t work.

Felix turned north onto a short alley. Four similarly small cottages enclosed the alley into a makeshift courtyard. Felix pulled a keychain from his waist and mumbled as he searched for the right key. “Arg um, here she is,” the man said holding up a rusty black key. He went to the worst of the four houses and unlocked the door. Jason observed the outside of the cottage. The earthen foundation chipped all around the door and the shutters were splintered and uneven.

The door creaked inward revealing a barren room. Felix entered the house and lit up the little room with the torch he brought. Jason looked around and was surprised. Although it had nothing to boast, Jason was expecting the place would need serious repairs based its outward appearance. Instead, what he found was a barren but livable husk of a house. A stick wall divided the framework in two, creating “two rooms”. The nicest part of the house was the brick fireplace built into the dividing wall; when lit it would provide heat and light to the two rooms. It also would be a place to cook. The separate room was about half the size of the main room, but also in good shape. A second door in the main room led to a yard behind the hut. The yard wasn’t big, but fenced in from the neighbors and had an empty garden box and a chicken coop in need of repairs.

Jason hadn’t said a word during the tour, he didn’t want to reveal to Felix his surprise at the state of the hut and encourage the man to increase his price. After they looked at the yard they went back into the main room to negotiate. “I’ll do 8 silvers a month,” Felix said flatly.

One of the greatest issues Jason had so far in the game was valuing things in terms he could understand. He had no metric of comparison for coppers, silvers, and golds to real world money. Things he took for granted in his old life, like books and coffee, were expensive luxuries here. But based off of everything he observed he figured the average worker made 3 to 4 coppers a day which came out to 4 and a half silvers to 6 silvers a month. The hut could probably only hold two to three working adults so he was confident that 8 silvers for the place would be robbery for the place. “Ha you must think I’m an idiot, I can do 4 silvers.”

Felix scrunched his nose. Maybe that was too low, Jason thought. “No way.”

“Tell me about the last person who lived here,” Jason asked, that would help him value the place based on his predictions.

“Ah the lazy louse. A fieldhand and his wife. Idiot liked gambling and lost too much one night and had to skip town,” Felix grumbled obviously the incident was still raw in his mind.

Jason smiled, knowing he found Felix’s weakness. “Alright, cut it out and just tell me how much you rented the place to the last guy.”

Felix squinted his eyes at Jason for a moment, but then grunted, “six a month.”

“So I think five a month will be fair for me then,” Jason said.

“How in the hell does that work out?” Felix shouted almost reaching a low roar. “I can rent the place for six so why would I rent it to you for five?”

“Doesn’t look like the Finchead real estate market is booming right now,” Jason noted. Felix stared at him dumbly probably confused with some of the words Jason said but seeming to get the gist of the statement. “Anyway,” Jason said moving to his next point, “I won’t get up and run off on you like the last guy, less risk equals less reward. Simple finance buddy,” Jason shrugged smugly.

Jason worried he went too far when he saw Felix’s face redden with anger, but Jason’s strategy paid off. The man untensed and nodded, “alright five it is, I’ve been trying to get someone in here for almost half a year now. Rent is due on the first of the month, today’s arg the eighth so you need to pay twenty-three parts of thirty for this month,” Felix said. Jason was surprised he’d gone that long without figuring out the date and was more surprised that his entering the game coincided with the first day of whatever month it was.

Jason tried to work the math out in his head and came up with three silvers and sixteen and two thirds coppers. He confirmed this with Felix who nodded sagely, but Jason doubt whether the man actually did the math or just seemed content with the amount Jason said. Jason counted out the coins and handed them over to Felix. “Can I have a receipt?” Jason asked.

Felix laughed and tossed him the black key, “here’s your receipt, buddy,” he said mocking the way Jason spoke.

Jason frowned, but didn’t bother protesting. He’d have to deal with Felix until he save enough to build his own home, something he needed to ask Byron about.

With a stern point of his index finger, Felix said, “five silvers, first of the month. Otherwise better be out by the second,” and then he was gone. Jason looked around the room. An odd sensation of pleasure ran through him at finally have a place of his own. A smile crept across his face then he rushed back to Byron’s to get Vanna and Eliza.

*****

“That should be enough for tonight,” Byron sighed as he dropped a half dozen logs by Jason’s fireplace.

“Thank you Byron,” Jason said after setting down his own load of wood. “Here,” Jason said handing over some money to the reeve who surprisingly took the money.

“It’s no problem my friend,” Byron replied.

“Excuse us,” Vanna shouted from outside. Jason and Byron moved out of the way and Eliza and Vanna burst through the door each lifting a haybale. They would spread out the dry grass on the floor for bedding until they could buy or make cots.

“Well, I’ll be going now,” Byron announced, “I’ll get the elders together for a meeting tomorrow Jason don’t you worry. Goodnight you all,” he waved and shut the door as he left.

Jason sighed then went to work building the fire while Vanna spread out the hay and Eliza held a torch for them to see by. Within no time, the hut began to warm up and they could see. Jason smiled looking at how fast they turned the hut into a place they could call home, but he noted there were still a lot of things they would need to do around the place the following day. “You two can have the other room, I’ll stay out here,” Jason said.

Neither of them complained. They said their goodnight’s, Eliza’s still shyly, then they went into the side room. Vanna pulled a cloth across the doorway, blocking Jason’s view of their room, leaving him alone. However, he yawned and stretched out on his path of hay. Then slowly dozed off to sleep watching the flames flick in the fireplace.

*****

Day Nine

All three of them slept in the next morning. Jason finally woke up when a chill draft blew under the doorway. The cold splash sent shivers down his back and his eyes shot open. Jason realized the entire hut was cold. His eyes dashed over to the fireplace and he saw the flames were dead. Jason wrapped his cloak around his body and quickly restarted the fire. The one good thing about the hut size was that it didn’t take long to warmup.

When the room reached a comfortable temperature Jason got to work making coffee. Jason had to use the water in his canteen to fill the pot. They would have to fill a barrel or some large bucket for a reservoir, he noted. As the water was coming to a boil, Vanna came fumbling out of her room, “morning Jason.”

“Morning, Vanna,” Jason responded as he carefully pour the boiling water onto the coffee grounds. Vanna looked around the room for somewhere to sit, but they didn’t have any furniture. The woman pulled a healthy handful of hay with her and sat against the wall. “How’s Eliza,” Jason asked. He brought the press over and sat down next to Vanna. The coffee would need a few minutes to seep before it would be ready. “Also we’re out of coffee now,” he commented with a frown.

“She’s not the greatest,” Vanna answered. “She fell asleep fine, but every couple hours she would wake up crying. I’m think she’s having nightmares.”

Jason looked at the floor, sad to hear the news about Eliza. Before he could say anything the woman crept out of the room. “Morning,” she said shyly.

Jason and Vanna greeted her then Jason added, “the coffee is almost ready, we don’t have any cups, but we just drink out of our canteens.”

“I can help with that,” Eliza said then scurried back behind the cloth partition. A moment later she returned with three wooden cups. “I brought these with me.” She set them on the ground so Jason and Vanna could reach for them without having to touch her.

“Here,” Vanna said as she poured Eliza some coffee and handed her a full cup.

Eliza nodded in thanks then found her own little stretch of wall a comfortable distance away from them.

“So what’s the plan for the day, Jason?” Vanna asked.

“Well, I think I’m finally going to go to the bathhouse and clean up,” Jason said gaily.

“About time,” Vanna groaned playfully. Eliza snickered from her spot but didn’t look over at them.

“Anyway,” Jason continued, “then I’m going to ask around town to get any of information I can. Things people want, possible quests, who’s who around here. Then I’ll look into fixing up this place. Hopefully that will keep me busy until the meeting tonight.”

“I’m going to find Trent,” Vanna announced, “what are you going to do Eliza?” Vanna and Jason turned towards the woman, “have you thought at all about going forward.”

Eliza shook her head, “no. Jule told me I could join her today, she was going to show me her hens and garden.”

Vanna smiled, “that sounds fun.” Eliza brighten slightly and nodded.

“Well,” Jason groused, “we’ve wasted enough time already, let’s get to it.”