Chapter 5: Vessimir Part 2

“There,” I said as I tapped the last iron nail into place. The result of my labor was a box that stood a good four foot tall and was two or so by two on the sides. There was no top or bottom on it but it did have a piece or two of cross-bracing to make the box stable without a top or bottom. I took several pieces of the twine they gave me, it was practically the same thing as the garden twine I was used to and I tied it to two nails on one side of the outside of the box and draped the two strands down into the hole until they lay on the ground, then draped them on the other side where they also tied off. “And now we just stuff it,” I said throwing in the first several handfuls of straw, it didn't take long for the box to fill up. “When it gets to full you compact it by getting inside and stomping it down flat,” I said as I stepped in and demonstrated, the full box went down to a compacted bundle of about a third its size, “and we just keep adding and compacting until there is no way we can compact any more we tie it off,” we were able to fit several loads in before I was unable to compact it anymore I tied it off and pulled out the bale.

It wasn't as rectangular or as tightly bound as a machine bale but it was a pretty decent rectangle and it would stack well enough. I showed them how it was easier to carry them and before I knew what was happening they had gone and constructed another one and we were cranking out bales of hey in record time. When all the bales were made we carried them up to the loft and I nodded in satisfaction at the much neater stacks of hay that now lined a wall on one side of the loft.

“Thank you for the ride,” I said offering my hand first to Tovold then to Haldor.

“Thank you for the help and for showing us these bales, and this baler.” He said as his son moved to load up one of the balers. It looked like the other one was going to be staying here with Hrofdaal.

“It really was no problem,” I said, and it really wasn’t, it hadn't taken me more than twenty or thirty minutes to make the first box and show them how to use it and if it made their lives easier then that was good with me. “Hey, quick question,” I said as I brushed an errant strand of hay off of my shirt. “Can you point me to the inn?” There was no answer for a period so I looked up and all three of them were looking at me like I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. “What?” I asked.

“There is no inn, Vessimir is not that big,” Haldor explained. “The only inns I know of are in the largest cities.” That actually made sense, unfortunately. After all, Darby hadn't had any hotels or motels or anything, and it was a community of like 900. It would appear that Dnd and fantasy, in general, had led me astray here, thinking any and every settlement that people lived in would have an inn. It also lead to a rather unfortunate problem, after all, what exactly was I supposed to do now? If there were no inns available where then was I going to sleep?

“If you are looking for a place to sleep I would be more than happy to have you stay at our place,” Hrofdaal offered, “We have more than enough room even with Haldor and Tovold staying with us, really.” I looked at him and somehow it didn't seem as though he was being condescending or anything, in fact, the way he said it made it sound like this was a normal everyday occurrence for him.

“I think I’ll have to take you up on that offer,” I said.

“Good!” He said with a loud voice and a big smile, “It is getting late, perhaps we should head inside and see if Ylva and Myvra have made dinner yet.” I glanced up at the sky and realized he was right. While we had been working the sun had sunk low and the sky was shading towards evening. I followed the three of them to the house and stepped inside after them.

The outside looked like all the buildings in Vessimir, with the long wood planks that were chinked with a mortar-like substance. It was a low squat building boosted no windows, and yet it was still exceptionally well lit, likely due to the central fire pit that ran the length of the room, the curb of which was built up to just above my knee’s height. Two large timbers stood on either side and between them hung a third over the fire from which several smaller woodland creatures smoked.

This central hearth looked to be the thing that provided heat, light and judging by the clay pots that stood on long legs over the coals, a cooking surface. Inside were two people, both of whom were working on dinner. As we entered both of them looked up and the older of the two smiled a beatific smile. She was in her forties if I had to guess, but it didn't look like the time had weathered her down too bad, sure she had crows feet, likely a result of smiling like that all the time, but she still had this pleasant roundness that gave her a homely sort of beauty, she wasn't Holywood pretty, but somehow the more down to earth look she had made her all the more attractive. She dusted off her hands and came over, standing on tiptoes to give Hrofdaal a big kiss on the lips before coming over to hug both Tovold and Haldor.

She shared a family resemblance to Tovold, which explained to me how exactly this family unit was organized. After all, neither Tovold nor Hrofdaal had really antagonized each other like regular brothers did, so it made sense then that they were brothers-in-law. “Ylva, it is good to see you,” Tovold said with obvious affection as he held her at arm's length and looked her up and down. “You scared us half to death when we got word that you had taken ill, are you feeling better?”

“Yes, yes,” she said with a laugh as she pushed him away,” still have a dreadful cough but I am indeed doing better.” She turned to look at me and that smile was back in place. “But on to more important things we saw you lads working out there, and we saw someone new, will you be spending dinner with us, dear?” She asked but before I could answer Hrofdaal came up behind me and patted me on the shoulder. It looked like he had attempted to wrap his arm around my shoulder but seeing as I was a good six or seven inches taller than him this proved to be rather impossible.

“Drar be praised, I saw you were tall Erik but this just puts it into a whole new light,” he said looking up at me before turning to address his wife. “Yes, he will be eating and staying with us for the night, he comes from a land called Amrica-”

“America,” I corrected automatically, then wondered if I should have done that, after all, it was rather rude to correct someone like that.

“America,” he corrected and continued in stride. “And he has been quite helpful, he made what he calls a baler for us and it is rather ingenious, simple, but ingenious.” he sighed and shook his head. “Honestly the idea behind it is so simple I wonder at how we have never thought of it,” he sighed and kept talking. “Besides that, it will be interesting to hear of the news from abroad don’t you think?” She smiled and nodded her agreement.

“Well it is a pleasure to have you Erik, and you are more than welcome at our house.” She turned to the other woman, well, girl really, seeing as she couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen. “Myvra, be sure to stur that pottage, we don’t want it burning,” The girl looked up, her eyes slightly startled as thoughts she hadn't expected to be called out and nodded silently, her eyes met mine and I saw as her cheeks darkened and she quickly looked away. I apparently wasn't the only one who saw this either as it got a wry smile and a shake of the head out of Ylva. Myvra looked like the younger smaller version of her mother, her hair was long black and braided back from her face and she still had a bit of the roundness from childhood, but she was likely going to look almost identical to her mother one day. Both of them were wearing simple loden green dresses that were over what looked like off-white tunics or the sort. It was plain but like everything else, it had its charm.

“Come sit, we will get you fed,” Ylva said and I and the other men went and sat on the ledge of stone that curbed the fire. Dinner as it would turn out was a thick chunk of what looked like homemade wheat bread, on top of which a pea lintel-like soup was poured. I say soup but it honestly had the consistency of say, oatmeal or mashed potatoes and was not going to be making anything soggy in a rush. This was followed up with thick slabs of what looked and smelled an awful lot like salmon with a bitter sort of greenish sauce poured over it. All of which were served on wooden plates, and eaten with your fingers. As they were passed out everyone tucked into the meal and both Ylva and Myvra came to sit down and join us. There were only a few moments of silence before I broke it by thanking Ylva and Myvra for dinner.

“This is really good, thank you for the food.”

“Yes dear, there really is nothing better than hot food after a day of work,” Hrofdaal said as he stuffed another section of lentil-covered bread in his mouth and chewed. Ylva bowed her thanks and Myvra simply bowed her head in an attempt to hide the blush that seemed to renew itself on her face. We ate the rest of the meal in rather companionable silence, a silence only broken by the sounds of chewing and the occasional grunt of appreciation, this would have been awkward for me if not for the fact that no one else seemed to think it was out of the ordinary. This apparently was the cultural norm here. “Yes,” Hrofdaal said with a contented sigh as he placed his plate to the side. “That was excellent honey,” he turned to look at me. “So Erik, what are your plans? Are you going to stay in Vessimir for a time or are you planning on moving on soon?” He didn't ask it like he was trying to get rid of me, but rather as though he was generally curious.

“I have been traveling for quite some time now,” I said, being sure to keep to the story I had told Tovold. “I rather like it here I think, it would be nice to not have to be on the road day in and day out,” I answered, and found that to my surprise I wasn't against the idea at all, in fact, I was finding it to be rather exciting. “I wonder if there are any houses for sale in the area?” I asked, I had a good amount of coin, maybe not buying a house good but there was some coin there, I wondered if they do down payments here...

“Buying a house?” Tovold gave me a rather interesting look. “I don't know how America did things like this, but here we don’t buy houses, the land is owned by the Jarl, you partition for it, and he grants it on the condition that you make use of it and are an asset to the community, if you can make use of the land and pay the taxes then it is generally granted to you.”

“There is old Jhorm’s house, no one has been living in it since he passed away,” Hrofdaal said, “It would need some work, a new roof, some new chinking, but it is a house, of course before all of that you would need to have an interview with the Jarl, he receives partitions on the fifth day of every week, three days hence, if you are willing to help out around here you are free to stay until then,”

“Once again, I am grateful for your hospitality,” I said with a laugh, well, it looked like I was going to have to get ready for an interview with a Jarl...