24. Settled

I spend the next morning unpacking and the next few days getting familiar with the town. 

I didn’t bring much. My clothes in the wardrobe, grooming things in the bathing room and that’s about it. I’ve brought knickknacks as the children’ve made for me over the years and place these about the smial. The family portrait that was done at the last Free Fair goes in the parlor over the mantle. The hall gets all the small ones, which I arrange into a family tree without thinking. 

After elvenses I get out to see the town. It’s small but has most of the essentials, and anything else could be got from the city. There’s a fish market and a small dock. There’s a spot for folk to bring their garden harvests. Seems as everyone has planted different things, so there’s a good variety. A few others who live near the woods have fruit trees and I get myself an apple. It’s odd not to offer money or anything in exchange for it, but I remember the berry-laden bushes in my own garden. I’ll cut those tonight and bring them down tomorrow.

There’s a post office and even an inn. There’s a communal oven for baking bread and for preparing feasts. Most everything else you need could be found by knocking on doors and finding out what the person there enjoys indulging themselves in. There’s a chap as sews things, a lass who paints and weaves, a carpenter eager to make whatever you wish, and on and on. It takes me several days to get comfortable with the idea, but then there’re folk knocking on my door, drawn by the smell of cobblers, pies and biscuits. 

That’s when I understand it: we’re just one large family providing for each other. 

GF 9/29/12

To be continued...