Demesne 315 - Sleep and Farming (Patreon)

Karina led the other children back to Shana's alcove as her friend went to talk to Lord Rian. Everyone was full and a little sleepy, but that wouldn't last. She was ready for that, however.

"All right!" Karina declared cheerfully, the way Lord Rian did. She even put a bit smile on her face. "Now, when everyone's done resting after lunch, we're all going downstairs to take care of the tubers and help with watering the farm plots!" There were groans. "Now, don't be like that! If the dragon hurt the crops outside, then all we'll have to eat is from the crops downstairs. What would you rather do, a little watering now, or having to try to catch more seals later because that's the only food we can get?"

"We just ate!" Riga complained.

"That's why it'll only be when you're done resting," Karina said. "So rest up! If anyone is all rested and starting to get restless, we'll go downstairs!"

There was another groan as everyone sat down on the floor and benches of the alcove. Other children were coming over, bringing their game boards or claiming the ones they'd left behind earlier. A bedroll had been unrolled in one of the niches in the thick stone wall that separated the alcoves, and Ateh Kayas was unrolling another one that Karina recognized as Shana's in the opposite niche.

Yoshka pouted when she saw the bedroll. "I'm not sleepy," she insisted.

"I know," Karina said, and she did. "But Shana needs to go to sleep so she can do Lady Binder things later tonight. If you want, you can just lie down until Shana falls asleep, then go back to playing. You know how Shana likes to sleep."

Yoshka's stubborn expression "Well… all right. If it will help Ateh Shasha sleep better…"

Ah, nice little sisters were all the same. And Yoshka was a little sister, even if her brother was still in River's fork with their parents. Karina really did need Shana to be comfortable enough to go to sleep, but Shana… well, she could fall asleep, but knowing how Shana had been like last winter when she'd stayed with them because the snow had been too thick for travel, Karina knew she slept—and woke—easier with her cousin near her.

Karina smiled and patted Yoshka's head. "You're a good little girl, Yoshka. I'm sure Shana is glad she has a cousin like you."

Yoshka… hesitated. Then, quietly, she said, "Shasha doesn't smile anymore. She hasn't smiled since mushka and dyadya went away."

Karina didn't correct her. She knew a lot of people who'd… went away, getting here. "I know. But we'll make her smile. She can't not smile forever." She made herself smile. "So when she gets back, be sure to smile too so that she knows what she's supposed to do."

Yoshka's sad face became happy as she smiled widely. That got her another headpat. "Good girl. Now, why don't we wait for Shana to come back from whatever she's talking about with Lord Rian?"

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When Shana came back, the alcove was full of children again, and Ateh Kayas was already asleep, a folded towel over her eyes and nose to block out the light as best as she could. Ateh Koyan was sitting on a stool, spinning thread on her distaff, helping keep an eye on the other children, though everyone was settled down at the moment. Lord Rian had told her that children rarely actually needed an adult to watch over them. It was more that it made adults feel better that children were being watched… by someone that wasn't them.

Beyond that… well, everyone knew what not to do so they wouldn't get in trouble, even if they needed to be reminded sometimes. So Karina was able to focus on getting Yrria and Tena comfortable. First she'd shown them where their packs were, and stayed back to let the two of them go through the packs to make sure nothing had been taken. Now she was getting them to at least relax and play. It had taken a while for the new children from River's Fork a while to feel safe, that their things wouldn't be stolen.

It was something she knew Shana felt bad about, that River's Fork had become like that. Even if only a few people had actually done it, it had happened enough that everyone had become afraid it would happen to them. Shana had even said that she'd once gone into her office and found someone had gone through it, even if nothing had been taken.

"Tah," Karina greeted. "Did you talk to Lord Rian?"

Shana nodded. "Yes. It was difficult, but I was able to convince him to rest. Ateh Mikon and Ateh Umu were very helpful in getting him to agree." At the mention of her cousin, Ateh Koyan looked up briefly, but went back to her spinning. "I should have more than two hours to sleep, by the water clock Lord Rian had filled, but knowing him, I probably have a little more than that."

"Do you want me to wake you?" Karina asked.

Shana shook her head. "No, let Lord Rian have his little lapse. At the latest, I should wake up for dinner, at which point we will speak, and he will go to sleep properly."

Karina nodded approvingly. Since Shana had been the first to wake up and warn them about the dragon coming, it was only fair she get to sleep first.

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Shana's face was different when she was asleep. When she was awake, she tried to look like Wiz Lori most of the time, so she made that face that was like the face Wiz Lori made. When she slept, however, that went away, and there was only Shana's real face, which always looked lost. Like she was trying to go somewhere, but didn't know where it was.

Lying down with Yoshka on the unrolled bedroll inside the niche in the alcove, she and Shana looked more like sisters than cousins. The two were sharing a pillow and a thick blanket was haphazardly covering them, more to block drafts than to keep them warm, as the two slept with Yoshka pressed again her cousin's side.

Despite how everyone nearby wasn't making any effort to be more quiet, the two had fallen asleep quickly enough. Still…

"All right everyone," Karina said, trying to be heard without being too noisy. "Since it sounds like you're all well rested, it's time to go downstairs."

"Aw…"

"No!"

"We're still tired!"

Karina stood there with her arms crossed listening to all the complaints long enough to let them know they heard but not long enough for the uncles and aunties to get involved, beyond Ateh Koyan sighing and starting to put way her distaff, giving Karina a slightly annoyed look. Then she clapped her hands loudly, like she'd learned from seeing Lori Rian do it. "See? Well rested! Now everyone, come on, let's all go down and give everything that needs it a watering. The sooner we all go down, the sooner we'll be done and we can take a bath!"

There was a stir of interest at the word 'bath'. While Karina could remember a time not even two years ago where she'd bathed at most once a week, more often once every two, nearly everyone bathed every day her in Lorian Demesne. Even with the warm water in the baths, the feeling of the water was refreshing in the summer. Looking around at everyone's hair, Karina knew no one had managed to take a bath yet.

She clapped her hands again. "Come on everyone. Let's go down so that when we're done, we can all take a bath."

No one cheered when she said it, not like how they did what it was Lord Rian talking, but despite the grumbling, all the older children started to push themselves up reluctantly. They knew how this worked. Either they contributed a little work every day, helping with chores, sweeping the house, or in this case, helping take care of the dungeon farm's crops. They were all growing older, after all. Almost too old to be considered children.

Even by Wiz Lori.

Karina led the way downstairs, knowing they were following her. Sure, they would grumble and complain, but in the end… she wasn't actually making them do this. They chose to do this themselves, probably because, like her, they felt restless and simply running around and yelling would get them scolded. Whenever she felt restless, she did something to catch or grow more food for everyone, and there was always something like that to do.

They reached the bottom of stairs, and around them, the smell of soil, the stink of fertilizer, and the rank smell of water that had been a little filtered through both filled the air. Despite complaints, they all got to work. Big Yerart went to the arrangement of ropes and levers they used to pull up water from the cistern where the irrigation water drained to from all the farming plots. The number of those had grown since Wiz Lori had first made them, though the heights of all the crops weren't all the same since they were planted at different times.

"All right, Yhalta, Bhar, you two come with me to check and water the tubers," she called out since they were closest. "Everyone else, do a lane of crops, and make to do all of them, all right? Be careful of the pink lady saplings—"

"We knowKarina, stop nagging!"

Everyone for from the bucket of watering dippers—the notches on the handle differentiated it from the bathing dippers, and all the other dippers they used in the demesne—and then lined up to get buckets from those Big Yerart were filling from the cistern. The girls in the group, Karina among them, girded their skirts to keep them from getting splashed by the smelly water, while some of the boys rolled up their trouser legs.

Karina waited her turn to get a bucket, picking it up carefully so it wouldn't spill and made her way towards the tuber planters. Bharelli was already there, carefully looking at the soil of around each tuber plant in the plot in front of her before using her dipper to splash water on the tubers. They exchanged nods as Karina moved past, getting started checking the next tuber planter. The stone box held water very well, not letting it leak out, so they had to be careful not to drown the tubers or else they’d go rotten. So Karina checked the soil, then took the handle of her ladle and pushed it down into the corner of the planter until she hit rock at the bottom, testing how wet the wood was when she drew it out.

Soon Yhalta arrived, and the three of them began to quickly go down the tuber planters. They’d all done this before in the past year, so they all knew what to do. Karina hummed as she worked, falling into the familiar, satisfied feeling of knowing what she was doing would help ensure people didn’t go hungry.