A Simple Homestead - Jhonas

[Jhonas]

Immanis 5, Winter, Era XIII

The chill had penetrated deep into Jhonas's bones as he sat in the back of the carters wagon, his buttocks only partly cushioned by the load of turnips. He thrust his hands deeper into his armpits and drew his legs up tighter against him, as he watched the wilderness slowly go by. Eventually the landscape became slightly more familiar though he had only been here a few times in the past.

Long lazy summers spent on his uncles smallholding, dabbling his feet in the brook that ran beside the property hadn't prepared him for the realities of that property in the grip of winter. He realised that he'd allowed those memories to distort his judgement and perhaps he had jumped at the opportunity of taking over the property when his uncle had been taken ill and moved to the family near Mystique where the druids could help to heal him.

All to soon the landscape flowed into the sillouhettes that were etched in his memory and he jerked out of his reverie. "Down by those trees will be prefect and thanks again for the ride." He stretched his legs out, knees cracking and feeling the stiffness in the muscles. Rolling over, he rubbed at his bruised buttocks and dropped off the side of the wagon as it slowed to a halt. He grabbed the bags that he'd brought and dropped them off to the side, thanking and shaking hands with the carter.

The path, barely more than a goat trail up from the rutted track stretched off into the distance and he sighed, picking up the bags and then staggered and slipped up the hill and towards the tree line that hid the house. It was quite some time later that he made the final turn that revealed the cabin and he paused only briefly to regard it before trudging on and dropping the bags under the overhang of the thatched roof.

One of the neighbours had been keeping an eye on the place, he knew but even so when he pulled the wooden door open on its leather hinges, the farmyard smell that wafted out told him that his visits hadn't allowed much time to muck out the stall in which his uncles, no his, he corrected himself, cow stood. It regarded him from over the top of the partition that seperated the two halves of the cabin and lowed softly at him. A glance around the room confirmed something that he'd noticed on the way in, and that was that his uncles illness hadn't been the sudden onset that he'd been led to beleive. An air of neglect hung over the place and repairs that ought to have been done months if not seasons ago were clearly still waiting to be done. Out in the yard, the pen that had once held the cow during previous summers now stood in ruin with half the hurdles collapsed into the light snow that covered the ground.

Shaking his head, he walked past the cow and climbed the ladder into the loft space, sucking his breath at the revealed fodder, not enough to last this winter if he could judge and he forked down some into the waiting rack with the wooden hayfork. He watched the cow munch, knowing that he'd need to move it outside soon so that he could muck out the stall and got on with shifting the bags in. Reality was proving a great contrast to those memories of this place where his uncle had done most of the work allowing the boy to enjoy the country life, free of care, but it was his lot and a path that he'd chosed willingly.

[Jhonas]

Bags inside, Jhonas opened the shutter in the back wall, revealing a well remembered view over the trees beyond. The chill wind that whipped in through the gap was less welcome but the place needed some fresh air and in any case he needed some light so that he could make an inventory.

All of his uncles personal things and bedding had gone, much as had been expected, but then he had brought his own against that eventuality and he placed his bedroll where his uncles had always laid and unrolled it so that it too could air for it was damp from the travel. A broom overdue for remaking served to clear the debris that had accumulated on the packed earth floor and he flicked it out of the front door, tying the latter back. Over behind the cows stall, a few farm tools hung on their pegs and he inspected them carefully noting which would need repair, but he had little need of them just yet aside from the sythe and that he eyed warily, remembering his uncles warnings of just how dangerous it was. Of course he had little option but to try it out at some point for he needed to see if there was any more fodder that could yet be cut in the field, though it seemed a hopeless proposition.

More immediate concerns pressed him though and since sunlight currently shone down, he opened the stall door and let the cow out of the hut. It wasn't ideal, but while the weather held, best to let the creature forage for itself and so reduce the strain on the available fodder. With the cow out of the way he got down to the task of mucking out, though this was one task at least was amply familiar and he carried what he scraped off the floor round to the back of the hut and emptied it against the rear wall of the hut where it would provide warmth for the interior, and the added smell soon disappeared from his concious mind. He kept an eye on the cow as he worked, glad for the warmth that the exercise gave him, and that soon led him to the next task. Task led into yet more tasks and soon the list seemed to be overwhelming. Everyday duties even at this quiet time of the era were enough to keep him busy and yet there were also the other things that should have been done before. Soon perhaps he would be experienced enough that the tasks would be done more quickly, but for now even the most simple jobs seemed to take forever.