Another Time, Another Place

By: Jessica Jay

“What is the beauty in dying for another? The broken hearts left behind, the pain, the anguish of a sacrifice. Know that it is much better to live for your sacrifice. For in the grave where you will be going there is neither pain nor joy, hope nor despair, and your hands will find nothing to change.” –Lord Trapesial, when speaking to the assembly.

-x-Part Three-x-

Months went by one after the other, and every night Trese would watch the moon, marking how it light to dark and appeared again. Ever the same. Ever changing. She was home and after the first few weeks it felt as if she never left.

Sometimes her father or brothers would absently hug her to their side, or her mother would pat her face and kiss her forehead, but altogether, she was home for good. Shallow calmed as well, and soon people stopped madly waving to her whenever she left the house. Soon the entire world had gone back to being very normal.

She found herself feeding chickens one cold winter morning and realized that it had been an entire year since they had returned. More than a year, actually. She turned to Tam, who was searching for eggs in the hay.

“Did you know it’s been a whole year since Litny brought us back?”

He nodded before squatting to get one he had spied. “Shael was saying this morning. Him and Noa are getting the carpenters a Midwinter present ready.”

“What? A present?” She dropped the last of the feed and suddenly had a swarm of chickens pecking at her feet. Tam hurried over, holding his shirt out with one hand so not to hurt his sling of eggs, and he helped her step out and away. “What sort of present?”

“Oh, just some pickled food. Noa made a lace ribbon for the little barrel though.” He looked up at her and grinned, showing off the horde of eggs he had in his sling. Trese and her younger brother Tam had looked like twin siblings before she had disappeared, and she was sad to see how much taller than him she had grown in just a few months. She was more womanly now, and Tam was still just a child.

As they shut the coop up again, keeping out the terrible winter cold, Trese turned round and was butted into the snow. Yelping, she swung her hands to catch herself and sputtered as she tried to get back up. Michael bleated over her, nudging at her shoulder and begging for attention.

“Michael!” She scolded.

“Papa!” Tam went running immediately for the barn as Michael began nibbling leftover bits of chicken feed from her apron. “The goat got out again!”

Trese sighed, reaching for Michael’s stomach and shaking it. “Oh look how fat you’ve become! That’s no good, little piggy.” Even teasing she was secretly relieved. The winter before, when he had been separated from her to sleep in the barn, he had had terrible distemper and Gideon even told her he would probably die. She hugged him, remembering staying up in the barn with him until she fell asleep almost every night. She gave her family such a difficult winter…

“Damn nuisance!” Her father grumbled, trudging out of the barn to come get her goat. She grinned, leading Michael by the horn.

“I’ll shut the gate tighter this time.” She promised. Her father gave her a level look, crossing his arms as she walked past.

“There hasn’t been a gate invented to hold that goat in.”

“At least he doesn’t try to run away.” She smiled again when her father’s hand thumped on top of her head, an affectionate rub and then he hugged her.

“He’d run right inside up the stairs to mommy’s bed if we let him.” And then they both laughed because they knew it was true. The warmth of the barn beckoned them, and Trese gratefully smelled all the scents of their animals. The horses and cows, the oxen and pigs, and in the very back of the stable was a space just for Michael since they certainly couldn’t keep him with the nanny goats.

Shael waved to her as she walked by, standing up to shake his head and stare at the goat. “How did he get past us? Clever things, nomad goats.” He spared a moment to pat Michael’s head and feed him some of the fresh straw. Trese smirked as he did it, feeling happy that no one got upset about him escaping anymore. In the beginning she thought that they would make her sell him for all the trouble he caused.

“Do you want to come with us later?” He called, wiping off his fingers one by one on his handkerchief. Trese locked the gate behind Michael, rattling it herself and seriously wondering how he managed to get out every time.

“With you where?”

“Noa and I were going to bring a midwinter gift to the carpenters. You know, since we didn’t have a chance to give them anything last year.” Trese just stared at him, surprised that Tam had been telling the whole truth. Shael made a frowning face and shrugged when she didn’t answer. “It was Noa’s idea. I thought you’d want – ”

“Alright.” She nodded, feeling more excited about it as she did. “I should make something for Litny too, shouldn’t I? It is midwinter afterall…”

“What about the other one? Bard? You know, he took the punishment for losing both of you. I think he deserves something this holiday as well.” He followed her up out of the barn, taking a moment to hug her before they came to the house. That was always Shael, he had things he knew about and he was always pointing out the little things that Trese missed. Like he wanted her to always seem a better person than she really was, his advice was almost always right.

Coming out from the house they met Gideon on the path. He passed with a grim smile and a nod that turned Trese’s head around to watch him go.

“Looks serious.” Shael watched as well, and then he shrugged. “Gideon is going to be as grey as Da before long.”

“Is he? Why?” She hurried to catch up, wrenching her eyes away from her eldest brother.

“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about Trese.” He smiled again, the one that showed all of his teeth, and that only made her feel more suspicious. Shael was the most shameless liar she ever knew, but you would never catch him in one, no, since everything he said was an allusion to something else. They came inside only to be blasted by the voices of Noa and their mother shouting. Ah she suddenly understood. That’s what Gideon was grimacing about…

“Shael!” Noa shouted as soon as she laid eyes on him. “Come here! Talk some sense into your mother!” The kitchen was a mess. The dried herbs had been knocked from the ceiling and flour was still settling over everything. The pot of porridge from breakfast was overturned, spilling an almost motionless puddle of the stuff over the floor boards. And in the middle of all that Noa and their mother were having a mighty spat. Noa looked like an angry crow, her glossy black hair stuck out from its binds and framed the frustration on her face. She was alive and fuming, while their mother stood like a stony wall, her great arms crossed and her jaw set.

Quick as she could Trese excused herself and fled outside before Shael and Noa dragged her into the argument. Always fighting! She hopped down the steps, shaking her head. Mother and Noa were like flint and steel. There were so many sparks between them that most of the family had learned to find chores to be done when something caught fire.

“Are they going at it?” Tam asked, obviously hiding around the house.

“Truly.” She gave a grim nod, dropping down to sit beside him. “I wish they would stop it.”

“Shael says it’s because Noa’s mother was sickly. She’s used to being in command.”

Tam’s imitation of their older brother made her giggle, and she slapped both hands over her mouth before she could laugh any louder.