“If I could have your attention,” Lorcan heard, and along with everyone else turned to see an older man rising at the head of their table.
As you all know, but some of you may not have fully thought through, this is a clan facility, not an army facility. You are all here as volunteers, you can walk away at any time.
Obviously you would pay a price for that. Not only would your family forfeit whatever fees they paid for your training, but the army does not look with favor at young couples who quit on their training camp.
Our evening assemblies will be informational. Tonight we will be talking about hoppers.
They were finally dismissed from assembly and, arm in arm, walked into the barracks. “Where is our room?” he asked Andreina.
“I don’t know, they didn’t tell me,” she said. It was a very strange building. Not a building, really, but a tent. A long tent, with a central hallway, and curtained off rooms to either side. “They put names up on the curtain, there,” she said. “I guess we just go along until we find ours.”
Indeed that was what the couples in front of them were doing, looking at each doorway and, eventually, going in. Finally, more than halfway down, Andreina saw theirs and pulled her husband in. “Oh, water!” she said. “Glorious!”
She quickly stripped off and began to wash. “Didn’t you get enough water today?” he asked.“You forget,” she said, “You had your swimming last. We had ours second. Since swimming I have climbed a cliff, which was a very dirty thing to do… my hair is just full of dust and things from the lasses in front of me.”
They were both soon washed and lay together on the floor, on the blankets arranged there. She noticed he looked uncomfortable. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“All these people,” he said.
“Oh, yes, you shop class people, each to their own room.”
“I shared a room with my siblings when I was young,” he said.
“And then had thine own.”
“Well, yes.”
“When thou wast what age?”
“When I passed my basic classes.”
She shook her head, “Which is all I had. Never had a room of my own. Started out with a bunch of us on a rug in my parents room, then we graduated to our own room. It helped when my older siblings moved out, of course, but there are still three after me.”
She saw him wrinkling his nose, “Smell getting to thee?” she asked. It was indeed a very strong combination of smells: the smell of whatever leather the tent was made of, the smell of the mattresses on the floor, the rather smoky lanterns and, of course, the smell of dozens of not well washed people.
Suddenly she caught a bright clean smell of tree needles and poked her head out the door flap. “Thou art in luck,” she said. “Someone is lighting scent candles. Want all of you poor middles to be able to sleep, I guess,” she said, snuggling up against him.
She knew what was really bothering him would be the sound. Every word anyone spoke in at least the nearest two rooms was audible. As would every rustle of the mattress all night. But she, at least, was used to it and knew that after the day she had had today she would be able to sleep. Hopefully her husband would too, or his restlessness might bother her.
He sat up and reached into his pack, and withdrew a book. Good, he would read for a while. That would no doubt help…
“I will now do our evening reading,” he said, and her eyes widened.
He grinned, “I found a Bible on Uncle Borron’s shelves,” he said. “I’m sure he will never miss it. You stated you wished to be religious.”
She stared, sure he was joking, but he began quietly reading, “In the beginning…”
She glanced at the wall next to them, wondering how the couple next door would react to this bizarre behavior. But they seemed to be busy talking about how the wife had done in the run… she had been one of the unfortunate lasses in the back of the pack and her husband was assuring her that she would no doubt lose weight and learn to run faster. And it sounded as if he would appreciate that.
And on the other side they probably couldn’t hear anyway. The lass there was telling stories about her travails of the day, using frankly blasphemous language, at which her partner was laughing and being almost as crude.
Well, to each their own, she thought, and lay back and listened.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von