Dark Age Maiden

Trying to make it right. Carina is not pleased

        The next evening Uberto, Guy, Wotano and Carina met at the stable. They readied their horses, mounted, went out the gate and rode the short distance to Coco's house. As they pulled up, his door opened and Coco stepped out. He greeted them with a look of puzzlement.

        "Coco, we came to fix your house," said Uberto, still on his horse. He dismounted and greeted him, telling him more about what they were planning to do.

          Carina dismounted also and walked past Uberto and Coco. The men were standing outside the house talking, and Carina knocked on the partially opened door. A voice answered her knock, and Carina went inside and saw the young woman and her child. "We came to help," Carina said, pointing toward the men outside the house.

        Asara stepped forward and opened the door wide enough to look. She saw the four men standing outside talking. She turned back to Carina and lifted her hands in a gesture showing she did not understand.

        Carina pointed toward the lopsided walls and the ceiling of the house, and showed with her hands how they hoped to straighten the dwelling.

      Asara nodded and repeated her gestures showing she understood. The two women and daughter went outside and watched the men who were already tying ropes to the house. They next removed the branches Coco had added to protect the exposed side of the dwelling. Four horses, including Coco's, were readied, and a signal was given for them to begin pulling. The house didn't budge.

        Undaunted, they added Carina's horse, Callista, to the lineup and on signal pulled again. This time the house shook but still didn't budge. Already, the horses were sweating from straining at the ropes. Halting their pulling, the men discussed what else could be done. They decided to tie the two ropes from each side of the house together, attach them to two stout poles, and position them across the front of two sets of horses, with Carina and her animal having a separate rope attached at a  point between the others. Then, with two men and Carina driving the horses forward, the others would push from the other side of the dwelling.

        On signal, they began. The house at last began to move from where it was lodged, and the raised side finally came down. They cheered their success, and immediately the women and the child went inside to check the condition of the interior.

        They were relieved to find, except for a few things that had fallen, there was no damage. Asara thanked Carina with a hug and a look of immense gratitude, and Mora, following her mother's example also gave Carina a hug around her legs. Carina knelt down and embraced the little girl. Then she held her at arms length. Mora smiled at Carina who said to her, "Mora, you are a delightful little girl."

        The child, of course, didn't know what Carina was saying, but on leaving her she spun around in a circle and then stopped, holding onto her mother's leg while she looked unblinkingly at Carina.

        Asara reached into a small leather bag, and then extended her hand toward Carina. Carina looked at the object laying in her open palm. It was a beautiful quartz crystal, six sided, clear, and pointed at one end. She realized it must have been one of the few, possibly the only beautiful object Asara owned, and she nodded her head no.

        Asara lowered her head and extended her hand further toward Carina, making it clear she wanted her to have it. Carina hated to do it, but didn't want to hurt Asara's feeling, so she at last took it from her. Asara smiled. The two women and Mora then stepped outside.

        The men had cut down a stout sapling and were tying it to the tree that had initially prevented the house from blowing over completely. Then they fastened it to the house.