A Quiet Winter

1205, Winter

He commented on the changes since his last visit, starting with the guest house! The village was growing, he saw, and nodded with approval when introduced to Klaus, the tailor and furrier who had moved into the village in the summer; the magi and grogs were much better dressed and even some of the peasants had new clothes.

He was a little trepidatious when he met Alain; the Crusader might have felt a duty to arrest him as a heretic. Alain did not however, and soon Antoine was joining Alain and Lilia in their learned discussions. Alain was living in a small wooden house made by Phillippe. His presence had galvanized many of the grogs who were always badgering him to help them train. Conrad in particular idolized the older man, and wanted to hear stories of the Crusades and learn how to fight with a greatsword - which he confided, he one day wished to acquire.

Not all the changes were so visible to the outside observer, even one as familiar as Antoine. Leporideas was not living under the lake with rest of the magi, and no one was quite sure where he was living. Phillipe had made him some roof supports, though, and Osprey told Etienne one night that he suspected Leporideas had dug himself a rabbit hold somewhere. This suspicion was strengthened because Leporideas had borrowed Osprey's lab for the autumn and come out with a Torch of Sweet Air, which he took out through the Hermes Portal and which did not return.

Lemain had been fitting himself into the life of the Covenant, but unlike Leporideas, he rarely ventured out from the Underlake. He had decided where his lab was to me, marking it a very fine sculpture carved out of the rock with his magic; most of those who dwelt Underlake had at some time or other come across him digging in the rock with his bare-fingers to make the sculpture. The sculpture marked out what would be the door, and was in the shape of a two-headed serpent facing itself across the top of the doorway. Somewhere above the serpents there must be a small leak in the cavern walls, for the fangs slowly dripped water.

Antoine christened the new babies in the village and solemnized a few marriages, before settling in for the winter. Everyone bundled up against the cold and ventured outside only when they needed to. Near Christmastime, illness struck the village. Many of the peasants fell sick and Antoine stirred himself to minister to them as well as he could. Somewhat to the surprise of the magi, the Priest's prayers proved efficacious in many cases. However, two girls of the village succumbed, a ten year old daughter of one of the fishermen and Alianne, Conrad's sister. Their bodies were laid in a shed, as usual, until the ground should thaw enough to bury them.

Despite the deaths, the Christmas season was joyous as Antoine preached on the reward the girls would receive in heaven. Conrad remained disconsolate, and threw himself into his work with renewed vigor.

Lilia spent much of her winter with Alain, discussing the enhancement of the library to include non-magical tomes. She particularly wished for history and lore of Lakehome and its surroundings. It seemed to her that Lakehome, both magic and mundane, was growing by leaps and bounds and would be well served by a good reference collection and some history and lore of the area. Lilia and Alain took stock of their personal collections and made a list of manuscripts they wished to have. Lilia took some time composing messages to her pigeon pen pals looking for assistance in locating various books.

She took special care in constructing a cordial, breezy letter of greeting to the Bishop. She had some worry over drawing his attention, but in the end, calculated that she would be better directing correspondence than attempting to hide from him altogether. She told him of her wish to build a library, and of her other winter activities -- helping in the kitchen and stitching tapestries in the evenings to provide warmth and beauty to her surroundings.

"Surely," she thought, "even the Bishop cannot take exception to library and tapestry work."