When Given a Lemon

Part 23

Walking up the path, we made good time since we are not bombarded with anything other than the cold draft. Once we get there, we work as quickly as we can to finish filling up the last bin. We’ve long ago finished harvesting and hauling the stone and were just trying to get the last of the material shaped and smoothed out into good projectile material. Saiya and Denyel got here even earlier than we did and were working alongside a few of the locals, each fashioning stone up into a good shape.

Most of the villagers don’t really talk to us, but they work side by side with us without issue and don't seem cold or unfriendly, just somewhat quiet folk. Not that I minded, it kinda added to the peaceful atmosphere here.

I have to admit, as tedious and arduous as this has been, I can't deny how nice it has felt to leave the camp every day doing something different, that doesn't involve bugs or hunting or training.

After watching us work through the day without food the first day we arrived at work, they’ve been feeding us a midday meal, which has been pretty nice. Fresh bread rolls and runny cheese mixed with herbs they grow in one of their sheltered gardens and dried or candied fruits and sweetmeats. It's probably some of the tastiest food I have had in a long time; different from the herbs available in my own home town.

Today they supplied us with a local mead along with our meal that was sweet and floral, and incredibly satisfying.

Afterward we finished up our work, getting done a few hours earlier than we had the previous days. We had already finished hauling the carved rock so most of today had been spent helping shape and polish the rest of them. In the end we even cleared away the debris for them, Denyel doing the final sweep up of the courtyard to ensure we were done.

I wonder what they will use this space for in the future –until the day they need it for cutting more rocks again. I imagine what they might have used it for before this, because I doubt deadly sphere throwing is what it had originally been built for.

We each rinse off our hands and faces before we go, saying goodbye to the locals that had worked with us, even shaking callused hands with some.

After several days of this repeated hard work, I feel leaner, stronger, and maybe even with a little more endurance than before. I look at my cracked palms, wondering if any of what we had accomplished will make any difference at all if I get sent out to an actual battlefield.

Mine aren't the only ones that look like this. All of our hands are a bit roughed up and we are covered in dust and scratches from the work. I find myself dusting off my thighs and jacket over and over as we head back to camp for a final time, keeping strictly to the path as we have ever since the Captain told us to.

“Dusty work but it sure beats our main priority of hunting for some giant creature hell bent on eating you.” Bill laughs. I do as well, happy to be done even if a little sad at the same time.

During this time I feel like we’ve all gotten a lot closer.

Saiya, who likes to hum while she works, to tunes no one recognizes because she’s from further out than the rest of us where many of their nursery rhymes and even folklore differ. My Nan would love to hear some of the stories she’s told. Denyel still doesn’t speak but we’ve become more accustomed to what his body language expresses. Bill is the one who likes to tell stories the most because he has been to far more places than the rest of us and hopes to one day explore every part of the unknown sea before retiring to write a book about it.

I smile complacently as we descend from the hill the village is perched on, thinking I'm pretty lucky to have a squad like this rather than being stuck with people like the ones who had done and said unkind things before. Not to mention that none of these lot have ever tried to kill me, though Lemon often likes to add yet.