Comings

by Donna and Abby

Over at the Singing Creek camp, Nightwind and Echo were settling in. Echo was quite a different sort of girl than anyone – including Coltec – had ever experienced. But he soon learned her ways, such as they were, and did not question her peculiarities. 

She was called Echo because she had excellent hearing, but she was also a mimic, and repeated everything that was said to her. Coltec wondered if she had an original thought of her own, so consistently did she repeat what was said to her. When she spoke at all.  She smiled almost constantly, in a child-like, innocently trusting way, but reverted to sharp fits of anger when touched or forced to do what she did not
want to do. Coltec was glad that she did not like to be touched, for her early warning system of screaming was sure to scare off any would be lover wanting to misuse her condition.

Coltec thought of her as a child, with a woman’s body, and this was worrisome. She wore nothing but a faded white buckskin dress, with nothing underneath, and she
was none too careful of the way she sat while wearing it. And that reminded him of something else that worried him, as well; he was at a loss over how to deal with it.

Soon upon her arrival, Echo found the pups that Shiloh’s husky Juneau had had with the deaf wolf owned by one of the Edan policemen. The dogs were really too wild to make good pets in the city, but they roamed Singing Creek Camp and would be taken on hunts when they were older. Echo seemed to form an instant bond with these pups, and almost became as one of them.

One of the braves, Nakoma, also had a way with animals, and seeing the way Echo was with the pups, often took her to see some of the wild animals and birds around the camp that were his friends. He was very careful not to touch her, or to agitate her in anyway, and Nightwind and Coltec were pleased that she had another protector. Echo loved this, of course, and chatted with the birds and animals in their native tongue, which impressed him greatly. But she was only really close to the wolf/husky pups. 

Coltec wondered if she were too close. “What do you think, Nakoma?” he asked his new friend. “She is a child in an adult body. The dogs sniff and lick her as their own. Should we stop it? She allows no human to touch her, but with the dogs she is a bit too free with her person.”

Nakoma shrugged. "Perhaps one day there will be a man that she will allow to touch her. But for now, the animals give the companionship she will not accept from us."

“He will have to be a special man,” said Coltec with a worried sigh.

***

Brother Cadfael followed Prior Paul and Brother Paul into the guesthouse, where the two women were set before a fire. Ngai did not seem to want to be too close to the flame, and twitched under the heavy woolen robe they had given her to cover her nudity.  The other, as yet unnamed girl, sat easily, comfortable in or out of clothing. She watched Cadfael come in, then turned her eyes to the other brothers, several of whom were watching her intently.

One of them, Brother Duncan, was suddenly very much aware that he had not been with a woman in the year that he had been on Edan. Living with a bunch of monks definitely had drawbacks!

And he was not the only one. Brother Timon, sitting beside Duncan now, seemed to have the very same thought, as the two lay-monks squirmed a little in their cowls.

Cadfael noticed it, and so did the girl. But so did Prior Paul. When told of the girls’ insistence on staying, Ngai to help Cadfael, and Sabrina (that was her name!) to live in one of the small cottages within the walls of the abbey, he stopped the other monks’
objections with a wise eye to Duncan and Timon.

Both men could be trusted to be discreet, and now that there was a way for them to possibly release some of their pent up needs, they would stay with them. Even though they had not taken the vows, the rest of the brothers still considered them part of them, and did not want to lose them to the outside world.

Cadfael was thinking the very same, and was hoping the Prior would grant this – not because the women were a treat to look upon, but because they had a very limited number of brothers within the abbey’s walls.  If Duncan and Timon, and even Brother Kalas, though it was doubtful in his case, should leave the monastery for the secular life, it would be the two Pauls and himself to run the entire place!

It was no surprise at all when both Duncan and Timon volunteered to get one of the cottages set up for the newcomers. "We want to make you as comfortable as possible," the Highlander told the girls, the spark of intense interest in his eyes plain to see.

“The one will be staying at the herb garden hut,” Cadfael said quickly, then added, to everyone’s mutually raised eyebrows, “While I continue to sleep in the dortoir!”

The look of pure joy on the lay brothers’ faces was unmistakable! That meant Sabrina would be living alone in her cottage!

And it was as it should be. Because these men had not taken any vow of chastity, and as long as they were not overt about it, it was clear that Sabrina had been sent into their midst to keep them happily behind abbey walls.

***

Tadgh McCabe went running toward the edge of the cliff, but not to hurt himself. His father was driving their herd of cattle toward the edge, and he had to stop him! But it was too late, and even as his father saw what was happening and shouted, “STOP!” the first cow hit Tadgh and sent him hurling over the edge to his doom on the rocky surf below.

But no! Tadgh sat up, and looked around. No longer did he see the wild Irish coastline, and the cliffs above. The cows were there, but all alive! How could this be?

One of them paused in its grazing nearby, and gave him a leisurely lick with its long tongue before going back to searching for more of the meadow grass hidden below a blanket of leaves. As he looked around in confusion, not understanding what had happened at all, he saw a man standing at the edge of the trees, watching him. He was dressed in animal skins, and his long black hair was done up in braids. 

"Are you all right?" he called out, in a voice that sounded vaguely British.

“Aye,” he said almost stubbornly. “Who are you,” he went on in a rather thick Irish brogue, “and why are you dressed that way? Even Tinkers don’t dress like that!”

"My name is Archie. Archie Grey Owl. I am a member of the Indian tribe at Singing Creek Camp," he said as he walked up to the lad, offering his hand to help him to
his feet.

“But yer English.” Tadgh did not take the hand, either because it was connected to an Englishman, or because a real man needed no help in standing, he did not say. On his own feet at last, he stood a little stoutly, strong in body, but not, if Archie could
trust his own wits, in mind.

The half-breed shrugged. "My father was," he told him. "Are these cattle yours? There is a farm near by that we can take them to, where they will be well taken
care of. Are you hungry or injured? Our camp is nearby."

“They are me dah’s,” Tadgh said. “He held stock in the land. I didn’t.” He looked around. “Where is Katie? I wanted no land, just Katie, the Tinker’s daughter.”

"I know of no one named Katie," Archie said gently. "Come with me. Perhaps we shall find her."

A Tinker was much like a gypsy, and perhaps Katie could be found there, but first the young man was taken in to the Singing Creek Camp. He was tired and wet and hungry, and very confused, his own wits being somewhat less than other men’s. He had not exactly been abused as a child, but had grown to manhood under the shadow of his older brother’s suicide, which had caused his parents to stop talking to each other for
nearly 20 years! The father, hoping to replace the lost son with the remaining one, had stressed the manly arts as being more important than anything else, and this had made him fairly belligerent.

The members of the camp treated him gently and with respect, taking care of his needs and ignoring his comments. During all this, Nightwind expected Echo to stand well away, but she was surprised to see the girl coming up with a warm blanket.

Perhaps there was something of an animal in him, too, that drew her. Tadgh followed her hungrily with his eyes, for she was a very pretty girl, but when he tried to reach out to detain her, she whimpered and pulled away, not quite starting to scream, but clearly not ready for physical contact. “What’s wrong with ‘er, then?” asked the new arrival.

"She does not like to be touched," Nakoma told him. "Talk to her in a quiet voice, and she will respond better. Loud noises make her nervous." 

Tadgh nodded, but clearly did not understand. "Where's this Tinker camp? Lord willin' my Katie will be there, an' we can get married. Have sons."

"There is a gypsy camp not far from here," Archie told him. "But I know of no girl named Katie there. If you like, in the morning we can go there."

"Well, he wasn't here yesterday," Wolf noted hopefully.

While he was being taken care of, Trapper and Joseph went back to the grazing cows, and then herded them toward the nearest farm where they would be taken care of. Since Waneta and Hudson were considered part of the camp’s family, they saw no problem sending the herd to them. Surely the animals would share grazing
land between the camp and the nearby farm.

Tadgh did not much care what happened to the cows, though they were his only remembrance of his father.  It depended on whether he found Katie, and if he would
be staying on in the gypsy camp. "How do they get on there?" he asked. "As Tinkers, always movin' on?  Should I present them with a bull to show I mean well?"

"They are camped between the fort and the town," Wolf told them. "I'm sure they wouldn't turn down a bull if you offered it to them."

Tadgh smiled gratefully, secure in his manhood if he could provide for a bride with one of the bulls Fate had seen to send with him. Happily, and blissfully innocent, he settled in for the night, with his next day’s business assured.