Learning a Trade

By Donna and Ev

It was time for Carol's midwife and neighborly gossip session and after Katherine fed her baby, she loaded her into her comfortable traveling basket which she carried out to the cart that John had hitched up for her.  "I'll be back in time for lunch," she told him, giving him a tender kiss and hug.  He boosted her up into the cart and then slapped the horse she was driving on the butt, sending it at a smart trot down the road.

Pascal knew this was the day Kat would be over for Carol's visit, so he made sure he was around the house.  He was doing the heavy work for Carol's fabric dyeing.  There was a lot of water to haul and bags of herbs to carry.  It was very important to him to take care of her, as well as to be there when Kat arrived. 

When he heard the clatter of hooves on the lane leading to their house, he rushed outside to help her.  "Le bon matin, Pascal!  Comment est-ce que vous êtes aujourd'hui?" she greeted him in his native language.  One of the things he enjoyed the most about her visits was that she was fluent in French.

Pascal smiled and went to help her.  "Le bon matin, Kat.  Je gère pour rester sans ennui, Carol qui aide avec son tissu qui teint ce matin.  Vous me permettre d'aider avec cela."  He couldn't resist giving her a bit of a hug as he helped her down from the cart. 

"Sure Pascal!  You can carry in this basket," she said in response to his offer of help. "I brought a lot of things that I have found in the woods that can be used for making dye for the wool."

"Carol will like this.  She found a..."  he sighed and searched for the exact term.  "I think she said dyer's garden.  Today we are using the indigo. Very blue!"  He held up his hands, which were very definitely bluer than usual.  "Takes time to wash off." 

Katherine laughed as she picked up the basket with her sleeping baby in it.  "That it does!  I like that shade of blue.  I might have her do some yarn for me."

He smiled and let Dani come and take care of the horse and cart while he led Katherine inside.  "We have much yarn.  More to spin, too.  Marie says I am good at it.  Lots of practice when I broke my leg." 

Carol looked up from the pot she was stirring.  "Hi, Kat!  Isn't this just the most beautiful shade of blue?  I'm having fun with this!"  Then she noticed the baby.  "Oooh!  How is she doing?" 

"Growing like a weed!" Katherine said proudly. "The docs are really pleased with her weight." She looked at Carol with a practiced eye.  "You have put on a fair amount this month, haven't you?"

"I don't have a scale here, but everything's getting tighter."  Carol sighed.  "I know it's supposed to, but it feels kind of.... strange, I guess."

"It does," Katherine chuckled.  "I stayed the exact same weight for over 400 years!  According to Connor, I'm still *rounder* than I was before I got pregnant."

Pascal chuckled.  He couldn't resist a comment.  "In all the right places, chere."  

Marie chose that moment to come in and overhear him and give  him a swat on the arm.  "Brat!"  She turned and smiled.  "Hi!  I thought I heard you out here.  Would you like some rose hip tea?  We found whole hedges of the right kind of roses and gathered a lot this fall.  I still miss coffee, but this stuff isn't too bad." 

"Never got into coffee myself," Katherine said as she sat down beside Carol.  "Give me a good cup of tea anytime!  Speaking of tea, I  brought you some more of the Red Raspberry tea.  It's one of the best herbs there are for pregnant and nursing women."

"Thanks!  I kind of like it and it's nice to have something hot to drink this time of year.  And, by the way, I'm working on the chocolate basil.  I think I may be able to make a passable hot chocolate drink from it, with a little more work.  Won't that be great?" 

Pascal made himself useful, putting cookies on a plate and bringing them out from the kitchen, so they wouldn't chase him away. 

"These look good!" Katherine said as she took some that he offered.  "Oh, if you get a chance, why don't you go over to visit Charity.  She would appreciate the company now that we have chained her to the bed for the duration."

Pascal's eyebrows rose and he grinned, but he said nothing.  It still earned him a giggle and another swat from Marie.

Carol rolled her eyes at him.  "Pascal, I know you didn't say anything, but you said it so *loud.*" 

He looked offended, but then asked why they would want to chain their neighbor to the bed.  "She almost went into early labor.  Not an uncommon thing when carrying twins!"

"Twins?  That is two babies, yes?"  He paused.  "She is all right?  You have herbs for that, too?"  He turned his gaze to Kat.  "You teach me more today?" 

"Yes, it is two babies!  Sam is delighted about it. Charity is too, although she isn't happy about being put on bed rest.  I have her on an herbal tonic that includes False Unicorn, Blue Cohosh, Wild Yam, Lobelia, Red Rasberry leaves, Bayberry, Catnip, Cayenne, Cramp Bark, and Black Haw.  It's amazing how many of the old herbs I have found growing here on Edan!"

"How can I learn this?"  Pascal didn't recognize a single name but raspberry in all the plants she had named.  "You learn this from a book?"

Carol smiled.  "He has been asking about herbs almost constantly.  The ones for cooking and dyeing he's learned pretty well now.  I think he's serious.  I'm impressed.  Really!"

"I can teach you, Pascal," Katherine told him, "But it is more than memorizing facts in books.  It is going out in the cold frosty mornings to gather an ingredient at just the right time.  It's searching for hours for one small plant.  Then you have to take them home and prepare them properly, or all that trekking through the woods was for nothing.  And then you have to learn how to give them to someone.  Not to mention, what you can and can't combine with them!  And how to test a new variety to see if it can be used for anything.  Interested?"

"Oui!  Yes!  I hear the doctors talking in town.  They say they need new medicine soon.  I want to help!  I want to learn!"  His eyes were bright and hopeful as he spoke.  "I know I was not this way before.  This place changes me."  He smiled at the three women.  "This is new for me." 

"Then I want you over at my place every afternoon," Katherine told him. "After I do a data dump into your head of my 400 years of knowledge, I will take you to the Singing Creek Camp, where you will learn from the Native Americans living there.  After that, you will go to the Monastery, where Brother Cadfael will teach you everything he knows.  After that, it will be on to Camelot, where Darius will become your teacher."  She couldn't help but chuckle at the dismayed look on his face.

"Monastery?  How long?"  He didn't know how long he could be *that* good.

Carol giggled at him.  "Ahhh.....  The price we pay for the important things in life.  You'll be fine.  Ev was telling me about their stop there on the way to Camelot for Christmas.  She said the people there were very nice and you won't be there forever.  Think of it like going away for college, only shorter."

He sputtered for a moment, then realized Katherine was watching him closely.  Was she testing him?  Seeing if just the thought of all that he would have to learn was enough to scare him off?  Would it be a waste of her time to try to teach him anything?  Over the centuries, he was sure she had been asked by many to share her knowledge with them, and he couldn't help but wonder if she had ways of weeding out those who did not have a true desire to learn herbal medicine.

He calmed himself and looked into Katherine's eyes and considered his next words carefully.  "I will do what you say.  People say this place is for a second chance.  On the old world...  all I could be is a...  I don't know what.  Probably dead now.  I can do good here." 

"I know you will," she said softly. "I know."