The Central Fire had not even began to lighten the night skies when she was up, and making preparations for her day. She leaned to kiss the temple of the sleeping warrior, trying not to disturb him, for she knew that his day was start early enough. Slipping out, she first went to rouse the slaves, sending juneau to pull the slave dung out of the furs under the wagon, to take her to start gathering filling the dung sacks. Kasra was on the steps of the boys wagons, as usual, and she was poked into a state of wakefulness, and went to start the morning meal.
The guards were starting to change, so she saw that both sifts were fed, those going to their furs and those coming on duty. It was rare that she entered his personal wagon, and this morning would be no different. She banged on the side of it to rouse the kattai slave, telling her to come help kasra feed the guards. As she was gathering the bone implements that were used to scrape hides, she smiled when she saw lily walk up. They conversed for a time, as the girl helped her to pull the drying racks out of the storage wagon, Cana explaining to her what was on the agenda for the day. It was going to be a very busy day, not only today, but for several days to come.
She and lily had set up the drying racks for the meat just as juneau and dung drug the last filled dung sacks and stacked them. They were told to eat, for they might not get another chance until late in the day. This was when lily gently asked if she had eaten yet. Well bosk behinds, she had not. She found a place to sit among the guards, lily brought her a plate, then went to help juneau to organize the girls into eating and preparing what was to be done next.
The meals finished, dishes cleaned, it was time to start the real work. Rook had two men to help him to slice the meats into long thin strips, she coated them with spices, then kasra and the kataii slave hung them on the racks near the fires to start the drying process. She also had them to replenish the fires as needed, not wanting them to go too low.
Lily and juneau took dung under their collective wings and started teaching her how to scrape and stretch hides, making sure that not a bit of meat was left on them that would sully the curing process of them in any way. It was a long process that took much patience and skill. Dung seemed to catch on rather quickly, and by mid-day she already had the beginnings of some nasty blisters on her dweller slave hands, but they would eventually bust, heal and callous over. It was just the way of hands that worked.
Late in the afternoon, they stopped for a meal of cold meat, cheese, bread and milk, then resumed their labors. She worked right alongside the slaves, doing her share, that was the only way she knew how to be. The only breaks she took were to see to the needs of her sons. Ba'atar came and too One with him to the herds, and Birmmah came by to leave some blankets she had been working on, and took the two younger boys back to her wagons, which freed up more of Cana's time to work.
Finally, all of the meat was sliced, spiced and hung by the fires to dry. They would keep a careful eye on them, making sure they were turned from time to time to make the process even. After checking to make sure all the drying rack were positioned properly, she settled down to help the girls scrape the furs.
An so it went for the rest of the day. As she worked, she said little, lost in her thoughts. It was kasra that had come to kneel next to her, and boldly reached out to stay the hand that was scraping a hide. When she looked at her with a raised brow, the girl nodded to where the Central Fire was sinking into the horizon, and softly asked her to stop working, that they would finish. Sitting back on her heals, she realized how tired she was, and thirsty. Rook had come up then, reached down to take her upper arm to help her to stand, an in that gruff voice of his told her to go clean herself, eat, then rest. The look in his eye told her that this was not really a request, but a course of action that she would follow. Nodding, her hands went to her back to massage it as she went to gather her things to go to the bath wagons, her entire body aching.
It had been a productive day, and that gave her a good deal of satisfaction. Tomorrow would be just as busy, but a long bath, a good nights sleep, and she would be ready.
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