[Envinyatar]

He watched the way she hefted the saw in preparation for beginning the cuts and smiled to himself. So, she was honest in that – she had some knowledge of working with wood. He nodded at the plank he had laid out on the trestle.

‘Go ahead,’ he said, ‘make the cuts. I’ll take the ones you’ve done then and drill them on the ends for pegs.’ He pointed with a tilt of his chin to the boards now neatly balanced against the wall of the stable. ‘I finished marking those, so go ahead and work your way through them. Once we’re done with this, then we’ll sand and wax them, and put them up for Cook.’

They fell into an easy rhythm and the morning passed quickly amidst the sounds of sawing and the tangy smell of oak shavings, mixed with the lemony smell of wax. Time flew by in companionable silence, broken only by the low murmur of a short query here and there followed by the needed answer.

Derufin pulled the red handkerchief from his breeches pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. The sun was full on them now, and he rolled up the sleeves to his shirt above his elbows. Sweat beaded on the hairs of his arms, glistening in the light. ‘Break time, I think,’ he said smiling at her.

Cook had come out of the kitchen, bearing a pitcher of chilled water just drawn from the well. Sweat condensed, too, on the metal sides of it, and ran in small rivulets down its sides.

He poured two mugs of the cold liquid and offered her an apple from the basket he had brought out to the stable as treats for the ponies and horses. ‘Let’s sit in the shade for a moment, under the tree there.’ She followed as he walked toward the bushy maple and sat down, his back against the trunk. He looked up at her, a hesitant look on her face, and bade her sit for a while.

‘There are no benches, m’lady,’ he said, half grinning at her, as he bit into the apple in his hand. He chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment, savoring the sweet, tart flavor of it. ‘You have some skill with wood, I see,’ he said off handedly, his eyes following the duck family as they searched beneath the plant leaves in the Inn yard for bugs and grubs. ‘Though this is just rough work we’re doing today.’ He flipped the apple core to one of the guest’s ponies who shared the shade of the tree with them.

‘Tell me, those other things you mentioned, that you can make from wood -- what are they?’