Upstairs, there were two large bedchambers and then a small alcove that was supposed to be used for storage or bathing. One chamber had nothing in it, and the small alcove had a couple of big trunks with clothing and shoes along with various weapons that were clearly carefully tended. The chamber was an armory more than anything. The largest room, which faced away from the street, had a mattress that was stuffed with grass that Athdara speculated must have come from the last century. The mattress itself was made of canvas, which was stained and dirty, and there was just a single blanket to indicate that someone was actually sleeping there.
Once the women finished their sweep of the cottage, they at least knew where to start. Athdara suggested they begin in the living chamber downstairs and then move to the kitchen before doing the floor above. As the women gathered their cleaning instruments of choice, Athdara summoned a servant by using a bell that all of the cottages possessed. The big iron bells were attached to the rear of the homes and, when rung, summoned servants from the neighboring outbuildings.
Across the road from the village were the facilities that helped keep Blackchurch running smoothly, including a laundry, kitchens, a large dining hall, and the stables. When the iron bell at the rear of Payne’s home was rung, a servant appeared within a few minutes and Athdara directed the man to bring a wagonload of fresh hay for the mattress.
Fresh stuffing in the works, Athdara summoned a second servant, this time from the laundry, and sent the woman on a mission to hunt down bed linens. Since Blackchurch housed a good many people, bed linens were in supply, and they were excellent quality. Athdara also had the woman send for any unused or old kitchen implements that might be available in the large Blackchurch kitchens. She was hoping for a few pots and perhaps bowls and even spoons if they were available, anything to help stock a kitchen that was completely empty, but as she told Astria, she would have to take what she could get until they could go to the merchant’s stall in Tiverton, to a man who bought and sold household goods, and purchase what they needed.
After that, the real education for Astria began.
Watered ale mixed with ashes, vinegar, and two bars of precious soap from Castile had been brought over from a neighboring cottage along with buckets of hot water, scrub brushes, and a mop made out of water reeds collected from Lake Cocytus. As Athdara cleaned out the hearth, Elisiana tookthe hot water and vinegar and started scrubbing the floor of the front chamber. Astria was directed to scrub the kitchen floor and table with the watered ale mixed with ashes, and she showed confidence in doing so until it actually came to scrubbing. She had to watch Elisiana and Athdara first to see how they were doing things, and even then it took a few tries before she became comfortable with it.
The scrubbing went on all morning.
Around the nooning hour, the ladies paused to rest and share some food that one of the servants had brought. The same servant had been the one who scoured the main kitchens for anything that Astria might use to set up housekeeping. She brought back three iron pots of different sizes, two fire pokers, spoons of various sizes, four wooden cups, and six wooden bowls of different shapes and in various stages of wear.
It was enough to get started.
The servant also brought knives, four of them in total. To help start the stores for the new earl and his wife, she brought various raw ingredients from the kitchens, including flour, salt, dried carrots and beans, fresh onions, butter, milk, and about a dozen eggs. Asteria was overwhelmed with gratitude, of course, but forced to admit that she’d never done any cooking in her life. Her new friends were happy to help, explaining how bread should be made and reminding her that some portion of the dough from the previous day should be held out and used in the next day’s bread so the dough would rise.
It was a great change for Astria to be the one supervised as she mixed warmed water and flour and salt, and some fermented dough from Athdara’s kitchen, into a bowl. After setting it aside and covering it up with a cloth, she was instructed to bake it in one of the iron pots about an hour before she intended to serve Payne his supper—and she had no idea what she even intended to feed the man. Athdara suggested that shebake eggs, which were easy, and showed her how to do it. Beaten eggs with onion and salt placed in one of the iron pots and then baked in the hearth along with the bread would make a good supper.
Astria certainly hoped so.
Eventually, the ground floor was completely scrubbed from top to bottom by three very diligent women. The hearth in the large common room was lit, as was the hearth in the kitchen. With those fires going and warming up the bricks to make everything nice and cozy, the women turned their attention to the floor above.
They actually had a good time hauling out the mattress and removing the stuffing. Elisiana was a hard worker, and most enthusiastic about it, and she ended up sneezing her head off with all of the old grass and dust flying around in the air. Once everything was out of the mattress, they hung it up on the branch of a tree nearby and beat it with another branch to get rid of the dirt and the dust. After that was done, they were able to stuff it with the hay that had been brought over from the stables. But the fact remained that even though they had a mattress that was nicely stuffed, there were no linens on it and there was no bed frame.
That was when the ladies became resourceful.
Because the village at Blackchurch had once been a thriving hamlet where people had lived, there was a repository of old furniture in one of the outbuildings by the stables. The three of them headed over to that building, which had been picked over in years past, so there wasn’t a lot to go through. Still, considering Payne had nothing at all, they were able to collect some of the items and put them to good use.
The mattress Payne had was rather large because, being a large man, he liked a big bed. There wasn’t much they could do with that because there was no bed frame, rope or otherwise, bigenough to hold the mattress, but they did come away with three chairs, a wooden bench, a very small table, and two stools. All of that was lugged backed to the cottage and distributed in the chambers.
Already, it was looking more like a home.
The last items were the bed linens brought over from the laundry. They were clean and smelled of the wild mint that grew around the cottages. Astria stood aside and watched as Athdara and Elisiana expertly put the linens on the bed, including a heavy coverlet that had come from Elisiana’s own possessions.
And with that, the cottage was clean.
To Astria, all seemed so strange. It was a world away from her months in captivity, and her activity on the sea, and her life as a duchess in a palace that was filled with servants. She had come to the duc’s palace as a stranger, and the truth was that living there all of those years had been a lesson in solitude. She was the lonely girl who’d never really realized she was lonely. It was simply the way of things. But in just a day, engaging in simple activities with women who were more than happy to teach her what they knew, she felt like she was on another planet. She wondered how things could be so very different from what she was used to, but the truth was that she had never spent a more enjoyable day in her life.
She was quite overwhelmed by it.
“Now,” Athdara said, wiping her hands off on her apron. “Do not forget to check your bread dough. It should have risen a great deal in the past few hours, so you’ll want to put that in a pot, put the lid on it, and let it bake until it has risen and is browned. Would you like for me to stay and show you how?”
Astria shook her head. “Nay, but I thank you,” she said. “I have already taken you away from your children for the entire day and do not wish to take any more of your valuable time. I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated your help,however. You must have been born doing such things, because you do them so well.”
Athdara grinned. “I was not,” she said. “I was born a duke’s daughter in a fine house. I had to learn all of this, much as you are learning it.”
Astria smiled. “You are an excellent teacher,” she said, looking at Elisiana. “Both of you are. Now, if you will tell me where I can draw water, I will try to do the rest of this on my own.”
“You will do very well,” Elisiana said. “If you need help, we are right down the road. I have yellow flowers in front of my house and Athdara has rocks. Lots of rocks.”
Astria nodded gratefully. “You are so kind,” she said “I… I did not expect to find such kindness here. I thought it was all men and warriors.”
Athdara and Elisiana laughed softly. “It is, mostly,” Elisiana said. “The women are outnumbered, so we are very glad you are here.”
“Thank you.”
