Aye, the way they’re bickering also doesnae help.
“Oy!” Hannah interrupted sternly. “Fight on yer own time. Ye’re on mine.”
Aiden smirked to himself as he watched her handle the children, impressed by how she guided their adjustment of the fire with an explanation instead of simply telling them what to do.
She left them to finish banking the fire, then walked over to a series of bundled herbs hung to dry. “Who picked this?” she asked, snatching one in particular down from the wall.
Thomas and Samuel looked at each other, clearly not sure who could blame the other first.
Hannah turned back and sighed, glancing at them. “Oh, never mind. It doesnae matter. Boys, finish banking the fire and come here.”
She was already breaking off a leaf from the bundle and smelling it, grimacing. Aiden watched with distinct interest, wondering what she was doing and waiting for a payoff.
The boys finished banking the fire and scampered to her immediately.
“Ye smell this?”
Both leaned forward, and both jerked their heads back.
“This is Hellebore. It’s incredibly poisonous. So poisonous, I want ye to show me where ye found it later. I’ll be getting rid of it. Ye arenae to touch it.” Hannah grabbed a flask of water and poured it over her hand. “I will need ye to dry more rosemary and thyme. They were touching this, and I willnae risk poisoning our customers.”
“Aye, mistress,” the boys mumbled, both looking chagrined.
She gave them a bemused look. “I’m nae even sure what ye thought ye were picking for me. Stick to what ye ken ye’re to dry for me without getting ideas.”
“Aye, mistress,” they said again, though they looked less like they’d committed a terrible error and more like they were listening to her intently and learning.
With a satisfied nod, Hannah gathered the other two herbs from the wall and took all three outside, returning a moment later.
Aiden marveled at how immediately she’d recognized something was wrong, and how she was able to school her apprentices without upsetting them.
When she returned, she made her way to a spigot at the end of the copper still. “Now, let’s see what we’ve got.”
She turned it, and Aiden watched as a clear liquid began to drip freely into a clay pot. The scent of peat and woodsmoke, the drip of the whiskey, it was almost soothing in its simplicity.
“I thought yer whiskey was golden,” Aiden queried from the corner in which he had taken up vigil to stay out of the way, despite his considerable size.
“That’s from the infusion, and that infusion is only for the whiskey I bring ye,” Hannah explained without looking up from the dripping whiskey.
Again, he admired her focus and easy confidence. She was clearly very much in charge of the distillery.
An older man appeared from nearby and clapped her on the shoulder. “How are we coming along?”
“Fire was too hot, and we had a little problem with some herbs,” she said, still focused on watching the liquid drip. “I think we saved it in time. Fetch me a bottle for the farrier if ye will.”
“One of the infused or straight?” the man, though he was older and should have been the one telling her what to do, immediately asked without question.
“Straight, that’s what he asked for,” she answered simply. She seemed to remember her manners and turned to Aiden. “This is Matthew, me assistant. He’s the one who told me about the angelica.”
“Me Laird.” The older man inclined his head politely. If he shared the disdain everyone else did, he didn’t show it. “Hannahsaw to it that me wife received some of yer generously provided herb as well.”
That explained it.
Aiden inclined his head back, watching as the older man left to do as he was asked.
The door to the distillery thudded open, rattling the bottles. A young man with dark hair and dark eyes that may have been hazel or deep blue—it was hard for Aiden to tell in the dim light of the distillery—entered with a grin. “Morning, Hannah!”
“Duncan! I swear to the good Lord above if ye daenae stop opening the door like that, ye’re going to break bottles, and I’m going to break yer… something. I daenae ken what, but ye willnae like it, I can guarantee ye.”
