Notes: Let's delve deeper into the day-to-day, shall we?

Title: Quaint Escapes for Traitorous Bastards: Ch. 6, Part 1

***

Chapter Six, Part One

A Brief Education

The next morning seem to come far too quickly, but at leastthis time Hiram was awake and downstairs when the knock on his door sounded. Hewas wearing a loose pair of colorful trousers he’d gotten when he waspretending to be a jongleur—one of the many side quests on his misspent youth—anda thick, fluffy cardigan in the brightest shade of gray imaginable on the tophalf, like a spun cloud had been shaped into a torso with some oversizedsleeves popped on. It was still early enough that he could get away with the thicknessof it due to the morning chill. Put a cup of tea in his hand and a rabbitacross his lap, and Hiram couldn’t get much more comfortable. In fact…

“Come in,” he called out, unwilling to shift Knight fromwhere he was resting. A moment later the door cracked open, pale light comingin with it. Then it opened enough to admit a person, and Letty stepped into thehouse. She was hesitant for a few seconds, but when Hiram did nothing but lookat her expectantly, she got some more of her proud bearing back.

“Good morning,” he said pleasantly. “Would you care for a cupof tea?” He only had the one other cup right now, but it would do in a pinchfor a few children. Speaking of… “You didn’t come alone, did you?”

“No,” Letty said with a little smile. “Most of my brothersand sisters are at school today, so I brought the ones who aren’t.” She turnedand made a hand-waving motion, and then an older boy—about fourteen, likely,and lanky like a colt—and a little child no more than three came inside. “Mam’sgot the baby at home, and Da’s visiting the shops today,” and the look on herface told Hiram exactly which “shop” he was going to be visiting, “so I broughtJem and Rickie with me.”

“Ah.” Hiram looked the pair over. They couldn’t be moredifferent—Jem was every inch a teenage boy, scruffy, faintly unwashed, and witha sulky expression on his face that said he’d far rather be sleeping in thanhelping some vagabond at the edge of town, while Rickie was a round-facedlittle lad with flaxen curls and enormous hazel eyes. He had a stuffy ofindeterminate species in his hands, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes. “Welcome, gentlemen.”

“What now?” Jem asked, then winced as Letty hit him on thearm.

“There’s hot water on the stove if you’d care to makeyourself some tea,” Hiram said. “Just one cup until my order gets here later inthe week, but there should be enough for you to refill it several times. Takeall the space you need for preparing your meals for today, and other than that…”He gestured down at Knight. “Well, I would get up but I rather think he wouldn’tlike it.”

“He does look very cozy,” Letty agreed with a grin.

“Can’t believe you didn’t want to eat him,” Jem said, thengot another smack for it. “Ow, what? He’s huge! We could have had stew meat fora week!”

His sister’s glare had him cowing a moment later. “Knight hasbeen behind some of our best morphs for five years,” Letty snapped. “Andhe never eats the babies, and he guards the other bunnies in the hutch!If any rabbit deserves a happy retirement, it’s him!”

“But I’m hungry!”

“Then eat,” Hiram interjected, and the siblings looked athim abashedly. “You did bring food, yes?”

Letty nodded. “Plenty, thank you.”

“Good. Take your time and eat your fill, and then if you’dbe so kind as to get started on the hutch first, I would appreciate it.”

Letty nodded again, but Jem looked suspicious. “What’re yougoing to be doing all day, then?”

“Jem!”

“Making tonics,” Hiram said, refusing to take the bait. “Writingout labels for when my jars arrive. Folding envelopes to hold medicines for myclients. Sitting here with my feet up and a bunny in my lap. Whatever I want,really.” He smiled. “If you expect me to keep anything like a regular schedule,you’re going to find yourself disappointed. I…” He frowned. “Where has thelittle one gone?” Not upstairs, Hiram had a charm of dissuasion on the banister,and not down into the cellar…

“Oh, many heavens,” Letty sighed. “Jem, will you—”

“I’ll find him.” The boy darted outside, and Letty camecloser to the chair, her eyes on Knight.

“Sorry about that. Rickie is very much a wanderer; he neverstays in one place for more than a minute if he can help it. Mam’s despaired ofhim staying seated at school for long enough to learn his letters, even withMaster Surrus keeping an eye on things.”

Ah, someone new. “Master Surrus is the town’s schoolmaster,then?”

“Yes, sir. Avery Surrus. You probably didn’t meet him onmarket day,” she said blithely as she reached out and ran a tender hand overKnight’s back. “He doesn’t leave home much if he’s not teaching. Always has hishead in a book.”

My kind of person. “What does he look like?”

“Oh, old. I mean, not as old as you, but—” She slapped ahand over her mouth as her cheeks went pink. “I mean—”

Hiram laughed. Everything was old to a girl of fifteen, heknew. Misha had been the same way, even though he’d been a decade younger backthen. You’re so old, Uncle Xerome, hurry up!

“I think he’s in his thirties,” Letty said once she’d gottenover the worst of her embarrassment. “He wasn’t born here, but he’s been ourteacher for the past decade or so. He’s only really friends with MasterSpindlestep, but he’s kind to everyone. Not in the best of health—he gets sick itseems like every month—but he’d a good teacher. We didn’t even have a townschool before he got here, and now everyone my age and down knows how to spelland do math and say all the prayers in the original Elvish and everything.”

A friend to Master Spindlestep… Hiram’s mind wentback to the man who’d walked so lightly into the tailor’s shop, and who’dstartled so badly to learn that he and his friend weren’t alone. Brilliant blueeyes in a face that could have been carved from ivory, thick brown curls obscuringhis forehead, and a bone-deep wariness in every line of his body. “Interesting.”

“Found him!” Jem called from outside. A moment later Rickietoddled back in, a beaming smile on his cherubic face. “Look sharp for him, I’mgetting started on the hutch!” There was a moment’s silence, then— “Bring food!”

“You look sharp for him!” Letty shouted back. “It’s likehaving a dragon in the house,” she added with the air of someone who was usedto cooking for a lot of people. “Mam can never keep him and Pom full. Pom’stwelve,” she added. “He won’t get excused from school until he’s thirteen. Mayor’srules.”

Hiram was surprised. “I didn’t think your mayor was such astickler for things like education,” he ventured.

“Oh, not this mayor, sir,” Letty explained as she headed tothe stove, pulling several pieces of wood from the stack and fanning the flamebefore laying them inside. “The former mayor was a knight of Theophrastus. Hebelieved very firmly in educating everyone, not just the lords and the like.Mayor Hurst tried to rescind the law, but the people like it so much they didn’tlisten to him. Then he tried to fine people for sending their children toschool and almost got his house burned down as a result, so he stopped afterthat.”

“Good on you,” Hiram said brightly. “A good education is invaluable.”

Letty shrugged as she took a satchel off her shoulder and beganto pull vegetables from it. “Da thinks it’s a waste of time to educate usgirls, but he’s the one leaving me with control of the stall on market day. Wouldn’tdo much good there if I didn’t know how to handle my sums. Still, I wish…”

“What do you wish?”

She shook her head. “Nothing, sir.”

…

Outside, a small body slipped through the rotten slats ofthe garden wall and trotted fearlessly into the forest. His sister thought hisbrother was watching him; his brother assumed his sister was doing it, andHiram didn’t know any better.

He wandered through the dappled sunlight, happy and aimlessas only a child who preferred their own company could be. It was nice out herein the woods, far away from the loudness of his parents and siblings. The newhouse was better, but Master Hiram made him feel shy. Better to be outsidewhere no one could see him.

He followed tree roots and animal paths, briefly paused todunk himself in a small creek that had a school of tiny dancing fish playing init, and then finally found the edge of the forest. He was beginning to get tiredand wanted a place to sit down, and found a nice tree stump—not too tall—andpulled himself up onto it. He nestled right up next to the pretty cat ladyalready sitting there, then reached for one of her paws. When he pressed on it,silvery, razor-sharp claws shot out the ends of her toes.

“Ooh,” Rickie whispered.

“Child…”

He looked up at the smooth, elegant face of the cat lady. “Yes?”

She smiled at him, showing her fanged teeth. “Do you likeriddles?”