Amentia

Chapter 30 - Chores

The loudest bell the girls had ever heard in their lives woke them up in the morning. It was a silver bell with unreadable words carved around it; it didn't have a cord to pull it and make it ring: it just rung by itself every 24 hours, as the girls were told. Next to it, on the wall, there was a clock like any other on Earth that indicated it was 6 a.m.

Despite waking up early, the troupe took their sweet time in the morning. No one was rushing anyone and the conversations about their duties of the day were amicable and polite. It seemed no one did the same things every day; they varied to avoid getting bored, deciding who did what each day during breakfast. The duties were either related to the theater or the house itself. The ones that were participating in the play of the day spent it rehearsing in their rooms or in the woods nearby; the stage was still built in the park, otherwise Maylin would've been in charge of setting it up and others would have to help her; it was a three-person job at least if one wanted to be efficient. The house duties included cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and costumes, or going to the Market Plaza to barter for food or anything they may need that day. The only ones who did the same job every day were Azariah and Ruvyn: Az spent the days on play-related duties (this could include directing, rehearsing, costume mending, stage setting, etc.) and Ruvyn was the one checking everything ran smoothly all around while also in charge of the kitchen.

The girls listened to the conversation in silence while having their breakfast, which consisted of an infusion of two herbs that had energetic properties, and to eat they could choose between fresh fruit or bread spread with homemade jam. Quite the luxurious breakfast. It seemed acting paid well in this land.

When Azariah asked the girls what they wanted to do that day, they were dumbfounded. They'd been expecting to be told what to do, like back in the human village, not to be given a choice. Azariah said that that was ridiculous and the girls couldn't help but laugh. It was strange to be shown more kindness by these magical people than by their own species.

Since they had five more people living in the caravan now, Ruvyn commented that they would need five times more water than usual, meaning getting water from the river would require more hands, something to take into account every morning from now on. To this, Nina raised her hand and said she could help save them time and trips to the river easily. This piqued everyone's curiosity.

Before the work of the day started, the girls were welcomed into the closet of spare clothes, at the end of the corridor upstairs. They had clothes of all sizes and colors, some with shapes that didn't fit the human form, with holes for tails or wings. They looked like regular medieval clothes: cotton shirts and pants, and comfortable shoes to walk in like sandals, short boots or moccasins. The girls were happy beyond words to be able to get out of the ugly farming clothes of the dead. The clothes in this closet weren't new, but they were colorful and had been mended with extreme care and creativity. Leave it to theater people to take care of their attire; they know how important it is.

After they had all finished getting changed, Nina showed them what she'd meant earlier. She went outside —followed by everyone else—, stood by the side of the caravan, closed her eyes and extended her hand forward as if she were holding something invisible in it. But then something did appear. It was the handle of a hose, one of those that only lets water out when you press the lever on the side. And then the hose began appearing attached to it, and it kept getting longer and longer, curling up on the ground in front of Nina. Everyone watched wide-eyed and praised Nina's ability when the hose stopped growing.

"You can take the other end to the river and then we'll just press this here and fill out bucket after bucket, no need to make more than one trip," said Nina to the group, glad it was the beginning of the day and she was full of energy to do this. And really glad that people could see the things she made now; she still couldn't quite believe it.