A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 72

I watched the snow falling lightly. The worst of the snowstorm had passed. One woman hailed us, "Hey Diane! Taver just came back! He has something for Ninette and is asking if you can take it to her."

I followed Diane to stables. Taver's cloak was caked with ice and snow. Diane commented, "Did the snow storm yesterday try to eat you alive?"

He turned around with a chuckle, "It spat me out and told me I was too old and stringy to be out in such weather. Now I am covered in icicles. Please tell me that there is a good fire in that stove in the lab to dry out these frozen clothes."

Diane grinned at the old trader, "Indeed, it has quite the fire since it has to heat a few rooms. I split lots of wood to keep that thing running all day and night. Want me to pack something for you?"

He pointed to a surprising large wooden box, "You can pack that, it is for Ninette and I advise against dropping it. It is fragile and irreplaceable."

I opened the doors for Diane as she carried it back. Taver followed in our tracks. No one had shovelled to the lab yet. The snow was already knee-deep off the walking paths. It was hard to believe that it was almost Christmas already.

The three of us went to the main lab room where Ninette had been working earlier. Ninette was happy to see him back, "Oh! Taver, you returned already! What a nice surprise. Would you care to join us for some tea? I think I have some cheese rolls around here somewhere as well."

Taver turned to Ninette with a smile, "Tea and honey would be welcome. I wouldn't say no to any real food either. Jerky and trail rations get tiring real fast."

Diane dug some apples and cheese rolls out of a cupboard as we all sat down to visit. Taver rummaged around in his backpack, "Ah, and this big thing is for you."

Diane's eyes glowed slightly in excitement as she took the fat plastic envelope. Diane opened it up and glanced at the smaller envelopes inside. She pulled out a few and handed them to me. I took them excitedly, scanning the fronts. Everyone had responded! Diane put hers in her backpack for safekeeping until we had time to read it. It was hard, but I put mine in my backpack as well.

Taver took another sip of tea before continuing, "Matthew and several others came to find me quietly. All were hoping that I might have had more details than what were in those letters. They were very glad to hear you found this place before the snow hit. Had a nice chat with them. I am fairly sure that all of them wrote a letter or two to send back. Someone higher up did send three homing pigeons along in case Bethany Fort runs into a huge problem, such as a wildfire. The birds are being kept in that coop up on the ridge with the messenger pigeons from other settlements so they don't bond with the ones we have in the town. They had some nice trade goods. I will definitely have to go back there next summer."

Taver hung around and visited for a while before heading off to his room for some sleep. Diane headed to her room and I quickly followed since I was sure she was going to bring out the letters. She sat on the bed and used her belt knife to cut through the waterproof plastic envelope to dump the smaller ones out.

We sifted through the pile. Most were for Diane, from those she sparred lots with in the past, her group members, and even one from Nancy and Nancine. Four were for me. One was from Rick and his son, another was from Trish and Nathan, and two were from the two kids I had wrote to.

I flopped down on the bed to start reading them. Wow, Donovan's printing was worse than mine. Rick and Donovan were glad that we had found this rumored place. They were even happier that people didn't have any problem with us being here.

They asked how Diane was doing, so I got out more paper and a pen to write a response. I made sure that I wrote much neater than Donovan did. I also wrote responses to the others. I was almost done by the time Diane simply finished reading her huge pile.