Day 5: 11,022 total 61,733

Did well despite a bad night. Late posting this though! So here is the snippet:


"You will be addressing the outer paper. We have a list of the people to whom these notes will be delivered -- Lords, mayors, the headmen of certain villages. We've already amassed a stack of notes to go out, and the sooner we get it all done, the better chance the messengers will have of getting them to people before the weather turns."

"I'll do the best I can, ma'am."

"Good. Sit down. I'll get you the parchments and the list. As you finish them, hand them back to Darva, who will fold the notes up in them, and give them back to Lord Terrance, who will then put his seal to it. And we'll be done."

It sounded like a straightforward bit of work. Then she saw the list of names, their locations -- over three hundred of them, she guessed.

She went straight to work, writing out her part with a neat, but quick hand. She soon pleased them all with her ability to get the work done.

"It's far easier than copying faded words on old bound parchments -- in a language you barely understand," she said, handing the next sheet back to Darva.

"You speak more than Ranasian, don't you?" Lord Terrance asked.

"I don't speak it, sir, no. Well, a little Onpe, I guess. That was common in Oris. But I do read some -- Onpe, Elerian, and some others. It was helpful, you know, being the capital. So many different peoples there."

Lord Terrance nodded and went back to his work. She tried not to take a breath of relief that he didn't ask more.

Back to work. She turned out five more sheets in the near silence, and then Darva asked for clarification on something Lord Terrance had written -- she thought it might say "strike all dogs before winter' but that seemed unlikely.

They laughed, Lord Terrance wiping tears from his eyes. "Stack all logs before winter, Darva," he said at last.

"Ah. Good. That almost makes sense."

And they laughed again.

It turned out to be a good work day, and a nice change for the library. She had, she thought, been too cut off for too long. She wondered if she needed to hide so much these days.

And then she began to wonder about the messages and what they meant. There was a frantic haste to the work. Master Kevin came in once, and pulled Lord Terrance away for a while. She supposed it was with word about his scribes. He didn't look too worried when he came back, so all was well.

But the messages -- she wished they trusted her with the messages. Most of what Darva and Bell asked clarification on seemed harmless enough. Sometimes even nonsensical. She thought it might be winter messages sent out before the castle was cut off...