All Done

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 31st October 2014

Characters: Azyn, Ryell, Gethara
Description: Harper Hallsecond Azyn settles in at his new Hall.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 9, day 15 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Azzy, Rarden

Gethara got to her feet and stood for a moment, stretching her back and admiring
her handiwork.

"Books all done?" Ryell asked, appearing back in the living room of their new
quarters to rummage in another of the packing crates that were taking up most of
the otherwise rather spacious room.

"Thank goodness." The foster-mother edged back toward the bookcase and
straightened a few of the items on it though it was beyond her - beyond anybody
- to make the contents look neat as they were as much a collection of practice
bindings as they were poems and stories and texts and records of the origins of
the printercraft. "What is there still to do?"

"We're just putting away our clothing and then this crate is empty." The
apprentice printer bent over almost in half to reach down into the bottom of the
deep crate. It was obvious which of the crates had held books - they were half
the size of the largest ones which had been filled with clothing and personal
items. "Did you get your own crate unpacked?"

Gethara nodded. "While the children were running around."

Immediately on seeing the layout of the rooms the family had decided that
Gethara and the children would share the larger bedroom and Azyn and Ryell would
have the smaller. It had involved a bit of work to get the beds swapped over
and, for a moment it had appeared as if they wouldn't be able to fit the double
bed into the small room, but a little creative language on Ryell's part and
brute strength on Azyn's had eventually won the day and the bed had finally been
lowered into place. It took up nearly all of the space and Gethara had laughed
to see the couple edging around the sides of the bed.

It was kind of them to give her and the children the larger room; some wouldn't
have. It also had a larger clothes press so that her own possessions had been
able to be stored neatly away, high out of the reach of curious little fingers,
which meant the lower shelves and drawers were available for the children's
clothing and treasures.

Azyn came out of the small bedroom and looked about him. "How much more is there?"

"Last lot," Ryell explained again. "If I get out of the way will you be able to
stack the crates inside each other and push them to one side until we can store
them?"

"It would be my pleasure," he told her, pausing to give her a kiss before he
went and started his task with the smallest crate. "Sit down and put your feet
up," he advised Gethara as the woman handed him another empty crate. "You've
done more than we have."

"I don't consider unpacking for myself and two children _more_," she said, but
retreated to one of the armchairs as much to give the master printer room to
manoeuvre as to do as she was told.

"And you supervised them while Ryell and I looked around the Hall," Azyn pointed
out, deciding to move the largest crate into position before adding the smaller
ones to it.

"That's what I'm here for," Gethara pointed out with a smile. It hadn't ever
been something she imagined herself doing - being a foster-mother in a
printercraft family where both husband and wife were crafters but it had
appealed more than kitchen work. Certainly Azyn and Ryell treated her more like
a family member than an employee and she did adore Azzy and Rarden.

"There." Azyn brushed his hands against his trousers and looked around the room,
nodding to himself. It was a large, room, one corner taken up with the stove,
the sink, and the cool box which would enable them to have family meals around
the table which divided the kitchen from the main part of the room. There the
furniture was sparse - just a couch and two armchairs but that left a large open
area in the middle of the room that again made the place feel spacious.

Against the wall flanking the door from the corridor were two bookcases that
were already overflowing with the family's books and documents and they went a
long way to making the place feel like home.

Ryell paused in the door of the bedroom, smiling herself at the satisfied
expression her husband wore. "All done?" She glanced at Gethara who nodded. She
crossed to slide and arm around Azyn's waist and snuggled under the arm he laid
across her shoulders. "Shall we have some wine to celebrate another move? I put
some in the cool box and we were supplied with glasses." Only four glasses, but
there were only three adults so that wouldn't matter for the moment and Gethara
would sort out the adjustments needed to the provisioning of the quarters over
the next few days.

"Sounds like exactly what we need." Azyn followed her to the kitchen area and
retrieved the wine while she got the glasses down from the overhead cupboards.
"Gethara?"

"Of course."

He handed the foster-mother a glass and settled down on the couch with Ryell
against him. "To our new home?" he suggested.

"To our new Hall?" Gethara suggested. It wasn't a Printer Hall but there were
printers here which gave it some credibility in her eyes.

"To the new Hallsecond," Ryell said firmly.

Azyn accepted the toast and then proposed his own: "And to his family," he said,
raising his glass to include both his wife and the foster-mother, and the
children he had never expected to have who were sound asleep in the next room.

Last updated on the November 16th 2014

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