In the shop

Particles of wood dust danced in the air around the workbench in the center of the shop. The soft sound of a plane gliding over nearly finished wood rose from the hands of the shop apprentice as he slivered away the raised imperfections on a plank destined to be a panel in a door. Faedrick looked up, catching a glimpse of a shadow near the door quickly moving away. He hesitated a moment, questioning whether he should investigate; Garen would chide him if he had missed a customer. Faedrick set the plane aside and strode to the doorway, casting a look up and down the road that ran by the shop. Three girls carrying the day's wash in baskets were walking past on the far side of the road, but no one seemed near enough to the shop to have been the owner of the shadow.

Walking back to the workbench, Faedrick picked up the his water jug from a shelf as he passed and took a pull. His fingers found the beginnings of a new crack forming on the side as he drank. He could feel cool dampness on it, which told him this new crack went through to the inner part of the jug. He frowned as he replaced the cork. A new jug would cost him coin that he would rather not spend, but carpentry was often thirsty work and he knew that Garen wouldn't suffer his apprentice going all the way to the well every time he needed a drink.

Faedrick set the jug down, thinking that it would be nice to have a water skin instead, but quickly dismissed the thought. Leather was dear, and a water skin would certainly cost more than he could afford to spend. The hunters were finding fewer goats in the valley, and none wanted to venture beyond the comfortable cleft in the mountains to find better prey. The last group of hunters to go beyond the confines of the valley had never returned, and there were rumors that the shem-frinq had captured and eaten them. That was two years ago, leather was dear indeed.

Footsteps sounded from the door to the storeroom, and the deep bass of Garen's voice filled the room. "Faed, how many panels have you left to finish?" "I'm on the last." Faedrick replied. Garen's smiling bearded face appeared in the doorway as the burly man entered the room. He walked to the stack of panels on the workbench and nodded appreciatively. "You always work so quickly and so well. Go be about your own tasks when you finish the last. You've earned some time for yourself." Garen reached into his pocket, then extended his hand toward Faedrick, the days earnings winking between rough fingers. Faedrick took the coins, bowing slightly. "Thank you. I will spend the afternoon well." Garen clapped his apprentice on the shoulder, then walked back toward the storeroom. "I am thinking I should leave for the afternoon as well. It is far too nice a day to be in a dusty shop." he said as he exited the room. "I hear there were goats seen near the eastern end of the valley, I may go try to find one."

As Faedrick returned to the plank, he thought about the idea of killing a goat. Meat and skin. A walking vessel of comfort and luxury on four legs. Slivers of wood drifted lazily to the floor from the plane once more. Before apprenticing to Garen, Faedrick had learned to hunt from his mother and father. A goat would be easy prey, especially if it had wandered in from outside the valley, as it would not be wary of hunters. He set the finished panel on the stack with the others and returned the plane to its place on the shelf. Reaching into the corner beside the shop's door, Faedrick drew out the wood spear that rested there and looked it over. He had made it during the winter, when the shop hadn't been as busy. The spear was not as straight as it could have been, but it was rigid, and the hardened point was sharp enough. A goat would be nice. Faedrick left the shop, and headed east down the road.