Chapter 153: Jae

Dinner was a simple affair and Adam was put to bed not long afterward. Everyone sat around talking until Al said he needed to sleep now because he needed an early start tomorrow. Katie gave him a quick but affectionate kiss as she sent him off.

Blaise excused himself at the same time because he intended to join Al and meet the potential Kanta delegate. So Abby and Katie were left talking, joking, and reminiscing late into the night.

There weren't any clocks here aside from the big clock tower in town so she wasn't sure what time they finally went to bed. Only that it was sometime after 3 AM because the three bongs indicating the time had gone off a while ago.

Abby fell asleep both exhausted and more fulfilled than she had been since she thought Katie died. The next day she found out what her sister's schedule was normally like.

She made Adam breakfast before taking him into town. He played with toys or read picture books or colored with crayons while she ran the library. He took his morning nap tucked away on a cot in a side room that functioned as an office.

When he woke up they briefly closed up shop and got cheese buns from the bakery for lunch. An hour later the other librarian, a young woman who couldn't be more than seventeen named Ilya, took over for Katie.

Now she was free to visit various businesses and make sure everything was going okay. They stopped to chat with each person they came across, which Abby found surprising. Her sister had never been the social type.

They made their way through the post office, printing office, smithy, jewelry store, and then some. Abby hadn't realized how many shops there were in this tiny village. It didn't make sense until you considered how often they traded things with merchants further down the mountain.

Trader caravans couldn't make it up this far unless they left the wagons behind and came by horse or on foot. Most of the time the two groups met at a halfway point with wares they could carry in saddle bags.

There was a wide road leading between the two Kanta villages but not one leading down the mountain. It would be a huge undertaking and require time and manpower that these people did not have.

The Kanta primarily exported children's books, art supplies, toys, and jewelry. The raw materials that came from the mines were moved straight from there down the mountain using a system of carts and pulleys. But those were too far from town to bother with for the significantly smaller finished products they sold.

The economy was booming and Abby felt a strange sense of pride even though she hadn't been involved. That was her sister at work!

When they finished with all of those visits it was time to head back home for Adam's afternoon nap. That was pretty much the only free time Katie had all day because once the little boy woke up he always wanted to go to the park or play with his friends and they tended to do that until dinner time.

"Your life is much more hectic than I imagined," Abby informed her once they were finally able to sit down.

Katie shrugged. "It's a lot better than when I was stuck in the palace with nothing to do. Let me tell you; I have refused to play a single game of cards since leaving there. I don't know if I will ever want to play again."

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She couldn't help but laugh. "Was it really that bad?"

"Worse. It was worse. At least now we're too busy most of the time for Al to even think of asking me to play. Since I got one of my cousins-in-law to help me invent markers I've been able to make a few rudimentary board games to replace them. I drew it on paper that was then glued to a literal wood board because they don't have cardboard here."

She opened a wicker chest that housed a meager collection of homemade versions of games such as Sorry, checkers, and Monopoly. There were also sets of wooden dice meant to be used to play games like Yahtzee.

They even had Scrabble though the proportions of how many of each letter there was supposed to be and the point values were slightly off from the original. It must have been difficult trying to remember exactly how all of these things looked.

"You never cease to amaze me," Abby said in awe. "I could never pull this off."

Katie sighed dramatically. "You'd be surprised what boredom can bring a person to do. I spent months doing nothing but play cards, Abby. MONTHS. I had a lot of time to think these sorts of things up even if I couldn't implement them until later."

They were in the middle of a game of Sorry when Al and Blaise got back. Both of them looked tired from the long ride but pleased. Abby didn't want to get her hopes up but it seemed like they had found who they were looking for.

She was about to ask when a third person came into the room with them. He was a young, sturdily-built Kanta man with a short ponytail who was probably in his late teens and introduced himself as Jae.

"Is that Sorry?" he asked eagerly as he approached. "Can I play in the next game?"

Abby blinked at him in surprise. She had been under the impression Katie was the only one with copies of these games. She mouthed "I made extras and gave them away as gifts" before smiling at the young man and telling him he could.

As they played, they found out that Jae had come here with his family from Shibatsu nearly two years ago and had been rather put out to leave the girl he wanted to marry behind. Her parents hadn't wanted to send her off to what they considered a barren region.

However, he had gotten a letter from her that barely came in despite being sent months ago that said they had changed their minds after hearing how prosperous the Kanta had become. He had wanted to go back for her immediately but hadn't known how he would make it until Al and Blaise approached him.

"I'm happy to serve my country but I can't deny that I mostly consider this a free ride to bring Kirienne back," Jae confessed in a low whisper so Al wouldn't overhear. "I know nothing about politics but I won't let them cheat us!"

His earnestness was kind of cute. Abby smiled at the thought of young love working out. This solution would kill two birds with one stone.

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