Chapter 190: Day 189

Day 189,

I slept… okay last night.  Not exhausted at least.  

Going to walk with Lin out to the main road and hope to catch James and family on their way into town for a ride.  We’ll go along with the plan we laid out yesterday and everything will be fine.  

I’ll be fine.  

 

It happened again, but I’m fine.  

I’m not fine.  

I’m fine.  

 

It’s been a long day, but not a bad one.  I think I’m feeling better than when it started even.

 

Shortly after that first entry of the day, Lin and I said our goodbyes to Maiko and headed out for the road.  The plan was to spend at least tonight in the Village.  I may ride back with James and family tomorrow evening.

You are reading story The Archivist’s Journal at novel35.com

As it is, I’m spending tonight at Norman and Marva’s with the rest of the family.  Currently huddled under my blanket with a crystal.  I’ll try to keep things relatively brief so as not to keep anyone up.

Back to chronological order.

Lin and I reached the road (the dirt side road, not the main one) with plenty of time to spare.  Or so we judged by the lack of wagon and capy tracks in the mud.  I owe her for that though.  Both in getting me out of bed and out the door and providing a shoulder to lean on when even that short walk left me winded.

When we saw the family wagon coming up the path I soon noticed that it had both less produce and more people.  The whole family it seemed, save those already in town.  Even Antigone, homebody that she is.  Crowded enough that the two oldest siblings (Laios and Manfred I think?) were actually walking along beside.

Not so crowded though that they weren’t willing to make room for us.  It was… good to be back in this familiar situation after having missed out on it during these past few months.  There was a comfort to the familiar familial banter that I’d grown used to being in the middle of without being part of.  The stray cat that everyone liked to feed had returned.

Cass’s absence was almost as noticeable as the addition of more members.  Already in town apparently.  Doing them all proud, keeping up her apprentice work even with her mentor ill.

When I asked what the occasion was for the increased turnout, they told me that today was the solstice and they’d decided that for once instead of Norman and Marva coming to the outskirts they’d all go to the Village.  Lin started at this, having forgotten that was today.

Perhaps sensing my cluelessness, Antigone filled me in.  While less of an event than the equinoxes, the solstices are observed as well, usually with private family gatherings.  While they’re not the longest and shortest days by much (thanks to the equatorial location I suppose) they’re still significant  for heralding the end of the rainy seasons and get used to mark the last week of classes for children.  Normally they’d go until the market day following a solstice, but since this season the solstice is falling on a market day, the last day was yesterday.  And also (as I learned later) the last school season was ended a few days early due to my washing up.

Doing some math, we realized that the prior solstice would have been just a few days after I arrived.  The day I found myself in the ruined cathedral for the first time, to be precise.  Apparently if I’d not stayed in the library so late I might have run into Norman and Marva heading out from the Village to the farmhouse for the family dinner.  Or had I not slept in the next day (which I maintain was justifiable after the previous night’s ordeal) I might have met them on the road back to the Village a day sooner than I had been introduced to them by James.

Speaking of sleep, Cass is whispering at me to properly cover this crystal and stop keeping her up with my pen scratches.  I doubt tomorrow will be eventful, so I’ll just continue then.

 

You can find story with these keywords: The Archivist’s Journal, Read The Archivist’s Journal, The Archivist’s Journal novel, The Archivist’s Journal book, The Archivist’s Journal story, The Archivist’s Journal full, The Archivist’s Journal Latest Chapter