Preview: Sombra Mundus 39
Chapter 39 is up!
The newest chapter to Sombra Mundus is up! Find Chapter 39 here.
Preview:
An evening revelry was held for the engagement. Two wild pigs were roasted over the large fire pit and other meats over smaller fires. Breads and potatoes that had been buried earlier in the day in slow ovens were dug up, oiled, seasoned, and dipping sauces made to accompany them. Mina and Yuila helped the wagon family to which Xapita belonged roll and stretch the elastic sourdough that would be aged overnight to make bagels the next morning. Menino lay on a blanket nearby with another baby of similar age. Mina had been introduced by Yuila, and was therefore called Sapo by the woman and two young girls from the wagon.
Mina looked up from where she kneeled and kneaded the tough dough in the large wooden bowl to see Yuila and Xapita tickling the two babies. Yuila spoke rapidly, smiling and nodding, almost as if she were carrying on a conversation with the voiceless girl. As she listened longer, Mina realized that Yuila was answering the unvoiced questions from Xapita, questions no one else heard, and ones that Yuila herself did not even seem to notice were not aloud.
Mina glanced to the older woman and two younger girls to see they were busy with the wagon's small, family fire and were oblivious to the other girls.
So Yuila really could read minds, Mina thought with alarm. The girl seemed unaware of the ability, however. Mina looked up as Ona came to the wagon.
Ona nodded and touched her fingertips to her forehead and nodded to the woman near the wagon, and then kneeled to Mina. "Should I feed Menino now?"
Mina sat back and wiped her hands on the apron she had borrowed from the wagon family. "Would you, please?"
Ona nodded, lowering her voice. " Huiotěs has been speaking with Anren and Pietro and the other men to take the child. You want this also?"
Mina sighed. "Yes. I can't feed him, and we're traveling. I can't take him back to my homeland with me."
Ona nodded again and smiled. "Some of the girls are going to bathe at the brook. I can watch Menino if you go now, and I'll go later with others."
Mina agreed to this and spent a few moments holding Menino, feeling a growing reluctance to leave him for more than a nap. She'd never had the feeling in child care class in Chicago, but those weren't babies with which she had much contact. And even Aunt Gretchen's children, her cousins, were older and toddling. She pulled her thoughts away from what little she could remember of the child care classes and her former life, and took Yuila and Xapita with her to their corner of camp.
Once there, Edvard insisted they take their bath at a different part of the brook than where the gypsy girls were congregating.
"The water is warmer at the inlet by the willows," he told them, which was enough for Yuila and her friend, but Mina wasn't entirely convinced.
They followed the winding path through the willows that sheltered off part of the brook that widened into a pool before narrowing again. The brook here was fed by an underground spring that barely burbled above the water's surface. The three willows that hung near it curtained most of the camp noises, and obliterated most of the row of wagons from sight.
Mina stopped with the girls as Edvard gestured to the inlet of water. "How'd you find this spot?"
He shrugged. "I was looking."
She studied him closer, eyes resting on his chin. "When did you shave?"
He grinned. "When I was looking." He turned his back as Yuila and Xapita began pulling off their clothes. "Well, I guess they're ready to go in. I'll be over there." He pointed to a set of boulders that edged the path. "In case Yuila goes under and doesn't come up for a while."
"Thanks."
After he was out of sight, Mina disrobed and joined the younger girls in the water. It took all of five minutes for her to discover Yuila and Xapita expected her to scrub their backs and wash their hair with the scented soaps Edvard had left for them. She did this, listening to Yuila prattle on with her one-sided conversation. After ten minutes, it occurred to the Crone that she was the only one talking.
"Sapo, can you hear her?" she asked after a moment of quietness.
Mina shook her head, lathering the younger girl's hair for the third time. "Only you can, Yuila."
She smiled widely, then gave both of them an all-consuming hug. Mina was relieved when she let her go and decided it was one of the oddest moments she'd ever had, on any world.
"I can pass my exam now."
"I thought you always could read minds," Mina reminded, rinsing Xapita's hair. "That's what you told us."
Yuila frowned. "I can only hear Xapita."
"Never me? Never Edvard?'
Yuila shook her head. "Not really."
Good, Mina thought. "Should I congratulate you?"
"Maybe after I pass my exam."
Mina smiled at the girl's solemn expression. "Congratulations anyway, Yuila."
The evening was filled with food and games, most of the latter geared toward the younger children and teens. The roasted pigs and accompanying meats and dishes lasted until late in the night, and it would be well after midnight before anyone would go to bed.
Find Chapter 39 here.
PG13, saga; teen, fantasy, fantasy world travel, teen romance, clean romance, realm, magical realism, shadow world, school/new school, high school, fiction, serial. ♫♪