a small mirror with a copper frame. Legon stepped up to the mirror to make sure that he didn’t look too beastly. Staring back at him was a teenage boy with short brown hair, dark green eyes, and a firm jaw line. His skin was unusually smooth. He inspected his face with a look of disappointment, hoping to find the small pricks of a beard. I’m like a girl! I couldn’t grow a proper beard if my whole family’s life depended on it!
Sasha noticed him inspecting his face and chimed in, “I like it that way, Legon. Your face reminds me of a little baby.”
He could see her smirking in the mirror. “You’re on a roll this morning aren’t you?”
She shrugged and went on packing for the picnic. Legon went to a cabinet under the staircase and got some blankets and two long buckskin tubes containing their hunting bows, along with some arrows. Sasha was no hunter, but she was a fine shot and they enjoyed practicing archery, shooting into the hillsides of the mountains.
She wrapped four pocket pies that she had made into a red and white checked cloth, put the cloth into a wicker basket lined with a wool towel blanket, and wrapped the towel around the cloth. She then procured a dark green bottle of cedar from a cabinet that was built into the lower part of the counter and turned to Legon.
Legon looked down at the package wrapped tight in the towel. “Why did you wrap them in the towel and the cloth?”
“It’s chilly this morning. I don’t want the pies to be cold by the time we get up to the top of the hill,” she replied conversationally.
“Oh, good thinking Sash. Let me grab your cloak and we can be off.”
Legon went to the wall next to the front door where four black traveling cloaks rested on hooks. He put on his own, then walked up to Sasha and wrapped hers around her. Prepared for their outing, they stepped out of the back door of the house and began to walk to the woods. The back of their house faced directly into the woods at the edge of town. As they walked out they could see to their right the fenced-in paddock and an assortment of sheep, pigs, cattle, and the family’s horses. Other than the horses, the animals were mostly livestock that townsfolk had brought to be slaughtered in the family butcher shop. In the corner of the paddock was the shed where Legon and his father slaughtered and cleaned the animals. In most butcher shops the shed would be attached to the main building, but Legon’s mother had complained about the smell. One of the benefits of building a separate shed was that they were able to turn the old space where they used to slaughter the animals into a smoker and a large ice box. This gave them the ability to cure meat for people and keep their stock of meat fresh for longer periods of time.
The morning air was crisp and sweet—perfect for a hike. They were able to walk straight into the woods, since the town of Salmont had no town wall. Instead, the city was surrounded by a beautiful view of the woods and mountains.
They walked together into the woods and soon they were completely surrounded by trees as they ascended a steep hill with tree roots jutting up here and there. The pines were small on this hill, but still far above their heads. Sticky sap ran from some of them, giving the forest a pungent smell that they could taste on their tongues. This hike would be difficult for most people in the predawn darkness, but Legon and Sasha had spent their whole lives playing in these woods, so the faint moonlight was more than enough for them to walk in. After about a half hour they reached the top of a hill that overlooked the valley where they lived. The sun was just beginning to make itself known to the world as they rolled out a grey blanket on the soft turf and sat down. They took off their cloaks and put them across their laps, and Legon took a blue blanket and placed it around their shoulders. He uncorked the bottle of cedar as Sasha began unwrapping the pocket pies.
“Sash, did you remember to bring glasses?” Legon asked, looking around for them.
“Oh…” she said, looking perplexed, “I suppose those would be handy wouldn’t they?”