Season content notes: Ableism

The next few weeks passed quietly.

In the weekly council meetings, Chotaikytsai was included in a few conversations, mostly by the small and relatively powerless families. It was a small thing, but it was a start.

Thatching the roof took longer than it should, because of difficulties getting enough thatch. Chotaikytsai said nothing to the others, but ey suspected the difficulties were deliberate. Only days before Kolchais went to the market to order their thatch, the Quick-Foot messengers had decided to re-thatch their compound and bought up almost all the available supply.

It was a petty move, and annoying. But it couldn’t actually stop them.

Tsouchm, Lefeng, and Paiokp finished thatching the roof of their new home three weeks after Chotaikytsai confronted the Quick-Foot councilor. Chotaikytsai breathed a sigh of relief and immediately started organizing their things to move in. It wasn’t that ey didn’t trust Lefeng. This ‘season house’ had sheltered Lefeng’s family for eir entire life. Clearly, it was safe.

But they were already into the beginning of the bright season. Ey had, to be safe, kept Chestef inside during midday the past several days. Having a proper home to shelter in, with thick walls, and not just a thin layer of leaves, to keep the sun off…

The door, of course, faced south. No one built a building with door or windows facing towards the sun. Few built windows at all.

Their new house had two windows, both on the east side. After much discussion, they had agreed to divide the building lengthwise. The western side would be the main living space. The Eastern side would be split again, most of it be crafting storage and work space, but a small corner would be walled off for the quiet space Kyawtchais had requested. The windows would let them see better while they worked, and a linen screen would diffuse the light, protecting them.

Yet as ey started to move the first bundle into the home, Chotaikytsai found emself hesitating. Finding this and that reason to delay. To not walk into eir new home.

The daub was a pale tan, bright in the sunlight. Tsouchm planned to make whitewashing the outer walls the next step. They would add earths to the whitewash to turn it dark brown. The building would absorb the light then, rather than reflect it. As with the door, no one painted the outside of a building with untinted whitewash. The inside, sometimes. The white color made the dark interiors brighter and reflected the firelight to reach further. The outside, never.

So many things they did to make their homes safe. The only thing they couldn’t protect was the roof.

The roof could catch water when it rained. Only drops, here or there, but enough. Sometimes enough. To catch the light and do… whatever water did to light. Until the light sparked with a flicker of magic. And most of the time you didn’t notice. You’d climb up to repair the roof and notice that a bit of the palm fronds had rotted away overnight. Or, more rarely, that what had been dead leaves had put down roots and started growing in your roof.

Once, Chotaikytsai remembered with a shudder, ey had been sent to check the roof for damage and found a hand span of the thatching had turned into stone.

But sometimes. Sometimes the flicker of magic would turn into a spark. And that spark would catch on the dead leaves and branches of the fronds. Then the fire would rage, consuming everything… everyone…

Ey sank down on eir heels, pressed shaking hands to eir eyes. Trying to block out the memories, though, of course, it didn’t work like that.

Strong hands took eirs. Tsouchm pulled Chotaikytsai into eir arms and held tight. The others surrounded them. Some reaching out to em, some keeping their distance but watching.

Chotaikytsai saw Kyawtchais’ hands moving, but couldn’t understand what ey was saying. It was alright, Lefeng was replying. The two retreated a bit, still talking.

Chotaikytsai took a minute to breathe, then gave Tsouchm’s hand a squeeze and stood. “I’m alright now. Thank you.”

Things happened. Ey would always fear another fire, and there was no guarantee it couldn’t happen. But that current would be as it would. Ey grabbed up eir bundle and carried it into the new home, defying the fates that had once condemned em to a life alone.

It was cool and dim. It should have been a relief after the bright sun of the early summer day. But ey shivered looking around the empty space, the bare walls.

The interior walls were still missing, marked only by lines of stakes in the dirt floor. A small pit had been dug for a hearth, but no stones set around it.

The space dimmed further — the others standing in the doorway. Watching em, worried.

Ey looked about the empty space again and nodded. Eir spouse and children had built a house and built it well. It would be up to em to make it a home.

The hearth would be the first step, Chotaikytsai decided. The hearth was the heart of the home, as well as being namesake for two of their family. It needed to be respected.

In eir mind, ey drew out a map of how the home would look. Beds for children and grandparents there, along the west wall. Near to the door in case of emergency. Parents opposite on the east wall. Storage, food, logs around the hearth covered with rugs and furs for sitting.

Woven rushes across the floor, and eventually hangings on the walls to add more color…

Yes. It would take time, but they could do it.

First, though, to move the blankets in. Proper beds would wait, get them in out of the sun immediately.

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