Beni and Renna rose as one, bouncing out of the curtain. Arlen was in no mood to play, but the girls didn’t let him speak, yanking him to his feet and out the door into the barn.
Beni lit a cracked lantern, casting the barn in a dull glow. Harl had two old cows, four goats, a pig with eight sucklings, and six chickens. All were gaunt and bony; underfed. Even the pig’s ribs showed. The stock seemed barely enough to feed Harl and the girls.
The barn itself was no better. Half the shutters were broken, and the hay on the floor was rotted. The goats had eaten through the wall of their stall, and were pulling the cow’s hay. Mud, slop, and faeces had churned into a single muck in the pig stall.
Renna dragged Arlen to each stall in turn. ‘Da doesn’t like us naming the animals,’ she confessed, ‘so we do it secret. This one’s Hoofy.’ She pointed to a cow. ‘Her milk tastes sour, but Da says it’s fine. Next to her is Grouchy. She kicks, but only if you milk too hard, or not soon enough. The goats are …’
‘Arlen doesn’t care about the animals,’ Beni scolded her sister. She grabbed his arm and pulled him away. Beni was taller than her sister, and older, but Arlen thought Renna was prettier. They climbed into the hayloft, plopping down on the clean hay.
‘Let’s play Succour,’ Beni said. She pulled a tiny leather pouch from her pocket, rolling four wooden dice onto the floor of the loft. The dice were painted with symbols: flame, rock, water, wind, wood, and ward. There were many ways to play, but most rules agreed you needed to throw three wards before rolling four of any other kind.
They played at the dice for a while. Renna and Beni had their own rules, many of which Arlen suspected were made up to let them win.
‘Two wards three times in a row counts as three wards,’ Beni announced, after throwing just that. ‘We win.’ Arlen disagreed, but he didn’t see much point in arguing.
‘Since we won, you have to do what we say,’ Beni declared.
‘Do not,’ Arlen said.
‘Do too!’ Beni insisted. Again, Arlen felt as if arguing would get him nowhere.
‘What would I have to do?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘Make him play kissy!’ Renna clapped.
Beni swatted her sister on the head. ‘I know, dumbs!’
‘What’s kissy?’ Arlen asked, afraid he already knew the answer.
‘Oh, you’ll see,’ Beni said, and both girls laughed. ‘It’s a grown-up game. Da plays it with Ilain sometimes. You practice being married.’
‘What, like saying your promises?’ Arlen asked, wary.
‘No, dumbs, like this,’ Beni said. She put her arms around Arlen’s shoulders, and pressed her mouth to his.
Arlen had never kissed a girl before. She opened her mouth to him, and so he did the same. Their teeth clicked, and both of them recoiled. ‘Ow!’ Arlen said.
‘You do it too hard, Beni,’ Renna complained. ‘It’s my turn.’
Indeed, Renna’s kiss was much softer. Arlen found it rather pleasant. Like being near the fire when it was cold.
‘There,’ Renna said, when their lips parted. ‘That’s how you do it.’
‘We have to share the bed tonight,’ Beni said. ‘We can practise later.’
‘I’m sorry you had to give up your bed on account of my mam,’ Arlen said.
‘It’s okay,’ Renna said. ‘We used to have to share a bed every night, until Mam died. But now Ilain sleeps with Da.’
‘Why?’ Arlen asked.
‘We’re not supposed to talk about it,’ Beni hissed at Renna.
Renna ignored her, but she kept her voice low. ‘Ilain says that now that Mam’s gone, Da told her it’s her duty to keep him happy the way a wife is supposed to.’
‘Like cooking and sewing and stuff?’ Arlen asked.
‘No, it’s a game like kissy,’ Beni said. ‘But you need a boy to play it.’ She tugged on his overalls. ‘If you show us your thingie, we’ll teach you.’
‘I am not showing you my thingie!’ Arlen said, backing away.
‘Why not?’ Renna asked. ‘Beni showed Lucik Boggin, and now he wants to play all the time.’
‘Da and Lucik’s father said we’re promised,’ Beni bragged. ‘So that makes it okay. Since you’re going to be promised to Renna, you should show her yours.’ Renna bit her finger and looked away, but she watched Arlen out of the corner of her eye.
‘That’s not true!’ Arlen said. ‘I’m not promised to anyone!’
‘What do you think the elders are talking about inside, dumbs?’ Beni asked.
‘Are not,’ Arlen said.
‘Go see!’ Beni challenged.
Arlen looked at both girls, then climbed down the ladder, slipping into the house as quietly as he could. He could hear voices from behind the curtain, and crept closer.
‘I wanted Lucik right away,’ Harl was saying, ‘but Fernan wants him makin’ mash for another season. Without an extra back around the farm, it’s hard keepin’ our bellies full, ’specially since them chickens quit layin’ and one of the milk cows soured.’
‘We’ll take Renna on our way back from Mey,’ Jeph said.
‘Gonna tell him they’s promised?’ Harl asked. Arlen’s breath caught.
‘No reason not to,’ Jeph said.
Harl grunted. ‘Reckon you should wait till t’morrer,’ he said. ‘While yur alone on the road. Sometime boys cause a scene when they’s first told. It kin hurt a girl’s feelin’s.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Jeph said. Arlen wanted to scream.
‘Know I am,’ Harl said. ‘Trust a man with daughters; they’ll get upset over any old thing, ent that right, Lainie?’ There was a smack, and Ilain yelped. ‘But still,’ Harl went on, ‘you kin do them no hurt that a few hours of cryin’ won’t solve.’
There was a long silence, and Arlen started to edge back towards the barn door.
‘I’m off t’bed,’ Harl grunted. Arlen froze. ‘See’n how Silvy’s in yur bed tonight, Lainie,’ he went on, ‘you c’n sleep with me after you scrape the bowls and round up the girls.’
Arlen ducked behind a workbench and stayed there as Harl went to the privy to relieve himself, and then went into his room, closing the door. Arlen was about to creep back to the barn when Ilain spoke.
‘I want to go, too,’ she blurted, just after the door closed.
‘What?’ Jeph asked.
Arlen could see their feet under the curtain from where he crouched. Ilain came around the table to sit next to his father.
‘Take me with you,’ Ilain repeated. ‘Please. Beni will be fine once Lucik comes. I need to get away.’
‘Why?’ Jeph asked. ‘Surely you have enough food for three.’
‘It’s not that,’ Ilain said. ‘It doesn’t matter why. I can tell Da I’ll be out in the fields when you come for Renna. I’ll run down the road, and meet you there. By the time Da realizes where I’ve gone, there’ll be a night between us. He’ll never follow.’
‘I wouldn’t