Wilma had been working on the art for these since before we had finished color ink, so the stencils had all been made under the assumption that the illustrations would be printed in black and white. As a result, we were planning to print this round of books in black and white.
If we were printing in black and white with plain stencils, we could print without needing to wait for the tools to be done. We still didn’t have much paper since we had only resumed production in spring, but we could always just buy some from the plant paper workshops Benno had made.
“I want to use the printing press since we finally have one ready, but—”
“But the High Priest said no. Give up on it and just get to cutting out the stencils.” Lutz shot me down immediately, so I simply sighed in defeat and got to cutting. It was a true shame; we had worked so hard to make metal types and a printing press, but it was all for naught.
“There’s a lot of stuff you can do before resorting to using the printing press you were specifically ordered not to use, right? You need to talk to Fran and the High Priest about the colored ink being done, and you should tell Wilma about it as soon as possible so that she can draw art with color for your next picture book. She’ll have to think about that and the printing method when planning her next illustrations.”
“You’re right. I haven’t had much time to properly sit down and talk with Wilma since she’s been so busy looking after Dirk. I’ll try to go to the orphanage this afternoon to see her.”
Lutz and I walked down the street while talking. A mother with a child on her back passed us, which made me realize something. I stuck my hand in my tote basket and took out a bag with two wooden tubes and some small stones in it. Dad had carved and hollowed out the tubes, and I had thoroughly cleaned the stones.
“Lutz, could you put the stones in these tubes, then glue the caps on?”
“...Sure, but why?” Lutz blinked in confusion at the stuff I had given him. Both tubes were identical, and once the stones were inside they’d function as rattles.
“They’re baby toys—one for Kamil and one for Dirk. They make noise once you put the stones inside and shake them.”
“Oh yeah, I know of something like that. They look kinda different, though.”
“I’d like to color these and make them look cuter, but I don’t want to put ink on something a baby will probably be putting in their mouth...”
A baby as few months old as Kamil and Dirk wouldn’t be able to see colors that weren’t vibrant enough, so I would want to cover them in bright red ink. But I felt resistance toward putting ink on something that would be going inside a baby’s mouth. Ink made out of edible materials was always an option, but then I would have to worry about bacteria growing inside the ink.
“Well, they’re not gonna last long either way, right? We can just use some of the ink we made out of edible materials back in the workshop. What else are we gonna use the colored ink we spent so much time on? It’ll be a while before we can print with it anyway.”
“Okay then. Could I ask you to do that, Lutz?”
“Sure. I’ll get them to you this afternoon.”
I said my goodbyes to Lutz in front of the workshop before heading to my chambers, where Rosina was waiting with the harspiel in hand.
“Good morning, Sister Myne.”
I gave a bemused smile at Rosina’s brimming enthusiasm, then looked at Delia as she played with Dirk. “Delia, I would like to change clothes. Do you have a moment?”
“As you wish. Dirk, I will be back as soon as I’m finished. Wait just a moment.” Delia regretfully separated from Dirk, then speedily started changing me. She put my blue shrine maiden robes on as quickly as she could, tied the sash, then immediately returned to Dirk.
“Dirk, I’m back.” Delia spoke to Dirk with an absolutely shining expression that I had never seen on her before. She was head over heels for Dirk.
...What’s with that cute smile? I’ve never seen her smile like that before.
Delia already had a beautiful face, so seeing her smiling actually took my breath away. Her smile was so filled with love that I actually felt a bit jealous of Dirk.
“Sister Myne, Dirk seems like he’s almost ready to roll over. I would expect nothing less from my little brother. He’s such a wonderful little boy.” Delia sat next to Dirk and stroked his head as he tried his hardest to turn over. To her, everything else in the world seemed to fade away. Not even ten days had passed since Dirk had come to the temple, but she was already caring for him like a real sibling.
“Sister Myne, it would be wise to leave Dirk to Delia so that we may begin harspiel practice.”
At Rosina’s prompting, I picked up the smaller harspiel and began practicing. I played the piece I was currently learning a few times, at which point the door opened. Breakfast had finished in the orphanage and Wilma, having seen the children off to the workshop, was here to collect Dirk.
“Good morning, Sister Myne. I have come for Dirk.”
“Good morning, Wilma. Thank you as always. And while you are here, I plan to visit the orphanage this afternoon to discuss picture books with you.”
Wilma nodded with a brief “Understood” in response to my plans, after which she talked to Delia while getting Dirk. She had to ask how he had been last night and how much goat milk he had drunk so that she could predict and prepare for the next time he was hungry.
“We do not have any gray shrine maidens who have experience raising children. If we don’t think of
