I wonder if she’d get mad if I said that reminds me of Myne?
“I still can’t believe it! Mrs. Corinna actually said she would trust me with making Myne’s hairpins. I need to get better quick so nobody takes the work away from me,” Tuuli said with a proud smile, before quietly adding, “It’s all going so well thanks to Myne’s blessings.”
If you asked me, it had more to do with the Gilberta Company’s plotting than any blessings—they’d surely hired Tuuli so that they’d have another connection to Myne, now that she was the daughter of a noble and all. Still, Tuuli was just glad to have another thread connecting her to her little sister, who in her eyes wasn’t dead yet. It was clear that she thought that if she worked hard, she could keep meeting Myne. She was facing the future and charging forward in a display of hope so pure it was dazzling.
“You got Myne’s blessings too, right, Mom? You’re moving a lot easier than you were before. But still, you shouldn’t push yourself! You may not have birthing pains anymore, but you’re still going to be exhausted from feeding Kamil at night.”
I felt as though Tuuli was telling me that I needed to face the future too, especially since Myne’s blessings had cured me of the helpless pain and exhaustion I had felt ever since giving birth. I won’t lose to my own daughter here, I thought to myself, and as I put on my cooking apron, I found myself smiling for the first time since Myne had gone.
“I’ve been blessed by Myne, Tuuli—you don’t need to worry about me. And listen, there’s second bell. Have a nice day at work.”
After cheering up a bit and seeing Tuuli off to her apprentice work, I washed some dishes using a jar of water while keeping an eye on Kamil. I glanced around the house and noticed that Tuuli had already washed the clothes for me, but I would still need to draw more water. The market would also be opening later on today, so I would need to go shopping for food as well. We had already finished all of the food donated to us by our neighbors. It was tempting for me to just be satisfied with some leftovers for lunch, but with Gunther around, I needed to make something more sizable.
...Now, where should I start cleaning up? I thought just as Gunther trudged out of bed. He was up much later than usual, and it wasn’t as though he was working a night shift or anything. He stared at me through kind of narrowed eyes as I moved around the house, working in my apron.
“How come you and Tuuli can just keep on acting normal? Myne’s gone, y’know.”
“The funeral is over, and our neighbors have helped us enough. If Tuuli and I spent all of our time crying instead of working, who would give milk to Kamil, or make our food, or wash our clothes?”
No matter how sad we were or how great the loss was, it was already time for us to get back to work if we wanted to live—Gunther should have known that as well.
“Not to mention that we’re not like most families. Myne gave us a lot of blessings. She gave us the power to strive toward our goals, to deflect malice, to heal our pain, and to endure trials and tribulations—she gave it to all her loved ones. So, I’m fine.”
Gunther suddenly raised his head in realization. I smiled at him.
“Tuuli is striving to keep her promise to Myne and make the most of her blessings, but you’re just lazing around all day, not enduring this trial at all. I wonder if that means she doesn’t love you? Did you actually get blessed?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Gunther’s eyes shot open. “Of course she does! We had all those final goodbyes, and the burns on my arm healed! Myne loves me for sure!” Seeing him overreact when it came to Myne and getting so pouty was kind of cute in its simplicity.
“In that case, why don’t you face the future and get back to living as well? There’s a mountain of things we have to do. If you have the time to skip work, you have the time to help. First comes drawing water.”
“‘First’...?”
“And then once that’s done, could you go shopping for me? The market’s up today, but I still can’t go that far with Kamil. Myne would get mad at me for sure.”
Myne hadn’t been able to keep quiet for a minute without telling us not to take Kamil outside until he was old enough to move his head, due to all of the sicknesses outside. Gunther seemed to remember that as well. He fell silent, searching for words.
“Ah, look. Now Kamil’s crying. It’s time for him to be breastfed.” I gave the mopey, frowning Gunther a bucket and shooed him out, then picked up the crying Kamil and opened the bedroom window. The room lit up in an instant thanks to the dazzlingly bright sunshine of a summer just beginning. A cool breeze blew inside, and that cheered me up even more, like the wind was blowing away the sad, heavy atmosphere that had built up inside.
“Here you are, Kamil.” I had kept him waiting a bit too long, and his small mouth moved desperately as he drank as much and as quickly as he could. That was when Gunther came back, carrying a bucket filled to the brim with water. He frowned harder as he poured it into the jug before going back out to the well.
It took Gunther several trips to the well to finish filling the water jug, after which he picked up the shopping basket and left for the market, all the while mumbling
