Apart from that little incident, life went on. Before Audrey knew it, it was harvesting season, and everyone was needed to help harvest the crops. She was still in charge of the animals, but after feeding them and milking the cows and goats, she was needed out in the fields as well. This was the food they would live on for the rest of the year, so it was important to harvest it as fast as possible. Even Kaneez was taken out of prison and sent to the fields, though under heavy supervision and not near anything sharp.
After the harvesting was done, it was once again time for the Lady to go on tour. She apparently did that about twice a year, in the least busy seasons. It was a mixed feeling among the theows whether they wanted to go with the Lady or not. On one hand, it was exciting, and the workload was less, but on the other hand, with both the Lady and Morcefres away on tour, life in the castle was a lot less terrifying. Arthur wasn't a lenient master either, but his punishment wasn't quite as sadistic as what the Lady dished out.
Audrey was to remain behind. Most of the animals wouldn't travel with them, and Audrey was the best at caring for them. She didn't mind. The only thing she would miss was the scop's stories. The scop had tried to teach a few others her way with storytelling, but no one was anywhere near her level yet. The scop had actually mentioned that Audrey could be a candidate for learning, when she had earned her freedom. That would indeed be fantastic! She had already started practicing, with keeping a rhythm going while she was working and other small things like that. And memorizing the stories of course.
The day the Lady left, everyone was lined up to see them off. Some seemed relieved, others jealous of those who would be joining them. Audrey felt that she was exactly where she was supposed to be, so she didn't mind. Maybe in a few years' time, she would want to come, but that would require the Lady having animals to bring. It had almost led to disaster this time to bring too many chickens, so they were now staying behind. Only some pigs and two horses were going, and the horses had their own stablemen. Audrey had told them the basics of how to care for the pigs, so they should be fine. Of course, none of the pigs would be returning. They were meant for gifts, and for meat for special occasions. That's what they kept pigs for.
The main thing that happened when the Lady was away was that Kaneez was let out of prison. She was still in leg-irons, and she usually carried water with her hands stuck in the yoke. They called her slave, which was even lower than theow, and a permanent state. She slept out in the courtyard, usually in the jougs. To Audrey, it looked like she had given up. One time, she almost fell into the well, but the yoke stopped her from falling the whole way. She cried when she was helped back up, the others thought it was from relief, but Audrey suspected it was despair from failing to kill herself.
Why did she even care about Kaneez? The slave had tried to kill her! Audrey shouldn't feel sorry for her, but she did. She was treated worse than the oxen yet worked harder. The oxen ploughed the fields, but they got breaks from the yoke during the day. Kaneez carried water until she collapsed from exhaustion.
Arthur was very particular about anything related to religion. It seems that was his area of expertise. He often gave the staff of freemen and churls the day off for special days and held a Modraniht celebration for everyone around the solstice. There was a large fire and everyone, theow or free, danced around the fire and consumed buckets of mead. Arthur explained that this tradition was something they shared with all their Germanic neighbours and that he loved how intimate it could be around the fire. He sounded almost like a scop, as he told stories during the evening. Well, a scop was a religious figure as well, so he probably had some interests in that direction.
Audrey drank a little too much mead that night, and she wasn't the only one. About half of the theows didn't even make it to their beds. Ædven was very displeased with them. This was the first time in quite some time that she wasn't with the Lady on tour, and she seemed to take it personally. Arthur claimed that he had been the one to request that she stayed behind, since he needed help with some of the theows, but Ædven either didn't believe him, or didn't think it made any difference. Everyone who had slept outside of their own beds in the night had to spend the next day in the stretch-neck. That was miserable on its own, but standing in it with a thunderous headache made it worse. Audrey vowed to never drink so much mead again. Being in the stretch-neck made a memory flash back to her, about being stuck in one, shouting, yet being ignored. Her memories had started to come back, slowly, but this was the first time she remembered anything of how she ended up here. What had she done to become a theow? She knew better than to ask. All she could hope for was to one day earn her freedom.