Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

Author:Kathleen Duey
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2007-01-01T23:00:00+00:00

-31-

As always, Sadima rinsed the curds carefully, then wrapped them in the thinly woven cloth they used to keep flies off. Rinka was humming quietly as they worked. Rinse, wrap, press, hang. There were a hundred hooks above the long copper trough. Sadima hung each batch of finished curds one hook farther to her right. The last one of the day would be tied with a strip of red cloth so Rinka could see the age of the curds at a glance and keep track of how much they did each day. They salted and wax-dipped the oldest cheese first. "At home we use herbs," Sadima said. Rinka looked up. "I would love to, but we can't afford it."

"Why?" Sadima asked, setting the wrapped cheese between the pressing boards and weighting the top one with one of the flat stones that lay within reach. "Marjoram and rosemary don't have to cost anything. I know where we could find—"

"No," Rinka interrupted her. "There is a royal family that sells herbs in Limòri. The king forbids anyone else bringing them into the city at all."

Sadima turned to stare at her. "Why?"

Rinka glanced around the shop. There were no customers; the place was empty. Even so, she lowered her voice. "Simply to increase the wealth of the royal families."

Sadima was amazed. In Ferne people grew their own herbs, or picked them wild. She was very glad she had brought her own. She would have a hard time cooking without them. She told Rinka about the woven grass bags of herbs in her bundle.

Rinka shrugged and smiled. "The king is not likely to send archers and guards to search your little kitchen. It is a bad law. Eridians believe that the fruits of the earth and of the mind belong to all equally."

Sadima glanced up from the copper trough and the batch of curds she was rinsing.

Rinka smiled. "Erides was a wise woman."

"Is she dead?" Sadima asked.

Rinka nodded. "Yes, yes. She is gone three hundred years, killed in the long ago and all too near. But her words live, and her good heart."

Sadima had been keeping her hands moving, wrapping each bundle of curds tightly, then weighting a pressing board on it and going to the next. She had been about to ask Rinka if the woman in the carriage had been right, if the Eridians were bringing girls into the city to force them to marry—but now her thoughts were scattered.

"Long ago and all too near," she echoed. "A Gypsy woman at the well said those same words to me when I asked where she was from."

Rinka smiled. "A Gypsy Eridian? That is a rarity. And she must have liked you. Eridians give our prophet's wisdom only to the ones we know can hear it."

Sadima smiled but stayed silent, thinking. Long ago and all too near. Maybe it meant that bad things that happened once could easily happen again. The thought made her sad.

When Rinka fell back into her soft humming, Sadima was relieved to be distracted from her somber thoughts.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.