Was given a carved limewood doll by her dying mother, with a blessing said over it, and told to feed it when…
THEIR STORY
Vessa is the daughter of the Cray farm's first wife, who died when Vessa was eight. Her father married again and is away at the Cressing markets more than he is home. Vessa does the work of three on the farm and is thanked by nobody. She speaks little, notices a great deal, and keeps something in her apron pocket that she shows to no one.
FROM
the Cray farm, where the Marches end at the Blackwood
HOW THEY LOOK
Tall and raw-boned, with chapped hands and a plait the colour of wet straw. One apron pocket always hangs heavier than the other.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“Grandmother's? Then I'll go. Somebody has to.”
“Eat first, she says. Then she tells me.”
BEFORE THE TALE
11 years ago · the Cray farm
Was given a carved limewood doll by her dying mother, with a blessing said over it, and told to feed it when she was lost.
6 years ago · the Cray farm
Watched her father bring home Ottilie and her daughter Lisbet, and was moved out of the loft to sleep by the byre.
3 years ago · the Blackwood edge
Taught herself the herbs of the wood edge from a pedlar's torn book, and cured the cow of bloat when nobody else could.
this year · the Cressing road
Saw her father off to the winter market at Cressing, and has had no word from him since the first snow.
this year · the Cray farm
Woke on the longest night to every hearth in the house black and wet, and was sent into the wood for fire by morning.