Judging by the angle of the fading light, Hildegund was sure she was a bit early for the moot that had been called, but being late was unthinkable. She made her way up the hill to where they'd built the clan-lodge, watching her hound. He'd caught some squirrels not much earlier, and seemed like perhaps he wanted to nap. When she got almost to the building, she pointed to a likely spot in the leaves. "Stay, Fang. Wait." Needing no further encouragement, he sniffed at the place, turned around a few times, and laid down for a nap as the woman walked on.
She wiped her feet as she entered, and steeled herself for dealing with people. At least being early helped. She saw Heriwulf making preparations and seeing to hounds, and she smelled the Nightingale's work from the far side of the hall even as she just came through the mud-room. She also saw that only one of the fireplaces in the hall was going. She wandered a bit, trying to ignore it, but it bothered her too much. She knew she'd have to bring in more wood later to replace what she was about to burn, but she needed it to balance, so she went up and started that one going as well.
To make it seem more natural, or so she hoped, she then sat by that fire to keep an eye on the room and wait for things to begin. Besides, the beginning signs of aging were affecting her. The warmth, while not necessary, was welcome.
The Home-Wright and the Snow-Hair came in, with hounds. Of course, Fang would have been with her, too, if he'd not chosen to dine on squirrel earlier. Heriwulf went after some of the just-fermented batch of cider. It probably needed to sit more, but it was still good, she knew.
Shortly after that, the discussion started to turn from simple greetings and comments on food preparation to the clan business. Expecting to need to contribute her own observations, the woman walked down to sit at the table with the others, though she chose to sit out at the edge rather than being too near anyone. She was sad to hear, as she was seating herself, that Ljota would not be able to come.
Words moved too fast for her to comment at first, but then food was brought. Even their small partial clan had autumnal bounty of a sort, and the meal was good and filling. It also served to slow the words some, so when the time came that she was asked what she'd seen, she was able to take the time to put the images in her head into words to share.
She described finding bits of goblin gear, rotting and rusting in the dirt, but still out there in the fields, as well as how the locals that she did talk to – hunters and trappers – were saying things about the differences this year from others. Thicker pelts, harsher weather, more ominous clouds – they expected a bad winter.
That was enough worry for the moment, and the signs of former goblin presence might not amount to anything, so she didn't dwell on the possibility of things coming down from the hills in search of more food and warmth if things got bad. She thought she'd managed to make mention of it, but she wasn't quite sure she'd got it said. Even so, it was a concern for actual winter, and things like hunting and gathering wood were for now.
She did get to raise her comment, finally, on keeping the gathered wood dry, and letting the workers of wood argue all winter if they liked over whether peeling it early or late was worse for letting it warp. After all, it was mostly freezing moisture that warped the wood. That led to confirmation from the Home-Wright that adding her own gathered wood to the other's piles was not only allowed, but encouraged.
She resolved to help more with that in the days ahead, as well as trying to be social enough with the trappers who wanted her to learn to read their scratchings – another concern that had come up, and one that she was keeping to images and not putting into words, so that she wouldn't accidentally tell anyone just why she suddenly was more interested in this 'reading'.
Finally, meal and business were over, and people went their ways. She stayed to help clean up before going off herself, pondering her tasks to come. She might need to talk to Heriwulf about an additional hound, one that was more temperamentally suited to harness, if she was going to be hauling wood back. And she'd have to balance both that and tracking game with learning from the trappers. It was going to be a busy season.
