*
It was a winter of much sorrow.
Kannak was indeed not the only one to come down with the fever and although she slowly recovered, several of the younger children and even a few of the elders died. The clan's graveyard was located down the beach on the side of the hill. Stefan helped dig the graves and for a time it seemed they completed one burial only to be faced with another.
With the low river water, fishing was not as plentiful and several of the men had to go to sea to find other kinds of fish. Hungry wolves were often spotted too close to the village and fires were lit along the edges to keep them away at night.
Then the snow and ice came.
Even so, Mistress Macoran took her daily walk along the ocean shore still hoping the Vikings would come back. When she wasn't looking for Vikings, she cursed her husband and prayed he would die of the fever. But he did not even manage a sneeze and she was furious.
In her father's village, her sons had been caught twice playing with fire and it was all she could do to keep them in check before they shamed her. For that she blamed Macoran as well. She never should have bedded him and proclaimed barrenness to her father instead. Why did she always manage to think of these things after it was too late? Now she was stuck with a husband whom she hated and two sons she was beginning to care even less for. It was all Macoran's fault and she would make him pay if it was the last thing she ever did.
*
Once the illness left the village, Stefan spent his time gathering wood and dried heather for their fire, went fishing and hunting. He bartered two salmon for a chicken and spent two hours slowly turning the spit to cook it so they could enjoy a special celebration for Kannak's fourteenth birthday. Kannak got better each day but it took three weeks for her to get all her strength back. Stefan took her on short walks at first and then longer ones until she pleaded to be let on her own lest everyone think her a wee bairn still. He reluctantly let her have her way.
For Jirvel, there was another kind of suffering. She stayed inside the cottage most of the time and when she did go out, she avoided going close to the keep or to any place she knew Macoran might be. Seeing him, especially with his wife and children was unbearable. She was pleasant, when she could not avoid her mistress Macoran, but she had no desire to befriend her and prayed the woman did not know why.