Chapter 2: Rolling Along
                         ------------------------

   There was little else to do for the rest of the day, so Darrin headed
for the Adairs' library.  She was still astounded at the size of the
collection of books; of all the people she had known, only old Strago had
owned more. Even her own family didn't have half as many books as Lance and
Danica did.  The room was not at all small, and nearly all of the
bookshelves lining its walls were filled; there were probably close to a
thousand books altogether, and that couldn't be too much less than the
total number of books that had ever been written, at least since the War of
the Magi.  There were even a number of books that had been copied before
the invention of the automatic scribe, which could copy a page of a book in
seconds rather than minutes and had begun the Literacy Revolution four
hundred years ago.  Danica, at least, was clearly an avid reader.

   So much the better, for Darrin was as well.  She had learned to read at
an early age, and it had been one of her favorite rainy-day activities
before the accident that had destroyed her house over a year ago.  Since
that time, though, she had never really found a chance to read.  Now she
headed immediately for a shelf which, she had discovered last night, held
all the works of Maer Lomel, her favorite author by far.  Lomel was an
incredibly prolific writer; she had turned out over three dozen books in
her fifty years, and she was still going strong.  She wrote mostly fiction,
but had also authored a few non-fiction books, including a book on her
methods of writing, which Darrin intended to look through when she had a
good long time to do so.  At the moment, Darrin was in the middle of
re-reading a series of novels by Lomel about a world in which dragons and
humans lived together but apart, their two societies separated by mutual
distrust, and two people, one human and one draconic, who set out to bring
the two groups together.  The series was long - eleven books, and not yet
finished - for which Darrin liked it that much more.  As she pulled the
first book off the shelf, marveling at its near-perfect condition - the
leather cover was hardly worn, and not a single page had a folded edge -
and opened it to the point at which she had left off the previous evening,
the thought crossed her mind that she really should be getting to know
Lance, Ahn, and Danica better.  She paid it no heed, however; the novel had
captured her immediate interest.  She settled down in a comfortable chair
and began to read.

   About three-quarters of a book later, Darrin felt a tap on her shoulder
just as a slight shadow fell over the pages she was reading.  She looked up
to see Lance standing in front of her.  Realizing that he had come to tell
her that supper was ready, she inserted a bookmark and closed the book,
then stood up from the chair and headed to the shelf to put the book away.

   "You must really enjoy reading," Lance commented.  "I called from the
doorway to tell you that supper was ready, and you didn't even blink."

   "I do," Darrin replied as she returned the book to its shelf.
"Especially these books.  Maer Lomel is a great writer, and her Dragonworld
novels are my favorites."  She started toward the doorway.  "If you get a
chance, you might want to read them sometime."

   "Maybe."  Lance shrugged, following Darrin out of the library.  "I don't
read much."

   When they reached the dining room, Danica and Ahn were already seated at
the table.  Danica had made a salad for that night's supper; it consisted
primarily of various greens, with slices of tomato and onion tossed in.  As
Darrin sat down, she also caught a glimpse of a pie sitting on the
countertop, nearly hidden behind other miscellaneous utensils.  /Apple, no
doubt,/ she thought with a wry mental grin.  There were a few bottles of
salad dressing in the center of the table, but she ignored them; she
preferred to eat her salad plain, often to the mild surprise of others.
As, she noted, the case was tonight; she caught glances from Lance and
Danica as she started to eat, though Ahn seemed not to notice.

   /Ahn, indeed./  If anyone wouldn't have noticed or wondered, it would
likely have been Ahn.  It *could* have simply been a difference in taste,
but Ahn seemed to be sampling each of the dressings, as though she'd never
seen them before, despite the fact that they were rather standard fare with
salads.  Indeed, perhaps she hadn't.  There was something odd about her,
something that didn't quite fit.  Something didn't *feel* right about her,
to Darrin's mental senses.  Not that she would ever pry about it; such a
thing would go against every fiber of her being.  But she still felt...
odd.

   Oh well.  It was not an important matter at the moment; Ahn would
explain if and when she wanted to.  Meanwhile, she had a salad to eat, and
in all likelihood, a slice or two of pie later.  And, as it turned out
roughly fifteen minutes later, she was right.  Danica collected the empty
plates from the table, then excused herself and headed to the counter.  "I
had to do *something* with all those extra apples we have this year," she
said, moving things around, "so..."  She turned back to the others to
reveal an apple pie.

   "Danica..." Lance said, shaking his head but with a smile on his face.
"You are just too predictable."  He rose from his seat, took the pie from
her, set it down on the table, and embraced her, all in one seemingly
smooth motion.

   "Well, do you want this pie or not?" Danica said, and chuckled.  Lance
gave her a final squeeze, then let go.  He went to one of the cabinets and
pulled out four dessert plates and forks to go with them; Darrin brought a
knife to the table and began cutting the pie into slices as Lance placed
the plates and forks around the table.  Danica distributed a slice to each
of the four, and they began eating; within minutes, all but Ahn were on
their second slice.  Darrin was nearly done with hers, and after asking the
others' permission, took the last slice from the pan.

   As they all finished and got up from the table, Danica said to Darrin,
"If you want to help us out tomorrow, you should get some sleep now and
give your knee a chance to start healing.  I'll be done here in a few
minutes and check on you, if there's anything you need."

   Darrin nodded.  As she started toward the hallway and the room that was,
at least for now, hers, she grimaced as the pain in her knee suddenly
flared up.  She mastered it quickly, though, and reached her room without
further mishap.  She changed into her nightclothes and climbed into her
bed, relishing both its comfort and the fact that it took weight off of her
injured knee, and waited for Danica.

   Danica arrived a few minutes later as she had promised, holding a bag
in one hand.  An icebag, Darrin realized, and she pulled the covers aside
enough to allow Danica to place the icebag on her knee.  She winced
involuntarily as the ice made itself felt quickly through the skin of the
bag, but as the cold spread over her knee, the discomfort lessened.
"Anything else you need?" Danica asked as she pulled the covers back over
Darrin again.

   "Well..."  Darrin paused, trying to determine how Danica would take her
next request, then continued, "Would you mind reading out of a novel to me?
It's something I like having people do once in a while, especially when I'm
sick..."

   Danica shrugged.  "Sure.  Did you have a specific book in mind?"

   Darrin breathed a mental sigh of relief; she had guessed correctly.  Had
she known Danica better, she could have been more sure, but it had worked
out anyway.  "Yeah.  _Falling Out_, by Maer Lomel.  Second book in the
Dragonworld series, if you've read it.  It should have a bookmark in it."

   "Ah, you like those books too?" Danica said with a smile.  "Sure.  I'll
be right back."

   Danica returned in a couple of minutes with the novel.  Even in that
short time, though, Darrin had begun to yawn.  She was more tired than she
had thought - perhaps the injury had something to do with that; she
recalled hearing once that the body used sleeping time to speed recovery
from injuries.  As Danica started reading, Darrin began to picture the
scenes in her mind, but before long, Danica's voice became a background
buzz as Darrin slowly succumbed to sleep.

                               *  -  *  -  *

   When Darrin awoke the next morning, the sky was just beginning to
lighten outside her window.  She yawned, then pulled the covers aside, sat
up, and stretched.  She was about to swing her legs over the side of the
bed when she realized that there was something on her right knee.  She
looked down to see what it was just as she recalled the icebag Danica had
placed there the previous night.  The ice, of course, had melted, as the
heat of her body had warmed it considerably overnight.  She lifted the bag
from her knee and set it on the table next to her bed, noting that the
bruise underneath was looking a bit better than it had last night, then
stood up and stretched again.  She then went to the bathroom to relieve
herself and wash up; after that, she returned to her room and dressed for
the day.

   Since no one else was up yet, Darrin decided to get a bit of reading in
before the day's work started.  A quick glance at her bedside table told
her that Danica had not left the book there.  Darrin had expected as much,
but it never hurt to check.  So she tiptoed down the hallway, carrying her
bedside lamp with her to provide light to see by in the still-dark passage.
After a dozen steps or so, she recognized the library door, and opened it
slowly so as not to make any noise.  She then walked quietly to the
bookshelves, set her lamp on a nearby table, pulled out the second
Dragonworld novel, opened it to where Danica had left off the previous
night, sat down, and began reading.

   Some time later, she heard approaching footsteps, and looked up from the
book to see Danica in the doorway.  "Now how did I know I'd find you here?"
Danica said with a smile.  Darrin marked her position with the bookmark,
closed the book, and set it on the table; then she rose from the chair and
headed toward the doorway.  "Breakfast is ready," Danica continued, and
started down the hall toward the dining room, Darrin following her.

   "How's your knee doing?" Danica inquired as they walked.

   "Pretty well, I think," Darrin replied.  "It hasn't hurt at all this
morning, though it still looks ugly."

   "Good," Danica said.  "It'll keep looking like that for a while, but as
long as you don't bump it again, it should be fine otherwise."

   When the two reached the dining room, Lance and Ahn were already seated
at the table and eating.  Darrin and Danica joined them and started on
their own food.  Breakfast that morning consisted of corn-bread muffins
with butter and glasses of water; nothing remarkable, but it would hold
them until lunch.

   Afterward, they headed outside and around to the side of the house where
the apple barrels stood, all three completely full.  "We need to cover
these and roll 'em down to Galen's," Danica said.  Suiting action to words,
she picked up one of the barrel lids leaning against the side of the house
and lifted it over the barrel that stood before her.  The lids were
ingeniously designed: there were three flat "prongs" spaced evenly around
the circumference of the lid, which fit into three indentations in the rim
of the barrel.  Connected to the indentations were narrow tracks through
with the prongs moved; the fit was tight enough that it took some force to
rotate the lid.  Each track was, at the end, cut a bit wider, so that the
prongs would tend to lock in place and resist being rotated back through
the tight tracks.  The end result was that, once the lid was in place, it
would not accidentally come off while the barrel was being rolled around.

   Danica proceeded to fit the lid onto the first barrel and lock it into
place; Lance took another lid and sealed the second.  The third barrel,
though, turned out to be a bit too full; when Danica tried to fit the lid
on, there were a couple of apples in the way.  So she tossed Darrin, Ahn,
and Lance each an apple.  Darrin caught the apple thrown her way, shrugged,
and began eating it.  Meanwhile, Danica locked the last lid onto the third
barrel; then she and Lance, who had set his apple down, carefully tipped
the barrels over onto their sides.

   Once the three barrels rested comfortable on the ground, Danica directed
Lance to take one barrel and Ahn and Darrin to take another as she herself
began rolling the third toward the street.  Lance followed with his barrel;
then Ahn and Darrin rolled theirs after Danica and Lance.  The barrels were
massive, but once they had started rolling, it became easier to keep them
moving.

   Within a couple of minutes, three barrels were rolling along the street
in front of the Adairs' house.  Darrin focused most of her attention on
keeping her and Ahn's barrel moving in a straight line, but saw heads turn
as they traveled, and heard a couple of compliments given to Danica about
the apparent size of the apple crop this year.

   After going down the street a ways, they turned a corner and continued
down another street to the right.  Then Darrin saw a middle-aged man come
out of a building and jog up to Danica.  He was quite short - a few inches
shorter than Darrin - though well-proportioned for his size.  He sported
very dark hair, almost black, with a thick beard of the same color.  Danica
stopped, and Darrin and Ahn quickly took hold of their barrel to stop it as
well.

   "Danica!" the man greeted her.  Then he glanced over Lance, Darrin, and
Ahn.  "I see you found yourself some helpers this year."

   Danica nodded, then introduced them each in turn.  "My brother Lance I
think you know, even if he does make a special effort to disappear right
around this time of year."  All three shared a chuckle at that.  "And Ahn
and Darrin are new friends of ours."  Turning to Ahn and Darrin, she said,
"This is Galen, the shopkeeper I sell my apples to."

   "Pleased to meet you," Galen said to them. Then, to Danica, he
continued, "I see you've had quite a harvest.  All three barrels along this
time."

   "You'll be surprised," Danica told him with a little smile, then started
back in the direction of Galen's store.  Lance, Darrin, and Ahn followed.
Rather than entering through the front door, however, they turned into an
alley next to the store.  Galen inserted a key into an angled door set near
the base of the wall, turned it, then opened the door, revealing a stone
ramp leading down to what was presumably a cellar.  Galen stepped inside
first, ducking under the low doorway, then took hold of Danica's barrel
from the other side and began to guide it down the ramp.  Danica repeated
the same procedure with Lance's barrel, and Lance did the same with Darrin
and Ahn's.  Finally, Darrin and Ahn stepped under the doorway and into the
cellar.

   The room was fairly large, though not enormous; there were a number of
crates and barrels around the walls, a set of stairs led to a door in the
left-hand wall, and a square wooden platform about five feet on a side was
set into the floor, about three feet below floor level - for what purpose,
Darrin was not sure, although it might be used for holding something.  The
room was lit by a number of oil lamps set on the upper shelves; the stone
walls themselves were bare, except for a couple of cobwebs in the corners.

   Once the barrels had been rolled down the ramp and onto the cellar
floor, Galen took one over to the wooden platform.  After rotating it so
that the lid end was over the platform, he knelt down and, with Danica
holding the barrel steady, unlocked the lid and removed it.  The apples
immediately began pouring out - and, to Danica's surprise, the platform
began to fall into the floor!  The surprise must have been evident on her
face, for Galen smiled and explained that the platform was mounted on
springs, and fell as more weight was put on it.

   Within a few minutes, all three barrels had been emptied into the pit,
and despite the springs beneath the platform, the pile of apples rose to a
peak about a foot above floor level.  While Lance and Danica were finishing
with the last barrel, Galen had taken some flat, partitioned crates down
from a shelf and set them a short distance from the apples.  He directed
Darrin's and Ahn's attention to them.  "We use these to count out the
apples.  They're divided into ten spaces on a side, so a hundred apples
will fit in one.  Make sure you check the apples for serious bruises,
wormholes and the like, and set any such aside - we can use them to make
things like applesauce and apple cider later."  At that point, Lance rolled
the last barrel to the side; Galen passed crates around to everyone, and
the counting began.

                               *  -  *  -  *

   "Forty... forty-five... fifty-two... fifty-eight.  Four thousand four
hundred fifty-eight apples," Galen finally announced, his tone both
surprised and pleased.  "You were right," he told Danica, "that was an
unusually large harvest."  He took the last crates over to the shelf with
the rest of the apples, most already boxed up for moving into the main
store area.  As it turned out, only a couple dozen bad apples had found
their way into the barrels, and those had been placed in a separate box.
"So for those, I pay you..."  He did some rapid mental calculations,
mumbling aloud in the process.  "Thirty-one thousand two hundred six gold
pieces?"  He glanced up at Danica; when she nodded, he continued, "I'll be
back in a moment.  Oh - the lunch is on the house, as usual," he added,
referring to the sandwiches he had brought them at midday.

   As he headed for the door leading to the store itself, Danica explained
to Darrin and Ahn, "Galen pays me seven GP for each apple I sell him.  Then
he resells them for ten GP apiece.  That way, I get enough money to live
reasonably well, and he uses the profits to help run the store."  Lance,
meanwhile, was locking the lids back onto the barrels in preparation for
taking them back to the house.

   A moment later, Galen returned holding a small sack of coins.  He handed
it to Danica, who accepted it with a smile and a "thank you".  Then he
helped the others roll the barrels back up the ramp and out of the cellar,
though they were light enough now that they could each be handled by one
person easily, even Darrin.  Once they were out of the cellar, Galen gave
them a final farewell wave before locking the cellar door and returning to
his store.

   As they approached the Adairs' house, Danica asked Ahn to take the
barrel she was handling around to the side of the house, then headed
inside.  As Darrin followed Lance and Ahn with her barrel, she could not
help but be curious as to why Danica had headed inside early.  Not that
there was any reason for her not to... but there wasn't any reason for her
to do so, either.

   The answer became apparent a moment later, after the three now-empty
barrels were once again standing against the side of the house.  As Darrin,
Lance, and Ahn headed back to the front door, Danica came out of the house
holding what four of what seemed to be - no, they *were* - fishing poles.
"I figured we ought to reward ourselves for having finished that work," she
said as she approached.  "What do you all think of going fishing?"