Ravenwood by Nathan Lowell Page A

bred women may well not be able to tell an oak from a poplar, an ash from a hickory. She sighed inwardly and hoped she was wrong. “All we need is something to cut the willow with.”
    Sadie held up a small saw. “Will this do?”
    “Perfectly. We can save time by grabbing a limb rather than cutting the bits off out there and bringing them home.” Tanyth was pleased by the young woman’s initiative.
    Amber finished her immediate tasks and looked around brightly. “I think we’re ready, mum. Where are we goin’?”
    Tanyth chewed her lip a moment in thought.
    “Willows like wet feet. Is there a place where there’s ground that’s always damp?”
    Sadie nodded. “Yes, mum, just up the path to the quarry. There’s a patch that’s always muddy. They had to put in logs to keep the path from turnin’ into a muck hole.”
    “That sounds like a good place to start.” Tanyth looked about at the smiling faces. “Shall we go?”
    Amber dropped off her younger daughter to play with Megan’s three while they were gathering and the four of them headed up the path toward the clay quarry. The rough road was easier going than forcing a path into the forest proper. Tanyth kept her eyes moving, looking for side paths and game trails. Deer would use this path if they could, she knew. Smaller game as well and it might be useful to have a brace of rabbits for her own stewpot.
    As they walked through the woods, Tanyth explained what they were looking for. “Any kind of willow will do. Black willow, white, even weeping willows and catkins.”
    “Catkins?” Riley’s squeaky voice sounded amazed. “Catkins are willows?”
    Tanyth nodded and smiled down at the boy’s upturned face. “Indeed they are. A kind of willow and the bark is as good as any other.” Privately she thought it might be better because the small withes of catkin yielded a good amount of the pale inner bark and left a strong, straight, and pliable stick that was useful in a variety of ways.
    They walked perhaps a quarter mile along the track before it started dipping down to a swale. A bit of corduroy work on the track kept their feet from getting mucky and a stand of white willows grew on a hummock just south of the road. The pale hairs that gave the willow its name still coated the leaves and several strong trunks grew in a clump.
    Tanyth pointed out a likely limb with the foot of her staff. “That branch that’s growing into the grove? Prune it off close to the trunk and we’ll take that. It’ll make the stand healthier.”
    Sadie picked her way across the muddy ground but Riley bulled through the muck, apparently delighting in the squelchy sounds beneath his feet. Tanyth could feel Amber cringe at the damage he might be doing to his footwear but she soon relaxed as his enthusiastic enjoyment infected them all.
    Before she applied her saw to the tree Sadie turned to Tanyth. “Do you wanna say a prayer first, mum? Invoke the spirits of the forests or somethin’?”
    “We’re doing the work of the All-Mother here, Sadie. I’m pretty sure she knows we’re taking what we need and using what we take. Pruning that limb out of the inside of the stand will leave them better than when we found.”
    Sadie looked up at the trees around her. “Still, mum? If you wouldn’t mind?” Sadie stood waiting and even Amber looked on expectantly.
    Tanyth shrugged and turned to the north, raising her arms dramatically. She felt a little foolish but if Sadie wanted a prayer, she intended it to be a good one.. “Guardian of the North, know we work to make the Earth we share more fruitful.” She pivoted smoothly to her right to face the east. “Guardian of the East, the air will move more freely between the trunks as we remove this branch that blocks your passage.” She pivoted to the south, not feeling so foolish any more. A growing warmth expanded in her belly. “Guardian of the South, by taking this branch we honor the spirit of the willow to harvest the