Remi woke in the false dawn, yawning loudly to chase away the cobwebs of sleep. The sun had not yet risen, and the air was still cool and damp from the night. There was light enough for it not to be dark, but it was the blue light of the night and not yet the red of the day.
Remi stood up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. There was no need for blankets, as the nights were not so cold at this time of year to need them. Her window was open, letting the soft smell of wildflowers drift in as they opened their petals expectantly, waiting for the dawn. Remi sunk to the floor, and began performing her morning stretching, a salute to the sun and the new day.
By the time she had finished, true dawn had arrived. Her window was open, and as the first rays of morning warmed her skin Remi smiled. It felt like a good day. In her order it was encouraged that you followed your instincts, and hers were foretelling that nothing could possibly go wrong. A honk from her pack Ox, Maaw, outside signalled that he too was awake and eager to start the day. Remi walked into another room to fetch some buckets, strung onto the ends of a wooden shoulder brace. Two sets of clothing were pilled on a table, the only clothes she owned. Monks did not need much, only what was needed. She sometimes slept in her clothes during mid-winter, but this time of year it just wasn’t cold enough. It wasn’t like anyone ever came this far out anyway.
Her home was simple, consisting of only three rooms. It was very open, with big sliding doors able to open up the main room on both sides. Outside was a field of logs standing upright in the ground, there for here training, as well as a large wooden tub for storing water. Farther off there were the beehives, but they weren’t visible from her house or the road. A single track ran beside her home, going from Reajh up into the mountains and beyond. No one ever travelled it though, except her.
Gathering up some pants, a top and a bar of soap Remi went outside to tend to Maaw. He was named so for the simple reason that that was the sound he made. That was how Remi operated, taking things down to the simplest, most obvious level. Most of the best riddles could be solved that way. She hefted a larger harness onto Maaw. His harness had water buckets too, but they were much larger and had secure lids to stop spilling. With one hand securing her buckets and the other guiding Maaw she started up the trail.
After a few minutes of walking she moved off the regular path, onto a smaller track worn away by the same journey made a hundred times over. The sun had emerged fully over the horizon when they finally reached the waterfall. Thirty feet high it fell into a deep pool, and then sent its water flowing downwards to feed the river at the bottom of the valley. Remi led Maaw to drink, and then set down her buckets and looked back. From the pond you could see all the way don into the valley, down as far as Reajh.
She dived headlong into the cold water, still unable to stifle a little squeal as she broke the surface. It was freezing. She knew it would be freezing, having done this every morning for over a year now, but still it shocked her every time. She paddled over and got her soap. She stood under the waterfall, scrubbing herself until the force of the water didn’t hurt anymore and she was too numb to feel the cold.
She swam back and walked out of the water. Taking each bucket in turn she filled them all with water. Maaw grunted under the load, but didn’t complain any further. Remi laid spread eagle on the rocks, waiting for the sun to dry her. She dozed for a bit, then stood up and dressed into her billowy pants and tight top. The journey back was slow going, with Remi trying her best not to spill any water and keeping Maaw moving at the same time.
She emptied the buckets into a large wooden tub at what could be called the side of her house, tied up Maaw, and went inside. She prepared herself a breakfast of eggs and rice on her small stove, then washed everything in a bucketful of hot water.
Strapping on weights to her wrists and ankles Remi went outside for her morning exercises. A rectangular section of dirt was cut out of the surrounding grasses, and in it was a forest of upright logs of varying height and width. Some were only a foot of the ground and others where almost as high as Remi was. Some she could wrap her hand around, and others she could stand on with two feet quite comfortably. Stepping up she balanced on one leg and closed her eyes. Entering a state of deep calm she let her mind create enemies for her, shadow boxing it was called. Opening her eyes again the scene had changed. A dozen dark figures were perched on the log forest. They weren’t actually there, but that was the point of the exercise. For over an hour she fought them, dodging, kicking, punching, and jumping. Fighting the enemies that didn’t really exist and would never go down, would never make a mistake.
Eventually she tired and stopped, sweating and gasping for breath. The sun suddenly felt much bigger and fiercer than it had before. She peeled off her sweat drenched top and threw it into the house. Going over to her water she tipped a half bucket over herself. Much better. Another hour, the same routine. Only with a lot more jiggling, but the extra comfort was worth it. She dunked herself again and took of the weights. It was approaching midday, and honey needed collecting.
She pulled on her boots and harnessed Maaw again, this time his big buckets were unlidded and full of empty honey jars. One full jar stood out amongst them. Remi lead the Ox up a thin trail switchback trail that lead up the side of the valley. The trail ended at a low fence that she had built herself to serve as a warning for both herself and anyone else that stumbled across her bees. Anyone or anything that crossed that line would be instantly swarmed. Unless you knew the trick that is.
Taking the full jar from Maaw she started smearing herself with honey. Only exposed flesh need covering, so it didn’t quite take the full jar. Soon her upper half was covered in a thick layer of sticky sweet goo. It took a long time to finish collecting the honey from the twelve little boxes that were her beehives. All the while the bees buzzed around, not paying her any more attention than if she were a pile of dirt. Collecting done she led Maaw back down the trail, still sticky.
She left the honey sitting in the tubs when she reached home again, only taking the time to take Maaw’s harness off. The honey was mixing with sweat, in fact that was the only reason she wasn’t licking herself clean right now. Sweat and honey didn’t taste very nice, as she knew from experience.
Walking around to the tub of water looked down the road. She could only see a little way up before it disappeared into the trees, up into the mountains. The end leading to Reajh was hidden from view by her little home. She washed her face off with a handful of water, and then began to scrub the honey off the rest of her, eyes closed and happy. She hummed a little and made sure to stand well away from the tub, as much as possible, so as not to contaminate the rest of the water.
