"You’re not allowed to eat the flesh of the land or the flesh of the fruit on the day of rest." Alexandra sat next to 'Jack Roebuck' as he called himself. He had many odd questions, and she recognized him as a foreigner, because he knew nothing of their ways. She'd gone and sat his book down inside. She opened up the pages and found there wasn’t a single iota of text on it. Not a single word or image printed on its thin papers. The papers themselves were the strangest, gossamer thin, like the wings of an insect. She came back out and sat beside him, maintaining a bit of conversation with him. " And you shall not hunt, or fish, or farm with rods, or receive compensation for other works as a servant on that day. Does that make sense to you?"

"Interestin', so what's kosher and what ain't kosher? Or I guess halal, whatever's- is it a matter of the food being clean or unclean?" The man held up one of the tubers Alex had pulled and washed, examining it closely. His diet must not have included much roots, but he tore into it as readily as anyone else. "Ah hell, I don't care, this sauce is delicious! What's it made of? It's nice and salty, I'm a real big fan!"

"Oh that? It's my recipe." Willow piped up. "It's fermented viscera."

"Viscera?"

Alexandra poked Buck in his good arm. Willow had gone and totally wrapped the man's other arm in medicine and cloth, he could hardly move it. "The parts of the fish that aren't the meat. You know, hearts, livers, organs, oh, and the blood, too."

Buck looked down at his plate, a wordless expression in his eyes. He seemed contemplative, setting his fork down and finishing the bite of food in his mouth. He took a big gulp, then he reached for a waterskin and took a long, deep drink of it. He drank so deeply the  skin tightened, and he sucked the last drops out, setting it aside. Then he smacked his lips and stared again at his plate.

"Oh so that's blood and guts on there?" He pointed to the yam. The sauce had long since soaked into its interior, staining it a rich brown color. "Like out of a fish? And it's all salty 'n such?"

"...yes? It's sauce. You seemed so in love with it, what? Is it not to your liking now?" Willow looked amused. Alexandra thought it strange he only felt like asking about the sauce now, on his second plate he'd fixed. Surely if it were so good he'd have thought to ask about it, right?  "Are you not allowed to eat viscera? You did say you bumped your head, right?"

"What? No, I'm not nothin' like that, I can eat anything I wanna eat. I ain't Catholic or nothin'" She noticed a big welt on the back of his head.  "And you're right, I did bump my noggin'."

What in the world is a Catholic? Alexandra couldn't help herself, she reached up and pushed some of his hair up by the welt. He twitched and glared down at her. He had rough, wild locks, thick in texture, and just touching them left an oily residue on Alex's fingers. She pulled away and wiped her hands clean on a cloth. "It feels like there's an egg on his skull. What'd you say it was? A goose egg?"

"Do you mind!?" The big man scooted away from her, obviously annoyed. "It's sensitive there. "

"Let me see," Willow stood, leaning over the man. She grasped his broad shoulders to steady him and peered at the back of his head. "It looks like a devil wasp laid an egg there! Goodness, young man you've the greasiest hair I've ever seen! You need to see a chemist!"

Buck grumbled, before brusquely nudging Willow away. "Yeah, I get it, I'm Kevin Bacon and I look like I'm outta Footloose, do all y'all ladies like touchin' up on men ya just met or somethin'!? For Christ's sake let me eat my fishy guts in peace!"

"Mother, stop that!" Alexandra watched as her mother lifted a small bit of water from a vessel. Before she could protest, she found water sprayed on her brow, droplets landing in her eyes. She sputtered. "The man may have a bump that's bothering him but that's no reason to go rubbing up on him. Alexandra, what ever became.of the manners I taught you! Mother, you've really set a bad example for her!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Oh Amelia, come off it. You're so much like your father. All round-eared politeness and soft words. Cut loose a little! I didn't raise my daughter to be such a stickler!"

Buck sat up straight then, looking between all the women there as if struck by sudden revelation. He shook his head and pushed his plate away, leaving a few bites left. Then he stared at Alexandra's father, as if trying to bore a hole through him with his eyes. That or there was some inscrutable calculation going on in his head. Willow and Mother bickered as mothers and grandmothers did, while Alex sat down and waited for the first meal to conclude. She wondered what was taking Adelaid so long. Was Frederick still busy with confessions?

She nudged Buck while the two women descended into their winded arguments. "Sorry. I didn't know it hurt that bad."

The big round-eared fellow shook his head in bewilderment. "Well I don't mind the touchin' or nothin' but can you- I'm confused, the younger-lookin' one is yer grandmama? "

Alexandra blinked. Did he not know about Gilding? "...Yes? She's a golden girl. She doesn't really- it's complicated. But she's uh, she's only eighty years old. "

Buck's eyes popped out of his skull, just about. Her father noticed, and leaned over to speak more directly to him. "Willow's a sharp-ear, and Amelia is too, but she was raised round-eared. This happens all the time, don't worry too much about it. They'll make up and be nice once they're done bickering." 

"Oh my God." He used another of his strange phrases. He took a deep breath and then broke into a wheezing laughter. The man slapped his knee and yelled, "golden girls! Like Betty White! Oh my Lord!" It seemed that was just the funniest thing to the round-eared weirdo, among the many things he found strange and humorous. 

Alexandra looked at her father and her father looked at her, and they both pursed their lips. It seemed they had truly found themselves a strange sort of fool. His constant mix of bewilderment and humor couldn't detract from his obvious madness. He must have been struck with some kind of enchantment that replaced his memories with some fanciful dream. He was lucid, he could reason, but he seemed as out of place here as a fish of the sea was out of place in an inland lake.

"Hey, hey, Alex, Mom, look, I got Father Friedrich to come out!" Adelaid came whirling around the corner, lighter by a few bags of fish. He stopped and looked at Mister Buck with a wide grin. "He said he wants to come take a look at the big weird round-eared fellow we found!"

"Okay- what in the world is all this about ears?" He grabbed one of his own short ears, cupping it. It hid well beneath the palm of his hand. Alexandra barely saw the tip of his other ear through his thick locks

Adelaid pointed. "You got round-ears, mister! That's pretty strange, I haven't met too many round-eared fellows. Dull-ears  Yours are all short and weird. Did someone chop them up?"

"To me, your ears look funny and weird." His stayed still even as he said that, and Alexandra's flicked up and down. She couldn't see even a hint of movement, not even a twitch. Did he really mean his words? She'd had the misfortune of helping Jerome after a particularly nasty wild hound took one of his ears off- and even his still twitched while he spoke.

Not but moments after Adelaid's arrival, she heard the heavy footsteps of Father Friedrich down the path. They all fell silent and turned to face the priest and his retinue. The older gentleman squeezed through the gate, followed behind by Damian and Remus. The smoldering fire crackled, even the animals having fallen quiet and still in the holy Father's presence. Adelaid took a seat on a small stool set out just for him, and they all bowed their heads to Friedrich.

"Hail, Father," they murmured in broken unison, waiting for his permission to raise their heads. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Buck look around but not much more. Did he not know to bow his head?

"Rise, children," his soft voice spoke over them after only a moment, and then she craned her neck back up to look at the priest. His gentle eyes looked over all of them, but they focused especially on Buck. "I was told a mad giant had been brought forth from the river. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

Alexandra spied him, and his still ears and pursed lips. Damian and Remus flanked Friedrich, holding their staves and a large bag- one she recognized as the ritual panoply of a church magician, the other as a container for an apothecary's medicine. Buck placed both of his hands in his lap and then took a very deep breath. He released it with a big smile as he looked up at Friedrich. "Well I wouldn't say I'm mad, sir. But I did bump my head pretty hard, and I had ladies lookin' all over me and bein' too dang touchy with it, I'm a little annoyed about that but otherwise I'm doin' pretty alright. All things considered, of course. You're, uh, Mister Friedrich? Father Friedrich?"

"Ah. Friedrich is acceptable." The priest looked taken aback at Buck's casual remarks, but he soon grinned. His blunt ears flicked forward, intent on listening to every word the man had to say. "Sir Roebuck?"

"Yessirree, that's me."

"You're certainly a big fellow, and not at all who I expected." Friedrich motioned for Damian and Remus to set his cases aside. He sent the two boys off to stand by the gate. "Excuse us for just a moment, Alexandra, please come with me."

She nodded her head and stepped aside, out of earshot of Buck and her family. She relayed to him what she knew, of his odd behavior, strange clothes and his ears. She hadn't gotten a good look at the side of his head, but his ears were rounded, like half of a butterfly's wings on each side of his head. She couldn't see any scars on them, and she made mention of how he didn't have any of the stony flesh of a giant. His general temperament was genial, friendly even, if a bit confused. He asked a few more questions, about anything odd he'd said- and she mentioned his talk of machines, his apparent death and his mention of 'Her.' Friedrich's eyes grew steely as he listened and nodded along. When he'd heard his fill and had enough he dismissed Alex and the two returned to the fire.

"I see, I see. Mister Buck, would you mind doing a few things for me? I trust Alexandra's words but, of course, you are certainly an odd one. You've hit your head, yes?"

"Bumped it hard, sir, yep." He pointed to his bump, what he called a goose egg, with his burnt-and-bandaged arm. Friedrich leaned in and parted the man's hair where the lump landed, confirming it with his own eyes. He took a long look at Buck's ears, grasping the lobes and watching closely for any motion in them- and he found none. "Gonna give me a once over too?"

"Hm. That is a nasty bump. It's not every day I see something like this, but you speak plainly and you seem to be thinking straight." Friedrich dug into his bag and withdrew a small pole, made of a number of reeds bound together. It was about the length of his arm and at each end was capped with a plain copper bulb. A bit of patina rested on the end, from where it had been worn down, running over so many bodies.  "I'll need to read you, child. Mind my words closely, now."

Father Friedrich instructed Buck to lift his arms above his head, to turn around for him, and then to take a wide stance. He ran the copper-tipped reading rod around the man's entire silhouette. He drew a thin line around the man's collar and around his waist, and tapped each hand and each foot of his. Friedrich asked Buck to hold the rod in its middle section, and the man's thick fingers grasped it tight. The priest abbreviated the Reading, seeing as Buck had a bad arm, and he didn't Read anything above his neck- owing to the big bump on his head. Then Friedrich asked Buck to pull his shirt off, so he could run the rod over the man's spine.

Alexandra raised an eyebrow. She wasn't blind, she could spot muscle from a mile away. But this man looked like a warrior! Aside from a little softness around his middle, there wasn't an inch of him where the thick cords of strength didn't show through his skin. Yet despite that he had smooth, pale skin, only parted by thin black lines. Once Alex leaned in and focused, she realized he was covered in black hairs, just like his face and his arms. With his thick jaw, hairy skin and round ears... She dug back in the memories of sketches she'd seen from some of the traveling men. He much resembled one of the creatures of the tropical south. Some kind of monkey, she thought. 

"Odd. Not a drop of drakeblood in you." Friedrich stated, as he withdrew the apothecarial rod. Damian took it from the holy Father's hands and began cleansing it. Then the holy Father took his hands and clasped Buck on each side of his belly, prodding his muscled middle with his thumbs. "Hm. Roll up your trousers, my child, let me see you haven't got stony heels or rocky soles."

Buck did as asked, and then the Priest knelt, and examined his legs. Alexandra leaned over- and she thought she saw the thickest hairs on the sliver of ankle he had exposed. They were thick and dark like the ones on his head, and curled at the end. She even saw hairs on his toes!

"You're certainly large but you are no giant." Friedrich stood again, and leaned in close. "Remus, bring the snakeskin forth."

The young man nodded and withdrew a preserved serpent. Its scales had long since grown dull, but some trick of taxidermy rendered it still pliant. Buck looked at it, and Alexandra blinked. They surely didn't think he was one of them, did they? Friedrich took the wyrm and placed it in Buck's hands.

"Well that's mighty interesting." He pointed to the specimen's head. "That's a diamondback you got there. Venomous. Am I supposed to... Do something with this? Yer taxidermy collection is real interestin', mister, but this just seems real... Kinda weird ta me."

"Ah! So you aren't a chimera, under some disguise? Very interesting." Friedrich retrieved the snake. "I won't lie to you, I expected antlers and ears to sprout from your head just now."

Buck seemed quite disquieted by that notion. He quickly made clear he had not an inkling of an idea as to what a chimera was. How, Alexandra mused, did he not know such a simple thing despite his perfect recollection of so much other stuff? She began to think he really was transported there by some machination. Maybe he came from some isolated corner of the unexplored world, one where it was as he said- with great machines and a dearth of magicians. That, or he just used a different word for them, calling them engineers instead of holy folk. Friedrich and Buck conversed for a while longer, the priest amused, the fellow confused.

“I certainly expected much different.” Friedrich leaned over, offering apologeties. He clasped Buck’s palm in both of his hands, then released him. He sat back down on and began fixing his clothes- and once he was free of Friedrich, Willow came by to tighten the dressings on his burned arm. “Ah, the Gilded! It’s a brighter day with you here. You took care of this wound of his?”

“Oh hush, you flatterer.” Willow batted her eyes at the blunt-eared city priest and his flowery words. “I came here for the festival, first, but I can’t help myself. He’s lucky his arm wasn’t burnt away.”

Buck squirmed under the attention. “It was a baby salamander. Honest. It only stung a lil’ bit.”

Friedrich chortled. “Ah, I see. Well, I would offer you a bed in the common house, but unfortunately-”

“-your liturgical entourage from the Capital are in town?” She pulled away then crossed her arms.

The priest nodded, unfazed at Willow’s casual tongue. She knew there was history but they never spoke of what it was. “I have my duties. This stranger is odd, admittedly, but he doesn’t seem a harmful sort. If willing-” he turned to Alex’s mother and father, “-surely you have enough room in your home to take him in?”

Mother chuckled, her father rubbed his chin. Then her father looked Buck over with an appraising eye. “Well I don’t know if I have a bed fit for him. He’s quite large. He’ll have to sleep somewhere else.”

“You could always do with another hand around the house, honey, and he looks plenty strong- smart, too,” Mother nudged father, gesturing with an open palm to Buck.

“Yes, yes, we’ll have to see about that.”

Buck rubbed the back of his head. “Aw, y’all’re too kind.”

Father Friedrich clasped his hands together, smiling wide. His two assistants packed up his tools and fell into line behind him. “Wonderful, wonderful. Now I must be going, I have other matters to attend to. Willow, I trust you'll be taking good care of him. Rodrick, Amelia, you as well. And Alexandra, a word for you.”

The young woman looked expectantly at Friedrich, awaiting words of wisdom.

"I trust you'll enjoy the company of this fine young man, yes?"