November, known to the villagers as the Blood Month, for this was when they slaughtered the beasts for winter food storage, was well advanced. Esme had no problem persuading Osythe to supply her with buckets of pig fat. She believed the people had no use for it and it would have ended up in the midden. When she decided she had enough fat, she drained the lye from the barrel into a wooden pail, making sure she didn’t splash herself or breathe the fumes. She worked the mixture of fat and lye with a paddle, stirring at intervals for two days. Satisfied, she gazed with delight at her finished product. She broke the block of soap, then trimming the ensuing pieces with a knife to remove their sharp edges.
the Blood MonthShe took a piece to her room and, with a feeling of triumph, stripped and i
