Just another day

"Most peasants do not own the land they farm. The land is owned by the local lord or landed knight. The peasants work those lands for an annual wage that usually is about 1 golden dragon per year in summer, half of that in winter. In the Reach peasants are better paid than in most of the continent, earning as much as 3 golden dragons in a good summer year. If a peasant pays rent he can rent a piece of land, the size of which depends on the price paid, to grow food for own consumption."

Gawain sits on a bearskin in front of the smaller fireplace in the cabin's living room, which also serves as the dining room and kitchen. On his lap he has his little brother hugged, to whom he speaks softly.

As soon as you enter the cabin, the first thing you see is a large gray stone fireplace on the far wall with a stone oven on the left side, on the other side there are several cabinets and shelves full of food and kitchen utensils. In the middle of the room is a wooden table with a bench on each side. Against the wall to the right is a fireplace with a bearskin in front, two chairs, and a bench.

Not far from the smaller fireplace is a door leading to Gareth and Marian's room, on the other side of the cabin (near the stone oven) is a door leading to the second bedroom, the children's room.

They are currently alone in the cabin as their parents are working in the meadow along with most of the healthy adults in the village. Gawain is considered mature enough to take care of both his little brother and the animals, although it would be more accurate to say that his parents have no choice but to entrust him with these tasks as they have no one else to turn to.

The only relatives living in the village are Gareth's aunt and uncle: Ralof is also working in the meadow while Gertha is left in charge of the sawmill.

"In truth we are lucky to be part of the peasantry and no serfdom, you see lil brother serfdom is just a fancier type of slavery." Gawain sighs and removes his little brother's hands from his curls. "Galahad, my hair is not a toy." He scolds with a scowl, but seeing the confused look in his little brother's emerald green eyes (inherited from their mother) the sides of his lips quiver and he barely fights his smile.

"You're lucky to be so cute." Galahad blinks and tries to pull his older brother's hair again. "Why don't you play with the horse?" Gawain passes him a wooden horse and manages to draw the baby's attention away from his hair.

"As I was saying: Serfdom is just a fancy word for slavery." Gawain clears his throat and looks at his little brother with a playful glint in his eye. "You ask about the differences between serfdom and slavery? That is a very good question, my young student. You see Galahad, the main difference is that slaves are owned by one person while a serf is bound to the land. Serfs do not belong to a lord or king but to the land they are forced to work. Back home slaves became serfs and then peasants during the Middle Ages, and for centuries they coexisted as is the case in Planetos."

Gawain hears the dogs barking and gets up from the ground with his brother in his arms, he walks to the opened window and in the distance sees his aunt Gertha approaching with a basket in her hand. The cabin's windows are small and the glass is thick and irregular, it has very little visibility and if it weren't open the redhead wouldn't have been able to recognize his father's face if he was standing on the other side of the glass.

"Looks like we'll have to finish our class for today, little one. Tomorrow we'll talk about the other differences between a serf, a slave and a peasant."

The redhead walks to the door, as soon as he opens it he feels a light cold breeze touch his face, and he smells the smells of grass and damp earth; Those smells are more prominent since it rained last night.

`Luckily the petrichor masks the smell of animal shit.`

The smell of the waste from pigs, cows, and chickens is not strong enough to be considered a pestilence, but it is still quite unpleasant to Gawain's sensitive nose.

`I shudder to think what it would be like to live in Kings Landing if the smell is as bad as they said in the show.`

"Have you been taking good care of your brother and the animals, boy?" Gertha's voice is strong and somewhat deep.

"Yes aunt." Gawain smiles politely and steps away from the door, letting the woman in. Gertha shakes off her muddy boots before entering the cabin, the first thing she does is examine the room and after looking at everything with a hawk's eye for two long minutes, she nods in approval.

Gawain is not surprised by her actions, normally leaving a five year old home alone is a sure recipe for chaos and disorder, add a baby to that and one would be lucky to find the house intact upon return.

`Well, that would be the case in the 21st century, here children grow up much faster but still, kids are kids.`

"Have you fed the pigs and chickens?" Gertha asks as she puts her basket down on the table.

"Yes aunt." Gawain leaves Galahad in the bearskin and walks to one of the cabinets, opens it and takes out the cutlery: three plates, forks that only have two skewers, and spoons (all wooden).

`Lucky for me this world is not identical to the Middle Ages or else I would have been forced to eat with my hands.`

The existence of cutlery is one of the great differences that Gawain found with the Middle Ages, in the history of Earth cutlery only began to be used in Europe in the 13th century and its use was exclusive to the nobility. Until several centuries later, most of the population continued to eat with their hands.

Gawain began to remember his past life in his second year of life, the process was slow and it took him almost a year to remember everything. At first he thought that he must have been reborn in the past, in the Middle Ages of Earth and his mind developed dozens of theories about reincarnation and how it works.

The theory that he thinks is most likely to be true is that of the Karmic System. In that theory people throughout their life accumulates two kinds of points depending on their actions: positive Karma and negative Karma. When people die the points they accumulated are counted and the result decides the fate of their soul. That destiny is not limited by the laws of reason, since the soul is beyond human comprehension and therefore its destiny is equally unintelligible to the ordinary human.

Gawain thinks this theory is the most probable but he has no way of knowing for sure, since the scientific method dictates that only by repeating an experiment numerous times can one prove the certainty of something. The redhead theorized that only people who meet a certain criteria keep their memories, but it is practically impossible to find out what that criteria is, let alone reproduce it. Damian Artois's life was very different from Gawain of Greenwood's, so him meeting that criteria again is unlikely.

He did not ignore the possibility of reincarnating while preserving memories to be more common, he has no data to prove it since he knows no one in their right mind would publicly admit to remembering past lives. That admission would only lead to being accused of witchcraft, being possessed by a demon, or insanity; depending on the time period.

Gawain vaguely remembers watching some documentaries about religious cults that claimed to have developed methods (or discovered an ancient one lost to time) that helps you remember your past lives, but like any sane 21st century person he chalked those claims up to religious zeal, insanity, stupidity, and most likely: the use of some drug.

Developing his theory took him a few weeks, in the process he ruled out divine intervention (both from gods and some ROB) since he had not seen any god, felt strange presences, received any telepathic messages or such. Although realizing that he did not reincarnate in the past but in a world that he considered fictional, he briefly reconsidered a possible divine intervention.

He ruled out that possibility again out of pure logic: in Planets the gods only seem to favor certain individuals (nobles, those of some `magical` race like the Valyrians, or non-human creatures) and he is not part of any of them (he is peasant Andal, his parents are Andals and so were their forefathers). And again no god showed him any sign.

Once his mind calmed down and he had all his memories, he scanned his surroundings for threats (he didn't feel like dying again). In the process, he realized that this world, despite being similar to the Middle Ages, has very contradictory elements: things that existed in the Middle Ages don't exist here and things more common to post-Middle Ages times exist here. The existence of cutlery, and them being commonly used by the smallfolk, was a pleasant surprise.

Another pleasant surprise is that medicine is more advanced than in most of Europe during the Middle Ages, here it is common knowledge among the smallfolk that wounds have to be cleaned with soap and water and disinfected with wine. Something that doesn't seem like a big deal at first glance, but knowing how often a peasant gets some small injury... Wounds can easily become infected if one isn't careful.

On the negative side is the lack of something as basic as the Magna Carta, on earth the Magna Carta was signed in England in 1215. That document was the starting point for the political evolution of all of Europe, it limited the power of the king and in time it gave rise to Parliament.

Medieval is a very broad concept, one that spans a thousand years of history and is very different in its beginning and its end. That Westeros looks like Medieval Europe doesn't tell him much, and he doesn't have much information at hand.

Gawain only has basic knowledge about this world, things he saw in a TV series years ago and memories of discussions his friends had about books versus the show, so he doesn't have much information about how this world works but for the looks of it there is no document that limits the power of the king or stipulates something as basic as the right to private property.

Sure people can own things but nobles "have the right" to confiscate those possessions if they want (the law says they can confiscate anything they want from the smallfolk in times of war, but again there is nothing stopping them from doing it in peaceful times).

Gawain sits in front of his aunt, who is holding Galahad in her arms.

"What a well behaved babe." Gertha's features soften as she cradles the baby.

`You wouldn't say the same if he was pulling your hair every two minutes. Well at least he is cute.` Gawain begins to eat the stew that his aunt brought.

Since the work in the meadow began be barely get to see his parents throughout the day, since they went to work before the sun rose and returned after sunset. Despite the long and hard working day none of them complain, at least Gawain didn't hear them complain, and they show no signs of discontent or grudge against Lord Roxton.

Something that puzzles Gawain but he learned to accept. Modern logic has no place in this world, that's what he told himself.

"How are things at the sawmill?" Since Ralof and his assistant are working in the meadow, all the work at the sawmill fell to Gertha, who, despite being a rather stocky and strong woman, she worries the redhead. Gawain is worried his aunt would injure herself moving one of the larger logs since she is working alone with no one to help her.

"Work is slow, now that winter is over people don't need so much wood and the fields need a lot of work so they don't have time to repair their houses or build anything." Gertha feeds Galahad a vegetable puree and is unfazed when the baby tries to hit the spoon, she is quick and avoids disaster.

During the winter the peasants have more free time to dedicate to repairing their houses, building things like sheds (or any other building they need). When spring arrives, all the peasants dedicate themselves to working the fields and no longer have time for other projects.

"If you need help-" Gawain quickly clears his throat and rephrases what he was going to say. Gertha is a proud woman and she would not ask for help even if she was dying. "I would like to work in the sawmill, it would be fun!" His tone sounds excited and hopeful, he even makes sure to widen his eyes and look at her pleadingly.

His aunt barks out a laugh and shakes her head.

"You are just like your mother, boy. You are definitely too clever for a babe of just five name days." She looks at him with fondness and slight exasperation. "I can run the sawmill on my own, I did when that lazy old man was-" She stops abruptly, her face twisting into an unreadable expression and Gawain looks at her curiously.

Gawain opens his mouth to ask her what she was going to say but is interrupted by Galahad, who slams his fist against the side of the bowl, the bowl spins and all its contents fly towards the baby and Gertha who lets out a curse.

The redhead quickly gets up from his seat and helps his aunt clean up the mess.

"I'll have to wash this dress, and my hair." Gertha grimaces at the mash dripping from her brown curls. "I take back my words, you are not a well behaved babe."

Gawain snorts in amusement and mutters under his breath.

"At least he didn't try to make you bald."

"The little rascal will also have to be washed before your mother returns."

"I'll take care of that aunt, it's not the first time I've bathed Galahad. I'll also wash his clothes, and yours if you let me."

"I already told you Gawain, I don't need help with the sawmill or to wash some damn rags." Gertha's tone is firmer and she looks at the redhead with narrowed eyes.

`This woman is too proud for her own good`

"Fine, you don't need my help and I don't need yours. I can wash my brother by myself." Gawain decides to fight fire with fire and looks at his aunt with the most serious and smug look he can muster.

Gertha snorts and mutters something that Gawain cannot hear.

"Fine by me, boy. If your parents scold you, it's up to you."

The redhead nods.

And that's just another day in the life of Gawain of Greenwood: his brother making a mess, arguing with his aunt, taking care of the animals,... Too young to help his parents with the work in the meadow and too young (and cautious) to use his knowledge and skills to make their lives easier.