Vinh Mhe sometimes questioned the judgment that had lead to the production of the "killing field", as it had in fact killed almost no one. The Chinese had never tested it, but perhaps that was just as well - instead they had simply withdrawn. As he thought about this, spooling up the plant fiber, intestinal-derived, and new metal wires, he reasoned it was perhaps just as well. It might not have worked as well as they had hoped, or perhaps it would have worked exceedingly well; regardless, since the Chinese had never braved it, they would know nothing of its deadly secrets, and they could be applied elsewhere. So here he was, knee-deep in water, repairing his fields, and collecting as much of what had been put into them, though for what he did not know - supposedly they were going to use it elsewhere. Aside from the manual labor though, it had not been so bad; the dams and levies had been repaired and the water would all drain off, the dung which had been left everywhere to promote disease and decrease morale was already working to refertilize the soils. The fields would be ready for planting again, at least just as soon as he got these damn traps out. They had already gotten the roads but back together in at least reasonable shape, and so trap materials would flow out, while seedlings, rice paddies, and tools would flow in.
Elsewhere, reconstruction was much the same.
***
"It's not a complete loss," said Cei Bhen as he walked through the field with his family. He held up a hand for them to stop, and knelt down, running a hand through the scorched earth, pulling a handful of it up and letting it fall through his fingers while shielding his eyes from the morning sun. He leant his head down, sniffing at it, and could easily smell the umistakable odor of charcoal. He nodded his head and dropped the rest back to earth, before standing and resuming the walk back toward what could be seen of the remains of their house. "The charcoal from the fires will help the plants grow back," he said, adding "we were kind of overdue on cycling the fields anyway."
He nodded his head a little, mulling the matter over in his head, before announcing to the rest of them "We'll probably have a bumper crop this year, that'll help in the rebuilding."
As they arrived at the house, he went to oneside, while his eldest child went to the other, his wife surveying the interior. As Cei and his son went, they would tap on the walls to check the blocks - the basic structure was composed of stone, and it seemed the fire had not been at all intense enough to crack either them or the mortar. Cei had expected this, for there hadn't been much for it to burn. It was somewhat scorched, but that was nothing that couldn't be fixed, and a cosmetic issue at best. As he met his son on the side opposite from whence they had started, he nodded "Any cracks?"
His son shook his head and to that Cei turned, raising his voice "Eh, find the nails?"
His wife nodded and replied from inside, where both she and the younger children were searching the debris for the roofing nails "Yeah, most of them."
Cei nodded and turned to face his son, before jerking his head over at the cart they had brought with them, and then pointing out a clump of trees on a nearby hill which had resisted the small blazes "Alright, lets go, with any luck we can get it done by noon."
His son nodded, issued a somewhat put out "Yah," and they started the short walk back to get the tools.
***
Ayun Samran reached a hand up and tugged the cloth which covered her mouth and nose back up, before reaching her hands back and adjusting the knot which held it in place to keep it tight. Removing the body parts, and other unsavory things which the Rising Sunnites had dumped into the wells was rather unpleasant, but essential. Ranong had rather rapidly commissioned solutions to fix the horrors visited by those northern barbarians rather shortly after the city had been liberated and relieved. The solution that had been settled on was the use of dredging. They had rather quickly devised large jaws of sharp metal just big enough to avoid scraping the edges of the wells which could rotate open and closed, and which they had used to scoop out most of the large bits. Then individual people or teams would be lowered to get what was missed. Ayun had finished just such a shift.
With most of the men dead or incapacitated, the vast bulk of the work force was women, and despite the equality which was so pronounced throughout the Khmer Empire, Ranong was the only city of note in which women now dominated virtually every field of labor. The horrors they had inflicted had rather lead to the decline of most social diversions and so those who were left more ofthen than not occupied themselves with work, specifically, rebuilding. As she set aside the smock and boots for the next shift of cleaning personnel, Ayun disrobed and put on one of the cheaper outfits she had, before making her way back home. Water was being rationed, since auxiliary sources had to be used until the wells were cleaned, but those tasked with cleaning them were given allowances for bathing, mostly to wash off the smell. Along the way she was accompanied by the sounds of construction; nails being driven by hammers, timbers slaping together, stone grinding on stone and the slop of mortar being applied. She closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled, being careful to stay out of the way of others going about their business.
Many noticed the odor regardless, but did not stare, and did their utmost not to crinkle their noses in disgust, for they knew that her job was among the most important of all; without that work, they would all very quickly run out of water. As she rounded the last corner before arriving at her place of residence, Ayun privately hoped they would finish cleaning before the monsoons came and flushed the wells out - it was a bad enough job as it was, and didn't need pouring water to make it any worse.
I think it's in India, but I'm not sure.
!!!!1
