Rainy Season

Rainy Season is a looming change in weather that gives urgency to both domestic planning and seasonal garden care. Its arrival is anticipated through storm clouds, preparations to protect plants, and a household effort to finish repairs before the wet weather sets in.

Timing and Weather

The rainy season is approaching during a period when Camille D’Artigo notices storm weather building and expects the first frost to follow before long. The season is therefore more than a distant calendar marker: it sets a practical deadline for work that must be done while conditions still allow it. The text does not give a fixed start date or specify how long the rains last. A separate mid-October scene places the household in the chill of autumn, with leaves blown from the trees and Samhain drawing near. That passage gives seasonal change a magical and ritual dimension, while the rainy-season references emphasize weather, maintenance, and preparation. The two seasonal frames coexist, but the text does not equate the rainy season with Samhain or establish their precise calendar relationship.

Garden Preparation

Camille’s magical herbs remain in the garden’s magical circle until they can be harvested; unlike the kitchen herbs, they cannot simply be moved. The kitchen herbs have been transferred to a greenhouse built as an addition to Iris’s cottage. As rain approaches, Camille anticipates composting around the base of the perennials so they will be protected from the chill. Her attention to the garden links the season’s arrival to specific, ongoing care rather than to weather alone.

Household Planning

Before the rainy season, the household must review what needs repair or replacement. Delilah D’Artigo hands Camille the household notebook and asks her to take over planning, pointing to Iris’s approaching birth of twins and Hanna’s lack of experience managing the house and inability to read English. The seasonal deadline thus arrives alongside a redistribution of household responsibilities. Camille accepts the task reluctantly. Trillian has left abruptly on a day when she expected more from him, and she has been considering taking a few days away in Otherworld to recover from the strain of their circumstances. Instead, she asks Delilah for a latte and cookies, sits down with the notebook, and works through the upkeep schedule with her. After about thirty minutes they are deep in the plans, and Camille decides to finish the work rather than leave it unfinished. By nearly six, the afternoon has passed and Hanna has returned. The scene makes the approaching rains a prompt for practical cooperation, even as Camille’s own need for respite remains in the background.