Darras fixes the front left shutter on the first morning, right after he finds the note. Sarra climbs down from the loft first and volunteers her help, and Darras lets her, answers her when she asks where her mother's gone--away, to learn some news to bring home to us, but she'll come home again in three days.
There's follow-up questions from both of the children. Once Lir wakes up, sure and he asks the same, looking for his mother. The questions are simple. Where's she gone, will she bring back gifts, how long is three days, why did she take Edouard, what will Edouard eat, what will she eat--and with great patience, Darras answers these as well, mostly seriously, sometimes teasing. She'll eat Edouard--no, sorry, Edouard will eat her-- which makes Sarra and Lir shriek. Later that day, Darras is clearing snow from the path to the well and Sarra and Lir are throwing themselves into snowbanks, and pretending to be cannibal horses. There's nothing in the game that's a real threat. Nothing like what could be coming for them all.
He finishes Yseult's list. He takes the children with him to the village, and they shop for everything. Laying down supplies for the winter is what he says, if anyone asks, and that's enough to distract, get everyone talking about bad winters of the past, signs that point to this one being good or worse than those, what else he ought to be buying.
And on the third day, in the late afternoon, they're all three in the main room of the cottage. Sarra is reading out one of Yseult's books, and Lir is laying on his stomach in front of the fire, stretched out like Rosana. Everyone's socks and boots are standing around the grate to dry. The socks are hung on the mantle, dangling like weird garland. The hiss of steam rising from them is a gentle sound. Darras is at the table, carving new clothespins. He's the one that hears it first: horse-hooves, clopping up the path. He marks the sound, and sits to listen a moment before he gets to his feet and goes to the window.
no subject
There's follow-up questions from both of the children. Once Lir wakes up, sure and he asks the same, looking for his mother. The questions are simple. Where's she gone, will she bring back gifts, how long is three days, why did she take Edouard, what will Edouard eat, what will she eat--and with great patience, Darras answers these as well, mostly seriously, sometimes teasing. She'll eat Edouard--no, sorry, Edouard will eat her-- which makes Sarra and Lir shriek. Later that day, Darras is clearing snow from the path to the well and Sarra and Lir are throwing themselves into snowbanks, and pretending to be cannibal horses. There's nothing in the game that's a real threat. Nothing like what could be coming for them all.
He finishes Yseult's list. He takes the children with him to the village, and they shop for everything. Laying down supplies for the winter is what he says, if anyone asks, and that's enough to distract, get everyone talking about bad winters of the past, signs that point to this one being good or worse than those, what else he ought to be buying.
And on the third day, in the late afternoon, they're all three in the main room of the cottage. Sarra is reading out one of Yseult's books, and Lir is laying on his stomach in front of the fire, stretched out like Rosana. Everyone's socks and boots are standing around the grate to dry. The socks are hung on the mantle, dangling like weird garland. The hiss of steam rising from them is a gentle sound. Darras is at the table, carving new clothespins. He's the one that hears it first: horse-hooves, clopping up the path. He marks the sound, and sits to listen a moment before he gets to his feet and goes to the window.