《Fantasy Farmstead: River’s Bend》 Late Winter A kaleidoscopic cascade of broken glass, oil, tiny white flakes, and a tumbling plastic snowman sailed through the air. Arching toward the floor where they refracted in a manner consistent with their material. The ever smiling snowman came to rest under the table in a bed of glass shards. ¡°You are out of line young lady!¡± Yari¡¯s mother knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words left her lips. This is how it always started. Yari would throw a tantrum. She would scold her daughter and the fight would escalate from there. She braced herself for the inevitable screaming, but it never came. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. In a moment that was somehow worse than the start of so many fights. She watched Yari slump to the floor with her face in her hands and start sobbing. Author''s Note: I''m not really sure how I want to upload this. I expect it to be too short for chapters and too long to upload full sections. Time and mental energy are in short supply right now. So this isn''t going to be done quickly. Also, the more upload, the more views. So there needs to be a balance between uploads of a reasonable length and whoring myself out to the numbers. Rest assured, the following uploads won''t be this damn short. It''s really more of a prologue scene. It just didn''t quite fit with the first section. Early Spring: 1.1 With a great sigh as though his coming task was an anathema to his very being, Alex pulled himself out of bed, his blanket wrapped tightly around his torso. The floor of the tiny cabin felt ice cold. The air itself was equivalent to the inside of a refrigerator. Opening the woodstove revealed the dimly glowing remnants of last night''s warmth. With shaky hands, Alex piled a haphazard stack of thin sticks on top of the coals. Blowing vigorously, the tiny cinders sparked momentarily back to life, trying mightily to consume the new fuel. Within minutes the flames were reaching for the cast iron roof of the stove, bleeding its light and warmth into the room. Alex let the heat warm his hands before filling the stove to the brim, placing a teakettle on top, shutting the door, then diving back into his warm bed. When the kettle started whistling, the room would be warm. *** Megan looked up to see who had just entered. It was a young man about five foot nine. Boots, blue jeans, and a coat, he had pale skin, dirty blonde hair, and a short scruffy beard. Megan hadn''t been working at the bar long, but living in such a small town she instantly pegged him as an out-of-towner. As the man removed his coat her eyes were instantly drawn to the pistol on his hip. A slight tinge of concern flashed through her, she glanced over at Carl in the far corner. Apparently River''s Bend''s one and only police officer had also taken notice of the guy. His eyes moved from the out-of-towner''s pistol, to the man''s face, then back down to his hashbrowns. A bit of relief washed through her. If Carl wasn''t concerned, then she wasn''t concerned. Carl ran the carry permit courses, so maybe he knew the guy from there, or maybe just an acquaintance from Watersmeet. It didn''t really matter. "Double bacon cheeseburger with fries and¡­ a cherry soda please." "Huh?" Megan asked dumbly. "Oh, sure. About fifteen minutes." The out-of-towner gave a slight nod and turned to find a spot on the opposite side of the bar from everyone else. "Hey Alex." The guy, Alex apparently, turned toward Carl who gestured to the seat across from himself. So Carl did know him. Megan thought to herself. Alex spread his coat over the back of the chair and sat down. "How''s it going?" Carl asked. "Oh it goes. Not sure where." Alex replied while getting comfortable. "Not much change since winter started." Carl piled some hashbrowns and bits of egg onto a slice of toast. "Do any hunting in the forest behind you?" "No. I''ve mostly been working two jobs. Haven''t had a lot of free time. That''ll change real soon though." Carl nodded, chewing his breakfast before washing it down with coffee. "Come spring some of the locals will be back there, so keep an eye out ok." "That far east?" If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Mmhmm. There''s a lot of trails back there." "The river is back there somewhere too, yeah?" Alex asked. "Mm. A mile back. Maybe a little less." "I''ll have to wear in a trail or something." Megan watched the two men bullshit about mostly nothing. Carl stayed until the newcomer finished his meal. The two of them started heading out together. Which was not what Megan wanted. "Ah, Carl? Can I speak to you for a moment?" The officer gave her a chin up nod and said his goodbyes to the out-of-towner. "Hey don''t be a stranger." "Ha." Alex laughed. "That''s kind of my thing." "Megs?" Megan pointedly waited for Alex to leave. "Where''s he from?" And there it was. To be perfectly honest, Carl had been a bit surprised when Megan had left the man alone to talk. Now Carl was stuck with the decision to give Megan the run around or throw Alex to her, and by extension, the rest of the Matriarie. Then again there had been something to his "don''t be a stranger" comment. Alex was a stranger. The guy had lived a two minute drive from the center of River''s Bend for the last six months and Megan was only just now catching his scent. Alex was a nice enough guy. The quiet loner type with a fiercely independent bent that bordered on the unhealthy. Maybe Megan and her gang would be good for him. In the end Alex was the stranger here, and Meg was practically family. She hooked a stray hair behind a black horn and stared at Carl patiently with golden eyes while Carl debated how to proceed. It wasn''t her fault. It was the nature of the Tel''ani and the Matriarie. A confluence of biological and social pressure. "You know the old Nelson place just down the road towards Watersmeet?" Megan nodded. "Well he split half of his land off and sold it a few years ago." "The one with the new driveway that goes to nothing?" "Yeah. Though it now leads to a shed. A little thing, maybe eight by twelve. That''s where Alex has been living for the last six months or so." "Six months?" She said, disbelief evident in her voice. Likely skeptical that someone who lived a stone''s throw away could have hid from her for that long. Carl nodded. "Yeah, six months. He works in Watersmeet. Doesn''t really need to come in here for much." "Is he single?" Carl shrugged. "Don''t know." Carl figured the guy was, but didn''t see a point in adding fuel to Megan''s fire. "Don''t scare him off ok." *** The video was mostly just a timelapse with a voice over giving instructions. It lacked any funny jokes, special effects, or even a narrative. It was a pure how-to. "He makes fantasy armor." Molly said with a squeal of excitement. "That''s so awesome." Serena added with a similar tone. "The small room makes him look bigger than he is. The guy''s like, maybe three inches taller than me." Said Megan, her tone more critical than amazed. "Ehh, he''s okay I guess." The three other Tel''ani girls huddled around the screen turned to stare down Liana. "What?" "Just okay?" Said Sarena. Liana shrugged. "He''s human. Been there, done that, didn''t get the t-shirt." There was a moment''s pause before Molly spoke. "I propose we set aside a portion of the budget to get Liana a shirt that says exactly that." "Second!" Shouted Serena. "Mmm, third." Came Megan''s reply a heartbeat later. "Seventy five percent majority." Said Molly. Liana shrugged again. "Make it black or I''m not wearing it." "Deal." The other three chorused. "We should invite him to the Cherrywood picnic." Molly suggested. "He lives here." Liana broke in. "Isn''t he automatically invited?" "Yeah but, does he know that?" All heads turned to Megan. "Hmm, I''ll ask Carl." Question For the Readers and Part 1.2 Question For the Reader''s: If you were to follow an author on social media, especially one who wanted to take input on changes to current works in progress or input on upcoming works, what platform would you prefer to use? Discord? Twitter? Flote? other? Would you prefer that page to be solely about writing, or the random shit in the author''s life as well? Early Spring 1.2 Everyone was staring at her. As uncomfortable as it made her feel, she didn''t blame them. A girl standing alone at the train station with a large duffle bag was one thing. Having a puffy pink jacket tucked under one arm was another. The temperature in the city ranged from sixty-five to eighty, any higher and management scheduled a rain shower to cool things down. A thick jacket ment she was going outside, and everyone who saw the coat knew it. The doors opened, disgorging its passengers and silently sitting agape waiting for new ones. With a deep breath and a mental reminder not to look back, Yari boarded the westbound monorail. Four stops later and she was standing on a platform at the very edge of her world. No one stared at her anymore. She wasn''t the only one carrying a jacket. The clear edge of the dome that encapsulated Alexandroupolis rose into the air. An almost unnoticeable monolith to civilization. Her heart pounded as she walked through the tunnel to the outside. The sky was so different. The blues were bluer. The clouds whiter. The sun was painfully bright. Only now did she understand the reason one wasn''t supposed to stare at it. She still wasn''t outside. Out of the city, yes, but not out in the open. The thought momentarily terrified her, but she kept moving. People left the city all the time. There was nothing to be afraid of. She hoped. A world Yari had never seen with her own eyes blurred by. The levitation train made almost no sound as it sped along its track several hundred feet above the ground. Areas full of trees, large fields, and even tiny towns with only an apartment building''s worth of inhabitants flashed past in a mesmerizing stream of colors. From the levitation train, she took a bus northward. It was strange. The vehicle made weird sounds as it trundled slowly over rolling hills surrounded by dense wilderness. The bus stop at her destination was about the size of her apartment back home. The tiny town was sprawled out in a highly inefficient waste of space. The whole thing could have been shoved into her apartment building and wouldn''t have filled up half. Then again, that was the whole point of this vacation. To get away from the city. To take a good calming couple months in this tiny little town. She about jumped out of her skin when one of the vehicles nearby sounded its horn. The man in the beat up looking red truck waved to her. "Oh. There''s my ride." She walked up to the passenger side and gave Alex a weak smile. "Hey." "You look tired." He said. His voice not really the same in person and far more mature than last time he visited her in Alexandroupolis. "I am." "It''s unlocked." Yari stood there trying to unpack the meaning of "it''s unlocked". She stared down at the mechanism in the door and realized she had been waiting like an idiot for the door to open itself. "Oh." She gave the mechanism a tug and the door opened. "Sorry." "It''s alright." Alex turned a key and the truck rumbled to life. "Buckle up." Yari stared at him for far too long before realizing she had to do that manually as well. Such a weird world already. Once strapped in, Alex manipulated multiple petals, a wheel, and a moveable stick that together somehow made the vehicle move rather smoothly down the road. Yari tried to relax, but instead of rolling up to Alex''s apartment, she found herself again looking out over fields and trees as the town disappeared behind them. "W-where are we going?" "My land. I did tell you I moved." "Right. I just thought, I guess that, you were still in the same town." "Sorry." "It''s fine." She said with a tired sigh. She had a headache and couldn''t wait to be out of a moving vehicle, but the truck kept rolling down the road through empty country that she had only ever seen on TV. The forest on either side of the pavement was occasionally broken by a dirt road or a lone house. Yari wondered how anyone could live out here in the middle of nowhere. Did they have to defend themselves from monsters? The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. It was nearly another ten minutes before Alex slowed down and turned onto one of the random dirt trails. Yari was too tired to panic, but her heart did race a little as Alex stopped his truck in front of a tiny building not much bigger than the vehicle. "Whe-where are we?" She asked, afraid she already knew the answer. "Home." Alex replied while getting out of the truck. Yari looked around, but failed to see anything she would consider a house. A couple sheds, a covered pile of something, and a tiny house looking thing connected to a cage. Four large reddish-brown birds stared at her with their beady eyes as if trying to decide if she were edible. The whole place was surrounded by scraggly, white, leafless trees. Yari slowly exited the truck, pulling her fluffy pink jacket tightly around her. She wondered how Alex could stand the cold in just a sweatshirt, but then, he had always lived outside. "I did say it would be tight for a week or so." Alex said while pulling out her duffel bag and throwing it over his shoulder like it didn''t weigh almost forty pounds. "What happens in a week?" "The ground is finally warm enough that I can start building again." Alex started toward the door of the tiny building. Shed. That was the word for it. His usual deadpan expression gave no cues as to what he ment. The shed was only eight feet wide. It had a four foot covered porch and the rest of the structure seemed to be about twelve feet long. Some basic math said that Alex lived in a tiny building that was about the size of her bedroom. Yari was already at her emotional bottom, so this whole disappointment of her arrival seemed just par for the course. The inside was worse than she imagined. The loft area above the porch was stuffed with things. The walls were just vertical boards with brown paper stretched between them. The ceiling wasn''t much different other than being slanted. The kitchen was nothing more than a tiny sink, a mini fridge, and a microwave stuffed in one corner. A large amount of the room was taken up by a black metal box thing with a pipe rising out of it then angling to go through the wall. The rearmost wall had what looked like a heater and a small door. The whole place smelled like leather and smoke. Yari''s stomach managed to sink even more when Alex opened the tiny door revealing a small wooden box with a toilet seat. "Rear hole is for solids, the front is for liquids. There is sawdust for after your deposit. Let me know if there is any issue with your tail, I obviously built it for myself." Yari stared at the not toilet, in the tiny room of the tiny shed in the wilderness far from civilization and tried not to cry. "Are, you okay?" Alex asked. His face blank and visually uncaring. "I just¡­ I really need to pee and I¡­ I can''t close the door on that." "Oh. I''ll go outside. Just let me know when you''re done." Alex scooted around her and left the tiny building. She stood in the center, her cosmopolitan world reduced to whatever this was. This had been her idea. It was her own fault. Holding back the tears long enough to shuffle to the toilet, she lifted the seat and stared down at the two holes. She could see into the larger one. Yari closed the lid and started balling into her fluffy pink jacket. Alex put a black pan on the equally black box. The box was called a wood stove. Which made sense as it was filled with wood and Alex was using it as a stove. He had first loaded it with crumpled newspaper topped with a piece of cardboard and some small sticks. Then he stared at the paper and mumbled to himself until the paper burst into flame. The sudden spark up of flame caused Yari to jump. She had known he could do that of course and she logically understood how the process worked, but she had never seen it in real life. She supposed there was no reason for people in the city to learn such tricks. It didn''t take long before Alex was cooking eggs over the woodstove. "How long has it been since the last time I cooked?" Did microwaveable ramen count? Alex unfolded a cot for her and laid a mat on the floor for himself. Before bed she sent a text to her mom that she had made it safely, deciding not to elaborate on the primitive living situation. Changing into her pajamas was a bit awkward. Privacy was going to be an issue. Yari lay on her back on an uncomfortable cot staring up at the paper covered ceiling of a ridiculously small home in the middle of nowhere. Was this really the best idea she could have come up with? Yari woke to Alex''s alarm. It was freezing in the tiny building. She curled herself into a tiny ball as Alex started loading the woodstove and blowing on the coals. "Sorry." Alex said. "Last day of work." "What do you mean last day?" "It''s my last day of work. I quit. Would have been done a week ago, but they didn''t have a replacement yet." "I''m going to be here alone?" Yari asked, slight panic creeping up into her chest as Alex crawled back into his bed. "Yeah, sorry. I''ll turn the heater on before I leave and we''ll get dinner in town when I get back. Sound good?" Absolutely not. She thought. "Sure." She said. Alex was gone. The wood stove made sudden, erratic pops that caused Yari to startle each time. Visions of fire consuming the tiny shack with her trapped inside kept her wide awake. The mini fridge contained eggs, milk, sausage, and half a pint of yogurt. Yari figured she could cook an egg in the microwave since the heavy iron pan and the woodstove were a mystery to her, right up until the point where it exploded, covering the entire inside with bits of egg. She tried sitting outside in the open air, but it was cold and the pale trees loomed over her, swaying menacingly and making all sorts of weird noises. She then had to face the toilet. The singular plus to her day was finding out that Alex had left his wifi unsecured. She considered how she would berate him for about thirty minutes before she realized there was no one for twenty miles that could pirate it. Alex returned home in the afternoon to find Yari hiding under a blanket, cold, hungry, and glued to her phone. "Hey." Yari glared at him. How dare he have to work on her first day stuck out in the middle of nowhere. "I probably could have brought you into town. I didn''t think about it until it was too late. Sorry." He gave her a pained, forced smile. Which was well performed considering all his expressions were forced and this one was supposed to telegraph its "please forgive me" sentiment. "You promised lunch." "Yeah, you ready." "I''d like to take a shower first, but I couldn''t find one." Alex pointed to a metal bucket on the edge of the loft. "You''re kidding?" "No. Plumbing is on my to-do list." "Just¡­ Give me a few minutes." Early Spring: 1.3 Author note: Well this is the point where the stuff i''ve already written is posted. uploads will likely slow way down from here on. Wish i could write as soon as I''m done posting this, but I have to go run electrical wire. (I''m not joking, and I''m also not an electrician. At least not a licensed one.) Megan practically grinned when she saw Alex picking out a table, that urge vaporized the moment she realized that she didn''t recognize the Tel''ani girl with him. Short and fat; she had a single streak of blonde in her black hair. Her jacket was bright pink. Her honey colored eyes flicked everywhere as if taking in everything from the gun on Alex''s hip to the deer mounted on the wood planked walls and finding it all horrifying. The girl didn''t really yell "out-of-towner". Instead she was screaming "I''m from the city!" At the top of her lungs. "Would you like a menu?" Megan asked solely because the girl looked so out of place and a menu seemed like a tangible object she could ground herself with. "Yes please." The girl said, instantly grasping for the lifeline. "Do we just sit anywhere?" Alex had already taken a seat, draping his coat over the back of the chair. Megan took note that he didn''t pull the chair out for his companion. "Anywhere that isn''t already taken. Can I get you something to drink?" "Cherry Soda please." Said Alex. "Um, do you have Express Chai Lattes?" "No. I''ll admit that I don''t even know what that is. Drinks are on the back of the menu. I can get you a coffee if you''d like." "Oh ah, I''ll just, have what he is having." Megan gave the poor girl a smile and said. "One minute." Alex browsed his menu with the causal eye of someone who already knew what they wanted, but might get something different next time. Yari scanned every item from the chicken nuggets on the kids menu to the stout lager on the adults only section. There were absolutely zero nutrition facts and things like, local fish fritter, just left her with more questions. "What are you having?" Yari asked. "Double bacon cheeseburger and fries." "Where do you see that?" "I don''t know." Alex replied, now flipping to the burger section to see if it was actually listed. It was. "Here''s your drinks." Megan readied her pad. "Alex?" There was a slight squinting of the eyes that said he caught the fact that she used his name though he had never given it to her. "Double bacon cheeseburger with fries please." "And the girl from Alexandroupolis. Sorry, I didn''t know your name." "It''s Yari." "Yari. What can I get you?" "I''ll have the chicken and fried rice, thank you." Megan gave the girl a slightly questioning look, but said nothing as she collected the menus. "I''ll get that going." "I don''t like her." Yari said glaring at the woman''s back. "How did she know I was from Alexandroupolis?" "You look like you walked into a horror movie." "What?" "Why do you keep staring at my gun?" Alex asked. "Because you have a gun! Are we in danger? As far as I know, you aren''t a cop." "I was carrying the gun yesterday, you didn''t notice?" The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "You?.. No." Alex shrugged. "I keep a gun on me. My dad kept a gun on him." "That still doesn''t explain why she knew where I was from." Alex leaned in closer as if to put emphasis on his next words. "You look like you landed on an alien planet. Does that make sense? You seem scared, lost, confused maybe." "I am scared, lost, and confused. I was supposed to be hanging out in your apartment which was in a town." "I did tell you I moved." "Yes, but I thought that meant you moved into a different apartment in a different part of town." "Like someone from the city would?" "Ye¡­ yeah. Ok that''s my fault isn''t it?" "I could have given you more details." "Yeah, you could have!" Yari hoped she hadn''t put too much venom into that last statement, Alex hadn''t replied, but then again he was Alex. He sat nearly motionless watching the news on the lone TV across the room. The hosts were discussing the SRSA''s decision to allow an Anorian onto their astronaut team. One of the talking heads didn''t seem too pleased about the decision, mirroring the sentiment of the other patrons in the room, at least those that were paying attention to the story and not giving Yari sideways looks. "Good to see the Federation playing nice with the Anorians." Yari said, mostly in an attempt to end the silence as well as change the subject. "Mmm." Alex agreed. "I''m all for avoiding magically enhanced thermonuclear war." "Well, at least you live out in the middle of nowhere." "Yeah. Better odds." Yari grimaced and failed to come up with something else to talk about. She was saved a few minutes later by dinner. The sound and smell of sizzling hot chicken on a bed of rice made her stomach rejoice. Then she noticed Alex and the Tel''ani waitress staring. "What?" "It''s a lot of rice." Said Alex. "I love fried rice." Yari gave the waitress a glare. The girl gave her a sheepish grin and took off toward the other patrons, her tail tailing behind like a streamer in the wind. Alex shrugged. "Doesn''t give you a stomachache?" "No." "Alright." Yari paused momentarily with her fork full of fried goodness. Considering her current headache, would she even notice a stomachache? "Umm, Alex?" Megan said before he could leave. She''d prefer to speak to him without the city slicker, but it didn''t really matter. Fortunately for her, the girl waited by the door in her stupid puffy pink jacket. "Yeah?" She held a hand out to shake. "I''m Megan." "Alex took her hand and gave her a warm smile. "Alex." "Is she your girlfriend?" "My cousin." "Cousin?" That was the last answer Megan would have suspected, well maybe sister would be the last. She still couldn''t help from saying, "well she can''t actually be your cousin." "By marriage. Was there something you wanted?" "Right, well, I''m the matriarch of the local Matiraire and¡­" "Not interested." "O¡­kay." Alex gave her a friendly smile. "I get it. Thanks for asking. I''m just not into it. Could you keep the others off me?" "As a unit, yes. As individuals, no." "Fair enough. Take care." "Yeah you too." Megan watched the two leave. The guy had a really nice smile. "What did she want?" "Wanted to know if I was interested in servicing her Matriarie." Alex replied as he climbed into his truck. "Wow. Wow! Is that a thing here?" "Yeah. Don''t you have them in the city?" "Not that I''m aware of. I thought we stopped doing those a century ago." "Huh? There''s at least one in every town I''ve ever lived in." "I didn''t realize you were that short on men, good thing I''m not here looking." "Tel''ani are always short on men." "Wait. So it''s a racist thing?" Yari asked. "The waitress not willing to settle for a hornless?" "I don''t know. Are you into invaders?" Yari froze like a deer caught in the headlights. ¡°You, you can¡¯t say that.¡± ¡°Say what?¡± ¡°Um, well, we¡¯re not supposed to call you invaders anymore. It¡¯s racist.¡± ¡°Okay. I guess that makes sense, but you can still say hornless?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a physical difference.¡± Alex shook his head and put the truck in first. ¡°I think you¡¯re going to find people out here are a little less politically correct.¡± ¡°Well, you are not an invader. It¡¯s wrong to call you that just because your ancestors were.¡± ¡°Yeah I get that. Just try not to get upset when someone makes a joke about female Tel¡¯ani eating their masters while their men eat each other.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fucked up!¡± Alex said nothing. Yari sat back in her seat with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Whether it was the conversation or the fried rice she wasn¡¯t sure. Then again, maybe it was the cell tower that sat equidistant between Alex¡¯s shack and the village of River¡¯s Bend where they had just eaten. Small in comparison to anything back home in Alexandroupolis, but here it was a towering monolith of concrete and steel that rose so far above the landscape that Yari could imagine it gouging furrows in the bellies of innocent clouds. Early Spring: 1.4 Author Note: One of the Positive feedback comments I had revived on my finished story, Fantasy Farmstead: Modern Benton Cove, was the building scenes. Apparently is was just enough detail without getting too technical. I hoped to add something similar here, but as Yari would have no experience with construction, more detail is needed. Alex pulled some hand tools out of a nearby shed that, apart from a slightly different style, was roughly the same size as the one he lived in. He set to work with an odd one that had two shovel handles with awkwardly shaped metal parts that were joined together. He would chop at the dirt with it then, by spreading the handles apart, pull up dirt stuck between the metal bits. For a few minutes, Yari just watched, unsure of what to do. "Sorry." Said Alex. "You don''t have to help, but if you want to you can grab a shovel and start pulling up the dirt next to the corner of the house." "How far down?" "Until you hit the concrete." Yari grabbed Hold of the shovel and looked down at the corner of the building. She put the blade to the dirt and pushed. Nothing happened. She tried stabbing at the ground. It was a little more effective, but nothing like in the movies. Alex''s hand wrapped around the handle and stopped her. "Put your weight into it. Like this." Alex put a foot onto the metal edge and wiggled the handle. The blade slid itself into the ground about three times further than one of her stabs. "Oh." Yari said. Her face flushing with the embarrassment of not knowing how to use such a simple tool. It took a few attempts, but she soon felt like she was making progress. The pain behind her horns and temples seemed to pulse with each act of physical exertion until she had to stop. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, just a headache." Yari then let out a shrill, girlish, shriek as she stumbled backwards, tripping over the shovel and causing her to fall on her ass. Her headache sent lances of pain into her brain which was prompted being ignored as her mind went through its fight or flight responses. For its part, the reddish-brown bird that had scared the shit out of her, had a similar reaction. Flapping its wings and running several yards away while making its own panicked noises. "Are you okay?" Alex repeated in a tone that might have actually been tinged with the tiniest note of concern. "I''m fine." Yari lied, her headache now hitting with a vengeance. "I didn''t realize your bird got out." "Sorry. I let her out." "I''m gonna, go lie down." "Are you sure you''re okay?" "Just a headache." Yari woke to the sound of Alex messing with the woodstove. It was too damn cold to do anything other than pull the blankets over her head and try to fall back to sleep. How did Alex deal with this every day? Was it worse in the winter? Wasn''t the heater on the back wall supposed to keep the place warm. She must have dozed off as the next thing she remembered was the scream of a tea kettle. It was warm inside the shed now, so much so that she was starting to sweat. "Morning." Alex said as she pushed the blankets off and sat up. "Hey." She replied, noting that last night''s headache was down to a dull throb. Better, but still present. "Coffee?" "Oh please, with creamer and sugar on top." "I don''t have any sugar." Yari moaned. "Just creamer then." "Mmm, is creamer the same as cream?" "I don''t know." The coffee was too damn hot. It tasted weird and bitter, though whether that was due to not having sugar or Alex''s cream being liquid instead of powder, she didn''t know. After a minute or so of scalding the inside of her mouth, Yari looked at Alex curled up on the floor enjoying his own cup. "Um, Alex? I need to pee." Alex looked at her, then at the tiny closet sized bathroom. "Right. Just give me a minute." Alex didn''t return in a reasonable time or even an unreasonable time. Yari dressed up as well as she could before leaving the shack to find Alex working on the spot he had started yesterday. The birds were out again, bobbing their heads and staring at her with their beady black eyes as if she were some type of prey animal. Alex had apparently managed to dig several holes last night and put green colored square logs in them. They were being held in place by smaller pale rectangular logs. She was going to have to ask what they were actually called and what Alex was trying to do with them. Right now he was chopping at the grass with a¡­ pick/hoe thing. Yari tucked her hands into her armpits and watched. "What''s up?" You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "Well I don''t want to be a burden on you, but¡­ where are we going for breakfast?" "I was just going to make some eggs. The stove is a little hot right now." "Oh, okay." "Would you like some bacon?" "Sure." "Alright." Alex set down the pick/hoe thing. "You want to grab the eggs out of the coop?" "Ahh, what''s a coop?" "The chicken house." Yari watched him start heading to the other shed. She looked the small wooden structure over and then eyed the reddish-brown birds, which eyed her back. "I thought chickens were white?" "Some of them. Those are Island Reds." The¡­ chicken¡­ bobbed its head. It sure didn''t look like the bits of meat in last night''s dinner. She supposed it was all the feathers and the fact that it was alive. Alex came out of the shed with a package of bacon. "Why would there be eggs in the coop?" Alex stopped and stared at her. It wasn''t a very Alex stare either. For a man who almost never showed emotion, he was pulling off befuddlement admirably. "Huh?" Now Yari felt felt dumb. She had about six years more schooling than he did, but she was missing something that he must have considered common knowledge. She sighed and repeated the question. "Why would there be eggs in the chicken coop?" "Because it''s a chicken coop." Alex replied with his usual blank expression. Okay. Yari thought to herself. It was obvious. Birds laid eggs. Chickens were birds. Therefore chickens laid eggs. "How do I get in?" Alex brought her around back and showed her how the lid lifted open. Three eggs sat inside a box filled with grass. They were brown and one had what she suspected was poop on it. She picked up one of the clean ones and inspected it. "So, apart from being brown, how are these different from the ones made in the factory?" Alex didn''t reply right away. He was staring again. "An egg factory," he finally started, "is where they raise chickens that lay eggs. As opposed to a chicken factory, which is where they raise chickens for meat." "Oh, so chicken from a farm and a factory are the same?" "Well, mostly. It''s more complicated than that, but for your question, yes." Bacon sizzled in what might have been Alex''s only pan. It was just as black as the woodstove and if Yari hadn''t known any better she would have said they were made of the same material. A quick internet search revealed that the stove and the pan likely were made of the same stuff, cast iron to be specific. While Alex fussed over the bacon, Yari sat on the cot feeling like a child. Turns out Alex was right. Egg factories were full of chickens that were stuffed into tiny cages. The conditions were horrible. Turns out all the "stop eating animal products'''' propaganda was supplied by animal rights groups. Alex''s chickens looked nothing like the factory ones on the internet. She was getting an idea on what Alex meant when he said it was more complicated. Pigs and cows didn''t seem to fare much better than the chickens. It was almost enough to go vegan, except she was Tel''ani and a vegan diet would kill her. The air was cool and crisp, a word Yari had never used before when describing air. The sun sat high in a bright blue sky making the cold world seem fairly warm. Alex returned to chopping at the grass with the pick/he thing. "So, what are the logs for?" "Logs?" Yari pointed to the pieces of wood in the holes. "Oh. Those are the pillars for the next section of the house." "Okay. Umm, so why are those ones green and those are tan-ish?" "Do you know anything about carpentry?" Yari shook her head. "I''ve seen wood on construction sites before, but that''s about it." "Okay. So these ones here." He pointed to the vertical green square logs. "Are pressure treated four by fours. Pressure treated means they have been treated so they don¡¯t rot when in contact with the ground. The lighter colored ones are two by fours. To make things complicated, the boards are planed to be a uniform size. This means the four by fours aren¡¯t actually four inches by four inches. They''re a little smaller. Don¡¯t worry about that for now. So I¡¯m just using the two by fours as bracing while the concrete dries.¡± Yari nodded along with the explanation. ¡°What¡¯s with the pick thing?¡± ¡°This is a mattock. I¡¯m using it to cut away the sod.¡± ¡°Sod?¡± ¡°The grass and their roots.¡± ¡°Okay. What do you want me to do?¡± ¡°Well, if you want to grab the edge and pull while I chop at the roots, that might help. Might not.¡± Yari spent the next several hours outside helping Alex. The sod removal was the most difficult part. Once that was done he showed her how he marked the post so that they were level with the rest of the shed. He then marked up the post and started cutting away at each one with a thin piece of serrated metal on a stick called a pull saw. He cut each post so they all had a one inch by one inch by six inch square peg sticking up. He said it was for locking the beams in place, but it didn¡¯t make sense until he pulled out a twelve foot long, treated four by six and started cutting. Alex used a hand drill and chisel to make holes for the square pegs to go into. The beam connected almost perfectly with the posts, some hammering required with a tool called a sledge hammer. Alex even let her cut some of the boards. Though getting the pull saw to not bend and bow was difficult. The trick was to keep straight and let the saw cut only on the pull, hence the name, pull saw. Yari poked at her meal. She had honestly been feeling pretty good right up until the point where Alex pulled out the largest gun she had ever seen in real life and shot a defenseless bunny. The sound had made her practically jump out of her skin. He did apologize for scaring her, but as if it were nothing, he ripped the poor animal apart with his bare hands, feeding some of the bits to the chickens. That poor defenseless ball of fuzz was now laying on her plate. The bones having been pulled out, the meat chopped into small bits, all of it having taken a ride in Alex¡¯s single black pan along with some chorizo, and topped with a white cheese sauce. Logically she knew it was edible. Her ancestors would have enten bunny rabbit often, but there was something just so¡­ jarring¡­ from seeing the animal go from cute little woodland creature to eviscerated to on her plate in the span of an hour or so. She put the forkfull in her mouth. There certainly was a sense of guilt, but it would be much worse if she refused Alex¡¯s cooking. There was some natural reaction to the food. Not so much the meat as the cheese. It was delicious. As if her taste buds had found the one thing she had been missing her entire life. ¡°Wow.¡± She said, catching Alex¡¯s attention. ¡°What kind of cheese is this?¡± Alex shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Just some generic brand white cheese.¡± Yari stared at him. ¡°Well, what did you do to make it taste so good?¡± Again Alex shrugged. ¡°I added a tablespoon of butter.¡± She had watched him make the stuff in the microwave. It covered up the bunny flavor, mostly. She took another bite. ¡°Umm, I could use a bath.¡± Again she felt silly. Back home taking a bath ment pushing a button for her favorite temperature and stepping into the shower. Here, she had no idea. Alex pointed at the steel bucket of water he had on the stove. ¡°Already heating up the water. I¡¯ll get the basin once I finish eating.¡± That didn¡¯t really explain anything. Beware the Hounds: A peek at a story Ill probably never write. A peek at a story I''ll probably never write. The confluence of several things. Looking up Japanese zoning, small mountain towns, and traditional building practices. Reading a book similar to Starcarft with mechs. And considering some background things going on in my current Work-in-progress. Wei-lin climbed the ladder to the largest of the Hound''s machines. She paused to look down at Mark, only now did she realize he got his nickname of Soseki from the mech and not the other way around. The mountain of a man didn''t have a pleased look on his non-Iteyan face, but he didn''t stop her. She kept climbing. Once she reached the cockpit of The Soseki, Wei-lin maneuvered her way around the hatch and up higher. The mech had hand holds for gaining access, but they weren''t designed for her ridiculously short stature. She inevitably made it to the top and planted herself between the massive main cannon which had a barrel so large she could practically crawl into it, and the easier to hold onto anti-air flak cannons. Wei-lin looked out over the valley. The green tree covered mountains stood as silent mist covered sentinels. Terraces of rice paddies covered the majority of the open land as they had for centuries. It would have been idilac if it weren''t for the smoldering ruins of the village. Her gaze dropped down to the people gathering around The Soseki. The Hounds watched curiously, their dog tags glittering in the dappled sunlight. The Tel''ani stared intensely, their sinuous black tails curling in anticipation. Then there were the destitute refugees, all of whom were looking to her in search of some shred of hope. Wei-lin was small. Short for even her people and often mistaken for a child. Her voice, while not quite as immature sounding as she looked, still lacked a definitive adult quality. She had to choose her words well. Wei-lin considered The Soseki under her feet. A Soseki was a foundation stone. A very specific foundation stone that the main post of a house would be built upon. The massive eight legged mech was the foundation stone that the Hound''s unit was built upon and in a way, their Soseki was now her''s. She looked back out over the group, pulled in a deep breath of air, and in two words summed up the sentiment in everyone''s hearts. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "Fuck Anoria!" The Hounds hooted. "Fuck their empresses!" More jeers joined with the Hounds. "Fuck their imperial bullshit and fuck the Northren Federation too!" The whole crowd was lifting a fist into the air now and shouting obscenities. "The Ityans like myself have been here for millennia, as have the non-Ityans who''s lineages have been lost to time. The Tel''ani have been here forever. We haven''t always gotten along, but we make do. Some of you would prefer to work your farms, but the soldiers rape your women, murder your children, and take your harvest. Some of you prefer to hunt the mountains, but they bomb you camps and torch your ancestral forests. Others wander the valleys, but they take you livestock and force you to settle. Then there are the Hounds, who make the Anorians pay for every inch." She surveyed the crowd again. They were angry and ready for a solution. "This is our land!" Wei-lin screamed. "I propose a new way of life. I propose we make the Hounds our foundation stone. The Anorians like to raid us for food. I propose we raid them. I propose we make them regret leaving their open plains and fertile river valleys. And I propose we raid the Federation bases in the east. If the empire wants to have a piece of our lands they can pay for it in blood just like we did. We¡¯ll teach them to beware the Hounds!" The group cheered and hooted. Working themselves into a fervor. Her eyes met Soseki''s, err, Mark''s and her grin faltered. The man was almost twice her height, standing at least a head taller than anyone else. He wasn''t smiling. In fact he looked sad. The man had only ever known war. It gave Wei-lin a sick feeling. Early Spring: 1.5 ¡°Why did we remove the dirt, just to replace it with different colored dirt?¡± Yari asked the moment she let the wheelbarrow fall to its side, its contents added to the packed grey square they were filling in. She was sweating despite the cold early spring chill. Alex wasn¡¯t even wearing a sweatshirt anymore. ¡°We removed the sod. That would be soil, roots, grass, and other living things. This is just inert dirt.¡± ¡°Ha, inert dirt.¡± Yari snorted. Alex looked at her blankly for a moment before giving her a smile that said. ¡°Ha, I¡¯m a poet and I didn¡¯t know it.¡± Or at least that was how Yari read the look. They started the morning off by cutting large flat green boards into sections that were one foot by eight feet by half inch, so yeah, really flat. Those were screwed on to the beam so they formed a tiny wall from the ground to the top of the beam. Yari had considered it work until Alex brought out the wheelbarrow and showed her to his pit in the forest. The pit was essentially a small hill where Alex had removed the black layer of dirt and was taking the clumpy grey stuff. The first few trips Yari had spent most of her time looking around an ominous treeline, somewhat expecting something to jump out and eat her. It didn¡¯t take long before she was too tired to care. The endless grind of shoveling and transporting the grey dirt to the shed overwrote everything else. The only break was raking the dirt level and smashing it down with a heavy piece of flat metal with a shovel handle. She was sitting on the beam and trying to catch her breath when the sound of wheels crunching across the gravel driveway caught Alex¡¯s and then her attention. Alex watched with his usual blank expression. His hands resting on the top of the shovel handle. He looked at Yari, shifted his facial features to a normal, mildly happy, human look and said, ¡°Guess I better pretend to be friendly.¡± Yari snorted at that. Anyone else might have found the comment off putting, but that was just Alex¡¯s humor. It was subtle, but genuine. The man that exited the large white truck was tall and thin. An older human, maybe in his early fifties with short salt and pepper hair, a clean shaven face with high cheekbones, and an outfit that yelled cowboy from the wide brimmed hat down to the leather boots. His lips parted in a friendly, but toothy grin as he took Alex¡¯s hand. ¡°Well hey there, I¡¯m Father Richard Siemens.¡± ¡°Alex Hesher.¡± He separated from Alex and reached for Yari¡¯s hand. ¡°Yari Sausbrough.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to catch you while you had company.¡± ¡°We¡¯re cousins, she¡¯s staying with me for the summer.¡± ¡°Cousins? How¡¯s that work? Sorry, marriage obviously. Well River¡¯s Bend only has one church and you¡¯re both welcome among the congregation.¡± Alex gave the man an apologetic smile. ¡°Afraid I¡¯m the sort to give thanks to the Sun and the Moon.¡± Father Siemens nodded. ¡°I can understand that.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Oh, also a sun worshiper.¡± Yari practically blurted when the Father¡¯s eyes shifted to her. ¡°Well you''re both still welcome. Anyhow I didn¡¯t actually come out here to convert you to the ways of our lord so much as to welcome you to the neighborhood and let you know that the Cherrywood Picnic will be on Saturday two weeks from now.¡± ¡°I thought that was a town and invite only thing?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Yep, but the tax record says you¡¯re part of the town.¡± He leaned toward Yari, ¡°And considering you¡¯re staying the summer here, you ought to consider yourself invited. We¡¯ll be putting on a pig roast, a whole bunch of fresh asparagus dishes, and live music. The whole nine yards. Can we count you as coming?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the fee?¡± ¡°Well, Cherrwood comes out of the taxes, so you¡¯re already paying for it.¡± Alex looked at Yari before turning back to the Father. ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Well then we¡¯ll see you there.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Saturday two weeks from now.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± The man shook Alex¡¯s hand again and tipped his hat to Yari before climbing back into his truck. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to accept that on my account.¡± Yari said apologetically. ¡°You¡¯re right, but I live here now and should try to play nice with the locals.¡± ¡°He says, well, a lot.¡± Alex looked her in the eyes and cocked an eyebrow. ¡°Sun worshiper?¡± ¡°What, that¡¯s what you said.¡± ¡°No. I said that I give thanks to the Sun and the Moon.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°Where does all life come from?¡± Yari frowned. ¡°Ahhh, the birth of the universe?¡± ¡°Mmm, maybe, but mostly the Sun. It feeds the grass which feeds the animals, which feeds us. It keeps this ball of earth and water warm and glued together. Without it, we all die.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that different from a sun worshiper?¡± ¡°Have you ever looked that stuff up? It¡¯s some weird shit.¡± "So I just told a Cleric that I''m into weird shit?" "If it helps, he''s just a preacher." "Great." Yari muttered more to herself than to Alex as she returned to the house project. It was another couple hours before Alex declared the dirt work done. He pulled out a small grill and started some pork steaks. Yari poked her head into the shed where he was producing all this stuff from. It was the same size as his home, but due to not living in it, it could be full of shelves and packed with tools, a full sized refrigerator, and a mishmash of other objects. Yari was sweaty and dirty. The chill of the morning had almost completely faded leaving it too cold to not wear a hoodie while idle, and too hot to wear it while working. After lunch, Alex set back to work, because of course he did. Yari wasn''t expecting long walks on sandy beaches, she didn''t have the money for that, but constant nonstop work wasn''t on her summer to-do list either. Then again, it would be nice to have more room in the shed she was staying in. They fit two inch thick, four foot by eight foot sheets of foam onto plastic covered dirt. Following that were more two by sixes, that were not green, run widthwise at identical intervals, sixteen inches apart. Why sixteen? Yari had no idea and even Alex didn''t know the reason behind it other than it was a standard thing to do. More foam was cut to fit between the "floor joists" as Alex called them, then they glued and screwed thick four by eight sheets of plywood down, covering the whole thing. Yari wasn''t very good with the impact driver, the tool thingy that forced the screws into the wood, but it was kind of fun. Alex tarped the whole thing off with plastic and they were apparently done for the day. She stood with her hands on her hips grinning at the platform. She could pull thousands of dollars into the business she worked for on a daily basis, but that never had a visual representation of progress other than a number on a balance sheet. She was sore and tired and sticky, but there was a sense of accomplishment. Early Spring: 1.6 Yari woke to something that sounded like a lot of tiny stones landing on the metal roof above her. It was weird and creepy and she wondered if she should wake Alex up and ask what the sound was, but it was entirely possible this was a normal phenomenon and she would end up feeling like a silly little girl again. As quietly as she could, Yari pulled herself off the cot and crept across the cold foor toward the shack''s only window, being extra careful not to step on Alex. Outside was very dark, but she could hear¡­ wet. It was odd to think of the millions of tiny thwap sounds as wet, but there it was. She inched back to her bed to grab her cell phone, then back to the window. With her phone pressed to the glass and the light on she could just make out the grass past the tiny porch. It was wet. It took another minute or so to put the pieces together. It was raining. True it rained in the city, when scheduled, but sprinklers on the dome didn''t act like this. Maybe it was what the drops of water were hitting as opposed to where the water came from. She would have watched longer, but the cold air made her teeth chatter, another thing she wasn''t used to. How did people live like this? The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Everything okay?" The sudden voice sent a jolt down Yari''s tail. "Uh, sorry. It''s raining." "Mmhmm." Alex didn''t really sound awake and didn''t say anything further as she crawled back under the covers and willed herself to be warmer. Early Spring: 1.7 Yari had expected to be staying in the town of Watersmeet for the summer. Now that she was here, she wondered if it was worth braving the cold downpour just to look around. The world outside the glass door of the laundromat was dark and miserable looking. The cars that drove down the roadway sent out sprays of water as they went. The few people she actually saw either walked calmly from their vehicles with an umbrella or ran with their head down and shoulders up. The laundromat was similarly sparse. The one employee was a kid in his mid teens that spent the entire time working on something that looked a lot like homework or playing with his phone. Alex sat in a big chair also playing with his phone. An older human lady on the opposite side of the washing machine filled room was doing crossword puzzles in an actual book. Aside from the never ending drone of the laundry machines, the place was dead silent. "Is there a caf¨¦ around here?" "Huh? Oh, yeah." Alex got up and joined her at the door. "It''s right¡­ Mmm. Well it''s on the other side of the road. Behind that black truck. I think it''s called Bean and Brew. You''ll see it as soon as you move past the truck." "OK, you want anything?" "No, I''m good." Yari opened her umbrella, well technically it was Alex''s umbrella, and left the doldrums of the laundromat for the chilly wet air of Watersmeet. The rain pelted the fabric above her and at practically the same moment she decided the rain wasn''t so bad, she stumbled into an ankle deep pothole of water. Yari made it into the coffee shop gumbleing and making an embarrassing squelching sound with every other step. The girl at the counter was practically a child. Didn''t these kids have school or something. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "Hello. What can I get ya?" Yari scanned the menu with a scowl. "Do you have Express Chai Lattes?" Yari asked Hopefully. "We have Chai Lattes. Do you know what the Express part is?" "Um, extra caffeine maybe." "I can do that." The kid said with a cheerful smile that seemed way out of place considering the gloom. Yari stood under the awning of the Bean and Brew coffee shop with caffeinated drink in hand and wondered where to go next. On one side was a place to change oil, a bank, and a small and very empty playground. The other direction had a package delivery company, a car wash, and a gas station. Back across the street was the laundromat, a tax preparer, a tool store, a farm store, and a fast food place Yari wasn''t familiar with. So far Watersmeet wasn''t the fun, boutique shopping experience she had been hoping for. Yari endeavored to return to the laundromat and ask Alex if there were other stores. Turns out there were. The laundromat had been on the outskirts of Watersmeet. Downtown had everything she had expected, at least from the outside. Yari looked through tons of clothing at a thrift store that perplexingly had almost no brand name clothing. A candy and gift store that had practically nothing imported. And finally a health food store that lacked nearly all supplements. Yari came away with the realization that she was gonna have to lower her standards. The people around her didn''t know what they were missing. They stopped at the butcher''s before heading back toward River''s Bend and Yari once again found herself in the ridiculously cramped cabin with Alex who also seemed annoyed with the lack of room. At least she thought he was annoyed. It was hard to tell sometimes.