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“The goats are evil”, Jesper declared out of breath as he rounded the corner of the worn down farmhouse. He was followed by a slightly ruffled looking Wylan who was holding a bucket that had previously been filled with goat-food.
Kaz looked up from his rather comfortable place on one of the chairs they had dragged outside to sit in the afternoon-sun.
“You are the one who has been gushing over their kids the whole time”, Mathias answered drowsily from the bench next to Kaz’ chair, where he sat wrapped in Nina scarf.
Jesper pushed to sit next to him and Wylan chugged the bucket in a corner. Before taking the other chair, no longer occupied by Kuwei. Who had been dozing away on a patch of grass a few steps away and now sat up, his hair a ruffled bed-head.
“The babies are obviously not the problem man,” Jesper brushed dirt from his pants: “- but I am telling you, there is something corrupting them when they grow up.”
Kaz didn’t hide his snort: “Hunger?”
“This coming from an expert in corruption”, Mathias groaned and rolled his eyes as he shuffled on the bench to make enough room for Jespers lanky figure. Wylan was absentmindedly picking crumbs of his sweater and threw them towards a particularly round chicken that had wandered over to pry for scraps. He and Jesper managed to interlace hands and Mathias huffed as the bench wobbled on the uneven grass.
Kaz lazily turned his hand towards the porch, where Nina had just stepped out of the door. “Your turn boys, I’ve done enough for today”, she yawned and pointed towards the tiny kitchen obscured by some checkered curtains.
Jesper rolled off the bench, only to lie in the grass next to Wylan and the chicken. “We already risked our lives by feeding the livestock.” To prove a point, the chicken pecked the golden earrings he was wearing and Kuwei giggled loudly as Jesper shrieked and rolled against his chair to escape the plump bird.
“And I can surely be excused too.” Mathias tried to bargain, in opening his scarf-cocoon, lifting his arm to invite Nina for a hug. “Let me check that”, Nina only smirked.
One of the checkered curtains was pulled aside and Inej leaned out of the kitchen window, her hair was open and fell loosely around her face that was glowing in the golden evening sun. “I certainly would be pleased by some help.” She threw what looked like a piece of apple towards the chicken no longer threatening Jesper. Kaz left his very comfy place in the sunshine: “If you insist on it so nicely”, he murmured and slowly walked over to the farmhouse.
The plains of the Kerch countryside and the soft grounds made him misplace his cane more often. He did not mind for the moment, pushing himself carefully next to Inej in the cramped old kitchen. His gloved hand slowly wandered over the dark wooden boards of the table, streaked with notches, not from knife-fights like he had gotten used to, but lost years of cooking and bakeries. The kitchen was mostly empty, safe for the old furniture they had not already dragged somewhere else and some dust still settling in the corners. The once painted ornaments on the cupboards had lost their colors to years of sun and layers of old grime. But to Kaz the swirls mimicking flowers and vines were still as lively as they had been to his younger self.
Sure, he had paid people to keep this place running, but strangers living here had felt so alien to him, that the farmhouse itself had stood almost abandoned for the past nine years.
Jesper and Nina had haggled for a bunch of the necessities that the farm didn’t provide on the next town's market with great success. So the dusty shelves were decently stacked with grain, dried fruits, some wine and an unholy amount of pickled vegetables that Jesper had gotten as a “sale of the century”, if you were to ask him.
Kaz smiled softly after his hands had reached the end of the shelves, tracing their outline. “I like having you around the farm”, he admitted softly. Inej looked back at him with an equally soft expression: “Be careful saying stuff like that, or Jes might overcome his fear of caprines and we will all have to stay here forever.” She handed him a cutting board and a knife, both aware of it being nothing but a pie in the sky.
On the notion of pie, Kaz pulled the basket full of apples closer to him. They were slowly trying to make a dent in all the crops the farm had them face. “Did Nina really try to make an apple-pie?”
Inej lightly kicked the oven, which miraculously still seemed to work. “I’ve seen her put it in, didn’t look too bad.”
Kaz shrugged, automatically taking off his gloves. It was a deeply ingrained rule not to touch the food with dirt-caked hands coming from outside, he found himself not questioning it, even after such a long time. Slowly he sliced a bunch more of the apples, peeling off the bumpy, weathered bits of the skin.
“To appease the goats”, Inej chuckled, slowly reaching across his workspace to gather the scraps. Kaz paused as Inej leaned so close to him, as to not slip with the knife. The small kitchen made working without bumping into each other - to be touched - almost impossible. But right here with the smell of fruit, sunshine and weathered wood in the air a deep breath seemed to be enough to calm the nausea still creeping up his stomach.
In silence they worked though the whole basket of apples, following Mathias suggestion to boil the insurmountable amount of fruit into some kind of puré. Suddenly Inej paused. “Nina?” she called out: “Have you checked your pie?”
A string of curse words and the creaking of the bench outside, followed by Nina hurrying into the kitchen were an answer enough.
Carefully Kaz pushed himself out of the room and limped over the porch to leave her enough space to rescue the bakeries.
“The good news is: It’s not burned”, Nina declared loudly as she carried the still steaming pie outside for their makeshift picnic. Jesper had diverted a pair of moth-eaten curtains from their intended use and put it down for them to sit on. The small farmhouse kitchen clearly never had been intended for seven people and so they spent most of their meals (and free time) outside, chasing rays of sunshine they had never felt in Ketterdam. Wylan and Kuwei quarreled over who got to sit on the equally dusty pillows, held together rather by their lovely embroidery than the fabric itself. “You are young, Why do you have to sit on the soft pillows like some grandpa with a broken hip?” Mathias rolled his eyes, as he handed both the boys half of the dusty pillow-fort they had collected over the past days.
“It’s not for sitting”, Wylan mumbled, hugging a beige pillow with an orange flower-pattern.
“It’s just comfy”, Kuwei added begrudgingly agreeing with him.
“The pie’s a bit crisp though”, Nina stopped the cushion-discourse, still concentrating on balancing the steaming bakery in her hands, before placing it next to the bread, cheese and berries they had picked yesterday in a rather overgrown and brambly part of the farm's back garden.
“Don’t worry, it smells great.” Wylan handed a knife to Mathias, leaving him to the honors of cutting the way too hot apple pie for the seven mouths waiting eagerly and, or curiously, to get a taste.
Kuwei was the first one to get handed a piece on a pale yellow napkin. Unbothered by the temperature he took a bite and hummed in approval. “It’s not too sweet”, he smiled, brushing crumbs away from the corners of his mouth. “Very apple-y?” he added and Nina grinned, taking the second piece confidently as Mathias left the others to serve themselves. Kaz looked at his lopsided piece of pie and decided to wait some more for it to cool down.
Which had been the right decision, because moments later Jesper was already busy inhaling gusts of cold air, trying to cool his mouth. Inej rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth twitched nonetheless.
“How the f- do you eat this smoldering and”, Jesper smiled at Nina in between breaths: “very delicious, of course - piece of pastry, dude?” He watched Kuwei who was already calmly picking off the crumbs of his napkin to attract some of the chickens that were curiously watching them from afar. The young Inferni shrugged: “Can I have the last piece?” leaving the napkin to get dragged away by the soft brown birds.
“I’ll lean against you”, Inej quietly informed Kaz. As he did not react and only reached for his own piece of pie she leaned closer and carefully placed her head on his shoulder. She felt Kaz tense for a split second, as her hair grazed his neck, but he relaxed quickly, handing Inej one of the mismatched forks.
Nina was busy feeding the rather unwilling Mathias forks full of her own pastry and Kuwei simply sighed, reaching for the final piece, no longer awaiting the answer.
“The third-wheeling really is getting three times as bad.” He looked down at the chunky chicken that tried to climb between his crossed legs, getting to the very source of the delicious crumbs. “Yeah, at least you love me, don’t you?” he smirked, sharing a very generous piece of his pie, with the hen nesting between his thighs.
“Hey, we’re all glad, that you’re here with us”, Jesper said, making the edges of his empty napkin fray: “Out of everyone here you were the most effort to get to this nice lawn.”
Wylan played with one of Jespers coils and pulled him closer: “True, but the chickens are still the most glad.”
Kuwei stuck out his tongue: “That is only because they f-ing love me.” The chicken glugged and softly picked at his shorts.
The sun was setting slowly as they all listened to the carriages rattling along the nearby road. Kaz suspected it to be the farmers returning from the nearby market. He did not move from his cozy spot, right next to Inej, the sun shining softly in his face.
It was only a few minutes later that Kaz jerked up and turned towards the footsteps he had felt getting closer. Inej sat right next to him and squinted at the lonely figure approaching them from the sunset on the now, safe for one tiny carriage, empty street.
As her eyes adjusted to the sunlight she recognized an older peasant-woman carrying a surprisingly large basket. She wore simple, tidy clothes adorned with some embroidery similar to the pillows Wylan was currently napping on and had her graying hair pulled out of the face by a headband.
“Oh hello, I am sorry to bother”, she started carefully and was interrupted by Jesper jerking up with a surprised gasp from his soft patch of grass. Inej saw him instinctively reaching for his belt (where he usually kept his revolvers). For the sake of the so far calm situation, she was glad he had left them in the farmhouse.
“Please excuse me” the woman stated again, raising her hands as far as the large basket allowed, she scanned the crowd of (what for her all still had to be) children: “I uh, noticed the smoke from the chimney as we were passing”, she pointed back towards her carriage. “And I wanted to see if someone had actually moved back in here.”
The peasant woman looked back down on the five of them, who still rested outside. Nina and Mathias must have left for more privacy at some point. Inej smiled softly to herself as she tried to imagine what the confused woman must have thought of their mismatched little group, scattered in front of the porch: Jesper, still dressed as brightly as a whole field of flowers, obscuring what was left to see of Wylan, dozing under the old pillows, Kuwei sitting on a ledge a few meters away from the. His hands buried in the feathers of the chunky chicken, he leaned over curiously.
Inej turned back towards Kaz and could not hide her chuckle, as she noted the sour expression he was using to stare up at the old woman. It would have been far more intimidating if he weren't an out of place looking pale boy, with equally ruffled looking black hair and clothes.
“Ehh, maybe your - parents are around?” The woman continued to fill the confused silence: “Are you even allowed to be here?” she added, suspicion tainting her voice.
Kaz tried to fix his hair and sat up straight, his glare still firmly sat on the woman: “I own this farm. We have every right to be here. If we need to help you with any further questions, I-”. His voice was cold and strained. Inej softly bumped his shoulder and watched his jaw unclench.
“-I am probably the best person to help you out. Mam”, he added drily.
“Uh, oh okay”, the woman carefully placed the basket down at her feet. She eyed Kaz again and wrinkled her forehead as if she was trying to recognize somebody. Uncomfortably he shifted next to Inej, so she quickly added with her best smile: “Is there a way we can help you?”
The woman bit her lower lip and looked now with even more confusion towards the front porch, where Nina and Mathias had emerged. The big Fierdan matched Kaz’ glance, while Nina waved, her hair and dress were quite a mess.
“Excuse my curiosity”, the woman apologized again and opened the lid of her basket. “It’s just that, we didn’t manage to give him away on the market and next time he will be too grown up already.”
He? Inej managed to think before Jesper made a soft sound of amazement and reached for something in the basket, pulling out a wrinkly black pup.
The woman scratched her neck: “We had an unfortunately large litter this summer and have no way of keeping them on our farm. I was thinking - maybe, if you just moved here you might be in need of a farm-dog some day.”
Jesper cradled the puppy and made soft shushing noises as the small dog opened his little button eyes, licking his own nose with a very tiny pink tongue. “It’s such a shame we will only be staying here for a few weeks”, he said, scratching the puppy's chin.
The woman's shoulders sagged.
“A shame”, Kaz echoed. He had been awfully quiet this whole time. Now he got up from the ground and slowly walked over to Jesper and the puppy. Wylan and Kuwei seized the opportunity to peek over their shoulders too. Kaz stared down at the puppy, his mouth a thin line. The tiny creature made a soft yelping sound and wriggled around in Jespers arms. “What will happen to him, if you can’t find an owner soon?” Jesper carefully placed the dog on the grass and watched it tumble a few steps forwards, its nose curiously sniffing the ground.
“We have two grown up rather aggressive males at home”, the peasant woman shrugged: “If he survives them and finds enough to eat, maybe he’ll make it through the winter.”
The group watched the fuzzy worm make its way slowly towards Inej. But she was only watching Kaz’ expression. “That’s a whole new breed of scheming-face, Mister Brekker”, she grinned to herself, as she continued looking at him slowly clenching and unclenching his jaw. He turned his gaze towards the woman who was picking up her basket and took a step towards the dog: “Thank you for your time anyways children, maybe he’ll be lucky.”
But just as she went to pick the puppy up, Kaz made a quick step forward and reached for the dog himself. Picking it up with the careful, skilled hands of a lockpicker.
“I think I - we can keep him anyways, there surely is a way to arrange for him to move to Ketterdam too.”
Wylan and Kuwei gasped in unison and Jesper showed his widest, shit-eating grin as he watched Kaz softly cradle the puppy to his chest.
The woman's eyes gleamed as she held the now empty basket. “Thank you so very much! How exciting to think of one of our pups making it to the big city.” She implied a slight courtesy and turned away to leave: “Thank you so very much,” she paused and looked back at the dog in his arms: “Kaz, if I am not mistaken?”
The Kaz in question tensed up, but was immediately distracted by the puppy chewing on his left glove. He tilted his head lightly and stared back at the peasant woman: “Good Evening Miss.”
He gave her a silencing smile and watched the woman leave, only moving from his spot as the wagon started rattling along the dusty road again.
“Shut up Jesper”, he declared moments later as the tall boy opened his mouth, only to close it again and watch Kaz slowly take off his gloves before the pup could chew on them any more.
They all sat down on the steps of the porch together, as Nina laughed at Kaz for cradling the puppy like a baby and Mathias smiled at the little creature with deep sadness of his own in his eyes.
“He needs a name, doesn’t he?” Kuwei declared, perched on the rail again.
Nina clapped her hands: “Oh yes he does! Any suggestions?” She grinned at the others. But Kaz only looked at the tiny dog in his lap. “He won’t stay that tiny, won’t he?” Inej noted, her knowledge about canines being quite limited. Kaz shook his head and looked at the giant looking paws of the tiny animal, as he tried to find footing on his legs. Jesper mumbled something and Mathias poorly disguised his laughter as a cough.
“What was that?” Nina turned towards the boys? A suggestion? Come on Jesper, tell us!”
Jesper bit his lip and played with a loose nail of the weathered floorboard.
“Well now I am almost eager to hear it too”, Kaz added with a crooked grin and turned his head and the puppy towards Jesper.
The Zemini boy snorted. “I said ‘brick’.”
Kaz choked on his own salvia and had to tone down his own coughing and laugh, because he feared the dog might fall from his lap. “Bad idea”, he huffed in between breaths: “other suggestions please.”
It was quiet for a moment as he steadied his breathing, but then Wylan suggested: “How about Korbie? You know like a crow?”
Kaz raised his eyebrows: “I am pretty sure I’ve embezzled some money in a village with that name at some point.” He slowly shifted his weight away from his leg and added carefully: “I like it though.”
As if in approval Korbie started lovingly salivating all over Kaz hand and pants.
As Inej went to bed that night, silently passing Nina and Mathias sharing the bed of Kaz parents and Jesper and Wylan sprawled out in the nest, they had made out of blankets and pillows. She passed Kaz dozing away on the couch and grabbed the stump of a candle flickering away on the table next to him. It would be enough to light the way up Kaz’ and his brother's old bedroom, where she and Kuwei profited from the boys beds.
Kaz looked very peaceful as he laid on the small lumpy couch, wrapped in a pale red blanket. His legs and torso folded in an odd angle around a soft black ball of fur that was comfortably snoring away next to Kaz’ shoulder.
“Good night you two”, she whispered, sure that Kaz still heard her and blew out the candle.