When I woke up, Shi still wasn`t back yet, and the sun wasn`t much lower in the sky, so it had only been a quick nap. But clouds had gathered again… I pulled away from Koh so that I could stand up and stretch. Koh stood as well. I blinked back sudden tears seeing how old the cottage looked, but it had been a couple of weeks. Every time I looked at it I got a slightly lost feeling. And I had been so sad last time that I had only looked quick, only found mother`s bracelet. But…maybe…maybe if I looked longer, there might be something else left too…? “Koh…” I grabbed onto his hand. “I…I want to look…look inside.” Koh wasn`t happy about my decision. No. He used the hand I was holding to pull me back closer to him, and put his arms around me so I couldn`t easily pull away. “Koh…” I protested a little.
No. he repeated. He lifted one hand to touch my cheek gently. It makes you sad. I nodded a little. It did make me sad. “But…I`m not alone.” I told him again. If I was alone, I could never go back in. It would be…I would be too sad. But with Koh… Koh studied my face for a long minute, deciding. A raindrop hitting me square on the nose made me blink, and decided for him. I didn`t want to stand out in the rain. And Koh knew that in the rain I got cold very quickly, and was wary of that.
Although he was still reluctant, we climbed in through the window again. I looked up to see that there were holes in the roof in spots, so it wasn`t completely dry everywhere inside. But a lot better than standing outside. I hugged Koh for comfort. It was hard coming back in and seeing…how…how old everything looked, and not like the home I remembered. Koh hugged back. Sad…he wasn’t happy about it. "But you`re here," I told him again.
I rested against him for a long minute before pulling away a little. “I…I want to look around.” Koh kept firm hold of my hand as we walked around the room, avoiding the spots where it was raining. The first thing I found was under the debris in the fireplace…what…what had been the fireplace. Mother`s iron cauldron was still there! I quickly let go of Koh`s hand and dug it out so that I could see.
Like the bracelet, it was old…old…and a bit rusted. But it was still there. I hugged it. It was familiar, despite the rust. With Koh very close, I got up and brought the cauldron to one of the spots it was raining, to wash it out. And when I dumped the dirty water on the floor, a sparkle caught my eye. An orange sparkle…something was caught between the floorboards! I couldn`t quite get it on my own, it was stuck tight, so I looked at Koh.
Koh looked back ? I pointed to the sparkle. “That…Koh, that orange…I can`t get it.” Orange…? Koh knelt next to me to see. Since I wanted it, Koh took a turn trying to get it out of the floorboards. Because it was small, it was hard to get a grip on. Annoyed, Koh simply broke one of the floorboards that was holding it in place. Since there were other floorboards damaged, I didn`t say anything, and just held out my hand. If there were already broken ones, one more didn`t matter. It wasn`t my home anymore. My home was with Koh and Shi, no matter where that was. Because we were family now. Koh placed the small orange piece in my hand gently, and I brushed off mud and dust. It was a crystal, one of mother`s crystals. This orange one was citrine. That I put in my pocket with the bracelet so that it wouldn`t get lost.
By the time Shi got back, when it was starting to get dark, Koh and I had found some more crystals, amethyst, amber, onyx, and even a lapis lazuli, but not much else. Even though it was still a bit light outside, inside got dark faster, and we didn`t have any wood to make a fire. And…looking up into the fireplace it had seemed blocked, and mother had always said if the fireplace was blocked, we couldn`t use it.
Since we couldn`t look around more inside while it was dark, we had been watching out the window, to see if the rain would lighten or Shi would come. Koh had his arms around me again, a hug. It helped. When Shi came walking up, I was surprised. He had an umbrella! Mother had told me that only women used umbrellas…maybe the rules were different for demons? And…Shi was carrying several cloth bags. Had he gone shopping? The village was where mother had always gone shopping.
Shi put the bags inside first, then climbed in. He shook out the umbrella, then closed it before looking at us. “They went straight to the place where they`re staying, and did not see that I followed them.” Shi told us. Koh nodded a little. “And as long as I was in town anyway,” Shi said, opening one of the bags and pulling out what looked like clothes. “I bought a few things. For one, warmer clothes for you, Little One.” For me? Because I was always cold? I hadn`t gotten new clothes in a long, long time…
Shi held out the clothes and I stepped away from Koh to take them, curious. Soft black leggings, a long woolen grey skirt, a white blouse. They were all very soft and well made. “Oh…” I said softly, surprised. Shi pulled another piece of clothing from the bag. A burgundy sweater. New clothes, and they looked so nice…I hadn`t gotten new clothes since…since…I looked down at what I was wearing now. But I was all dirty…
“It is raining, Little One.” Shi said, guessing my thoughts. “Why don`t you use the rain to wash off, and then change into the new clothes? It will be cold while washing, but you will be a lot warmer after.” I liked the idea of being a lot warmer. But I hesitated a little. Mother had said once…that because women and men were different that women should not change in front of men. And Koh and Shi were demons, but they were also men.
Shi put the sweater back in the bag and went to another bag, pulling out a towel and a bar of soap. Then he went over to the door Koh and I hadn`t tried, the one that had led to the pantry. He pushed it open and I saw there were more holes in the roof there, more than in the main room. “Will that do, Little One?” I had never hugged Shi before, but now I did, because we were family. “You always guess what I`m thinking.” I said pulling away after only a quick hug. Being clean and warm sounded like a good idea. He smiled, and handed me the towel and soap, and closed the door gently behind me.
I didn`t have a comb, so I had to use my fingers to get the tangles out of my hair. There were a lot more than I had realized, so it took a while. When I had finally gotten almost all the tangles out, I braided it again. It was easier, when it was one braid. And my hair had enough curl that it stayed braided, even without a hairtie. Mine had gotten lost a while back. Mother had always said she was jealous of the curls in my hair.
When I came out, shivering, it was full dark. I could see though, because Shi had also bought candles, and set them up around the room where the wind and rain couldn`t get them. Koh and Shi had wet hair too, and they too had changed clothes. Koh now had on black pants, and a grey sweater, the same color as my new skirt. Shi had the same black pants as Koh, but his sweater was dark green. And one of them had spread a big blanket on the part of the floor that wasn`t wet, and Koh was standing in the middle of it, while Shi was standing near the door, waiting for me.
“Come sit, little one.” Shi said gently, handing me the burgundy sweater. It was a very very soft sweater…and it was warmer than my coat had been! How…? I sat on the edge of the blanket, leaving my feet off because now I was barefoot and I didn`t want to get the pretty blanket dirty. And it was a pretty blanket. All sorts of swirling colors making a pattern of oranges, red, blues and greens. Whoever had made it must be very talented.
Shi handed me another towel, but a little one, and also some thick white socks. I wiped my feet off carefully before putting the nice warm socks on and sitting on the blanket all the way. Now Koh came and sat near where I was, and pulled me sideways onto his lap. I snuggled against him, and felt that his sweater too, was really soft. Now we were both warm, even if the cold had never seemed to bother Koh. Koh nuzzled my hair a little.
I looked over at Shi, who had taken off his shoes to come sit on the blanket with us. “Thank you for the clothes.” He smiled. “Of course, little one. I should have gone into town sooner.” He looked at Koh when he said that. Koh didn`t say anything though, just cradled me close. “I have new shoes for you as well,” Shi added, pulling something out of one of the bags that he was near. They were little black shoes, and they were shiny! Shiny like Shi`s odd brown shoes were…
Curious, I sat up a little and held out a hand to see them. Shi handed one of them to me, and watched as I studied it. It was smooth, the shiny. What was it…? But inside the shoe was soft. Maybe I could ask. “What…why is it shiny?” I asked. Before meeting Shi I had never seen shiny shoes. Shi hesitated a little, then explained, “It`s called `plastic`. It will also keep some water off, though not all.” `Plastic`. I had never seen that before, but if it kept some water off, it was very useful. I handed the shoe back to Shi for now, and he put them back in the bag. “Thank you,” I said again. Mother had always taught me to say thank you when I got something. “There`s no need for thanks.” Shi said gently. “We`re family, little one.” Koh hugged me tight. Me, Koh and Shi. We were family. I liked that.
For a while, we sat together and watched the rain fall. "Let me know if you`re cold, Little One," Shi said. "And we will make a fire." I shook my head.
"I`m warm now. And the fireplace looks blocked." When I said so, Shi put his shoes back on and went over to look. He frowned a little. "It is blocked. Thank you for pointing it out, Little One." Would he not have checked if I hadn`t said anything? That wasn`t good! Mother had taught me that you always had to check the chimney before lighting a fire. If anything was there, the smoke would come into the room, and that could kill you. She had told me stories about someone I didn`t know in town that it had happened to.
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