[Aster]
The chatter of women was much louder and livelier than it had been in the morning, a whole choir of it. There were many more of them now, sitting around the room wherever they could find a spot, young and old alike, all working and whispering to each other. Children were running between them, carrying things back and forth; some were playing by the fireplace, and others were sitting on their mothers' laps, watching them knit.
In the midst of it all, Aster and Silvia sat together on small stools, right next to their mother and her chair, struggling to make the yarn go where they wanted it to. Both were given a wooden hook and a simple task to do: to try to knit a scarf each, one for the other. And that's what they'd been doing for hours, all through the morning and into the afternoon, with plenty of mistakes and frustrated groans along the way.
And yet, despite the struggle, it was... fun, in its own way. This whole hearthworks thing, and not because of all the snacks and sweets that people kept bringing in. The knitting itself, it wasn't as boring as Aster thought it would be, watching the wool slowly become more than just a piece of string. There was an art to it, and if there was one thing he had a thing for, it was that.
What wasn't fun at all was how much his hands, especially his wrists, began to hurt from repeating the same motion over and over. Little winces kept appearing on his face now and then, and yet, he didn't stop. He kept going like that, on and on and on, just pausing occasionally to give his wrists a break. "Ugh... are you on the next row already?" he asked during one of those, glancing over to his sister's lap and at the small, brown thing she was making.
With her tongue poking out of her lips and her golden eyes squinted in concentration, Silvia didn't even look up at him, just let out a soft, "Yep," as her pale fingers hooked the yarn just right and pulled it through the loop. She was nowhere near as fast as their mother, but she was still doing a much better job than he was.
Back in their old cave with the hot spring, when they were hiding from goblins and trying their best not to starve to death, she and Nivalis had spent quite a lot of time knitting together. That is why it wasn't nearly as hard as it was for him, though she also did occasionally mess up.
Aster just sighed at that and looked down at his own work, a sad mess of tangled, loose yarn. Back then, he did learn a thing or two about it as well, but he had forgotten most of it since, and now he was struggling to make even a single row look right. "Should I just... start over? It doesn't look good," he asked quietly, giving a thread a slight pull, and just like that, four loops disappeared like they never existed.
Hearing that, Silvia paused and looked at what he was doing, and a little grimace instantly formed on her face. "It's... not too bad," she said in a gentle whisper, stopping him from pulling any more, and then looked up at his face. "Remember my first scarf? The one I gave you on your birthday?"
For a brief moment, Aster frowned in thought, then nodded a bit as he remembered the scratchy thing he wore every time he left the cave, mostly when he went to the river to fish. The memory made him chuckle softly, "Yeah, it looked really ugly." That instantly earned him a nasty pinch to the thigh and a pout from her. "Ow! I mean... it was... special, and I loved it!" he quickly added, smiling a silly smile and wincing at the same time. A few seconds later, a small, satisfied hum came from her.
On the chair beside them, Nivalis looked up from her own work, a chuckle escaping her lips. "I can help you a bit more, honey, if you want?" she whispered gently, looking at what he had so far, at the many holes and wrong loops.
Aster nodded shyly at her, which made her smile and lean closer to him, putting down her knitting needles with half-finished... something. He wasn't sure what it was. "Let's see..." she mumbled, taking his wool and hook from his scarred hands, and a mere breath later, she began working her magic on it. The kind that only mothers have.
It was the fourth time she did that, coming to his rescue when things got really hopeless. He just sat there and watched her undo five rows of wool that he had spent a good twenty minutes on, all in just a few seconds. It caused a little heartache inside of him, and his face scrunched up in a pout, but it quickly went away when she started redoing them the right way.
At first, she showed him, doing it slowly, letting him see every move she made, explaining each step. He kept nodding and humming, a few 'Oh, so that's how you do that' and 'Ahh, I see now' coming from him as she went.
Then, once there was nothing left to say, she began to speed up. Faster and faster, her fingers looped and pulled the yarn through and around, and Aster just sat there and stared with a dumb look on his face. Margaret, sitting nearby with her own work, noticed him like that and smiled, as she did every other time.
In a little under two minutes, all five rows were back, but without a single mistake in them. Just neat, straight lines of brown. "There, all better," Nivalis said with a smile as she handed him back his things, "now, try to keep it like that." Aster nodded obediently at that, after which she then leaned back into her chair and returned to her own mystery knitting.
His golden eyes squinted at her lap for a moment and at the light-grey thing she was making, almost white in color, trying to make sense of it. "But seriously, what is that?" he whispered, unable to resist asking her for the umpteenth time.
With a small, amused smile on her lips, Nivalis simply shrugged and kept working, her blue eyes focused on the wooden needles. "Is it some kind of... wide scarf? Is a wide scarf even a thing?" Aster continued to guess, but all he got in response was a soft chuckle, then one more from Silvia.
A glance to the side told him that the girl knew exactly what it was, the smug little smile on her face making that obvious. "Oh, come on! How come you know, and I don't?" he asked with a huff and, without waiting for her to answer, looked back at his mother. "Mo-om," he whined in a quiet voice, poking at her thigh through the dark-green skirt she wore.
That finally made her raise her eyes to him, a tired but loving look in them, and let out a soft sigh. But just as she opened her lips to say something, most likely just to say what it was, a voice from the other side of the room caught everyone's attention. "Alright, my dears, that's it for today," Mother Anne said in a kind, quiet tone, standing up from her chair and looking around the room. "The sun's about to reach the pines, so off you go to your families. Don't forget your stuff and your children," she added with a smile, gesturing towards the kids playing by the hearth.
A quiet rustle filled the room as the women began to put down their work and gather their things, some of them calling out for their little ones to come to them. For a little moment, the three of them sat there and just watched all the movement, their heads turning this way and that.
And only when Margaret got up from her chair, a finished pair of mittens in her hands, did they remember to move as well. "Come, let's go," Nivalis said gently, standing up and putting her secret knitting into the basket that Anne had given her earlier.
Both Silvia and Aster did the same, putting away their own work, what little they managed to do today. "You did very well today," Margaret said when everything was packed and they were ready to go, her brown eyes meeting their mother's blue ones. "Better than I expected, honestly. You're really good at it." A small nod came in response, and a quiet, almost shy, "Thank you." After that, they shuffled through the crowd of women towards the door, both siblings holding onto their mother's skirt and wearing proud smiles at how badass she was at this whole thing.
But right before reaching their coats and the door, Mother Anne called out, "Nivalie, dears, a moment," which made them turn around and look at the old lady, even though the name wasn't quite right. Sitting near the table with snacks, she waved them over. The three of them did just that, turned around and walked right back, weaving through the crowd of women once more.
"Is there something wrong?" Nivalis asked once they reached her, a bit of worry in her voice.
Anne shook her head and gave her a kind smile, gesturing for the basket in her hands. "May I?" she asked, and after getting a nod, she took it and placed it on the table. "You did well today, very well," she said, looking at the leftover snacks on the table as she spoke. Four honey buns, two pieces of cherry pie, and a bit of dried apples. Without much hesitation, she packed it all in the basket. "For you and your girls," she said after a moment, handing it back to Nivalis, who blinked in surprise.
"Oh... you don't have to..." she began, but Anne just shushed her and put a hand on hers.
"You are too skinny. Make sure to eat it all today, I'll give you more tomorrow," the old woman said quietly but firmly, making her nod obediently. And then, out of nowhere, a tiny copper coin appeared between her fingers, and she put it into the other pale hand. Or rather, half of a copper coin, which confused Aster quite a bit. "And this is for your work today, my dear."
Another quiet moment of blinking and looking at the copper bit in her hand, then up at Anne. "B-but, I was making clothes for ourselves, I don't..." Nivalis tried to refuse once more, but Anne stopped her with a gentle raise of her wrinkled hand.
"Shush, I know. Just take it. You worked hard, and you deserve it. There will be plenty of time for you to make things for sale, so don't worry about that. For now, this is just a little something to help you get settled. Take it," she whispered kindly, looking into her eyes. After a few seconds of silence, Nivalis sighed and gave in, nodding gratefully, and put the coin away into the pocket of her skirt.
As she did, Anne softly added, "A bit of advice from an old woman," making her look at her, "go to the Petie on your way back and buy some grain and flour from him, or whatever else that will last, and have it at home. However much you can, just in case. I've seen a few famines in my years, and it's never a bad idea to have a bit of food stored away." Right away, she turned and knocked three times on the wooden table, mumbling a quiet, "Away from us," with each knock. Margaret, standing right beside them, did the same.
With a small, amused smile on her face from their weird little ritual, Nivalis nodded once more. "I will, thank you. For everything," she said softly, gently squeezing the wrinkled hand with her delicate ones. "And the snacks, too," she added with a smile, earning a little wave of dismissal and a sweet "Don't mention it, dear. Now go, enjoy your evening," to which she obeyed.
The four of them—Nivalis, Silvia, and Aster, with Margaret leading the way—walked away from her and towards the door and their things. Just a bit of awkward shuffling between the women, some soft murmurs of 'bye' and 'see you tomorrow,' and they were putting their coats and boots back on. "Why wasn't Anja here today?" Silvia asked as she buttoned up her coat, her golden eyes looking up at Margaret.
"Hmm? Oh... Tessa comes only every other day, so she'll be here tomorrow," she answered distractedly, tying her own furs around her. "Having three daughters means she doesn't need to work as much, unlike poor us boy-moms." That caused quite a bit of chuckling from the women nearby, and a little one from Nivalis as well, but she quickly caught herself and stopped.
The door creaked open, and with that, they were finally out of the hearthwork and into the cold of the late afternoon. The sun was slightly above the pine forest, not very bright, but still better than the gloomy day before. The streets were much less crowded now; apart from the women who had come out with them, there were barely any people braving the cold to wander about. "Where do we find this..." Nivalis asked quietly as they stood there in the snow, her breath turning to puffs of mist in front of her face, "...Petie, was it?"
Margaret hummed softly, turning her head first at Nivalis and then at one of the houses in the distance. "Right, you don't know. See that house over there?" she said, pointing at it. When the three of them nodded, she continued, "It's right behind it, a small one with a weird fence. You'll know when you see it." A pause, and then she added, "Oh, and don't call him Petie when you speak to him, or else he'll double the prices. It's Peter, but Mother Anne calls him that because she knew him as a kid. He helps her with the merchants when they come, so he always has things for sale."
A little smile formed on Nivalis's face at that. "Okay, thank you," she whispered, looking at the house for a moment longer before nodding at her. "We'll see you tomorrow, then?" she asked, and in response, Margaret nodded with an 'Mhm'.
"I need to run back to my boys, or they'll start eating the furniture," Margaret said with a little smile, pulling her furs tighter around herself. "You'll be alright? I can walk you to your house if you want?" she added, brown eyes shifting between the three of them and full of concern. "Or better even, to your home. Just to make sure you find it?"
A soft shake of Nivalis's head was her answer. "We'll be fine, thank you. If we get lost, we'll just return to the hearthwork and ask someone for help," she said with a smile, calming Margaret's worries. "You go, your boys are waiting." After a few more goodbyes and waves, they parted ways, with Margaret heading back to her son and husband and the silver-haired family down the snowy street. Just the three of them, amid the falling snowflakes.
They were quiet as they walked, with only the sound of snow crunching under their boots and the soft, cold wind to be heard. Up until Aster muttered a quiet, "I don't... get it. Half a coin?" breaking the silence. He walked right between the two of them, wool-covered legs brushing against their skirts with every step. "Like... how does that even work?" he asked, giving his flushed nose a little rub.
Both Nivalis and Silvia glanced at him at that, their faces showing the kind of looks one might give a child asking why snow was cold. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But after a moment, they remembered it was pretty much his first time seeing copper, and the looks quickly softened. "What?" the boy in girl's clothes asked, a little pout on his lips.
"Right..." was all Nivalis said at first, a little exhale of breath following that. Then, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the tiny, half-round piece of metal, just slightly bigger than her nail, and held it for him to see. "It's not that complicated. Most coins, if not all, have some kind of cross on them, see?" she said, pointing at the faint, straight line that ran through the middle of it. "So you can break them in four if you need to. Or in half, like here." She pointed at the edge where it was cut. "One whole copper could be too much for a thing, so sometimes people just... use a bit of it. There are special tongs that merchants use to break them evenly, but most people just use an ordinary knife."
Silvia kept nodding along as her mother explained, adding a little, "Yeah. Just imagine the other half of the coin... it would have the same line, and where they were cut, there would also be another." Her finger peeked from the floppy sleeve of her coat and drew a cross in the air. "Four pieces, each called a quarter."
Aster's head tilted as he looked at it, squinting his golden eyes against the sunlight reflecting off the coppery surface. "Huh," he breathed eventually, picking it up with his pale, scarred fingers and feeling the weight and coldness of it, and poked at the sharp edge lightly. "Is this... a lot? It doesn't look like a lot," he asked after a moment, handing it back carefully.
Not stopping their walk, Nivalis took the coin back and looked at it for a second before putting it away in her dress pocket. "It's... not much, really. But it's half a coin more than we should've gotten today," she said in a gentle whisper, her voice almost getting lost in the wind. "It should be enough to feed us all for a day, I think. Nothing fancy, but a good, simple dinner." That made the boy nod and go quiet once more, for about ten steps.
Then, "And how much... of these do you need to get a silver one?" he asked, looking up from under the furs and at her blue eyes.
With a sigh escaping her lips, Nivalis thought about it for a moment. "Umm... it's hard to say. Depends on how pure the copper and silver are, but around twelve whole coppers for one quarter of a silver coin, I guess?" she said, a bit unsure of it. "Also depends on who you're buying from, and where. There are entire books written about it, and it's a whole thing on its own." Another quiet moment, and Aster nodded at that, his gaze going to the small house with a weird fence they were approaching.
It was... odd, that fence. Made of the same kind of wood, with the same rustic look to it as the ones around it, but every part of it was covered in some kind of engravings. Little swirls and circles and other strange shapes; no two boards were the same. "Well, this has to be it," Nivalis murmured, pushing the little gate open and stepping into the quiet yard.
Much like little penguins, Aster and Silvia waddled in right after her, looking around curiously as they did. The house itself was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the door that also had some of those carvings on it, though much simpler. A quick glance at each other, and Nivalis knocked on it, three gentle taps with the back of her hand. "Hello?" she called out as she did, just a bit louder than her usual whisper.
For a moment, nothing, just the howling of the wind and snow falling. And then, from somewhere within, a quiet, tired voice answered, "Coming..." A minute later, the sound of footsteps came, and the door was opened. A pale man, a good few decades younger than Mother Anne, greeted them, his dark brown hair all messy and in need of a wash. "Yes? What can I help you with?" he asked, squinting his green eyes at the three of them.
Nivalis gave him a kind, warm smile and spoke in a soft voice, "We were told that you might have some things for sale, Mister Pet... Peter. Some grain and flour, perhaps?" The man almost visibly flinched at the near mistake, his brows furrowing a bit at her, but he nodded in the end.
After a bit of eyeing them, he said, "You're the new ones, aren't you? Heard about you, and the silver hair," and then he moved to the side, making room for them to enter. "Come in, don't stand in the cold." And so they did, all three of them ducking inside the warmth of the house, and the man closed the door behind them. "Did Anne send you?" he asked as he walked past them towards the curtained doorway.
A quiet, "Mhm, she did," came from Nivalis as she pulled down her hood and revealed her silver hair, mostly hidden beneath the headscarf she wore. The man glanced over his shoulder at that and hummed softly, then disappeared behind the curtain, the brown tunic and pants he wore matching the dark wood all around.
The three of them remained where they were, near the door with their coats still on, just looking around and at each other. The house was a fair bit larger than their own, with a kitchen and dining area connected in a big, open space. Lots of shelves filled with clay pots, big and small, all kinds of bags and sacks in the corners, and a nice-looking table in the middle with four chairs around it. A cozy, lived-in place with a bit of clutter everywhere, but in a nice way. Everything looked old, but in a cared-for way.
A moment later, the man returned with two big, dusty bags in his hands and put them down on the table with a thump. "Rye flour and barley, nothing fancy, but it fills the stomach well. Should last you a while," he said, then looked at them. "That would be six and a half coppers for the flour, and five for the barley." That instantly brought some color to Nivalis's cheeks as she reached inside the furs and into the pocket of her dress.
"Um, we... don't need that much," she whispered shyly, her fingers pulling out the half-copper coin and putting it on the table with a soft clink. "Anne gave us this for today, so..." she trailed off, glancing at the two big bags and then at the man's pale face.
A deep sigh escaped him, his fingers going to his messy hair and brushing through it once. Then he looked at the coin, then at her, and sighed once more. "Then why didn't you say so before I lugged those..." he started, then paused and looked at his hand, suddenly noticing just how greasy his hair was compared to the silver-haired beauties just standing there. A bit of color came to his cheeks as well, and he cleared his throat, wiping his hand on his pants.
Just when Nivalis opened her lips to say sorry, he waved his other hand in dismissal. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. You're new here, and I should've asked first. Long day, you know how it gets," he mumbled with a little smile on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Alright, what can half a copper get you..." he thought out loud, and began rummaging through the shelves nearby.
Nivalis just gave a quiet, awkward, "Yeah..." and watched him do that, with her hands all fidgety on her tummy. Seeing that, Aster stepped closer to her and slipped his hand into hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. A soft smile came to her face at that, and she squeezed back.
A few clinks and thuds later, the man returned with a wooden cup and two empty sacks in his hands and put them on the table as well. "Six scoops of grain and five of flour, that should be about right. Sound good?" he asked, looking at the coin and then at her.
Without much thinking, Nivalis nodded and whispered a soft, "Sounds great," at which he nodded back and began filling the small sacks before their very eyes. They stepped a bit closer to the table when a slow, pleasant sound of grain and flour pouring into the sacks filled the room, and together just watched him do that.
After the last cup of flour went in, he paused and looked at the half-copper again, then at the pale family in front of him. Another sigh left him, this time not an annoyed one but just a bit sad. Without saying anything, he added another scoop of each into the bags, making them bulge a bit more, and with a barely audible, "a little something to welcome you," he tied them shut.
"Oh, you don't have to..." Nivalis began, but he just shook his head at her.
"I got two daughters of my own, all grown now, so I know how it is. Just take it. Make them something nice for dinner," he said with a tired smile, pushing the bags toward her. "Bring the bags back when you can, alright? And maybe don't tell anyone I did that, or everyone will want a free scoop," he added with a little chuckle.
That made the three of them chuckle as well, and Nivalis gave him a small, grateful bow of her head. "Alright. Thank you, Peter. It means a lot," she whispered as she took the bags from the table, heavy and full in her hands, and put them into the basket with their unfinished knitting and snacks.
With a shrug, the man just waved her off and took the half-copper for himself. "You're very welcome," he said as he walked with them to the door, opening it and letting the cold in. "Now shoo, before I change my mind. And don't forget about the bags."
They didn't need to be told twice; with soft smiles on their faces, the three of them walked out of the house, saying their goodbyes as they went. Snowflakes greeted them once more, as did the chilly wind. "Well, that went better than I thought it would," Nivalis breathed once the door closed behind them, looking down at the two children beside her. "Let's go back home, hm?"
Silvia nodded, and so did Aster a moment later, and together, they began to walk toward their little house in the woods. Back through the village, down the snow-covered streets, and into the forest they went, barely saying anything and without much hurry in their steps. It was a peaceful, happy kind of silence, the kind that came after a very good day. And it was a good day, if a bit tiring.
When the small, dark house of theirs finally appeared through the pines, it made them all smile. Home, their very own little corner in the world, waited for them to return. And they did, stepping over the half-fallen fence and into the yard, then quickly inside through the creaky door that sounded like it was in pain. The moment it closed behind them and latched shut, Nivalis muttered a soft "We're back..." under her breath and let out a long, relieved sigh.
Aster and Silvia did the same, a happy sigh each, though they quickly turned into groans when their mother added, "Alright, let's get the laundry done while there's still some daylight. Then a quick wash, and after that, we'll be making dinner." Their young faces scrunched up in a matching way at that, but they didn't complain and just started taking off their coats and boots.
...