Staring down at the bowl of eggs, I wondered how long a human child could survive on just a few of them a day.

  Crossing my arms, I tried to do some mental math. Lujic, for as scrawny as he was, ate a lot. It felt as if he asked for food a dozen times a day. And Ginny, as tiny and bedridden as she was, always ate everything in her bowl whenever it was time to eat. Which meant she could probably eat more too, but she simply didn’t ask for it as brazenly as the boy did.

  Ginny was healing. Just slowly. She had even walked a little this morning, to come sit out here in the front of the house as to talk and listen to me and Lujic as we cleaned up around the house. Right now she was back in the room, taking a nap.

  Her bruise had faded, and she no longer writhed in pain or cried just because she tried to sit up. She still flinched occasionally, when she moved too oddly, but there was no fear anymore of the girl succumbing to her injuries. I knew in no time at all she’d be back on her feet, and not long after that the bruise would be gone and it’d all be just a distant memory for her.

  But with one problem gone… a new one had arrived.

  Picking up the bowl of eggs, I stepped over to the cupboard and put them away within it. Lujic and I had gathered up all the remainder chickens, at least the ones we could find, and had placed them into the enclosed barn. A few were egg laying ones, so we made sure to gather up the edible ones each day. But… well…

  There were only a few. Nine chickens and only three laid eggs. And one of them only did so occasionally.

  Not enough.

  To make matters worse the fields around the house had been plucked bare. Yesterday I spent some time cleaning them up and re-planting a few things, but I knew better than to think it would make a difference. The farms had been neglected before we even found this place. Half of them had been destroyed by wildlife before we had even arrived.

  My only hope for sustainable food was the river. And although my fishing line was nice, and had multiple hooks, I have only been able to catch a few fish a day. It was enough to keep the kids from starving, but I knew eventually it’d not be enough.

  Plus one needed more than the same exact meal every single day. Eggs and fish were fine, until it wasn’t.

  Really. And here I was recently thinking on how easy it was to take care of children.

  Foolish of me.

  Sighing, I stepped out of the kitchen and glanced around. The house wasn’t as empty as it first appeared, but it was still not full of stuff. There was nothing left to clean. No refuse left to dispose of, or try to fix. Lujic and I had basically cleaned up not just the house, but the barn and the surrounding area twice over already.

  Where was Lujic anyway…? The boy sure did seem to like to keep busy.

  It was as if he was trying to be as active as possible, since his sister wasn’t able to do so.

  Walking down the hallway, I peeked into the bedroom to check on the young girl in question. I found her lying on her side, snoring away gently.

  A good sign. Not just that she slept so comfortably, but was now doing so in ways other than just on her back. It meant her wounds weren’t bothering her as much.

  It was her left side, really. It had been the most tender, and when I had tried to check it I had felt some strange swelling. It had been visible too, even from beneath the skin. Ginny, like her brother, was scrawny. As if they’d not been getting enough to eat long before I had found them. So the swelling had been obvious once I really looked at her.

  Most of that swelling though was gone now. Thankfully.

  I let the girl slumber and returned to the front of the house. The living room, as the two called it.

  “Living room,” I whispered the name of it and found it to make a little more sense. It wasn’t that you slept in it, but rather you genuinely lived in it. It was where you spent your time with others. Living.

  I smiled at the thought as I left the house. I shut the door firmly behind me and glanced around again for Lujic. I wanted to find him so that I could ask him to keep an eye on the house, and thus Ginny, while I rummaged around and searched for another source of food for us.

  In the barn, there was a small room used for storage. Not much was left in it, but I thought I saw a bow hanging on the wall. I had ignored it originally, not caring much nor needing it… but now the idea of taking down a large game was appealing.

  The forest we were in was rich with life. And the nearby river helped in drawing all that life to our area. They came here to drink, and eat. I bet I’d be able to track and hunt a larger deer or something rather easily if I just took the time to do so.

  But I didn’t want to just up and leave the kids without telling them where I was going, and why. Last thing I needed was for them to run away while I was gone.

  I slowed to a stop a few feet from the house and realized what I had just thought.

  “They could leave if they wanted,” I said softly. After all, why not? If Ginny was healed enough to get up and about… there was nothing to stop them from doing so. It wasn’t like they were actually my children… or that I owned them or anything.

  For a few moments I stood still and pondered my own emotions. Had I worried about them leaving because I had become possessive? Or was it simply my worry that without me to help them, they could possibly be put in danger again? After all the very chaos that had gotten them hurt and separated from their uncle was still nearby. Who was to say there weren’t more wars and battles happening at this very moment?

  The thoughts and feelings were odd. I had only known the two for a little over a week and yet here I was, skipping a heartbeat at the mere thought of them leaving.

  What would Witch say, I wonder?

  She would have helped the children without question. To the point of sacrificing her life, even, if needed. But how far would she take it?

  I had watched her help such people before. Those who were alone. Or lost. Even though she had helped them… she had never once offered to take them under her guidance. She had not tried to become a child’s mother. Or offer her own home and hearth to them.

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  Where was the line drawn, I wonder? How far did one go to help people, and where did one have no choice but to stop even if it meant those they helped could get hurt?

  “Renn!”

  I turned and smiled as I watched the young boy run towards me. He had mud on his knees and pants, but nothing in his arms or hands. Had he been playing in the mud or something?

  “Where’ve you been Lujic?” I asked as he hurried over.

  “Planting!”

  Planting...

  My smile warmed as I realized he had been trying to help. Which meant he may have noticed my worrying over our food supplies. “What have you been planting?” I asked.

  “Apples! I found an apple tree so I gathered up all the fallen apples and buried them!”

  Oh…? I wonder where he had found that. I had not noticed any apple trees around here. “I see. Later on you can show me where that tree is, and we’ll collect some from the branches,” I said.

  He smiled up at me and nodded. “Yeah!”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his efforts had been wasted. Unless of course we stayed here for years. I wasn’t really sure how long it took an apple tree to grow enough before it started producing fruits, but I knew it wasn’t quick. There had been a few near my home when I was younger and even back then, when I had barely noticed the passing of time, I had noticed that it took apples a long time to grow. Even from fully matured trees.

  “If you’re done would you mind staying near the house for me? To keep an eye on your sister?” I asked.

  Lujic’s smile died a little as he tilted his head, and as he did I noticed a scar on his left temple. It looked like he a had been hit in the side of the head, rather harshly too. How old was that scar? Why hadn’t I noticed it until now? “Why?” he asked.

  “I’m going to go hunting. Depending on how long it takes I might be gone through the night, so if you’ll make sure to watch her for me I’d appreciate it,” I said.

  He blinked, but said nothing.

  A little startled by the strange look that had suddenly planted itself on his face, I shifted and felt my ears flutter.

  What was wrong…?

  Was he scared of the dark or something? Or was he upset that he had to watch his sister for an extended period of time…? Surely not, right? He was so protective of the girl. These last few days, whenever Ginny was awake he’d stop anything and everything he was doing just to come into the house and sit with her. Half the time they didn’t even talk, he just wanted to be nearby.

  “Is that okay Lujic?” I asked again, a little gently this time.

  He slowly nodded, and then coughed. “um… Yeah. I’ll watch the house,” he said, a little blatantly.

  Huh. Something was definitely wrong. I wonder what it was…

  Feeling strangely awkward all of a sudden, I nodded back and smiled anyway. “I’ll head out then. I’ll grab some supplies from the barn first then go. If your sister gets hungry there’s eggs and more green stuff in those cupboards she can eat,” I said as I stepped away.

  “Yeah… okay,” Lujic answered a little stiffly again, but not as awkwardly. He even smiled at me this time.

  Stepping away from him, I felt his eyes on my back as I headed for the barn. I entered it, making sure to not let any of the chickens escape as I did so, and went to locate the bow I had seen earlier.

  It was still hanging up in the small room in the back, as I had remembered… but as I searched the rest of the room for arrows I found a severe lack of them.

  “Great,” I mumbled as I stood away from the last box that could have had arrows in it. I glanced around the room, and the barn proper, one last time to see if I had maybe looked over any but it proved fruitless.

  I could make arrows, maybe, but by the time I did I could probably just track and hunt down a deer naturally. I didn’t jump on them and claw at their necks anymore, as my family had trained me to do, but instead now threw rocks. I was able to throw a rock hard enough to knock out even larger deers nowadays, and although sometimes I missed or the rock hitting them didn’t kill them outright, it was still a viable method for me.

  All the same I took the bow off the little hook that it hung from… and realized another issue.

  Sliding my fingers along the string, I found it to be terribly frayed. Decayed, even.

  I knew even a slight tug would likely snap it, so I went ahead and pulled on the bowstring in the middle. It didn’t take much force at all and the thing promptly snapped.

  Sighing at it, I shook my head and placed it back down onto a box.

  I could make string and arrows later. For now though I needed to go get food. A single deer, even a smaller one, would last us long enough for me to be able to properly make traps and stuff for genuine hunting.

  Leaving the barn, one of the chickens clucked loudly at me as I left. As if telling me goodbye.

  Heading back towards the house, I paused a moment to listen around the home and the surrounding area. Both to check on Ginny, who was still sleeping, and to make sure there were no issues or dangers around us.

  Once confirming the area was safe, as much as I could tell it was at least, I began to walk towards the edge of the farmstead. I headed towards the river, since I knew I’d be able to not just find something to hunt there but I’d also find plenty of properly sized and shaped rocks to use as weapons.

  Right as I left the area, stepping into the tree-line, I glanced back at the house one last time… and found a pair of eyes staring back at me.

  I hesitated, and went still at the sight of them.

  Lujic was staring at me from the window. Half hidden, not because he was hiding… but rather simply because he was so short.

  At first I thought something was wrong… but then I realized he likely couldn’t really see me. Not from this distance. Humans did not have the best of eyesight.

  But…

  Squinting a little, I studied the boy’s face.

  It looked worried.

  As if something really was wrong.

  But I knew there wasn’t. Shouldn’t be.

  Ginny was healing. She was resting still, even now. There was no danger around here… and although I was worrying over the food supplies… we honestly weren’t that bad off. I’d catch something, and then I’d continue doing so too. There was no reason to panic.

  Yet there he was. Staring at me as if…

  “He thinks I’m leaving,” I whispered as I realized what those eyes were.

  My whole body went cold, and I had to look away from the window and the boy’s look of utter defeat.

  He thought I was leaving them. Abandoning them.

  That was why he had acted so oddly earlier. He had interpreted my request as an excuse.

  Why…? Was it to be expected? Common?

  Why would a little boy think such a thing so instantly? Without reason? What had I done to make him even think such a thing was a possibility?

  If I was going to leave… I would have simply told them.

  Right…?

  For a small moment I thought about going back. To tell him I wasn’t going to leave. To prove to him his worries were unfounded.

  But I knew the best way to prove such a thing wasn’t to say it, but to do it. To prove it through actions, not words.

  “I’ll be quick,” I decided firmly as I stepped into the forest.

  I’ll find something fast. I’ll return as fast as possible. Even if I have to bring back just a pair of small rabbits or something.

  “I’ll not abandon you,” I vowed.

  I wouldn’t. I refused to.

  Because that was what my family would have done. My own mother would have.

  So I’ll not do it. Ever.