"Have you heard?"

Landon looked up slowly as Romeo asked Peter over and over this question. Peter was ignoring him, probably because of Romeo's bad habit of flirting with Peter's crush, but finally Peter admitted he hadn't.

"Some odd people are living in the woods, a family of artistic types - well, apart from one, he's just loud, and he's Mr Beilschmidt's brother..."

Peter actually payed attention now. "In the woods?" His interest had been snagged, and Romeo grinned with sparkling eyes.

"In a little log cabin they have built. They must be rich, huh?"

Landon snorted to himself. What of it? Why did it interest them? Peter was his adoptive brother but he rarely got along with him despite Peter's determination to be friends with him. If someone wished to live in the woods it wouldn't really matter to them, or cause them any harm, would it? Mr Beilschmidt, the owner of the local pub, was quite cool towards the children of the small town. Landon thought that this might be because he did not know how to treat them or how to act around them - he did not know how accurate his thoughts were, but stuck to it as an opinion.

He wondered what Mr Beilschmidt's brother might be like, trying to think of someone who looked like him but cheerful. He truly couldn't imagine Mr Beilschmidt smiling...maybe not frowning, but never smiling.

He idly let his gaze slide to his brother, who had a shocked expression on his face.

"Here?" Peter said, looking quite surprised.

"Yeah, their son is coming here, to school...apparently he's never been to a school before. Home schooled, like that guy...what was his name again?"

"Funny," Peter frowned, "neither can I."

Romeo beamed. "Anyway, his parents think he should be around kids his own age... I heard Miss Zwingli talking to Miss Frost about him."

Peter snorted. "Bet you were up a tree again."

A flushed face was all the evidence they needed, and both Landon and Peter snorted, while Romeo spluttered in denial.

...

On the way home, Landon veered into the grassy field nearby their house while Peter went on ahead. He was sure he had seen someone in the trees, and he was curious as to who it was. He stepped forward between the trees and saw movement ahead, but he was already as deep into the woods as he was willing to go, and could hear Peter calling him back in a panicky tone. Moving his foot back he felt it brush something, and crouched down to pick it up. A purple watercolour pencil, marked with two engraved letters.

E. E.

What did that mean? He didn't know, but tucked it into the pocket of his coat before walking back.

"Landon, don't disappear, if I go looking for you we'll be late home!" whined his brother, and he made a small, non-committal noise before following his brother home.

Their 'mother', a Finnish man with a very warm smile named Tino, would indeed worry if they were too late in getting home. Even if Landon was determined not to get along with his father, he considered his mother with a little more kindness than he was likely to admit.

Peter was unusually quiet on the way home, so Landon found that his own temper was slightly improved.

...

"Did you hear, Papa? About the people who are living in the woods?" Peter asked cheerfully, while they were eating dinner. Their father nodded, and Peter's jaw dropped.

"You have? I only heard about it today from Romeo and he heard it from Miss Zwingli by accident..."

Tino smiled gently. "Well, one of them is Miss Zwingli's cousin, so she would know about him living in the woods. Mr Zwingli says he is a pianist, but he doesn't seem to be too fond of him...The parents grew up here in town and decided to bring their son up here too."

Landon was only partly paying attention to what was being said, but shivered inwardly at the thought of his teacher's brother. He was notorious for being protective of his younger sister and knowing exactly how to use the wide range of guns he owned should she be threatened. His sister was very kind and sweet by contrast, but spoke of her brother as kind, something the children could not exactly believe having seen him shooting at Romeo's older brother once. Mr Zwingli was only fond of his sister, it seemed, and even then had a hard time showing his affection.

What would his cousin be like?

His imagination produced a blond man with a frown, green eyes and long thin hands. He actually shivered at this image, but tried not to dwell on it.

"We us'd t' kn'w th'm wh'n w' w're y'nger, r'ght, Tino?" Berwald said suddenly, breaking the odd silence. Tino nodded before a barking caught everyone's attention. The family dog, Hanatamago, ran into the room with a joyful yapping. Landon pushed back his chair.

"Thank you for the meal; I'm going to head upstairs to my room."

He saw Tino's eyes falter and felt slightly bad but kept on walking until he reached his room, turning on his laptop.

...

Tino sighed. "It always happens now, Eduard! He gets home and just disappears into the computer. He doesn't socialise with the other children much at school or even with Peter."

His friend sighed. "Tino, he might just be unsociable. He'll make friends when he's ready, and pushing him might just delay that."

The Finnish man bit his lip. He knew that Eduard's advice was likely good, but with every day that passed he saw Landon withdraw into himself and get along badly with Berwald, who probably didn't want to be pushed away by his son, but still did have that same happen to him.

And yet, did Landon care about his family? Judging by his response to others, he did think he might, that even if he had somehow not noticed the care and attention he was given, as he treated them with slightly more affection than the rest of the people in the village.

Landon, overhearing the conversation and not the thoughts, picking up on the faint sprout of resentment and not the care that was its roots, scowled. He very quickly marched to the door, taking his coat down from his peg and wriggling his feet into his shoes.