"Phew! This sure doesn't look too good," Momo groaned as he and three of his companions were walking down the main street of a small town called Sheelow. "There are big and thick and small and fragile shards and branches of wood scattered everywhere!"

"I bet it's the storm that raged a couple of days ago," said Clark. "And the poor town got the worst of it, being pretty close to the ocean and all that."

Tyki Mikk was hardly even listening to the two of them, and whenever he noticed that he was thinking of work, of his Noah duties, he frowned behind his thick glasses. What was the point of turning into a human when all he could think about was destruction.

He didn't say it out loud, but he secretly enjoyed seeing the city in the state that it was in now after the thunder storm. Trees of every size had fallen over across the streets and onto the houses as far as the eye could see. Thousands of red tiles, fallen from the rooftops, were scattered all over the ground as if someone had jumped from roof to roof and thrown them there. Small stones and other loose items such as garbage cans and flower pots had smashed windows, lampposts and even the thinner layers of wood on some of the buildings' walls.

Tyki found himself wondering if there had been any human losses.

"It might be hard to find any work from the mines here, fellows," Momo mused out loud.

"But we can still do some small tasks in exchange for a place to stay and some nice hot meal," Tyki finally took part on the conversation. "I know I'm starving, and my feet could use a rub."

His buddies agreed with a nod.

"Better find an inn or something," Clark suggested.

"Or rich people," mumbled Eaze behind his mouth mask. Tyki tousled the little boy's hair with an accepting grin.

"The kid's got a point. Rich people don't want to stain their hands, so they will most likely give us some work, even if it cost them."

Momo snorted. "How are we supposed to find any rich people in the middle of all this... junk."

Tyki sneered. "By finding the biggest house nearby, of course!"

The biggest house they found was not exactly that big: it had two floors and a wide, now junk-covered yard, but it looked like it hadn't been maintained that well. The mint-colored paint was stripping off from the walls, and a few of the windows were broken.

"A haunted house," said Eaze indifferently. Momo and Clark didn't look too impressed either.

However, Tyki had had enough of sightseeing, and wasn't going to turn away even if the house owner had been a ghost.

"We can always camp inside, if no one lives in there," he pointed out, sounding more cheerful than he actually felt, and despite the obviously sullen faces of his comrades they all followed him to the dusty front porch.

The door was opened in a matter of seconds after Tyki had knocked it. They were dumbfounded by the person who opened; it was a young girl, not that much older or taller than Eaze, who was standing practically in front of her.

She had big dark eyes and chestnut brown hair, and she gazed at the men with curiousity.

"Little girl," Tyki was the first to talk, "might your parents be home at the moment?"

The little girl shook her head, big clear eyes now fixated on Tyki's face.

He didn't know how to continue after that.

"H-How about any other relatives?" asked Momo this time, and Tyki, judging by the tone of his friend's voice, guessed that Momo found the quiet and slightly manic stare of the little girl more or less creepy.

But the girl didn't manage to answer this time, since they all heard next another voice talking: more mature female voice.

"Aileen, who is it?"

The little girl opened the door enough for the other person to see who were standing on the porch, and for the men to see what kind of a woman was living in a shabby house like this with the maniacally staring girl.

This time, it was an adult, but a young female adult. Not far over twenty, guessed Tyki.

"Hello," the woman said, looking at the men and the kid one by one. She had dark eyes, like the little girl called Aileen had, but the hint of blue in them was more visible. "How can I help you good sirs?"

"Hello, Miss. We are travellers passing through the town and noticed that people might need some help, you know, cleaning the streets and their yards," Tyki explained, trying to sound as carefree as possible, "and we're wondering if you ladies had any work for us."

"In exchange for some food and shelter?" the woman asked with a small smile.

"That'd be very kind of you, Miss," Tyki said with a clumsy little bow. As he straightened himself

up, he noticed the woman was holding something behind the door.

"You do realize that we are not that rich?" she asked suddenly. "The worn-out paint on our walls is not a trick to mislead robbers."

Tyki frowned.

Ah. She thought they might be robbers trying to make use of the damages done by the storm.

Well, she wasn't entirely wrong.

However, it was slightly impressing that she managed to keep a light and even joking tone in her voice, as she continued, "Our parents are currently in downtown with our brothers, but they'll be back shortly. If you are ordinary robbers, I'd suggest the western part of the city."

"Is that so."

"W-we are no robbers, Miss!" exclaimed Clark, turning the woman's attention away from Tyki and to him. "We swear, we are simply looking for some work for a couple of days!"

Tyki watched the woman's reaction behind his thick glasses unnoticed; She tilted her head lightly and narrowed her eyes, scanning through them all as if trying to see deep into the travellers' souls. Her eyes stopped at Tyki. He grinned good-willingly like a simple-minded hobo he was.

"Very well," she agreed. "If you help us clear the yard and fix the windows... And some other small damages the storm caused, you'll each get your own clean mattress and a blanket, a roof on top of you and three meals per day. Sound any good?"

"Sounds better than good!" Tyki rejoiced with his companions. "Does this mean we can come in now, Miss?"

"Of course." The woman pulled the young silent girl aside as she held the door open for the men.

The hallway was tidy and cozy, with light yellow wallpapers and family paintings hanging on the walls. Dark wooden stairs led to the second floor. They were waxed and clean of dust.

Not enough money to maintain the house from outside but enough to keep it like this within... Middle-class.

"I will show you your room," the woman informed behind them as she was closing the door. As she turned, a lovely smile had spread on her lips. "I am Aislinn Riggs, and this is my sister Aileen." The little girl flashed the friends a smile; two of her front teeth were missing.

Tyki was finally able to see what the woman had been holding behind the door, and was now putting away to the closet in the corner of the hallway; a good-looking hunting rifle.

As the others were looking around, the woman called Aislinn noticed that Tyki had seen the gun.

She decided to smile at him, charmingly. "A life insurance. Nasty thing, better put it away."

Tyki silently watched the woman put the rifle into the closet and lock the door, before he flashed a small, fearless smirk at her.

"I suppose it's understandable, being young and pretty as you are, Ms Riggs. Don't worry, though, we mean no harm."

Aislinn smiled lightly, calm like a lady. Had she been worried in the first place?

"I didn't catch your names."

"That's because we said none," Tyki said with a grin, "but if you insist to know, dear Miss, my name is Tyki, and these are Momo, Clark, and the little one's Eaze."

"Nice to meet you. Well then, boys, follow me," she told, walking ahead to the stairs, "and after you've settled in, we can go outside to see where to start."

"Wow. We sure are lucky, aren't we guys."

"Lucky?" Tyki repeated at Momo, who had laid down. Aislinn had carried the mattresses there from the attic, and, though a bit stuffy, they were soft and dry and comfortable to lie on. "We are lucky that the little lady didn't load us with lead, that's for sure."

"Ah, Tyki, what are you stressing about, there's no way she could have shot us!" Momo laughed, awfully sure of his words. "Such a lovely young woman, that Ms Riggs."

"You horny idiot."

"Oh come on! Didn't you see her at all?" Clark joined his friend, and Tyki looked at Eaze to get some kind of help.

"She was pretty," the boy murmured shortly.

A brow rose on Tyki's face. "Pretty?"

"You didn't notice at all, did you..." Clark sighed, shaking his head, thinking his friend was hopeless. "Geez. With cards and tricks, you are the one turn to, but you can be such a klutz when it comes to women."

Tyki sniggered, deviously. "Well, I'm busy thinking about stuff!"

"Yeah right, nothing's going on in that furry head of yours," Momo laughed and playfully smacked Tyki's head. "Despite you kept looking at her... You must have been just spacing out."

"I like spacing out," Tyki pouted, making his comrades laugh again.

"No wonder you are travelling with us losers, Tyki, you can get no ladies if you are so out of it," Momo teased, rolling back and forth on his mattress.

It was sort of true, as Tyki hadn't looked at the woman in ithat way/i. He'd been busy worrying if she tried to fill them with bullets and force him to show his ugly side to save his friends.

Frowning, he tried to remember if he had seen anything interesting in the woman. Tyki had seen many beautiful people in his life, so maybe he was just growing immune to them?

There was a knock on the door, and they all sat up immediately. "Come in!"

Next, there was Aislinn Riggs, standing on the doorway. "Alright, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I thought it'd be the time to go outside and get to work."

Now, given the opportunity, Tyki really scanned her with the efficiency of a predator: She had dark blue eyes and chestnut coloured hair, like her little sister had, only that Aislinn had tied it on a small bun to the back of her neck. There were freckles on the tip of her nose like little sprinkles of cinnamon, and her lower lip was fuller than the upper one. It was a cute, pink mouth.

Yes, she was pretty, he had to agree with his friends. But he had seen prettier.

Almost by accident, he moved his eyes from Aislinn's face to check her figure. It was hard to tell, with her having the thick autumn dress on, but if he really concentrated...

"My clothes aren't living creatures, Mr. Tyki, so I doubt they will able to take part on your staring contest," he heard someone say, and lifted his eyes to see Aislinn's amused face.

"What?" Tyki asked like a total idiot. His friends were sniggering on the background.

"We could start by gathering all the branches and twigs into a pile behind the house. Sound ok?" she asked from the others, completely ignoring Tyki's baffled face.

"We?" The black-haired man was confused. "You're going to help us?"

"Of course." Aislinn was still smiling at him. "We have no servants here, and I don't want to leave my home yard in the hands of strangers just like that. Besides, five pairs of hands are better than four pairs, right?"

When the owner of the house, a middle-aged banker called Elijah Riggs and her wife Mischa returned with their youngest children Connor and Brew from downtown, the four companions with the aid of Aislinn clad in her warm woollen dress and a muffler, had already managed to clean a half of the front yard and pile up anything that burned behind the house.

The Riggs were very understanding and not too wary of the four strangers, unlike their oldest child Aislinn had been. This was good news, for Tyki didn't want to get in a quarrel with Riggs Senior and the rifle her daughter had borrowed him earlier.

"You must have seen a lot during your travels across the country," Mrs Riggs began smalltalk as they were coming back inside. The sun was setting behind the hills, and they were all sweaty and covered with leaves and small scratches from the shards of wood they had collected and dragged behind the house.

"Yup," Tyki managed to sigh.

"Yeah... we have seen a lot, I'll give you that..."

"A lot," agreed Momo, panting slightly and wiping his forehead with a rag he had got from Mrs Riggs. Eaze was practically crawling upstairs while they were still talking.

"Oh, where are our manners, we'll prepare a bath for you gentlemen... Ah, Aislinn, dear."

The young woman turned. "Yes, mama?"

"Would you be so kind and go boil some bath water for yourself and these good workmen", Mrs Riggs asked. "I'll prepare the dinner table with your siblings while you get washed and changed."

Aislinn nodded and walked to the back of the house.

Mr Riggs took out a cigarette from his breastpocket and lit it up with a match. He walked quietly into the living room to smoke in all peace and quiet. Mrs Riggs turned back to Tyki and others.

"You can return to your room, I'm sure Aislinn will soon be done," she said, smiling softly.

"Well, then, see you in a moment, ma'am," Tyki said cheerfully, and the group got back upstairs, and nearly fell on their mattresses.

"I'm surprised the little lady helped us out the entire time," Momo managed to sigh. Eaze had already got to his mattress and fallen asleep. "How long have we been working? Ten hours?"

"At least," Clark groaned. "Every muscle in my body is on fire..."

"Oh quit your yapping and get ready for bath, you smelly oafs," Tyki told with laughter. "Then, after some dinner and saying goodnight, we might be able to look for something worth stealing in this place."

Clark and Momo both chuckled weakly. "You are such an evil man, Tyki."

"You know it, pal."

For a second, he thought about something, and then got up and returned to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To have a look around beforehand. Don't worry, I'll get back soon."