Practice makes perfect

11th of Heartfire, 4E 201. Turdas

Tchick!

The arrow passed by the target. Harry wanted to pull at his hair. Yes, he knew that it would take practice to become good, but it was so frustrating.

Katla and Ra'shall had gone to Falkreath to see if they could get some help building the tower they wanted. They were also going to see if they could find some spell books for him.

He raised the bow once more. At least he hadn't hurt himself yet. Tchick! He let the arrow fly. It missed. "This would be so much easier if I could see properly," he huffed. His glasses were in the way. They would be the death of him one day. But he saw absolutely nothing without them so they stayed where they were – for now. He placed the bow down carefully before walking over to the target to gather his arrows back up again.

He thought back to his lessons with Ra'shall the day before as he raised the bow once more. "Dunmer come from Morrowind and they are resistant to fire," he said as he placed an arrow on the bowstring. "They are an elven race and are called dark elves by some. After the Red Mountain erupted many Dunmer fled to Skyrim. Most of them have red glowing eyes and skin ranging from green to gray to light blue and that's how I'll recognise them." He let the arrow fly. A hiss escaped his lips. He'd angled his arm wrong again.

He placed the bow down. He knew that if he tried to shoot another arrow right now he was more likely to hurt himself again then make any progress. He bit his lip as he looked down towards Lake Ilinalta. He was considering going down there but knew that it could be dangerous. He definitely didn't have a death wish. He had settled in somewhat at Lakeview Manor which meant that he didn't feel quite as uncertain anymore. He felt more like himself. The shock to his system that being transported to another world had given him had calmed down. He figured that there was little reason to be stuck in the past. He wouldn't get any kind of answers until they travelled to High Hrothgar. So he'd wait.

Both Ra'shall and Katla had left earlier because they need to get supplies as well as manpower. It meant that he'd been left alone in the house. Katla had asked him not to leave the immediate grounds because there were dangerous creatures out there.

He needed something to do…

Then it hit him.

They would have a lot of people over and everyone would get hungry. Both Katla and Ra'shall would be working. He could cook. He just needed to figure out how to do it in their kitchen. Walking inside, he placed his bow down in the table opposite of Ra'shall's bed before heading into the kitchen. He walked over to the washbasin and cleaned his hands off before turning around. 'Now what do I make?' he wondered. He knew how to bake bread but using the big oven was a bit scary. There was also the problem of him not being quite sure how to light the thing up so it would get warm or how long that would take. Therefore that had to be the first order of business. Now he'd seldom done more than breakfast in the Dursleys' house on his own. He had, however, been tasked with helping his Aunt Petunia several times, and he had, despite what people at Hogwarts might have though, a rather good memory.

The problem now was that he hadn't been around when the oven had been started which meant that he didn't know how to do it. 'It can't be that hard,' he thought as he walked around the huge dome-like structure. Eventually he found a place where he could light the fire beneath the oven up.

Figuring that he might as well light the fire in the fireplace up first since it would easier to carry a burning stick over to the oven than try to light it up any other way. He walked over to the fireplace and looked around. How was he supposed to light the fire…?

He groaned. 'Are you a wizard Harry? You still have your wand,' he thought. He pulled his wand out and aimed it at the fireplace. "Incendio," he said and a jet of flames sprang from the end of the wand. He then walked over to the oven and repeated the spell.

Looking down at his wand with a concerned expression, he wondered why his magic felt wonky. It might have something to do with how magic worked on Nirn. It definitely wasn't the same as back on Earth. Oh, Merlin the pure-bloods would go nuts at how things worked where he was now. Not that they would ever know.

Studying the cooking pot, he realised that while it was big enough for three it was way too small to hold food for all of the people that Ra'shall and Katla hoped to gather together. He looked around the kitchen; there had to be something bigger around.

In a corner he found a cauldron. 'Now that's more like it,' he thought. The next problem was of course that there was no meat in the house. He sighed. 'Well we do have chickens…' then he thought about it maybe there was another pheasant. That would be better. He walked outside hoping to find another bird.

There was a howl.

Green eyes moved over the nearby treeline. He ran back inside. A hungry wolf could kill their chicken and even the cow if it was desperate enough. He grabbed his bow and a handful of arrows and moved back to the door. Taking a deep breath, he raised the bow and aligned the arrow. He still couldn't see the beast. Moving forward slowly, he scanned the area. And then the chickens were clucking in panic. He turned the corner and there it was. Black furred and thin. He didn't like this. The beast was only trying to survive. Tchick! He let the arrow fly. He wished there was another way, but they needed those animals.

The arrow hit but all it seemed to do was enrage the wolf. It turned its head towards Harry and growled. 'Oh, shit,' the teen thought. He moved back as he placed another arrow on the bowstring. Now it wasn't just about saving the animals anymore. He didn't want to get killed thank you very much. He sent the arrow off.

Tchick!

He froze as the arrow hit. Somehow he'd managed to make the arrow pierce the wolf's skull through its eye. He swallowed hard before he started stumbling towards the forest edge. He bent over as his stomach turned and he threw up. His body was trembling, and he sank down on his knees.

He had no idea for how long he sat there before he felt steady enough to stand up once more. He looked down at himself making certain that he hadn't hit himself with the bile he'd expelled. Seeing that he hadn't, he walked back over to the house. His eyes went over to the dead wolf. What was he supposed to do with that? He wasn't sure he could… Hopefully Katla and Ra'shall would be back soon. He turned his eyes away from the corpse and moved over to the animal pen. "How are you doing?" he asked the animals as calmly as he could manage.

Dora mooed at him. It would seem like she was alright. The wolf hadn't gotten close enough to hurt her. It was when he turned to check on the hens that he saw the damage that the wolf a caused. Two of them were dead. One had big puncture marks in her and the other was unscratched. He bit his bottom lip. 'Now what?' he thought. He couldn't just leave them like that. He had to do something.

Walking back into the house, he found some linen and brought it back out. He lifted the bit hen up without touching her with his bare hands and carried her over to where the wolf lay. Katla and Ra'shall would have to decide what to do with her. He just couldn't deal with it. Then he walked back to the animal pen. He looked down at the unharmed hen and sighed. Even though he didn't like it and wasn't sure he'd be able to eat the food, he couldn't just waste the meat she would provide. His hands were shaking as he lifted the brown hen up carefully. He was glad that the others were O.K.

Katla looked up at the sky. The sun was rising slowly. She hoped that Harry would be alright. She wasn't happy about leaving him in the house alone, but they would move faster without him which meant that they would be back sooner. Her eyes travelled back down to ground level and she could see Ra'shall. A small smile spread over her lips. They had been travelling together for almost a long time now.

They had met way before she'd ended up in the mess they were in now. Long before dragons had been coming back to life. They had even travelled down into Cyrodiil for a while before all this.

It had been nice to have a companion. Before she'd met Ra'shall she'd been alone for quite some time. Her parents had not agreed with her decision to travel. Her father had even gone so far as to tell her that she wasn't welcome back if she left. She had considered that for a moment, but in the end she had kept to her decision and left anyway. She loved her parents and her siblings. It saddened her to know that she was no longer welcome, but she wasn't going to change her mind. This was the life she wanted to live.

They were approaching Falkreath now. The city was busy as people went about their daily activities.

"Will you buy the goods we need while I try to gather some folk together?" Katla said as they entered the city.

Ra'shall nodded. "Yes, that sounds good," he said. He started walking towards the general goods store when he remembered something. "Should I check if they have any spell books in the store? I know you talked about a court wizard but I don't think there is one of those here," he said.

Katla blinked. She thought about what he'd said for a moment. "You know what I think you're right," she said slowly. "Yes please look for some spell books. Harry could really use something beside the bow to practice with," she added. "I know you wanted to teach him how to handle a blade as well. But you can't do that with a real sword at least not at first."

Ra'shall hummed. "Yeah, I know. I'll have to fix that somehow," he said. "You go ahead and try to convince some of these lazy sods that our money is worth them getting off their lazy asses, and I'll see what I can do when it comes to the cub."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Sure," she said. "I'll see you in half-an-hour."

"Good luck," Ra'shall said before the woman disappeared off. He sighed and ran a hand through the thick fur between his ears before he resumed walking towards the general goods store. He was glad that it wasn't him that had to deal with the thick headed Nords. The owner of the shop was actually one of the more open-minded people in the town.

Pushing the door open, he stepped inside the shop and started looking around. There were several things they needed.

"Can I get you something?" the store owner asked in a coarse tone.

Ra'shall looked up at the blond Nord. "Yes please I'd like some groceries. What do you have?" he asked.

The Nord thought about it for a moment the he answered, "Some bread, cabbage, a couple of cheese wheels, some potatoes and a newly caught rabbit," he answered.

Ra'shall nodded. "I'll take the potatoes and the cabbage what kind of cheese is it?"

"I've got goat and eidar."

"I'll take two goat and one eidar then," Ra'shall said. "Do you have any goat horns or glass?" he asked.

"Yes I should have some."

"I'll take what goat horns you have and … ten rods of glass."

He watched as the Nord placed his things in order on the counter. "You wouldn't happen to have some spell books as well?" he asked.

The Nord's brow furrowed. "I should have some lying around. There aren't a lot of people around here who are interested in that kind of stuff," he said before walking over to a cupboard. He returned with several book. "Candlelight, Conjure Familiar, Frostbite, Clairvoyance and Courage," he said as he placed the books down. "Will that be all?"

Ra'shall nodded. "That will be all. How much?" he said.

The Nord added it all up. "Eight hundred," he said.

"Sounds good," Ra'shall said as he pulled a pouch from his belt. It was heavy with gold. But not coins. No, Katla tended to melt gold down into bars that they could pay with. Every bar was worth a hundred coins easily, and it was much easier to carry around. He picked eight bars out and placed them down in front of the man.

The Nord knowing fully well that the bars were gold nodded. "It was a pleasure doing business with you," he said.

Ra'shall gathered his merchandise together before he walked over to the door. "A continued good day to you sir," he said before exiting the shop.

.

Katla exited the tavern. The men in there were impossible and the women weren't much better, but she had managed to gather together some help for them. Now all she needed to do was go talk to the owner of the local lumber mill.

She was heading over to the mill when the owner walked up behind her. "What's such a pretty lady doing all the way out here in Falkreath?" he asked.

The brunette turned around. She tilted her head to the side and widened her eyes somewhat. "Why thank you," she said sweetly. "I was looking to buy some lumber for the house we're building up by Lake Ilinalta…" she said. 'Idiotic slime.'

The man, who she knew was named Bolund, came up a little closer to her. He obviously didn't recognise her without armour on. "Why now isn't that to heavy work for such a beautiful little thing?" he said.

Katla smiled at him. "Oh, maybe," she said bashfully. 'Piss off moron.' "But I've asked some men from town to come up and help so it should be alright." Truthfully they had never bought wood from this man before because of how he treated Ra'shall. But right now he was the best choice. They didn't have time to go to Riverwood and back.

"Oh, for a pretty little thing like you I'd handle that in no time," Bolund said. "How much do you want?"

She smiled sweetly at him, "Oh, maybe thirty logs or so. That should be enough for now at least," she said. 'And if I had a better option right now I wouldn't get them from you.'

.

Katla walked back from the mill. Bolund was not the brightest of the bunch. He'd been easily convinced that she was interested in him. She grimaced. 'Creep,' she thought. She wondered if the compliments – and she used the term loosely – that he used worked on anyone. 'If he calls me little one more time I might bash his head in,' she thought. Katla was not a small woman at 6 foot. And she was as strong as any man considering her skill in smithing and the fact that she carried heavy armour and a greatsword in battle. She had gotten a quite good discount though. It was the only reason she was even willing to deal with the man in the first place. He was dumb enough to fall for pretty much anything.

Joining up with Ra'shall outside of the general goods store, she shoved the man and his behaviour out of her mind. It didn't matter. She picked up one of the bags he'd made ready and then another. "The others should be meeting us by the gate," she said. "And I spoke to mister slimy badmouth and he'll bring us the lumber we'll need."

Ra'shall rolled his eyes. "I think I'll disappear when he shows up," he said.

Katla snorted. "If Harry is up to it I would like him to just show up while that idiot is around. I could create all kinds of stories from that. That would scare the backbone out of that idiot," she said. "That would only work if he knows exactly why I want it done though. I don't want to scare him."

Ra'shall nodded with a grin. "I'll speak to him. The store had several spell books for him anyway. No healing but Conjure Familiar will be useful for him and Frostbite," he said. "There are a couple more. It'll give him a base to work from."

Katla nodded but she didn't respond to it since they had just reached the men and women who had agreed to help them. "Hey everyone thank you for agreeing to help us," she said with a smile. "Let's get going shall we."

The party made their way towards Lakeview Manor talking and laughing as they went.

Ra'shall had moved ahead in front of the group. He wanted to make sure that Harry was alright. They had been gone longer than they'd thought they would be. As he ran up the short way behind Pinewatch, his blood went cold. There was a wolf lying by the blacksmith workbench. He walked up to the dark-furred creature slowly. He covered his mouth and nose with a hand. "Ius that stinks," he muttered.

The wolf was obviously dead. Most living things did not survive getting an arrow shot through the eye socket.

Ra'shall now far more worried about the state Harry was in than he'd been moments earlier didn't stand around. He moved over to the house and walked inside. He dropped the bags he carried before continuing into the dining room. "Harry!" he called out. There was a fire roaring in the kitchen so he walked on in there. Breathing out in relief, he stopped as he saw the teen sitting by the fire in the kitchen. There was a big cauldron standing in the fireplace. There seemed to be some sort of stew boiling away in it. The feline man breathed in. It smelled good. His teal eyes moved over to the still teen. "Harry are you alright?" he asked.

The boy didn't move.

Ra'shall moved closer and kneeled down next to the chair the raven was sitting in. "Harry look at me," he said softly. Empty green eyes turned towards him slowly. They seemed to look right through him before they fell down on the teen's hands in his lap. The feline reached out slowly and placed a hand on top of those hands. "Harry what happened?" he asked softly.

"She died," the raven breathed.

Ra'shall moved his left had to rest on the boy's upper back but did not say anything. He didn't want to interrupt.

"The wolf came and killed …" There was a small sob, "I had to kill it or they might all have died… but she died anyway and… and I cut her up and…" His body slumped forward and he would have fallen to the floor if Ra'shall hadn't been there to catch him. The feline man grabbed a tight hold on the boy and lifted him up slowly. He could feel tears soaking though his shirt. He was suddenly very glad that he'd decided to go on ahead. It would take a while yet for Katla and the workers to show up. He carried the teen out to his bed and sat down carefully. "Shhhshhh," he hushed the boy softly as he reached up and took the boy's glasses off so he would be more comfortable. He still wondered what had happened. He knew he would have to wait to find that out.

They sat like that for Alkosh knows how long with Ra'shall stroking Harry's back calmingly.

Eventually the teen stopped crying. He lay there on top of the Khajiit just breathing slowly. "Feeling better now?" Ra'shall asked softly as he reached up and ran a hand through the teen's messy black hair.

Harry nodded slowly against the man's chest. "A little," he said softly. It had felt good to vent and actually get comforted. Ra'shall's shirt was soft. His tail was curled up around him. Harry smiled softly. The feline's tail was really soft.

"Do you think you can tell me what happened? I'm not quite sure I got it all," Ra'shall said calmly.

"Hmmmm," the teen hummed. He closed his eyes, and he tried to focus his mind. "I heard a wolf and I knew it could kill our animals if I just let it be…" he said. "So I went and got my bow. It got into the animal pen and I shot it, and it got angry so it went after me instead. I shot it again and it died," he explained in a monotone voice. "It had killed one of the hens, bitten her. And another hen had died as well. Heart attack from being scared… I … I realised we couldn't just waste her so I took her to the chopping block. I cut her up and put her in the stew with the pheasant."

Ra'shall closed his eyes. 'Great,' he thought, 'just great. Let's have the inexperienced youth dealing with the death of our egg hens.' He sighed softly. "What you did was the right thing to do," he said out loud. "It is very wise not to waste meat. I'm sorry you had to deal with it though. That shouldn't have been necessary." He shifted the teen so he could look the boy in the eyes. "I'm very proud of you for defending our animals," he said. "But you are more important then them. There could have been more than one wolf out there and they could have killed you. For now I'd rather you hid in the house and let them kill the animals than you risking your life to save them…O.K."

Harry looked up at the feline man's face. He was close enough that he could see the ghost of worry in the man's eyes. It felt weird to have someone berating him for doing something good in a way that didn't make him feel bad about it. He was important. People actually cared about his safety.

"Think about how we would have felt if we'd come home to find you killed by wolves. Katla would have hated herself and I certainly wouldn't have been happy," Ra'shall said. "Now I don't want you to take that as scolding because I am proud of you for doing what you did. I just want you to think about the consequences of your actions."

The raven nodded. He was being sent a guilt trip that wasn't supposed to be a guilt trip. He was quiet for quite some time before he looked up at the feline. "I… I promise not to risk my life like that again unless I'm sure I can come out on top," he said. He couldn't promise that he wouldn't do something similar again.

Ra'shall chuckled. "Well now that was a response in my own spirit," he said. He sat up slowly bringing the teen with him. "I have some spell books for you," he said. "They're in the bags by the door." He moved the boy off his lap and stood up slowly. "I should go and make sure that Katla doesn't have a fit when she sees the wolf's corpse out there," he said. "Will you be O.K. until I return?"

Harry looked over at the bags. He couldn't see a thing. He bit his lip. "Where are…" The feline handed him his glasses.

"I shouldn't be long," Ra'shall said softly as he reached out to run his fingers through the boy's hair again. Green eyes looked up at him. The teen was exhausted that much was clear. "You better be back soon," he said. "The bread will burn otherwise."

Ra'shall pinched the bridge of his nose. Out of all the things the boy could be worried about he was concerned about the bread he'd placed in the oven. "I promise I'll take care of that," he said softly as he lowered his hand. "Why don't you get some rest? You look like you could use it." He could see how fear passed by the boy's eyes. He shook his head as he walked over to the bags he'd dropped. He reached down and pulled out several books before walking back over to the bed and placing them down on the thick furs there. "These are all spell books. Why don't you pick one to go through? I'll be back soon," he said. He could see the teen nod before he exited the house.

Katla was turning the corner as he walked up next to the dead wolf. "What happened here?" she asked. Her eyes fell on the wolf. "Did you have to kill it Ra'shall that's just…"

"I didn't kill it Harry did," the Khajiit interrupted her. "It attacked our animals and he went out with his bow and killed it. He was catatonic by the time I got here – sitting in the kitchen just staring into the flames. The wolf scared one of our hens to death and he added her to the stew he was making."

The brunette closed her eyes. "We should never have left him alone," she said. "Is he better now?" she asked. 'Fuck why did we leave him? He's a kid. He shouldn't have been left alone,' she thought.

"A little," Ra'shall said. "I gave him the spell books. After he'd cried all over me I might add. I think he's more bothered by what he did to the chicken then he is over the fact that he killed the wolf." He folded his arms over his chest. "He's got food going and I need to look into that so it doesn't get ruined. The Nords you have hired will prefer not having me around anyway," he said. "I'll keep an eye on him."

Katla nodded slowly. She wasn't happy about what had happened, but Ra'shall was handling it. She'd let him do that. "I'll get rid of this," she said as she looked down at the wolf. "I'll bury the hen separately so we can show Harry where she is later."

Ra'shall headed back inside after that. He walked up to the raven-haired boy and ran his finger through his messy hair. "Is it interesting?" he asked softly.

Harry looked up at him and nodded slowly. "It's weird though. I can't go back in it and it's like the knowledge is taken from the book and put into my head," he said. "Is it supposed to do that?" he asked a bit concerned. He was trying his best not to think about what had happened earlier.

Ra'shall shrugged. "I have never tried myself, but as far as I know, the book itself disappears after you have learned what it has to teach you so it does make sense in a way that it would work that way," he said.

A small smile stretched over the raven's lips. "O.K." he said before looking back down into the book. That was really weird. It was a very practical way of learning though. Much more effective than how they did it at Hogwarts.

The feline man chuckled as he headed into the kitchen. For now the teen was alright at least. He moved over to the oven and looked inside. There were three rather large loafs of bread in there – all golden brown and definitely ready to be taken out. He grabbed the peel before sticking it into the oven and bringing the bread back out slowly. He placed it down in a basket he'd grabbed on his way over. The kid had done a good job if the scent wafting through the room from the bread was anything to go by. He moved the shutter in place over the oven entrance to put the fire out.

Placing the bread down on a counter, he moved on to the stew brewing by the fire. He reached out, grabbed the ladle that was placed in the cauldron and swirled it around a couple of times. The consistency seemed to be right. He reached over to where they kept their cutlery and pulled out a spoon. Dipping it into the liquid, he moved it around a bit before raising it once more so he could taste the stew. He put the spoon down while smacking his lips; there was something missing but what? He looked around the kitchen. The stew was good it just needed some oomph. And then it hit him. He walked back out if the kitchen smiling softly at Harry as he passed the teen before going outside. He walked over to their little garden and started picking berries from the trees there.

In the background he could hear the voices of the people Katla had hired as they worked. He was glad that Harry had thought ahead. It would be more polite of them to feed these people before they left. Maybe they could even convince some of them to stick around a bit longer if they fed them.

Once he decided he had enough juniper berries he headed back inside to dump them into the simmering stew. He stirred the thick liquid slowly.

Outside the work commenced. Rocks were carried and fitted together. Songs were sung.

After a while Harry came walking into the kitchen. "Katla is outside?" he asked as he did his best to ignore the stew.

"Yeah she is," Ra'shall said. "Oh, but cub…" he said to stop the boy from leaving. "There should be a moron showing up in a bit and Katla was wondering if you'd be willing to make him think she's your mother."

"Moron?" Harry asked. 'Katla wants what?' he thought.

Ra'shall nodded. "He's a racist. Thinks anyone but Nords shouldn't be allowed in Skyrim. But earlier when Katla ordered some lumber from him he apparently acted slimy. She didn't tell me exactly what he did, but she was quite set on making him as nervous as possible. You wouldn't have to say anything just look cute or something," he said. "It's up to you though."

"I'll consider it," Harry said before walking out of the kitchen. 'These people are weird,' he thought. He headed over to the door and opened it. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day. It didn't lift the raven's mood any though. He walked slowly past the corner of the house only to see a line of strong men and women passing stones along. He moved up among them silently, careful as to not get in their way. Some way away he could see other people carrying logs up to the house. He followed their line down towards the road.

Katla was standing by a blond man. Her body language was all wrong. What was going on? As he came up closer, he could hear the man speak.

"… but we could always have some fun together yeah. Such a sweet little thing shouldn't be alone," he said. His voice sent shivers down Harry's spine. 'Oh no you stay away from Katla,' he said. He moved up quicker now. He didn't speak as he came up behind Katla and pulled at her shirt.

The brunette turned around. "Kulsezii, there you are," she said warmly as she placed her arms around his shoulders. "How are you feeling dear?" she asked concerned.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know really… it's all so…" he didn't know what to say. His mind was a mess really.

Katla smiled down at him sadly. "I know," she said. She reached down and pulled him up on her hip. Something which would not have been possible if he'd grown up healthy or she'd been a smaller woman.

Harry was shocked at the movement, but the closeness and the comfort that the simple action gave him had him almost breaking down in tears again. Earlier Ra'shall had held him while he cried and now Katla was carrying him. Two things that he'd never experienced before. It was insane how in less than a week these two had done more for him than his relatives had ever done. He looked back at the stunned blond that they were leaving behind. The man looked like he was somewhere between wanting to get angry and being frightened. "Why's he afraid?" he asked softly.

Katla rolled her eyes as she answered. "Because me having a child indicates that there is a man involved and despite how often he calls me little a man shorter than me would have to be strong and he knows it. Nord women don't stay with weak men. He is afraid of that nonexistent man," she said.

The raven placed his head against the woman's shoulder and sighed contently. It was weird how at ease he felt around these two grown-ups. It probably had something to do with how honest they wanted him to be and how honest they were with him. For the first time in his life he was dealing with people who wanted him to be just 'Harry' not The-Boy-Who-Lived or Freak or some other moniker people gave him.

They reached the house, and Katla opened the front door before walking inside. She moved into the kitchen where Ra'shall was lifting the stew off the fire. "How are things going out there?" the man asked as he noticed her.

Katla pulled in a deep breath smelling the food. "It's going well. We're almost done with the foundation now. A lunch break would be a good idea now though. As soon as the lumber has been carried up everyone could use a break," she said.

"We should carry it outside so we don't need to have all those people stomping through our house," Ra'shall said.

Katla nodded. She turned her head slightly. "Hey, Harry. I need to put you down so we can bring the cauldron outside," she said softly.

The raven blushed, slightly embarrassed at how at ease he was. "O.K." he said softly, his cheeks turning pink. He could feel Katla letting go of him before he slipped down to the floor. Her arms lingered around his shoulders. "Thank you for preparing this," she said as she ran her fingers through his hair. He leaned into her warmth closing his eyes at the calming feeling.

Katla smiled down at the teen softly. She was glad that he let her offer him comfort. She knew for a fact that abused children tended to have great mistrust in adults. She sighed. "Well, we better get going. I don't want to leave them without supervision for too long," she said. Looking down at Harry, she asked, "Are you going to have some before we bring it outside?"

The raven shook his head. "I don't want any. I'm not hungry," he said softly. He slipped away from her and walked back over to Ra'shall's bed where his new books lay. The brunette's eyes followed him.

"He'll be alright just give him some time," Ra'shall said. "I take it as a good sign that he's staying there rather than moving up to his room since we pass by from time to time. It means that he doesn't want to seclude himself."

The cauldron was carried outside slowly so they wouldn't spill its contents. The Nords were relieved to have a break in the work, and gathered around the cauldron quickly.

Food was eaten and gossip exchanged in a merry chatter of voices. An hour or so later the work was resumed with newfound vigour. They worked until the sun started getting low in the sky. People wanted to get back home before nightfall.

While this was happening Harry was sitting on Ra'shall's bed reading the spell books he'd been given while trying not to think about the hen or what he'd done.

He would spend the following couple of days like that. Reading the spell books, practicing with his bow, and trying to cope with what he'd done. He knew on a practical level that what he'd done was the right thing, but it bothered him in an emotional level.

Life at Lakeview Manor was calm for several days. Until one evening when Ra'shall and Katla sat down together with a map of Skyrim between them. Harry didn't pay them much mind at the time He was reading the last spell book and it was interesting. He went to bed that evening not knowing that tomorrow was going to be quite different.