"Ah dunt know," Savannah said, frowning in concentration.

Jack nodded, turning to the other kits. "How old is Vana?" he asked again.

The kits muttered among themselves, random words in English and Standard thrown around.

"Uh hunderd an ferty fer years old," Hyacinth said, voice uncertain.

"Yep! Say it after me, a hundred and forty-four years old," Jack instructed, flashing a smile to Hyacinth.

The kits parroted him with varying degrees of success. He glanced at the translator next to him. After it had broken a month ago back in April he had been working on the kit's English skills. Neva, being the most fluent, was exempted from the lessons, so while Jack worked with the others she was off doing various chores.

In the beginning, she translated his instructions to the kits, but once they could recognize most things she left to do other things. Because of the large amount of work the gardens required in early spring they didn't have much time for language practice. Even Savannah's school sessions had started to be shortened. Not mention, after long days in the sun the kits were often too tired to truly focus on what they were doing. They had tried to combat this by speaking in English while they were working, but after several plants were planted incorrectly and no less than three clay pots had been broken, they decided to hold off until they were more fluent to try again.

Right now, they were working on large numbers. The kits had the smaller single digits down pat, but once it got above a hundred they were little shaky.

"What is eighty-nine plus fifty-seven?" he asked.

The kits quickly did the math using Standard numbers.

Stellan finished first and spoke up. "A hundered an forty sis," he called out.

Jack nodded again. "A hundred and forty six," he said.

It was interesting to observe their progress, Jack thought. Savannah, despite her vehement hatred of learning languages, was extremely good at it. She caught on the quickest, but her accent made her speak oddly. Neva had told him that apparently, it was obvious when she spoke Standard as well, and that it was fairly common among pooka that grew up where Savannah was from.

Stellan on the other hand, had the best pronunciation. Jack was pretty sure it was from the hours that Stellan spent repeating what he said to the villagers. The eldest pooka had a pretty good grasp of how to move his lips and mouth in order to make English sound correct.

To no one's surprise, Larch and Vana made little progress. They still barely spoke Standard, and spent more time asking the older kits what a Standard word meant than learning English.

Savannah had promised that once she mastered the new language more that she would help the younger kits, but for now very little progress was being made there. They weren't even in this session, they were playing in the ship while Neva worked on butchering her most recent kill. Jack glanced out the Nest entrance, looking at the gleaming metal of the ship.

"Jack?" Savannah said, "we go? Do more?"

He looked back, shaking his head. "Sorry, five hundred and ninety-seven minus thirty-eight."

"Five hundred an sisty one?" Hyacinth answered uncertainly.

Jack shook his head, looking to the other kits for the correct answer.

"Five hundered an fity nien!" Savannah called out, smiling widely.

"Ohsw fof," Hyacinth muttered, looking over his math to see where he went off.

Stellan peered over his shoulder, pointing to something written on the slab and muttering something to Hyacinth in Standard.

The younger kit groaned and erased something, rewriting it and nodding to Stellan in thanks.

Jack took note of Hyacinth's fumble and continued on.


"I'm bored," Larch whined.

Vana rolled her eyes, ignoring her brother in favor of watching the small earth insects scuttle around. Jack called them 'ants' and said that they were harmless as long as they were black. The red ones stung, but the black ones wouldn't, he had said, so it was ok to play with them.

Neva glanced over to them making sure they were behaving before focusing on the counter again.

Vana reached out, poking one of the little insects and giggling when it panicked and ran around in circles.

Her brother hopped over to her, butting his head into her shoulder. "Play with me," he whined, leaning on her.

"No, ants!" she argued, gesturing to the tiny creatures.

"Boring," Larch proclaimed, headbutting her again.

"Stop!" she yelled, turning and jumping at him. They fell to the floor in a heap, paws battering at each other. Larch twisted and dashed off, running behind Neva's legs.

"Come back!" Vana hissed, charging after her brother.

Neva yelped as she crashed into the older doe's legs, knocking her forward into the counter. The knife in her paw crashed to the floor, splattering crimson liquid on the floor.

The twins stared at the fallen tool.

"Out," Neva said, voice eerily calm.

"Wha?" Larch said, looking up at her.

"Get out," Neva repeated, "go bug the others, I can't have you two distracting me right now."

When they didn't move Neva snarled in frustration. "I told you to get lost!" she yelled, wildly gesturing to the door.

Larch slowly hopped around her legs, looking to Vana for answers. She stared back, instinctively shrinking back from the angry adult.

Once Larch was clear of her legs the twins turned and ran out the door, down the ramp and into the cavern proper.

"Neva's scary," Vana said, glancing back into the ship.

Larch huffed, "Neva's mean. I don't wanna go learn English, I wanna play."

She nodded, her ears twitching when the soft timbre of the winter spirit rose in response to something Hyacinth said. The older kits laughed at whatever he said, their laughter muffled by the rock.

"Let's play outside!" Vana suggested, "hide and seek in the dark!"

"Yes!" Larch yelled, "You're it!" he bolted out of the cavern and was quickly out of sight.

Vana pouted, but put her paws over her eyes and tucked her ears back before starting to count. "One. Two. Three. F-five? Six. Seven. Nine. Eight. Ten. 'Leven, Twelve. Thirteen. Fifty. Six ten. Seven. Ate. Nineteen. Twenty. A hundred! Here I come!" Giggling, she hopped towards the entrance, stopping at the edge to look into the forest.

This planet's moon was brighter than the ones at home. At home the twin moons were dark shapes in the sky, the only way to see them is if they crossed in front of the stars. The constellations were so different, she couldn't even see the Great Star. A little homesick, she focused back on the game, trying to pick out where her brother had gotten off too. No matter how much she swiveled her ears she couldn't hear movement, and she hadn't been counting long enough for him to get out of her hearing range, so he must be hiding nearby.

Vana padded down to the forest floor, checking under a few bushes at the foot of the cliff. "I'm gonna find you!" she yelled. She heard snickering off in the distance so she charged after it, dodging brambles and jumping over a large log in her way.

Her brother was crouched under a fallen limb, dead leaves hiding him from the world.

"Found you!" she shrieked gleefully, tackling him.

"Aww, I thought I found a good spot," he said, brushing the crushed leaves from his fur.

"Nope! It's your turn now! Count to twenty!" Larch sighed and dutifully started counting.

Vana whirled around, running away at top speed. She aimed for the gardens, and more specifically, the creek that ran near them. Her white and grey fur was hard to spot against the white stones that lined the creek, making it her favorite place to hide. She barreled through the undergrowth, nearly trampling one of the pea plants when the trees suddenly stopped. Moving more carefully, she wove through the short sprouts, ducking into the creek. She picked her way over the rocks, finding two large rocks that had a small opening between them. Grinning, she pushed herself inside, squirming when her back legs got stuck.

"I'm gonna get you!" Larch yelled in the distance.

A few seconds of wiggling and she finally pulled herself inside, wincing as the rough stone scratched her sides. Vana settled down in the tiny hole, turning around and shifting her paws under her before flattening herself against the damp soil. It smelled of earth and flowing water, and it reminded of the little play burrows her cousins would dig for the twins in spring time.

Her ears twitched as she heard the scrambling of her brother on the rocks. "Vana, where are you?" he yelled.

She giggled. "Found you!" he yelled again, his upside down head suddenly popping into view. The tips of his ears dragged in the dirt, drawing lines in the loose soil.

Vana pouted but obligingly pulled herself out of the crevice.

"How'd you find me so fast?" she whined.

"You always hide in the creek!" Larch accused.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

She huffed, "Fine, I'll hide somewhere else. Count again!"

"But it's my turn to hide," Larch whined.

"Shh, stop complaining!" Vana said. She turned and darted off, leaving her pouting brother behind. "Dumb Larch," she muttered, looking around for a place to hide.

In late April the snow had mostly melted, but frost covered the ground in the mornings and there was a chill in the air. Luckily for her, her fluffy winter coat blocked out most of the chill, so she only shivered a little as she walked through the dark forest.

She glanced behind her, looking for the familiar cliffside. The cave itself was difficult to see from the ground, but the rock face was large and easily seen. Vana could barely make out the gray stone behind the leaf buds that covered the trees, but the sight reassured her.

"I'm coming!" Larch yelled from behind her.

Vana launched herself in the opposite direction, dashing into the forest. She dodged brambles and low-lying shrubbery, squeezing under a fallen log and popping out on the other side. She ducked behind the roots, flopping into the leaf litter. Her breath came in quick pants, and she stretched her paws out, letting the pads cool down. She couldn't hear her brother behind her, so she didn't have to worry about him finding her while she rested.

Once her flank wasn't heaving she stood up, shaking her coat out. She looked around, looking to see if there were any good hiding places nearby. Nothing immediately caught her eye, so she began walking away, keeping an ear out for Larch.

"'S dark," she mumbled, squinting at the dark shadows that were growing along the forest floor. She wasn't scared, Jack assured her that unlike her old home, the plants wouldn't eat her, and she was a pooka kit, she could outrun almost any animal until Jack or one of the other kits came to help her. She glanced up as she walked.

The sky was so clear compared to the city she was used to back home, she could make out thousands of stars and could even see the dusty light of the larger Milky Way. Out of the corner of her eye, Vana saw a bit of smoke rising above the treetops.

Swinging around to face it, she tried to figure out what it was coming from. It didn't look like the sooty blackness of a forest fire. Instead, it looked like the smoke that came off Colm's cooking fires.

Vana gasped. "Humans!" she squealed, darting forward. She giggled happily, the game she was playing forgotten. "'Mma see humans!" she said, giggling as she dashed through the forest. It took her a few minutes to get there, but soon she was crouched under a bush outside the village. It looked like the humans were getting ready to go to sleep, but the children ran around, little wicker baskets filled with dyed eggs in their hands.

Vana tilted her head. Jack hadn't told her about an earth creature that laid colored eggs, at least none like that. She had seen a robin's egg once, but the pretty speckled blue was nothing like the psychedelic hues in the eggs she was seeing.

A little child, about the size of a six-year-old pooka, ran by her, dropping their basket at the forest's edge before racing back to the others. When they and the gaggle of children they had run to were gone Vana crept forward, her nose twitching as she smelled the eggs.

She could smell the dry dustiness of the basket, but the egg's scent was covered in the pungent smell of the pine needles that lines the basket. Once she reached it she stood up on two legs, reaching down and picking up a pink and green egg. She turned it over in her paw, trying to figure out where the child might have gotten it.

"Ostern hase!" one of the humans suddenly screamed.

Vana's head shot up. A group of about twenty children stood clustered at the edge of the cluster of buildings, all of them staring straight at her. Vana shrank back, ears dropping.

"Sie Angst es!" Another child said, scolding a smaller one wearing a dress.

The young pooka took a step back, her eyes glued to the group.

"Gehen Sie nicht wenig Häschen," the older child cooed, holding out a hand to Vana.

Shaking, she spun around and dove into the cover of the bushes, her colorful prize clutched to her chest. She ran fast and further than ever before, blowing past a startled Larch.

"Vana!" he yelled, running after her. He took a running leap, tackling her.

She went down, flinging out one arm to protect the egg. The pine needles dug into her fur as Larch crouched over her, staring down at his sister.

"What happened?" he asked, nuzzling her.

"The humans saw me!" she wailed, "Jack's gonna be mad!"

"Vana, Larch!" someone yelled in the distance.

The twins looked at each other guilty.

"Here!" Larch yelled back.

"Larch!" Vana hissed, beginning to panic.

She didn't want to get in trouble! Her brother didn't have a chance to respond, as Stellan came through the trees a moment later.

"What are you two doing out here?" he asked, "It's late, you were supposed to be with Neva getting ready for bed.

Larch rolled off her sister, pawing at the dirt, avoiding the other pooka's gaze guiltily.

Stellan sighed and walked over picking up both of them. "Come on, let's go back. The others were worried about you."