Chapter 36

When the siblings arose the next morning the sun was just coming up over a lovely pristine scene of white snow. But only outside the barrier.

Rebekah, standing on the back porch and eyeing the outhouse, said to bare-chested Kol, who had his arms way up as he stretched his body, "It is beautiful out there, but I'm glad we don't have to wade through snow to reach the privy."

"Yeah, me too. After you, darlin'," he said, nodding toward the "facility."

"Why, thank you, sir." She went down the few steps to the not-really-green grass and walked away. The air was quite chilly, even though it was a great deal warmer than outside. All the plants inside were confused by this fact, and also because the short days told them it was wintertime. Only Freya's spells and the dome's protection kept the plants producing.

In the kitchen, Freya pulled on Mrs. Anderson's coat. She was not as warm as she wanted to be and she knew it was cold outside.

"Where do you think you are going?" Elijah asked as he built up the kitchen fire.

"To milk the cow, of course."

"No, you're not. You are supposed to be resting, not hauling a pail of milk uphill."

"I like the milking, Elijah. It's somehow relaxing."

"Then Kol or I will accompany you."

Freya sighed. She thought he could be overprotective, even domineering at times. "Look, let me do it. Kol can come with me, feed the horse and chickens and carry the milk pail."

"Did you do any spells last night?" He gave her a hard look.

"No. I told you I wouldn't. I was too tired. And I was too nice and warm in bed to get up and cast a spell. Now don't give me a hard time about milking the cow. Okay?"

"Fine." Elijah didn't really want her to do that, but she seemed determined. He went out to the porch. "Kol, go with Freya. She insists on milking the cow."

"Yeah, okay, but I gotta pee first. I'll go behind the privy." He jumped off the porch and strode in that direction. His other sister was still inside as he walked behind the little building. He grinned when he heard her exclamation of surprise when he let his stream hit the boards that were just behind her back. He knew the boards were not tightly fitted together.

"Whoops! Sorry, love," he said, but he knew she knew he didn't mean it.

"Oh, you're going to be sorry! I'll get you for that," Rebekah warned. She and he had enjoyed baiting each other for centuries. By the time she was finished in the outhouse, he had finished outside and had trotted away to join Freya.

"What were you yelling about?" Elijah asked as he stirred the coffee beans roasting in an iron skillet.

Rebekah told him and Elijah just shook his head.

"Do I smell of pee?" the sister asked, moving close to him and turning her back.

"Not strongly." He could see wet spots on the back of her dress. "It'll dry."

"He can be such a child!"

"Let us say he has a boyish sense of humor." In truth, Kol added a few laughs to each day, occasionally having his siblings nearly rolling on the floor. He was very good at regaling them with stories, some of them quite ribald.

"Well, I am going to change clothes. Be back in a minute." She went up to her room and changed into another of Mrs. Anderson's dresses (there were half a dozen). Then she took the scented dress into Kol's room and carefully laid the damp part on his unmade bed and pillow. He would certainly smell urine when he went to bed.

Freya had no trouble milking the cow, who munched a little grain she had given it. Outside the barn, Kol gave grain to the horse and calf. The group had discussed slaughtering the bull calf to provide meat, but they decided to keep him. Admitting that there was a chance that they might be on the farm over a year, they thought that the cow's milk might run dry. If she were bred again and had another calf, she would produce milk for another year. It didn't matter that the only bull on the farm would be her son. So, much as the siblings might like several nice meals of beef, the calf lived on.

Kol carried the pail of milk up the slope to the chicken coop. He put it down and scattered grain for the hens, chicks and the rooster, while Freya gathered fresh eggs which she held in her apron. Several of the chicks were males and they were doomed to be eaten when they were big enough.

"You know what?" Freya said as she and her brother headed for the house.

"What?"

"I really like farming. What we do here."

"There's more to farming than what we have here in our prison. Real farmers don't have a witch making firewood and hay for them. And a lot of other things."

"Alright. That's true. But I like what we have. And I don't mind providing for us."

"You have to put too much energy into it, love. Like Elijah says, you gotta hold off on that for a while."

"I'm going to make a schedule so I can space things out, but still get them done."

"You better get big brother's okay on that schedule."

"We'll work it out. And he isn't my big brother. I'm his big sister."

"You know what I mean."

"I do."

Throughout the day, she was aware that someone always seemed to be nearby, monitoring what she did. As a result, she had no chance to cast even a small spell. She did sit down with Elijah and make a schedule for the duplication or renewal of supplies and items. He insisted that she space the spells out and also prioritize them. She agreed to this as long as they did not run out of anything.

"I know we need more clothing," she fussed.

"As I have said before, we have what we need, what clothing we came in with and the clothing we found here. Except Kol's underpants. They burned up on the barrier."

" Except for our modern clothing, we have only cotton, wool and linen to work with," Freya said. "Duplicating Kol's jeans would give me some denim to work with. I wish we had some terry cloth for towels."

"It would be nice, but we do not need that," Elijah insisted calmly. They could each take a shower, but the towels they used were plain cotton.

That afternoon the sun set at its winter time. A few people had come to check on the residents and to ask if they were alright. The siblings assured them that they were. When John and Sarah came on horseback through the snow, those within were pleased to see them, and gathered near the barrier.

After dismounting and tying their horses to a tether weight, the brother and sister approached the wall.

"Hello, friends," Kol called. "Glad to see you came." He was especially pleased to see the young woman.

"John insists he looked through the wall and could see you," Sarah said with some excitement. "This I must see for myself."

"Remember not to touch the barrier, Sarah," Elijah cautioned. He watched as John carefully rolled his piece of leather into a narrow tube.

"I'll find the hole and look through first," John said. "I marked the place in the earth, but it's under the snow now."

"I'll throw some water on the barrier," Kol said. "If you look quickly, you should be able to spot the right-sized hole." He went to the well and returned with a drinking ladle full of cold water, which he tossed against the wall approximately where he thought the larger hole was.

A tiny amount went through and splashed on John. The barrier buzzed, and the water sizzled and was gone.

"I saw it," John said. Wearing his gloves, he probed at the wall until the tube slipped through the hole. The power buzzed slightly against his face as he leaned close to the tube, but he ignored it.

"Move over by the clothes line," he said. "I can see you best over there."

The four farm residents went to stand by the rope lines.

"Alright! Stay there and I'll let Sarah look."

Also wearing heavy leather gloves, Sarah eagerly replaced her brother at the tube. At first she didn't have it aimed at the group, but just being able to see the snow-free inside was exciting.

"Move the tube so you can see to the left," John said and he watched her do this.

"I see them! I see them! Oh my!" She was so excited she let go of the tube and it fell to the ground inside the barrier. "Oh, no!"

"It's alright, love," Kol said as he approached the wall. "I'll find the hole and push it back out." He picked the tube up and studied the wall he could not see. "Someone bring some more water."

Rebekah was the one who brought a dipperful and splashed it on the wall. "I see the hole," Kol said and he quickly pushed the tube into it. The energy from the wall was hot on his hand, but he ignored that. He stepped back a few feet and bent down so that he was looking into the front of the "barrel," but not so close that Sarah was only seeing part of his face.

"Can you see me now?"

"Yes! Cole, right?" Of course she knew it was, because she was used to the sound of his voice. She enjoyed his humor. "You have such dark eyes!"

"I told you I did. So does my brother …Henry." He reminded himself for the hundredth time not to refer to the women as his sisters.

"Let me see Henry, too," Sarah said. Although she didn't say so, it was Elijah that she liked better than Kol. Having read books to him, and he to her, she felt a bond with him. His voice was mature and nicely modulated. He was polite and seemed to speak with her with respect. He also acknowledged that she was intelligent, something many men she knew did not, just because she was a woman. She definitely wanted to see what this man looked like close-up.

A/N Well, Kol is not going to be pleased if he figures this out! I've also decided to bring Mikael back somehow. Thanks for reading.