She curled into a ball under her covers, the cat snuggling tight into her chest and the dogs taking up the rest of her bed. Outside a storm raged, the weather so severe it drove her usually stoic canines into behaving like giant furry babies. Fingertips gently comforting the shivering cat in her arms, Ceres sighed and blinked back tears and memories.
After the awkward moment with Mikhail, she had done the best she could to avoid him. If there was a request on the board from him, she would complete it and leave the items for him at the counter of the town hall. Her claim that she was too busy to deliver it in person was believable, though, as she was. The addition of new livestock had required that she get Pierce, Oliver and Lilah to help out. Thanks to them, getting the chickens, cows and sheep out required very little effort for which she was grateful.
Another roll of thunder shook the small cottage. Detaching the shaken Pierce from her night clothes, she set him on the pillow and slid out of bed. Grabbing a box of matches, she lit a candle and carried it with her to the kitchen. Sleep would not come easily to her tonight, so she might as well do something productive until it did. Ceres set about making a pot of tea, and while it brewed got down her favorite mug. She hummed softly to herself as the water boiled, and inhaled deeply as the sweet aroma soothed her.
A half an hour later, she was lounging on her bed sipping tea as she read a dog-eared, tattered paperback. Though it may have been intended for younger readers, Howl's Moving Castle was a treasured possession that she read every chance she could. True, those chances were few and far between now, yet she did her best to sneak in the odd moment. Suddenly she yawned, blinking rapidly to try to clear her blurring vision. With a resigned sigh, she set her book aside and took the mug to the sink, then drifted wearily back to her bed. Collapsing into it and throwing the blankets over her, she blew out the candle. With the sound of the storm slowly fading, she drifted off to sleep wondering how Mikhail was faring...
All I can say is...finally! Too much nonsense going on with my end of things, not going to bore you with it, but I will say it involves the fact that I am, indeed, a cripple. Also yes, I know, this chapter is so short, and I am so sorry! I just felt that those few who followed this story in the beginning needed something to let them know I was still alive and still going to write this.
Chapter four is in the works now, I swear it. Just going through and touching things up in the first two chapters to make it work for the plans I have finally come up with for how this will go.