Insight on how Grell prepares for Winter. LOLZ Sorry it's a tad tedious, but Undertaker and Grell get together during winter so I thought it was important.

Grell treated herself to a warm bubble bath when she got home, using her rarest and most expensive oils and soaps. Having lived a long time she experimented and found which ones were better for maintaining healthy, beautiful skin. These were obviously the most expensive; shea butter, lavender oil, tea tree oil, and neem oil. She had to be very courteous to her small supply so she didn't use much. A fair amount of bubbles instead of a lot rose in the water, their striking and languid scent making her want to sleep again. She often used oatmeal scrubs, olive oil, and now and then a little coco butter, but none of them made her as beautiful as her seldom used suds. She had a night of enjoying herself though and wasn't about to waste it. There was nothing wrong with spoiling herself a little. Besides that, she had to finish up some choirs her 'illness' had made her skip out on.

With Winter arriving she had to harvest her garden, put the drying meat on the veranda away, and get her furs out from the trunk. This meant having to pack some of her precious silks away, and they were quite expensive. Being Warden did provide a rather fine salary, but it had to be used wisely. By wisely, it normally meant after necessities Grell would buy dresses and shoes fit for women. This often drained his salary in one to three days. She didn't admire the furs though, they were from animals she had killed herself. Having a chainsaw for a scythe was quite useful, decapitating an animal with sudden surprise! Oh, if only she could find animals with redder fur. She had a few bear pelts, one made into a coat and the other a blanket. Others she sold for spare cash, once again splurged about on cosmetic needs.

The forest provided berries and occasionally some other fruits that she mashed into jam with brown sugar, for the most part Grell gardened. It seemed odd but when she noted everyone in the Labyrinth had scythe also designed as a gardening tool, she deciding to take up the hobby. It served as something to do on her days off. She had to store that harvest away for winter as well, luckily she didn't have to worry about ice in winter since she'd have more than enough to keep her vegetables fresh in Winter. Fruit she could obtain from town, such as bananas, cherries, and other such things. Some she had already preserved in jars or dried. The sweetest of her foods she had already stored away; honey! Winter was so dry, honey often helped her throat retain moisture and get better when she'd catch a cold, and her skin as well. It was an uncommon beauty fact that honey helped skin maintain moisture. She was adamant on having a supply in Winter since it was so hard to find in winter.

Sighing, Grell decided it was time to get out of the tub. The water was losing its warmth and she had to drain it via a pail. Scrubbing the suds out of her hair she stood and threw a towel around herself. Once her hair was dry and dried her body and put a robe on around her body. She then opened the window and with one scoop at a time being draining the tub. Once the tub was empty and dried the inside of it with a spare towel to keep it from rusting. It was almost one in morning, it was best she harvested the vegetables now before the frost set in and destroyed the plants.

She'd have to dress in an apron and ragged dress, she would hate to dirty her more expensive dresses.

Grell rubbed her eyes as she final brought in the final round. Her garden stretched around her whole cottage, despite how it only looked to be up front. She'd lost count of the vegetables, but her table was overflowed with them. There were many heads so of lettuce, red cabbage, purple carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes (for pie,) celery, tomatoes, and red and yellow bell peppers mixed in with some other small vegetables. Oh, even after that she was exhausted from harvesting them she had to clean them, she had to pack them away through. She put most of vegetables in the ice box (she'd put more on the veranda later where the meat was drying, when it was colder) aside from some she was going to use to make dinner. A small bowl of fruit was left amidst the table with some carrots, yellow peppers, spinach, and some Romaine lettuce.

Next she turned to the door leading to the veranda where she'd cut meat into thin slices and left it out in the sun to dry. Every now and then she spiced them but they didn't need that anymore. They smelled delicious already! Mainly the strips were of deer meat, but there was a scarce amount of bear jerky and some even from birds. Her favorites meats she'd have to get in town when winter struck, if she was lucky she'd run into some good steak. Oh that made her mouth water, a nice slab of juicy steak with a little bit of blood left in the middle! Or salmon soaked in tomato! It was a shame that salmon was out of season.

Cracking her knuckles she gathered the jerky in the jars she laid out for them and then placed them on her kitchen counter. She took one strip and began to chew on it, she was hungry after all. The flour she had in a bag in the corner of the kitchen, she'd have to get eggs from town, but she had butter and enough cooking oil for at least half the winter. Oh, she could just imagine it, being alone in this cabin provisioned for herself? Waiting for some big strong man to keep her warm when the furs held no avail. She shivered in near ecstasy, maybe her mortician friend would come and help her?

There a knock at door! She squealed under-breath. Oh, she'd not been expecting a guest. She hurriedly went over to the door, ignorant of the jerky hanging from her mouth, and opened the door. No one was there, she sighed...Maybe a branch hit her door? It was rather windy out, and not only that but it began to rain heavily. Thank goodness she harvested her garden before the storm got any worse. Sighing, she shut and locked the door.

"Such unfortunate weather you're having," an eerie voice cracked. Grell jumped and turned around sharply, the jerky falling from her mouth, finding the mortician there and soaking wet.

"Buh...How?" she turned to the door and then back to him, "You're a magician aren't you?"

"Oh, you haven't forgotten our kind's inhuman speed?" he lifted her chin up with one his long, black nails. Grell snickered somewhat, blushing everso softly.

"Are you teasing me?" she purred.

"Depends, should I tease you because you're pretty? Or just because of the wardrobe you've chosen?" he chuckled, grinning eerily.

"Oh, my outfit's of no real concern here, you're soaking wet, and ruining my floor! You're lucky I had to put the silk away or you'd be dead!" Grell scolded somewhat, "Well, don't just stand there. The bathroom's over there behind that door, there should be enough towels for you to dry off,"

Undertaker chuckled, tapping her nose with his finger fingernails, "Such a generous hostess,"

I should find a way to reward you for your generosity.

Don't worry, smexy time in next chapter!