Merl woke early with the sun like he did every morning. Although, looking outside at the dark clouds and lifting wind, it was more habit than sun. Getting dressed and washing his face from the water bowl on his desk, Merl relished sleeping in his own bed again.
He held nothing against Stranger for taking Anamira's bed but sleeping on the floor was never fun, and he had sagged in relief when after a week of staying with them Stranger had demanded the bird monster take back her bed. It had been a rather funny conversation, Merl thought, watching a large skeleton awash with guilt and trying to explain that she didn't want to take the bed anymore. Once more he had been reminded of a child when looking at Stranger.
The first thing he did when entering the kitchen was stoke the fire in the hearth. It had held on as embers through the night and he happily fed it from the cut wood he stacked beside it. When the wood had caught he moved back out into the main room and set about lighting the main fire as well.
As he piled kindling in he looked up at the windows, a sharp gust of wind rattling the shutters and seeping through the cracks in the house. It sounded like a bad storm. Merl frowned and grabbed the flint from its box on the lip of the hearth. Hopefully, he thought, this would be the last of the winter storms, and spring would break soon. A quick check on the stock of firewood had him noting to cut more before it started blizzarding.
First task done Merl retreated back to the kitchen and began pulling out some of the sparse potatoes he had left and scowled at one of his larger jars that usually held lentils but was far too low for his liking. Another gust swept through the house and Merl was glad he had dragged on his cloak this morning. He would have to make sure the children wore more layers today.
He had just turned to grab the pot when Stranger ducked through the doorway. Along with her basics, it seemed that Anamira had given her one of her knitted blankets to stand for a shawl, tied together through the wide knit by a scrap of leather at her shoulder. On a human, or most other monsters the loose thing would barely any good, but Stranger hardly seemed bothered by the chill cutting through the house.
He smiled at her. "How are you today, Stranger?" he asked slowly.
He asked most mornings and the repetition seemed to help. Each day she would try to say something new, but when you had only a few words to choose from Merl understood her limitations.
Today she had a longer pause to think than usually, which he took for her trying to pick the word closest to what she meant. She answered with "Up."
He looked over the pot at her from where he had set it on the bench and tried to fit the word with her hopeful smile.
Stranger had never held back when it came to offering a smile or laugh, but they had always seemed a little withdrawn and hesitant. Something had changed, Merl decided, and for the better.
"Ah!" He had just realised what he had thought. "You are feeling better? 'Up', 'better'." he paired the words with a small smile, and then a bigger smile, lifting himself up a little.
Stranger studied him for a moment before she laughed at his antics and nodded. "Yes," she said "better."
He didn't know what exactly has been weighing on her since she had arrived, and he could see it still did, but it seemed as though she was accepting whatever trouble followed her.
He didn't wait for her to ask before pushing the pot in her direction. "Get water." He told her, and though she had to motion to the water barrel to be certain she understood, she took the large iron pot easily and carried it outside to fill it with snow. Meanwhile Merl moved a cloth wrapped package to the centre table to start working on it.
Pulling out the three decent sized fish Merl couldn't be more grateful to the Hutcher family. In return for having some of the children help on his farm they were given free milk and sometimes meat, a godsend when often he and Anamira had little to nothing to trade for food. Especially during the winter months, when their own small garden yielded them no food. The fish had come from the farmer's only son and eldest child, who during autumn and winter trekked through the forests and foothills to hunt, trading the meat and fur in town. The young man had recently returned, a string of fish over his shoulder along with the rest of his spoils and Hutcher had generously given them to Marius and Dale yesterday eve.
They would be good in the pottage this morning, and with the potatoes and the last of their lentils would hopefully warm the children for the day. Maybe even for the night, he thought as he frowned at his shelves. Sometimes Merl wished he could build the orphanage a larder, and buy enough food the stock it full so that no mouth here was ever hungry.
Soon Stranger returned, hanging the pot in the hearth and joining him in preparing the pottage.
The windows rattled loudly and Stranger frowned towards them. Merl smiled at her worry. "Winter is almost over, I am hoping this is its final cry. When spring comes I'll have to repair most of the windows, their shutters have been bad all year." He would have done it before winter, but he had been rather busy with the four new children that had been left with them.
He continued to ramble at Stranger, and she listed attentively as she worked. Sometimes she would catch what he said, and reply back. Although most times it was mostly she to attempt to make jokes about him.
"-hit my head every time I go in there. The chickens don't help of course, squawking themselves into a fuss. I think I'm just a little too tall for it, but Anamira has no trouble with the coop at all! I just don't know how she does it." He grumbled, stirring in the cut fish to the stew.
Stranger stopped collecting the potato peels to think over what he said, before snapping out a laugh. "Merl tall? No. Small! Merl is small."
He swatted playfully at the woman, and she laughed again and danced away, placing the scrap bucket on a low shelf to be fed to the chickens later.
"Don't you start that with me Stranger, I may just teach you your words wrong!" he threatened, but doubted she understood completely. She seemed to get the basics however and just kept laughing at him.
"What sort of ruckus is going on in here?"
Merl shifted attention to Anamira, stood in the doorway, the children bundled curiously behind her. The bird monster smirked at them and he grinned brightly back.
"Stranger is calling me short! Can you believe it? It's very rude." He huffed.
Anamira glanced at stranger and the children giggled. "I most certainly can." She flicked her tail feathers and sung a laugh, motioning to his height compared to her own.
Neither quite caught the mischievous grin in time. "Anamira short like Merl."
Yellow eyes snapped to Stranger, and the children revelled behind the bird.
With swift steps Anamira stood before the laughing Stranger. "I most certainly am not!" and with a decisive tug pulled the skeleton down to her height and cuffed her across the head. The children gasped dramatically, Botti and Jen calling out in exaggerated shock. His monster friend then smirked, huffed and herded the children out, shout orders for the tables to be set up for breakfast and chores to be done.
Stranger stood stooped for a moment, staring after Anamira. Merl thought maybe he should be a little worried by the silence, but then the skeletons red eyes lit up and a heaving laugh burst from her.
Merl thinks he rather likes this better, 'up', Stranger.