"Mama, gracias para ayudarme con mis pesadillas!
Cloette got up and ran down the stairs. The scent of black pepper whetted her appetite for the first meal of the day. But Annette chased the child before her little girl could steal a piece of the fried potatoes from Hana's plate. Annette held the child by her shoulders, lifted her, and set her down, looking at her daughter's face.
"Holdup! Espera!
Cloette pondered a bit and observed Hana holding a fork to her mouth with a cup of warm yak milk in the other hand. She then looked at her mom and shook her head, denying the fact that the food was hers.
"Ah, it's alright! She can have a small potato. I still have more." Hana chuckled as she drank her warm yak milk.
Annette patted the child's back in approval and nodded in agreement with the child's decision. Although she could also hear a small rumbling sound from her stomach. Chuckling in embarrassment, Annette went over to Hana and tapped on her shoulder.
"Perdoname.
"Sure, as long as you clean up the place and have something to exchange for some extra ingredients." Laughed the dwarven madam.
Annette noticed the small container of black peppercorns running out. She held onto two small peppercorns, some eggs, and several cuts of venison. Prepping food was something Annette always had to do back then.
It was called mis en place in French. Meaning 'Everything in place', which she did by mincing the venison, and dicing the onion and carrots. She took out a pan and placed it on the stove as the heat from the flames slowly increased in temperature, which caused white smoke to come out of the skillet.
It was prepped for cooking; she put in a dollop of butter, the minced onions, and carrots to stir-fry until it was translucent. She tapped the wooden spoon on the side, placed the diced meat into the pan, and whisked some eggs into a scramble with a splash of milk. Cloette drooled from the richness of butter. Including the sweetness from the caramelization of onions and carrots.
The smell of cooked blood from the venison was seared into the skillet when Annette stirred with the wooden spoon. Cloette helped by putting the skins of the onion in the trash bucket. Since the child was in the kitchen, she became peckish and opened her mouth, grunting, seeking her mother's attention to feed her the cooked venison.
Annette grabbed a small spoon and fed Cloette the small spoonful of hot food while she poured the eggs into the pan. It sizzled from the contact of the hot pan, stirring it to even out the other cooked ingredients. Cloette walked off to the town while her mom made the food for the morn, enjoying the sample of her mother's cooking.
But all she saw was darkness, and a few bunches of fires from small oil lamps. Children were going off to school, some went out with sleds and their dogs howled throughout the village. Conversations by the center with people drinking some hot milk from their homes and enjoying basic conversations amongst themselves.
They're adorned with a variety of furs, leathers, and horns as clothing. Cloette felt slightly cold, but she didn't mind walking around the village. Once she took a step forward into the snow, she fell through it.
Laughing and screaming with joy from the surprise. She called out for help a bit later when her toes felt like pins and needles. One of the dwarven called out her name by the Inn's front entrance.
It was the dwarven boy from earlier who noticed the hole and the small voice. He saw Cloette looking up at the boy and smiled at her. She reached her arm up for help and he used a shovel's handle for her to grab on. The strength when he pulled her up so fast, she cartwheeled through the air, laughing, and landed in the woods at the back of the Inn.
"You are too strong!" giggled the dhampir, as she struggled to stand up on the uneven slope.
Her laughter echoed in the night morning. Each tear from her eyes fell from her cheek and the aurora happened once more. Waves of vibrant colors imprinted the snow like a river made of paint.
She looked at the ground, jumped on the snow, and it turned into a turtle. Cloette stepped again and then a small fox made of snow popped up. Both children were so excited, they ran back to Hana's Inn gleefully.
Smoke came from the inn, and she heard her mother calling out her name for breakfast. Cloette approached the door when she saw her mother yelling out her name. But the little girl snuck behind her mom into the kitchen and yelled out for her mom.
Annette looked back spooked when she saw her daughter suddenly on the table without her noticing. The witch looked at the ground and saw waves of colored snow on the floor from her right side. She followed the trail to the kitchen where it started melting and saw a grinning, mischievous child in her chair.
Cloette giggled loudly, "Got you mama!"
Hana laughed along with Cloette from her prank, and the others joined in the joke. Then they ended up eating their first breakfast together, the edible spread of her mother's cooking as she helped make food for the rest. After breakfast was over, Cloette licked the plate clean, literally.
"She makes a good joke, this girl." chuckled Hana. She wiped a single tear from her eye from the excessive laughter.
"Si, she always does that when Samuel was coming home from a trip. Sometimes I wished she would understand more." sighed the witch. A sense of mourning surrounded her that brought her subtle tears.
Hana put her hand on Annette's shoulder and comforted her with a hug. Whispering calming words in her ear.
But Annette tried to stay strong. Eventually, she broke down and sobbed into Hana's chest. The giant dwarven woman would only cover her eyes so that nobody could see tears run down her freckled face.