Word Count: 7715

Morning broke with the sun on a calm day and the relief Sehun felt at waking in the comfort of his own home was palpable. These days were becoming less frequent the longer his current situation continued. He pushed himself into a sitting position and groaned when his back protested. He was stiff all over from having slept on the floor, but he didn’t mind; he had endured far worse aches before.

As he stretched and worked the knots from his muscles, he woke more and more. Taeyeon had already snuck out of the bedroom earlier that morning without waking him. He sighed and got dressed. It wasn’t until he was moving about his room that he saw her through his window. She was sitting out front on a stump that they hadn't bothered to dig up. It had been years since they had cut down that tree and it was starting to sprout all over the place. Even still, it made a good seat for meditation and admiring the border of the forest. Sehun would greet her. but he first had to join his father in morning prayer.

Kneeling before their little alter, Sehun took up the prayers. It was in the middle of his prayers that his thoughts turned to the bird songs outside their dirty window. He loved the little birds that hung out in the rafters of their shed and loved finding their eggs every spring. But this was unusual to hear the bird songs so close to winter. They should be long gone by now and finding a temporary home until winter passed. The change in season was a mere few weeks away, after all.

After finishing prayer, Sehun cleaned the altar as usual and went to investigate. He should have known that it was Taeyeon making the bird calls. He came over and sat with her on the stump so he could listen. It became an uphill battle over the years as she tried to teach Sehun this skill. Mimicking the sounds of birds was among her favorite activities and Sehun enjoyed it, too. He had yet to master the art like she had, but that made listening to her even more enjoyable. His favorite song was from the nightingale. It was no doubt the most beautiful singer in this forest. Rumors said that even the song of the phoenix was not enough to go beyond the talents of the nightingale. He imagined there must have been magic in their voices. Taeyeon must have used magic to mimic them as well.

"Have you been practicing?" Taeyeon asked him. Sehun gave her an honest reply and shook his head. She nudged him with a shoulder as a small way of scolding him. "Then you'll never get better at it."

"I know," he whined, nudging her back in retaliation. "But I like hearing you do it more anyway. I get to hear them in the winter when you're here."

"I will not always be here to entertain you," Taeyeon muttered, smiling anyway.

Sehun laughed as if the thought of not seeing her were a joke. Somehow, it was hard to believe there would come a year where he would not be able to see Taeyeon again. Not hearing her voice or her birdsong anymore was a foreign thought. He had been able to hear it every year in his memory and it would be like losing a member of his family if she never came back. He would be heartbroken if there were also no explanation.

Though he considered her a sister, she also acted very much like a mother. She liked seeing Sehun and had even mentioned that he reminded her of her son when she saw him. The two of them being close in age didn't help that similarity. Taeyeon had had her son when she was eighteen, leaving Sehun only a year younger than him. She didn't speak much of him because she claimed being away from him was hard enough. She couldn't bear thinking of him more often than she already did. Missing him so much likely influenced some of how she spoke to and treated Sehun. It felt loving, and couldn't imagine her leaving him for good and being without that love.

"Then teach me again," he ended up saying. "I'll try harder." So, she did. She taught him how to mimic the proper whistles and warbles and chirps with both his mouth and hands. She taught him common calls of birds in the area and saved the nightingale for last. She only did this because she knew the nightingale was his favorite and it kept his attention. With a human mouth, there were some sounds that weren't natural. It was determination and stubbornness that forced him to press onward. Sehun continued to struggle with it until his father called them in for breakfast.

Their meal was cold, but it was filling. Leftovers from the stew the night before were still in the pot. It was still good, though Sehun always maintained that food was always best served warm. They did not always have that luxury. He scarfed down the food like it were the only meal he had eaten in days.

He wondered what kinds of things Taeyeon would expect of him this time. She often had Sehun do extra chores when she arrived, and it was the one thing Sehun hated about her visits. Her favorite tasks were cleaning tasks, but those weren't the only tasks she assigned. In the past, she had asked him to run simple errands and help local shop owners as well for some extra money. Though, looking around, he suspected it would be cleaning this year. He took in the disaster that was his home and cringed.

As if on cue, Taeyeon commented, "This house is filthy." Sehun rolled his eyes. Taeyeon liked a spotless house more than she liked good food. It was too bad that Sehun and his father didn't always have time to sweep and dust the cobwebs. Getting the extra water from the river was a hassle anyway and Sehun hated doing it when it got cold. "Let's clean it up and then we can go into town."

That was a surprise. Taeyeon didn't usually give rewards for the work she designated, but it was a good incentive to work hard. She knew Sehun loved to browse the village markets and he hadn't expected Taeyeon to offer to take him.

"Sure," he agreed, trying not to respond too fast so he wouldn't sound like he was as excited as he was. She seemed to know anyway, based on the smirk she flashed him.

"I'll be going to get some supplies for us, then," his father hummed, already rising to his feet. "Better to stock up on medicines before the winter hits."

Taeyeon nodded in agreement. "Also, cheaper to buy them when no one yet needs them," she added. "We'll be seeing you later then."

Junseok gathered a few things in a satchel with a nod of his head and a smile. He gathered some of the fresh animal skins and picked up some coins from the jar he hid in a cupboard. Then he wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and headed out the door.

Before he was even off their lands, Taeyeon turned to Sehun with a little smile. "Be a dear and go to the river. I'll start dusting. The cobwebs are large this year. You and your father have no shame."

She was right. Sehun felt no shame at all for this. He was lazy and proud of it in regard to housework. But he knew Taeyeon wouldn't let it slide if he refused; he'd have a wooden spoon taken to the back of his head in no time. Threats of punishment from Taeyeon were enough. Sehun knew it was a threat whether she gave him a verbal warning or not.

So, with a sigh, Sehun got his old cloak on and left for the river with the bucket he had gathered from outside. He didn't like making this trek for extra water, but he didn't mind the extra time in the forest. As he walked, he named the plants he saw to the best of his ability and took mental note of the ones he had forgotten. He planned to ask about them later. The bucket was light, and it swung like a pendulum at his side until he set it down at the riverside.

The river was swift moving and cold as the water ran from the glacier encrusted mountains. The river source was somewhere higher up in the mountains and it suggested adventure. He and his father went might one day go up there to find it, but they hadn't had a chance to go yet. Sehun often wondered if his father was planning to go when they left this place for good.

When filling the bucket, he had to be careful to avoid getting swept away in the aggressive current. It was as much to avoid drowning as it was to avoid freezing, but he still had to go deep enough to get the water he required. He didn't want to make this trip more than he needed to, so only a full to the brim bucket would do.

When he finally had a full bucket, he pulled it from the river, hands red and aching from the cold, and made his way back. He walked much slower on the way back, careful to not spill any of the water he had collected. It was too chilly for this and he swore his fingers were freezing into solid blocks of ice. He whined about frostbite and amputation the longer his fingers stayed wet in the cold.

Arriving back at the house, Sehun frowned at the mop and broom and all the cloths that now laid on the floor and table. They were safe in their hiding places before he left, but now they were out in the open. A spoon finally came to the back of his head as soon as he set the bucket down.

"Ow!" he groaned, covering his head with his arms to protect himself from further attack. He spun around to look at his assailant, finding Taeyeon with her arms crossed over her chest. A frown marred her features and her foot tapped the floor in impatience. "What was that for?" Sehun whined.

"Even your cleaning supplies had webs on it!" she snapped. "You two need to stop acting like a pair of children and do the chores every once in a while. There is no woman to do them for you." Sehun felt every bit like a scolded child as she waved the wooden spoon in his face, but he didn't say anything. Taeyeon groaned and grabbed the broom, pushing it into his hands. "Start a sweep. I finished dusting the cobwebs over in the kitchen so start there."

Sehun went to sweep the floor in the kitchen without verbal complain. There was more debris from Taeyeon's dust than there was leaves from the shedding trees. He grumbled to himself about the indignity of it all while he swept it all away with vigor. He ended up going back over some of his previous areas later after sweeping the whole house. In his pouting and grumbling, his irritation rustled up the wind a little. It knocked loose more dust that Taeyeon in her tiny stature hadn't been able to reach. This meant Sehun had to sweep yet again and it made him even more frustrated.

"Well," Taeyeon laughed when he finally put the broom aside, "your powers have some use after all. Now you need to learn how to do that on purpose and by mistake."

Sehun was about to complain, but Taeyeon stuffed an old rag and a small water bucket into his hands. "Clean the windows," she said. "I'll mop the floor.

Sehun did as told, but not before stomping away in irritation. He continued to grouch the whole way through the job, but he had to admit that it looked nice. The much-needed light came in easier through clean windows than it did through dirty ones. It made the neglected house feel less bleak and more welcoming. He always felt this way after cleaning, but it didn't make him want to do it again any more than it had the prior times.

Below him, the floors became a faded brown, worn through from the years of walking all over it. Tracking in dirt and mud from the forest and the streets had darkened it to near black, but a mop still managed to do well. As a whole, the house was a disaster and Sehun's destructive powers hadn't done anything to help its state. It was still home, though, and Sehun had found a strange fondness for it after all these years. It was the only home he had ever known.

Sehun got sent to clean his room next. This was a much easier task because he often cleaned up the mess he made from everyday use. No clothes littered the floor and his boots were always against the wall. But he had never held himself to the cleanliness standard that Taeyeon did. The few clothes he owned never had neat folds and his knickknacks were rarely moved for dusting. His bed was seldom made and the mud from his boots caked the floors.

"Stomp your boots out before going into your room, it's not difficult," she told him as he mopped up his own room. There was even rabbit poop that had gotten swept up under the bed at some point or another. That horrified Taeyeon to no end.

"Still not eating him," Sehun said before sticking his tongue out in her general direction. To make things even more plain he went to get an extra carrot for his little rabbit.

"He'd make a great meal," she said. Sehun wasn't listening.

With the house cleaned, Sehun was finally allowed to sit down for the first time in hours. Swept and mopped floors as well as cleaned windows were a new addition to the home. The few baubles they owned returning to their homes was the final touch. Sehun had gone back to the river two more times for more water. Taeyeon had tried to get him to go back out again one last time before he put his foot down. Exhaustion was hitting him, but he had to admit that the house looked rather pleasant. It only looked this nice when she was around. Taeyeon laughed at him.

"You're so young and yet you still can't hold a candle to my energy, can you?" she teased.

"You aren't normal," he shot back in irritation. "For an old lady such as yourself, it's a miracle you don't need a cane yet." It might have been a little too mean in response to Taeyeon's teasing.

"Do you want the belt, boy?" she countered, glaring at him while she folded her arms. She was not amused. "I may not be your father, but I know when a child is being disrespectful."

That shut Sehun up. When he was much younger, Taeyeon had enforced punishment once and he never forgot it. As a child, he grew a slight crush on Taeyeon. All the adults called it puppy love and claimed he would get over it, but back then it was very much real. But he had angered her enough to the point of forcing him to expose his bum for her to give him a good spanking. Sehun whined about it for days, even after Taeyeon left. It was embarrassing and his crush on Taeyeon was gone after that.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he muttered as he shrank into himself. That physical response was not her fault though. Sehun had learned that response from someone elsewhere. Displeasing Sir Choi when he told Sehun to do something often came with punishments. They were not the punishments some people had told him of where he believed he would learn to like them. No, these were downright painful, and he did everything he could to avoid them now that he knew what to expect. Somehow, no matter how good he was, he never could escape punishment anyway. If the noble was in a bad mood, Sehun might get one for breathing too loud.

Taeyeon seemed to take note of this reaction, but she didn't say anything of it. Instead, she unfolded her arms and ruffled his hair as a way of comforting him and getting him to relax again. "Gather any money you wish to take with you," she said. "And don't forget your cloak. It's cold out there." Sehun nodded and went to gather his things.

He went back to his room where he had deposited his cloak on the bed he had made up fresh only an hour ago. But when he went to the nook in the wall that he hid his money in, he glanced at the few coins he had tossed on the top. Remembering the night with Sir Choi, he shivered and tried to justify his use of the coins. It required the use of an I-earned-it kind of attitude to settle his thoughts a little. If he had to take the abuse so he could live, at least he got something out of it, right? Right. He shoved a good amount of his scant savings in a pouch and left his room.

He came back out front where Taeyeon was waiting for him and they headed into town together. Even the difference between early morning and now was a great deal warmer. It was still chilly and Sehun's wound his cloak tight around himself, but it was better. It was at least much more tolerable than it had been when his fingers were freezing in the river only an hour ago. He was still excited to return home to a warm fire in the fireplace when they finished.

The market was lively, despite the cold. It was as if people didn't care and continued to go about their business in spite of it. He could hear children whining of the cold to their parents. Looking up, he spotted a few trying to take shelter in mothers' thick shawls to stay warm. Sehun thought they were cute. He had always liked children. His dreams would sometimes bring him to alternate realities where he was a father. Often, these dream