Chapter 236: Cottage Reality

I’ve got a shout this week! SaffronDragon’s Pretenders to the Throne is a fantasy woman-out-of-time story that blends trans themes with Arthurian lore and a properly unique magic system. It’s got moral gray areas, an eggy living weapon, and a lot of very well-developed side characters!

If you like stories of self-growth and discovery and want an egg protagonist with a side of chivalrous heroism, you should really go check it out!

When I returned home to Astrye, I circled over the castle’s tower. Sey wasn’t there, and our bedroom was as we left it—mostly empty.

I’d thought of Astrye as home, hadn’t I?

Well, perhaps it truly could be someday. But today, I flew out into the snow-capped peaks following the thread of connection I had with my wife. A mountain over from where we’d fought Berethiel, tucked into a high valley cast in early afternoon winter shade, I found her.

Seyari was sitting cross-legged on a rock, in a clearing void of snow. The dirt was warm as I touched down, and she beckoned me over.

“I’ve spent all day looking for the best view,” she said as she pulled me into a chaste kiss. “But I also wanted your opinion.”

I sat next to her, tail wrapping behind us as her wing draped over me. Ahead, dirt gave way to a wind-blown slope of snow. Beyond, an alpine field undulated once, then dipped out of sight into a line of old pines.

The next mountain rose above it, jagged and rocky on this lee side, and the sun’s descent looked quite a bit like it was coming to rest between two rocky teeth.

“There’s a small lake frozen there.” Sey pointed. “And a stream where the trees are, fed by a glacier just up the way.”

I followed her hand, then turned to look at where we were. The trees thickened beyond, a little pocket of forest out of the wind that rolled up the mountainside until they thinned out from the altitude. Snow gave way to bare rock, climbing to a peak some ways above us.

“It’s perfect,” I breathed.

“Good.” Sey grinned. “Because I think it is. Well, except for visitors. There’s a way to make a path following the creek, but it’ll be quite the hike from Astrye.”

I stuck my tongue out. “If you thought it was perfect, why’d you ask my opinion?”

“I wanted to see if you’d be right.” She flicked my horn.

“Of course.”

We sat in silence for a little while longer, watching the sun dip until the shadows lengthened.

“Should we get started?” I asked eventually.

“Do you know the first thing about building a cottage?”

“Yes, actually. My cabin’s still standing on my island, thank you very much. Nelys and I stayed the night there when I was flying them home.”

“What about with stone?” Sey kicked at the rock underneath us. “I don’t fancy cutting these trees and I’d bet stone would be warmer.”

I looked around the clearing. It wasn’t hard to imagine a home here: sturdy stone walls, a roof covered in snow, and lazy swirls of smoke drifting out of the chimney. From the meadow beyond, its windows would light the woods like eyes in the dark.

I nodded, hand on my chin. “I like it. Can’t be that different, right?”

Sey snorted and shoved my shoulder.

“What? We can at least try it, right Sey? There’s plenty of rock to go around.”

“Are you planning to just rip it out of the mountain?”

I nodded and looked around for a good place to quarry. Maybe I ought to go a mountain over.

“Of course.” She huffed, but the smile she wore gave her away. “This is nice, you know.”

“Hmm?” I looked back down at Sey just in time for her to lean up against me, settling her head into the crook of my neck.

“This. Just us, even if it’s for a few hours.”

“We’ve had plenty—”

“Not like this.”

I looked around again, listening to the sheer silence of the winter mountains. “Yeah, not like this.”

We held each other until the sun trapped itself between the spires of the mountain and the trees dipped into shadow. For no reason other than nostalgia, I took down a dead tree and snapped the trunk into firewood. Sey wanted the honors, so she lit it with a flick of her fingers and we watched the smoke trail up into the stars.

I could imagine Nelys sleeping quietly in their tent and Taava strumming softly. Salvador would be prepping dinner, while Myrna and Phol argued quietly over how much of their latest purchase to sell in the next town. Even Kartania and Brynna I could see in the dancing flames, the former polishing her armor while the latter incongruously fiddled with her horn adornments.

All the same, I saw me and Sey, camping in the pinewoods of northeastern Ordia, watching the shadows in the trees warily. Now, though, we were in my demesne, on a lonely, quiet mountain. But the wood crackled the same, the needles felt the same under my feet, and the smoke still clung to our hair.

I picked up a log and stuck my claws into it, absentmindedly splitting it apart with my upper two hands while my lower two held it. Seyari watched, firelight flickering in her golden eyes.

“We were always a little different from normal travelers, weren’t we?”

I set the splits down. “Yeah. We sure had an easier time starting a fire.”

Sey laughed. “Not just that. We were more worried about what would happen to people who found us than what they’d do. And I’d bet we’re better hunters.”

I looked down at my claws and flicked some splinters out from under them. “Yeah, I guess. Didn’t stop me from jumping at shadows sometimes.”

She hummed. “You were really scared of yourself back then.”

“And you weren’t?”

She shrugged. “I knew what I was.”

“Riiight.”

She buffeted me with her wing. “I wonder sometimes what would have happened that night if we’d gone after Mordwell instead of running away.”

For a moment, we listened to the fire crackling and that night I’d so often tried to forget played again and again in my mind. “Well, if we hadn’t died, and my sister and I hadn’t… hurt each other worse, then maybe we’d have killed him. What then?”

“Then the Church would’ve come after us like they did anyway,” she continued. “But Mordwell would have been dead.”

“What about Lockmoth and the Gelles Company? Would we still be on the run then, branded successfully by the Church as monsters? Would I have had any chance at meeting my sister again?”

“I like to think she’d have joined us then.” Sey grabbed my hand and squeezed. “And the Church did that to us anyway, and look at all the good it’s done for them.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I pulled on a tattered thread of thought. “The thing I wish about that night is that I could’ve saved Lorelei.”

“She didn’t deserve it,” Sey said softly.

“Do you really think that?”

“...No, I suppose I don’t. But I hate how she fell for Mordwell’s lies over and over and hurt you.”

“She was a victim, Sey.”

“She was.” She knit her brows. “Can we… talk about something else?”

“Sure.” I put my hand on her thigh.

She looked at it, then back up at me. “How about the night you took me flying?”

My chest tightened. “I remember. Sey, I’m—”

“Thank you for it, truly.” She wrapped her arm around mine and pulled closer. “I think if things hadn’t worked out as they have, if I didn’t feel so whole again, that it’d be the best moment of my life.”

“Really?”

Sey leaned into my shoulder and exhaled gently. “Really. I’m glad. For everything, I think. Things could be so much worse, and we’re here now, together and alive.” She shivered. “But you could turn up the heat a little.”

With a thought I did so, and Sey practically melted into me. “Now this was the biggest difference between us and other travelers. They didn’t get to bring the fire into their tents with them.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“Yeah?”

“What? I miss being a heater. It’s a good job: reliable, and you earn thanks in every smile and relaxed muscle. You might not get paid much, but you get room and board and can sneak portions of dinner every so often. No one’s gonna leave you behind, either.”

Seyari snorted. “I know what you’re trying to do.”

“And?” I raised an eyebrow. “Do you think you can stop my nefarious plan?”

“I don’t think I want to.” She reached down and tickled my sides.

I bit my tongue to stifle a laugh, not wanting to let her win. Eventually though, she claimed victory, tumbling on top of my giggle-wracked form even as I pinned her with my tail. By now, the sun had set fully behind the mountain. Lingering twilight lit everything with a purple glow as the colors of day washed out to the crisp lines of night.

“Want to see about starting the cottage?” I asked eventually.

“Now?”

“We can see in the dark, and I slept the other day. Plus, it’s not like we have tents or bedrolls.”

“I figured I’d use you as a bed.” She pushed against my breasts. “You’ve got the best pillows, even if you’re a little firm.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right, but what about my bed?”

Sey just shrugged.

“See?”

“See what? That doesn’t sound like my problem.” She smiled with sharp teeth.

“Well it is mine,” I huffed exaggeratedly.

Sey laughed. “You think you can finish a cabin in a night?”

“I think I can start it. And I’d bet I can do more of it than you.”

“Oh you’re on! But we need a plan first, you big lunk. I don’t want a square with a roof.”

“Then we’d better get on it.”

She grabbed my tail and spun around so she was sitting on me. “We’d better. And I’ll be using this.” She gave my tail a tug. “Unless you’ve got something else to measure with.”

I looked at the spade in her hand and back to the bare dirt around. “Maybe we ought to borrow some tools from town.”

“Race you there?”

I grinned back. “Sure.”

***

We ended up borrowing more than tools, and by the time the morning sun had crept back into the valley we had a draft, a staked-out floorplan, and a pile of lumber I’d flown in myself. Replaced, of course, by my own tree-chopping efforts.

Astrye owed us nothing in aiding with our vanity project. That hadn’t stopped about a dozen people from volunteering to help. Right down to an old, battered tea set we’d set on the rock. With a little adjustment, it’d make for a fine base to our hearth.

On the first floor. Because the cute little cottage idea had struggled to stay little. We needed a living room, we needed a kitchen. We needed a dining room, and something inside for basic needs rather than an outhouse. And then of course was our bedroom, and washroom, and a second washroom for the guests. Which came with bedrooms for guests: two of course, with a third that Joisse could call her own. Then there was a ground-level forge and workshop to consider for later.

What started as a cute idea with a warm hearth and a box of flowers in the little upstairs window had turned into a plan for something more closely resembling our large house in Lockmoth. Right now, I was digging a cellar while Seyari gathered and piled stones like a bird building a strange nest..

Despite my demesne and my ability, we’d be setting the main floor half into the earth, with the cellar fully buried up the slope. A sort of split upper story would leave our rooms and Joisse’s above the main living space with the other rooms above the cellar.

Even with demonic (or angelic) stamina, flight, and a good bit of support, this would take weeks of nonstop work. Nonstop work that didn’t involve grand designs, that didn’t involve killing, and that I could throw my all into without another care in the world.

Because until Taava updated me, until the guards posted on the pass sent a message, or until Lillith or maybe-Sylvia got here, there was no point in agonizing over maybes. But a lot of point in digging a literal hole.

“We’ll need to do something about the way the walls will look,” Sey said after dropping off another load of stones.

“Why?” I asked, keeping my focus so I wouldn’t snap the shovel I was using. Four hands and a tail and the best way for me to move dirt was still a fragile human tool. The dirt here wasn’t too deep—we’d be fusing stone to stone and need to dig in for the cellar.

She dodged a few piles of rapid-fire dirt and crouched on the edge above me. “Well, if you fuse all the stones, they’ll look like a molten mass and not like a proper mortared wall.”

“There’s no good way to do mortar up here in winter—it’d take forever.”

“I’m not suggesting that. What if we just draw a pattern on the outside, or maybe cover it with stuck-on shaved stones. Then plaster the inside. I don’t want to live in a too-smooth cave.”

“I’m not sure about the outside, but yes to plaster.” I winced as the head of the shovel hit rock and bent again. While I bent the blade back into shape, I looked up at Sey. “Maybe we just claw some texture in? Or try some sort of painted pattern? Maybe wood shingles?”

“Maybe.”  She stood up. “But I think we should get the walls up first and then worry.”

“You were the one who brought it up!” I shook the shovel at her, but she was already flying away.

When she came back next, with another armful of nearly identical stones, I was about done digging out the cellar. Not restricting myself to human speed had a great many advantages. I couldn’t say the same about the shovel. I’d had to basically re-forge the head, and the handle had long since splintered.

“Where are you getting all those rocks from so quickly?” I asked as I jumped out of the pit to admire my hole-digging prowess.

“You remember the night we made our vows, right?”

I blinked. “Yeah, of course I do!”

“Well, remember the crater from when we—”

“I do!” I blushed as I cut her off. “Yes, alright, there should be enough rock there.”

“You know,” she purred, “I think it’s poetic that we’re making our home out of the rocks we fucked to pieces.”

I choked and a jet of fire shot out. “You… did you… why?”

“Flustered, are we?”

I turned to look at her, with her playful smile and bright eyes. With a growl, I pounced on her. We made little progress until evening, but we certainly dug the cellar.