A Day with Aunty Raven (Contest entry)

In the early morning light, a young woman with black purplish hair and slightly pointed ears, left a small house overlooking a pond that was fed by a stream. Taking in a deep breath of cool damp morning air the half elf makes her way to the pond.
Already barefooted, the half elf woman slips off her clothes and folds them neatly before wading into the pond and taking the plunge. The water that morning was cold but felt refreshing as it completed her daily morning ritual of taking a swim before she would continue onward to collect flowers and other assorted plant life to make the various potions and salves. This half elf woman was an alchemist named Raven, found peace and quiet away from the large cities in the province of Skyrim.

Sometime later after she had collected the different plants and herbs from the surrounding area, Raven returns to her small house on the hill. Picking a few carrots and potatoes from her small garden, she went back inside.
Fetching a cooking pot to hang over the fire, Raven fills it with water from a jug then goes to the small square table to cut up the vegetables. This morning’s meal would be an apple or two with some bread for now while she prepared the stew. She was expecting company later in the evening.

With the sun starting to dip in the sky, Raven found herself curled up by the window with a blanket pulled over and reading a book. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement. Looking up from her book, from the window a horse’s mane from a brown spotted horse was bouncing up the hill and pulling a wagon.
Raven smiled and put down the book before straightening out a few things in the house then waited at the door.

“Auntie!” came from a little girl followed by two hugs from two young nieces nearly knocked the half elf over.
“It’s soo good to see you two. My how big you two have grown!” Raven laughed and gave them both a hug in return.
“It’s good to see you Raven, it’s been too long.” A yellow skinned elf about the same height as her, spoke before she too gave Raven a hug.
“It has Zelda I’m so glad you and the girls got here safe. Where’s my brother? Is he not with you?” She looked around not seeing her half-elf brother in the wagon. Suddenly she feels two hands squeeze her sides from behind and lets out a shriek. Raven spins around to see a man laughing that she knew all too well.
“Damn you Theo! Every time we see each other you do that to me!” She hit him in the chest but does little to hurt him.
“But if I didn’t how would you know it was me?” Theo gave his younger sister a hug. “I’m good to see you.”
“I’m sure you all are hungry from your journey here. Come, the stew should be almost ready. Now it’s nothing fancy or has meat in it but it’s hearty with vegetables.” Raven went to the cooking pot and stirred it around.

“I’ll help set the table. Where do you keep your bowls and spoon, Raven?” asked Zelda.
“They should be over there in that end table.”

The table was set and everyone took a seat except for Raven who filled everyone’s bowls before her own.  It was a simple yet hearty stew of potatoes and carrots for their supper that evening along with bread and wine. The children received milk and a mountain flower tea their Aunt Raven had prepared earlier.
When they were finished and the table was cleared the children played in the corner while Raven, Theo, and Zelda talked at the table.

“And that’s why you’re leaving Sofie and Amari here? So you two can go on some adventure?”
“We need a break Raven, we love our children but we need a day or two just to ourselves and… the girls don’t get to see you very often. It would be a great chance for them to get to know you better.” Zelda pleaded with her sister-in-law.
“You know we wouldn’t be asking you if there was no one else. Ma and Da went back to Cyrodiil and we don’t have anyone else we trust.” Theo chimed in.
“What about Zelda’s parents?” Raven asked.

Zelda and Theo glanced at each other.
“They are...uh...not doing so well. Fighting more and more and I don’t think… it’s getting harder for my mother to stay. It wouldn’t be a good idea to send the children with them.” Zelda said with a sigh. Raven was surprised to hear the news. She had known that Zelda’s parents had their differences but hadn’t realized things had gotten worse.

“How long will you two be gone exactly?” Raven finally said.
“Two days at most. And we’ll pay you if that will help?” Zelda offered.
“No. Family don’t pay family. However,” Raven shot her older brother a look. “He will own me a favor. My earthen oven outside is starting to crack and will need help making a new one. And I will also need meat for tomorrow.”  Theo nodded and agreed to the terms.

For the sleeping arrangements that night, Raven and the children slept in the house while Theo and Zelda slept outside in a tent because there was not enough room for all of them to sleep inside. The next morning while the children were still asleep, Raven and Zelda were up early to make breakfast while Theo went out to hunt for the meat he had promised.
After he had returned with two pheasants in hand, the children were awake and waiting for their father to return so they could eat their breakfast of thin milk pancakes with a snowberry jam they had made that morning.

And after the meal was done and cleaned up Theo and Zelda hugged their children goodbye before leaving in their wagon for a couple’s adventure. And now came the moment Raven was dreading, how does she keep her nieces entertained for two days? Sure they had their dolls but that wouldn’t last for long for an eight year old girl and four year old girl. She had to think of something. What did she like to do back when she was a young girl?
“Aunty, can we go play outside?”
“Uh yes. Yes you can.”  Raven said snapping back to reality.
“Thanks Aunty!”  Sofie ran to get Amari and head outside with Raven following.

The two children decide to run down the hill and back up to then roll down it again. Raven stopped to watch them.
Well if they’re going to be outside I might as well get some gardening done. The half-elf thought to herself.

“Don’t go too far!” She calls to her nieces.
“We won’t!” Sofie calls back from the bottom of the hill.

~~~

About an hour later the two children returned, red in the cheeks and panting from running so much.
“You get it all out of you now?” Raven said looking over her shoulder with a smile. Sofie and Amari both nodded and fell to the ground. “Did you two want to help me in the garden?”

“Yeah.” Sofie said weakly.

When the two children caught their breath they both knelt down beside Raven and helped her tend to the garden. The small garden was divided in half between vegetables and alchemic plants.

“Aunty?” Amari said after digging a small hole for Raven to plant a seed.
“Yes?”
“Why do you have pointed ears?”
“Uh, I was born with them.” Raven said sheepishly and unconsciously touched the tips of them. When she was younger the children she used to play with would make fun of her ears. So her ears have been a subject of uneasiness.  
“Oh...why?” The four year old asked.
“Because your grandmother is a bosmer elf and she has pointed ears. And because I’m her daughter I also have them.” Raven explained.
“Why doesn’t papa have them?”
“That’s because he wasn’t born with them, sweetie.” Raven sighed and smiled at her young niece who at this point hadn’t said very much, but now was surprisingly inquisitive.
“Why?”
“Okay, why don’t we go have a snack? That sound like a good idea, Amari?” Raven said quickly changing the subject.
“Yes!” The four year old grinned.
“Sofie would you like to have a snack?”
“Sure.”

Raven goes back inside and fetches two red apples from a basket and comes back to hand it to the children. Sofie is able to eat it with no issue. Amari on the other hand has a little bit of difficulty trying to get a bite out of it.
“Do you want me to cut it up for you?” Raven asked.
“Yes.” she says and hands it to Raven. She took a knife from her belt and cut the apple into chunks for Amari to eat.

~~~

Much of the day was spent outside doing daily chores, tending to the garden, and even going on a walk to find plants and herbs. The children really seemed to liked the hunting for flowers and plants. By the evening they were all back inside preparing their meal of pheasant and carrots cooked in a broth from the pheasant. And afterwards Raven sat in a chair near the cooking hearth and the children laid on the floor while she read them a story book.

The next morning before the children woke up, Raven again went down to the pond for an early morning swim and returned to stoke the hearth and get the fire going again. For this day’s activities Raven would use the herbs and other alchemic ingredients to make some potions and salves that she would eventually sell and to give the children something to do, so she let them help. She showed them how to crush up plants and extract juices to be mixed into the potions and they really seemed to enjoy creating the different concoctions and having fun experimenting. But Raven made sure to keep an eye on what they were mixing so they didn’t make a deadly poison by mistake or go through all of her alchemy supplies.

Soon after they had gone through all the potions and salves Raven had wanted to make (and the children had their fill of experimenting and feeling like Alchemists) it was time for them to find something else to do for the time being. And it was little Ameri who noticed how windy it had gotten when they were working on their potions. This gave Raven another idea, and it would be another item on her list she had wanted to do and but hadn’t gotten to it. Make wind chimes to hang outside near the front door. This would give them time to be outside to hunt for the proper wood they needed to make the chimes and then for Raven to whittle and carve them to make the right sounds.

It was a fun little project that took a good portion of the day to do and by the time all three of them were inside eating supper, they all could hear the distinct hollow, wooden sounds of the wind chime swaying in the wind.

~~~

The next morning after breakfast, Theo and Zelda returned from their couple’s adventure. Zelda clad in her leather armor she had wore when she was once an adventure, now bore new cuts and scrapes. And Theo’s leather thieves guild armor also sharing the same markings. And both of them had new scrapes and bruises, but both smiled and laughed as they came to pick up their children.

“So I take it you two had a lovely adventure together?” Raven asked leaning in the doorway as the two parents hugged their children who missed them.
“Yeah, it was great! It was like how we had first met and we could rekindle our love for each other.” Zelda gazed over to her husband and smiled.
“That wasn’t the only thing that we recreated from when we first met.” Theo said with a sly grin.
“Theo hush!” Zelda scolded him who simply laughed. “Anyways, the children didn’t give you trouble while we were gone?”
“No not at all. They were perfectly behaved. And we had lots of fun, didn’t we?” To which both Sofie and Amari cheered,
“Yeah!”
“Can you come visit soon Aunty Raven?” Amari asked while nudging her mother to hold her.
“When I can sweetie. It will be soon, I promise.” The little one smiled and quickly ran to give Raven a hug.

And with that the half elf Alchemist watched her family ride away in their wagon until they were out of sight. Raven went back inside and curled up by the window with a book and blanket and continued where she had left off. The sound of the wooden wind chimes knocking and clacking in the breeze.