THEN I FOUND YOU [mcd]

chapter seventeen

The temperature dropped faster than I thought it would've. Fallen leaves were replaced with fallen snow, coating the land in a blanket of white. The world went from a beautiful scene of color to something that almost seemed boring.

I've trusted myself again with babysitting the children. Nekoette and Dimitri find the greatest comfort with playing in the snow, and Zoey and I have come to an agreement of keeping Lilith inside with her while I take the two out to play. It's too cold for a baby so young to be outside. Funny how Zoey is more of a mother to Lilith at this point than Aphmau.

Kenmur and Emmalyn occupied themselves for weeks on end in the pathways. While I'm still unable to understand what they could possibly mean, they're slowly beginning to crack the case. I haven't been back there since I fully explored, or when the two dragged us back there. Nekoette felt a sense of pride from when she fell down. Though she felt a bit silly at first, she was proud to know she helped uncover something new. Garroth stayed true to our agreement of letting only Emmalyn and Kenmur into the pathways for the beginning. After a few days, we slowly allowed others to join. For all we knew, there could've been traps waiting for us. But in the end, I knew it was my own feelings clouding the situation.

As of lately, Dante has been reminding me of a school girl. He speaks with Garroth regarding daily life and emotions, and he goes and gossips with me of what was said. Dante only shares with me what he finds to be "interesting," or "of use." The other bits of information he thinks to be normal conversation and unworthy of gossiping. I wonder what Kawaii~Chan thinks of his gossiping.

I even question if Kandi and Dante are teaming against me. He always seems to know some sort of information that I tell Kandi, and she knows some form of information Garroth tells Dante. Frankly, I'm terrified.

But there's one piece of information that has stuck out to me for about a week now. I had taken the children back to Dante before it was time for their dinner. Dante met me at the door and helped them undress from their winter apparel and for a brief moment of warmth before walking into the cold again. By this time, the children were out of earshot. I remember his words clearly. I remember that moment just the same. The sun was setting as the wing slowly began to pick up in its speed. My cheeks were rosy as Dante's looked as they always did. During our conversation, he told me that Garroth had come to the conclusion that he was completely out of love with Aphmau and turned his attention to me.

Dante's suspicions were correct.

As of right now, I'm playing with the children. We've built snowmen and snow forts. Snowmen litter a trail to our spot. They've made small walls to hide behind after the occasional snowball fight. Nekoette's flowers have wilted away and are hidden under the packed snow. She doesn't dare blink an eye to them now. She focuses on the icicles hanging from the tree branches.

In her gloved hand, she runs over to me, holding onto icicles of different sizes. She stares down at them before holding them up to my eye level. "They're so pretty!"

I can't help but to let out a chuckle at her amazement. I grab onto one of the icicles and hold it up to the light. It's very cold, but nothing my gloves cannot handle.

Dimitri comes over, unamused. He complains that he's bored and wishes to play, his sister pays no mind to him. Instead, she lifts an icicle to her lips before Dimitri tries to stop her. "Don't do that, Nekoette!" He scolds, letting go of her wrist and wrapping his arms across his chest. "They'll freeze to your lips!"

Nekoette drops the icicles to the ground and looks at me to confirm or deny his claim. I shake my head and pick up the icicles to hand them back to her. "He's just teasing, but you shouldn't eat it. You do not know what was on or around it."

Nekoette complains that Dimitri has fooled her again, and soon changes her complaints to those of hunger. She plops herself down onto the snow and stares up at me. Dimitri walks over to her and throws a snowball against her chest before giving out a taunt and rushing off. Nekoette's whining doesn't last very long until she's up and after him.

I can hear the sound of snow being walked through as it grows louder and louder. I look over to see the two boys coming my way. My attention falls back to the children throwing snow at each other until Dante ushers them back to him for a warm meal. Garroth and I are extended the invite, but the children dash towards the house at the sound of food before Dante can finish his sentence. He shakes his head with a laugh before starting into a jog and tells us he'd seen us in a matter of minutes.

I look over at Garroth with a tilted head. "You were talking to Dante when Kawaii~Chan sent him?"

Garroth nods. "Yeah," he says. "We were talking about something important coming up."