"You got a bear? A whole bear?!"
"A whole bear," Jim confirmed, laughing at the astonished expression on Eric's face as his older brother proudly showed off the various cuts of meat tucked into the bear skin that they'd fashioned into a quick sack. He was hoping either Claire or Merlin would be able to use a spell to dry the pelt out, so they could repurpose it as a blanket. The threadbare cloths that the children had scrambled together were filthy and falling apart at the seams. "Although, he was kind of on the skinny side."
"Are you kidding?" Ellie exclaimed, leaping lithely to her feet and throwing her arms around Aiden's shoulders, hugging him tightly. The boy sputtered and cringed as his sister planted several kisses and an affectionate lick to his cheek, more excited than Jim had seen her before. "This is more than we've had in the whole past month together!"
"Oh, El..." Claire sighed from her place still on the floor, her expression twisting in grief as she gently ran her hands through Sven's and Sophie's hair. The two children were sleeping soundly in her lap, their heads tucked into either side of their mother's neck, their hands fisted in the fabric of the shirt she had thrown on once Sophie had eaten her fill. Jim frowned at their pale and clammy complexions, his stomach twisting anxiously.
"Then I think a stew would be good," Merlin interjected with a smirk and a light wave of his staff. A low fire pit materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the room, a bright fire roaring to life. With another wave of his staff, a large, black cauldron appeared in the midst of the glowing coals, clean water bubbling within it.
"Did you summon that from the Dark Ages, Uncle Merlin?" Aiden laughed, rolling his eyes as he put up with a few more kisses and nuzzles from his older sister before she pulled away to take the sack of meat from his hands to look through.
"Summoning through Time is your sister's specialty, it would seem," Merlin chuckled with a wary glance in Ellie's direction.
Ellie grimaced, her face flushing red in embarrassment as she caught the look. Jim didn't miss the way that she looked nervously to Aiden before averting her eyes back to the meat. Jim scented the salt of her tears building and from the guilty look on Aiden's face, he had scented it too.
"El?" Aiden finally said in a soft voice, moving over to his sister's side again, hesitantly lifting a hand to grasp one of hers that still clutched tightly to the pelt. He cocked his head to the side slightly, trying to catch her downturned gaze. "Ellie Wellie?"
Ellie gave a choked laugh, shaking her head slightly. "Don't do that."
"I'm sorry, El," Aiden said, his voice sincere and remorseful. "I'm a jerk, okay? I didn't mean any of that stuff."
"I know," Ellie replied in a pained whisper, still not looking up. "But you were right."
"No, I wasn't," Aiden said firmly, leaning in to nuzzle Ellie's cheek. "You're stronger than all of us. It's because of you that we've made it this far, and it's because of you that we have a chance to make things right. Not even Uncle Merlin can manipulate Time the way you do."
"Which — current circumstances notwithstanding — is highly inadvisable," Merlin interjected with a slight laugh and an uncharacteristically kind smile toward Ellie, who had finally looked up at them. "I would not suggest making a habit of it."
"Like speeding up a bad haircut?" Eric snickered mischievously, and even Aiden gave a short laugh as Ellie's face glowed red again.
"Or slowing down the time it takes for bath water to go cold?" Aiden teased.
"Or—"
"All right, all right!" Ellie squeaked, her expression embarrassed and properly chastised. "I get the point. Though, you weren't complaining when I sped up the time for your broken arm to heal last month, Eric."
