The Sky Way

1

Nana Sky had been called that for as long as anyone could remember, and was all that Kate had ever heard her been called. But everyone had also said that she was older than the earth and would outlive it to, but that had been proven wrong, and Kate was therefore questioning everything. After a harsh winter, where temperatures plummeted and the earth froze so deep it didn't thaw till April, Nana Sky had passed away from the cold and had left everything to Kate, that last of her family that was old enough to take it. Which is how she now found herself standing outside her childhood holiday home with Rosie, her 2 year old niece, and Daniel the town sheriff that had looked out for Nana Sky and had found her dead.

She looked at Daniel and saw how he had changed since their time growing up together, he had grown taller than her -- she hadn't grown since she had left when she entered her teen years -- and he had broadened out. His face had also changed, he could now grow a beard, showing a ginger scruff on his face as a reminder and his jawline had become defined since his growth spurt. She felt as if her face hadn't changed at all, perhaps it was a bit lighter, but she still had red cheeks and the small scar running through her eyebrow, curtesy of Daniel and her brother when they had been children. But looking back at the house, she saw that it had had started to fail, much as Nana Sky health must have after they had left her. Nana's rocking chair still sat on the porch and it was still painted fresh white, which meant it had been done recently, before the last winter perhaps.

"Time to go in." she finally said, picking up her bag in one hand and placing Rosie on her hip with the other. The trio made their way up to the door and Daniel pulled a key out of his pocket to open the door for her. She nodded her thanks and stepped inside, scanning the room, to find that everything had mostly remained the same as in her childhood. Placing Rosie down so that she could explore she put her bag down and turned to see Daniel bringing in some of her other bags.

"Thank you Daniel; this really means a lot" she said quietly, her eyes flicking between Daniel and Rosie, who was walking around the place touching things gently picking them up and setting them back down.

"Don't worry about it, Nana Sky was family, and besides it's been an awful long time since I've seen you. How's everything been, besides this?" he asked curiously, as she turned to put the kettle of to make tea. Gathering the teapot and loose leaf tea she started,

"I've been alright, mother, father and Uncle Jake died last year, they got into an accident, all travelling together. Which means that Rosie over there and I have been alone since then." She turned to get the cups and check the water, leaving the story there.

"I'm sorry to hear about your parents. They were mighty good people from what I remember." He quietened down too after, thinking about his own mother, who was still at home, looking after what was left of his father's old farm. The kettle whistled so she lifted it off and poured it into the teapot, slipping into the old habits that she had started as a child. She let it steep and brought it over, collapsing in the chair near Daniel's, so that he could pour his own cup. When Rosie saw that she was sitting down, she toddled over and clambered up onto Kate's knees.

"Kat, tea!" she squealed and Kate leaned over, catching Rosie in her arm and poured her a tiny amount of the tea into a cup for her. She put it back on the table and said

"Now Rosie, it's hot, remember. Wait for it to cool down." Rosie nodded and sat back looking at Daniel with the brown eyes that they shared. She gave him a smile when he blew on his tea before taking a sip and giggled when he burned himself anyway in his eagerness. She then turned and started to babble to the two of them, only occasionally saying phrases that the grownups understood as sentences. Small talk stated up between Kate and Daniel again and finished when Daniel glanced at his watch and gasped.