I'll Fight

Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay! I have returned with not only what some of you would consider a boring chapter, but also a shorter one! Yay~ We're honestly building up to the more exciting chapters. I promise we'll get there. Just hang in there for me, okay? 

In this chapter we have a little bit of world building and a continuation of my attempt at present tense writing. Holler at me with my errors as I'm sure there are some. I hope you enjoy it! 

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Chapter 4

     Aspen hurries off to change while Juniper cleans the dishes in the kitchen located in the back right corner of the cabin in front of the storeroom. The cabin is on the smaller side, but spacious with its open living room and kitchen. The kitchen consists of a large amount of wooden cabinets and expansive granite counter tops that extend to the island. The sink is stainless steel and there is also a dishwasher, a refrigerator, and an oven with a range, all of which are pretty much useless without electricity and gas. To wash dishes, or anything for that matter, they have to collect water from a nearby stream or from their rain barrels outside the house. For drinking and cooking, they heat the water over the fire to purify it, though it is technically safe enough to drink as is. Soap, cleaning supplies, and candles can be purchased directly or made with just a few purchased materials. Fortunately for them, the cabinets and drawers had already been full of dishes, silverware, and other kitchenware when they stumbled upon the cabin several years ago. The kitchen is open to the living area where the hearth lays crackling with flames and is surrounded by a couch and large floor pillows all resting atop a plush area rug. A reading chair is tucked in the corner, close to the hearth, but closer still to the paned window which looks out on the covered front porch of the cabin. Juniper's dislike of the cold but fondness of viewing the goings-on outside the cabin makes the chair a likely spot to find her at any given point.

     To the right of the window near Juniper's chair, is the closed heavy wooden front door and even farther right, sits a square wooden dining table with three wooden stools varying in shape and size tucked up against the wall opposite the hearth. To the left of the table embedded in the wall is another wooden door leading to the office and mirroring that door, to the right of the table and tucked beneath the stairs is an additional wooden door leading to the bathroom. The bathroom, unlike the rest of the wooden floored cabin, is laid with a gray stone floor cool and smooth to the touch. A large clawfoot tub sits in front of paned double windows that are often left swung open on their hinges in the warmer months to allow fresh air sunlight to feed the plants, hanging and potted, throughout the small room. A sink, toilet, and small cabinet filled with linens, soaps, and oils are also located in the room. As the plumbing and electricity does not work, any water usage requires hauling in from outside. Baths are treasured in the household and especially troublesome to draw, but the women worked out a system long ago. Water is brought in from the rain barrels or stream in metal buckets and heated in or around the hearth and then dumped into the tub. While one bathes, the other warms up additional water to be added to the tub when it is their turn. Due to the work baths require, they are not an everyday occurrence, but washing is. Just because they lived in the woods didn't mean they needed to embrace wilderness in every sense of the word. Everyday washing usually includes a quick dump of water on the body, soap lathering, and another splash of water. Hair is managed every day or so with a bucket of soapy water and another bucket filled with only water. In the winter, the women always warm the water due to its glacial temperature, but the warmth of summer allows for the quicker and lazier option. Sometimes in the summer, the women swim and bathe in the stream just because they can, although the water stays relatively cool year-round.

     The stairs just outside the bathroom stretch up and around to the lofted area that is stationed above the office and bathroom and continues to wrap around to provide a ceiling to the store room. The added space also allows more room for storage which is always helpful during the barren winters. The lofted space above the office and bathroom has a ceiling low enough to require a slight crouch to navigate it and is occupied by a bed piled high with furs and blankets which the two sisters share, a dresser and bookshelf, a rug, and a floor pillows similar to the ones on the first floor. Sitting on the floor cross-legged, Aspen picks out more appropriate work clothes and changes out of her layered pajamas, keeping the wool socks snug on her feet. She dons a pair of jeans, a fitted mock, a quarter zip, and a fleece jacket. It's unlikely she needs so many layers with the day having warmed significantly since morning, but she is likely to be gone until sundown and it would cool quickly once the sun disappeared behind the mountain peaks. After dressing, Aspen hurries down to the office, grabbing her messenger bag from the dining table enroute. 

     Upon entering the office, she is greeted with the sight of a multitude of bookshelves, wall shelves, cabinets, dressers, and apothecary cabinets stocked full of books as well as containers, jars, vials, beakers, and envelopes all containing different plants and natural materials. Dryingplants, tied tight with twine and string, are hung from the ceiling and coverevery inch of wall space not monopolized by shelves and cabinets. Breathingdeeply, Aspen smiles as she takes in the unique smell attributed to her office, a mixtureof flowers, spices, and old book pages. She places the messenger bag on the large, waist high apothecary cabinet set in the middle of the room that acts as both storage and a workspace and proceeds to grab her leather rucksack from its resting place next to the door. She glances inside it and around the room, eyes landing on the orderly workspace and desk, to make sure she has everything she needs before exiting the office and closing the door behind her. She grabs her list from the island, ruffles her sister's birds nest of hair, ties on her boots and is out the door to accomplish her tasks. 

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So, what do you think? 

Any questions about their little cabin? 

Is there anything you want to know more about?