It was a long day, with Petit’s paranoia after the encounter with Faegan only making it feel even longer. The sun seemingly refused to move from its place in the sky. Petit found himself falling asleep against Enrika for short periods out of boredom. Each time he woke up, the shadows crawled a bit further, and the sun inched closer to the horizon. It was getting colder, too, but not unbearably so.

Once the day began to grow dim enough that Petit had to squint, he pulled himself atop Enrika’s forearm, walked to her shoulder, climbed atop her head, and positioned himself above her folded ear. He lifted it up. “Hey, Enrika,” he whispered into her ear, “it’s time to get up.”

He hurriedly hopped off her head, in case she made any disruptive movements in her sleep-fogged state. She stirred and reoriented herself into a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes. “For real, this time?” She asked, groggily.

“Yes. No surprise guests, thank the gods.”

She extended a hand for Petit to hop on to, which he did obligingly.

“Time to walk, then. It’ll be a long way to town; we’ll only be able to travel through night, and carriages are probably out of the question. I’d say a few days, tops.”

It’s good I have her to carry me there, Petit remarked silently.

The pair began making their way upstream. Since the evening sun was directly behind them, Petit assumed they were heading east. He couldn’t use it as a gauge for long, though, as soon after it disappeared below the horizon. The night permeated the air, with the cold night winds lightly brushing against his exposed arms. It was getting dark quickly, and the moonlight was proving mostly useless.

“I can’t see anything right now. How can you walk in this?” Petit inquired, unsure how his accomplice managed to be so sure-footed in the nigh pitch-black of the forest.

“Another reason most beast-kin are so great. Night eyes.” Enrika explained. “I’m not great at it, but I can still make out a path.”

“Most?”

“Eh, some can’t, but a lot can.”

“Incredible.”

“Thanks. Anyway, if you can’t see, you should try to get some rest. No use keeping you up and wasting energy that you’ll need tomorrow.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?”

“No clue, that’s why you’ll need it.”

Petit was about to respond when Enrika passed through a pair of densely branched trees, emerging on the other side. He lost the words he was going to say, lost in the view before him. They had entered a clearing, free of trees, where the moonlight lit up the ground, bathing it in a soft white. The night was cloudless, showing the stars in all their heavenly glory. The astral bodies above seemed to glisten, fastened to the sky like diamonds in an air-bound tapestry. “Wow” Petit murmured. Rarely did he ever see the night sky, often spending his evenings inside as soon as the sky began to dim, since him being visible to others was so integral to his survival. Even in the times he did see the night sky, it had never possessed an ounce of the beauty it possessed at that very moment.

“Beautiful.” Enrika said, softly. Petit turned to look at her, she was bathed in the moonlight, making her face visible. He could see the night sky reflected in her eyes.

“Yeah, beautiful.” Petit agreed. He reclined in her palm, looking up at the gorgeous sky. Eventually, the clearing ended, the night sky giving way to the spotty blackness of the organic ceiling that was the forest. It was so dark, that at first, he hadn’t even realized his eyes were closed. Yawning, he decided it would be good to take Enrika’s advice and try to get some rest. He curled up in her hand, getting into a comfortable sleeping position. Her hand closed around him, securing him and making the enclosed area comfortably warm.

“Sleep tight, Petit.” Enrika whispered into her hands.

Within minutes, he had fallen asleep.

…

The sun was rising now. Enrika was crouched down by the stream, running her fingers through the water. She splashed some water over her forearms, clearing out the grime and sap that had built up during her voyage. The orange morning light was a welcome change; the night had been cold at times, and the eye strain of trying to see in the dark became unpleasant after extended periods. She glanced over at Petit, who seemed to be just waking up. She had put him in a leaf on the ground, so that she could use both her arms to do a bit of foraging. Petit did a small morning stretch, arching his back, before setting himself upright.

“Mornin’, Petit” Enrika greeted cheerily. “Breakfast?”

He nodded groggily and rubbed his eyes. Squinting from the bright morning sunlight, he stood up.

Enrika slid a piece of bark towards him, filled with whatever fruits she could scrounge up. From the ‘plate’, Petit grabbed a few azureberries, while Enrika grabbed a fruit that looked somewhat like a pear, although she wasn’t entirely sure what it was.

“We made good progress last night, if there is a town, it isn’t far now.” Enrika talked between mouthfuls of the fruit.

…

After finishing their breakfast, they resumed travelling. Although it was morning, and the day was growing brighter, they figured they’d be alright to travel a bit longer, possibly finding somewhere to settle at noon. Walking through, they noticed a different landscape emerge. The rolling hills and dense forests were shifting, giving way to a flatter region, with fewer trees. The ground was covered in tall grass, interspersed with small ponds.

Additionally, there were noticeably more hallmarks of human, or at least human-like, interference. There were windmills dotted about, and a few trees had ‘X’s etched into their bark. They resolved to be careful, seeing as they were better off avoiding their presence being known.

Suddenly, there was a scream. It was close to them, and whoever it emanated from sounded young.

Enrika crouched low, hiding within the grass.

“What are you doing?!” Petit scolded. “We gotta see what that is! Maybe we can help.”

“Could be a mimic, that could be what it wants!” Enrika proposed. “And, if it isn’t, what if they out us? I’m not going to get arrested because you want to play the hero!”

Petit looked up at her angrily.

In a bout of movement Enrika hadn’t predicted, Petit leapt out of her palm, onto the ground. He rolled on impact and burst into a sprint toward the noise, disappearing into the tall grass.

Enrika’s eyes went wide. She sputtered a few half-sentences, her empty hands still held out. She went silent. She cursed under her breath and began heading in the direction Petit ran. Careful not to step on him in her search, she scoured the grass, looking for any sign of him. There was a break in the grass, and a small figure that stood out against it.

She rushed over to him, and with a sweep of her arm, grabbed him by the torso. She swept a few loosened hairs out of her face. “What the underworld were you thinking?! You need to be careful, who knows what’s out here!” Enrika threatened.

“Look!” Petit interrupted, pointing off in the distance.

There was a girl, no older than eight, backed against a tree, surrounded by small black rodents. Upon closer inspection, Enrika realized they were skunks, and by their posture she assumed they felt threatened.

“You gotta help her! You can talk to them, right?”

“I can, but that girl could screw us over, it’s a bad idea-”

“You said you wanted to be an adventurer; this is how you start.”

Enrika paused. Petit clearly had a point. Yielding, she started making her way towards the girl. “Hey!” She shouted at the skunks, which immediately turned their heads towards her. “Quit that! Go home!” She moved to stand in front of the girl.

The skunks chittered, making communicative squeaks.

“Oh, I see.” She turned around to face the girl. “You were chasing them around?”

The girl, craning her neck up at Enrika, nodded. “Pop didn’t want them around the farm, so I tried to scare them away so he would be happy.” She admitted sheepishly.

She turned back around toward the group of skunks. “You live on their farm?”

The skunks responded with an affirmative chitter.

“Look, this isn’t a good spot. There’s a really good forest out that way,” Enrika pointed in the direction she had come from, “you’d be better off over there. Less people, too.”

The skunks seemed to find this a pleasing option. After a brief series of sparse chitters, they made their way toward the tall grass, and by extension, the forest.

“That wasn’t so hard.” Petit said from Enrika’s palm.

“You got a funny tail, Miss.” The girl interjected. Enrika hopped up, straightening her back in surprise at the sudden feeling of a hand on her tail. She spun around. The girl was grinning. “I’m Tina. Do you wanna come meet my family?”

“Er, I don’t think-” before she could even finish her sentence, the girl was tugging her along with a surprising amount of strength. She looked over to Petit in her other hand. He did what she thought was a shrug, although it wasn’t entirely clear since he was holding onto her hand for dear life.

“It’s just over here, come on!”

There was a farm visible in the distance. A plume of smoke was rising from the smokestack of the large farmhouse. Next to it was a squat barn. As Enrika got closer, the surrounding fence could be seen, and the grassless dirt entered her line of sight.

Arriving at the back door, Tina hopped up the steps and yanked Enrika to attention next to her. She did a quick stomp on the doormat, clearing the mud off her boots before opening the door, continuing to drag Enrika behind her.

Finally, Tina released her grip on Enrika’s wrist, excitedly hopping towards what Enrika assumed to be her parents. They were tall. Absurdly so. The father, the taller of the pair, had large horns situated above his head, one seemingly missing a half, and a massive beard that covered most of his face. He was on the larger side, having a slightly more rotund figure, but clearly in a muscular way. Despite his imposing appearance, he had very kind features, and wore a proud smile looking down at his daughter. He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms in a large hug.

“Who’s your friend?” The mother asked. As previously mentioned, she was the shorter of the pair, but not by much, and she still towered over Enrika. The mother had a large chest, wide hips, and a soothing presence.

“This lady saved me from the skunks!” Tina excitedly exclaimed.

The father went on a knee, getting eyelevel with her. “Tina,” he spoke with a voice so deep Enrika felt it in her chest, “did I not tell you to leave the skunks alone? I said I would deal with it.”

“Sorry, pop, I just wanted to help.” She swung her arms from side to side, looking down at her shoes.

“We will talk about this later.” The father informed her quietly. He gave her a pat on the shoulder and got up off his knee.

“Thank you, Miss... oh goodness, I haven’t caught your name!” The mother interjected.

“Enrika.”

“Miss Enrika, you really helped us out today.” The mother said. The simmer of water striking a hot surface became audible. “Oh, food’s almost ready! Please, Miss, stay for lunch, it’s the least we could do to thank you.”

“You don’t have to do that-” Enrika began.

“Tina, go get your sister. She’s out near the haybales.” The mother instructed her daughter, interrupting Enrika.

“I better get a hold on those skunks; I’ve been putting it off too long.” The father spoke down to his wife.

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I asked them to leave, so they should be out of your hair.” Enrika interjected.

The father looked at her, confused, until he noticed her ears. He let out a hearty chuckle. “Ah, of course! A beast-kin, wonderful! Head along, I can’t be a poor host to a neef.” He shuffled Enrika towards the table, his large, calloused hands against the small of her back.

Enrika sat down at the wood table. It felt strange not donning her headwear in front of others, and even more strange being welcomed so lavishly. She looked down at Petit in her palm, hidden beneath the table. He shook his head a bit, recovering from the dizziness induced by Enrika’s rapid movements.

“I guess we’re joining them for lunch.” Enrika informed him, in case he hadn’t heard the prior conversation.

“I knew this was a good idea.”

“You’re too trusting, we just got lucky.”

“You’re not trusting enough.” Petit said, pulling himself up the side of the table.

“Hey, I don’t think you should get up there.”

“Why not? I’ll just sit right over here, and we’ll all have a good time. I'm great with kids.” He walked over to the other side of the table and took the space opposite to Enrika.

“Suit yourself, but if something happens that’s on you.”

The back door swung open, striking the wall with a loud thud. Enrika winced. Tina dashed out of it and quickly slipped into the seat next to Enrika. She cupped a hand to whisper to her, Enrika leaning in. “Here’s my sister, Milly.” She pointed at the doorway. In it, the girl who Tina claimed was Milly stood.

Just like her parents, she was absurdly tall. She had wild brown hair and long, thick horns atop her head. She wore muddied overalls that must have been improperly sized, because they managed to hug every curve and contour of her body despite being overalls. Her figure was something almost unbelievable, with breasts that looked to be as big as Enrika’s head and thighs so full that Enrika feared they’d pop. Behind her, a dangling tail with a small tuft of brown hair at the end flicked from side to side. She looked to be a young adult, around Enrika’s age, even without taking into account her tall stature.

She walked in and sat down opposite to Enrika, her massive breasts flopping onto the table with an audible ‘thunk’. Or, more specifically, her massive breasts flopped onto Petit, exactly where he was standing.

Enrika put a hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh.

Seeing this, Milly grinned. “What?” She chuckled, “what’s funny?”

“Sorry, I just saw something funny, please, ignore me.” Enrika said between small bouts of giggles.

“I’m Millicent, nice to meet’cha.” Milly, or now Millicent, stood up out of her chair and stretched a hand out across the table, lifting her breasts up off the surface of the table. Enrika noticed Petit take a deep gasp during his respite. She shook Millicent’s hand.

“This is the lady who saved me from the skunks!” Tina interjected giddily.

“Don’t thank me, my friend was the one who made me do it.” Enrika explained.

“Friend?” Tina asked excitedly. The siblings both looked around. Millicent sat back down at her seat, flopping her boobs onto poor Petit once again.

“My friend is special. He was on the table, right there.” She pointed at where Petit was.

“M-me?” Millicent pointed at herself, clearly confused.

“No... stand up, please.”

She did as instructed, sliding the chair out and standing up. Freed from his confinement, Petit rolled, scrambled to his feet, and stumbled out of the ‘danger zone’, fearing that she would crush him again. Once he was clear, he put his hands on his knees and took deep breaths. Enrika quietly snickered and shot him an I-told-you-so kind of look. He responded with a dismissive hand wave.

Millicent pulled in her chair, and sat back down. Her breasts struck the table, causing Petit to lose his footing. Petit fell against her titanic tits, which bounced in response. Sure, they were soft, as he had noticed when he was beneath them, but they also had a firm quality that led to him bouncing back up upon striking them. He looked up, slightly afraid, but she didn’t seem offended by his accidental misdeed, and simply looked at him with a sort of giddy confusion.

The parents entered the room, carrying bread and a large, steaming pot of what Enrika assumed was soup. “Mommy, mommy, look, she has a little friend, who helped save me!” Tina said, excitedly.

Petit waved up at them nervously. The parents seemed both surprised and intrigued. “A pixie?” The mother asked.

“No, he’s human.” Enrika shook her head.

“Ain’t ever seen a human that small, but you learn to stop asking questions around here, don’cha?” The father chuckled. “I’m Otto, and this is my wife, Melina.” Otto said, gesturing to himself and his wife.

“Petit.” He briefly wondered what a handshake would feel like.

The five sat around the table, with Petit on the table by Enrika. Otto led a quick prayer to the god of fertility, but Petit was unsure what it was about, since he didn’t speak that prayer language. Once they were done, Petit began eating the soup. He hated to admit it, but after he had spent his four weeks at the estate, his palate had become more refined. Nonetheless, he stomached the soup. The bread, however, he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy. His inner baker seemed to be intent on screaming every flaw and imperfection it could find about it, making it difficult to enjoy. It was an unfortunate trait he had picked up over his lifetime, and one that clearly had no interest in leaving.

Tina was making faces at him. Trying to entertain her, he mirrored them. She giggled. She made a motion like she was going to reach for him but was quickly blocked by Enrika nonchalantly placing her hand in front of Petit, and subtly drawing him closer to her.

“So, Enrika, what brought you here wearing those clothes?” Melina asked.

Enrika looked down, and realized how out of place she was in her maid uniform. It didn’t help that it was covered in holes and caked in dirt. “We umm, we just left our old job. We were in a bit of a hurry, though, so I couldn’t grab a change.” Enrika explained.

As everyone finished eating, Millicent stood up. “I’ll take everyone’s dishes.” She spoke.

“No, dear, you don’t have to do that, just go look after the cattle.” Melina instructed, taking the dishes. She glanced over at Petit on the table, continuing to mirror Tina while she did her best impression of a chimpanzee. “Miss Enrika and Petit, this might sound sudden, but would you mind looking after Tina for the day? Otto and I have to go to town, and Milly is quite busy today.”

“Oh, we weren’t planning on staying long-” Enrika explained.

“Hey!” Petit caught Enrika’s attention. He put his hands together on the side of his face in a sleeping gesture, and then pointed at her.

“Err, ok, we’ll watch Tina until you’re back.” Enrika relented.

“Yaaay!” Tina gibbered from across the room.

“Yaaay!” Petit mimicked.

…

Petit and Enrika watched Melina and Otto finish loading their cart with inventory. There were various vegetables, several small drums labeled “milk,” and a few more labelled “Royal Milk.” Melina waved goodbye to them while Otto lugged the carriage down the road, presumably towards town. With that, they left them alone with instructions to put Tina down for a nap in a few hours, and if they had any questions, Melina had said, talk to Millicent.

“C’moooonnnn!” Tina throttled Enrika’s leg, “let’s play!”

Millicent led the three of them to a large shed near the house. It would provide good shade while they spent the day outside.

Petit ended up doing most of the babysitting, keeping Tina entertained, mainly through the hit game ‘run from Tina’. This was a game he was very good at, having experienced its great predecessors such as the legendary ‘run from Claire’, and the challenging, yet intellectually titillating, ‘run from Daniella’. He spent the day getting into whatever nooks he could to avoid the terrorizing child while Enrika reclined in the sun, beside the shed.

He was getting tired, he realized. He figured he should swap out with Enrika before he loses the energy to run away. “Truce!” He called out to Tina from his spot between two sheets of plywood leaning against the shed.

No response. He knew she was out there, though. Instead of going out the front, where Tina would expect him, he squeezed himself in the small space where the wall and floor of the shed met but didn’t quite touch. From there, he made a beeline for Enrika, laying on the grass just outside.

He looked behind himself. Tina was still watching his previous hiding spot intently, hunched over, ready to pounce at him, unaware that he was no longer there. He continued his run for Enrika, even when footsteps behind him became audible.

He made a dive for his friend. Touching her shoulder, he cried out “safe!” Enrika sat up and shot him an inquisitive look. “Think you can cover for me?” He panted. “Whew, I’m tired.”

“Sure thing.” Enrika stood up. “You good to be alone for a while?” She asked down at Petit, who shot her a thumbs-up in response. “Cool.” She turned back to Tina. “Alright, want to head inside?”

“No...” the girl groaned. Despite her response, she still followed Enrika back to the house, leaving Petit alone.

He reentered the shed. It was filled mostly with various tools and large bales of hay. The wooden walls were interspersed with spaces in the wood that made the outside visible in every direction. Petit climbed up one of the haybales and sat atop it, bored. The haybale proved an unpleasant place to sit, as the bristles were uncomfortable, and the surface was too inconsistent to prove a good flat surface to sit on. It wasn’t much better than the ground, but it wasn’t muddy, and had an altogether more pleasant scent, which stood in opposition to the ground, which was riddled with mud and smelled faintly of mildew.

Petit shot his head up in surprise when he heard the shed door slide open with a loud rolling noise. It was Millicent, seemingly in need of something. “Hi!” He greeted excitedly.

“Oh, hi! Petit, right?” Millicent said.

“Yup. Are you busy?”

“Sort of.” She grabbed a few tools off the wall. Not being a farmer, Petit hadn’t a clue what many of them were called, or what they did. He did recognize a few, though. The shovels, rakes, hammers, very large hammers, and finally, a large axe that was currently resting on Millicent’s shoulder.

“Mind if I tag along? It’s kind of boring over here.”

“Not at all, I’d love that.” She walked out of the shed.

Petit waited. He wondered what she was doing.

Millicent popped her head back into the shed. “You coming?” She asked.

“Well, I just usually am carried. Short little legs can’t keep up very well, y'know?” Petit explained.

“Right, right. Sorry.” She went up to Petit on the haybale.

“Er... do you have any more pockets?” He asked, seeing as her hands were full of tools.

“Sure do” she replied sweetly, temporarily putting a handful of equipment on the haybale. With her now freed hand, she picked up Petit with a surprising amount of delicacy, and dropped him into her cleavage.

Needless to say, this is not where he expected to go. He was a bit apprehensive about the situation, considering his previous experience involving her boobs, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that she was at least aware this time. Her breasts were soft, pressing against him on all sides with the smoothness of silk. However, just as before, they possessed a firm quality, that prevented him from doing much movement. Her heartbeat could be felt near her right breast, thumping rythmically.

She began walking, every step causing her mammaries to bounce. With difficulty, he clambered up her cleavage so he could get a view of what was happening outside.

Millicent was making her way towards the far end of the farmland, near a sizeable stump. She placed her tools on it, with a few occasionally falling off and her having to lean down to pick them up. Miraculously, Petit was held in place by her boobs, despite the angle suggesting that he should be falling out. She wasn’t making any conversation.

For a little while, he watched her go through her daily activities. She counted cattle, checked stock, inspected the surrounding fence, which she found a broken board in. Still, no conversation. She didn’t strike him as the quiet type, and considering his current location, not the shy type either. The only conclusion Petit could draw was that she had forgotten about him.

She was making her way to the fence with a replacement for the broken board. “Hey” Petit announced himself.

“Gah!” Millicent jumped in fright, shaking Petit around in her chest, sending him a bit deeper in her cleavage. “Oh, right, it’s you, sorry.”

So, she had forgotten about him. He shimmied his way back to his precious spot.

“My bad, didn’t mean to scare you like that. Not to complain, but I was just wondering why I’m... here.”

“My mom taught me to do it like this.” She explained, “I’m a bit too strong sometimes, so she taught me to put stuff in my chest so I wouldn’t break it.”

Petit didn’t dislike being in her cleavage, but this knowledge certainly made him feel a bit weary. “O-okay...” He stuttered uncomfortably. He supposed that if this was a strategy she employed, though, then it must be effective, and up to this point, it had been.

Millicent removed the nails from the broken board, each one popping free being accompanied by a jiggle of her boobs. She placed the new board in, and hammered in fresh nails, each strike causing an even larger jiggle from Petit’s confinement. It was kind of comfortable, Petit found the vibration relaxing. She stood up to inspect her work. Apparently, she found it acceptable, because she packed up her items, picked up the halves of the broken board, and moved on.

Next up, it seemed, was churning butter. This was a constant barrage of movement for Petit, leaving him rather nauseous by the end. Surprisingly, he hadn’t popped out of her cleavage, despite the intense shaking.

Afterward, she moved to chopping firewood, wielding a hefty axe as if it were no more than a pair of scissors, and chopped what he thought to be unchoppable logs into splinters with one strike of her axe. She was getting increasingly sweaty as the day progressed, Petit noticed, making her cleavage grow slicker, and more difficult to hold his ground in.

Such a display of strength reminded Petit of the sought-after ‘tank’ that many adventurer’s parties yearned for. Even DeKirier, one of the most powerful parties Petit had ever seen firsthand, was lacking a tank. He felt a bit envious, seeing as most things would be a hell of a lot easier with that kind of strength. Plus, with that amount of strength, you’d find it difficult not to be recruited into a party.

Lost in his thoughts, Petit didn’t notice until it was too late that he was sinking into Millicent’s chest with every axe strike. After a firm strike, He was brought under, fully submerged in the sea of boob. There was an air pocket, he quickly realized, but it was quite humid, and smelled badly of Millicent’s sweat.

He was in there a few minutes until he heard footsteps, and someone calling his name. Millicent shouted something he couldn’t quite hear. He attempted to listen further into what was happening, but the speech was muffled. Suddenly, Petit saw light come in as Milly’s chest started to part. He blinked a few times, adapting to normal light once again. Enrika was in front of him, looking uncomfortable.

“Wh-why is he in there?”

“It’s safe.” Millicent answered from above.

“But…it’s… y’know, he’s a guy, and you’re a girl...”

Millicent didn’t answer for a moment. Then it seemed to click for her. “Oh, oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, I just wanted to keep him safe.”

“T-take him out.” Enrika instructed nervously.

Millicent reached in, and carefully scooped Petit from her bosom. She held him out in her palm awkwardly. “I didn’t want to hurt him by accident, my mom told me to do this with things that are precious-”

Enrika didn’t seem to like this. “P-precious?!” She interrupted, grabbing Petit from Millicent. She held him close to her body.

“I’m sorry, I promise I wasn’t trying to flirt with your boyfriend-”

“I-it’s not like that.” Enrika interrupted again, blushing. Not knowing what to say next, she turned and began walking back to the house.

“Listen, it’s not what you think-” Petit began.

“I take over for a few hours, and the first thing you do is hop in the boobs of the first girl you see?” Enrika scolded.

“It’s nothing like that! You saw her, she didn’t know she was doing anything wrong.”

“Okay then, Petit, what was it like?”

“I was bored, and she walked in, so I asked to tag along, and she put me where she thought I’d be safest.” Petit stood firm.

Petit could almost hear the cogs turning in Enrika’s head. She was clearly mad, but he could tell she knew he was right.

She drew in a deep breath. “We’ll talk about this later.” She stated flatly.

Petit thought that was a good idea.

They entered the house. Tina was in the living room, playing with her ragdolls. She hopped up excitedly when she heard the door open.

“Can Petit play again?” She cheered.

Enrika looked down at Petit in her hand, who was completely aware of what she was about to do and hoped his facial expression showed it.

“Yeah, actually. He was just talking about how much he wanted to play again.” Enrika shot him a sly look.

…

Enrika peered through the window down the street. “So, when do your parents get back?” She asked.

“Later. At nighttime.” Tina answered distractedly. She was preoccupied playing ‘house’ with Petit and a ragdoll. She giggled.

Enrika assumed Petit was doing something funny but didn’t look behind her to check. Out in the distance, she saw two figures. Or rather, two figures and a large cart. It was Otto and Melina, returning with what looked to be an emptied cart. But something was off. They were moving at a brisk pace and didn’t seem happy.

Melina pointed over to the house and said something she couldn’t hear. They seemed on edge, afraid. Something was very, very wrong. A lump formed in Enrika’s throat, and a pit formed in her stomach. They knew, that was for certain. How much though, she could only guess.