Connor and the Wolves - 15. Cleaning House

Sun shone down on bronze skin. Rivulets of blood dripped down Soren’s body as he waded through a blackberry bramble. He carried a basket full of berries, with a second basket waiting by the raspberry bush nearby. By the end of the morning, he’d have all the fruit he needed for the winter. Preserving the fruit would be a bit harder, but drying it over a couple of days should keep the flavours for most of the coming year.
The vegetable garden was clear for the winter. Most of the food waited in the kitchen, but Soren didn’t want to start working indoors until everything outside had been handled.
A branch snapped.
Soren whirled, wincing as a thorn cut deep into his side. He bit back a curse, knitting the skin back together with a minor discharge of magic.
More worrying, Kurt had her hands clasped over Altanchono’s eyes. The younger neko was carrying a bucket, but it fell from his hands as he tried to pry his sister’s hands from his face.
“Morning, Soren,” Kurt said brightly.
“Let me go!” Altanchono growled, squirming in his sister’s grip.
“Um… good morning,” Soren said, picking his way out of the brambles. “What… um… why are you here?”
“Altanchono and I wanted to help you clean up. Your house is a bit of a mess. Why are you naked?”
“Didn’t want to ruin clothes with the thorns,” Soren said.
“You’re bleeding!”
“I am?” Soren looked down at his body. Red lines marked where he’d healed his scratches. “Oh… just a bit. I think most of it’s juice. I was eating more than I was picking. Give me a minute.”
He hurried inside, dropping his basket on the counter. Cleaning up took only a few minutes — most of it was spent finding his weekend clothes. Apparently, he had weekend clothes now. Soren shrugged off the inconvenience. His old clothes needed to be used somehow.
Wrestling a small shirt over his head, he strode from his room. Altanchono and Kurt sat at the kitchen table, staring at the bucket of ash he’d collected the day before.
“Why do you have ash on the table?” Altanchono asked.
“For cleaning. I make soap from it.”
Altanchono laughed.
“How do you clean with dirt?”
“It’s abrasive. Peels the dirt from things. And I can make it smell pretty good too, if I add some of my mint or some lavender.”
Grabbing a sieve and another bucket, Soren began pouring the ash through the sieve, separating the whiter ash from the darker.
“How do you know how to do this?” Altanchono demanded.
“I look up guides online. They help me learn how to do new things.”
“Let him work, Altanaa,” Kurt scolded beside them. “Let’s get started on that mould.”
“Why can’t I watch Soren?”
“Because we came here to help him, not make his life harder.”
Soren had his doubts about whether their presence here would actually help. It would be interesting to see what the house looked like when it was actually clean, though. He wasn’t about to complain; the two had brought cleaning supplies. A little warning would have been appreciated — being snuck up on while naked wasn’t exactly his proudest moment. But he could put the embarrassment aside in favour of a clean den.
It was a little unsettling how Kurt took over his home as well, but her intentions were good, even if the act itself made Soren uncomfortable. At least he hadn’t asked her to do this, so it wasn’t like he was begging for charity.
“Hey Soren, do you have a stool?”
“Yeah, it’s-” The stool was still outside where he’d battled the wasps. How fast could they return? Would they even be back? “It’s out behind the sunroom.”
“I’ll get it,” Altanchono said, hurrying out of the kitchen.
Soren waited for the orange neko to leave.
“Why?” He couldn’t ignore their presence. It just felt weird. “Why are you here?”
“To help.” Kurt shrugged. “We’re friends, right?”
That brought Soren up short. Friends. He’d never really had friends before — it was rather hard to be friendly when you had to hide the fact that you were a kid living alone.
“Do friends clean each others’ houses?” he asked.
Kurt shrugged again.
“Why not? Aav and Ma are always doing things for each other and they’re friends.”
They also had four children with a fifth on the way, but apparently that was not relevant to this conversation. Soren shook his head, focusing on the ash falling into a large pot. It didn’t take long to sift the lighter ash from the dark; or for Altanchono to rush into the kitchen, stool held high in one hand.
“Altanaa! Be careful!”
“I got it,” the younger neko scoffed as he ran around the table.
His hip slammed into the corner of the table. The stool slipped from his hand, landing with an ear-shattering crash.
“Oops…”
Soren leapt from his seat, hurrying to the neko. Grasping Altanchono’s shoulders, Soren nudged him into a chair.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”
Altanchono stared at him with wide eyes.
“My hip…” he muttered.
Soren lifted the neko’s shirt. Gentle fingers parted Altanchono’s fur as Soren searched for any sign of bleeding.
“Kurt, there should be some ice in the freezer. Can you wrap some in a small cloth and bring it over?”
Behind them, Kurt moved swiftly through the kitchen. The fridge opened moments later, and Soren heard the crack of ice separating. A cold rag fell into his hand. Setting it carefully against Altanchono’s fur, Soren pulled the neko’s hand to support the ice.
“Just hold it there until the pain goes away. It’ll probably bruise, but you didn’t break the skin.”
“I told you to be careful,” Kurt grumbled, righting the stool.
She climbed up with a bottle in hand and sprayed the ceiling. Soren glanced up at her, watching her scrub at the mould as bleach fumes filled the kitchen.
“Aav does that for us whenever we’re hurt,” Kurt said. “Are you a doctor?”
“No. My mother was a shapechanger, and she taught me anatomy early in life, in case magic ever appeared for me. It’s something I’ve kept up on.”
Turning on the stove, Soren poured water from the river into several pots. It needed to boil before he ran them through the ash.
“You didn’t see any wasps outside, did you?” He turned to Altanchono, who was prodding at the ice in the rag.
“Huh? No, why?”
“I drowned a nest a few days ago, and I wanted to make sure they weren’t back. It’s a pain trying to grow my herbs when I have to dodge angry insects.”
“If they come back, come get me,” Altanchono said. “I’ll kill them for you.”
On the stool, Kurt cackled. She broke into frantic coughs, tilting her head away from the two.
“You yowl if a fly buzzes you! What are you going to do with wasps?”
“Shut up,” Altanchono grumbled. “I’d figure something out.”
“Hopefully, they’re gone for good,” Soren said, grabbing a bowl. “I’d hate to think I was stung for nothing.”
He began washing berries as the water boiled on the stove. Some would be canned, others frozen. Maybe he could make a pie. He hadn’t had such luxury in ages.
“Hey Kurt…” Soren bit his tongue. Why was he asking for things? He finally had a friend. The last thing he wanted was to drive Kurt away by asking for help. “Nevermind…”
“Okay.” Kurt shrugged, turning back to the stubborn stain on the ceiling.
“Do you think I could borrow some sugar?”
Shit…. Maybe he could share the pie with the Chonos. That would be worth a cup of sugar, right? And they’d probably appreciate a homemade pie.
“Of course. Altanaa, go ask Skylar for some sugar.”
Grumbling, Altanchono tossed the rag at the sink before racing from the building.
“He never learns,” Kurt muttered, hopping off the stool. “I think I got the worst of the mould killed off. Are there any other patches?”
Soren chewed his lip, focusing on the berries. There were several patches, including one in his bedroom, but Kurt shouldn’t have to deal with those.
“Soren? Is there any more mould?” Kurt pressed.
“Yeah. A couple of spots in the bathroom, and one in the bedroom.” Soren sighed. Kurt was offering. Why did it feel so bad to accept her help?
The stove hissed, interrupting his internal struggle. Grabbing a pot of boiling water, Soren began pouring it over the ashes, focusing on the soap. What was done was done. There was no sense worrying about it.

A quiet whistle drifted through the kitchen. Soren kneaded a small mound of dark dough, sprinkling a bit of water over the mix. The kitchen was finally his again, and he was taking full advantage. He glanced at his phone occasionally, making sure he had the recipe right. It wouldn’t take long to flatten the dough into a crust, and the blackberries were already soaking in a bowl of sugary water. A bit of flour would thicken the mix up well enough, though the flavour probably wouldn’t be quite as sweet as pies he’d made at school.
“Is that the Quarius theme?”
Soren bit back a yelp as Kurt appeared behind him. Taking a moment to calm his pounding heart, he nodded.
“Yeah… I watch the show to get me back in the human mindset,” he said.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Kurt chuckled. “I haven’t found any more mould. Most of the floors have been swept and mopped. Didn’t know what you wanted to do with the torn bedding, so I left it.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s no problem. Really.” Kurt grinned at Soren. “And I like to watch Quarius too. So does Altanchono, though he’d never admit it.”
“Really?” Soren smiled back, stepping away from the table. “I’ll go get my laptop. We can watch it together while we work.”
“Great. I’ll track down Altanchono then,” Kurt said. “Any idea where he went?”
“I haven’t seen him since he brought back the sugar for the pie.”
Soren headed into his bedroom. Scrubbed walls and a glistening floor met him, with his pile of shredded bedding in the corner of the room. He took a cautious sniff — Kurt had bleached the room, but somehow there were no fumes.
“He’s not inside,” Kurt spoke up as Soren grabbed his laptop.
“I’ll go check outside. Hopefully, he didn’t go swimming. There are sharks in the river,” Soren said.
“Really?!”
“Oh yeah. There’s a bunch of bull sharks that migrate every summer. My mom and I used to watch one hunt the juveniles that occasionally swim up from the coast. They should be gone by now; they prefer warm waters so the winter is not a good time for them.”
Setting his laptop on the kitchen table, Soren headed outside. A quick jog to the river turned up no sign of the orange neko. He glanced at the weir — at least there’d be fish for dinner that night.
Soren returned to the house, looking around. He could hear Kurt calling for Altanchono with increasing frustration in her voice. A flash of orange caught his attention, and Soren stepped around the house.
“Altanchono?”
The neko jumped at his voice. Urine splattered against the house.
“I have a bathroom,” Soren said.
“Oh… sorry.” Altanchono yanked his pants back up, his ears flat against his skull.
Soren shrugged. It wasn’t that big of a deal. He had shown them the bathroom, right? At least Kurt knew where it was — she’d helped Soren clean it after he’d finished the soap.
“Kurt’s looking for you.”
“Yeah… thanks…”
Altanchono hurried back inside. Soren followed a moment later, wondering yet again if it was worth accepting their help.
He shrugged. At least the company was good.

“You broke Miss Polly’s head!”
Soren sucked in a breath. His finger quivered over the bar of soap, a thin line scratching the surface. This episode….
“I can fix her.”
“I don’t remember this episode,” Kurt said, wringing out a mop.
Biting his lip, Soren pushed the soap aside, letting it dry out. It would take a few days before the soap was ready to use, but by next week, for sure, he’d have enough soap for a year or two.
“It’s one of the older episodes,” he mumbled. “Loss and all that.”
“No spoilers,” Altanchono scowled. The orange neko glanced away from the laptop. “Not that I’m watching or anything.”
“Sure.” Kurt rolled her eyes. A buzz filled the air, and she pulled out her phone. “Oh… Ma wants us home.”
Altanchono grumbled, stretching out.
“Now, Altanchono. She’s already threatening to send Skylar after us.”
The neko darted from the house. Behind him, Kurt rolled her eyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?” she asked, glancing over at Soren.
“Yeah,” Soren said, watching the nekos leave.
The door thumped behind them.
“Even magic has its limits.” His head turned back to the laptop. Reinart, Quarius and Aera’s dad, hugged the two kids on the screen. “There are choices you just can’t take back.”
Soren let out a long breath. His hand trembled, and he clenched it, trying to stop the motion. Magic had its limits, for sure. He’d seen that firsthand.
He sank into a chair. Tears welled in his eyes, no matter how he fought them.
“But I want Miss Polly fixed!” Aera complained on screen.
“Well, we don’t always get what we want. Do you know what you can do when that happens? Cry, let out the emotion, then collect yourself and look at what you can do instead.”
He could use a good cry. It had been too long, and things were piling up again.
Soren shut off his laptop. Carrying it to his bedroom, he paused at the doorway. This wasn’t his room. It was too clean, too sterilised. The Chonos had come in like a whirlwind and changed everything around. It was going to take ages to make the place feel comfortable again.