The pail fell from her hands the moment she heard the gossip from the other girl. Ria clutched a hand to her chest, reeling from the strange looks she received as she asked the question. Bellamy must have been mistaken, there could be no way...

"Bellamy, what did you just say?" Bellamy smirked to her friend, a ruddy freckled girl with wild dark hair that fell over her shoulders in gorgeous waves.

"I said your brother's nowhere to be found, the miller he's apprenticed to hasn't seen him since he left off this morning on an errand."

Ria shook her head, narrowing her eyes as she tried to process the words, Bellamy smirked tossing rich auburn curls over her shoulders in a show of superiority over the other girl. 

"This one's the slower of the Smith family I'm sure." the girl said walking away. Ria grabbed her wooden pail, quickly drawing her water from the well so she could hurry home in time to question their mother.

What did Bellamy mean Ansel had not been seen? It couldn't be like the other children could it? Ria gathered her skirts and ran with the water sloshing as she did, back to her father's house. She burst through the door calling for her mother like a wounded hound.

the force of her push nearly took the door off its rusty hinges, her mother rushed down the stairs to see only a young girl and half a pail full of water. 

Mrs. Smith took a single look at her daughter, face flushed with sweat from the exertion of running through the town in fright. the hems of her skirts were stained brown with mud from a sty where she had cut through to reach the home faster.

"Lunaria! You've gone and dirtied your skirts-"

"People in the town are saying they cannot find Ansel!" Ria said first. The woman rolled her eyes and clasped her hands down on her daughter's shoulders to calm her.

"Ansel is of the men, forget that he's your brother now Ria, boys will be boys after all. He probably just went off to play in the woods with the other children."

"But Mam those woods are cursed! Think of the missing children." Ria said in panic. the older woman pulled the cap off her child's head with a heavy sigh.

"What happened to those children was horrible but there is nothing in those woods, your father goes there day in and day out and he returns still to us. If your brother went in there then surely he would do the same"

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"But Mam!"

"Enough Lunaria! When he's back you will see. Now go wash up, before you track mud all over my good floors." 

the girl nodded, she walked off with her head bowed in submission to her mother who seemed pleased with the stern way she handled the matter, it wouldn't do for a child to get all sorts of ideas now, especially when she could get so hysterical.

Ria sat by the shallow fish pond behind her house washing her skirts against a rock, she scrubbed and scrubbed paying no mind to the redness of her hands. The girl grunted with effort, scrubbing, and scrubbing until a nasty rip was torn through the hem.

"No!" she yelled, holding up the now damaged garment, if she took this to her mother now there would be hell to pay. Coin had been scarce and the town was not doing well, where would they get money for thread to fix the rip in the linen?

Ria shook her head again, and with a growl of frustration threw the cloth into the dewy grass just beside the pond. She buried her face into her knees, willing herself not to sob at the frustration of it all. Why couldn't her own mother take her seriously? it was almost as if the woman had it out for her.

"Don't let your mother catch you doing that." A familiar voice said from behind her. Ria raised her head to find her who father stood near the pond hefting the large game of fresh deer over his shoulders. 

His tall broad figure stood with the deer hanging off his shoulder like it weighed less than a feather. His long barreled rifle stayed in his hand, the instrument that ensured his victory against nature.

Her father smiled deeply at her, always happy to see her and she in turn smiled in relief at his presence. Ria didn't want to face her mother alone and she much preferred and was attuned to the presence and company of her father.

She stood from the mouth of the pond, getting up to run into his arms. He stopped her with a shake of his head, the deer on his shoulder swayed with the movements of his body.

"Oh my darling you mustn't come close, you'll be soaked in blood and then your mother will have both our heads." the man chuckled.

"Can I help you skin it?" Ria asked already taking the rifle from his hands so he would have a better time lifting the deer on his shoulder. The buck's head lolled to the side, tongue hanging out of a bloodied mouth. Ria caught her reflection in the eyes of the poor animal, she looked away.

"Not typically women's work but I can indulge, don't let your mother see you." he said, he strode into the house through the back door moving to his lower room where the preserves and the meats were dried. 

A cool wind blew across their faces as they descended the steps down to the lower levels of the house. The afternoon sun shined through the small cell like window at the top of the small room in the family cellar. 

All around Ria was surrounded by the smell of dried meats and jams in preserves, she ran to the fore, clearing the stone table her father would need to skin the meat. Ria ran her hand over the carved table, the worn, stained gray stone was cool to the touch, no doubt it had seen many animals her father hunted. She moved aside salt bags and jars, making space for the deer's carcass to rest.

"Thank you my darling." He said, with a grunt her father hefted the deer onto the large circular, stone table, its eyes ever watching.

"Father, have you seen Ansel?" Ria asked looking away from the deer. She hoped her father had passed him playing in the woods if he did decide not to go to his apprenticeship today.

"I did not, he was supposed to be at the miller today, lord knows that boy could not be any more useless." her father said, his tone growing angry. It was true that Ansel didn't have the head for work, but if he was to earn his keep he would need to and Ria would also have to...

The girl brought out a large carving knife, in the minimal light of the small room its steel shined with the polish of careful keeping. Her father grabbed a whetstone, sharpening and sharpening the gutting instrument.

The deer's skin came off first with the incision on the belly, Ria helped her father strip the skin clean off exposing the raw sinew and the veiny meat of the dead animal. She doesn't flinch at the realities, the circle of life must continue, we give and we take. Once she was done with her existence, nature would claim her as food for the deer.

That's what her father had always told her.