Antares is left to his own devices as Reia digs through storage to find food for dinner, and Alunya carries a set of dishes down to the river to clean them off.
Antares frowns, feeling a twinge of guilt; He should have been helping, right? It wasn't fair that he was the only one not doing anything. But if Vekt catches wind of him doing a woman's chores again, he would never live it down, so instead he keeps his mouth shut and stays in front of the fireplace.
Alunya gets back at about the same time Reia emerges from the ‘pantry’- again, really more of just a pit in the ground where smoked or dry-freezed food was kept dry and cool- with that night's food.
It might not have been the most traditional of winter meals, given that the family didn’t own any guanaco’s so meat was not on the table. But Reia had brought out the vegetables that kept well over the winter, pumpkin and zucchini, and through trade had acquired some milk.
“Alright, who wants to help me cook?” Reia asks. Before Antares even has time to reject her, Alunya was already up. “Me! Me!” Alunya shouts-again, a pinch too loud, causing both Reia and Antares to wince from his shrill voice.
Antares watches as Alunya scampers off, eager to help as always, and shakes his head. Maybe it was a good thing that the boy was rather uninterested in playing with the other village kids, Antares was sure he’d be bullied mercilessly. Antares on the other hand... He slumps over, letting out a hefty sigh. Maybe now that Alunya is old enough to help with chores, he would get something of a break...?
“Come along now!” Reia motions for Alunya to follow, as she carries the families heavy copper cauldron- probably the most valuable possession they had, though Antares and Alunya had rarely ever seen it. Alunya scampers off after her, as she walks down to the river; thankfully, the riverside wasn’t too far away. Ice had formed on the banks, but the whole river was still flowing, so it hadnt been able to freeze over entirely. Reia steps out onto the stones on the river banks, carefully watching her step but still almost slipping. Thankfully, she catches her balance, carefully going out to the water.
Dunking the cauldron down into the water, she lifts it back out with some effort, visibly straining under the weight. The cauldron was heavy enough empty, let alone half-filled with riverwater. Alunya runs up to help steady the cauldron from the other side, oblivious to the bumpy icy rocks under his feet. “What's this for?” he asks, curiously.
“We’re making... Stew!” Reia announces. “Help me carry this back so we can get it on the fire!”
Alunya takes the opposite side of the cauldron and lifts it up. Most boys his age probably wouldn't have been much help, but, Alunya’s unusual stature for his age came in handy, and though it was somewhat difficult, the two of them manage to awkwardly carry the cauldron back as they walked around the terrace back to the paved road up to their hut, spilling splashes of water over the side of the cauldron as they walk, Alunya walking backwards carrying one end while Reia carries the other side.
As the two of them return home, Reia calls for Antares to open the door, then as soon as they are inside, sets down the cauldron with a hefty thud and grunt of effort, another splash of water spilling down onto the earthen floor. Reia collapses down into the chair next to the table, groaning. “Antares, help your brother put the cauldron up onto the fireplace.”
Antares hesitates, but nods and goes over to the other side. Alunya smiles at him. “Ready?” Antares nods, and the two young boys lift the cauldron,hauling it in place onto the small hooks on either side of the fireplace.
“Now what?” Alunya chirps, wheeling around to face Reia.
Reia laughs a little, leaning back. “Heavens, give me a moment to catch my breath!” She shakes her head. “I don’t know where you get all that energy from...”
Alunya ponders, but as he did, his stomach growled, and Antares snickers from over near the fireplace. “Well, I think I know why he’s so eager to help-“ He teases, reaching over to poke Alunya in the belly, who giggles uncontrollably at the action.
“We need to wait for the water to boil. In the meantime, I guess we should cut up the vegetables.” Reia gets up from her chair and goes over to retrieve the cooking knife from its rack, where Alunya had just put it after cleaning.
The two of them set about preparing all the ingredients- at first, Reia just does the work while showing Alunya how to do it, but soon enough, Alunya takes over, and Reia retires to just telling him what to do while resting next to the table.
[...]
“Dinner’s ready!”
Reia’s voice immediately rouses her two boys from their stupor-even Alunya’s boundless energy had tapered off a bit when hungry and waiting for food. But as soon as Reia had tasted the food and announced it was ready, he was of course on his feet and over near the cauldron in a heartbeat.
The roughly carved stone bowls are soon enough all filled up, and the boys sit down at the table with their mother. Alunya stares down at the soup curiously; he doesn’t remember the last time he’d had something similar, though it seems to basically just have whatever Reia had on hand. Pumpkin, potato, corn, and onion had all found their way into the stew, with a broth steeped with guanaco bones.
“Can we eat yet?” Antares asks, wiggling from side to side antsily. Antsy ant~ Alunya thinks, giggling a little at his inward joke, prompting Antares to give him a confused look.
“Not yet, we have to wait until the sacrifice is done down in th-” Reia is interrupted by the sound of a bell clanging out, right on cue. Even if the winter solstice wasn't celebrated in the village center, the sacrifice still was done right on schedule, and not a soul would eat first. The gods always get first supper. Alunya thinks, nodding sagely.
“Alright, dig in!” Reia announces, though she needn’t have bothered; her boys had started hungrily wolfing down his meal as soon as the bell had rung. Cold weather and lean winter meals built up quite the hungry appetite!
Alunya slurps up a mouthful of soup. It was quite a bit different from what he was used to even if the ingredients were mostly similar; There was a big difference between the extremely dry food they were used to and food made mostly out of water. The broth was positively bursting with flavor, mostly the pumpkin which overwhelmed most of the other ingredients.
Antares stifles a laugh looking at Alunya’s face as Alunya puts the spoon down, and Alunya blinks at him curiously. “What is it, Ari?” Alunya cocks his head to the side questioningly.
Antares tries to suppress a giggle as he shakes his head. “No, nothing.” He snickers while Alunya blinks at him, confused.
“Alunya, here, you’ve got it on your lip-” Reia finally informs him. “Just wipe it off.”
“Aww, you ruined it. He had such a cute little mustache going there.” Antares ribs, elbowing Alunya lightly while he wipes his face off with his wrist, then licks it clean.
“So, how do you two like the soup?” Reia asks, lacing her fingers together and leaning forward. Alunya and Antares both nod enthusiastically before exclaiming “It's really good!” In perfect sync. The two of them look at each other in surprise, then burst out laughing.
When the three of them finish eating, Reia stacks the dishes and stands up. After placing them on the counter- it was too dark and cold out to go wash them right now- Reia presents a small handful of beans to Alunya. “Now, since we made a good harvest this year, I was able to barter for some cocoa and milk this winter.” Reia starts explaining. “Do you want to try to make hot cocoa? It's traditional for this time of year. You know how, right?”
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Alunya nods eagerly. He had seen other people making the beverage before; it wasn't complicated. But he’d never gotten to try it himself. While he gets to work grinding up the beans, Antares runs off at the same time, announcing “I’ll go get our blankets!”.
Once he had thoroughly mixed the ground cocoa paste into the milk- which was quite warm, since it had been left by the fireplace- Alunya takes an experimental sip. “Blech!” He makes a worried face as he tastes the bitter beverage. “Mama?”
Reia comes to his side, looking at him questioningly and placing one hand on his shoulders reassuringly. “What is it, sweetie?”
“Why does it taste so bad?” Alunya asks. “Did I make it wrong?”
Reia shakes her head. “No, you did it perfectly! It's just a bit of an acquired taste is all. It's a special drink for special occasions.” She affirms.
Alunya hesitates, looking around to make sure Antares was still not in the room, then leans forward and whispers in a very loud and easily audible voice “It’s not a… ‘special drink’ like what Tavr drinks, is it?” He mumbles, concern plastered over his face.
Reia furrows her brow, concerned. Why would Alunya be so worried about that? “No, Alunya, it's not alcohol. It’s a traditional beverage the priests usually make for important events.”
Alunya pauses for a minute, then hops down from his perch and runs off into storage. “Where are you going, honey?” Reia calls out to him as he disappears.
Alunya comes rushing back with a small jar of honey and places it on the table, unscrewing the lid with some effort, poking his tongue out on one side of his mouth and half-grunting, half-squeaking as he strains until the lid pops off. “It's too bitter, mama! I need to make it taste better!” Alunya announces, before emptying a couple of big globs of honey into the cups before Reia can stop him.
“Alunya!” Reia protests, taking the jar back out of his hands. “That stuff is hard to gather, and the drinks were already made the right way!” She lectures sternly, wagging her finger.
Alunya puts on a rebellious face and takes a sip from his new concoction, before beaming up at her. “But mama, it tastes much better now! You try!” he offers the beverage to her, and she reluctantly takes it, sipping from it. It was hard to deny him; The bitter hot cocoa might be traditional, but it was also a mite hard to swallow. Alunya’s concoction was much more palatable, keeping the distinct ‘cocoa’ taste but masking the bitterness behind the tangy sweetness of wildflower honey and milk.
Reia sighs frustrated, looking at the jar of honey, but it was too late now anyways, so she might as well let him go. “Alright, but no more using the honey without permission, unless you want to gather it yourself next time!” Reia lectures, returning the jar to the pantry while Alunya rushes over next to the fireplace, setting the two cups down. Antares returns as well, trailing in his blanket, and plops himself down side by side with Alunya in front of the fire, wrapping his blanket around both of them.
Alunya giggles and leans in close, saddling up as close to Antares as he can manage, resting his head on his brother's shoulder. Antares smiles down at him warmly, and picks his hot cocoa up from the stone floor by the fireplace. He looks upwards towards the heavens for a moment and braces himself, before taking a sip of the beverage- And his face lights up.
“H-huh? What's this?” Antares asks in some amazement as he looks back down at his beverage. It certainly looks like normal hot cocoa, but the flavor was altogether something else; The rich, earthy tones of the cocoa blend together with the tangy sweetness of the honey to make it more palatable, creating a complex profile that left a warm, wholesome feeling even after he’d swallowed.
“I improved it!” Alunya announces, cheerfully beaming back at Antares.
“Yes you most certainly did.” Antares mumbles before taking another sip, now giving himself a chocolatey milk-mustache.
It was a filling drink, which was good since there was not much to go around. Alunya and Antares sip slowly at their respective beverages, huddled up closely together watching the fire, the only source of heat in the dead of winter night.
Antares shivers a little as he takes the last sip of his drink. The sound of howling wind and snow is loud, counterbalanced only by the crackling of the fireplace. “It looks like it's gonna be freezing tonight. That's a proper snowstorm outside.” Antares observes, setting down the empty cup. It was good that the hot cocoa and soup had helped them stay somewhat warm, but he wasn’t looking forward to going to bed; The fireplace’s heat didn't reach their room very well, and the single blanket he had on his bed was hardly enough insulation.
“Oh! Do you want me to sleep with you tonight, Ari?” Alunya asks. “It’d be warmer!”
Antares blushes and gives a panicked glance around. “Alunya! Mom said we weren’t supposed to do that anymore, remember?”
Alunya rolls his eyes. “Oh boo-hoo, so what? She doesn't come in to see us until sunrise and that's so late in winter that there's plenty of time to get up. She’ll never know. Plus, it's cold!” Alunya points out. “You wouldn’t leave me to be cold all night, would you, Ari?” Alunya gives a cheeky smile to his older brother, fully confident in his own charms.
Antares gives Alunya a deadpan look and groans. “Mom and I really need to stop spoiling you so much, it's clearly going to your head.” Antares sighs, shaking his head.
Alunya puffs out a cheek, looking at Antares indignantly. “Oh, come on, you were the one who was talking about how cold it is!” Alunya puts on his best doe eyes and looks at Antares pleadingly. “Pleeease?”
Antares flinches away, blushing. There was, after all, a reason Alunya got spoiled so often… It was really hard to say no to him when he put on that face. “Ah, fine. But only because it's cold out, and not because you asked.” Antares relents, in the most unconvincing tone of voice that man had ever heard.
Alunya pumps his fist victoriously, smiling ear to ear cockily as he hops to his feet and runs a couple of victory laps around the room in his customary pose, arms spread wide like wings.
“What is the commotion out there about?” Reia shouts from her bedroom where she had retired. Alunya halts in place, almost overbalancing and falling over before correcting himself.
“Um, nothing!” Alunya replies, in the second most unconvincing tone of voice that man had ever heard. Reia stood at the doorway with an expression that reads ‘what in Hylicia’s name are you two up to’, but with her eyes drooping from tiredness, she sighs and gives up. “Whatever you say, Alunya. Just keep it down, you might not need to get up early but I can’t say the same. And don’t you even think about going outside, I will hear if that door opens.” Normally the windows would be an obvious escape route, but with the snow covering over them that wasn't a realistic option, so the door was the only thing worth worrying about.
With the fire slowly losing its brilliant luster, and the brothers’ eyes both growing heavy, Alunya finally manages to drag Antares back away to their bed, where he flops down on the far side of the bed, holding the two blankets if only using the bottom bunk, there was no need to leave his own blanket on the top bunk, after all-up for Antares to get in. Antares blinks down at him, doubtfully, questioning once again how he always lets Alunya talk him into things. But it was too late and he was too tired to argue again, so he flops down onto the bed, laying face down into the pillow.
Rapidly, Alunya wraps the blankets around him like a spider wrapping its webbing around its prey, making sure it was fully covered before going in for the kill; or in Alunya’s case, for a close, affectionate hug, wrapping both arms around Antares’s shoulders and nestling one leg between his. Antares reluctantly reciprocates, wrapping both arms around Alunya loosely, eliciting a squeal of delight from the younger boy. Alunya never seemed to get tired of cuddling, and if anything the long gap from his mother’s forbiddance had only intensified that need.
Antares sighs in resignation to his fate, smiling lopsidedly as he shrugs and nestles down into Alunya’s domain. It certainly was warm, Alunya’s skin was always borderline hot to the touch. If he hadn’t been familiar with it already, Antares might have thought that he had a fever.
Just as Antares is getting settled in and slowly sinking into sleep, he hears a soft voice- familiar, but uncharacteristically meek and quiet. “Hey, Ari?”
“Mhm?” Antares drawls out, sleepily.
After a long moment of silence, Antares hears Alunya’s voice again, low and anxious. “You don’t hate spending time with me, right?”
Antares frowns. This was very unusual for Alunya. Taking his brother's chin, he raises his head so that he can see his eyes- albeit very dimly, given that only reflected firelight from the other room provided any light at all. “Alunya, what brought this on?” Antares asks, his voice equally as soft.
Alunya shifts, looking down and to the side. “Um… It's just that I’m always making you spend time with me… I don’t wanna be a drag on you.” Alunya murmurs.
Antares feels a twinge of pain in his heart. What had he said that would make Alunya think this way? “Of course not, Alunya. I love you, alright?”
Antares feels Alunya smile-he can just about see it in his head, the characteristic radiant smile of his little brother was practically emblazoned into his brain-and bury his face into Antares’s shoulder. “Mhm. Thanks, Ari, I love you too.”