A Birth day

Anise fairly sprinted out the door to go ask Michael to climb trees. Michael had just clipped the last of the herbs he needed for supper when Anise shouted his name and ran over to him.

"Marcus said you like tree climbing," Anise said.

"Yeah, I do," he said.

"So do I. I need to climb a tree. I've been doing girly stuff long enough. Climb a tree with me? Please?"

"Alright, but not more than one or two. I have supper to fix," he told her. He took her to some trees that he believed were easy for a beginner to climb, and he was as surprised by how well and how fast she could climb as she was that he was a far better climber than she was.

"How'd you do that so fast?" she asked him.

"Core strength, my girl," he said. "Your arms and legs are important, yes, but they're not meant to do all the work. Your core muscles are meant to protect your back muscles. Learn to use your core muscles so you can redistribute your body weight more effectively."

"I don't know what core muscles are," she said.

"These," he said, showing her. "Primarily your abdominal muscles."

"I'll be stronger?"

"Yes," he nodded. "You'll be faster and more agile and stronger, whether you're climbing a tree or doing rock climbing."

"I've never been rock climbing," she said.

"That's some of my favorite climbing."

"We use climbing to get eggs or to get the high fruit. What do humans use it for?"

"A lot of things. Sometimes for the fruit or nuts, sometimes for fitness, sometimes just for fun, sometimes for defensive or offensive purposes."

"So we're the same, then."

"Pretty much," he said.

"Could I climb rocks?"

"Yes. You could, with the right instruction."

"Teach me?"

"Fine, but not today. We'll have to start earlier in the day for that. How's your music paper coming?"

"Its not entirely done yet. I got stuck on a potions thing and spent way too much time on it. Nigel helped me, though."

"Potions is similar to cooking," he said.

"I don't cook either," she said.

"We'll have to fix that. That's a necessary skill."

"Nah. I can get by with fruits and nuts."

"Not with a werewolf's nutritional needs, you can't. You have to do better than that."

"Now you sound like Angus," she sighed.

"Well, I should think a chef should know a thing or two about nutrition," Michael laughed. "Alright, my girl, I need to go start on fixing supper. Come with me. I climbed you, so now you can cook with me. You need to learn, so come along." She went with him, even if she wasn't really all that happy with the idea of cooking.

Simone was still interested in Ginger's lace making hobby.

"So, how do you store all your supplies?" Simone asked her.

"Well, I don't have anything special," she said. "I had a knit stocking hat that I was trying to make and it went all wrong, so I just ran a drawstring around the edge, and my things are shoved inside it for now, but there's a hole in it that I keep mending because if I don't, my supplies fall out the hole."

"Back in the village where my house is, there is a little tiny shop that sells needle craft supplies--embroidery, needlepoint, cross-stitching, crocheting, knitting and the like, and I know they also have a few tatting supplies too. They sometimes get some lovely wooden boxes for needlecrafting. I think they know a fellow that designs and makes them. Maybe you and Ruby and I and Anise can pop over there when you're a bit stronger, and we can see what they have. And if they don't have what you like, maybe they can get him to make you what you want."

"Oh, gosh, that sounds expensive," Ginger said.

"If it's what you want, we'll buy it," Simone said. "I'm allowed to do those things for my grandkids, whether those grandkids are blood related or not. Is there something that your sister wants?"

"Oh, yeah, but I don't know what it's called. Its a board, and it has wheels. We saw some kids in a park once standing on them and riding on them, so now she thinks she has to have one too. Such silliness."

"Oh! A skateboard! Yes, my kids had one, and my grandkids all have them. If she wants a skateboard, then we might have to surprise her with one. And all these paved running trails would be a great place to ride a skateboard. She could ride for miles on these trails," Simone said.

"Looks like I might need to teach you some basic lockpicking," Michael said to her. "Mind if I take this one with me?" He indicted he was speaking of Anise. "She says she doesn't know how to cook, and I told her that werewolves don't get on well if they think they can just eat fruit and nuts. I think its high time she start to help at meals and learn how to cook a few things."

"Can't I just zap up something when I learn magic?" Anise asked.

"Well, first, you have to learn which end of the wand means business," Michael said. "And in the meantime, you'll do what? Starve?"

"Ruby'll cook for me," Anise said.

"Ruby is not going to rescue you from yourself forever," Michael said. "She actually is a good climber, Ruby. I think I could start her on some rock climbing any time she likes, if you don't mind me taking her off the grounds, that is. You could come along if you have the time. I know you wanted to do some rock climbing but never got to go more than once or twice."

"I'm sure that somebody would look after the baby," Michael said. "No one here has ever let any of the kids be neglected. Alright. Enough climbing for one day. Let's go fix supper, Anise. We'll send some over for you when it's ready, Ruby."

He took Anise and went inside in the main house to cook the chicken cacciatore he had promised everyone.

In the meantime, the baby had rousted Angus from a sound sleep with some sort of cranky, fussy attitude. Ginger was trying her best, but the baby just wasn't having it. Nigel went over and took the baby from Ginger and checked her just to make sure she was alright. Then he handed her off to Angus.

"She's fine. She's just being a little brat," Nigel said.

"Yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me entirely," Angus said, taking off his sling to lay her on his pillow. He accio'd one of her pacifiers and gave it to her, along and charmed a toy to dangle above her to try to distract her. In order to make it hover above her, it had to hang right in front of his face, and that was annoying. He had to lean back and close his eyes because it was entirely too close to his face.

"Isn't that way too close to your face?" Nigel frowned.

"Yep," Angus said, as the baby started to fuss a bit less.

"I don't really need to rest, but this was the only place I could put her with one hand," he explained to Ruby. "And that meant that for her to see the toy, it had to be right about two inches from my face."

"Anise doesn't really think she can get by with conjured food," Ginger said. "She just hates the idea of learning to cook. I don't know why she hates cooking. She just does. Mom tried to teach her, and Anise just really hates it."

"Well, we all have things we don't like," Angus said.

"Even you guys?"

"Yes, even us," Angus said.

"What do you hate?"

"I can tell you that straight off," Nigel said. "He hates being a patient for us healers. He hates everything about it."

"Guilty as charged," Angus confessed.

"What do you hate?" Ginger asked Ruby.

"That's how humans see us, though. Ten foot tall, breathing flames, and all the rest. We hear it all the time. Even in our human form, people run from us screaming, no matter where we go," she sighed. "And if we're with Fenrir? Oh my god, you'd think we were out to murder every living creature we see and eat them on the spot. They run into their houses and bolt the doors and the shutters up tight. And they think we can change back and forth at will and in broad daylight. Idiots. Some of the older texts on werewolves had drawings that looked worse than that. Our dad honestly believed he was doing us favors by having Fenrir turn us when we were just tiny, but truthfully, Anise and I don't believe he did us any favors at all."

"Most people live in fear of anything they don't understand," Nigel told her. "Unfortunately, and humans seem to need to try to hunt anything they don't understand right out of existence."

"Exactly," Ginger said. "We've lost a lot of our pack that way, especially the older ones that don't move as fast."

"Hopefully the wolfsbane allows you to have a longer, safer life," Angus said as the baby had a diaper blow out on his arm and his brace and his pillow. he sighed heavily. "Twice in one day. Really?" Just about then, Marcus and Nigel got a whiff of what he was talking about.

"God, no wonder she was cranky," Marcus scowled. "That's horrendous, even for her."

"Come get her, Ru," Angus said. "She is one foul mess, and now so am I--again."

"I think I might be able to put a little addition in her formula to cut down a little on some of these random bombings she's doing," Nigel said. "Unless you prefer multiple baths and all the excessive laundry."

"I'll go get you a change of clothes and the basin--again," Marcus laughed, "and the laundry basket. Look at it this way, it used to happen to me right when I was about to eat supper. At least she missed mealtime for you tonight."

"Couldn't I just go up and shower?"

"That really isn't on your list at all yet," Nigel said. "And you really can't get that shoulder wet."

"What if I help him?"

"You wouldn't dare leave him for a moment, if you do," Nigel said.

"Why would I leave him?" Marcus frowned. "Come on. Let's give it a try." He laid the baby on the bed and apparated Angus upstairs to the shower.

"You're very blessed to have a guy who has all kinds of patience," Nigel told Ruby. "Most men would be having a fit by now, and this one just doesn't react much at all about it."