#anywhere

Jaccob asks his sister "Why are mushrooms okay fresh but every thing else has to spoil?"

"Because mushrooms are a fungus, so they're grown from, well.. old, damp things."

"Oh..they're kind of like us? Well... I think"

"Kind of." She roots around the cupboard, retrieving a few tupperwares.

"Well, I like em" he admits.

"Me too. Wait until you try gefilte."

"Or - oh! Rollmops!"

"Gef...are you making words up?"

"Am not! Rollmops are raw pickled herring, wrapped around a filling... I like them with liver paste.."

"Gefilte, that's fish that's been shredded and jellied..."

"You seem to know a lot about fish"

She shrugs. "I eat a lot of fish."

"Legend has that sluagh were river spirits, once. Deep dark water."

"Yeah? " then "How come I get the feeling we weren't friendly spirits?"

"We weren't. Sluagh are... well.. there are all kinds of dreams, nu? We are nightmares. But that doesn't make us evil, or monsters... but.. aye. Darker dreams than trolls."

"Well... you need darkness sometimes, or atl east shadows... that sun'll peel the flesh right off you" He nods "And shadows also make cool things on the walls" He makes a spider gesture with his hands, catching a ray of light to cast a large black spider on the wall

"Exactly!" She doles out a plate - dodgy-looking mashed potatoes, slimy noodles, and yes - fish.

"Sun hurts my eyes, always did" He says

"Too bright, aye. Too bright, too loud... we aren't meant for the regular world. It's hard."

"Well, the world is dark half the time, we'rej ust not.. you know. .uhm.. going mainstream?"

"We have refined tastes! Now - that is pickled herring, see if you like."

He tries it, and his eyes light up

And he begins to dig in.

her brother, all that talk of manners and he still has so far to go

Zara doesn't comment, though she eats her share with more delicacy.

But finally he says "This is really good"

"Good."

"Thank you" he says

Jacob then says "I'm uhm.. sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"I don't know it's like..." A huff "Like I know you have two moms, but I've been hogging Miriam a lot. And that's not very mannerly of me is it? I mean, I try to share, but I feel like if you're not going to be with us then maybe I'm really abusing this?"

Firmly. "No. You having nothing to apologize for."

"But you could have been hurt recuing me and now you're both looking after me and you don't get anything out of it- it's not fair to you "

"We rescued you because it was the right thing - whether we were related or not."

"And you don't look after people to get something out of it."

"Some folks do" he says

"Some."

"But they're wrong?"

"Aye."

"You... you look after people, should look, because you love them."

"You do what you can to make sure they are happy, and safe, and free."

"Like you do with mom and me?"

"Aye, like both of you."

"Thanks, Zara. I love mom, but ... she gets stressed"

A flash of guilt

"Are you okay I.." the boy stops and suddenly grows thoughtful

"Aye... fine."

the boy looks tempted to say something, but then just nibbles at his food, less energetic than before about it

She hesitates. "Are you full? You needn't finish if you don't wish to..."

"something.. uhm.. I've eaten more than my share"