[happyturtle]

Main Cabin

The children look mystified. Brand disgusted. "Pudding simply means 'dessert'. But what you call 'pudding', I would call penance. It's vile. Truly vile. But there really are 7 meals in a day. I'm not sure anyone but us eats at them all."

"Not even the Wolfen do," Lily says. "They go and kill a deer and eat a whole bunch without even cooking it, then have a long nap, and don't eat again the rest of the day, except maybe a snack. That's the worst part about when I become a Wolfen. I don't want to eat raw meat."

"You're not going to become a Wolfen!" Tito snaps at his sister. They'd been getting on so well up until now too. "You're a halfling. You have to stay a halfling."

"Renetta didn't stay an elf!" Lily retorts.

Pansy to the rescue! The sandwich, she returns with, though lacking in onion gravy, has three kinds of cold meat, two kinds of cheese, lettuce, mayo, pickles, tomatoes, yellow peppers, red onions, and black olives. And of course it's served on a homemade bun that was baked only yesterday and is absolutely massive. "I'm sorry the bread is a day old. We haven't finished the baking today," she says. She also sets a bowl of cherries down on the table, and the kids come along and start eating it. "Slow down, you two. Save some for Justin."

"And me!" Brand says. He's finished the kneading, and puts the bread back in the bowl, covers it, and sets it on a shelf near the fireplace for rising. "I just have to wash my hands." As he walks past, Pansy holds up a cherry for him to catch in his mouth.