Legs were weird, decided Marinus. They were wobbly, and he could barely stand on them. But he still made tentative steps. He was wearing clothes provided by Theanore’s father.

Crassus was holding Marinus’ hands, and they were walking together. Theanore had been able to walk right off the bat. Why couldn’t he?

“Children, you can come to live with me now.” Said Crassus happily. Both of them began to protest at the same time.

“What of my plants?” Asked Theanore. She needed to prepare them for the winter. She needed to bring some warmth to the cave somehow.

“What of my fish?” Asked Marinus. The Mundyd hatchlings were growing up but not quick enough. They counted on him to tear bait fish into smaller portions for them.

“You two want to remain in this cave? Even during the winter?” Asked Crassus, not believing his ears.

“My chickens and my murder muffins need feeding too. The ants can’t follow an order for more than a week. They get distracted,” said Theanore, and Crassus sighed.

“Well, we will need to prepare this cave for the winter then. Can your ants make some mud stoves?”

“Probably. But they don’t know how,” said Theanore. Then she released Marinus’ hand and went to the nearest anthill.

“Ants, line up.”

An ant came out of the anthill, and it greeted Theanore with a shake of its antennas.

“Father Crassus is going to make a mud stove. Observe him and copy him. Every cavern will need… Father, how many mud stoves would a cavern need?”

“One at each of its corners and one in the middle should be enough,” said Crassus. “And the entrance would have to be sealed off with a wall and a door, so the warmth wouldn’t escape.”

“The ants can get to work on that right away,” said Marinus. Then he spoke.

“Ants, line up.”

Another ant went to stand by the ant that had answered Theanore’s call.

“Go make a wall over the entrance and a door in the middle. Grind the stone to dust and add water, just like you did for the chicken coop tunnel.”

“Your ants know how to do such a thing?” Asked Crassus, amazed that these insects could make smooth surfaces.

“Yes, they can, father. They do the same with their anthills, but with earth lumps.”

“Then they can make the stove from stone. I’ll show them how to do it. These new stoves will last you for far longer.”

They spend the day making a stove and the ants managed to make the wall, but they were yet to make the door and so Crassus had to stay with the children. They slept in the front of the grotto where Theanore’s apple tree was.

Glowing mushrooms lighted their faces, and Crassus regaled the children with tales of his village.

“And Ms. Hilda makes the best pies. I will bring you two some of her pies next time. Or you two can come with me back to the village. I brought a wagon with a horse.”

“Yes! I want pies! Mari, we can go, right?” Asked Theanore, and Marinus pretended to think it over to tease her, but then he nodded.

He was rewarded with a hug. The children and the two murder muffins cuddled up to Crassus, and they all fell asleep. The next morning, there was a door in the wall of the entrance. If they planted something on the other side of the door, no one would find their grotto.

Piling into the wagon, Theanore gave last instructions to the murder muffins.

“And you have to catch numerous rats and don’t attack the ants as they feed the chickens.”

The two kittens whipped their tails and touched their ears with them to show they have understood. Then they ran back inside the grotto. Now that the merman wasn’t in the pool all the time, they had more time to fish in there.

“When we come back, we won’t find a single fish in the pool. We should have taken the murder muffins with us.” Said Marinus. The murder muffins liked to attack his toes now that he didn’t have a tail. The system had told him that his regen of 300 mana had to be exhausted in his human form before he could restart it from the build-up regen.

But now that he had a piggy bank for his mana, a skill he had acquired accidentally as he practiced moving the mana around his body, he could store up to 1000 mana for lean times.

Once his sixty hours were up, he needed to find water and hide from humans and restart the changeling skill. He already had it to level 5. Even still, he could barely walk.

Crassus got the wagon moving, and both children looked at the surrounding forest in wonder. Small yellow flowers littered the forest floor. Crassus had told them that they meant that winter was coming.

He also told Theanore that before winter set in, she needed to place hay over her plants to keep them warm. Fortunately, hay was effortless to find. It could even be produced from deep wheat, Crassus had said, but Theanore fed the deep wheat stems to the Fatty Slowpokes.

The forest gave way to rolling fields with wheat glistening like gold in them. There were also corn and cabbage fields, as well as different orchids and vineyards. Crassus stopped by an orchid and got some apples from it, saying that this field was his.

The children ate the juicy fruit. Marinus ate two apples and proclaimed that the apples from Theanore’s tree would be sweeter. He received a hit over the head, albeit a very light one, from Crassus. The adult mumbled about mermen who said inappropriate things.

Marinus didn’t understand what had happened, and a look at Theanore confirmed that she didn’t understand either. She patted the hit spot and told Marinus she would give him one of her apples when they grew. She received a tug on her ear from her father.

A little while later, they made it into the village. People stopped what they were doing to see the new arrivals.

“Crassus, where did you find these cherubs?” Asked a kindly old woman who was carrying a basket with bread. She reached out and took two small buns and handed them to the children.

“You two eat up now. I made them myself.”

Crassus smiled at granny Oakheart’s kindness, and he placed a fatherly hand on Theanore’s shoulder.

“This little girl is my adoptive daughter, Theanore. She lives with this boy. His name is Marinus. They live in the forest of fireflies.”

“Oh, poor dears,” said granny Oakheart. “Will they be living with you from now on, Crassus?”

“No, I will be living with them in the forest. I came to trade some things, so I can build a nice cottage.”

“You are a good man, Crassus,” said granny Oakheart. Even though, she was slightly concerned that the family would spend their days in a forest.