The birthday cake my mother prepared was a simple thing. Made out of whipped cream and fruits, it was sweet due to the prickly pears she used. Here, in this part of the world it was easier to get sugar than in other places, but it was sometimes still difficult, especially for us, commoners. Prickly pears were an incredible source of sugar. When they matured, you could smell the sickly sweet taste for kilometers. It’s what we children usually go after during the months of summer, and here in the house we got a pretty big stash of it since there are plenty of cacti in the surrounding area.

The weather had been getting colder the more we advanced through the days, but it was still tolerable. It almost never snowed here, so compared with other places in the south, we had it pretty easy. That didn’t mean though, that it could not become freezing cold sometimes. And since we didn’t have that many preparations both in clothing and housing like in the south, it could be pretty uncomfortable.

But well, that was life, I guess. As mom cut the cake after everyone sung happy birthday to me, I could not help but be in awe. Twelve years old. It was my twelfth birthday, and now I was twelve years old. While the original Elaine lived only until she was eleven, I managed to turn another year thanks to my efforts to save my life.

I was happy.

Especially because Lucas stopped ignoring me and now everything was back to normal. I ate, drowning some water from time to time because I’m not really a fan of sweets, and talked with my parents and played with Thomas and made fun of Lucas who was already on this third piece of cake.

After the celebration was done, Thomas, Lucas and I stepped out of the house. I guided Lucas by the hand while Thomas ran in front of us, his laughter filling the air and bringing a sense of peace and warmth to our hearts.

“Mmm, Elaine, where…?” Lucas asked, unsure. I gave him a mysterious smile, taking him to a wooden building a little farther away from the house, farther than the henhouse and even the barn. Lucas blinked. “That place…”

“Did you ever go inside?” I asked, looking at him knowing the answer already. He shook his head, and my smile widened. “What a good boy. Not putting foot in places he wasn’t told he could go to…”

“Are you making fun of me again?”

“Not at all” I answered sincerely. “To be honest though, neither I nor Thomas is allowed there. Only when it’s one of our birthdays we can enter. Mom and dad are always worried we’re going to ruin the place” I said, rolling my eyes, though honestly, if I was an adult I would also forbid children from going inside the building.

Lucas looked at me curiously, but asked nothing as we already arrived at the entrance. Thomas was jumping up and down excitedly, waiting and prodding me to open the door already. Smiling, I took out the key mom gave me reluctantly and unlocked the door. Once opened, Thomas darted inside with a squeal of joy.

“Come on” I grabbed Lucas’ hand again and like that, we darted inside.

At first it was too dark to make sense of anything in the place, but soon after our eyes got used to it. Thomas was trying to jump inside one of the wood-slatted pens containing all the clean and dry feathers, with little success.

“Elaine! Help!” he yelled. I chuckled and went over to him, carefully lifting him up. Thomas was impatient though, and as soon as he was at the necessary height, he jumped, spreading feathers everywhere that Lucas and I would have to clean up later. I smiled, not caring about that for now and also jumped inside.

I resurfaced, giggling and beckoning Lucas over. “Come! What are you waiting for?”

Lucas blinked, looking from us, who were playing with the feathers, to the work tables and pieces of cloths lying around. He finally returned his eyes to me. “A feather house?” he asked, incredulously. I nodded.

“It isn’t to your liking?” I asked, rather astounded. How can you not like feathers? Especially when there are so many of them you can just jump inside and feel nothing but the fluffiness of it! And some pointy ends, but meh.

“No, it’s just… I never thought you’d had one…” he said, slowly walking towards us. I smiled.

“Our farm is one of the biggest around here! Chickens, pigs, goats, fruits, grains, peas, you name it! We have plenty of everything!”

“…I see. Such a big, productive farm this is…” he murmured. I frowned. What was wrong with him? He just stood there, glancing around wistfully and almost… guiltily? Is he feeling guilty because of what his father did to us? Again?

“Lucas, I swear, if you don’t come here, I’m going to go there and drag you even if I have to pull you from the hair!” I warned, standing up ready to fulfill my promise. Thomas stopped playing and looked at us, entertained, and Lucas simply gulped, color forming on his face again. “So?” I insisted.

“I… I am going. You don’t have to come here. I’m going!”

“Good” I slid back between the feathers. A moment later I felt the shift and without waiting anymore I jumped from under the coat of feathers and threw a bunch on Lucas’ head. “Got ya!”

“Ah!”

I laughed, running away as Lucas shook off the feathers, narrowing his eyes and grabbing fistfuls to throw back at me, while Thomas giggled, joining in the feather fight. After a long while, we were all tired, and decided to simply lay there, staring at the ceiling with the soft cushion almost causing us to fall asleep. Well, Thomas did fall asleep, but Lucas and I were still pretty much awake.

After a long moment of silence, Lucas spoke. “You know… I’ve been wondering this for a while, but, for a farm as big as yours, it’s a little strange that only the four of you take care of it.”

I hummed, agreeing with him. “Well, mom and dad are definitely the owners… but it wasn’t always only the four of us. Dad had some men and women hired that usually came to help… but after the storms last year not only their sleeping quarters were destroyed, the fields too and it was difficult to get clean water for both the animals and the crops… not to talk about us and don’t you dare feel guilty again because I swear I will suffocate you with the feathers!” I suddenly snapped, glaring at him.

Lucas panicked. “I didn’t even say anything!”

“You don’t have to! It’s always the same with you! You had nothing to do with what happened to us! You knew nothing, and so it’s not your fault what your monster of a father did!” I barked harshly, wanting to yell it to his face but having to keep my voice low because Thomas was still sleeping soundly.

Lucas said nothing, but because I didn’t trust the brat I lifted myself and this time looked directly at his face. He was biting his lip and glancing up, not at me, his face blank but for some reason I could still hear his thoughts and that annoyed me. I grabbed more feathers and pressed them against his face.

“Woah! Elaine!”

“Shut up, you’re annoying me. Just shut up you annoying brat!”

In the end, Thomas woke up. Soon after dad came looking for us, taking Thomas with him while Lucas and I cleaned up and put the feathers back in their place. We didn’t speak, not until everything was in order and I closed the door to the feather house again. I sighed wistfully looking at the key I would have to return now. I wanted to play with the feathers every day…

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my head. I didn’t have to look up to see who it was but it wasn’t that what surprised me. I blinked, glancing up at Lucas who gave me a small smile.

“Happy birthday Elaine” he said, his smile widening as he let go of my head. I felt what he deposited there falling down the front of my face and I instinctively reached out to grab it before it could end on the floor. I looked at it, frowning, before turning my eyes to him. He started to blush. “I truly had nothing to give you for your birthday, but you insisted so much and so…”

“I told you it was fine and you didn’t have to get me anything” I whispered, looking again to the crude necklace made of fine rope and a weird-looking stone as a pendant. The stone was gray and normal, but it was strangely shaped like a circle, with a perfect hole in the middle.

Lucas shrugged. “You’re lucky I found this by the river just yesterday. It’s not much, but, you know, maybe it will be useful? Naturally hollowed stones are said to hold power. If you look through the hole you can see things that the human naked eye is unable to.”

“Yes… I know” I glanced down to it before finally a smile broke on my face. I put it on quickly and looked back at Lucas. “Thanks… now I have to give you something for your birthday too, which is a drag, but thanks.”

“…Why do you always have to ruin all the good moments?”

“I didn’t ruin anything. This is still a good moment” I gave him my best smile and Lucas shook his head, but he was smiling too.

We returned home just as the sun was starting to set.