Stray

Written on my phone, please bear with the typos, should they appear.

Read, review and enjoy.


The sun was setting as Lan and Po re-entered the yard. Po made a motion for Lan to go inside and then the Sidhe walked away, melting into the darkness. Frowning after Po, Lan walked into the kitchen, where his entire family had gathered, looking very grave.

"What happened?" Lan asked them.

"Nothing," Bren responded, "we were worried about you Lan, what happened, where did you go?"

"Just to a tree, and nothing happened, we talked a bit you know, broken language takes time to understand. I'm hungry, is there any-" as Lan spoke everyone's eyes went wide, locking onto something behind him a moment before there was a thump.

Lan turned ever so slowly, afraid of what he would see.

A deer, a doe. A whole deer just laying on the floor, its neck apparently snapped. Behind the deer, grinning wolfishly, stood Po. So very proud of himself, Po flashed his teeth at the others in the room. Lan's mother was the first to come to herself. She cleared her throat very loudly and waited for her boys to focus on her, instead of the deer, before she spoke.

"There is a dead animal on my clean floor, is that where it belongs?"

"Tod, take the back end," Bren said, standing quickly, "I'll take the front and we'll get it to the butcher shed. Mother, would you feed Lan please? Po, come with me, I have a feeling we'll be removing some parts you want to eat."

"Eh?" Po's head cocked to the side.

"Food, Po, food," Bren made a motion towards his mouth, then to the deer, "from this. Come."

Po nodded, "Po come."

Lan moved towards the island as his mother pulled open the fridge. Mif and Pas immediately stood and moved after thd deer, muttering to one another about how they thought Po had managed such a thing, had he brought it with him?

"How did he bring that deer down?" His mother asked once the door to the kitchen had closed on his brothers.

"I don't know. We came straight here from the tree, he dropped me in the yard and told me to come inside. Moment later, bam, deer. I was as surprised as you were. I certainly didn't hear or see anything. Though he can move really far, really fast."

"Good to know. You should know that Ella's brother is coming back tomorrow. He'll take over the yard work and Bren is already talking about what to do with him if Ella should become a part of the family. It's not overreacting," his mother held up a hand to stop Lan's protest, "It's Bren's job as head of the family to make these plans as they come up. It's yet another person for Po to get used to and another mouth to feed. We're running low enough as it is. If Po can hunt for a bit that would be better."

"All meat is really gross." Lan made a face.

"But I could buy bread and cheese because we didn't have to buy meat this time around. A friend of mine suggested lentils to feed you boys, instead of oatmeal. You've never had lentils before, you might enjoy them and they go on sale for cheaper and more often than oatmeal."

"Maybe." Lan put his head in his hands, "I just don't know what I'm going to do. We'll never make the black in time."

"You keep talking like that and you can make your own damned food, Lan."

"My professor has helped a bit and he said he might be able to do more but he's really not certain and I've got a plan but I need a lot of money to pull it off and then by this time next year we'll have a proper income. Maybe even expand."

"Focus on that. Do anything else and you'll get dragged down by the darkness and you'll never see the light of day again."

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