Darin said again as she finally left off petting Mitaja’s ears, “I like to swim. There wasn’t much time for it. I was too busy with running my farm. There’s a lot of work on a farm. It’s supposed to be a team effort. Even a small farm, like mine, was a two-person job. One person to look after the land and crops and another to do the other chores. Mama was … lost for a long time after he left. So, it was just me. Free time usually only occurred at night right before bed, but by that time I was so tired I usually just fell asleep as soon as I sat down.” Darin fell backwards off the chair to stare at the ceiling, “As for the fiddle.” Her hand reached out towards the ceiling, “It was his. He was teaching me to play it before he left. I was pretty good at it. I had an ear for the music, I guess. For some reason he left it behind when he left. He took our horse, half our supplies, and Mama’s heart, but he left the fiddle. I rarely played after that. I usually only played at the solstice feasts and never for very long and only if my mother asked. She never failed to ask. I tried to burn it once. She stopped me. She cried. It’s still here. She snuck it in my bag before I left. By the time I found out there was no point in going back. So now I’m stuck with it. I might use it to break his nose. That seems fitting.”

She had to consider RIdahne’s claim that she would get all the chocolate and coffee that she would want. Darin wasn’t sure she wanted any of that. She was interested in coconut but that was because it sounded like it was common. Coffee and chocolate sounded like something for nobles and royalty and Darin was positive that she would never be either. She didn’t want to be. She was content to be a farmer. She might be the most important farmer to Astra’s people, but she still just wanted to be a farmer. She was certain that she could live without chocolate and coffee. She did want to see the ocean though and if Ridahne could make that happen Darin would be content. She wasn’t going to say that out loud though. She had a feeling that would upset Ridahne.

Darin dropped her arm, “I would be more than happy to make you apple pie. It’s not really difficult. It does require patience, focus, and a lot of time, but the task itself is simple. You do need a good oven and a decent knife. Flour, sugar, butter, and a little cinnamon will make the pastry. Butter, lots of cinnamon, sugar, and apples will make the filling. Salt is important as well. That’s another one that I had to horde. Salt is super important but it’s not cheap. It’s not expensive, but that doesn’t mean it was easy for me to get. You probably had an easier time of it then I did.”

Darin knew there was two ways of getting salt. There were the salt mines in the mountains not too terribly far from her home. Then you could pull it from the water found in the ocean. Darin wondered if the Azurei people did that. It would make sense that they would. Everyone in Astra needed salt, but they didn’t all live near salt. Maybe some of the Azurei did while others did other things. Azurei was an entire country. Darin couldn’t even fathom how many people that was. Lively was the biggest place she had seen before Greyrock and she hadn’t seen many people there. She could just tell it was bigger by the size of the barn and tavern. She wasn’t sure she was entirely prepared for the culture shock of getting to Azurei. She wondered if that had occurred to RIdahne. It wasn’t just Azurei she was worried about. She knew that there were human kingdoms ruled by kings and queens. She wasn’t sure about Sirens. She was sure there had to be something similar. She just wasn’t sure what.

She slowly pushed herself upwards, “I best go check on the horse and Taja. I’m not sure how the silly bird reacted to the rain. He might have loosened his splint.” She wavered for a moment, “I’ll make sure to get your knives. Do you need or want anything else?”