Hearing her laugh made Atticus happy. He could tell she was enjoying his story, and parts of him wished he could remember more of them. Honestly, that was something he always struggled with. He would hear others swapping stories, and even listening to Mitch tell stories sometimes made him a little jealous. He wish he knew what had happened, but there were a few things he knew for certain. One thing was that one day he would get his memory back, and two he knew magic was involved. He chuckled at her sentiment about the mice. "I think of it everytime I see them, that's for sure."

She asked for the other jacket, and he handed it to her. It had him a little worried. She didn't normally get cold all that easy. She was born in the North, which explained a lot of that, but still. She hadn't mentioned wanting to leave yet, so he wouldn't press the issue. Not yet anyway. When they sat on the bench, he offered her a muffin from the bag he had been carrying with them when she asked her question.

He thought on his answer for only a moment. "I remember being told that I could find answers away from the West. It was beautiful, that's for sure, but things there have been in shambles for a while. I wish I remember what drew me there in the first place, but I can't remember. All of it is so fuzzy. I tried heading South, but the wolf population there made it difficult, and I was found by members of this coven before I ever had a chance to really head East. I'm thankful for it, honestly. Especially after meeting that Issack guy last night."

He looked up into the trees, seeing a few birds still nesting for a while. He forgot that them being so far North meant it was colder faster some years. "As for where Snowcrest is, it's kind of in the mountains. It's not quite at the base of a mountain but it's also not quite in the range either if that makes sense. It's considered to be part of the West but it borders the Northern coven borders. I would have answered that one first, but I was trying to figure out how to describe where it is. If I had a map handy, I could point it out. It's a small village."

He looked up and saw some of the castle help was in the arboretum, picking apples off of a few of the trees near them. They saw them, but kept their heads down, and when they were done, they scurried off. Atticus couldn't help but shake his head slightly before he looked to Kat. "Anything else you want to hear? Do? Anything?" He didn't want to suggest that they go back inside or go inside just yet anyway, as he knew how infrequent it was for Kat to get days off of lessons, much less days where Lia and Mitch weren't with them. It was nice. He enjoyed it. 

Soon someone approached them, and he smiled to the woman who had approached. "Do you like warm cider? I brought you both some." she said. She was one of the newer people who helped at the castle, but she appeared older. He could hear an accent in her voice he wasn't familiar with, but he took the cider and smiled.

"Thank you." he said, and he handed one of the cups to Kat before taking a sip. "It's very good, thank you."

"Of course. Old family recipe. We're going to be serving it with dinner later if you guys will be there. If not, I'll be sure to set some aside for you guys." she said before she walked off. He loved when they got new help around that the vampire guard hadn't gotten to yet. They were always sweet and tried to interact with them, but after a while it always went away. 

"You okay, Kitty? Want to stay here for a little longer or you want to walk around a little more?" he asked.

--

Lia nodded a bit to Mitch when he said what he had. He was older than her, by quite a bit, but she also never really liked talking about her own age. She had a lot of people in the coven trying to guess, and a lot shot for a lot older than what she actually was, but she never let anyone really know. In fact, there was one person here now who knew her age, and that was Cass. She had been there the day she was born. She nodded a little when Mitch said thank you when she put the bacon on his plate. "Of course." she said. "As for a present, if it's green or frog related, she'll love it." 

After admitting she might be getting sick, she nodded when he said he'd get the extra stuff from the castle. "I appreciate it." When he brought up Kat being sick, she nodded again. "I could tell. I'm glad Att brought an extra coat with them." she said. She turned back to finish the dishes before she muttered something barely as loud as a whisper. "A mother can tell..." she was hoping she'd been the only one that could hear it. She hadn't even fully meant to say it, but it came out. She finished up the dishes in the sink and pulled some cookie dough out of the freezer and began putting it onto baking sheets and popping them in the oven. 

She heard a knock come to the door, and she walked over to it before Mitch could and opened it. She relaxed when she saw it was one of the newer helpers, holding a basket. "Hello. I was told by lady Cassandra that you do some amazing things with apples, and she asked if I wouldn't mind dropping these off." she said, and Lia took the basket from her. 

"Thank you." Lia said.

"My granny is making some cider too, I'll bring some by once she's got it done and cooled." she said, and Lia nodded a bit.

"Thank you." she repeated before seeing the girl head off, and she closed the door. She set down the basket of apples and pulled out one of her pie dishes. She rolled out the dough before she took a few of the apples and began making the filling for apple pie. She looked out the window for a moment and saw a brief glimmer of sunshine before it was covered again by the clouds. She sighed and stopped herself a moment after she got the pie put together, and ready for the oven. She took the cookies out of the oven, but she left it preheated, and she sat down. She could feel herself getting a little dizzy. She realized she hadn't eaten yet, and she took one of the blueberry muffins and a small plate she left sitting out before she began eating it. 

After a few moments, and a second muffin, she felt the dizzy spell wear off and she got up and put the pie in the oven before taking a sip of her tea. She looked at Mitch's coffee cup before she asked. "You want more coffee or would you prefer something else?"