“It’s a bit cool this morning,” I said after stepping out onto the porch overlooking the valley a few weeks later. “But still, it’s a pretty morning.”

“It’s nice!” Lily agreed. She smiled and pointed out into the valley. “Look! A few leaves have started changing too.”

“Uh, it all looks green to me,” I replied.

“That’s because your human eyes can’t see that well,” Lily retorted.

She shivered as the wind picked up some. I felt goosebumps form on my arms, and I smiled. Lily grinned and flew into my shirt pocket.

“Hey! That’s not fair,” I objected.

“What? You’ll keep me warm!” Lily replied.

“I’m not a heater,” I mock complained.

“You are now!” Lily countered looking up and sticking her tongue out at me. “In fact, I’ll be nice and toasty in your pocket in just a few minutes.”

“Ugh!”

“It’s not that bad being my heater!” Lily replied.

“No. Not that,” I said.

“What then?” Lily asked.

“I just realized I’ll need to gather firewood,” I answered.

“We don’t need firewood with the central heating and air,” Lily said. Then it hit her. “Wait, we’ll need it to fool the villagers and merchants that show up.”

“You got it,” I replied.

“Oh!” Lily suddenly said.

“You got an idea?” I asked.

“I do,” Lily replied. “We get to use the firepit and could setup another one on the porch!”

“I like the idea of using the firepit, especially since we haven’t used it hardly at all. I’m not sure about putting one on the porch though,” I said.

“Not a stone one silly! We can get the blacksmith to make a big metal barrel or something for the porch,” Lily argued.

“I know the cottage is stone, but I don’t know,” I hesitated. Part of me was worried the house would catch fire anyway.

“It’ll work. People used to do so all the time and that was with wooden homes!” Lily countered. “Besides, with a firepit on the porch, we could use it when it rains or snows.”

“If it’s snowing, I’m not going to be outside. But you’re welcome to staying out in it though,” I replied.

“No way! I would freeze my wings off!” Lily said.

“And yes, we’ll play in the snow if we get any after it quits falling,” I said picking up on her thoughts.

“Yay! We’ll have a snowball fight!” Lily proclaimed.

“As you wish, but I think we have a few more months to go before that happens,” I said.

“Only a couple more months!” Lily replied. “Well, maybe three depending on the weather.”

“Does the network show all that?” I asked as I walked back into the house.

“The satellites show the movement of clouds, storms, and such,” Lily answered. “They can’t predict the weather though. The weather mapping software on the network tries to do that, but it has always been hit or miss.”

“Guess some things are beyond our control and knowledge,” I mused walking into the kitchen.

“Uh huh,” my familiar agreed flying out of my pocket and landing on one of the counters. “What are you doing?”

“Going to put on a kettle of milk,” I answered putting my words to action.

“Chicory?” Lily asked. “You’ve never boiled milk for that though.”

“No. I thought I would treat us this morning,” I answered. “It’s not quite cold enough for what I have in mind, but I’m in the mood.”

“Oh?” Lily inquired suddenly very interested. “I can feel you’re trying to hide something from me.

I went into the pantry. “Mom hid something in my clothes that I in turn hid until we finished restoring the cottage.”

“Hot chocolate!” Lily exclaimed flying into the pantry to join me. “Gimme, gimme!”

I laughed. “You’ll have to wait until I make it.”

“Ok! I can be patient,” Lily promised as I found the chocolate mix and walked back to the stove. She followed me. She was silent for a minute and then said, “Elder Trillium is on her way.”

“Why?” I asked. I had the feeling Lily had spilled the beans about the coco. She landed on the counter beside the stove.

“I mentioned to her that you’re making hot chocolate,” Lily answered.

“Somehow I knew that” I replied.

“On the positive side, she agreed to show us where some carob trees grow,” Lily replied.

“Why would I be interested in those?” I asked.

“Because carob can be used as a chocolate substitute,” Lily answered after checking the network. “It’s sweeter and actually healthier for you too.”

“Alright. I’m interested in trying this carob. Have you looked up how to process it?” I replied.

“Yes! I’ll put it on the computer so you can read it,” Lily said.

“What are you hiding?” I asked.

“You felt that, huh?”

“Yeah. So, spill it,” I replied.

“The elder said they would split the carob harvest with you in exchange for you processing the seeds,” Lily said.

“Why didn’t they do it before since they knew where the trees are?” I asked.

“Because they don’t produce very well here in the mountains and because the others didn’t have the equipment to process the seeds,” Lily answered.

“They could have just used magic,” I said waggling my fingers and smiling at my pixie.

“Good point,” Trillium said flying into the kitchen and landing beside Lily.

“Elder,” Lily and I greeted the older pixie.

“Magic can do a lot, but it can’t replace everything,” Trillium said. “We’ll be glad to assist you in harvesting and processing the carob pods.”

“Alright. Where are the trees?” I asked.

“In a small sandy area beside the river a mile from here down the mountain,” Trillium answered.

“Oh,” Lily and I chorused.

“Indeed. You see the difficulty in harvesting them,” the pixie elder said.

“Yeah,” I do,” I replied.

“We can take the storage device,” Lily said. “Is the area dangerous?”

“Somewhat,” Trillium admitted. “We will keep Jase from harm though.”

“Hmmm. Perhaps we can get Sara to join us as well,” I said.

“I’ll go ask her and be right back,” Lily said and flew away.

“So, how many of the others are coming to have hot chocolate with us?” I asked as the milk finally started boiling.

“All of them,” Trillium laughed.

“Figures,” I replied as I heard the buzz of a lot of little wings. Trillium laughed harder.