Winter had agreed to let everyone take the day off and just rest, and after she herself took a long shower, she sat in one of the couches in the sitting room to read a heavy ancient book that Osburt gave her. Afterwards, Ian’s older brother tried teaching Chris how to play Daldøs – a board game he’d personally never heard of, but Osburt assured him it was likely known in the Unfrozen. In Chris’s personal opinion, Osburt’s basic explanations went to waste, as there wasn’t anyone to really listen – Daniel was watching Arnold doing a crossword puzzle, Ian wasn’t around, and Chris himself kept getting distracted whenever Winter so much as looked at them, got up to get a drink, or even flipped a page of her book. Finally, after getting Osburt’s permission, Chris gave up on the game and dragged Daniel to explore the place.

The mansion, as they both discovered soon enough, wasn’t as big as it had looked on the outside. The first floor included the dining room, the sitting room - both of which took up the entire right wing - then there was the kitchen, and what the boys suspected was a small and rather grim ballroom. Right next to it there was a small corridor leading to the greenhouse outside, and the quarters of the house servants were underneath the large staircase leading up to the second floor, containing the bedrooms. The guest rooms were two, one reachable straight from the hallway, where Chris, Daniel and Arnold were bunking, and one positioned right behind it through a door. Winter had taken the inner room for herself, so the boys didn’t dare enter it (though Chris had a suspicion it had its own washroom). Chris thought that Ian’s old bedroom must have been the one right across the hall from them, as it had a few boxes left right outside, indicating the Witch had hauled them out the night before. Osburt’s and the boys’ father’s rooms were right down the corridor.

Evening approached and found Chris and Daniel examining the door of a cellar by the kitchen. They were both quite hungry, and were currently in the middle of a conversation regarding etiquette and manners when one was not in their own home.

“You think it’ll be okay?”

“Well, we won’t eat everything…”

“Isn’t it kind of rude to the hosts?”

“Osburt did tell us to take whatever we wanted in terms of food, didn’t he?”

Not even a cook was around, so Chris opened the creaking door and peeked inside. He stepped in casually, followed closely by Daniel. The cellar seemed to be filled with large wooden cases, from top to bottom. Slightly confused (having expected something a little more… well, more), Chris approached one of them and opened the lid halfway.

The box contained peaches.

The Hach stared at the fruit, slipped the cover back to its place and opened another case. He exchanged looks with Daniel, who had opened another.

Soon they went through five.

They were all full of peaches.

Even if he could guess what would be in the sixth box, Chris opened it anyway. He sighed. Well, of course.

Deciding that he might as well, he reached in, took one peach, cleaned it on his shirt and took a bite. It was cold, but fresh and surprisingly tasty, so it didn’t take him long to finish it. Daniel, having mimicked his friend’s actions, sat on the floor after he finished his first piece of fruit. They exchanged nods of approval.

Just when Chris was halfway through his second helping, a voice interrupted from the door:

“May I join?”

Chris choked on his bite and turned to look. He and Daniel jumped up and hid the fruits behind their backs.

“Osburt!”

Daniel tried to wipe his mouth without getting noticed.

The older Witch laughed. “Freh worry about eating them.”

He gave Daniel a pleading look, and his friend mouthed “Don’t”; it seemed that Osburt had just informed them that they weren’t in trouble.

Meanwhile, the Witch was opening a case and taking a peach.

“Myself and Ian used to snatch a whole bunch at a time whenever we liked. Good times.” He wiped it on his cloth and took a bite, one a lot more elegant than Chris would have expected to be even possible.

“Really?” Chris raised a brow and looked at all the cases. “Ian, stealing fruit?

Daniel mumbled, “Now there’s a weird mental image…”

“The information is useful for blackmail,” said Osburt.

A few calm minutes passed without a word while the boys finished eating. Daniel looked around the cellar and asked:

“Are they really all filled with peaches?”

“Not all,” Osburt said, grabbing another fruit. “Some are empty.”

When their laughter subsided, Ian’s older brother explained:

“Father loves them, so he orders tons from the Unfrozen.”

Chris reflected on this strange piece of information for a bit.

“He tries to keep it a secret,” Osburt added with a smile. “Not that he manages, I think the whole country knows by now.” The Witch headed for the door. “Dinner’s at eight. Please, do me the favor of calling my brother at some point, or he might skip it and then croak that no one told him or something.”

“Will do.” Chris thought that he knew exactly what type of behavior Osburt meant, but somehow didn’t want to state that aloud.

“I almost forgot!” Osburt’s voice echoed from the hallway. “Miss Winter wants us to start your training first thing tomorrow morning!”