The ruckus of the pageant gave way to the hush of exhausted crowds, each murmured their favorites and cooed adulations towards their favorite members and heroes. The actors disrobed from their costumes and rejoined their families for the next act of the celebration.

Together in their homes, they would give a memorial to close family and friends who had passed, celebrate their lives and new ones.

Red Harvest Night was above all, a solemn occasion. One for Gratitude and Thanks above all else. to remember the past occasions and Hero's past, not simply for the sake of remembrance, but as a comfort to those whom they left behind.

It was on this night, that while night fell, a familiar tale was being told to those under Grandmother Hela's roof. To her remaining sons.

"Alright now, Stew will be ready soon. Vir, thank you for helping. If you weren't so mischievous, I'm sure Bolin would want you at the Bakery for sure." the old bat crooned as the pot bubbled behind her.

Sitting down she gave a deep sigh, looking between the two of them as they sat by the dim of the light of stove fire and candlelight.

"Oh, I suppose it's that time of year again. It's a tradition I suppose, Go on. Ask me what you always do when the time comes." Nana groused. Indeed it had become a tradition of sorts. Tolan opened his mouth to speak, but Vir's tongue had always been quicker.

"Tell us of Mother, tell us why you came here to Pine Rest." his words were dry, quick, and fluttering. Like reddened leaves in the wind. Hela sighed

"Every Bird shit year, Meir. Don't you ever get tired of it?" Nana sighed, Tolan gave a quiet motion of disapproval. The old woman gave a reluctant shrug.

"It was the Summer, I was a young girl. Blind and foolish, I'd come to Pine Rest after its true founding but, before the Dogs and Devils." Vir nodded, this was all familiar to them both.

"I had nothing to my name, and to that, I had gotten work at a woman's house, doing laundry for the men. At least, That's how it started." She sighed again "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a different story? You've heard this one so many times before."

Vir stood still, intently focused on something in the distance, snapping back to reality.

"Continue, Nana, Vir wants to hear this." Tolan said calmly "He's the only one here that didn't get to see Mother."

Nana sighed "Yes, I'm sorry. I forget things, damned age that I am. Oh, to be young again." the wanting in her voice dropped "But then I would just grow old again, pfft. What a waste." she forced a gap-toothed smile at her joke, struggling to continue her somber story.

"It wasn't long till I learned a new trade, I was pretty and young, the village was filled with both boys and men eager for something. And after a broken heart or two, I got good at giving it, and got paid rather well."

Vir slumped back in his chair, impatient brooding smoldering behind his eyes. His brother remained impassive yet calm in the face of it, simply enjoying the story.

"It went on like that for a while, the Wise men called me a house breaker, others named me a whore, but it didn't matter so long as I got what I wanted and so did the Boys that came to me. It was an arrangement I was comfortable with. And then, she happened." She gave a weary sigh.

"I tried to give her up at first, damn near ruined my purse strings paying for her, that I didn't want her anywhere near what I was doing. Bad example and such, but no one would take the child of the town whore. Then the Dogs started to attack." the old woman steadied herself a moment.

"That just about put a knife to any hopes I had of being comfortable again. Damn things near ate anything they could get their teeth into, didn't know what drove them so plumb crazy then, Later we figured those, Things, in the woods, had something to do with it. Chasing of all the hunting animals and starving the beasts. The results were, Brutal. Whole families got torn apart in their own homes, men couldn't work the fields or trees. Mothers, like myself, strangely enough, became skittish and wary of any creature we passed. To the point, we were willing to board ourselves inside our own homes to keep our babies safe. The town Elders, Bor and Gibbson, nobody remembers Gibbson, poor man, he was always such a sweet mouth, They got all the hands they could find, and together put up that wall, sealed it with a gate, and armed up against the beasts." She paused in her speech.

"Your mother was about walking then, a mere babe amidst all this horror. Beautiful child, same dark hair you boys have, Vir, you seem to have gotten her eyes, shining round little things. Gave her a perpetual laughing look about her, ah Bless me." her eyes grew hard and her tone accusatory.

"And then things got worse, the Dogs grew bolder as each day grew, and then I was pushed into something I hated."

"Hated! she was flesh and blood you evil hag!" Vir gritted his teeth in a grimace, Tolan placed a firm hand on his shoulder, Vir tried to push it off, but Tolan held him firm.

"Let her speak, you asked to hear this," he said. Vir scoffed and settled back into his seat.

"Now as I was saying before you got lippy, The dogs had pushed everyone to the brink, and because of how many families had died, there were scores of lost orphans running around too. The respectable folk got good at dealing with the beasties, but they were never good with handling the orphans." she gave a huff at the memory.

"Cheeky little shits, Vir you'd have fit right in, always up to something they were. But you Mother blessed little thing she was, she took them in and made them my problem. Suddenly I had more problems than brains and it all kept coming."

She looked about wistfully and wearily "Would you believe I never named her, Your Mother, I never thought she'd be with me long, so I refused to name her. Even when she was older and talking, roping the orphans into her little gang, Still I never thought to name her. Her friends named her, called her Aggie. Never knew if it was short for Agitha or Agnes, it was always Aggie. It fit her so well even I started calling her by it."

Taking a sip from the warm house air around her, she continued her sad story.

"Little Aggie was the reason I took those brats in, it was my child, therefore my problem. But Aggie wouldn't leave her friends out in the cold. So I sighed and took them in, had to give up any chances of doing things my way after that. Raise the Brats, and Raise a house too. the cabin I was staying in was too small for them, Never once thought of building my own, until you wake up with a dozen or more feet up to your nose." She scoffed and shook her head.

"But after we got started, working so hard, I couldn't think of anywhere to be. Oh, and I couldn't help but learn their names too. Tims, Olfan, Hanna, Geoffry, Fryea, Frig, Philip, and a dozen others. It must have been the strangest thing to see, a country hussie and an army of brats trying to build a house, If you tried to tell anywhere else, they'd call it crazy. I must have been crazy. And there was Aggie, at the head of it, playing mother and sister to all those kids. I may have done my part for history, But Aggie did a hell of a lot more than I would've, or even thought to do."

The old woman sighed, her eye's turned to heaven. "I can't imagine life without her now." She turned her attention back to the boys. "Anyway, when she was of age she married well in your father Teagen, though she almost didn't, secretly preferring Tobias. But he became famous anyway, helping the men of the village chase out the Dogs, and later, those Demons."

She shuddered at the last part, a disturbing chill crept into the air, like a grave cast open.

"Teagen went with'em, to see if there was anything they could do. That was the last anyone saw of him, The Fox they think, one of its earliest victims. Aggie was keen for vengeance, she always had a short temper, not her fault I think, but she was a woman then, and had her duties. Carrying Tolan was one of them, and the House she'd built was another."

Hela paused to cough into her hand. When she was finished she continued, Brushing off Tolan's reaching hand with a chiding tone.

"I'm fine you fool, just old and tired, Anyway. Dear Aggie did better by herself than I could've done by her at any time. But it also gave her a few bad habits, her temper was one, and her love of strays was another. Every day she'd find something to bring home with her, even a wounded pup or mangey cat. Teagen had complained to no end of it towards me, but what could I do? At that point, we were strangers, not Mother and Daughter, So he was content to live with it."

Her voice grew grim, She looked up at her audience with a tempered mask on her face.

"Make no mistake Teagen loved that girl, Loved his child. He'd have been thrilled to have met you both, maybe even done a better job than me. But Aggie, was vengeful the rest of her life after what happened to him. Raising Tolan helped take the edge off it some days, she loved her baby enough to kill."

She paused, regretful in the actions of the past.

"And that's what she wound up doing. She joined the Militia with the other folks in town. Drove them to fight harder than anyone."

Hela stopped, she always did at this part. Tolan finished for her, though Tiers gaze never shifted.

"But then one night, She made a mistake. History repeated itself during her time with them." He turned to Meir "Mother, She-"

Vir's face grew dark " I know what she did, I'm sitting here Aren't I ?!" his voice bitter with accusation.

Tolan sighed "Brother, I don't blame you, or her. Some rainstorms are harsher than others and the times weigh on even the Birds. Do not judge by misfortune alone."

Hela chuckled softly "He's right you big baby, She died fighting for you, I know Teagan was crazy about her, he'd have taken you as his son, despite her error. Right after gutting the bastard like a fish." she had muttered the last part under her breath. Vir snorted while Tolan's head bobbed in paled agreement.

Taking another sigh, she finished her sad tale "But all that doesn't matter now, The Demons took'em both, those thrice-damned bastards!" she growled, a spiteful thing, full of murder and malice.

The was a pause between them. Angry and solemn, pained and vast. cold and hot burning together

A warm smell of broth and gravy, wafted over from the stove interrupted them, Tolan stood and made his way to the stove.

"Stews ready," he said

Hela let the pain of memory fall off her as the weight evaporated in the smell of the food, Tolan as well. Vir's stern face softened into something more amenable. As Tolan poured into waiting bowls, Vir's pain etched voice broke the warming silence with its scratchy tones.

"Have I ever told you about the time I snuck a bug into Colliegns dress?" Vir posed. Tolan groaned as Nana started to cackle

"What?- What?! Don't you want to hear it?!" Vir questioning face probed their reactions in confusion. Finally, after a moment of solid laughter, Hela responded, chuckling to herself.

"I remember what she did to you when she found out and hunted you down!" the old woman cackled. Tolan blurted something out before he could help it, it sounded like-

"Hot pan" Nana howled in laughter remembering the incident.

"I'll remember the sight of her, half-dressed and crazed, whirling that thing over her head chasing you all over. Oh, Birds above I'll remember that the rest of my Days."

They both had a good laugh eventually, even Meir chuckled at the unfortunate events of the past. As their laughter quieted, Hela asked a question in half-hearted mirth.

"Why can't we have more stories like that, why's it always so serious ?" wiping her face of unseen tears.

"Well, if it's stories you want, then let me tell you. It was back in our school days..." Vir replied.

And he launched into a wild and ruckus tale of mischief that he'd made so long ago. And Tolan shared one of their life in the woods, felling trees for lumber, and exalting the quality of the wood and nature. Hela shared one of her wild youth and travels, now ever so distant. So it wound through the night, the wounds forgotten and pleasant times remembered. The dead had been satisfied in merely being remembered.

And if you listened to the wind that night, howling as it did, you might hear the faint whispers of ghosts.

Giving thanks to their families for being remembered. For warming their lonely souls on a long cold night.