Lem decided to postpone the scything for next week once the dust had settled. It had been a nerve wrecking day, nay week, if you consider how Nosal had previously been bed bound.

He knew that there was still plenty of sunshine to work in. Plus he was sure that the monotonous act of scything would help him calm down after he had gotten into the rhythm. But right now he preferred to spend the rest of the day with his sons.

They will just get started with baking the pies and retire to bed early for the day. Lem knew he wasn’t a very articulate Capyban, but as a father he just felt it was the right thing to do.

“Nosal go ‘an wash up, then come back to clean up this mess and help your brother get a fire going, then you two can go grab some dried fruits and the pie dough from the pantry,” Lem instructed the two as he left through the back door. A smile was still on his face and the musk of joy was still in the air as he left.

The future can be damned, Lem thought to himself as he headed left towards the side gate.

“Where you headed off to?” Kano asked with a smile as he poked his head out the door. Nosal was right behind him as he headed off to the washing barrels. A sullen look on his face as he started to unbuckle his suspender straps, for he had to shower again today.

“I’m off ta put the Chitpulkas back in their coop! I can’t be bothered to do it later in the evening!” Lem shouted back over his shoulder in his deep voice, with a small chuckle as he shut the gate behind himself.

Kano nodded with a smile before crossing the back courtyard towards the Hay barn. He was away to retrieve the first batch of dry logs stored in the building that would be required for the cooking.

Nosal on the other hand was already down to his underwear as the boy was busy washing himself. How come I’ve got an amazing class and now I’ve got to go away on cook for the fat healer? That’s not fair, thought the boy sullenly.

Feels like Cinderella, came a stray thought that conjured a vague and foreign memory of some human fairy tale. Wait what’s all this got to do with glass shoes? The boy wondered as he tried to reach the mud on his back fur with great difficulty.

Kano’s spied his brother on his first return trip, arms laden with a bunch of fire logs. The little boy was absent-mindedly trying to reach the same spot behind his back as he stood there with a stupid look on his face, looking out into the Kaholin field.

“Oi hurry up little Nose!” shouted Kano and startling his brother who was lost in thought. Kano laughed as the boy jumped up in surprise, before turning round to scowl at him.

A few more trips and Kano was satisfied with the pile of logs he had beside the old metal stove. Coincidentally Nosal had finished with his wash and was back in the kitchen with a bucket of water that he deposited just beside the back door.

“I’ll go grab the dried fruits, you can start brushing the floor,” Kano instructed his brother as he grabbed a large wooden basket before heading into the house.

“Alright, but you made a mess eating here too,” Nosal grumbled in reply as he stood there in his underwear. The little Capyban shook himself, to try dislodge the last of the water in his fur with a musk of annoyance. Once done the boy then grabbed the old straw brush that sat in the corner and proceeded to begin brushing the mess in the kitchen out the back door.

Kano returned shortly afterwards with the basket absolutely filled to the brim with dried fruits. He dropped it down on the kitchen table before heading back to the pantry.

He then came back with a large heavy wooden bucket that was covered over the top in tied cloth. This was the pastry mix that Lem had purchased a few days prior from Mrs. Loamwicker’s bakery. As he dropped his heavy load on table, he was back just in time to see his brother splash the floor with the wet bucket.

The water splashed everywhere, but more important it soaked most of the dry logs he had painstakingly carry from the hay barn.

“Oi the water! What are you doing Nosal!” Kano shouted at his little brother before rushing over to smack the smaller boy.

“What?! I’m washing the floor you dick!” Nosal screamed back with a musk of anger.

Again with his silly insults, Kano thought angrily before he was about to shout at his brother about the wet logs.

“I leave you two Blinkers for a second and you two are fighting again?” rumbled Lem as he entered the kitchen.

“Kano hit me!” “Nosal got all the logs wet!” Nosal and Kano simultaneously shot out excuses as they turned to their father.

Lem quickly look round the kitchen, then began messaging his temple with his large hands before sighing.

“Kano don’t hit your brother, and the logs should catch just fine, just use the dry ones on top first,” said Lem as he tried to mediate. His happy mood was quickly fading with the two boy’s shenanigans, but he tried to overlook it for today.

The two boys stood there with their eyes following Lem as he crossed the Kitchen and over towards counter. Lem bent down then opened the bottom cupboard and retrieved two large metal pots and pie baking tray. He then turned round to the sight of the two boys just standing there, watching him.

“What the Realms are you two just standing there for? Nosal finish the mopping and Kano go grab some spices and some more sugar, then go to the first storage shed and grab that big spare cast iron tray,” he commanded the two silly pups.

Nosal was about to make a complaint about his brother hitting him again but decided to keep quite as Kano shot out the kitchen. The little boy instead just decided to follow the orders and grab the mop.

Seeing his boys behaving, Lem smirked before he himself left the kitchen with the two large pots. He went with them to retrieve some water from the washing barrel. With each extremely heavy pot firmly and easily hugging his chest he headed back.

“This one?” shouted Kano leaning out of the first storage shed whilst holding a large tray over his head.

“Aye.” Lem grunted in reply as he entered the kitchen.

He set the two large pots atop the stove and then retrieved the tinderbox before crouching down to set a fire. Kano then entered the kitchen with the tray held awkwardly and then he dropped it on an empty stool.

“Ah fruitflies!” Lem cursed as he realized he forgot the kindling for the fire. So he decided to use the Yesterhay that sat on the countertop, and soon enough a small and wasteful fire was crackling away in the bottom partition of the large stove.

“Should we just get started on the pie base?” Kano asked eagerly as he watched his father salt the water in the pots.

“Can I make some monsters for the top of the pie?” Nosal chimed in with a huge grin.

“Alright go on ahead boys, but remember to put some flour on the kitchen table before you work the pastry so it doesn’t stick,” Lem instructed with a smile as he hefted the barrel of peeled Groundfrits closer to the stove.

Nosal then scuttled towards the cupboard that held the family’s store of flour as Kano lifted the tray onto the table.

Nosal then brought the large clay jar and emptied a huge batch of flour onto the table, accidentally spilling a great amount over the edge. He looked on over towards his father with a nervous look on his face.

Lem simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he loaded the Groundfrits into the two pots.

Feeling relieved, Nosal then spread the flour all over the table with his tiny hands as Kano took a pinch of the stuff and dusted his hands in it. Kano then proceeded to unseal the string that held the cloth atop the pastry mix container. He then pulled out a large amorphous blob of the ready-made yellow batter before slapping it wetly on the table.

He laughed as the flour blew up and covered over all of his little brother’s front side. Nosal had a frown on his face, but soon was also laughing as noticed that Kano was equally covered in the white powder. Meanwhile Lem chuckled at his boys as he continued his task beside the stove whilst also occasionally adding logs to the now roaring fire.

“I’m going to first make the Chitpulkas!” declared Nosal as he pulled out a handful of the batter that sat on the table. Kano on the other hand extracted another handful of the pie mix and transferred in to the small pie cask.

Nosal then began to pull and shape the batter in his hands whilst Kano evenly spread out the batter inside the first tray. The little boy was making small round shapes that had two stick thin legs and a tiny thin dough snout sticking out of their side.

“Wait I forgot, we should just make another pie for Dittat, I’m sure he’ll be complainingly so much they can hear him all over the Realms if we didn’t,” suggested Lem. He then went back to the same cupboard that he retrieved the pots from before and fished out a tiny cake tin. “Here catch!” he said whilst lobbing it across the kitchen towards Kano.

Kano did manage to catch it with a surprised look on his face, but the metallic cooking utensil nearly slipped out of his hand considering how they were powdered in flour. With a sigh of relief and a chuckle from his father and brother, Kano then proceeded to line the inside of the cake tin with some pie dough.

Meanwhile Nosal was already having quite the sizeable flock of tiny Dough Chitpulkas in front of him as he worked on making the last one. This one was to be Chopek, and was quadruple the size of the other figures.

Kano finished lining the small trays before crackling his knuckles. He then dipped into the pie reserve and retrieved a portion that he had to cradle with both arms, before he dropped it into the huge tray. There were many bits of rouge batter that stuck to the inside furs of his arms, but the boy decided to not worry about it for now. He then proceeded to roll out the dough piece on the tray before he started to spread it evenly with his hands.

Lem on the other hand, had finished loading the Groundfrits to boil and decided to pull up a stool to sit beside the stove. This was to make the job of tending to the fire easier for himself as he watched his children work.

Meanwhile Nosal was deep in a artistic trance as he churned out more mishappen dough figures. The pale monstrosities were supposed to be the Kaholins, but the boy failed to notice that he was adding too many legs to the blobby bodies. There were legs ranging between four to ten, and with only one of the figures having the correct six legs. But the boy was enjoying himself so nobody stopped him.

“This one is Hork!” he declared proudly whilst gesturing towards a pie figurine that was quite the eldritch horror. Kano snorted at the ghastly sight, but he managed to contain himself. Lem on the other hand noticed how his son snorted his boogies on the pie base he was working on and found it to be quite disgusting. He was about to chastise Kano, but once again just decided to let it slide. It was the pie for Da’Nittan after all and the large Monster wouldn’t mind the extra seasoning if she even noticed it at all.

“Nosal you can stop now, you’re using too much batter that we need for the top crust, go get changed and Kano that’s some good work, you go shower too,” he instructed the boys.

“But I haven’t made Da’Nittan yet,” whined Nosal with a musk of sadness.

“Never mind that, you’ll catch a cold going about in your underwear like that,” rumbled Lem with a stern look.

The two complied with Kano heading out the back door and Nosal heading into the house. Lem noticed how Nosal had another petulant look on his face, having been interrupted from his creating fervor.

Once the boys had left the room Lem got up from his seat and headed towards the table. He didn’t have a lot of time to work before the boys got back. He didn’t want to be caught halfway either.

So with deft hands he plucked a large piece of the batter. He quickly rolled it into a conical shape and lightly tapped the tapered end, to flatten it. He then grabbed more pieces before he rolled them into eight chunky legs before sticking it to the conical body. A larger piece was curved and flattened into a heart shaped tail that he attached to the flattened body. Then he rolled and shaped a large round head before he went on to work on the two huge pincers. He was able to get the general giest of it by combining a piece for an arm and two other curved pieces for the pincher. Finally he took tiny pieces to make the eyes on the stalks.

Looking at his impression of a Homarian Shellwurm, Lem was left feeling slightly unsatisfied. So the large Capyban retrieved a long stick of Yesterhay straw and used it as a stylus. Time flew by as he carved groves along the figure in the likeness of the monster it represented. He focused all of his concentration as he steadied his hand to carved the tiny intricate mouth parts of Da’Nittan. Once he was satisfied, he sat back to examine his masterpiece.

“Whoa father, that is beautiful,” spoke Kano from behind him.

Lem jumped up in surprise to find both of his children standing behind him, observing the dough figure he had made. He had failed to notice the boys, having been so enraptured with his creation. The large Capyban then stepped aside and coughed into his hand as he tried to hide his blushing face. This freed the two boys to rush ahead and crane over the hand sized Homarian Shellwurm made of pie batter.

“Whoa it’s so good!” Nosal exclaimed as he tilted his head, to better look at the face between the pinchers. Lem only coughed in reply as he turned his back to his children, pretending to test the Groundfrits with a poke of the wooden ladle. He was surprised to find that they were actually ready.

I must’ve been lost to time whilst making Da’Nittan, he mused to himself as his children continue to fawn over the figure. With a blanket to cover his hands, he lifted the pots off the stove. He then carefully poured the hot water out the back door, whilst making sure none of the Groundfrits fell out.

With the draining done, Lem then deposited the two hot pots beside the table.

“Alright boys, add the stuff,” said Lem as he went over to grab the ladle again.

Kano and Nosal then added a hefty portion of dried fruits and sugar to one of the pots. Meanwhile Lem retrieved the ladle before he began mashing the other unseasoned pot of Groundfrits.

“Kano go grab something to mash to the other pot, be careful it’s still hot. Oh and don’t mash it completely,” instructed Lem. He then pulled out a stool to sit on as he mashed away. Kano obliged his father’s command as he retrieved another ladle before mushing up the sweetened Groundfrits and fruit mix.

Once satisfied with the consistency of the mix, he asked Kano to stop as he continued mashing his own pot.

“Nosal can you go see if we still have some of the milk?” Lem asked Nosal as he continued to apply his strength to pulverize the Groundfrits.

“Alright father,” replied Nosal as he stopped playing with the pie Da’Nittan. The boy left the kitchen and quickly returned with a half empty jug of milk. He handed the jug over to Lem before going back to play with the pie figures. The milk was added and with a couple of swirls the mash was complete.

The large Capyban then scooped out the mash and added to the pot that contained the fruit mix. He then mixes both batches together before he hefts the heavy pot onto the table. With his ladle he then distributes the filling between the three pie bases.

“I’ll take the pots to go clean outside, Kano you make the pie crust and Nosal you spread out the mix ok?” Lem asks as he held onto both dirty pots by the handle.

“Ok father,” replied the boys as they got to work. Nosal then proceeds to use his father’s ladle to spread out the filling equally. Kano on the other hand was working on the rest of the pie mix.

He split the batter into three balls. The two smaller portions for the normal pies were absolutely dwarfed by the clump that was set aside for the tray. The boy then kneaded out the two smaller balls before he uses the flattened batter to cover the top of the pies.

Working on Da’Nittan’s pie cover was another matter altogether, as the boy struggled and strained to get the large clump to flatten out.

“Here let me help,” insisted Nosal as he came over and added his tiny strength. With the combined effort of the Brownwhisker boys, they eventually defeated the formidable clump of dough.

Meanwhile Lem watched his boys working together from the doorway dotingly. He continued to observe in silence as his boys helped each other to cover the tray with the humongous tarp-like piece of batter.

“Good work pups,” he congratulated as they finished the work. “Now just put the figures on and I’ll pop’em in the oven whilst you two go wash up and head ta bed.”

They boys happily complied as they played around with small figures as Lem stored away the pots. Chopeck and a few Chitpulkas went onto the smallest pie, whilst a few Kaholins went onto the normal one. The large tray was an absolutely zoo, having been covered all over with the mishappen figures. But the centerpiece was Lem’s figure of the intended recipient of the pie. The intricate Homarian figurine sat in contrast to Nosal’s monstrosities, but no one seemed to care as the family relished at their great work.

But before long Lem shooed his children off to bed, as he loaded the pies into the stove. The large tray was barely able to fit inside. But after some wrestling, he was able to shove in the humongous pie before sitting down on his stool. The twin stars had already set outside as the Capyban watched the crackling flames that licked the firewood. He was to stay up and watch the logs, with a long shift ahead if he wanted the pies to come out just right.

“Might as well clean up this mess,” he said to himself before getting up again.