Chapter 53 Chapter Fifty Three - First Frost and Winter Snow

The advancement of the season occurred without warning, Autumn becoming Winter overnight. The temperatures had plummeted overnight and the men and women of the small base woke able to see their breath. While some reacted by huddling deeper into their quilts, Autumn threw on a thick bathrobe and hurried down into the kitchen, where the heat from the aga was most pronounced. In the distant past, the aga's warmth would have been funnelled to other rooms to heat home and hearth, but that was before the property enlarged and expanded. It was also way before the age of central heating. A pity that the latter was redundant now. Still, as Autumn's body warmed in beside the stove, she expelled a quick sigh.

Outside, the ground sparkled in the lazy light of the sun. The speckled ice coated the hard ground and each and every blade of grass, giving the feel that the usually green lawn had lost its colour beneath the full moon the previous night. The empty stalks of corn and tomatoes were wilting, killed in the chilling cold and many other plants were showing signs of being effected as well. Fortunately, most of the garden's produce had been harvested, so there was little waste. Of the crops to grow above ground, only the brussel sprouts were waiting to be plucked, but that was simply due to the fact that this harder vegetables had better flavour if left until after the first frost. They would not remain out there for much longer.

The blue sky was clear of clouds, but plumes of white smoke began to curl upwards as the both the mansion and the small neighbouring cottage began to burn wood and coal, trying to raise the temperatures within them. "How cold do you think it got, this morning?" Jimmy wondered aloud. With no tools to measure the temperature, there was no way to be certain.

"No idea," Dexter replied as he helped Autumn load the kitchen tables with porridge, nuts and toasted seeds.

The days were so much shorter and there was little to do in the dark evenings when candlelight and battery powered torches were all that could disperse the darkness. There was only so much one could chat about and only so much one could reminisce. Ren Zexian only allowed Dexter to cultivate after the sun had set, thus although the number of ability users within the base had increased, they still lacked things to do at night.

It was discovered that the second squad had a few hidden talents in their midst. Shaun was already confirmed as a Metal user; his root was pure and he had no other abilities, but it was already amongst the best so others were not necessary. Brooke had a lone ice root, however Ren Zexian did not recommend that she cultivate at this time, but allow her body to focus on her child. He did not know that he had formed another misunderstood mark against him for his reasoning. Autumn, Cole and Jonah were found to also have dormant roots, surprising everyone.

Awakening roots forcefully was a risky business and the older one was the more risk was posed, so Ren Zexian felt that he really should not attempt to awaken Jonah's roots at all. Jonah was alright with this; he'd lived for more than fifty odd years without super-powers, he could survive the rest of his natural life without them. Besides, he needed to protect his lover and their baby and didn't want to chance ruining his life over the chance that he might get a bit stronger in the future.

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Cole accepted the risk immediately and Ren Zexian accompanied him in awakening twin Rock and Sand roots, both said to stem from the major Earth root, though both were actually minor and not as powerful as the main root itself. Ren Zexian then handed him to be trained by his disciple, feeling that this was the best course of action to be taken.

Autumn had yet to decide whether she wanted to awaken the potential within herself, dubious and without confidence.

Several of the men bundled up in sweaters and what coats they could find in the mansion. It was difficult as there had only been a few men taking care of the property before the end and at least one of them had been as skinny as a rack, while in contrast, one had obviously been quite round; any who tried on his old padded coat looked as if they were drowning in it, even the physically larger men, Harry, Jonah, Dexter and Cole. They'd found a few other coats in the village that could be used, but not all were in good condition, likely the spendthrift owners willing to put off purchasing a new one for another winter or perhaps they just liked them that much.

Gloves were few and far between, only Chang Min currently wore a pair, Cole insisted on covering his new found Teacher's long slender fingers with them and Patrick, who'd borrowed Nathan's. The three of them had become indispensable when it came to finishing the long and tall wall wrapping around the three large properties within the base. Fortunately, the sun melted the frost by midday, the air became a little milder and the men no longer needed to warm their numb fingers while working on strengthening the wall. Shaun also came to help, accompanied by the ever hovering Paul, reinforcing the wall with metal from the inside and giving the whole thing an even sturdier foundation.

The wall was completed in good time as well, for following the onset of frost came the first snow. And unexpectedly, the first fall settled to reach the small Lucy's knees; she and Aslan had escaped the mansion to play in the white powder excitedly, only for a worrying Autumn to chase after them with a woollen hat, gloves and thick coat for the child. It was probably no surprise that the little one fell sick the following day, but the fever came and went just as quickly and the girl was back on her feet in no time.

It was clear, however, from the increasingly thick snowfall, that this Winter was going to be a cold one, even the sheep had been given old duvets to lie upon rather than the concrete floor of the cold garage. These were topped with straw and dried grass gathered before the snow began to descend and although the three sheep tended to huddle together during the night, they were showing no ill effects from the bitter weather. At first, Harry, Winston and Paul would clear the snow in the sheep's grazing area, but once this task became futile, they had to compromise, just bringing over fruit and vegetable scraps mixed with left over grain and warmed porridge to fill the animals bellies.

The snow also made the others realise that it was impractical for Nathan and Lucy to remain separated from them, living on their own in the little cottage. Although they only warmed a couple of rooms in the mansion during the day and huddled beneath numerous duvets and blankets at night, the amount of coal and wood being burnt was not small and Nathan was using some to heat his own small home as well. Plus the compacted snow beneath the surface of the glistening white powder had long formed into ice, so now not only was the path from the cottage to the mansion difficult due to the thickness of the wintery blanket, but also treacherous. It was difficult enough struggling to the greenhouse at noon, without other numerous trips to the kitchen to eat, before returning to the cottage to sleep.

Nathan remained stubborn though. "I do not want to move," he told Dexter as he ate the delicious baked potato and sweet potato slices with a topping of spicy tinned tuna and red onion. It was very delicious. He ate not in the kitchen with the abundance of noise and banter, but in solitude in the living room before a crackling fire. Or at least that was the case until Dexter and Ren Zexian came to speak with him.

"I know," Dexter replied, calmly. "It's noisy with so many people coming and going. I get that. But the snow is too deep for Lucy to cope with and although Aslan happily ferries her back and forth when he can, it would be better for them to move into the mansion."

"Then they can do that," Nathan agreed. It hadn't been his choice for Lucy to stay with him, but admittedly, he was used to her constant presence in his life now. He would miss her when she moved out.

"You should also stay here," Ren Zexian coaxed. "There are also plants to take care of in the sunrooms as well as the greenhouse, so you would be nearer to them."

Nathan thought about this for a moment, but as much as he loved his plants, he did not feel it necessary to move in with them. He could still travel here to take care of them everyday as he had been. He really did not like change and saw no reason why he should. Things were well the way they were... weren't they?

A slightly mischievous twinkle lit up Dexter's eyes for a moment and the corners of his lips curled. "It's a shame," he drawled, rising from his kneeling position. "You could have stayed in Ren's room; there's room in there after all." Ren Zexian glanced upward sharply; what was Dexter attempting to imply? His bed was large, indeed, but it was the only bed in the bedroom he used.

However, how could he protest when those two, azure eyes looked at him so...