The upstairs door creaked open to reveal that yet again another morning's worth of work was already finished and ready to go.
Wood gathered and bundled in piles near each of the fireplaces.
The heavy barrels of beer and ale had been moved to an easy to access position. The water had already been drawn from the well and poured in the two large washing buckets. Harriet knew without even having to go out and check at this point that the stables had also already been cleaned and the horses were fed and watered. Like they had been for the last several weeks.
She had stayed up all night on multiple occasions in a futile attempt to catch whoever it was that continued to do all this labor to at the very least offer a thank you, but she had thus far been unable to uncover any clues. To be fair, many of these nights resulted in her just crying herself to sleep so she was not exactly the best night watch woman.
Initially she suspected Silke or Connor had been her mysterious helper, but after numerous conversations and repeated denials from both she was still none the wiser. She could not lie. She did not know who it was that was taking care of these simple tasks but she did know in the first few weeks after hearing the news of Kefka's heroic sacrifice, she did not think she would have been able to function without the added assistance. Just getting out of bed to start the day, let alone run the inn was a herculean struggle.
She missed her husband. She wished he were here to help her. She wished things were like they used to be, but she knew that all she had now were memories to keep her warm at night. But in a way, whoever was tending to the chores almost made it seem like he was still around. Kefka never stayed long, but when he was in town he did his best to make up for lost time. With the booze, the kids, and her. Not necessarily in that order. He would help around where and when he could though, and it seemed like her mysterious assistant knew that. She did not mind.
She set about the task of waking up the children and getting Jasnah's help to clean and tidy up the kitchen and dining area after feeding Jakob. She had no sooner gotten Jakob dressed that there was a knock on the back door. Not fully dressed herself, Harriet threw on a shawl and went and answered the early morning visitor.
Opening the door slightly was all that was needed for a nosy child's head to slip past. "Oh guess who it is mama? It's Uncle Z. Did you know he was coming mama?" Jasnah asked inquisitively.
Harriet shushed her daughter and ushered her out of the way as she opened the door fully to allow the Apache entrance. How long had it been since she'd seen the indian man? A week? A month? A year? The rest of the pack had been by to periodically drop in and to see her and offer condolences, but he had not shown up. Initially she wondered if he had died in the abyss too, but no one mentioned it so she didn't bring it up.
"Howdy there Zas B'ul. I weren't expecting you....um..it's a little early so I haven't started cooking anything yet." She half stumbled over her words. "I can whip something up for ya if you'll give me a bit to get the kitchen warmed up."
The tall lean man looked to Harriet and shook his head, but did not enter the building, "No, thank you. I have already eaten."
The Innkeeper nods once and just stood awkwardly by the door frame, "Are you thirsty or anything?"
The Apache again shook his head and said, "I am not. Thank you."
Harriet looked him over. He seemed to be pretty grungy looking with several tears in his poncho and the tell tale signs of being on the road frequently as road dust seemed to cling to his pant legs.
"W-what exactly did you need then dear? I am afraid I don't know what else to offer."
Zas B'ul gave a small smile before turning to look at Jasnah, who had poked her head around her mother again, and replied with a quiet tone. "I came to speak with your children for a bit, if that's okay."
Harriet arched her eyebrow and her voice echoed her surprise. "The kids? Um...sure I guess. Jakob just ate so he should be in a decent mood. I mean Jasnah can be a lot to handle but--yeah, I guess you can talk to them."
Zas nodded towards Jasnah and said, "We are just gonna take a little walk around outside."
Jasnah looked to her mother and then to Zas and with a bewildered nod of assent from Harriet, strode forwards. Harriet went and picked up Jakob and handed him over to the garou who took him gently in his arms and gave a short bow and walked off with Jasnah at his side out into the cool morning air.
Harriet completely flumoxed by the situation watched as the lone garou wandered about in the rear yard of the inn before taking a winding path around and through some trees and back in a large circle around the perimeter of the structure talking with the children in full view of their mother at all times. Jasnah periodically laughing and Jakob full of smiles.
After a short time Harriet realized she was still only half dressed and she quickly changed into something more presentable using the time without her children under her feet as efficiently as possible. She realized though that even after getting dressed, Zas was still walking around. So Harriet set about getting the inn prepped and ready for business occasionally peeking out a window to see Zas meandering around with kids in tow.
Undeterred but certainly distracted, she eventually found that she had everything prepped and ready and it would not be much longer before Silke showed up and the first customers started to drop in.
Having gotten both fires roaring and having found herself a seat that actually managed to seem comfortable, she caught the tale end of Zas story as he was bringing the kids back up to the building.
"...ugliest man he possibly could on that paper but, it didn't matter, because the man he was trying to draw was just too ugly and the sheriff was too smart. So he dropped it in the water and stomped on it, but that just made it wet and runny."
Jasnah laughed so hard she gave herself hiccups and Jakob giggled. Hearing and seeing her children happy brought tears to her eyes.
Upon reaching the door, Zas handed Jakob back to Harriet and nudged Jasnah along with a pat on the head. "You got good kids."
Harriet nodded and smiled. "Thank you Zas B'ul. You didn't have to do this."
The philodox waved her off, "It was fun. We are family. The kids had a great time."
Jasnah gave Zas a firm hug and walked over to Harriet, "Mama-Uncle Z told us about this funny guy who did so many crazy things."
Harriet squatted down to Jasnah's level, "Oh really, like what?"
Jasnah's face scrunched up, "Things like daddy would probably do...I miss him."
Harriet teared up again, "I do too sweetheart."
Harriet turned to face Zas again to thank him for his watching the kids for a little bit, wiping her eyes only to find the door standing wide and him nowhere to be seen.
All that was left was a pile of wood.
Home 
