After breakfast, Charlotte and Alastor set to work getting the cottage clean and tidy. They started by gathering up all the dirty clothes and putting them aside, then they dusted all the corners, and swept and scrubbed all the floors. When they were done making the beds and wiping the windows, they walked down to the stream to do the laundry. A special device was waiting for them at the stream. A small, water-mill looking machine that had been firmly planted in the water while a babbling brook was right next to it. The wheel had been built over a barrel, the two connected by a wooden rod.
"What's that?" Charlotte asked.
"Every washer woman's dream come true." Alastor said. "Observe."
Alastor filled the barrel to the top with all the dirty clothes they had brought and tossed in a few soap flecks. Next he moved the wheel of machine underneath the water the fell from the brook. At once, the wheel started to spin and the rod spun as well, turning the clothes, the soap, and the water around and around.
"Now while we search for dinner, this machine will take care of all the clothes." Alastor said.
"I can't believe he was able to make something like this." She said. "He must be the smartest person in the world."
"I always thought so." Alastor said.
Using his advance sense of smell and hearing, he was able to locate where some pheasants were nesting and caught one in almost no time at all. Charlotte on the other hand, was able to collect a basket full of edible mushrooms, hazelnuts, and blackberries. The mushrooms, hazelnuts, and pheasant meat would surely make a tasty stew and the blackberries could be saved to use in a pie or in porridge. She knew Alastor had never liked sweet things but perhaps his family had different tastes.
"Have you made stew before?" Alastor asked her as they were walking back to the stream.
"Plenty of times." She answered. "Dolores showed me. I just hope everyone likes pheasant, hazelnuts, and mushrooms."
"They're not picky eaters, and even if they were, they wouldn't refuse a meal that was cooked just for them. Well Blitzo maybe, but his manners have always been something to be desired."
"He doesn't like me, does he?"
"No. But he dislikes all human beings. Always has for as long as I can remember. He never liked me. Wanted to get rid of me from day one."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I've asked Moxxie and Millie countless times and they've always said that they can't tell me. They were sworn to secrecy and Blitzo will obviously never tell me anything personal. So I guess I'll never know. Not that I care to know, I never liked him either. He had a nasty habit of belittling me when I was a child. Acting like he knew everything and I knew nothing."
"Well lots of adults think that way in regards to children, and no offense, but normally adults do know more than children."
"Not in the case of Blitzo and myself. Shockingly I knew a lot more about things than he did. I remember one time when I was ten, the chimney had a little nest infestation and he decided to fix it himself. But I warned him that-"
...
A ten year old Alastor stood outside the cottage, carefully watching Blitzo dig twigs and branches out of the chimney.
"Blitzo I think you should wait til Millie comes back." He spoke. "She can turn into a bird and speak their language, so she would be better suited for this."
"Pipe down squirt!" Blitzo said. "I know what I'm doing. I know my way around animals."
"I'm not so sure about that. Remember what happened last time you thought you knew your way around animals? You tried to milk a chamois and I told you that thing hanging from it was probably not it's utters. But you didn't listen, you grabbed it, it turned out to be male like I said, and then head-butted you off the mountain in blind rage."
"Oh be quiet you little smart-ass." He snapped. "You may know a lot about animals that produce milk but I know birds. I've lived with a bird way longer than you have. No go make yourself useful and chop some wood."
"You know that nest is awfully big." Alastor observed. "I don't think a normal bird is in there. Want me to go get Moxxie? He's knows about this stuff."
"No I do not need you to get Moxxie, and for your information lots of normal birds have big nests."
"Do all normal birds have nests with blood stains on them?" Little Alastor asked picking up a fallen tree branch that was painted in carmine.
"Just get out of here boy! You're distracting me! Go on, get!"
Suddenly the air was pierced by a horrific screech and nachtkrapp came swooping down from the sky.
"Ahhh!" Blitzo screamed, before the nachtkrapp snatched him up and carried him away. "Help me! Somebody please! Moxxie! Millie!"
"Moxxie get the crossbow!" Alastor called as he ran inside the cottage. "Blitzo did something stupid again!"
...
"Goodness." Charlotte said upon hearing the story. "Was he alright?"
"Yes, we were able to get him back before the nachtkrapp could eat him and then regurgitate him back up to feed it's young." Alastor explained. "But even after that, he never acted like I had a brain at all. Each time I tried to give him advice, he dismissed it. At first I thought it was of my age or maybe it was just him being arrogant as most folks are, but I think he maybe it was out of spite. Maybe it wasn't because I was a child giving him advice, but because I was a human giving him advice."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"Don't bet on it. Everything I said to him was exactly what Moxie would say, and he listened to Moxxie. Most of the time that is. But he never listened to me."
"Did he ever...Did he ever call you stupid or useless or pathetic?"
"He'd call me a brat and he'd call me a smart-ass. But no, he never called me any of those things."
"Did he ever say that you were good for nothing? That you'd never be able to do anything on your own? Or that you were a waste of a life?"
"Far from it. Even when I was a child, he thought I was more than capable of doing work or having a job. Tried to get me into mining when I was just nine. Though, that's most likely due to the fact that he had been put to work at a young age."
"So he never made you feel useless?"
"No. I mean, he made it no secret that he didn't like me, but he didn't treat me horribly. Truth be told, I think that while he dislikes humans, he wouldn't hurt them just for being human. He's a very complicated individual you know." He said. "Why do you want to know if he made me feel worthless or not?"
"Just curious. Usually when someone dislikes a person, they'll act very cruel to them."
"You mean like how your stepmother was cruel to you?"
"Pretty much." Charlotte sighed sadly. "It was like she would try her hardest to make me feel awful about myself whenever I was in her presence. Like she'd only ever be happy if I was miserable. And to this day, I can't understand why. I know I wasn't an easy child and I wasn't happy about my father getting married again at first, but I did try to love her. I tried to let her be my mother. I tried not to see her as just the wicked stepmother. But that's all she could ever be toward me, and I feel awful for saying this because she has such a kind and good daughter. I can't understand how someone like Desdemona could have possibly given birth to someone like Vagatha."
"Well Vagatha wasn't exactly raised by that hate-filled woman. She was raised by Dolores who is equally kind and good."
"But Dolores raised Desdemona too. So how did she turn out this way?"
"Was she raised solely by Dolores like Vagatha was or was there another party involved in her upbringing? In other words, was her father in the picture and if so, what was he like?"
"From what Dolores always said, he was a terrible man. Heartless and abusive. She said when he finally died she shed no tears and spat on his corpse."
"Then there's your answer. Your stepmother is an awful woman because she was influenced by her awful father."
"Then it's not her fault that she's the way she is."
"Oh contraire, my dear." He argued. "She chose to follow her father's cruel and hateful example, instead of her mother's kind and loving example. Now I'll admit parents do have a strong influence over their children, but once those children become adults, it's entirely up to them if they want to behave in the manner their parents tried to teach them. No one forced your stepmother to hate you and mistreat you. She willingly chose to do so. So it's nobody's fault but her own that she's the way she is, and that's the fact of it. No more, no less."
"I know that's true but I...I still try to feel kindness for her. For Vagatha's sake."
"Charlotte your desire to have empathy and compassion for everyone is admirable. But you do realize that sooner or later, Vagatha is going to have acknowledge the truth about what kind of person her mother really is, and you may end up being the person who has to make that truth to her. It'll be a hard blow to her, it might even break her heart, but it won't anything she can't withstand I'm sure."
"She loves her mother Alastor."
"But does her mother return that love? I mean, I've never seen the two interact and for all I know, she could be the sun, the moon, and the stars to that woman but I sincerely believe that someone so wicked couldn't possibly be capable of loving anyone. Am I wrong? Has she said or done anything to indicate that she loves Vagatha just as much as Vagatha loves her?"
"I... I don't know. I've never really thought about it."
Thinking back, Charlotte wasn't sure if Desdemona had ever acted like she loved Vagatha. She had always been too busy trying to avoid her stepmother to really to pay attention to how her sister had been treated. But was there any love returned? Any at all? She couldn't recall. But that was silly, all mothers loved their children. It was called maternal instinct. Every woman has it so all mothers must automatically love their children. Right?