For not_a_cub

[so_far_fallen]

Aria was so happy to be back at the cottage, it was a place that had been more of a home to him than anywhere else he'd ever lived in his life.

Things had been neglected in his absence, left to overgrow or rot in the ground, and the cow shed was in a terrible state. The two pygmy goats were no longer in their pen and had eaten their way through most of the vegetables he'd spent half a year carefully tending. The cows had been given food and water by the looks of it, but they hadn't been milked, grazed, or mucked out. It was the same with the hens - the hen house was filthy, and with so much corn thrown down and not cleared up the place was infested with rats. But things could have been worse.

When he'd been asked to move back into the cottage temporarily to look after Eli while he was sick Aria had almost refused on principle, but however badly Eli had treated him it wasn't enough to want to see him suffer. Besides, he knew that if he didn't accept then Lucien or their parents or even Sybil would have to do it instead and he'd never forgive himself if they got sick too.

So here he was, waiting on Eli hand and foot, and then trying to fix his beloved cottage and yard when his future-brother-in-law was sleeping.