[15: Something you learned from your father]

The little stove put out more heat than Meera had ever thought possible.
It almost felt dangerous, such intense heat in such a small space. Images of
fire climbing the walls filled her head, of the wood posts smoldering and
then coming alight.

The walls were still cold, though, and the wind and rain howled around the
eaves outside, softened only by the thick thatch above. She stood there,
warming first her front, then her back, alternating as one got chilly and
the other too warm. 

Dick sat on a little stool just a little further away, shirtless and looking
much more comfortable than he had before. 

"Do you live here alone?"

Dick nodded slowly. "There's three of us boys in the family. We take turns.
This week's my turn. Harry comes up here next week. Todd after that. Dad
used to live up here, and tend the sheep, but he died this winter. Mom has a
house down in town."

Dick shrugged a bit sadly. 

"It was cancer, a really fast one. He was strong as a horse when we put in
the plumbing up here. We'd usually spend breaks from school up here -- we'd
camp out on the floor here, and help dad. He'd teach us to build things or
fix things, and then we'd go back and live with mom in town since it's close
to school. Then this winter, his back started hurting. He thought it was
nothing. Turns out the cancer was in his bones, and he died a couple weeks
later."

"Oh, Dick. I'm so sorry!"

Dick shrugged and looked away for a moment. "At least it was fast. And now
we come up here and tend the sheep. I don't think Harry likes it at all, and
Todd would rather be in town most days. So I come up here. It's quiet and
there's space to think."

Meera put her hands out near the fire, and watched the little curls of
moisture lift from her skin and coat, and she stopped shivering and
stammering quite so hard.

"Shall we get you home?"

"I'm not ready to go back there yet. I don't want to see homework or school
or even Uncle Ram for a bit yet."