He muttered a slightly-embarrassed "Thanks" at the offering of the pastry, but didn't decline it. His stomach would be thanking him shortly, if his mouth didn't first. He took a bite before practically gobbling the thing down he was so hungry. He and his brothers hadn't had the best choice of foods lately, and all three could use to gain some weight. "I thought you were gonna send Nate there to help," he remarked, licking his fingers and arching a brow at her again as she looked him over. "Your brother's?" he asked curiously. "Don't you think he'll want them back?"

She shook her head, lifting the kettle from the hearth to brew some tea. There hadn't been a chance to trade for coffee beans since they'd gotten back, but Han had promised to try his best for some at the market today. "No, Mahon was just a kid when he was taken," she smiled gently. "It's just shirts and pants that my pa wore, and some of my grandpa's stuff. It's all still good, plenty of wear in it."

He nodded thoughtfully, not saying much for a moment or two. They hadn't spoken much about her brother or about what he might think when he returned to find three more mouths to feed under his roof. "I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," he replied, borrowing a saying from some book or other he'd read. He was full of such sayings, many of them forgotten over the years and probably known only to him. "You and your family have been very kind."

"But ....if someone gives you a horse and you don't check in its mouth, it's your own fault when it drops down dead a day later and you gotta deal with it," she pointed out, taking the saying quite literally. She wasn't anywhere near as well read as he was. She could read, she could write, and she could just about handle numbers; that was all she needed. "We're just being friendly," she assured him with a smile. "Besides, it works out well for us. Uther and Han get to go to the valley and find Han's mother sooner than they thought they would, and Mahon won't freak out about me and Aedan being on our own."

"Does he do that a lot?" Cody asked, looking a little worried. He was finally healing and didn't really want to end up on the other side of an angry brother's fist. He took a lean against the wall, more to hold himself up than anything else. He was doing far better now that he was under her care, but it was going to be a few days before he got his strength back.

She rolled her eyes at him, pointing at the scrubbed table less than three feet away. "Sit down before you fall down," she told him with a smile, moving the pot and cups to the table herself. "And, no, Mahon doesn't go all out. He's like Eli. In fact, they're either going to get on like a house on fire, or try to kill each other." Chuckling, Brona sat down at the table comfortably. "He's protective, but he's had to accept that he doesn't really have any say in what I do with my life any more. We were apart for fifteen years, we grew up without each other. He's easy to handle."

He brooked no argument but took a seat at the table before, as she said, he fell down. "Easy for you to handle, maybe," he pointed out. He wasn't expecting her brother to welcome him with open arms. Who was he, anyway, but another farm hand" "Nate likes it here," he remarked, trying to focus the conversation on what he deemed to be safe topics.

"Don't you?" She couldn't help the flicker of concern in her eyes as she looked at him. Of course Nate liked it here; there was a soft bed, hot food, clean bathing water, and work to keep his hands and mind busy. "I'm glad he's settling in. I guess I should send him to the mill with the wheat in a few days, what do you think?"

"I think he'd like that. Nate likes to be helpful," Cody replied, not quite answering her first question. They hadn't really been in Pax long enough for him to make a judgment call there, but Brona was there, and that was all that really mattered. One village was nearly the same as the next, though Pax seemed friendlier than some they'd seen. That wasn't the problem - the problem was figuring out where he fit in.

She raised a brow, but didn't push her luck, pouring out the tea now it had had sufficient time to be stronger than the gnat's water Uther liked to drink. "What do you like to do, Cody?" she asked him curiously. "Not what are you used to doing, or what can you do. What do you like to do?"

"I don't know. That's the problem," Cody replied with a worried expression on his face. He'd been too young to help with the farm before his mom had died and had never really considered it for a career. "I never really had much time to think about it before."

"Maybe you should," she suggested. "Before you take on a job that only challenges your hands, and not your mind. I mean, look how good you are with Aedan. At the rate you're going, he's going to be reading by himself in a couple of months." Not that this was necessarily a bad thing; they did have a school in Pax, although they didn't actually have a teacher. It was more a sort of all-age nursery.

"I'm not Eli," he said, though that much was obvious. As much as he loved his older brother, he was nothing like him. They were as different as night and day, not that anything was wrong with Eli - they were just different was all. "I don't want to be a solider. I'll fight if I have to. I'll join the militia and do my part to keep the village safe, but there has to be some other way I can make myself useful." He sighed and wrapped his hands around the cup of tea, thankful for its warmth. "I must sound like a coward. I'm not, you know," he added a little defensively, though she likely knew that already.

"Cody ....you don't have to carry a weapon to prove yourself," she pointed out, leaning toward him as she spoke. "You don't have to do all the heavy lifting. Look at the baker, for example. He doesn't fight, he doesn't wrestle sheep or cows, he doesn't carry 50lb bags of whatever around the place. But he provides a service for people who either can't or won't do their own baking, and he enjoys what he does. There's nothing to say that you can't find the same sort of fulfillment for yourself."

"Don't you think that's selfish?" he asked, genuinely curious. He'd been following his brothers around for the last ten years or so and really had no idea how to make these decisions for himself. Had it been selfish of his father and of Eli to drag him and Nate around on their wild goose chase" He wasn't sure, but he knew he wasn't going to do that anymore. It was time he stood up for himself and what he wanted from life, if only he could figure out what that something was.

"How is it selfish to find where you fit in a community and make it your own in a way that makes you happy?" she asked him gently. "Wouldn't your brothers rather see you happy in your life, than know you're miserable but obedient' Do you really think they wouldn't want to see you happy?"

"No, I guess not. I just don't know what I want to do, Brona. I've never had a chance to think about it before. I know I'm not a soldier, and I don't want to let you down, but I'm not sure I'm much of a farmer, either. What do you think I should do?" he asked, just about at his wit's end. He wasn't sure why it was so important, but if he was going to make an argument for staying, he needed to show his brothers he had a place here - he needed to show them he belonged.

"Well ....is there anything you want to learn how to do?" she asked, a little confused as to why he was asking her. "I would suggest that maybe you might try teaching. We have a school, but no teacher, and there will be more children in the village soon, I expect. You're patient with Aedan, and he's already learning."

"Teaching?" he echoed, never having considered that before. He did enjoy the time he spent with Aedan and he did have a love of books, but he'd never really tried teaching anyone before, except for his brothers and Aedan. "You wouldn't mind if I didn't work on the farm?" he asked, not wanting to let her down, especially after she'd done so much for him.

"Of course not," she chuckled softly. "It's not like there's an urgent need for it, is there" And besides, you'll be around to help with the people heavy work - at harvest time, everyone is in the fields, including the children. The whole point of bringing you to Pax was to give you all the opportunity to find out if there's something else you'd like to do with yourselves, and there's nothing stopping the three of you from sharing a home. You won't be away from each other."

Cody laughed a little at that. "You think I haven't had enough of my brothers after all these years" I wouldn't mind putting a little distance between us, especially if any of us wants to start a family." That just sort of slipped out, as he was still a little young to be thinking about that sort of thing, but it had been on his mind these last few days since coming to Pax. "I mean ..." He trailed off, turning shy all of a sudden. "It's only a matter of time before Eli and Nate meet someone."

"I'm sorry about your father ....and your mother," he added for good measure. He'd lost both his parents, as well, but at least he'd had his brothers. It was more than she'd had, it seemed, though it could be argued that she had a whole village. "Let's not talk about sad things," he decided abruptly. "Tell me about the school. How many children go there" What are their ages?"

"Oh, well, at last count there were eight children going," she told him, more than happy to leave those thoughts behind for a while. "The youngest is four, the eldest is ten. Once they get over ten, most children start working full time on their parents' land, you see."

That was more schooling than he'd had, but then he'd been mostly self-taught. His mother had been their teacher when they were young, but after she'd died, Eli had mostly taken over the tutoring of his two younger brothers, while his father had tried to provide. "And they don't have a teacher" Who supervises them' How do they learn anything?"

"It's mostly whoever can't work right now that keeps an eye," she shrugged. "We did have a teacher, when I was little, but after she passed on, there wasn't anyone who could teach. We do the best we can, but there's no consistency, and no one has the energy at the end of a long day to go over letters with their children. Life's hard, no matter how you live it."

"I could do that," he said. "But then I wouldn't be able to help with the farm much," he added with a frown. Which task, in the end, was more important to their survival" Tending the farm, and yet, there was so much the children would be missing, so much history and culture that would be lost if no one took the time to teach it to them. Someone had to do it. Why not him"

"When Mahon gets back, there'll be him and Nemone, and I'm sure there'll be other men and women from the valley who'll want to settle in and help," she assured him. "Stop thinking about other people for a second. Which would you rather do - work on a farm all day every day, or teach children?"

"I don't know," he replied uncertainly once again. "I've only ever tried teaching Nate. I'm not sure if I'd be very good at it, but I'd like to try, if they'll let me," he said, not sounding very sure of himself, but needing to find where he fit if he was going to be part of the society that was the village.

"You do well with Aedan," she pointed out in a gentle voice, though she could understand that teaching a group would be quite a different experience. "I can talk to Joss, or one of the other council members, if you'd like me to, but I'm pretty sure no one would say no."

"Aedan is easy. He's young and has a bright, open mind. He's thirsty for knowledge and guidance. It will be different trying to teach children who don't understand the importance of learning. They might not think there's much point when all they ever need to know they can learn on the farm," he pointed out. Maybe what it was he was longing to do wasn't just teach, but bring back some culture to society so that life wasn't only about survival. "They learn music, right?" he asked, remembering having heard her sing. She had to have learned that song somewhere.

"What they learn they pick up from their parents," she admitted. "When I went, we were taught old songs from before the world changed. I really enjoyed that, but the knowledge is disappearing with no one to teach it."

"Are there any books left' From the beforetime, I mean?" he asked, trying not to get too excited at the prospect of sharing the knowledge he'd gathered and learned over his life, but also the possibility of learning and gathering more. "There must be some books left somewhere. In other villages, too."

"There's a chest in the school house with a few books in it, and some sheet music, too," Brona told him. "Mrs. Gregory was always writing down different versions of the songs she knew, to keep us interested. She used to put up decorations for the old holidays, too - you know, like Gristmoss and Hooween, and Easted."

"Who is Mrs. Gregory?" he asked, curiously. He hadn't heard that name mentioned before that he could recall. He knew some of the older people could prove to be good resources - they still remembered the stories that had been passed down to them from their parents and grandparents of life before the wars.

"She's the tailor's mother," she smiled. "She sits out in her chair and criticizes his stitching when she's in a bad mood these days, and if she's in a good mood, she sings. She's the one who taught me most of the songs I know - real old songs, songs that were old before the world changed."

"Hmm," he mused, wondering what would happen if he went around and talked to some of the older people and asked what they remembered. There might be a gold mine of information right under their noses. "Maybe I should talk to the council," he said, though he wasn't sure they'd agree with him on the importance of all this. Some only wanted to forget the beforetime and start over, create their own culture, but he thought to forget what had gone before and the lessons there was a mistake. What was the point in all that destruction if they couldn't learn from it"

She nodded, pleased to see him showing an interest. "I know who you should speak to," she suggested. "Joss is on the council. Get him on your side before you bring it to the council proper, and he can help you convince some of the naysayers. Oh, and you could probably convince Lara, too. She's on the council, as well. They're good people."

"Lara?" he asked, taking another sip of his nearly-forgotten tea. He couldn't remember when the last time was he'd enjoyed such luxuries as this, and the company wasn't bad either. He knew Joss was Ethan's father, who was related to Aedan somehow or other, but he hadn't heard the name Lara before now.

"Lara's family built the council house, in the middle of the town," Brona explained, finally remembering to sip her tea, though she only removed one hand from his. "Hers is the oldest family in Pax, her voice carries a lot of weight. She'd support you, I'm sure she would."

"I don't want to take over, Brona," he assured her, though there was likely no need. "I just want to be useful and make a difference. That's all," he said, as though he was worried what people would think of him and maybe his brothers, too. They weren't here to cause trouble, as they'd been accused so often before; they were here to help and to try and build lives for themselves in one place at long last.

"All right, then, how about this" You go and help out at the school for a while, whoever's in charge on a given day will be happy for the help anyway. That way, people will get used to seeing you, and hearing about you from their children, and in a little while, they'll start suggesting that you become the teacher." She flashed him a cheeky smile. "It's a bit sneaky, I know, but it would probably work."

He thought about that a minute before chuckling again. "You're devious. I like it. Should I consider myself warned, Miss ..." he trailed off, realizing she'd never mentioned her last name, not that it was particularly important.

"Dugan," she supplied her last name with a quiet chuckle. "Not the prettiest in the world, but I can out-sneak most of Pax with one hand tied behind my back." She winked at him playfully over the rim of her cup.

"Good to know, Miss Dugan," he replied with the hint of a smirk. He hadn't had much reason to smile until recently, and much of that was because of her. He tangled his fingers with hers, liking the warmth of her skin against hers. "What do you think your brother will think of all this?" he asked, that hint of worry in his voice again.

"I ....think it doesn't really matter what his opinion is," she told him, secure in her own mind. "Mahon might not wholly approve, but he's in no position to lay down the law to me, and I don't think he will. If he can fall in love with one of his captors, then I don't think he'll mind so much that I made friends with mine and brought them home to a better kind of life. Not that he's going to know I was kidnapped at all," she added in a comical tone. "I'm young, I'm not stupid."

The three year old eyed Cody thoughtfully for a moment around his thumb as he settled in on Brona's lap, and seemed to come to a decision. "'nk you," was what he came out with, making Brona laugh softly as she hugged him close.

"You, little man, are a very cheeky person," she informed her nephew. "And it's bath night tonight, so you need to go and get your nightclothes together and decide what you're gonna play with while you're in there, okay?"

Cody smirked in amusement. He knew the little boy was bright enough to know what magic word he meant, but was also cute enough to get away with not having to say it. "Do you need any help?" Cody asked the boy, eager to help in any way he could now that he was mostly on the mend.

Aedan nodded eagerly; it wasn't clear whether he was jealous of Brona for cuddling Cody, or of Cody for cuddling Brona, at this point. "I can show you my water horse," he declared, wriggling down from Brona's lap to charge toward the stairs, far too excited to wait for Cody.

She laughed again, rising to her feet. "And I should check on dinner, anyway," she conceded warmly.

Cody hoped the kiss wasn't forgotten, only postponed until later, when they could find another quiet moment alone without the danger of interruption from young or old, no matter how well-meaning. He wasn't sure what a water horse was, but it looked like he was going to find out. "Wish me luck!" he said as he got to his feet.

Smiling, Brona screwed up her courage and touched his arm, rising onto her toes to brush a shy kiss to his cheek. "You don't need luck," she promised him fondly. "Dinner's in about an hour, when the others get back. Think you can handle it?"

"We'll see, I guess," he replied brightly, turning his face toward her kiss and daring to lift a hand to touch his fingers to her cheek, lingering a moment before pulling away with a soft smile. "I'll yell if I need you," he warned, though he didn't think it would be that difficult to handle a small boy, so long as his side didn't start aching.

"I'll keep an ear open for it," she teased, drawing back with a soft blush on her cheeks as Aedan yelled from his bedroom for "Cosy" to come and help him. "You'd better hurry, or he'll start accusing you of stealing his cuddles again."

"Mmm, I think he's doing that on purpose," Cody remarked with a grin as he started toward the stairs. "Coming!" he called back to Aedan. "I'll steal cuddles with you later," he teased before turning to make his way up the stairs to help the waiting boy with his bath, wondering just how he'd gotten himself into this and hoping Aedan went easy on him.

He left her giggling to herself as she checked on the progress of the bread in the oven. Perhaps it was just as well Aedan had been there to interrupt them. Goodness only knew how she might have reacted if Nate or Han, or Uther or Eli, had walked in on the kiss that had been about to happen. She bit her smiling lip, leaning against the counter as she listened to the sounds from upstairs. Whatever else happened when Mahon got back, at least now she knew that Cody would not be moving on. If I could choose, I would choose never to leave you. Well, he was stuck with her now. Anyone who could make her feel this giddy deserved an award. He would just have to make do with her.

If he could choose, he'd said, but the beauty of it was that he could choose. Even if Eli decided he wanted to move on, Cody was old enough to make his own decisions now, and he had decided to stay in Pax, no matter what Eli wanted. He hoped both his brothers would make that same choice, but whatever they decided, he had made his choice. They had been wandering long enough. It was time they had a home, and what better home than the first place where they'd really felt welcome" What better place than Pax?

((Bless 'em. The sooner Mahon brings Nemone back, the better for his little sister's romance!))