"The witch hunters wouldn't let someone like that around for long." Griff adds between mouthfuls, making a stabbing motion with his fork.

He looks to his brothers. "I wouldn't mind having a chat with Kaspar. Havn't seen our cuz in a long time, and you know, we are kind of here for his place."

Holger eyes Ludwig, then sighs. 'Had it been up to me, she would've been outsted from the village long ago. But our community's decisions are made by a council of three- me, Sepp Bundel the butcher, and Werner Karst, the doctor. So far Werner and Sepp alwaysvote to let her stay.'

Maria nods. 'Werner is too kind for his own good. True, Agatha never did any harm that we know of, even makes some nice potions and salves for those who would use them. But it is just not right for a woman to live alone in the woods. And Sepp... I have no idea why that man keeps voting to let her be. Certainly not out of the kindness of his heart, for that man has none.'

'Because,' Holger chimes in, 'being close to Agatha means the burners and our boy get a bad reputation, which reflects on the burners' parents and us. It is all politics with that man.'

At the mention of Kaspar, Holger looks at his bowl for a moment, while Maria grows quiet. 'Yes,' Holger finally says, 'you should meet him. Like I said, he lives in the burner camp- you must've passed a small road leading east when you arrived. Follow that path into the woods and you'll find him. Follow it further, and you'll meet the witch.'

'In fact, I was hoping to have you boys run some errands in the morning. As part of the council I need to negotiate some things with the other council members, but there's nothing hugely important going on, and I thought it would be a good way to see how you deal with running the town. Sounds good?'

Maria smirks, muttering under her breath, 'better than getting up at dawn to feed the chickens, no doubt.'

"So it's not just a story..."

Klaus isn't accustomed to having his attention held this long by a farmer. Normally, one only got this sort of news out of coachmen or dwarfs. Maybe it isn't anything to do with the agricultural life, he reflects; maybe it has more to do with getting away with home and doing a little traveling himself.

Maybe I'd quite like it here, come to think of it. If I get to help run the place...

He shoots a quick grin at Maria; her low tone isn't lost on him, and it was exactly what he was thinking. Klaus nods eagerly; if nothing else, he can ply Kaspar with questions about this witch.

Or maybe convince the others to go see what she's about on their own...

"Sounds like an excellent idea. Doesn't it?"

Ludwig notices that glint that passes through Klaus's eye and he makes a mental note of his rising interest in the 'quiet life' as it were. But what really seizes his interest is the talk of the witch again, it seems that there is more of a mystery to this then first appeared. And it would seem that more information is going to be required and who would hunt a witch at night?

'Visiting the Witch at night, why not just inspect the back of her overly large oven while you're at it?' Ludwig chuckles at his own thought. "Um, yes, it does, sound like an excellent idea, that is. We'll look much less suspicious if we have actual business instead of us just stomping around there asking them questions about things."

"Well someone has to keep you two out of trouble eh? I'm in."

You finish your meal, after which Holger announces it is time for bed. Your accomodations aren't exactly luxurious- clearly your room was meant for just one person, although Holger and Maria gave you enough blankets and straw to make makeshift beds on the floor. Not the worst accommodation you've ever had, although the room is small enough that you're almost pressed against each other.

After a night with little sleep and lots of unintended elbows to faces, you wake up when the sun is already in the sky. You quickly get dressed, after which you stumble into the living room again. Holger sits at the table alone, apparently waiting for you. His eyes are dark as you emerge from your room, although you are beginning to think that's just his default expression.

'Maria and the girls are tending to the animals,' he says by way of greeting. 'There are some errands I want you boys to run. You mentioned that you wanted to talk to Kasper, and as luck would have it we need someone to talk to the burners.' He gives you a meaningful look before continuing. 'Apparently the coach you came in on broke the bridge last night. The burners also work as the town's carpenters, so they'll fix the bridge. Try and come to an agreement with them about a price- they're paid with money from the village's treasury, but the tax collector will eventually come to Steingart, so don't go crazy.'

'Then, I want you to go by the residence of Peter Karst, the town's butcher, on the north side of town. The miller, Lars Felsreich, is already there- they want to renegotiate the contract between us and them. Peter buys our animals, and Lars our wheat. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but I want you to do the negotiating. It'll be a fine way to get to know the other villagers, and you need to learn about this stuff, anyway.'

He sighs. 'Finally, I need you to drop by Boris Tarasovich, the blacksmith. We've paid him good money to make some tools weeks ago, and he hasn't delived yet. Keeps claiming he has no materials, but he's actually angry at us. That drunken animal was trying to chat up my daughter Flora a while ago, and he's never forgiven me for telling him off. It caused some bad blood, and you'll need to sort it. Taal knows he doesn't listen to me.'

Griff groans a bit on the inside. Mostly at waking up this early but also at the thought of so much work.

"Sure thing uncle!" He say's loudly to disguise the fact. "We might as well start with kaspar and the burners. We wanted to see them anyway."

Holger nods and waves you off, leaving you to explore the village on your own. It looks much nicer by daylight, despite the cold air and grey, cloudy sky. There aren't any people about- no doubt most of them are attending their duties.

You first go back to the road you came into town from, and quickly find a path leading into the forest. Following it for about twenty minutes, you eventually come to a log cabin, with a small campfire in front of it. Three tables stand around the fire, with various tools laid out on them.

There are four young men gathering their equipment from the tables, who look up at you as you approach. One of the two oldest of them, who looks to be around your age, looks up at you and smiles. 'Good morning! You lot just arrived? Name's Waldemar Karst. What can we do for you?'

You have no idea which of these men, if any, is your nephew...

"We're looking for Kaspar really." Griff say's casually, extending a hand to shake. "Although Herr Holger sent us down to talk about getting the bridge repaired. Some wagon or sumthin broke it the other night."

Klaus is many things...but a morning person is not one of them.

The night before, he had made sure to bed down off in the corner, where he would be able to get a little extra room, but that didn't stop more than one unfortunate occurrence with unidentified feet...and when morning came, he was the last to wake, stumbling out to guiltily avoid his uncle's gaze a few moments behind his brothers. Griff seemed to have the most energy, so he let him do the talking, still mentally dragging himself awake.

Which is how he ended up limping along the bumpy road he'd just come in on, blinking owlishly at the bright sunlight and eying the charcoal burners appraisingly. They didn't look over-bright, but he imagined they'd be good company after a few ales.

After Griff's noncommittal introduction, Klaus decides to follow suit. He's not entirely clear on why he hasn't introduced them as Holger's nephews, but he's willing to play along. Maybe it's a prank.

"Shouldn't be too tricky of a job," he adds, hoping he's right. "It's a sturdy piece of work, isn't it? Or, ah, it was..."