Black walnut harvest is over. The Vaults are bursting with grass seeds, crackers, buttery cheeses, acorn pots of soup ingredients, dried apples and blackberries, round loaves of fruit 'n nut bread, and woody, spicy pieces of black walnuts. The few Walnut Keepers who remain awake during the winter will have plenty to eat as the snow falls and the wind blows.
Sturdy doors of hidden burrows close for the season. Inside, those who hibernate nestle into their cozy beds, their pantries full for when they wake thin and hungry in the spring. Those who plan to nap and wake throughout the season tidy their burrows and check their stores, making their final trips to the Vaults for the few items they've forgotten. If they are lucky, Maple hasn't extinguished the bakery fires, and they can get one last pot of hot water for tea.
Miss Maple bustles about her stone bakery, barking orders to her assistants as they run the last loaves and crackers to the Vaults. Yawning souls bring their pots for tea water, and she sends them on their way with steaming apple tarts to go with their tea. The weather has turned. There will be no more warm days for months. Grunting, she extinguishes the bakery fires one by one until only thin tendrils of smoke rise into the air, snaking toward the chimney and vanishing into the heart of Evershade.
Winter is here.
