Jill noticed his height surging since drinking milk daily, going from the class's shortest to average. Daily training replaced his scrawny frame with muscle traces. Stepping off the school bus, he spotted the heavy lock on the blacksmith shop, signaling Bul-Kathos was at Harrogath, racing his coveted pickup.
Outside, a tall woman, Jessica Jones, sat on Bul-Kathos's usual bench, holding vodka and two plastic bags—one clearly pizza. Jill felt she looked familiar but didn't know her.
"Who're you?" he called, keeping distance, ready to bolt. Coulson had told him to run to the agents across the street if danger arose.
"Jessica Jones. Is the blacksmith here? Been waiting two hours," she said, waving the bottle.
Jill started, "He'll be back—" but Bul-Kathos stepped through a portal, cursing. "Damn Madoc!" Agents in a nearby car noted "Madoc," per orders to record everything, no questions asked.
Seeing Jill's wide eyes, Bul-Kathos swallowed further swears. "Got delayed, Jill. Come in." He yanked the lock off, tossing it aside. Agents weren't shocked—Coulson had tried opening it, straining his arm. A betting pool on unlocking it had reached $3,000. Jessica, reckless but not foolish, hadn't tampered with it.
"I'm here to pay for last time," Jessica said, feeling ignored.
"Oh," Bul-Kathos replied, entering the shop. He cared about her kept promise, not the payment itself. A fulfilled vow satisfied a barbarian.
"Thanks." Jessica followed with her bags. Jill, reassured by Bul-Kathos's presence, joined them—few could harm him with Bul-Kathos near.
"Jill, wash up. Lunch soon," Bul-Kathos said, heading to the stove. He heated milk and grabbed salad from the fridge, movements fluid from routine.
"I brought food to thank you for last time," Jessica said, awkward. She'd thought he valued the payment, but he seemed to have forgotten her.
He cared about the promise, not the reward. Her arrival was enough. "Oven's there," he said, pointing. He rarely used it—salads and milk didn't need baking. Heating hard-as-rock black bread wouldn't help.
Jessica, flustered by his nonchalance, heated the food. Pizza's aroma filled the air as she set it on the table. "Uncle, still driving on the mountain?" Jill asked, eyeing the pickup.
"Yeah, but those old geezers keep making a ruckus," Bul-Kathos said. Jessica, confused by the white-haired man calling others "old geezers," felt her slowed mind—scarred by Purple Man—struggle. She just wanted to pay and leave, but the boiling milk's scent crushed her resolve with hunger.
"Here's the payment," she said.
"Put it there," Bul-Kathos replied, unfazed.
"When can I ride, Uncle?" Jill poked his salad, sulky.
"When I learn those traffic rules," Bul-Kathos said earnestly.
"You haven't even looked at them," Jill grumbled, feeling familial warmth. Bul-Kathos, tolerant of kids if they acted their age, grew fond of him. Jill's rare complaints and sensible nature softened him.
Jill's life—school to shop—was dull. Weekends at Harrogath offered only snow and elusive ancestor spirits, no fun for a kid. Snowball fights with table-sized snowballs from ancestors weren't ideal.
"Soon. I promise," Bul-Kathos vowed solemnly.
"The milk's ready?" Jessica asked, ravenous.
"Done. Let's eat," Bul-Kathos said.
"Why does that barbarian leave weekly, but we always lose him?" two agents whispered in their car. Bul-Kathos visited the New York Sanctum weekly, not hiding, but without guidance, ordinary people couldn't enter its bounds.
(Chapter End)
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