~*~*~*~*~*~October, 1745~*~*~*~*~*~

The western frontier was growing ominously crisper as the year went on. Summer had faded away into the beginnings of the colder months. The vermilian landscape of those fecund Appalachian hills had already drooped into states of orange and red and dryness. The air held a tightness to itself as if Mother Nature were bracing for the oncoming winter. As Esther Leigh looked out the window of her family's modest cabin nestled in the seclusion of western Virginia, she fretted over her household's preparations. No one would guess, however, except maybe for her husband Francois; Esther rarely abandoned her stoic countenance, even during the most troubling and adverse times.

The wind was in a hurry, rushing through the valley, shaking up the potato leaves, but leaving the busy river undisturbed. Esther grabbed the shawl she knitted last year and wound it over her shoulders. Then, she stepped out into the October world. She could hear the sounds of her husband's boots crackling through the coat of dry leaves on the ground. Rounding the corner, she found Francois with a wet sack slung over his shoulder. "Bonjour, darling," he greeted plainly enough. Esther could smell the fish from several feet away; she forwent hugging him, instead allowing him to simply slip inside to deposit the fish somewhere. Then, Esther approached the back of their cabin. Nathaniel and Abigail were sitting on the ground amongst the leaves. They were close together and had their necks craned toward each other, no doubt confiding some deep, scandalous secret with each other. When they heard their mother's footfalls, Abigail leaped to her feet and sheepishly threw her hands behind her back. Nathaniel watched her with alarm, squirming on the ground.

"Got something, Abigail?" their mother asked keenly, eyeing them with playful suspicion. Abigail shook her head violently, and in the process, let loose what had been in her hands. A brown bullfrog gave an effortful groan and leaped from the girl's grasp. It dotted away from them, disappearing somewhere behind a rock by the river. Nathaniel gave an exasperated screech, falling onto his back, while his sister adopted an expression as if she had been personally wronged by the amphibian. Esther allowed a smile to morph her normally plastered stoic face. "Come inside, we have salting to do," she advised, gesturing for her children to follow. The children were obedient when it came to their father and submissive when it came to Esther, and so they marched dutifully towards the door.