The girl groaned jokingly before shaking her head. "I'm not going to complain about the extra help," she chuckled softly. "There's only a bit to do though," she hummed lightly as she stood up and pulled the blanket from under the boy where he was on the horse then moved it slightly so that it was laying over him... almost like he was in bed or something. "I'm sure I could carry you if you did that, you know," she giggled before gently poking his side then went to sit back down again. "You can help me with the school run... Xander, my youngest brother, we've just gotten enough money to send him, so he's pretty exited about going," she hummed with a small chuckle.

Sage chuckled and shrugged lightly. "Well I can always figure out something to do," he chirped. He grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Probably. Anyas done that a couple times," he admitted. Then his face Brightened when she mentioned her brother and he nodded eagerly. "I tried sending Liz, but she only got a few years in. I had to just teach myself what I could learn." He bet the boy was excited...he'd be excited, and he was an adult.

Mari nodded and gave a smiled a little brighter when he saw the exited look on his face... good, it wasn't something he should dress. Her mother was wonderful, and both of her siblings were too. They were more than she could ever ask for, and she found herself hoping that Sage would think just as much of them as she did. "He's ecstatic about it all... I only got a couple of years in myself when I was very little, and we've all worked so hard to save up for him," she chirped lightly, a rather proud look across her face. "He's smart enough so it's worth it... he's meant for more than the rest of us were," she admitted with a soft laugh.

Sage chuckled softly at the girl's enthusiasm about her brother. He wrapped the blanket closer over him, since he was starting to get a bit chilly now that the wind was picking up. It would most likely storm that night. "It's a good goal," he hummed. "School isn't something to take lightly. And its helpful for getting a job and whatnot." He chuckled slightly and grinned over at the girl. "Well, sounds like he's already ahead of me," he noted with amusement. Then another strong gust of wind blew through the paddock and he shivered, looking up at the storm clouds in the horizon. "We should head back...I don't want to get caught in the rain," he murmured. "All the paddocks have shelter, so the horses will be fine."

Mari nodded lightly to the boy and gave a grin. "He's gonna go much further than being a servant like I am," she chuckled lightly before shaking her head. She shivered a little at the gust of wind but nodded at his comment. She stood up and wandered over to the horse and held her arms up to help him down without falling flat on his face. She could see black clouds start to roll in... and she could already hear thunder in the distance. The weather had gotten bad without her even noticing, really, and she had to say that she wasn't the biggest fan of storms... they scared her a little. "That's a good idea," she huffed as she helped him inside, and just as he said, as soon as they'd gotten inside it'd started to chuck it down with rain. She groaned softly and looked to a clock in the halls before looking back towards Sage. "I need to make something up for dinner... want to help? It won't take long."

Sage chuckled and nodded, reaching for the girl so he could slide off the horse in a rather clumsy manner. Luckily, chaos didn't seem to mind. Sage wrapped his arms around the horses neck to say bye before he let the horse trot off into his shelter. He let out a sigh of relief when they got inside before it started raining, and nodded breathlessly in response to the girl's comment. "Lemme catch my breath and then we can," he huffed, leaning over for a moment before muttering "k I'm good" and they went to the kitchen. He wasn't sure how he'd react to thunder or lightning....he hadn't enjoyed them the last times he'd been near them, and any loud noise set him off ...so he was, admittedly a bit worried. But hopefully cooking would be a distraction.

Mari waited for the boy, keeping a hand gently on his back when he paused, and patted his back once he'd gotten himself steadied again. They made their way towards the kitchen, and the girl kept her hand on him as a type of stabiliser for the boy. She hoped it'd help a little bit. Once they were there she helped him to perch on the table and gave him a few potato's to peel. "Here you go," she hummed as she put a bowl down next to him and handed him a pretty blunt knife to take the skin off. "Peel these and put them into a bowl, then mash," she chirped lightly before grabbing a knife for herself so she could help him... she was just going to do sausages and mash again. It wasn't anything special, but she was already getting jumpy with the thunder and occasional flash of lightning, so she just wanted to get this all done quickly.

Sage was grateful for the girl ...she definitely steadied him quite a bit. Mostly just because he was sore, even with the pain meds, and especially now that they were starting to wear off. He reached for the knife and began to peel the potatoes, keeping a wary eye on the storm outside. He was mashing the potatoes up when a large clap of thunder sounded, and admittedly scared him out of his skin. Before he realized what was happening, he'd sent the knife into the wall and he was crouching on the chair wide eyed and panting. After a few seconds of blind panic, he calmed down enough to scowl and scutter over to try and yank the knife out of the wall.

Mari jumped a little at the clap of thunder, though she seemed more frightened of the knife that'd been thrown across the room than anything. Her heart thumped in her chest for a couple of minutes but soon enough she'd calmed herself down the best she could. She looked to Sage as he went to grab the knife and said something to make him put it down... she didn't want him with anything sharp if that's how he was going to react. "Sage, just sit down for me," she murmured to him as she went to close the curtains... the sounds would still be there, but you wouldn't be able to see it, which was probably the scariest bit. She went to start the sausages and got the sizzling before walking over to Sage with a soft sigh. "You okay now? You don't need to be scared," she whispered to the boy the way a mother might to her child.

Sage huffed out a breath but obeyed the girl, sitting back down in the chair and smashing the potatoes again. He was still shaky, but he'd calmed down quite a bit. He was still keyed up though, since the storm was still going on, and he seemed to be getting worse the longer the storm went on. Closing the curtains did help a bit, but the noise was what startled him the most. He glanced over at the girl and nodded, then heasitated a moment and wrinkled his nose, shaking his head no slightly in a rather shy manner. "The loud noises trigger flashbacks sometimes," he sighed. "I'm alright for now....but once we're done here I might just go hide in the doctors ward. Maybe he'll have something to knock me out," he hummed. He hated being so afraid of anything loud...he used to just react and that was that, but now he only fought because he was afraid. Well, that didn't apply for everything, but noises seemed to screw him up a whole lot more than anything else.