Later that day, they visited Remony’s father. Like before, he came out and gave them both a warm hug and a pleasant welcome. Behind him stood Remony’s mother with her newly added little sister.

Remony had seen the child a few times before but still couldn’t resist getting all jittery, from seeing this little ball of happiness once again. She fondled the little one and said with a babyish voice, “Hi, Jirka! Hi, little sunflower”. Her mother smiled at this lovely big sister and praised her, “It’s so nice to see you again, my love. Come inside and have a bowl of soup”.

As Remony played with her sister and chatted with her mother, William was led behind the house by Gabriel.

From in between some lumber, he took forth a wrapped item. As he handed it over to William he said a bit concerned, “I don’t know what it is, but Harvick said to keep it hidden and safe”. William found it a bit odd that Harvick was so careful with this sword. For they weren’t really that rare… Although peasants normally wouldn’t possess one, there still existed countless of them, on this island alone. So what exactly was the big deal?

When the wrapping was gone and the sword’s sheath could be revealed, he finally understood why…

In the torch’s light, its embellishments and otherworldly bending of the handle, made it glitter and almost blind both Gabriel and William!..

At first he was awestruck. But then he began to realize the downsides of this sword. William grumbled, “I can’t believe he-!.. Argh! This sword is far too elegant and precious! People will think that I stole it from some noble!.. If somebody sees me with this, they definitely won’t believe that it’s mine”. Gabriel nodded and had to agree, “It is indeed a sword worthy of a lord… Are you sure you should accept such a thing?.. Who knows? Maybe, Harvick accidently sent you the wrong one?”.

William knew Gabriel only suggested this, for his own good and thus he could only comment, “I believe it’s the right one… But it is as you said… I don’t feel worthy of it… Just look at it!”. To prove his point, William unsheathed the sword. It was almost a golden sheen that came to greet them. It was beyond beautiful…

But in it’s beautiful perfection was also the power to kill and the sharpness to cleave people in two. Truly a sword worth more than the money he sent.

After some debating, William decided to accept the sword and keep it at his side. And yet, he couldn’t refrain himself from commenting; “Harvick really is a rascal too, sometimes!”.

This time, when they decided to head homewards, Gabriel was there to escort them for the most part. He didn’t want them to suffer any unnecessary fear…

****

On a shelf in their shared room, William had his wooden dinosaurs on display. It was especially at this time of the year, that he felt unease.

It was his ninth birthday and yet Joss wasn’t here to celebrate it with him. William took down one of the funny fellows and rubbed it with his hand. Although it was rough, it had a soothing feel to it.

William had to admit that although his brother’s sculptures were rough, they weren’t nearly as bad as William’s first attempts at embroidering… Thanks to Remony, he was tempted to try mastering a new skill. It was after all, an artform loved by his and Joss’ mother. He had thought, that maybe if he learned this craft and made a present for Joss using it, his brother would greatly appreciate it.

Nothing could be more sincere, when it came to showing his gratitude…

A soft piece of cloth was held in William’s hands. Stitched into its surface, was William’s first masterpiece. It was supposed to depict a knight gallantly riding his dinosaur. And yet it ended up looking more like an angry plucked chicken, riding an even bigger one…

William sighed, before folding the handkerchief into a square. As he wandered over to the table with a few rushlights on it, he heard Remony barge into the room and gasp. “Mirabelle! I have something to tell you”. William didn’t look back, instead he lamented, “Not now, Remony! Wait just a second...”. To this, Remony whined immediately back at him, “It can’t wait, J-”. William quickly got frustrated from her impatience and thus he barked, “Remony!? I said I’ll listen to you! But you have to wait, okay?”.

William huffed, extremely annoyed by Remony’s interference. Then he dangled his ugly creation over the small flames.

He was going to feed it to them, when a hand suddenly grabbed him and stopped his destructive behavior. To this William exclaimed in disbelief, “Wha-!? Remony, can’t you-”. When he turned around to scold her, he found out that it wasn’t Remony who stood there, but Joss.

“Huh? Uh!? Joss!?”, William rambled from the sudden shock. Joss found this quite amusing and said, “Yeah, that’s me, but what in the world is this?”. He swiped the embroidery to study it further. Apparently it was payback time, for when the creation met his eyes, he bursted out laughing, “No!? What the…!? Is this supposed to be me!?”:

William facepalmed himself before answering, “I guess?..”. Joss held the cloth in front of William’s face and asked, “And you were going to burn it?.. Tell me, are you a witch or something? Is this supposed to be some evil curse? Haha”.

William gritted his teeth and decided to tease Joss in return; “Ah, I’m glad to see that you’re back, Joss… You even look fatter and healthier, compared to how you looked before you left!”. Joss shouted, “FAT!? How the- I don’t look fat!?.. Do I?”. Joss turned to Remony for answers. They both stared at her.

William thought that she would be on his side and make fun of Joss, but instead she immediately refuted William’s claim and said, “No! Not at all. You look great Joss. It’s nice to see that you’ve regained a healthy look”.

Joss smiled and said, “Well, you could say, although our quest has been harsh, at least I didn’t have to spend it with that cunning fox; Jacqueline”.