It was a sullen group that arrived at the Abbey gates at midafternoon. Cora and Columbine were inconsolable once they learned the fate of Aster. The young Abbeymouse was placed in a room in the cellar until a place in the cemetery could be made for her.
The Abbeybeasts were friendly to Genevieve and her group and tried to make them feel welcome, but the death of Aster had impacted them all. The cats, coyote and mice were shown to an empty room in the dormitories where they could rest and clean themselves up.
The three older ones washed their faces, paws and foot paws and the cats combed out their silky fur. Marisol was content just to shake out her coat and brush her tail. The three young ones bathed Polly and Wally, much to the mice's chagrin. Once everyone was bathed, the group headed downstairs and ended up in Cavern Hole, a spacious and comfortable room just down a short stairway from Great Hall. Great Hall was far larger than Cavern Hole. The kitchen, storerooms and cellar were accessed by a hall off of Cavern Hole. Delicious aromas were wafting through that hallway from the kitchen, which was a cacophony of voices and clanking pots and pans. The two mice immediately took off in that direction. Gen, Gingivere and Mari stayed in Cavern Hole.
They slowly walked around the room. There was a large table with benches and chairs in the center of the room and a large fireplace against one wall. All around them were ledges cut into the sandstone wall. The ledges were padded with cushions and thick rugs. The walls above the highest ledges were adorned with carved woodlanders and images of plants and birds. As the trio was walking around admiring the carvings, Abbess Hilda entered the room. She said nothing, just let them marvel at the sight.
"I've never seen a room this big," Gingivere said. "Mum's and Dad's accounts of Redwall are definite understatements."
"Yes, this place still leaves me with a sense of awe," the Abbess spoke up.
The mouse joined the young Woodlanders.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did, helping Aster, giving her comfort and bringing her home to us. What horror happened in those woods! I'm glad that you young ones are safe and did not encounter the beasts that did that horrible thing to Aster and Soilburr, and I assume Brother Angus and Old Borgum…Ah, Friar Tollum just put the tray on the table, thank you."
The plump shrew placed an earthenware tray brimming with food and drink on the large table in the middle of the room. He chuckled.
"I seem to have two new kitchen helpers," he said.
"Oh, Polly and Wally," Genevieve said. "They aren't getting in the way are they?"
"Oh, no not at all. I've put them to work helping make the apple crumble for dinner tonight."
Tollum paused and turned to Abbess Hilda.
"So, it is true? Soilburr was found skinned?"
Hilda nodded once.
"Yes, it is. It has been decided that Soilburr will remain where Martin and Karra buried him. It would be too upsetting for the other Redwallers to see him as a skinned corpse."
"First strange lizards in the woods and now skinning rats? What will be next? We fought a great war to be free of villainy and death, but it just comes back. What is the point?"
Abbess Hilda clasped his paw.
"The point is to stand up to and stop these creatures who do bad things. I don't know why these evil creatures keep appearing. It would do them better to be good and live honest lives, but they choose to be nasty and prey on others. But, no matter how many times these creatures raise their wretched heads, it is our duty to stop them and provide a safe harbor for otherbeasts against them. That is why this Abbey was built."
Tollum nodded solemnly and returned to the kitchen. The three young ones sat at the table and dug in. There were onion, celery and mushroom pasties, wheat rolls with pear preserves, watercress salad, apple cider and dandelion cordial. Hilda sat with them, but let the hungry trio enjoy the meal on their own. She asked them to tell her their story.
Genevieve did most of the talking. Hilda rarely interrupted. She wasn't surprised to hear that Gen and Gingivere were the young of Gingivere and Sandingomm. She had already guessed this. She expressed her admiration for the trio's courage and resourcefulness in escaping the lizards and braving the rapids to save Marisol. Genevieve ended her narrative with telling the Abbess of their reason for being away from home, to ask Martin the Warrior to train them in the way of the warrior.
"Martin has never taken a student. Gonff did, his own son, but never Martin. Karra, that young squirrelmaid that was with Martin, is the closest beast he ever had to an apprentice. Over the seasons since the war with your aunt's horde, he has tried to distance himself from fighting. He will always take up his sword in defense of the Abbey if the need arose, but it is always reluctantly."
Gen felt defeated. All she had been through looked to be for nothing. She didn't know what she was going to do next. She had come all this way to be trained and now it looked like that wasn't going to happen.
"Should I just go home?" she thought.
Genevieve stood up so suddenly the other beasts in the room jumped.
"No," she said. "I've not come this far to give up now!"
Gen flew out of Cavern Hole and up the stairs. She found Martin standing on the wall over the main gate. He greeted her with a nod. He didn't seem surprised that she had approached him in the manner she had. She was nearly out of breath.
"The Abbess said you were retired and wouldn't train anybeast."
"She was telling you the truth."
"Would you pick up your sword at all?"
"Yes, in defense of this Abbey and those within it."
"Good, there is a horrible evil out there. Cannibal lizards and creatures that would skin the innocent. They wear the skins, you realize. I think I ran into the guilty beasts. Rats and wolves. They are who you will be fighting. You can't do it on your own, you know. You will help from skilled beasts."
Martin stared at the horizon and frowned.
"You're right, Genevieve," he sighed. "We don't have many here at the Abbey that would be able to fight…Very well, young cat, I will train you and your brother. The coyote as well, if she so desires."
Gen bowed.
"Thank you, Martin. We will be diligent students."
"You are a very wise, Genevieve."
